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It is a shame the glass half empty professors like this can't see the benefits an athletic program brings to the overall atmosphere of a college campus. It's not just about money. This is also about pride, jealousy, and ignorance. It's shameful to admit a learned individual, a professor from SMU, just doesn't "git it".
All of you have delivered excellent points throughout this blog.
Nicely done!

The so called "deficit" is mostly due to the cost of athletic scholarships that get charged against the athletic departments income. You could argue that is not a not a true "cost" to the university - unless they are creating classes just for the players - which, unfortunately is not what they are doing.

Hell, I'm waiting for when the Spanish Department becomes self sustaining.

gostangs wrote:The so called "deficit" is mostly due to the cost of athletic scholarships that get charged against the athletic departments income. You could argue that is not a not a true "cost" to the university - unless they are creating classes just for the players - which, unfortunately is not what they are doing.

:goodposting:

I have been in the work force for about 27 years. If I didn't like the amount of money that I was making I went an got a better paying job. I have also had jobs that I didn't like, so I went and found one that I did like.
I hate to sterotype people and I know that they are not all this way, but most of the teachers that I know are very lazy and un-motivated. Most of the professors that I had back in the late 70's in the B school couldn't cut it in the real world and were trying to teach their theoris.
Professors remind me of the definition of a consultant, they know how to kiss 250 different ways, but they have never had a date.
I have been in sales my whole career and as we say in sales those that can sell, sell. Those that can't, get into management

[quote="The XtC]Make the athletic department something close to self sufficient, and you'll never hear another word from the faculty.[/quote]

You're kidding, right?

Teachers, be they tenured college professors or seventh grade English teachers, are professional complainers. Usually they've got a legitimate beef, as poorly managed as our education system generally is. But there will always be educators who dream of the eradication of athletics from every campus. Just the way it is.

Longtime wrote:You're kidding, right?

Teachers, be they tenured college professors or seventh grade English teachers, are professional complainers. Usually they've got a legitimate beef, as poorly managed as our education system generally is. But there will always be educators who dream of the eradication of athletics from every campus. Just the way it is.

And you make such a convincing argument that we must accept it at
face value....

jtstang wrote:

Longtime wrote:You're kidding, right?

Teachers, be they tenured college professors or seventh grade English teachers, are professional complainers. Usually they've got a legitimate beef, as poorly managed as our education system generally is. But there will always be educators who dream of the eradication of athletics from every campus. Just the way it is.

And you make such a convincing argument that we must accept it at
face value....

RGV Pony wrote:Form letter that should go out:

Dear disenfranchised SMU faculty member:

The concerns you have recently voiced have been forwarded to the appropriate persons for consideration and review. As you may be aware, SMU is committed to being Top 25 in everything it does. Fortunately for you, data gleaned from our survey of Top 25 institutions shows that in fact a majority of such institutions similarly have a handful of disenfranchised faculty members. It is for this reason that we here at the athletic department thank you for your contribution. Without a point, there cannot be a counterpoint.

We look forward to continued random editorials and thinly veiled criticisms and protests. Keep up the good work over there in the [area of inconsequence] department, and we'll be in touch. As a gesture of our appreciation, enclosed you will find two complimentary end zone tickets to the game against whomever we are playing Thanksgiving weekend, as well as a 10% off coupon from Pluckers.

Pony Up!

-The Athletic Dept

P.S. Let me know if you'd like to join the Mustang Club.

RGV Pony wrote:Form letter that should go out:

Dear disenfranchised SMU faculty member:

The concerns you have recently voiced have been forwarded to the appropriate persons for consideration and review. As you may be aware, SMU is committed to being Top 25 in everything it does. Fortunately for you, data gleaned from our survey of Top 25 institutions shows that in fact a majority of such institutions similarly have a handful of disenfranchised faculty members. It is for this reason that we here at the athletic department thank you for your contribution. Without a point, there cannot be a counterpoint.

