Article: What direction will the Gophers take?

Tater

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Not sure if Bleed posted this already or not, but I found it interesting re: Maturi's AD salary in comparison to Alvarez's. Anyone know what other ADs in the B1G make?

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/139050234.html

I'm not thrilled about Maturi sticking around. Even so, I also realize that keeping him around may be a shrewd move by Kaler to use Maturi to shore up fundraising dollars for the atheletic department, at a relatively cheap rate.

As long as Maturi stays behind the scenes raising money and doesn't make any public statements (i.e. flubs), I'm okay with it. Supposedly he was a good bean counter and certain boosters do really like him.

Put it this way, if we get a new AD for $700,000-ish per year, we'll basically have two individuals working to shore up atheletics at the same cost as one AD at UW.
 

If our tag team can achieve comparable results; it's a win.
 

GoodasGold said:
If our tag team can achieve comparable results; it's a win.

Agreed. As much as I want Maturi to just go away, it appears that Kaler may know what he is doing here.
 


I'd be happy to pay what Wisconsin is paying if we could get the kind of football and basketball success that Wisconsin is getting.
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I'd be happy to pay what Wisconsin is paying if we could get the kind of football and basketball success that Wisconsin is getting.

Sounds like a chicken and egg problem...

I'd say if we want to compete with the big boys we have to start investing like them.
 

Sounds like a chicken and egg problem...

I'd say if we want to compete with the big boys we have to start investing like them.

I recognize we have to buy the chicken to get the egg, but if we pay for a chicken and don't get any eggs out of it, I'll still be pretty upset.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I recognize we have to buy the chicken to get the egg, but if we pay for a chicken and don't get any eggs out of it, I'll still be pretty upset.

I don't think we're far apart here. It is kind of like the practice facility issue. Nobody relishes spending millions on a gym or new AD, but it's necessary to develop a successful program.

Better to shoot for the stars and miss than aim for a cheap POS and hit.
 

I recognize we have to buy the chicken to get the egg, but if we pay for a chicken and don't get any eggs out of it, I'll still be pretty upset.
Well, we have the hen. If Kaler can hire a bonafide rooster then we should start getting some eggs.
 




I usually have respect for Hunt as a writer, and I can see his point about how UW shouldn't be completely oblivious to what we're doing with our AD situation, but he doesn't have anywhere near the information he should to write that article accurately. I know he's referring to the programs in general over recent years, but this sentence looks especially bad given the article's timing:

"Even the famed Minnesota hockey program has been slipping while Wisconsin's remains anywhere from steady to great."

Gophers: 19-11-1, Ranked #7 in the country. Ranked in the top 5 a good chunk of the season.
Badgers: 12-14-2, 0 votes.

When I looked at the article's comments, I expected a bunch of Becky fans to make stupid comments about how much they own Minnesota. I was definitely pleasantly surprised by the level-headedness of people who are likely Badger fans.

Brewcrew1974's post was my favorite: "I know the Badgers are in good shape, but honestly, this article seems like simply taking advantage of an opportunity to rip on our MN neighbors. I didn't know that the Badgers have "for years" taken the best players from MN. I'm curious what football players chose UW over UM. I understand that the basketball team currently has 3 or 4 very good players from Minnesota, but from my recollection, the Gophers actually got what were considered to be (at the time) much higher rated top recruits from MN in Royce White, Rodney Williams, Trevor Mbakwe etc.

Also- umm i think the gopher hockey team has been ranked number 1 nationally for much of the year this year."


See, guys? They're not all idiots.
 

Re: Maturi

Sure hope Joel continues to show up at athletic functions and do his "We Are Minnesota" cheer; that's worth 450K right there.
 

Brewcrew1974's post was my favorite: "I know the Badgers are in good shape, but honestly, this article seems like simply taking advantage of an opportunity to rip on our MN neighbors. I didn't know that the Badgers have "for years" taken the best players from MN. I'm curious what football players chose UW over UM. I understand that the basketball team currently has 3 or 4 very good players from Minnesota, but from my recollection, the Gophers actually got what were considered to be (at the time) much higher rated top recruits from MN in Royce White, Rodney Williams, Trevor Mbakwe etc.

Also- umm i think the gopher hockey team has been ranked number 1 nationally for much of the year this year."

Since 2005, Brewcrew forgot about Brandon Hoey, Kim Royston, Isaac Anderson, David Gilreath, Blake Sorenson, Brendan Kelly, Joe Schafer, Casey Dehn, Beau Allen, and Tyler Marz. All from Minnesota and with Minnesota offers.
 



It's interesting to note that some in Minnesota are saying that Maturi made too much money.

I don't think too many people were saying he was paid too much as an AD. Many are against his pay at his upcoming new position.
 

I don't think too many people were saying he was paid too much as an AD. Many are against his pay at his upcoming new position.
People that are against his pay in his new position must not understand his new position. He's going to bring in more money than he earns.
 

People that are against his pay in his new position must not understand his new position. He's going to bring in more money than he earns.

Either way, I was just pointing out another way in which the article is wrong.
 

Mike Hunt... often says strange things.

He's going to bring in more money than he earns.

?? That isn't directly relevant to the pay structure. If you argue that him being here will "bring in" an incremental amount compared to what would have otherwise been coming to the 'U' and that incremental amount exceeds the cost of his employment, etc... then you may be able to argue that his position pays for itself... but that doesn't properly rationalize the salary proposed for the next fiscal year.
 




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