D1.ticker - News from Monday, November 14, 2016

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New 1.Question interview below: Dan Wolken - USA Today - Discussion on FB HC contracts

New St. John's AD Goff wants everyone associated with the Johnnies portfolio to "embrace excellence," "We’re going to win here. We’re going to win the right way. This isn’t just about returning to the glory days of the 80s when St. John’s was on top. This is about taking St. John’s to a whole another level that we’ve never seen before. I’m talking about winning BIG EAST Championships and competing for National Championships. That’s what we’re going to be about when I get here." Prez Gempesaw says he knew within the first five minutes of meeting Goff that he was the guy, VP for Administration, Secretary & General Counsel Oliva, who also oversaw Athletics in a temporary fashion, pointed to Goff as possessing all the traits & characteristics the university was looking for. (link); Here's the presser video. (link); Hartford Prez Harrison thanks Goff for his time with the Hawks, turns to Senior Advisor to the President for University Relations Carson to serve as Interim AD. A full search for a new boss will be conducted once the university completes a similar process to replace the retiring Harrison "in the coming months." (link)

Former Columbia Wrestling AC Taylor comments on the situation involving inappropriate messages by members of the Lions program & his perspective is even more interesting when you consider Taylor is the founder of the notable nonprofit focused on LGBT equality, Athlete Ally. Taylor says he spoke to the team from 2010-2014 on "the important role athletes play in either perpetuating or dismantling systems of bias and oppression." Says the developments "came as a chilling shock to me [...] It exposed an ugly underbelly I could have guessed was there but didn’t see. Maybe we were looking in the wrong places. Maybe our privilege blinded us. Maybe our vigilance pushed that kind of language out of the locker room and into cyberspace." Solutions, "...the wrestling program must pursue a path for deferential and humble listening across the communities most impacted by their comments. They must engage in difficult dialogue and learn to understand how their conduct relates to systemic oppression. They must take responsibility for not only what they have done today but also for the future bigotry they have enabled." More. (link)

Former Oregon AD & key Ducks booster Kilkenny hit the airwaves with OregonLive's Canzano yesterday afternoon & called the $10M per year price tag for a new FB HC thrown out by ESPN's Rovell "irresponsible journalism." Says Nike kingpin Knight hasn't mentioned such a figure or dynamic to "anyone living or dead." Points to Knight as focused first & foremost on culture & fully supportive of AD Mullens, "When I had the job I'm not sure I was capable of making those decisions and I certainly wouldn't undermine Rob Mullens, who's a brilliant, thoughtful, high-character AD who has a really tough job to do." (link)

Former Northwestern MBB student-athlete Vassar has filed a lawsuit against the university & NCAA on the grounds that he was pressured into exiting the Wildcats program based on NCAA rules. Notes a "campaign of harassment, pressure, and deception" that led to him exploring a transfer, also alleges NU offered a cash payment so he would "go away." HC Collins says he'll let the formalities play out behind closed doors. NU VP for University Relations Cubbage: "We do not believe this claim has any legal merit. We will defend the University vigorously." (link)

The Pete Garcia-Butch Davis tandem is back together again, as the former North Carolina & Miami FB HC has reportedly agreed to a five-year deal to become the next HC at Florida International. Davis will be returning to the Miami area where he went 51-20 while leading the Hurricanes from 1995-2000 & later recorded a 28-23 mark during his four years in Chapel Hill before he departed prior to the 2011 season while the Tar Heels were under NCAA investigation. (link)

In a move rumored late last week, Campbell makes it official by announcing it will join the Big South as a FB member in 2018. The football program will join the new conference ten years after Campbell brought it back as a sponsored sport following a 58-year hiatus and will move toward the full FCS scholarship allotment of 63. Prez Creed: "This is a natural progression to align most all of our teams among a great group of teams in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. We plan to be competitive from Day One." (link)

Missed this earlier in the month as Air Force AD Knowlton penned updates to his fanbase, "As you may have seen in the media, the Air Force Academy was a candidate for Big 12 conference membership in football. While the Big 12 decided not to expand from its 10-member institutions, we were honored to be one of the schools under consideration. The process helped us drill down and take a deeper look at who we are and how we do things. We will always remain true to our mission of producing leaders of character for our Air Force and nation. The entire Academy was involved, starting with the purposeful leadership of our Superintendent, Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, the Dean of Faculty Brig. Gen. Andrew Armacost, Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Stephen Williams and the entire USAFA enterprise. We are very proud of the Air Force Academy’s reputation on and off the fields of friendly strife and will continue to seek innovative and transformative opportunities to move the Academy forward." (link)

