Did hiring Niko move the donor needle? Some insight from DTA

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I will say DTA ran a big fundraising campaign for football and volleyball in the summer/fall. Unless I missed it, I don't recall such a thing for basketball. I think they knew it was fruitless to do so for the DOA basketball program. Now that there is a legitimate coach in place, this should really help donations.
 

TheRealUncleRico said:
Not sure if it’s true or not, but a good friend of mine has a buddy who works in the gopher athletic department. He said both Ben and Fleck complain about not having enough money for their programs. He said the difference is Fleck spent 3 straight weeks having breakfast, lunch, and dinner with different prospective donors to raise more money and Ben refused to do anything like that.
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If true Ben got what he deserved, you would think a young guy like that with his first head coaching job would have a little more ambition
 

For NIL, get a gas station company (e.g., Super America) to donate a penny a gallon to our NIL fund. I'd always buy gas from whatever stations are offering that deal. That'd give them more customers, and the NIL fund a continuing revenue stream.
 

BamBam said:
I honestly don't know the answer to this, maybe not allowed, is there any reason with 50,000 students you couldn't slide in a $500 sports fee into the tuition. That's $25 million/yr. Use half and put the other half into a fund that can generate returns. Every year the fund grows and the returns become larger.
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Clemson and Virginia Tech both recently raised their student fees -- by $150 per semester and $186 annually, respectively -- specifically for athletics. There'd be a lot bigger blowback in Minnesota, however.
 

BamBam said:
I honestly don't know the answer to this, maybe not allowed, is there any reason with 50,000 students you couldn't slide in a $500 sports fee into the tuition. That's $25 million/yr. Use half and put the other half into a fund that can generate returns. Every year the fund grows and the returns become larger.
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NIL can't come from the school it's a third party payment. School payments come from revenue sharing so student fees for payments would violate that.

(If I read right I'm hardly an expert)
 


jamiche said:
There definitely is a parallel, except that it is with Cunningham and Coyle. They each really only have one (huge) job. In Cunningham's case it's to raise money for the university. In Coyle's case it's to raise money for the athletic dept.
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Yes, that is a big part of their jobs but few people have great interest in listening to administrators. People do have interest in listening to coaches and are more likely to be interested in a Q & A with coaches. We know that Fleck has made appearances and given talks at donor events. I never saw much evidence that Johnson did that. If he didn't, that's grounds enough for wanting to terminate him.
 

Gopher Ally said:
If true Ben got what he deserved, you would think a young guy like that with his first head coaching job would have a little more ambition
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I agree with you but I think Ben always was playing scared. It's like he knew deep down that he was a poor candidate for the job and may have shied away from possibly embarrassing situations.
 

Hates Monikers said:
Clemson and Virginia Tech both recently raised their student fees -- by $150 per semester and $186 annually, respectively -- specifically for athletics. There'd be a lot bigger blowback in Minnesota, however.
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They could do it if they didn’t change the overall tuition bill.
 





nitramnaed said:

For those that don’t remember:​

NCAA​

edit
Following its investigation, the NCAA issued the following sanctions to the university:[5]

  • Four years of probation until October 23, 2004;
  • A reduction of five scholarships in total until the 2003–04 season;
  • A reduction of six paid visits by recruits until the 2002–03 season;
  • Vacating all appearances in the 1994, 1995, and 1997 NCAA Tournaments and 1996 and 1998 National Invitational Tournaments, as well as individual records of those student-athletes found to have committed academic fraud; and
  • Show-cause penalties for Haskins and Newby (both until October 23, 2007) and Gangelhoff (until October 23, 2005).
Shortly afterward, the Big Ten stripped the Gophers of the 1997 regular season title and vacated all of the Gophers' victories from 1993 to 1999.
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That never happened.
 


My wife doesn't let me hang out on as many college campuses as I'd like but I wonder if they have fundraisers sponsored by DTA - even things like pull tabs, meat raffles, DTA sponsored food trucks, even have DTA sponsor certain paid intramural leagues (where Gopher players show up). I am sure they are doing all of this stuff and I know these aren't high $ ideas, the hope is that it gets students (future alumni) in the habit of giving to DTA.
 




pharmacygopher said:
I swear in my undergrad days at the U (early 2000s) there was some sort of athletics fee. There was a stink about it since not everyone cares about sports. This was on top of technology fees, etc.

Also, this was 20 years ago and I could be totally making this up 😂
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I was also an undergrad during that time, I seem to remember a fee too, but I think it was a fee designated specifically to go toward building the new football stadium.
 


BamBam said:
I honestly don't know the answer to this, maybe not allowed, is there any reason with 50,000 students you couldn't slide in a $500 sports fee into the tuition. That's $25 million/yr. Use half and put the other half into a fund that can generate returns. Every year the fund grows and the returns become larger.
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You first!!!

It’s always fun and convenient to spend other people’s cash
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Yes, that is a big part of their jobs but few people have great interest in listening to administrators. People do have interest in listening to coaches and are more likely to be interested in a Q & A with coaches. We know that Fleck has made appearances and given talks at donor events. I never saw much evidence that Johnson did that. If he didn't, that's grounds enough for wanting to terminate him.
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Like I said in a previous post, after the season, Ben went on summer vacation, played golf, fished. PJ pounded the pavement visiting, wining and dining with boosters. Big time college athletics is a year round job and has been for awhile. Coaches are CEOs and I never seen Ben working in this capacity.
 

Just Gopher It!! said:
You first!!!

It’s always fun and convenient to spend other people’s cash
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Don't sweat this stuff.

In 12 years, all of the student debt, including those fees, will be folded in on itself and purchased by the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank at pennies on the dollar and then used as leverage for Beijing to pressure the US into cheaper freights through the Great American Canal in Panama and collateral to buy vast amounts of American farmland.

We might as well get a decent shooting guard out of it.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Don't sweat this stuff.

In 12 years, all of the student debt, including those fees, will be folded in on itself and purchased by the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank at pennies on the dollar and then used as leverage for Beijing to pressure the US into cheaper freights through the Great American Canal in Panama and collateral to buy vast amounts of American farmland.

We might as well get a decent shooting guard out of it.
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Your optimism is inspiring or tiring, depending on your perspective!!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
My wife doesn't let me hang out on as many college campuses as I'd like but I wonder if they have fundraisers sponsored by DTA - even things like pull tabs, meat raffles, DTA sponsored food trucks, even have DTA sponsor certain paid intramural leagues (where Gopher players show up). I am sure they are doing all of this stuff and I know these aren't high $ ideas, the hope is that it gets students (future alumni) in the habit of giving to DTA.
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I’ll buy stuff from them like I buy coupon cards for any kids organization that asks, but I’m not giving a cash donation for pay to play. That’s a bridge too far.
 

"There was a stink about it since not everyone cares about sports."

That is a massive problem here! This constituency is disproportionately larger here in my opinion. I recall a University of Minnesota student working at MOA a few years ago saying to me, "you don't go to the University of Minnesota for the Athletics. You go for the education."
 




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