Charley Walters / Joel Maturi Stands By His Calls

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Nice bit by Shooter this morning on Maturi.

Joel Maturi is completing his eighth year as University of Minnesota athletics director.

"I love my job, but I'm not having any fun," he said.

That's a favorite expression of his. He made sure to clarify.

"People think that's a contradiction," he said. "The old adage is 'I've never worked a day in my life.' I've never gone to work because I truly love this."

Maturi, 65, is in his office most days at 5 a.m. He leaves for home most days between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.

"I don't do that because I'm not happy; I enjoy it," he said. "This is my safe haven. This is the place I enjoy being. I love being with the student-athletes, with the coaches, with the staff and trying to make this place better."

Maturi was speaking in his office on a late afternoon this week. One hour earlier, he had met there with a handful of lawyers on a matter. Then more lawyers on other matters. Routine, he said. Happens regularly.

"I'm not having any fun because there are so many things ... the challenge comes in the external passion, and sometimes external misunderstandings of who we are and what we're trying to do."

Maturi, who has two years remaining on his contract, has done much during his eight years in charge. He successfully merged the Gophers men's and women's athletic departments, which was a major challenge. He orchestrated plans and fundraising for a 50,000-seat on-campus football stadium. Fundraising for a new on-campus baseball stadium is under way. He hired Tubby
Smith and Tim Brewster. Graduation rates among Gophers athletes are the highest in school history. His department has incurred no major NCAA violations, and that's a change from previous administrations.

Overall performance of Gophers athletics (25 teams) this school year ranks No. 10 nationally among 335 programs. Meanwhile, Maturi annually meets a $74 million budget.

A year ago, Maturi made the final four for SportsBusiness Journal's National College Athletic Director of the Year Award.

The Chisholm, Minn., native has had to make some tough decisions of late, such as whether to allow basketball players Trevor Mbakwe and Royce White to play in games while they faced legal issues.

I believe Maturi made the right calls.

"A lot of people don't (feel that way)," he said.

And Maturi receives daily e-mails letting him know that. That's all right with him.

"If they sign their name and they're polite in their question, I answer it," he said. "I say 'I respect your disagreement; I made a decision that I believe was right, and I stand by my decision.' I don't try to get confrontational; I don't tell people to go fly a kite. That's not my style.

"They (decisions) are not easy, but I've tried to be consistent with not only who I believe I am, but who this university is. I'm not naïve to the job. I know what it entails, and I know how visible athletics are here at the University of Minnesota. I don't want to say I didn't anticipate that, but I have to say that I think there have been far more external challenges I've had a challenge to deal with, at a greater number than I anticipated."

Maturi lives by the do-right rule — he tries to do what's right.

"I can put my head on the pillow at night knowing that I worked really hard and have done the best I could," he said. "We always don't win the race. We always don't win the game. We always don't do this ... but you know what — you know how hard you've tried with what you've tried to do. And I try to live by that because only I know how hard I've tried to do the right thing.

"Somebody else can judge that wasn't good enough. And I'm respectful of that."
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http://www.twincities.com/ci_15263894?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1
 

Maturi's list of faults has never included lack of effort, you can say that much for him.
 

I've always thought his head and his heart were in the right place when making his decisions, it is just that with having to balance the wants and wishes of the regents and president with the realities of trying to compete in the high profile sports, some of his decisions seem agonizingly slow. But that might be better than a quick knee-jerk reaction to which way the wind is blowing today.
And it is kind of neat that he responds to all the e-mails. I have had a couple of nice give and take discussions with him.
 

He claims to work from 5AM until 9 or 10PM.

People that spend that much time at work or claim to work that much either or imcompetent or have some sort of disorder.

Usually they are focused on the wrong things, and out of touch on the real important things. If there isn't a women's ping pong match, our dithering Joel is probably arranging the pencils and auditing toilet paper usage.
 

oak_street1981 said:
He claims to work from 5AM until 9 or 10PM.

People that spend that much time at work or claim to work that much either or imcompetent or have some sort of disorder.

Usually they are focused on the wrong things, and out of touch on the real important things. If there isn't a women's ping pong match, our dithering Joel is probably arranging the pencils and auditing toilet paper usage.
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Ya, you sure wouldn't want an athletic director who feels that part of his job is to support all University athletes. He's being polite but is hinting that some people don't have a clue what the job entails. You're a pretty good example of that.

He's made mistakes but overall he's done a decent job.
 


Mulligan said:
Ya, you sure wouldn't want an athletic director who feels that part of his job is to support all University athletes. He's being polite but is hinting that some people don't have a clue what the job entails. You're a pretty good example of that.

