Big STrib story: Maturi's Constant Storm

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Does the the Trib still have a print version? Who knew...
 

I read it this morning. Strong quotes from former players blasting him. He comes across as a guy who cares a ton for his people, but just might not have what it takes to run a big time program. Too concerned for the little guy, and wont sacrifice the minor sports for the major ones. Not that I think he is a bad guy or anything, but I think most big time athletic departments put the mens BB and FB teams on their own pedestals.
 


Thought it was a well-written piece. Shows both sides. It hit on the key issues.

Honestly, I don't know why Joel wants to continue as AD. It's not worth all the flak. With the nice salary & benefits that go with being a big-time AD, retirement would sound pretty good to me. I don't agree with everything he has done by any stretch, but I think he's been a big part of some real positive things for the U (most notably merging a splintered Athletics department, bringing in Tubby, TCF Bank Stadium), and just as importantly I think he's a good man. That's still important in my book.
 


SelectionSunday said:
Thought it was a well-written piece. Shows both sides. It hit on the key issues.

Honestly, I don't know why Joel wants to continue as AD. It's not worth all the flak. With the nice salary & benefits that go with being a big-time AD, retirement would sound pretty good to me. I don't agree with everything he has done by any stretch, but I think he's been a big part of some real positive things for the U (most notably merging a splintered Athletics department, bringing in Tubby, TCF Bank Stadium), and just as importantly I think he's a good man. That's still important in my book.
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I think you are right about the positive things about Joel. It certainly seems that he is a great human being. The problem is that he gives the impression that (real or imagined), because of his egalitarian approach to all the sports that he has a bit of a minor league attitude toward the big sports. There's a lot to be said for treating each athlete equal regardless of the sport and truly each kid is important. But the reality is that you have to go big time in football and basketball in order to make the whole thing successful. 13th in the directors cup may be his goal but the average fan out there doesn't give a rip about the directors cup and would rather see a major league football operation.

At the end of the day, if your big sports are successful then you may not have much of a money issue for the minor sports and you may have to go to the well a little less often for donations.
 

bga1 said:
At the end of the day, if your big sports are successful then you may not have much of a money issue for the minor sports. ...
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I agree. For better or worse, football & men's basketball at big-time schools are the windows to a university. If they're consistently successful and/or winning big (which obviously we aren't), the alumni are happy. And if the alumni are happy, they'll be more inclined to reach into their pockets for a few extra bucks. I'm all for the Director's/Sears Cup (whatever it's called) & everything, I'd rather the U be highly ranked than toward the bottom, but in all honesty that rings hollow with me unless the Gophers are a legitimate factor in football & men's basketball.

Do you think George Mason's annual fund-raising took a big spike the year(s) after they went to the Final Four?
 

I had the pleasure of running into Joel last year at the B10 Tourney in Indy. I was wearing Purdue gear, but I quickly mentioned that I was from Minnesota and I went to the Gophers-Boilers game at TCF in the fall. I said I had a great time and the stadium is great, Joel couldn't have been nicer to me.

He deserves more credit than he is getting. He merged 2 athletic departments into one(I believe the only 2 schools that still haven't combined departments are Texas and Tennessee), he half hired, half fell into a National Championship winning basketball coach, built maybe the nicest college stadium in America, won multiple NC's in hockey, etc. When people look back on his tenure at Minnesota they will say he wasn't as bad as we thought he was.

With that said if I was running the U I would have a hard time justifying extending his contract. While he accomplished all those things the Women's basketball team has risen and tanked, the hockey team has missed the NCAA tourney(which in Minnesota is unacceptable), has struggled to gain funding for 2 much needed facilities, and worst of all(in people's mind) hired Tim Brewster.

At the end of the day an athletic director is a lot like a QB, they get to much credit when things are going well, and receive too much blame when things aren't.
 




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