doogie already starting tubby to ga tech talk

[From the Barn]

Why not do some real journalism and find out:
1. Why the contract has not been extended
2. What is going on with the practice facility taking so long

 

[Doogie]

From the Barn: In a recent sit-down with pres. Bruininks:

Q: Where are you at on the new practice facility for the basketball program?

A: We are in the planning stages. You have to do architectural and schematic plans before you build anything at the University of Minnesota. So we are working on that, we've approved it and we found the funding to do the initial work. We're also working on a fundraising plan and strategy. The costs of this have to be largely born by private gifts and contributions. So I am quite optimistic that we will get that done. This will be a facility not just for coach Smith. This will serve our women's basketball program as well. In doing so I think it will provide some opportunities for students on campus. We are really short of practice space on campus for our major teams and also for the students who attend the University of Minnesota. So I think we will get the job done. It will take a little while, because it does take some time to raise private funds in this kind of economic environment. But as the economy improves I think we will have some real success. I am also optimistic about our basketball team and our program in the near-term and the long-term. This may be Coach Smith's best team, at least I think so. That will help increase interest in men's basketball and I hope Pam Borton has an equally good year.

He thinks it'll get done. But Tubby thought it would've been done no problem by now. Actions speak louder than words.

 

[From the Barn]

We all know that, but there is obviously more. Where are the donors, who is reaching out to them, why the lack of success, what does this say about the program, the athletic department, the university, etc?

 

[howeda7]

Why not do some real journalism and find out:
1. Why the contract has not been extended
2. What is going on with the practice facility taking so long

+1,000. Especially #1.

#2 Regarding the practice facility, I don't believe they even have a dedicated fund set-up for the practice facility. I have asked about this and gotten no clear answer. Since I don't want to donate to the women's rowing team, I have withheld until someone can give me a straight answer on how to contribute directly and specificaly to the practice facility (not that my immaterial contribution matters.) But I would love to know why they haven't even done these basic things like setting up specific fundraising for it, and if they have, why it's been so poorly communicated.

Edit: I see the quote from Bruinicks posted, but since that is a whole lot of nothing, I'd still like to see further follow-up.

Doogie, as much as everyone rips you on here, I do appreciate that you actually care about and cover the Gophers. I would love you or someone at KSTP to follow-up on these matters instead of which joint Brett felt an ache in today.

 

[Mulligan]

Love everyone on here. Otherwise, wouldn't post all the time. Love being around super passionate fans. But here's who I care most about in that regard: my editor at 1500espn.com, and my bosses at Ch. 5. They were very happy with how we reported the story for 2 straight months.

Don't know if it's a "problem" because all of this is entertainment and not important in the big picture. However, part of the problem, Doogie, is all of these hats you wear. Your roles run from casual fan posting here to blogging and tweeting to being a professional journalist. You have different rules for each role, but we don't often consider the set of rules you're operating under. What seems to be a perfectly legitimate observation about Tubby's future, is seen by some as an attempt to garner more attention on a site by "stirring the pot." Your series of corrections on Kill's meeting with high school coaches was amusing. You were okay with it because it was more casual tweeting or you were just letting us know something here. I thought it was pretty funny because you had recently posted portraying yourself as a professional journalist who is always careful to get it right. You post here and is it to offer a casual observation, or are you actually breaking some news to us, or are you doing it merely to generate hits and stay in the spotlight?

I suspect you really do like a lot of this, but this is also part of building a new career. The claim of being a journalist when a person is more an entertainer drives me nuts at times, but it's the new reality. I actually admire you for what you're doing. Being done at KFAN must have come as a hit. Instead of heading elsewhere, you' re building a career where you want to be. No offense, but I don't see you doing it as a glamour boy. Obviously, don't know for sure but you seem to be doing it on doggedness and hard work. Hell, it's almost like you're a younger version of Jerry Kill the journalist/entertainer.

As long as I'm being kind and sentimental (getting close to Xmas), stopped listening regularly to KFAN for different reasons. One of them is because you and Dubay are no longer there. They lost some much needed perspective and humanity with the leaving of you guys.

 

[glovedgopher]

We all know that, but there is obviously more. Where are the donors, who is reaching out to them, why the lack of success, what does this say about the program, the athletic department, the university, etc?

Do you really want these questions answered? I'm guessing if Doogie went all "I-team" report on this we might not like what we find out. He asked Prexy B the question and he gave his answer which told us nothing. We have people willing to give money but can't because the U can't setup a fund which should take about an hour to setup. How long have we been trying to get this built?
Are we stringing Tubby along? Should Myron or another bball writer be the one looking into this?

