Long Q&A per STrib: Lou Nanne Q&A: There's no reason U of M can't compete

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BleedGopher

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per a really well done and long Q&A per Dennis Brackin:

Q: Where do you think Minnesota ranks in athletic facilities in the Big Ten?

A: [Big Ten Commissioner] Jim Delaney was just in town and met with my leadership council and he told us we’re last, which we knew. I’m not making it up. … I’m embarrassed by it, I’m embarrassed by the fact that we have so much going on in the state of Minnesota and we have great facilities for professional sports — which I love, I’m happy for that — but at the same time I see our students go and study in the hallways of Bierman, they don’t have enough room in the study hall, they’re eating on card tables and training tables, compared to the plush places these other schools have got. I see Northwestern raising $200 million for better facilities now. I see Texas A&M has [2012 Heisman Trophy winner] Johnny Manziel one year and they raise $550 million. I say, ‘What is this? We’re the state of Minnesota. This is our jewel.’

Q: So how did this happen? It didn’t happen overnight.

A: It was complacency. For too long, too often, we just took things as they are and no one really focused on the fact that we were falling behind. We just took things for granted and people don’t really realize when you’re successful in athletics, you raise more money for academics.

Q: There are going to be people that say Minnesota has competed well in many sports, especially the non-rev sports, and the key is the coach, not facilities. Why do we need it now?

A: First of all, non-rev sports are not going to drive the university. They’re not going to be able to exist if this continues. … We want to get to the position where we maintain what we’ve got in non-rev sports and continue to compete. … I’m a hockey guy but I’m not an idiot. I love hockey, but I know football is the most important athletic team at the University of Minnesota. The more successful they are, the more successful we are.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/240210971.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Go Gophers!!
 


Besides this effort why can't the U get the state leg. to at least fund a bb practice site? They are funding a St Pau Saints stadium aren't they???
 


Some good stuff from Nanne, but some of the questions that are asked by Brackin seem to be part of the problem in the way people think. Nick Saban makes a ton of money and spending on major college athletics is out of control. Guess what? Spending on major college athletics has been out of control for at least two decades. It's like that video interview with Maturi where he tries to claim things in college athletics changed during his tenure. A blind man could see that the revenue sports in college had been emphasized to a larger and larger degree and it's embarrassing that Maturi made little to no effort to adjust to a landscape that had started to change well before he was the AD. It seems to me like Minnesotan's are just very uncomfortable with the idea of big money in college sports. Do you want to compete or not? There is no "stand" to take here. Other schools created the new rules 20-30 years ago and Minnesota won't be consistently competitive if they don't play by them.

The other part of the Q&A that I found interesting was the "ask" part of the equation. The University of Minnesota has one of the larger alumni bases in the B1G and is located in one of the more affluent markets for business in the B1G as well. Why is it seen as such a struggle to raise money? Is it apathy over the fact that most alumni have never seen a quality football team and that basketball has been down for 15 years? So many alumni haven't experienced what it's like when Minnesota is "on the map" in football/basketball. Is it simply that the Minnesota type politeness makes it difficult to actually ask people for money? This seems to be at least part of the reason according to Nanne's own experience with being a donor. Is it simply the continued discomfort with money in college athletics?


A couple weeks ago I was researching what schools had basketball practice facilities and Arkansas just broke ground on a $25 million dollar practice facility. They are the last team in the SEC to have a basketball practice facility. There is much more interest in basketball at Minnesota than their is at the majority of schools in the SEC. Then I looked at Kansas State's facility which was brought about by a major donor from Rand Berney and wonder where our "Rand Berney" is. Do we just have T.Denny or are their others out there who could be courted to be a lead donor for a much needed practice facility?

We will see if this donation drive is successful or not, but it makes no sense to me (as an outsider) as to why you let your facilities slip to the bottom of the conference before even beginning to think about how to improve them. I do worry about the order in which things get done...the basketball practice facility needs to be priority #1 and the Gophers can't go with the starter kit unless a major renovation of Williams Arena is also part of the equation.
 



EG#9 said:
Some good stuff from Nanne, but some of the questions that are asked by Brackin seem to be part of the problem in the way people think. Nick Saban makes a ton of money and spending on major college athletics is out of control. Guess what? Spending on major college athletics has been out of control for at least two decades. It's like that video interview with Maturi where he tries to claim things in college athletics changed during his tenure. A blind man could see that the revenue sports in college had been emphasized to a larger and larger degree and it's embarrassing that Maturi made little to no effort to adjust to a landscape that had started to change well before he was the AD. It seems to me like Minnesotan's are just very uncomfortable with the idea of big money in college sports. Do you want to compete or not? There is no "stand" to take here. Other schools created the new rules 20-30 years ago and Minnesota won't be consistently competitive if they don't play by them.

The other part of the Q&A that I found interesting was the "ask" part of the equation. The University of Minnesota has one of the larger alumni bases in the B1G and is located in one of the more affluent markets for business in the B1G as well. Why is it seen as such a struggle to raise money? Is it apathy over the fact that most alumni have never seen a quality football team and that basketball has been down for 15 years? So many alumni haven't experienced what it's like when Minnesota is "on the map" in football/basketball. Is it simply that the Minnesota type politeness makes it difficult to actually ask people for money? This seems to be at least part of the reason according to Nanne's own experience with being a donor. Is it simply the continued discomfort with money in college athletics?


