"We aint got no money "

[TheOriginalCane]

I’m referring to the full tuition being charged as an expense to the program. There is significant incremental margin. Allocating full tuition cost is not representative of the contribution margin generated by football.

OK, that makes some sense, I guess. For instance, if you had two schools with identical revenue, but one was a private school and one was a public school, it would look like the private school has bigger expenses, all due to tuition differential.

On the other hand, I think that UM has had to raise a LOT more money to endow scholarships than, say, Clemson or F$U. Meaning...all that fund-raising by Beta Blake goes more heavily to scholarships than facilities. Which does suck.

 

[Salsa]

Are you ******* kidding me? BETA BLAKE HAD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DORMS. That is a UM-only expenditure that has been in the planning phase long before Beta Blake became AD.

And tell me more about those other items.

The IPF? Sure, a member of our Board of Trustees gave $14 million. Another alum, Robert Finizio, gave $3 million. Another alum, some guy by the name of Mark Richt, gave $1 million. At the point where Beta Blake made UM a laughingstock by starting a GoFundMe campaign, we had raised just shy of $30 million, and he begged the alums for another $5 million. I realize the reported "price" of the IPF was $40 million, which means that UM kicked in the other $5 million. So that means that nearly 2/3 of Beta Blake's LARGEST capital campaign was paid for by 3 people, one a Trustee and one our Head Coach.

The adidas deal? Again, are you ******* kidding me? That isn't "fund-raising". If you think Miami was going to go for 10 or 15 years without SOMEBODY paying us for an apparel deal then, sure, we should give all the credit to Beta Blake. The reality is that we lost the Nike deal on Beta Blake's watch. Miami was the FIRST UNIVERSITY that Nike EVER did an all-apparel deal with. Our AD should have figured out a way to negotiate a new deal based on the longtime relationship.

Hard Rock Stadium deal? What are you talking about? Is this fund-raising? Do we have some actual choice in football stadiums and Hard Rock appreciates the fact that Miami chose HRS? Can you tell me exactly what Beta Blake did and how should get credit for whatever revenue you are referencing?

I'm not defending him at all. I'm just guessing what it is about Blake James that the board is in love with.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I'm not defending him at all. I'm just guessing what it is about Blake James that the board is in love with.

Right, and I'm not mad at you personally, I'm just using some sarcastic outrage to highlight that most of those items have nothing to do with Beta Blake's mythical fund-raising prowess.

I am dumbstruck as to how anyone on the BOT could be under the misunderstanding related to Beta Blake's operational management (running a deficit) or fund-raising management (bringing in a fraction of what our primary competition in the ACC is).

 

[Fluffhead]

100%.

This is the DEADLY circular logic. We have already established that nearly every one of the "regular" and "emeritus" Trustees got their roles via multi-million contributions. And for 8.5 years, I have railed against Beta Blake's focus on large donations and premium seating options.

But then, when it comes time for the BOT to "evaluate" Beta Blake, they think "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job". Why? Because there is a dangerous group-think that equates multi-million donations with "success". And viewed in that kind of a lens, then, sure, the BOT thinks Beta Blake is doing a heck of a job.

By the way, this perception, and this perception-becomes-reality, is reinforced by Miami being an expensive private school. Yes, we need the multi-million contributions to hit Tad Foote's and Donna Shalala's fund-raising campaign goals. I get it. But we need to change that approach when it comes to Athletics. The financial support for Athletics is MOST impacted by (a) the popularity of our teams, and [DUH] (b) winning. We need an AD who sees the most target-rich areas of "potential UM Athletics donor" as being everyone in Dade-Broward-Palm Beach, and not just "multi-millionaire households".

Sadly, the only UM sport that continues to pursue "the little guy" fan is UM Baseball. The milkshakes. The hot dogs. The "bottled wah-tah". The low ticket price. Yes, we should try to build more seating, now that UM finally has some parking garages.

But in all other respects, Beta Blake is trying to chase whales, while all the other Hurricane-fan fish swim away.