 

[Rouser]

This is what we got with Tubby, there will be rumors, all the time, of other schools being interested in him. Personally, I'd take that anyday over him not performing

GL and Doogie (realize its GL's quote)... I respect all the contributions that both of you put into the Gopher Hole, part of the reason why this board is awesome. That said, by the logic thrown out here, every successful D1 coach with ties to the south might bolt to GA Tech now??!

Anyway, throwing this out now is no different than me sitting at Stub and Herbs and bitching to my buddy that we should get Tubby a practice facility and lock him down long term. Its stating the obvious. Its certainly not reporting. Now, if the season ends and there is an opening AND Tubby's name is floated by someone reputable as being interested...let the fireworks begin. Until then, how is this a story??

 

[howeda7]

Do you really want these questions answered? I'm guessing if Doogie went all "I-team" report on this we might not like what we find out. He asked Prexy B the question and he gave his answer which told us nothing. We have people willing to give money but can't because the U can't setup a fund which should take about an hour to setup. How long have we been trying to get this built?
Are we stringing Tubby along? Should Myron or another bball writer be the one looking into this?

Someone needs to. I honestly think they refuse to do anything specific about the practice facility until they get money for the baseball stadium. So, for the big donors, it's as if you are not allowed to donate to the practice facility unless you donate to the baseball stadium first, which is absurd. Further, we won't make any effort to recieve smaller contributions for the practice facility, until we get a couple of big donors first. However, we won't accept any money from them until they donate to the baseball stadium. We love circular logic.

This is just my impression of the situation, but at best it is being poorly communicated and another reason things will probably be much better with an A.D. who has a clue.

 

[glovedgopher]

GL and Doogie (realize its GL's quote)... I respect all the contributions that both of you put into the Gopher Hole, part of the reason why this board is awesome. That said, by the logic thrown out here, every successful D1 coach with ties to the south might bolt to GA Tech now??!

Anyway, throwing this out now is no different than me sitting at Stub and Herbs and bitching to my buddy that we should get Tubby a practice facility and lock him down long term. Its stating the obvious. Its certainly not reporting. Now, if the season ends and there is an opening AND Tubby's name is floated by someone reputable as being interested...let the fireworks begin. Until then, how is this a story??

Was he reporting this or just talking about it on talk radio?

 

[SelectionSunday]

"Until then, how is this a story?"

I agree. It's simple, Rouser. Because in today's "media" (and I use that term loosely) it's a lot "sexier" for talking heads/blogging Twitter/rumor mongers to talk about a job that isn't even on the market as opposed to zoning in on an 8-1 basketball team ranked #20 in the country that (perhaps) will be Tubby's most complete and successful squad in his 4 years here.

Like someone else pointed out, I'm happy if other schools are interested in the U's coaches. It means we have a good coach, which certainly is the case with Tubby. It beats the alternative.

 

[glovedgopher]

Someone needs to. I honestly think they refuse to do anything specific about the practice facility until they get money for the baseball stadium. So, for the big donors, it's as if you are not allowed to donate to the practice facility unless you donate to the baseball stadium first, which is absurd. Further, we won't make any effort to recieve smaller contributions for the practice facility, until we get a couple of big donors first. However, we won't accept any money from them until they donate to the baseball stadium. We love circular logic.

This is just my impression of the situation, but at best it is being poorly communicated and another reason things will probably be much better with an A.D. who has a clue.

Well maybe a Gopher Bball writer can do some digging starting now and get a story done before the Big Ten season starts in a few weeks. I'm guessing Tubby won't comment but maybe someone has the inside info.

 

[glovedgopher]

"Until then, how is this a story?"

I agree. It's simple, Rouser. Because in today's "media" (and I use that term loosely) it's a lot "sexier" for talking heads/blogging Twitter/rumor mongers to talk about a job that isn't even on the market than it is to talk about an 8-1 basketball team ranked #20 in the country.

Not a fan of speculation?

 

[From the Barn]

"Until then, how is this a story?"

I agree. It's simple, Rouser. Because in today's "media" (and I use that term loosely) it's a lot "sexier" for talking heads/blogging Twitter/rumor mongers to talk about a job that isn't even on the market than it is to talk about an 8-1 basketball team ranked #20 in the country.

For the record, the bloggers covering the Gophers are a lot more responsible than "the media"

 

[scools12]

the basketball practice facility and the contract extension for Tubby just might be farther off than people want to believe.

this athletic department has to pay Jimmy Williams a $1 million dollar settlement and probably is going to have another law suit against them soon that they will ultimately have to pay out some more big dollars on.

the athletic department at the U is pretty much a train wreck right now and this is a direct reflection on Maturi.

 

[SelectionSunday]

My apologies, FTB. You are excluded. I like your work, just as Doug Gottlieb does.

 

[glovedgopher]

the basketball practice facility and the contract extension for Tubby just might be farther off than people want to believe.

this athletic department has to pay Jimmy Williams a $1 million dollar settlement and probably is going to have another law suit against them soon that they will ultimately have to pay out some more big dollars on.

the athletic department at the U is pretty much a train wreck right now and this is a direct reflection on Maturi.

