Sleeping with the Enemy (Shalala)

[g8rh8rMD]

Not many posts in this thread are consistent with reality. Half of the negative posters expressed that they're thankful shes gone from the university, which is a bit bizarre given that she has been back full time for nearly a year. I am not here to say that she was a great leader for the football team and I do not know what amount of the decline she is responsible for, but it is utterly preposterous to claim that she was bad for the university or that she wanted to destroy football or any of those things. 1) She loves football , as president prioritized building her schedule around being able to attend most away games and regularly still attends games to this day. 2) Some have pointed out the important role that her moves in health care are playing in today's financial strength, but another wrinkle to underscore the foresight of it is that the moves towards investing in health care came hand in hand with shifting the university's endowment out of being heavily leveraged in south florida real estate, which she felt was risky and generated no cash flow. I believe the endowment was something around 95% invested in south florida real estate and that of course would have been a university wide crisis had it been the case still when south florida real estate market became ground zero for the housing crash a couple years later. 3) No mention or understanding of the existential threat to private universities that was caused by the financial collapse and ensuing recession. Banks hit the brakes on lending activity and people's access to credit evaporated in mass quantity, which is an extinction event level threat to universities that build budgets with a significant portion of revenue coming from students who need some amount of loans to attend. To put in perspective, the tuition revenue at the U for any normal single year is about five times more money than Alabama's annual football budget. Some schools sucked up the hit of sudden unplanned loss of significant revenue most just threw their brand and ranking down the toilet by dropping their SAT/GPA standards and taking in a lower tier of applicants who could afford to pay without credit markets. Shalala went to China and stabilized tuition revenue with students who didn't harm the ranking/brand. We would not have mario cristobal or dan r or any of these exciting changes right now if the university had not navigated those two crises well.

Welcome to the board, Donna. Appreciate having this kind of insight shared with us. Hoping I can learn something from you.

Since when does real estate not generate cash flow? I admittedly don't know the specifics of UM's endowment investments in the late 90's or early 2000's and am taking you at your word until you or someone else can provide further illumination of this issue. If true, investing 95% in any one sector is certainly risky, no matter if that's real estate, health care, tech, or whatever else. But, was that 95% invested solely in vacant condos or bare land, or what? How on earth is it possible for a sophisticated investor to have a large real estate portfolio and not generate any cash flow? Cash flow is what real estate does.

 

[kccanefan]

Not many posts in this thread are consistent with reality. Half of the negative posters expressed that they're thankful shes gone from the university, which is a bit bizarre given that she has been back full time for nearly a year. I am not here to say that she was a great leader for the football team and I do not know what amount of the decline she is responsible for, but it is utterly preposterous to claim that she was bad for the university or that she wanted to destroy football or any of those things. 1) She loves football , as president prioritized building her schedule around being able to attend most away games and regularly still attends games to this day. 2) Some have pointed out the important role that her moves in health care are playing in today's financial strength, but another wrinkle to underscore the foresight of it is that the moves towards investing in health care came hand in hand with shifting the university's endowment out of being heavily leveraged in south florida real estate, which she felt was risky and generated no cash flow. I believe the endowment was something around 95% invested in south florida real estate and that of course would have been a university wide crisis had it been the case still when south florida real estate market became ground zero for the housing crash a couple years later. 3) No mention or understanding of the existential threat to private universities that was caused by the financial collapse and ensuing recession. Banks hit the brakes on lending activity and people's access to credit evaporated in mass quantity, which is an extinction event level threat to universities that build budgets with a significant portion of revenue coming from students who need some amount of loans to attend. To put in perspective, the tuition revenue at the U for any normal single year is about five times more money than Alabama's annual football budget. Some schools sucked up the hit of sudden unplanned loss of significant revenue most just threw their brand and ranking down the toilet by dropping their SAT/GPA standards and taking in a lower tier of applicants who could afford to pay without credit markets. Shalala went to China and stabilized tuition revenue with students who didn't harm the ranking/brand. We would not have mario cristobal or dan r or any of these exciting changes right now if the university had not navigated those two crises well.

This troll is the worst thing to ever happen to this university. Anyone that tries to defend her is a clown.

 

[Wake_Cane]

Welcome to the board, Donna. Appreciate having this kind of insight shared with us. Hoping I can learn something from you.

Since when does real estate not generate cash flow? I admittedly don't know the specifics of UM's endowment investments in the late 90's or early 2000's and am taking you at your word until you or someone else can provide further illumination of this issue. If true, investing 95% in any one sector is certainly risky, no matter if that's real estate, health care, tech, or whatever else. But, was that 95% invested solely in vacant condos or bare land, or what? How on earth is it possible for a sophisticated investor to have a large real estate portfolio and not generate any cash flow? Cash flow is what real estate does.