He's made mistakes but overall he's done a decent job.
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Joel is the BEST Gopher AD since the 1960's. End of story.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
Joel is the BEST Gopher AD since the 1960's. End of story.
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And this is because you say so. LOL.

Joel is a fine paper shuffler and fundraiser but he is miscast as the AD. As a leader of our revenue producing programs, he has produced 8 years of disappointment for our Basketball and Football programs. I think the 8 years that he has been AD have been one of the worst stretches for our BB and Football programs, each program only achieving one winning Big Ten Season in the past 8 years. 16 seasons of BB and FB resulted in only 2 teams with better than .500 records in conference play.

He is responsible for Brewster who has the second worst Big Ten record of all our football coaches since World War 2. He helped ruin one of our most promising basketball seasons this year. He lost the respect of many of the basketball players by the way he handled disciplinary issues. He has communication problems with Tubby. He and Tubby lost the U money by the Jimmy Williams incident.

Great paper shuffler and fundraiser, but lousy AD.
 

GopherFish said:
And this is because you say so. LOL.

Joel is a fine paper shuffler and fundraiser but he is miscast as the AD. As a leader of our revenue producing programs, he has produced 8 years of disappointment for our Basketball and Football programs. I think the 8 years that he has been AD have been one of the worst stretches for our BB and Football programs, each program only achieving one winning Big Ten Season in the past 8 years. 16 seasons of BB and FB resulted in only 2 teams with better than .500 records in conference play.

He is responsible for Brewster who has the second worst Big Ten record of all our football coaches since World War 2. He helped ruin one of our most promising basketball seasons this year. He lost the respect of many of the basketball players by the way he handled disciplinary issues. He has communication problems with Tubby. He and Tubby lost the U money by the Jimmy Williams incident.

Great paper shuffler and fundraiser, but lousy AD.
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The last time our football team won a Big 10 Championship was when I was a student and I'm now getting Social Security. Even then (1967) we shared the title. Since then I think our best finish was three or four 3d place finishes. Pretty hard to call the last 8 years one of our worst stretches when you're saddled with that much mediocrity. Maturi has gambled on Brewster. Despite what you think, it might still pay off. At least he didn't play it safe realizing he needed to gamble to give us a chance to get out of that long stretch of futility.

Our basketball record looks better, but if you really do know our history, a lot of those seasons went down the drain because of cheating and other scandals. Hell, we even have a season where it appears we never fielded a team. He didn't ruin a promising season. Nolen and White were responsible for that along with the circumstances involving Mbakwe. BTW, it really makes no difference if the basketball players respect him or not. That's a foolish way to judge him. He might have a Tubby problem but it's also Tubby's fault if there is a problem.

I, for one, appreciate the fact the man seems determined to win the right way. He also grasps the role athletics should play at this level. We probably will never become a football factory or a basketball power no matter who the AD is at Minnesota. Our geography, population, and culture makes that an almost impossible goal. That's okay if we're competitive and ever so often have that magic season. I think Maturi has laid the groundwork for those expectations in football, and, if Tubby stays, in basketball as well. Many of the other programs are already having those good seasons. You "revenue sports guys" demean that but it's still something to be happy about and Maturi should be proud of that.

The guy has administration, faculty, coaches, athletes, big boosters, the fans, media, other Big 10 schools, and the general public to deal with and answer to. Oh, ya, he also works in a bureaucracy that is steeped in political correctness and consensus building.

Just because you say so, he's not just a paper shuffler. You have no frickin' idea how much of that he does but, hell, throw it out there like you know.
 

oak_street1981 said:
He claims to work from 5AM until 9 or 10PM.

People that spend that much time at work or claim to work that much either or imcompetent or have some sort of disorder.

Usually they are focused on the wrong things, and out of touch on the real important things. If there isn't a women's ping pong match, our dithering Joel is probably arranging the pencils and auditing toilet paper usage.
Click to expand...

I agree. I often times hear people say they work 60-80 hours per week and I've detemined it's one of 2 things.

Either they're lying or they are extremely unorganized and need to work on their time management skills. These are the same people that take 3 hour lunches or play 18 holes in the middle of the day. Also, answering an email on your Crackberry while sitting in traffic or at the dinner table does not count as work.
 



Joel Maturi was hired in July of 2002. He's been in charge of 8 basketball seasons and 8 football seasons. Football: Never even finished as high as 3rd place in its own conference during his tenure. Basketball: Never even finished as high as 3rd place in its own conference and has not won a single NCAA tournament game during his tenure.