Has our athletic department done a wide-scale fundraising campaign similar to the Momentums? I don't recall seeing this but I also tend to delete any email our athletic department sends. If the answer is no, like I think it is, then the question is why. Is the school not wanting to cannibalize donations to the larger endowment? Is Blake that useless? While comparing Miami to Georgia is apples to oranges, you can't even begin the conversation if we are not doing athletic focused capital campaigns and giving ourselves a fighting chance.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Has our athletic department done a wide-scale fundraising campaign similar to the Momentums? I don't recall seeing this but I also tend to delete any email our athletic department sends. If the answer is no, like I think it is, then the question is why. Is the school not wanting to cannibalize donations to the larger endowment? Is Blake that useless? While comparing Miami to Georgia is apples to oranges, you can't even begin the conversation if we are not doing athletic focused capital campaigns and giving ourselves a fighting chance.

The primary "campaigns" that the Athletic Department has done in my memory (since enrolling in 1986) were for the basketball arena and the IPF. That's it. There has never been a wider-scale "campaign" to raise money. Endowed scholarships have been one-offs (one donor gives the money and the scholarship is endowed in his/her name). [EDIT]: I do know that when the Athletic Department wanted to raise money for the basketball arena (Foote era for the aborted "Ryder Center" and Shalala era for the eventual BankUnited Center), they were given some tough constraints due to the ongoing Momentum campaigns.

Also, in a slight defense of UM, we haven't "needed" to do as much facilities fund-raising, because we have used the Orange Bowl/Hard Rock, and the Knight Center/Miami Arena for hoops, for the vast majority of our history. When you look at what other schools do with capital campaigns, it is OFTEN heavily weighted towards football stadium expansion/renovation.

So for OUR fund-raising NEEDS:

Pro - don't have to raise much money for facilities, most of what we need is already built (basketball, baseball) or not owned by us (football); also, we do not need to pay to MAINTAIN a football stadium.

Con - we have to raise a ton of money to endow/fund athletic scholarships at private-school-tuition rates.

Non-responsive - we seem to be doing nothing to supplement the Athletic Department payroll for "new age" employees, particularly those analysts/consultants/supplemental staff that support football.

 

[Cane6]

And yet Clemson's still getting more bang for the buck.

Which option would be better for the Canes: Miami's current staff or Dabo with a bunch of unpaid volunteer assistants?

Bingo

Cost and Value are two different things

Manny cost - 2021 New Honda Pilot
Manny value - used 1993 Geo Metro

Dabo cost - 2021 BMW 7 series
Dabo value - 2021 BMW 7 series

 

[Fluffhead]

The primary "campaigns" that the Athletic Department has done in my memory (since enrolling in 1986) were for the basketball arena and the IPF. That's it. There has never been a wider-scale "campaign" to raise money. Endowed scholarships have been one-offs (one donor gives the money and the scholarship is endowed in his/her name). [EDIT]: I do know that when the Athletic Department wanted to raise money for the basketball arena (Foote era for the aborted "Ryder Center" and Shalala era for the eventual BankUnited Center), they were given some tough constraints due to the ongoing Momentum campaigns.

Also, in a slight defense of UM, we haven't "needed" to do as much facilities fund-raising, because we have used the Orange Bowl/Hard Rock, and the Knight Center/Miami Arena for hoops, for the vast majority of our history. When you look at what other schools do with capital campaigns, it is OFTEN heavily weighted towards football stadium expansion/renovation.

So for OUR fund-raising NEEDS:

Pro - don't have to raise much money for facilities, most of what we need is already built (basketball, baseball) or not owned by us (football); also, we do not need to pay to MAINTAIN a football stadium.

Con - we have to raise a ton of money to endow/fund athletic scholarships at private-school-tuition rates.

Non-responsive - we seem to be doing nothing to supplement the Athletic Department payroll for "new age" employees, particularly those analysts/consultants/supplemental staff that support football.

I think you raise some fair points, though maybe updating the locker room and baseball facilities wouldn't have been such a to-do if they proactively collected. My bigger concern is if the school is telling the AD that they are not allowed to do their own campaigns in fear that it will take money out of the bigger pot.

However, I don't recall Frenk doing one in his entire time here. I think the last one was Momentum2, which ended in 2015. Even if they wanted a cool off period after the two large campaigns, that was a long time ago and in the middle of one of the hottest stock market runs in history, plus a booming Miami attracting more money and companies. I am still not sure what anyone is doing in Coral Gables to warrant collecting a paycheck. This is just another example of that.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I think you raise some fair points, though maybe updating the locker room and baseball facilities wouldn't have been such a to-do if they proactively collected.

