Institutional Change needed to improve football.

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wait!what?

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'We need an institutional change to improve football'
we repeatedly hear this statement from ADs and Presidents and coaches. What exactly does that mean?

My first thoughts: (i usually lean negative)
-creative admissions to get kids in.
-professors assist kids in passing.
 

wait!what? said:
'We need an institutional change to improve football'
we repeatedly hear this statement from ADs and Presidents and coaches. What exactly does that mean?

My first thoughts: (i usually lean negative)
-creative admissions to get kids in.
-professors assist kids in passing.
Click to expand...

I think mainly the situation at the U is playing catch up with the rest of college football, and especially BIG football. Quite simply former presidents and AD's made things harder than they needed to be by refusing investment and priority treatment for the program above other athletics programs, and by funding the proper upgrades that became status quo in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

Even after some basic upgrades, and the Bank, a faction of professors, administrators, and political figures really has seemed to fight against upgrading and prioritizing the program like wisconsin/iowa did, and like PSU/OSU/Michigan/Nebraska have been for a long time.

I have no doubt there are people still at the U who would like to see Minnesota go the way of the U of Chicago, basically a BIG school academically, but without D1 big time athletics.

It does appear to be getting better, Kaler, Kill, and Teague seem to say the right things and have been effective in some basic upgrades since they took over.

The real test will come when Teague applies pressure to make some obvious changes and is met by shouts and screams from those very comfortable with their power positions and football's current funding and competitive state in the AD.
 

#2 isn't what they are talking about. Especially not if they are associated with the U. No one wants the NCAA headaches.

Admissions is part of it, though it doesn't have to equal "easier". More helpful/willing to work proactively on players with complex admissions cases would be part of it (i.e. don't just say "no" as the first response). Culturally/beauracratically is probably another part. In other words, are there entrenched interests in the school's heirarchy who hate sports/football and work to stand in the way of decisions that would help advance the interests of the sport (with gameday atmosphere, etc).
 

GoAUpher said:
#2 isn't what they are talking about. Especially not if they are associated with the U. No one wants the NCAA headaches.

Admissions is part of it, though it doesn't have to equal "easier". More helpful/willing to work proactively on players with complex admissions cases would be part of it (i.e. don't just say "no" as the first response). Culturally/beauracratically is probably another part. In other words, are there entrenched interests in the school's heirarchy who hate sports/football and work to stand in the way of decisions that would help advance the interests of the sport (with gameday atmosphere, etc).
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When the LA Vikings become a reality the Gophers will have all the "Institutional" support they could ever hope for.
 

If Kaler can equal the job that Yudof did then we are in good hands. Yudof made the MPLS campus maroon and gold everywhere. No BT football championship under Yudof but in my opinion he moved the needle for U of M pride.

Still cannot shake the feeling that the 'everyone on board' rhetoric means no dogooders/whistleblowers on the football express.
 


jovs said:
When the LA Vikings become a reality the Gophers will have all the "Institutional" support they could ever hope for.
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For about 5 mintues until the state moves Heaven and Earth to get a new stadium for the Minnesota Jaguars.
 


I think the "institutional change" is referring to a change in attitude: simply put, that Football Is Important.

Check any winning program, and the campus to some extent revolves around football. Students camp out for tickets, and the week before a big game, the whole campus is excited. That's not the case at MN, and it hasn't been that way for a long time.

To change the attitude, it has to come from the top down - the President, board of regents, and yes, the faculty have to all be on board. You can laugh at Sid, but he's been talking about this for a long time. At IA or WI, there's just a different attitude or feeling about the FB program. I'm not saying you go out and break rules, or let athletes in school who have no chance of doing college-level academic work, but at the very least, don't be hostile toward the program.

In the wake of the Ganglehoff scandal, and some of the other incidents, you have significant elements among the faculty and staff that view athletics as a problem, and not as an important part of the campus experience. That has to change. Again, I'm not saying hand out cheap grades - just don't look at every athlete as some interloper who doesn't belong in an academic environment.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
In the wake of the Ganglehoff scandal, and some of the other incidents, you have significant elements among the faculty and staff that view athletics as a problem, and not as an important part of the campus experience. That has to change. Again, I'm not saying hand out cheap grades - just don't look at every athlete as some interloper who doesn't belong in an academic environment.
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One very nice thing Kill is doing to address this is raising the bar on academics. He was complaining about the state of players grades when he got here and people were thinking he was talking about players flunking out. Turns out, his baseline for player's grades is a B. He wants and expects everyone to have a B average or better. If successful, that will quickly put to rest any academic issues.
 




jovs said:
When the LA Vikings become a reality the Gophers will have all the "Institutional" support they could ever hope for.
Click to expand...

