Originally posted by Ole Cabbagehead:
Originally posted by TonyLieske:
If donors and sponsors ponied up >50% of the cost of a new practice facility, I think they would have a legitimate gripe with the school. I don't know if they would be enough, but it would certainly get me on the "side" of the "practice facility now!" proponents. I would go so far as to say I would happily match my normal donation specifically to such a fund, if it existed.
The other thing I will address is that that while Barchi will certainly have a say in where this issue goes, IMHO it is up to Julie Hermann to lead this process, not Barchi. He should be 99% focused on the academic side IMHO. Tht is the whole reason why we have an athletic director.
And I will give JH some props in that the organizational changes she has made SEEM to be focused on improving the fundraising ability of the department. I think one difference between myself and some others is that I believe it takes time to develop a donor base. It isn't going to happen in a year or two. She needs to make progress each year, but it could easily be 5+ years before she lands a whale.
Second, Rutgers has no business acting like a Big Ten team from a spending standpoint at this point in time. Rutgers is making the same money as it made in the Big East, and will for the next 4 years. Rutgers is not generating revenue like a Big Ten team, so why should anyone expect Rutgers to spend like one. When the money comes, the spending should increase, and I will be the first to lose my mind if it doesn't. But right now, all of these criticisms about Rutgers acting small-time are premature. We ARE small time. We are currently Big Ten in name only.
Just wanted to highlight those 2 points as I don't think the process of "maturing" into a B10 athletic program will be quick or easy as everyone would like. It sucks I know but that's just the way it is. It's going to take time on all fronts. Like I've said many times, it took Louisville a decade to become what they turned into, it didn't happen overnight.
I've also said it before but I'm not sure how much it's filtered into the collective conscious of the board. From a report I saw last year online, our B10 money isn't going to take any appreciable jumps from our last year in the AAC until about the 2018-2019. Unless something has changed, it's basically going to be about 10-11.5M for the next few years and then a jump to 15M, 20M, 25M and 35M for a projected full share. I'd guess some time in the late spring early summer we'll find out officially what our revenue from the B10 was in our first year.
As to landing the whale, I agree that too will take time unless we get lucky. People don't just hand over large sums of money at a drop of hat and relationships have to be built. We've seen how poorly we've fundraised as a school in general, forget about the AD itself. I've always said it's widening the donor pool to unassociated locals/businesses and disinterested alums is key and developing those new relationships takes time.
People like the Towers are exactly the type we need. No association to the school and still donated to the local school. We need more stories like them. I know people have always wondered about Bernie Marcus but I've kind of wondered about Woody Johnson. His family heritage is part of the history of New Brunswick and we know he likes sports to some degree, seems like a natural fit. Somewhat like Marcus, a Home Depot founder, donated a 300M aquarium in Atlanta where HD's headquarters are. Not sure how philanthropic Johnson is to these types of causes though. It might sound stupid and far fetched but I think thoughtful writing campaigns to those types and locals like them is a much more fruitful strategy than anything directed at politicians looking to create bluster but don't take much action in the end.