Completely agree. Where did the Hurricane Club money go, and how much does a freaking locker room cost?

My bigger concern is if the school is telling the AD that they are not allowed to do their own campaigns in fear that it will take money out of the bigger pot.

However, I don't recall Frenk doing one in his entire time here. I think the last one was Momentum2, which ended in 2015. Even if they wanted a cool off period after the two large campaigns, that was a long time ago and in the middle of one of the hottest stock market runs in history, plus a booming Miami attracting more money and companies. I am still not sure what anyone is doing in Coral Gables to warrant collecting a paycheck. This is just another example of that.

Completely agree. I can't make sense of a world where Frenk fires the law school dean for "fund-raising" when he has not done any significant fund-raising campaign of his own.

Maybe it's all that competition from FIU and FAU fund-raisers. I say that sarcastically, of course. Miami should have a MAJOR advantage over all of the state schools in Florida in that...we just don't NEED as many buildings. We are a small private school. We don't offer every major under the sun. One would think that the FIUs and FAUs of the world are way more desperate for donor money than UM is.

More importantly, if someone is keen to make a donation to UM Athletics...why would UM think that they are indifferent as to where the money goes? As if, I get a phone call for UM Athletics, and I'm all set to write a check for $5,000....and then I get a call from Momentum 3...and IF ONLY I hadn't written the check to Athletics, I would have CERTAINLY donated to Momentum 3.

Give me a fvckin' break Tad and Donna...

 

[TemplarCane]

 

[TheOriginalCane]

 

[hoops156]

Bingo

Cost and Value are two different things

Manny cost - 2021 New Honda Pilot
Manny value - used 1993 Geo Metro

Dabo cost - 2021 BMW 7 series
Dabo value - 2021 BMW 7 series

its basically accurate except id say dabos original costs were far less than what he is paid now. they were just the exception

 

[SayWhat]

I'm not even sure what your post means, or if you know what your post means.

I have already pointed out that our lack of an on-campus stadium takes an enormous financial albatross off our backs. I'm not proud of that, but it's financial fact.

And our basketball and baseball facilities are pretty much done, though they would benefit from additional seating capacity.

But UM is not just losing the "facilities arms race", we are also losing the "analytical analysts" arms race, the "supplemental staff" arms race, the "consultants" arms race. And if we are STUCK with our current ACC annual payout and our current annual adidas payout and our ticket revenue is pretty stagnant (ticket prices haven't gone up a lot, and we STILL don't sell out), then the additional revenue needs to come from the booster club.

So if you hired ONE HUNDRED people at an average salary of $100K (and, yes, a couple of consultants would cost more, but the 22 year old stats analysts would cost less), then you are talking about $10 million per year.

Which would require the Hurricane Club to double its revenue from the recent $11 million per year number. But it also would not require us to match Clemson's $76.3 million haul from its IPTAY booster club.

Who says they have to change? Yeah, you're right, there's no reason to change. Let's just keep doing what we are doing, it has worked out sooooo well.

It's rather simple and you made a mountain out of a molehill.

There is nothing that says anything has to change. Athletics are as important as those holding the purse strings deem them to be.

Fans want the best of everything, highlt compensated coaches and staff, etc.

They've committed to this level of a program at our current money out level, nothing says they have to change. There isn't some treasure chest just waiting to be spent. It is what it is.

 

[SayWhat]

Football program success is highly correlated with rising academic ranking and revenues in general. They don’t need to look very far to see evidence of this fact… they just need to step outside.

Like any university, UM could rely on donations. The same group of 123,000 donors who raised 1.6 billion a few years ago, could probably come up with the few million needed to get a legit staff. Someone’s just gotta ask. Luckily we have the worlds foremost fundraiser in the athletic department.

It's not just that simple. Let's dump a ton of money into athletics and we'll see this big return on our investment. There's a ton of schools out there who spend more than we do and their academic profile is still well below ours. You can see that in state schools alone.

You don't think they're trying to get more money for athletics? They're just sitting around with their thumb up their butt? There's likely more donors who don't care about football and such than those that do. I'd bet the vast majority see it as a short term and rather useless venture that benefits very few in the student body.