This has arguably been the worst run of results in the history of Minnesota. How on earth could anyone claim he's the best AD since the 60's.
 

Mulligan said:
The lastfault if there is a problem.

I, for one, appreciate the fact the man seems determined to win the right way. He also grasps the role athletics should play at this level. We probably will never become a football factory or a basketball power no matter who the AD is at Minnesota. Our geography, population, and culture makes that an almost impossible goal. of that he does but, hell, throw it out there like you know.
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Win the right way?? LOL Maturi's BB and FB teams have only two seasons over .500 in Big Ten play in 16 chances. Maturi shouldn't be applauded. Maturi is indecisive and worries too much about public reaction. Dan Monson was a good man too, but he was shown the door when he didn't deliver enough wins.

The University of Minnesota is one of the largest universities in the country and is located in a large metropolitan area with teams in all major sports and is rated as one of the most livable cities in the country. Iowa, Wisconsin and Boise State have nothing on the U of M as far as location, yet they have strong programs. The U of M was once a football powerhouse before the 70s and the basketball program was usually good til the cheating scandal. In 8 years, Maturi has shown no ability to ressurect our FB and BB programs. He's had plenty of time. Good riddance to him.
 

The lastfault if there is a problem.

I, for one, appreciate the fact the man seems determined to win the right way. He also grasps the role athletics should play at this level. We probably will never become a football factory or a basketball power no matter who the AD is at Minnesota. Our geography, population, and culture makes that an almost impossible goal. of that he does but, hell, throw it out there like you know.




I really hate the line of thinking displayed by Mulligan here. Why would Kansas be a basketball power? UConn? Arizona? In football, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska have all had good to very good years in the last decade. Minnesota has signifcant advantages over all of these schools. It would be so easy to say Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska should be no better than Montana or Wyoming given their "geography, population, and culture", but you don't hear them making excuses.
 

Art Vandelay said:
I agree. I often times hear people say they work 60-80 hours per week and I've detemined it's one of 2 things.

Either they're lying or they are extremely unorganized and need to work on their time management skills. These are the same people that take 3 hour lunches or play 18 holes in the middle of the day. Also, answering an email on your Crackberry while sitting in traffic or at the dinner table does not count as work.
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Yeah, OK. How many doctors and/or lawyers do you know? I know and/or work with dozens, and each of them works a minimum of 60 hours a week. And that's legitimate work. Not to mention plenty of other occupations who work at least as much. Just because they don't allow you to have overtime working the McDonald's drive-thru doesn't mean that other people don't work more hours than you.
 



EG#9 said:
Joel Maturi was hired in July of 2002. He's been in charge of 8 basketball seasons and 8 football seasons. Football: Never even finished as high as 3rd place in its own conference during his tenure. Basketball: Never even finished as high as 3rd place in its own conference and has not won a single NCAA tournament game during his tenure.

This has arguably been the worst run of results in the history of Minnesota. How on earth could anyone claim he's the best AD since the 60's.
Click to expand...

Too bad that the AD isn't in charge of only football and men's basketball. Then your argument would be valid.

EG#9 said:
Why would Kansas be a basketball power? UConn? Arizona?
Click to expand...

Are you serious? You can't really be this dense.

Kansas - hmm, I don't know, maybe perhaps because the INVENTOR OF BASKETBALL started their BASKETBALL program, and they've been blessed with a string of mostly good-to-HOF coaches ever since?

UConn - they got lucky and hired a brilliant coach; not too difficult to comprehend

Arizona - see UConn
 

dpodoll68 said:
Yeah, OK. How many doctors and/or lawyers do you know? I know and/or work with dozens, and each of them works a minimum of 60 hours a week. And that's legitimate work. Not to mention plenty of other occupations who work at least as much. Just because they don't allow you to have overtime working the McDonald's drive-thru doesn't mean that other people don't work more hours than you.
Click to expand...

Wow, I have to say that is funny.
 


GopherFish said:
Win the right way?? LOL Maturi's BB and FB teams have only two seasons over .500 in Big Ten play in 16 chances. Maturi shouldn't be applauded. Maturi is indecisive and worries too much about public reaction. Dan Monson was a good man too, but he was shown the door when he didn't deliver enough wins.

The University of Minnesota is one of the largest universities in the country and is located in a large metropolitan area with teams in all major sports and is rated as one of the most livable cities in the country. Iowa, Wisconsin and Boise State have nothing on the U of M as far as location, yet they have strong programs. The U of M was once a football powerhouse before the 70s and the basketball program was usually good til the cheating scandal. In 8 years, Maturi has shown no ability to ressurect our FB and BB programs. He's had plenty of time. Good riddance to him.
Click to expand...