Arizona State & the Arizona Coyotes continue to work together on a potential new facility for the NHL club that would sit within close proximity to the Sun Devlis main campus in Tempe. The ~$400M, 16,000-seat building could also play home to ASU Hockey, Gymnastics & Wrestling. The Coyotes are currently working off a two-year agreement in Glendale, but need a future venue & Prez/CEO LeBlanc indicates he & Arizona State AD Anderson started talking about the joint home back in August of this year. Long way to go, but interesting developments. (link, link)

If studying other entertainment industries can uncover nuggets for moving college athletics forward, here's a good read from the Wall Street Journal on how Live Nation is trying to enhance its bottom line by leveraging VIP experiences & creating more alcohol options for concert goers. Live Nation is trying to push its spending per customer up to $30, the average for pro sports entities, from the current $22 mark. Smart phone integrations & upgrades, plus ambassadors in neon green shirts at events & trying to create faster concessions lines are all part of the strategy. Special Tito's vodka-lemonade served in Mason jars have been a hit. (link)

Trio of CFP articles: Yahoo's Forde says the Presidential election may be over, but politicking by programs in the mix for a Playoff berth certainly isn't. Outlines the arguments for a number of teams still in the mix. Points to Washington State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech & USC as those who could create even more chaos in the system. (link); CBSSports.com's Dodd says this could be the year a school that didn't even win its conference division could make the Playoff. (link); CBSSports.com's Solomon ranks the eight most important games left on the overall schedule, two of which, Louisville-Houston & Clemson-Wake Forest, will be played this week. (link)

For the first time ever, international enrollment in U.S. colleges & universities has exceeded 1M students, up 7% from last year & a double up from a decade earlier. China leads the pack with 328,547 studying in the States, India second with 165,918. Saudi Arabia, South Korea & Canada round out the top five. A number of leaders quoted in this WSJ piece believe the trend line could taper off with President-elect Trump headed to the White House. (link)

presented by Anthony Travel

Key sports industry voice & USF professor Sutton argues "soft skills" are few & far between for millennials entering the industry, "1. As technology usage and dependence increases, empathy and understanding decline; 2. As the amount of information expands and grows, attention spans decline; (and), 3. As options broaden, long-term commitment declines." Emphasizes strategies around the challenge, such as quality onboarding, strong mentoring programs, a "dress for success" clinic & personal development for every individual employee. "The key is to be proactively addressing the soft skills deficiencies; they won’t be going away any time soon and can become even more acute as new technological forms and innovations emerge." (link)

Former Texas A&M FC HC Slocum is probably one of the few people who can realistically say he understands what current Texas HC Strong is going through, plus adds some industry context. "Texas is a lot like A&M: They don't welcome eight-win seasons. I know better than that. They might accept an eight-win season but they justifiably have high expectations and we have high expectations. […] It probably is never as much progress as people want unless you win every game. ... We've become a lot like the National Football League. Up there there's one good team every year and it's the team that won the Super Bowl." (link)

News & Observer's DeCock pulls no punches in describing his view of Boston College as the punching bag of the ACC. Pointing out lack of championships relative to other schools that joined the league in the past decade, DeCock calls FB & MBB "...an anchor on the rest of the conference's ambitions" (with the latter being "basically an expansion team" that merely serves to drag down league RPI). Also, doesn't buy that BC's academics and TV market (which BC "doesn't actually deliver") outweigh that BC is a "...declining asset that's damaging the ACC brand." Doesn't see a way out for "at least a generation," and suggests the league set performance, attendance, and scheduling targets, similar to what the Big East did prior to parting ways with Temple. (link)

If Louisiana Tech is to host the Conference USA FB title tilt, it will have to be played at Independence Stadium in Shreveport with construction getting underway at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston. C-USA Commish MacLeod says the league is prepared for the game to be held in Shreveport: "It'd be a shame if they can't host at home if they earn that right. The people at Shreveport have been fantastic. We're having weekly meetings. I told (Tech athletic director) Tommy (McClelland), it would be you're [sic] the host. It's just in a different place. The cooperation has been really good. It will be different for us not having the home stadium, but I think there's a lot of opportunity there if that's the situation that occurs." (link)

Emails & comments from Oklahoma State Senior Assoc. AD & General Counsel Meyer review the process of fully vetting the NCAA football playing rules book to understand the Pokes last-second FB loss earlier this season to Central Michigan that was mired in officiating controversy. "Nothing like this ever goes into a courtroom. We were really not trying to make a case for how this shouldn’t have happened, but why it did happen. We could not find anything like this. I think that answers the question of why there are no rules to reverse something like this. It’s because it’s never happened." National FB Rules Secretary Redding says the situation was the only one he's ever seen of its kind. (link)