I do not know with granular details what the portfolio was comprised of. I imagine it at least had some decent diversity as far as the type of real estate. I went back and read what I wrote and you're right about no cash flow that was poorly worded by me. What I was meaning to convey is that the particular risk concern as I recall was not having consistent cash flow, essential given the function of an endowment. I did not include this originally but I also recall a significant component of it was ability to leverage already existing core competencies (health care administration/medical expertise abounds at the U) and create synergy.

 

[Canedude08]

Shouldn't most of the blame for the foibles of the athletic department be placed at the feet of the Board of Trustees? They make the final decisions, they control the pursestrings, they hire the President, they hire the AD, etc.

To me, Ruiz and his fellow pro-football members on the Board are the reason for this new direction in football. They have agreed to open up the check book. If not for them, nothing would have changed.

The typical Miami fan is an idiot that doesn't know a **** thing about how the University is managed, mostly because most of them have never dealt with the University. The BOT should get most of the blame for allowing the AD to rot, because they were the ones with ultimate authority. If they wanted to, they could make needed changes, whether Dr. Shalala liked it or not. Keep in mind, she reported to them, not the other way around.

 

[g8rh8rMD]

The typical Miami fan is an idiot that doesn't know a **** thing about how the University is managed, mostly because most of them have never dealt with the University. The BOT should get most of the blame for allowing the AD to rot, because they were the ones with ultimate authority. If they wanted to, they could make needed changes, whether Dr. Shalala liked it or not. Keep in mind, she reported to them, not the other way around.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the BOT can't make changes to other employees status without the President. The Board can fire the President, or not retain them, but the President oversees the other employees. Just as Frenk could and did fire Blake without the knowledge or consent of the Board, so could have any prior President.

Let's try to refrain from name calling, shall we? "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

 

[Stylie]

I'd sleep with Donna. She's ******* hot.

 

[Canedude08]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the BOT can't make changes to other employees status without the President. The Board can fire the President, or not retain them, but the President oversees the other employees. Just as Frenk could and did fire Blake without the knowledge or consent of the Board, so could have any prior President.

Let's try to refrain from name calling, shall we? "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

The BOT can easily force change by holding a no confidence vote on someone like an AD. Keep in mind, no AD will stay somewhere where the governing board has turned on them. Dr. Shalala most likely wasn't going to risk her job for some football coach. IE, she would have done what needed to be done. But hey, let's keep pretending that the people at the top of the organizational chart had no power. Their inaction helped make this crap possible, and they have escaped blame because our fanbase is too lazy to do basic research.

 

[insaneinthecane]

Not many posts in this thread are consistent with reality. Half of the negative posters expressed that they're thankful shes gone from the university, which is a bit bizarre given that she has been back full time for nearly a year. I am not here to say that she was a great leader for the football team and I do not know what amount of the decline she is responsible for, but it is utterly preposterous to claim that she was bad for the university or that she wanted to destroy football or any of those things. 1) She loves football , as president prioritized building her schedule around being able to attend most away games and regularly still attends games to this day. 2) Some have pointed out the important role that her moves in health care are playing in today's financial strength, but another wrinkle to underscore the foresight of it is that the moves towards investing in health care came hand in hand with shifting the university's endowment out of being heavily leveraged in south florida real estate, which she felt was risky and generated no cash flow. I believe the endowment was something around 95% invested in south florida real estate and that of course would have been a university wide crisis had it been the case still when south florida real estate market became ground zero for the housing crash a couple years later. 3) No mention or understanding of the existential threat to private universities that was caused by the financial collapse and ensuing recession. Banks hit the brakes on lending activity and people's access to credit evaporated in mass quantity, which is an extinction event level threat to universities that build budgets with a significant portion of revenue coming from students who need some amount of loans to attend. To put in perspective, the tuition revenue at the U for any normal single year is about five times more money than Alabama's annual football budget. Some schools sucked up the hit of sudden unplanned loss of significant revenue most just threw their brand and ranking down the toilet by dropping their SAT/GPA standards and taking in a lower tier of applicants who could afford to pay without credit markets. Shalala went to China and stabilized tuition revenue with students who didn't harm the ranking/brand. We would not have mario cristobal or dan r or any of these exciting changes right now if the university had not navigated those two crises well.

Thanks Donna. I didn't you /she posted on CIS.

 

[coffeecane]

I came across a couple interesting bits of info that fly in the face of the narrative we’ve been led to believe over the last couple decades as Canes football fans.

- In 1982 Schnellenberger was the 6th highest paid coach in CFB (see tweet below)
- In 2000, Butch was offered a contract that would’ve made him the 3rd highest paid (see article below)

Miami was in fact paying top dollar for football coaches up until 2000. But suddenly that changed - Randy was one of the lowest paid, almost coordinator level salary if I remember. Goldens salary ranked in the 40s. Shalala was hired in 2001.