Already covered the dismal history of the Gopher football team. Here's an interesting list of numbers regarding the 20 year record of the basketball team before Maturi became A.D. They are the number of conference finishes in basketball according to the official Gopher site. Incidentally, the 1st place finish was 19 years before maturi became A.D.

1
4
5,5,5
6,6
8,8,8
9,9,9,9
10
5 years are vacated because of Clem's cheating.

Don't let the facts hit you in the ass. Not sure where this myth comes from that we were doing so well before Maturi became in charge.

We might be one of the largest universities in the country, and have a very livable area with all the major sports (not a plus IMO), but it doesn't seem to have helped. We're at the end of the talent pipeline from Chicago and Michigan; we're bordered on two sides by the Dakotas and Canada; and we're still viewed as a frozen tundra by many elsewhere. We have built no national identity in football since the 60's, and in basketball our identity nationally has been one of cheating and scandal. Boise State has a better connection to California than we do and probably lower standards.

How many Top 100 recruits do we have in football and basketball from Minnesota for the coming year? Right now, there are 3, at the most, NBA players from Minnesota. A quick check indicated only 20 NFL players, only 1 (Fitzgerald) considered a star. The point is we simply don't produce many top players in either basketball or football which obviously makes the job that much tougher.

Sorry for displaying this line of thinking, but this drive to keep changing coaches and now the A.D. is silly. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than a Rose Bowl and a Final Four. I really think I've got a decent chance but I'm not delusional about how tough it really is. Give his football coach a chance. Not like the other ones since Murray had great careers. He's got a basketball coach most people were thrilled to get. Let that play out too.

Maturi hung with Monson a year too long but there was also that 21 win season to give us hope before his team totally quit on him. I'll concede dithering on Mason, but, again, there was that mediocrity where it made it hard to know when to say enough. Not applauding his record, but Maturi has given me more hope than I had before he came.

Art, did they put you in the drive-thru window because you're so good with the customers?
 

He was actually too good with the customers. Apparently he was fired for giving free food to his over 400 facebook friends and the manager found out.

Mulligan said:
Already covered the dismal history of the Gopher football team. Here's an interesting list of numbers regarding the 20 year record of the basketball team before Maturi became A.D. They are the number of conference finishes in basketball according to the official Gopher site. Incidentally, the 1st place finish was 19 years before maturi became A.D.

1
4
5,5,5
6,6
8,8,8
9,9,9,9
10
5 years are vacated because of Clem's cheating.

Don't let the facts hit you in the ass. Not sure where this myth comes from that we were doing so well before Maturi became in charge.

We might be one of the largest universities in the country, and have a very livable area with all the major sports (not a plus IMO), but it doesn't seem to have helped. We're at the end of the talent pipeline from Chicago and Michigan; we're bordered on two sides by the Dakotas and Canada; and we're still viewed as a frozen tundra by many elsewhere. We have built no national identity in football since the 60's, and in basketball our identity nationally has been one of cheating and scandal. Boise State has a better connection to California than we do and probably lower standards.

How many Top 100 recruits do we have in football and basketball from Minnesota for the coming year? Right now, there are 3, at the most, NBA players from Minnesota. A quick check indicated only 20 NFL players, only 1 (Fitzgerald) considered a star. The point is we simply don't produce many top players in either basketball or football which obviously makes the job that much tougher.

Sorry for displaying this line of thinking, but this drive to keep changing coaches and now the A.D. is silly. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than a Rose Bowl and a Final Four. I really think I've got a decent chance but I'm not delusional about how tough it really is. Give his football coach a chance. Not like the other ones since Murray had great careers. He's got a basketball coach most people were thrilled to get. Let that play out too.

Maturi hung with Monson a year too long but there was also that 21 win season to give us hope before his team totally quit on him. I'll concede dithering on Mason, but, again, there was that mediocrity where it made it hard to know when to say enough. Not applauding his record, but Maturi has given me more hope than I had before he came.

Art, did they put you in the drive-thru window because you're so good with the customers?
Click to expand...
 

dpodoll68 said:
Too bad that the AD isn't in charge of only football and men's basketball. Then your argument would be valid.



Are you serious? You can't really be this dense.

Kansas - hmm, I don't know, maybe perhaps because the INVENTOR OF BASKETBALL started their BASKETBALL program, and they've been blessed with a string of mostly good-to-HOF coaches ever since?

UConn - they got lucky and hired a brilliant coach; not too difficult to comprehend

Arizona - see UConn
Click to expand...

