Hurricanes are free to dream

[SpikeUM]

Vish's stuff is always solid.

To add a bit more color to what Vish wrote, the hire of Blake was slightly more complicated than what Vish wrote (though I ******* laughed at his summary of it). For Shalala's first 10 years, she was much more involved and supportive of Athletics, from things like standing behind Willie Williams after he was arrested to fighting for us to join the ACC. But then UM bought Cedars in 2007, and those first few years of losses really swung Shalala's focus from U-Ath to U-Health.

So you have to consider the context. During the recession years, Shalala was super-focused on getting UHealth back to profitability. In 2011, the Shapiro scandal broke while lightweight Eichorst was at the wheel. So the combo-platter of diverted focus, recessionary times, and Nevingate caused the collective UM sphincter to pucker. On the Athletic side, yes, we "got cheap", we did everything we could to look like we were not diving around in the Scrooge McDuck money vault. And in THAT environment, there was actually a small amount of logical sense (though I still disagree and hate the decision) to hire a "mind-the-money" AD, in that he had experience on the sales/fundraising side, which was under serious stress between the recession and Nevin.

Problem is, year after year, Blake just kept tightening the screws. Today, in 2021, there is almost no budget for promotions or events that are open to the public, there is almost no outreach to the SoFla community beyond the "connected" UM community (students, faculty, staff, alums). Nearly every e-mail that I get is a come-on for a contribution or sale of a "collectible" item. And as @SpikeUM has pointed out, Blake's go-to line when you make a suggestion to him is "And how much are you willing to contribute to make that happen?".

I know people like to complain that "UM has always been cheap" or "UM has been terrible for 20 years" or "Donna is responsible for everything". But the reality is, the Shapiro scandal did far more damage than most will ever admit, and it changed the way our Athletic Department ran for the past 10 years. If Blake had more vision and leadership, he could have corrected it. But he was content to keep doing the same rotten things year after year, Donna lost focus in her last few years, and Frenk hasn't known a **** thing for six years.

Sad.

Great Vish article and good color. The important point to add is that once UHealth was brought back from the brink (and it made $300MM last fiscal year), Donna and then Frenk continued to drain the athletic department. Bottom line, there is lots of money, or at least enough to operate as an upper echelon P5 program.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Great Vish article and good color. The important point to add is that once UHealth was brought back from the brink (and it made $300MM last fiscal year), Donna and then Frenk continued to drain the athletic department. Bottom line, there is lots of money, or at least enough to operate as an upper echelon P5 program.

I think it was still losing money (or was maybe juuuuust turning the corner) when Donna left. The big dollar profits have occurred on Frenk's watch.

Blake is the one who has been slashing expenditures for 8 years, with nobody ever telling him he's gone too far. I can be mad at Donna for a few years of lax oversight, but Frenk had to be hardcore-pushed into doing something after 6 years of blissful ignorance.