 

[1mg of Epi]

It's not just that simple. Let's dump a ton of money into athletics and we'll see this big return on our investment. There's a ton of schools out there who spend more than we do and their academic profile is still well below ours. You can see that in state schools alone.

You don't think they're trying to get more money for athletics? They're just sitting around with their thumb up their butt? There's likely more donors who don't care about football and such than those that do. I'd bet the vast majority see it as a short term and rather useless venture that benefits very few in the student body.

There’s likely way more big time donors who don’t care about football, but with the difference between a good staph and an elite one being $5-6M, not that many are needed.

I haven’t seen anything for the AD here lately, Thst doesn’t mean anything tho. If I’m wrong, and there has been, then we can all just resign ourselves to a middling ACC team.

 

[OrangeBowlCane]

OK, that makes some sense, I guess.

Misplaced priorities. They hired Christy Chirinos for some reason when they could have used the $ to hire a couple CS reps to answer the phone

 

[hoops156]

Completely agree. Where did the Hurricane Club money go, and how much does a freaking locker room cost?





Completely agree. I can't make sense of a world where Frenk fires the law school dean for "fund-raising" when he has not done any significant fund-raising campaign of his own.

Maybe it's all that competition from FIU and FAU fund-raisers. I say that sarcastically, of course. Miami should have a MAJOR advantage over all of the state schools in Florida in that...we just don't NEED as many buildings. We are a small private school. We don't offer every major under the sun. One would think that the FIUs and FAUs of the world are way more desperate for donor money than UM is.

More importantly, if someone is keen to make a donation to UM Athletics...why would UM think that they are indifferent as to where the money goes? As if, I get a phone call for UM Athletics, and I'm all set to write a check for $5,000....and then I get a call from Momentum 3...and IF ONLY I hadn't written the check to Athletics, I would have CERTAINLY donated to Momentum 3.

Give me a fvckin' break Tad and Donna...

lorckerrooms aren't cheap and I believe when the last Reno was done (or one of the previous ones when the rock got it named after himself), he gave 1 millions towards the specific campaign for the locker room Renos

In October of 2007, former Miami Hurricanes football player Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson donated $1 million to the Football Facilities Renovation Fund,

 

[TheOriginalCane]

It's rather simple and you made a mountain out of a molehill.

There is nothing that says anything has to change. Athletics are as important as those holding the purse strings deem them to be.

Fans want the best of everything, highlt compensated coaches and staff, etc.

They've committed to this level of a program at our current money out level, nothing says they have to change. There isn't some treasure chest just waiting to be spent. It is what it is.

Thanks for clarifying, Blake.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Misplaced priorities. They hired Christy Chirinos for some reason when they could have used the $ to hire a couple CS reps to answer the phone

Hey, no picking on Christy, she's a friend from my undergrad days. We've always had people in SID, that's never going to change.

We need to increase the overall payroll. Hire more people to do all of the work. And, yes, you seem to have the same phone calling experiences that I've had.

I think I said something like "we're acting like it's still the 80s", but it's actually worse than that. At least in the 80s, we knew that our football and baseball teams were getting a lot better and we reinstated basketball, so we hired MORE people to work in the Hecht than we formerly employed in the 70s.

We are actually acting like it's still the 70s. Complete with a "sub-.500-for-the-decade" football mentality.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

lorckerrooms aren't cheap and I believe when the last Reno was done (or one of the previous ones when the rock got it named after himself), he gave 1 millions towards the specific campaign for the locker room Renos

In October of 2007, former Miami Hurricanes football player Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson donated $1 million to the Football Facilities Renovation Fund,

OK, fair enough. But as I pointed out, in one year the Hurricane Club brought in $11 million, and they easily could have spent 10% of that on locker room renovations.

I'm not sure why UM acts like it's Depression-poor, while simultaneously bragging on the fund-raising abilities of Beta Blake.

You know what guarantees that we won't raise enough funds to pay for what we want/need? NOT ASKING FOR IT.

 

[mdpcane]

Bingo

Cost and Value are two different things

Manny cost - 2021 New Honda Pilot
Manny value - used 1993 Geo Metro

Dabo cost - 2021 BMW 7 series
Dabo value - 2021 BMW 7 series