What is the other lawsuit? The golf coach dust up?

 

[From the Barn]

And downwithgoldy and thedailygopher have avoided the speculative nonsense as well

 

[scools12]

What is the other lawsuit? The golf coach dust up?

yes

 

[glovedgopher]

Do we know how much that will cost us potentially?

 

[ColNathanJessup]

It doesn't really matter who reported it more, and harder, than others. Joe and I like being aggressive, right before first, but aggressive, so we were attempting to stay on top of as much as possible. If other electronic outlets in town want to be different, that's fine by me.

"right before first"

I notice in all your great insider reporting you've recapped for us, you conveniently skipped some things like the "Larry Fedora" scoop. Seems convenient and several other outlets shot that down in one single phone call to So Miss. But obviously, you guys were making sure you were "right" before first. You really dug deep there.

Also, if you (or Tubby for that matter) think ground is going to be broken by March I think, as you seem to believe, Tubby will be gone for sure. Because, you know, it's....winter.

 

[scools12]

I doubt it will cost as much as the Williams matter but from what I have read about the claim that if true it has the potential to cost enough to be another black eye to the athletic department.

More to the point this is all under Maturi's watch which makes it easier to question the leadership of the department and exactly what they can get done.

 

[Maximus]

"right before first"

I notice in all your great insider reporting you've recapped for us, you conveniently skipped some things like the "Larry Fedora" scoop. Seems convenient and several other outlets shot that down in one single phone call to So Miss. But obviously, you guys were making sure you were "right" before first. You really dug deep there.

Joe deleted the Fedora tweet (once it was proved false about 5 minutes later) so it doesn't count.

Did he delete....Randy Shannon...you heard it hear first?

 

[howeda7]

the basketball practice facility and the contract extension for Tubby just might be farther off than people want to believe.

this athletic department has to pay Jimmy Williams a $1 million dollar settlement and probably is going to have another law suit against them soon that they will ultimately have to pay out some more big dollars on.

the athletic department at the U is pretty much a train wreck right now and this is a direct reflection on Maturi.

They have insurance that will cover the $1 million, I'm sure, as well as anything that results from the golf fiasco. It doesn't make them any less of a black eye, but I don't think it's accurate to portray it as a financial loss.

 

[tman333]

Doogie, why are we throwing this out there in early December? In my opinion, this is just another case of a wannabe media member trying to be first on something. I'm not saying that Tubby would never leave, but there's a time to bring this up and a time to leave it rest. And to compare yourself to your friend Phil Mackey...that's an insult to Mackey, who seems to think before he speaks.

 

[glovedgopher]

They have insurance that will cover the $1 million, I'm sure, as well as anything that results from the golf fiasco. It doesn't make them any less of a black eye, but I don't think it's accurate to portray it as a financial loss.

Not trying to be a smart-ass at all but what kind of insurance covers that?

 

[Doogie]

Doogie, why are we throwing this out there in early December? In my opinion, this is just another case of a wannabe media member trying to be first on something. I'm not saying that Tubby would never leave, but there's a time to bring this up and a time to leave it rest. And to compare yourself to your friend Phil Mackey...that's an insult to Mackey, who seems to think before he speaks.

Wannabe? Do I need to get to 20-years? 25-years? What? To reach full-fledged status.

 

[GoGoGophers]

Wannabe? Do I need to get to 20-years? 25-years? What? To reach full-fledged status.

Well, since 95% of your "career" has consisted of sports updates at the top of the hour and pushing buttons for Sid's Kid, I would say you have a ways to go.

 

[Doogie]

Yep. That's I all I've done. Never did a ton behind-the-scenes. Never wrote for multiple sites, including cbssports.com... never was a host, never anchored at two places, just a button-pusher. Easy for you to hide behind a moniker.
Here's an invitation: come down to KSTP tomorrow night... I'll be on-air from 6-8... we can have a civil discussion.

 

[sidefx182]

I think it's funny that people rip Doogie. He is just doing what a lot of us do on here....except he gets paid. Like he said in an earlier post, there is no need to make things personal. I have met Doogie and he is a really nice and humbel guy. Does it matter that he is bringing this up now? He would get ripped if it was in March.

 

[howeda7]

Not trying to be a smart-ass at all but what kind of insurance covers that?

Generally, businesses have an 'error and ommission' policy that will cover thier Board Members/Management Employees if they get sued. I'm sure the U has something similar. Specifically in this case, I dont' know if this is the coverage that applies, but I know that they already said the Williams verdict was covered, I imagine the same would apply the golf thing. Now, will the cost of this coverage sky-rocket if they have to pay out two settlements in a year? I'm sure it will.