The election is over: Which could be one reason key NFL TV ratings were back up on Sunday. Per AdAge's Crupi: "We won't have Cowboys-Steelers finals til Tues a.m. but 17.8 overnight strongly suggests it'll finish north of 28M/16.0 HH for a season high." (link); More, from Fox Sports EVP Mulvihill, as cable news viewership was down 32% during Sunday afternoon & 44% during the primetime window. (link); Revenue was way up for the weekend movie slate, another indication citizens are starting to get out again. (link)

Duke MBB HC Krzyzewkski touches on a couple of macro topics as a new season has tipped. Emphasizes not doing too much with student-athletes this time of year as it's a long schedule, notes the challenge of building an "all in" culture & reviews how the system of instilling program values into freshmen has changed with one-and-dones. "You used to just have the upperclassmen spend most of the time teaching the underclassmen, and they were the best players. That’s not always the case now. However, on this year’s team, it is. […] this is an unusual year for us in that we not only have old, experienced good guys, but we have old, experienced good guys are also outstanding players, instead of being a good player." (link)

North Carolina MBB boss Williams was asked after his side's win over UT Chattanooga on Sunday if the role of lead guard Nate Britt was similar to how Duke used Quinn Cook back in 2015, "You know, I assure you that nobody has more respect for Duke and their program than I do, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pattern what we're doing after them. So let's get that straight right now. But they've been fantastic. I don't know if anybody's ever done a better job coaching than Mike. But we don't talk about things like that. But the difference is Quinn was a big-time scorer and an emotional leader, and a good defender. And Nate so far hasn't got the scoring, but guys do trust Nate." (link)

No more videoing by student-athletes in the Louisiana Lafayette FB locker room is one piece of the fallout from the inappropriate singing & dancing about President-elect Trump that recently surfaced. AD Farmer "...disturbed by the lewdness he saw on the video," says he & HC Hudspeth are on the same page moving forward. (link); Ragin' Cajun Athletic Foundation boss Harris says he fielded a number of calls from supporters after the incident became public, some say the reality would be a different reaction if FB's record was better this season. (link)

Northern Iowa has agreed to a multi-year partnership with TixCity that will run through 18-19 for secondary ticket market rights. An UNI Fan Exchange powered by TixCity will be created, which will provide Panther fans an "exclusive and safe marketplace" to buy and sell tickets to home FB and hoops games. The exchange will be launched this year during the MBB and WBB seasons. AD Harris: "This partnership will not only provide an excellent service to our loyal fans, it will also generate revenue for our department." (link)

Around Higher Ed: Cornell has selected Michigan Provost & EVP for Academic Affairs Pollack as its new Prez. Pollack will officially begin in Ithaca on April 17. (link); The Kansas Board of Regents will vote on a new Kansas State Prez this morning, still no word on who the winner will be or even who is in the mix. (link); Chair & co-Chair of Duke's Prez search comment on the process in Durham, expect to get down to an "Elite Eight" sometime later in the fall, likely to stick with candidates from inside higher ed. (link); Interesting Chronicle of Higher Ed read on how counties where flagship state universities are located voted in the Presidential election. (link)

Also noticed: MLB standout Price set to announce a key gift for Vanderbilt on Friday. (link); Illinois State pushing to add 400 new members, one for each Redbird student-athlete, to its Weisbecker Scholarship Fund. (link); Lehigh & Learfield ink PSECU to a multi-year "Official Credit Union" deal. No financial terms noted. (link); Quick video of how Ball State MBB is executing its starting lineup intros this season. (link); WSJ's Germano: "Under Armour's basketball shoe biz is slowing, w/ average selling prices down 22.5% so far in Nov, per Morgan Stanley + SportScan. Morgan Stanley thinks $UA basketball footwear sales must grow 70% y/y to meet Wall Street '17 sales goals; calls likelihood doubtful." (link, link); Nike set to release the self-lacing HyperAdapt shoes on December 1st. Price point: $720. (link); A prospective FB student-athlete goes with a mannequin challenge execution for his commitment to Arkansas. (link)

Long 1.Q with USA Today's Dan Wolken on his interesting tweets from Sunday arguing ADs commonly overdo guaranteed compensation in FB HC contract extensions. Wolken provides more context on his thoughts, including what he calls the "PR machine" of HCs, his belief that there are a number of quality HCs in the marketplace who can get the job done, a conversation with Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez when former Badgers HC Bielema exited for Arkansas, as well as a bit of commentary on ESPN's Rovell & his nonsensical report last week that Nike kingpin Knight said Oregon would pay $10M annually for a new HC & lots more. Listen by clicking the link. (link) (length - 22:48)

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(Posted from most recent over the last 30 days)

(NEW!) Annual Giving Associate (University of Michigan Athletic Department / Ann Arbor, MI): The Annual Giving Associate is a key member of the Development team providing vital support to our donor service needs through direct contact via phone, email, direct mail and in person. More details HERE.