If you think 95% of an A.D.'s job isn't football and men's basketball, you are living in a fantasy land. The 3 basketball programs I mentioned are examples of state colleges you would never expect to be successful if you went by their popluation base, but are. I am very aware of the history how each team became (or remained) successful. The point is that we should EXPECT this to happen at Minnesota, not come up with BS reasons to feel ok about terrible results.
 

Mulligan said:
Already covered the dismal history of the Gopher football team. Here's an interesting list of numbers regarding the 20 year record of the basketball team before Maturi became A.D. They are the number of conference finishes in basketball according to the official Gopher site. Incidentally, the 1st place finish was 19 years before maturi became A.D.

1
4
5,5,5
6,6
8,8,8
9,9,9,9
10
5 years are vacated because of Clem's cheating.

Don't let the facts hit you in the ass. Not sure where this myth comes from that we were doing so well before Maturi became in charge.

We might be one of the largest universities in the country, and have a very livable area with all the major sports (not a plus IMO), but it doesn't seem to have helped. We're at the end of the talent pipeline from Chicago and Michigan; we're bordered on two sides by the Dakotas and Canada; and we're still viewed as a frozen tundra by many elsewhere. We have built no national identity in football since the 60's, and in basketball our identity nationally has been one of cheating and scandal. Boise State has a better connection to California than we do and probably lower standards.

How many Top 100 recruits do we have in football and basketball from Minnesota for the coming year? Right now, there are 3, at the most, NBA players from Minnesota. A quick check indicated only 20 NFL players, only 1 (Fitzgerald) considered a star. The point is we simply don't produce many top players in either basketball or football which obviously makes the job that much tougher.

Sorry for displaying this line of thinking, but this drive to keep changing coaches and now the A.D. is silly. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than a Rose Bowl and a Final Four. I really think I've got a decent chance but I'm not delusional about how tough it really is. Give his football coach a chance. Not like the other ones since Murray had great careers. He's got a basketball coach most people were thrilled to get. Let that play out too.

Maturi hung with Monson a year too long but there was also that 21 win season to give us hope before his team totally quit on him. I'll concede dithering on Mason, but, again, there was that mediocrity where it made it hard to know when to say enough. Not applauding his record, but Maturi has given me more hope than I had before he came.

Art, did they put you in the drive-thru window because you're so good with the customers?
Click to expand...

1. Clem's cheating invovled kids not doing their own work, this happens EVERYWHERE. The difference is we had a Gangelhoff and the vast majority of schools do not. You talk about this "identity of cheating and scandal", but NOBODY talks about this outside of Minnesota.

2. You sell the football players from Minnesota short. Larry Fitzgerald is a star, Matt Birk was a pro bowl center for years, Marion Barber has been an excellent RB. Is there a kid from Iowa playing RB or WR in the NFL? No.

3. All of these excuses you come up with could be applied to so many places: Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona, Utah, etc, etc.
 


EG#9 said:
1. Clem's cheating invovled kids not doing their own work, this happens EVERYWHERE. The difference is we had a Gangelhoff and the vast majority of schools do not. You talk about this "identity of cheating and scandal", but NOBODY talks about this outside of Minnesota.

2. You sell the football players from Minnesota short. Larry Fitzgerald is a star, Matt Birk was a pro bowl center for years, Marion Barber has been an excellent RB. Is there a kid from Iowa playing RB or WR in the NFL? No.

3. All of these excuses you come up with could be applied to so many places: Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Arizona, Utah, etc, etc.
Click to expand...

1. What a bunch of B.S. to say it happens everywhere. Fact is, Clem had some of his success because he took marginal students and cheated to keep them eligible. Minnesotans are the only people honest enough or naive enough to talk about cheating. Pretty pathetic.

2. One star football player produced about 5 years. Boy, you should be able to get to the Rose Bowl every year with that kind of talent from the state.

3. Yep, those places have had winners. Their programs also have been pretty cyclical. Maturi gets slammed for both football and basketball. Quite a few on your list are pretty poor in one of them.

My main point is we've been poor in football and had our share of putrid basketball years for a hell of a long time before Maturi arrived. To blame him for everything now doesn't take a lot of history and other factors into consideration. Your standards might so much higher because you're the ultimate competitor, but in the end, that outlook makes just as much of a difference as mine--which is none.
 

Without repeating facts I've stated many times, I'll just respond this way. I don't feel like Minnesota needs to be very good in both basketball and football for Maturi (or any A.D.) to get a passing grade. On the other hand, very few schools the size of Minnesota struggle in both football and basketball which has been the case under Maturi.
 

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