We look forward to continued random editorials and thinly veiled criticisms and protests. Keep up the good work over there in the [area of inconsequence] department, and we'll be in touch. As a gesture of our appreciation, enclosed you will find two complimentary end zone tickets to the game against whomever we are playing Thanksgiving weekend, as well as a 10% off coupon from Pluckers.

Pony Up!

-The Athletic Dept

Now THAT is funny! Nice work.

Let's try it Orsini's way. We adopted the Faculty Senate Model and where did it lead the athletic department? Losing our natural rivals to the Big Eight. Lower attendance. Bigger deficits. If Orsini's plan works, we start winning, we rebuild our fan base, attendance grows, more televised games, bowl revenues, and did I say, deficits shrink. If it doesn't, we tried and then can comfortably say we have the best facilities in the Championship Division of the NCAA (1-AA).

I didn't realize the history department was such a revenue center. The athletic department may well function as a lost leader for SMU

For $8 million dollars a year, how much exposure would the university be able to afford? The 2008 ESPN magazine rate card has a full page ad is $200,000. I wasn't able to find the rate card for broadcast ESPN (except a 2002 mention of $16,000 for a 30 second spot during basketball). However, ESPN now reaches 90 million households. That is a lot of potential students. And ESPN and its families have the higher college football viewer ship of all networks. Once again, a lot of potential students get to see not a few 30 second spots, but minutes to hours of SMU's campus, culture, students, fans and spirit. The June Jones media exposure was worth how much? How much would the university need to spend to gain SMU that much positive press?

Understandable, the athletic department doesn’t raise enough revenues to fully fund its operation expenses. Obviously, the History department, Spanish department and English Department not only completely fund their operations with their revenues, but have excess that can be used to fund the athletic department. One can understand how this might upset the various departments that bring in so much in revenue only to have to fund under performing departments such as athletics.

Or do the history department and others not generate enough funds to support their operations. If so, wouldn’t it be up to the university to fund the deficits?

The fact is, the History department, English department and such generate funds much the same as the athletic department. They solicit financial support (endowed chairs as an example) and they get alumni to donate outrageous amounts of money to built new buildings (like a new science building, additional Cox school of business buildings and so forth). That is much the same as the athletic department. And if there is a deficit, all departments head to the university hat in hand to beg for a handout. That is the way universities function.

If the History Department was as savvy as the athletic department or the Business School in Fundraising, they would have money coming out of their .... Has the History Department ever sat down and charted who got degrees in history. What are they doing now? Which professors had them as students? Then contact them. "Hi, this is Professor Breeden of the history department. I remember you from my American History class at SMU, how are you? Did you get the bottle of Bourbon, I sent you? Hey, we're getting tight on funds and are seeking your help. I see that you are now the Chairman of the Smithsonian Institution. Can we put you down for a $100,000 gift this year?"

jtstang wrote:

Longtime wrote:You're kidding, right?

Teachers, be they tenured college professors or seventh grade English teachers, are professional complainers. Usually they've got a legitimate beef, as poorly managed as our education system generally is. But there will always be educators who dream of the eradication of athletics from every campus. Just the way it is.

And you make such a convincing argument that we must accept it at
face value....

Momma was a teacher, one of many in my family. Get any group of teachers together and the talk always turns to how stupidly their schools are run, how bad the administration is, how clueless some teachers/parents/kids are...blah, blah, blah.

God Bless teachers for all they do. They're so grossly underappreciated in proportion to their societal value, they have a right to [deleted] more than anyone. And believe me, they exercise that right.

EastStang wrote:If the History Department was as savvy as the athletic department or the Business School in Fundraising, they would have money coming out of their .... Has the History Department ever sat down and charted who got degrees in history. What are they doing now? Which professors had them as students? Then contact them. "Hi, this is Professor Breeden of the history department. I remember you from my American History class at SMU, how are you? Did you get the bottle of Bourbon, I sent you? Hey, we're getting tight on funds and are seeking your help. I see that you are now the Chairman of the Smithsonian Institution. Can we put you down for a $100,000 gift this year?"

That is beneath them.