A couple weeks ago I was researching what schools had basketball practice facilities and Arkansas just broke ground on a $25 million dollar practice facility. They are the last team in the SEC to have a basketball practice facility. There is much more interest in basketball at Minnesota than their is at the majority of schools in the SEC. Then I looked at Kansas State's facility which was brought about by a major donor from Rand Berney and wonder where our "Rand Berney" is. Do we just have T.Denny or are their others out there who could be courted to be a lead donor for a much needed practice facility?

We will see if this donation drive is successful or not, but it makes no sense to me (as an outsider) as to why you let your facilities slip to the bottom of the conference before even beginning to think about how to improve them. I do worry about the order in which things get done...the basketball practice facility needs to be priority #1 and the Gophers can't go with the starter kit unless a major renovation of Williams Arena is also part of the equation.
Click to expand...

The answer to your question is choice. Arkansas doesn't have much outside of the Razorbacks for sports. Minnesota has four professional teams, along with lots of division one hockey.

Let's extrapolate on choice further. Minnesota has more entertainment options than Arkansas. Minnesota has high quality theatres, a formerly world-class orchestra, museums, etc. Arkansas doesn't.

In other words. Spending money on college sports is a decision to spend on entertainment. Minnesota has much more choice and variety of entertainment than Arkansas, so the spending of those dollars will not funnel as neatly into college athletics. This is a good thing, but it sucks if you're the U of M.

It's a difficult challenge to get the money spent on college athletics when it's not the only game in town, and the team isn't a hot ticket item because they aren't a powerhouse. You cannot compare other colleges with the U of M, because the dynamics are very different. It's much easier solving the money problem at most other universities than here.
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
In other words. Spending money on college sports is a decision to spend on entertainment. Minnesota has much more choice and variety of entertainment than Arkansas, so the spending of those dollars will not funnel as neatly into college athletics. This is a good thing, but it sucks if you're the U of M.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with your post, but it would also seem that a pretty vibrant community like the Twin Cities would have many more "choices" as it pertains to potential donors - corporate or individual - than a town like Fayetteville, Arkansas would be blessed with. A much bigger pool of dollars to draw from, perhaps.
 

golfing18now said:
I don't disagree with your post, but it would also seem that a pretty vibrant community like the Twin Cities would have many more "choices" as it pertains to potential donors - corporate or individual - than a town like Fayetteville, Arkansas would be blessed with. A much bigger pool of dollars to draw from, perhaps.
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True, but you're more likely to get government financing if you're a school like Arkansas. Moreover, it only takes one person with big dollars to get the ball rolling. Most big universities have a few hundred thousand alumni, and a few of them are going to be very wealthy. So, having a bigger pool to draw from isn't all that it's cracked up to be if a school can convince one wealthy person to donate. Or if said wealthy person decides to write a check without even being asked.
 



Need to just come clean and re-calibrate:

"Sorry we came out with that crazy nonsense $190MM talk. That was dumb. We're going after government money and private donors. Our first priority is a basketball practice facility and some upgrades for football. Help."
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Need to just come clean and re-calibrate:

"Sorry we came out with that crazy nonsense $190MM talk. That was dumb. We're going after government money and private donors. Our first priority is a basketball practice facility and some upgrades for football. Help."
Click to expand...

So what you are saying is they have about a 2% chance of raising $190 million?
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
The answer to your question is choice. Arkansas doesn't have much outside of the Razorbacks for sports. Minnesota has four professional teams, along with lots of division one hockey.

Let's extrapolate on choice further. Minnesota has more entertainment options than Arkansas. Minnesota has high quality theatres, a formerly world-class orchestra, museums, etc. Arkansas doesn't.

In other words. Spending money on college sports is a decision to spend on entertainment. Minnesota has much more choice and variety of entertainment than Arkansas, so the spending of those dollars will not funnel as neatly into college athletics. This is a good thing, but it sucks if you're the U of M.

It's a difficult challenge to get the money spent on college athletics when it's not the only game in town, and the team isn't a hot ticket item because they aren't a powerhouse. You cannot compare other colleges with the U of M, because the dynamics are very different. It's much easier solving the money problem at most other universities than here.
Click to expand...

In 2012, Minnesota was 24th in the nation in attendance, averaging 13,241 per game while Arkansas was 29th, averaging 11,884. In 2012, Arkansas was in the top 25 while Minnesota just missed out on the top 30. Most years, Minnesota ranks in the top 25 in attendance despite a lackluster non-conference schedule and an unacceptable lack of success post-Haskins. The interest in Minnesota basketball is documented. While their is certainly more to do in the Twin Cities, their is also a greater number of people to draw from. It should be noted that Arkansas outdraws every SEC team outside of UT and Vanderbilt. The Gophers outdraw the vast majority of the SEC (and about half the B1G) yet are still looking for their practice facility.

The Twin Cities area is much more affluent than many of the areas where these other schools are located that have the advantage of being the only game in town. I also think their is quite a bit of difference between dollars spent on "entertainment" such as NFL, NBA, College Sports, Theater, Concerts, etc and dollars spent on donations.

I do think "choice" is part of the equation, but I don't think it has to do with other entertainment options available to Minnesotans. I think it has to do with choosing to donate to charities, church, political campaigns, etc as opposed to donating money to fund athletic success at Minnesota. I think it's not something many people feel good about doing and/or are naive to the value of things like practice facilities and upgraded study areas.
 




<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Nebraska coach Tim Miles said <a href="https://twitter.com/GoldenGopherAD">@GoldenGopherAD</a> has been up to see the Huskers' bball facilities six times, so "he and I are best friends."</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/425310334279102465">January 20, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Miles thinks the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> need and will get a basketball practice facility. Talked about it helping in Nebraska's player development.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/425316997161693184">January 20, 2014</a></blockquote>
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