Then suddenly in 2016 (Frenk was hired in 2015) we started paying more for coaches again. Richts $4M was top 20 in the country I believe, and now Cristobal is paid a top 10 salary.

One simple question: why did we pay top 10 salaries to football coaches right until Shalala was hired? And why did we start paying more again right after she left? I think we know the answer.

Butch League Butch Davis left Miami scrambling when he betrayed his players and bolted for a big-money deal with the Browns | Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com

Yep its not coincidental that was when we started winning and maintained it through butch.

 

[g8rh8rMD]

The BOT can easily force change by holding a no confidence vote on someone like an AD. Keep in mind, no AD will stay somewhere where the governing board has turned on them. Dr. Shalala most likely wasn't going to risk her job for some football coach. IE, she would have done what needed to be done. But hey, let's keep pretending that the people at the top of the organizational chart had no power. Their inaction helped make this crap possible, and they have escaped blame because our fanbase is too lazy to do basic research.

Wait. What? Hold the people at the top accountable - not the one person at the very top?

Last I checked, the Board selects the President, Chairman, or CEO to run the company/organization, then expects that individual to execute the duties of the office. I agree that we should hold the BOT accountable, in large part for having selected, and then allowed to remain, a person who didn't execute the duties of University President with excellence. Everyone at the top is accountable.

This isn't a situation where the BOT left a 5 year old with gasoline and a book of matches and we can't hold the kid accountable, because what would you expect a 5 year old to do with gasoline and a book of matches?

I'm very confused right now. I think I understand very clearly that you have a deep affinity for Shalala, but that's about all that I'm able to get from your arguments.

 

[Canedude08]

Wait. What? Hold the people at the top accountable - not the one person at the very top?

Last I checked, the Board selects the President, Chairman, or CEO to run the company/organization, then expects that individual to execute the duties of the office. I agree that we should hold the BOT accountable, in large part for having selected, and then allowed to remain, a person who didn't execute the duties of University President with excellence. Everyone at the top is accountable.

This isn't a situation where the BOT left a 5 year old with gasoline and a book of matches and we can't hold the kid accountable, because what would you expect a 5 year old to do with gasoline and a book of matches?

I'm very confused right now. I think I understand very clearly that you have a deep affinity for Shalala, but that's about all that I'm able to get from your arguments.

Reading comprehension isn't your strong suit, isn't it? First of all, Universities aren't managed like the typical Fortune 500 Company, where the Board of Directors are mostly hands off. The BOT at a school like Miami has a lot of say so, because a lot of them are major donors and their donations help keep the school going.

When it comes to athletics, it's even more pronounced, due to the fact that most University Presidents have little, if any oversight of the department. There are usually a group of major donors(IE Boosters) and some members of the Governing Board(IE The BOT) that runs the department, with the admin in charge(AD) reporting mostly to them. There are few and I mean few University Presidents that do anything significant in regards to the athletic department.

The problem at Miami was that for the better part of two decades, Miami didn't have a strong day to day administrator in the athletic department, and the people responsible for ensuring that got fixed didn't do a **** thing. They also didn't stand up and hold said administrators responsible when they did irresponsible crap(The fact that Blake James was allowed to hire Manny Diaz without interviewing anyone else is proof of complete negligence by the athletically minded members of the BOT).

The difference now is that due to being embarrassed by the national media , those that should have stepped up 10 years ago are doing it now. You think that Frenk is the major mover in this? No, he isn't. He has provided additional support by loaning out some of his staff, but it's the donors and the BOT members that got sick of being a laughingstock that are responsible for Rad and Mario.

 

[Canedude08]

Here is the reality. Shalala loved football and athletics. She was misguided in thinking that Miami would always win solely because of our name and where we were located. She did not understand how the internet was changing the game, and her failure to invest in Athletics hurt all sports, but football in the biggest way. Her handling of the Orange Bowl showed a lack of skill. What she did do was invest in Uhealth against a lot of pushback and criticism, and that strategy and investment has proved to be very smart. IMO, she gets a B- overall because of Uhealth and being a great fundraiser.

I'm just curious, what should Dr. Shalala have done in regards to the OB? I know our fans have created this narrative that Miami didn't get screwed, but that's exactly what happened. UMiami didn't own the OB, and it was going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to bring the OB to an acceptable level. Oh, did I mention that once the Marlins greased the right palms, they were going to get a sweetheart deal no matter what? The school had no choice but to walk away, because the City made it clear that they were not going to work with the University and provide a workable deal.

 

[g8rh8rMD]

Reading comprehension isn't your strong suit, isn't it?

Didn't read anything beyond this. Who hurt you?

 

[Canedude08]

Didn't read anything beyond this. Who hurt you?

Lazy troll job. Then again, why utilize critical thought, when "That troll ruined the football program" is such a pithy sound bite, logic be damned.

 

[bear]

Dang! Shalala worse than Shapiro. Blame her for the OB. Will never forgive her