Associate AD Business Operations (New Mexico State University Intercollegiate Athletics / Las Cruces, NM): Manages overall business & administrative affairs for a major university. Directs & oversees activities related to budgeting financial management, operations & programs & personnel administration.
More details HERE.

Athletic Motion Graphics Designer (University of Oklahoma - Norman / Norman, OK): OU Athletics is seeking a Motion Graphics Designer who will be responsible for utilizing After Effects & 3D software to produce videos, graphics, commercials, and big screen animations. More details HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director for Ticket Operations (University of Arkansas / Fayetteville, AR): The Asst Athletic Dir for Ticket Ops oversees the staff and day to day operations of the Athletic ticket office and box office for all athletic events. To apply: http://jobs.uark.edu/postings/17136. More details HERE.

General Managers & Account Executives (Peak Sports / Multiple Cities, USA): These positions are responsible for, yet not limited to, overseeing and executing the advertising, sponsorship, and corporate relationship building on behalf of the university. More details HERE.

Associate Vice President/Executive Director of Athletics (University of San Diego / San Diego, CA): The Athletic Director will lead and oversee all aspects of the athletic department, and ensure that it continues to uphold the values and mission of the University of San Diego. More details HERE.

Director, Corporate Partnership Services-External Relations (Stanford Athletics / Stanford, CA): Position will manage day-to-day sponsorship engagement activities and provide outstanding client service to Team Stanford elite level corporate sponsors. More details HERE.

Assistant Director of Athletic Giving for Athletics (Elon University / Elon, NC): Elon University is seeking a dynamic individual to serve as Assistant Director of Annual Giving for Athletics. More information can be found at https://elon.peopleadmin.com/postings/3835. More details HERE.

Director of Ticket Operations (Elon University / Elon, NC): The main job responsibility is to plan, organize and implement all activity related to box office, game day and season ticket sales for football, women’s basketball, men’s basketball and baseball. More details HERE.

Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and Student Services (IUPUI / Indianapolis, IN): Oversees IUPUI’s compliance with NCAA and Summit League legislation, and institutional policies. Ensures compliance monitoring systems operate effectively, assess eligibility of student athletes. More details HERE.

Business Manager (Boston University / Boston, MA): Oversees the athletic department budget, its business office and full-time staff members. Responsible for forecasting, revenue-generation strategies, and all income, expense and fundraising accounts. More details HERE.

Director – Business Development, Corporate Sponsorship Sales - University of North Carolina (Tar Heel Sports Properties - Learfield / Chapel Hill, NC): This role will build a high volume of new business and implement high-level corporate marketing partnerships, while also maintaining relationships with corporate partners and the athletic department. More details HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director for Major Gifts (Texas State University / San Marcos, TX): This position is responsible for strategically planning and implementing major and annual giving fundraising efforts by identifying, cultivating, and soliciting alumni and other key constituents. More details HERE.

Director of Athletics (Administrator III) / Student Affairs (California State University - San Bernardino - CSU) / San Bernardino, CA): Reporting to the VP for Student Affairs, the Athletics Dir is a member of the Div of Student Affairs Sr Mgmt Team and a larger leadership team. Please visit hrd.csusb.edu for more information. More details HERE.

Assistant Director of Development (Michigan State University, Spartan Fund / East Lansing, MI): Adding a talented fundraiser to an already dynamic Spartan Fund team. Focus will be on donors/prospects between annual and major gifts. Have to be a self starter and ready to get after it! More details HERE.

Development Associate (Stanford University / Stanford, CA): This position will provide support to the Buck/Cardinal Club fundraising program and activities while working with front-line fundraising staff, donors and volunteers. Job Code: 72771. More details HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director - Sport Administration (The University of Delaware / Newark, DE): All facets of sports administration for UD's 21 varsity athletics programs. Lead the creation, execution & metrics of success for varsity program’s vision planning strategy & ongoing assessments. More details HERE.

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