Vanderbilt Is At It Again

[50's PONY]

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Friday, 05/14/04
Vanderbilt may restructure athletics restructure
By BRYAN MULLEN and MIKE ORGAN
Staff Writers


Vanderbilt University Vice Chancellor David Williams said last night that a plan to restructure the school's athletic department, for the second time in nine months, was presented at a meeting early yesterday afternoon.

Williams declined to discuss specifics of the meeting, considering it an ''internal personnel private meeting.''

Athletic department personnel were told at the meeting that the restructuring would take current athletic employees and redefine their job descriptions. Newly created titles will be given to at least four employees and their duties will encompass matters outside of their current responsibilities.

Over the past year and a half, the athletic department has seen the departure of several officials, including former Director of Athletics Todd Turner. The new structure will place new people in charge and probably will eliminate any chance of the replacement of a traditional AD.

Vice Chancellor Michael Schoenfeld said last night that he was aware of the meeting, but did not attend. He referred questions to Williams, who currently oversees athletics.

''We had a meeting which we considered to be a private meeting to discuss reorganization,'' Williams said. ''We planned on releasing the plan (today) through our PR department. … All I can say is there was a meeting and we presented the restructuring.''

Other than Turner, other departed athletic department personnel include Steve Franks, Brad Bates and Blanton Jones. Their duties included such things as day-to-day operations, facilities operations and fund raising.

Gee announced in September a radical restructuring plan that merged the athletic department under the same umbrella as student life in an effort to integrate student-athletes with the rest of the university's population.





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[Water Pony]

You can look at Vanderbilt's actions two ways:

1) This is a radical move and the market (fellow BCS and SEC schools) should punish them along with the media. How dare they be creative and align athletics with the university as a whole. Don't they know that this approach is un-American and we hope they fail as they do on the FB field.

2) Bold move, that if successful, can demonstrate how to pursue athletics and academics collectively and successfully.

For me I hope a more rational approach is successful. The present course for college sports is not rewarding mid-majors, private schools and the well intended.