I would abandon my purple/white Zubaz, greasepaint, goofy horned-hats and growling lessons in a heartbeat for this trade-off. Thousands of others wouldn't.
 

We have had some insight in this thread but I am pretty convinced that the Institution statement is a clarion call to faculty to get on board or at least not be a hurdle to football factory. U of M failed to see the future of college football and bet everything on creating a world class women's program. They succeeded at doing
 

wait!what? said:
We have had some insight in this thread but I am pretty convinced that the Institution statement is a clarion call to faculty to get on board or at least not be a hurdle to football factory. U of M failed to see the future of college football and bet everything on creating a world class women's program. They succeeded at doing
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We have a world class women's program?
 



GoodasGold said:
I would abandon my purple/white Zubaz, greasepaint, goofy horned-hats and growling lessons in a heartbeat for this trade-off. Thousands of others wouldn't.
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I vote we sabotage the Vike's stadium bill!
 

DrunkGopher said:
We have a world class women's program?
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Well, the U did spend all the money on women's athletics. Just look, there's the TCF Bank Volleyball Stadium. And the Gibson-Nagurski Gymnastics Practice Facility.
 

GoodasGold said:
I would abandon my purple/white Zubaz, greasepaint, goofy horned-hats and growling lessons in a heartbeat for this trade-off. Thousands of others wouldn't.
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I turned in my purple the day I stepped on campus.
 

RodentRampage said:
Well, the U did spend all the money on women's athletics. Just look, there's the TCF Bank Volleyball Stadium. And the Gibson-Nagurski Gymnastics Practice Facility.
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Cute, but the U did not spend anything on the Gibson Nagurski football complex it was donated. In fairness, there have been many donors who have contributed many of the women's athletic facilities as well.
The issue has nothing to do with the cost of facilities (other than the bball practice facility), it has a lot to do with supporting 22+ sports that contribute nothing financially, both men's and women's.
The administration has acted like people showing up for football and bball can just be assumed, so they can spend money anywhere they want, when in fact people spend money for football and basketball tickets to see football and basketball, not baseball, softball or women's hockey.
That does not mean those sports are without value, but they do not pay bills, and football and basketball will not either without improved results.
So our choices are to either become competent in the money sports, or to keep screwing around and watch the other sports slowly atrophy. If it were not for the B1G channel we would be seeing that already.
 

And as has been noted many times, cutting non-revs saves very little money in the grand scheme of things. Cutting sports alone won't do jack to improve the institutional issues that face football.
 

corcoran1 said:
it has a lot to do with supporting 22+ sports that contribute nothing financially, both men's and women's.
The administration has acted like people showing up for football and bball can just be assumed, so they can spend money anywhere they want, when in fact people spend money for football and basketball tickets to see football and basketball, not baseball, softball or women's hockey.
That does not mean those sports are without value, but they do not pay bills, and football and basketball will not either without improved results.
So our choices are to either become competent in the money sports, or to keep screwing around and watch the other sports slowly atrophy. If it were not for the B1G channel we would be seeing that already.
Click to expand...

Minnesota has 25 sports (including a revenue generating hockey program).

Wisconsin has 24 sports....no men's gymnastics, but they have a men's rowing team (75 dudes on the roster by my count)

Iowa has 24 sports.

So drop men's gymnastics and Rose Bowl bound!
 

Maximus said:
Minnesota has 25 sports (including a revenue generating hockey program).

Wisconsin has 24 sports....no men's gymnastics, but they have a men's rowing team (75 dudes on the roster by my count)

Iowa has 24 sports.

So drop men's gymnastics and Rose Bowl bound!
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If we didn't have the other 24 sports who would blame then? It may make some of us feel good to blame the non-revenue sports but as Mamimus has pointed out above, it isn't necessarily so. The whole argument that the our problem is that we have too many non-revenue sports for the most part, is a classic red hearing.
 

More attempts at scapegoating by people looking for the easy, quick fix. The not-so-easy, not-so-quick, but very simple fix is there - hire a good coach and give him the support he needs. All the "institutional change" in the world won't matter if you continue hiring one poor coach after another. If we do succeed under Jerry Kill, will that happen because he was given the "institutional support" that all the other coaches before him lacked? No, it means that he is a good coach who was given the support because he earned it.

Blaming football's woes on baseball and women's rowing is troglodytic.
 

harrys ghost said:
One very nice thing Kill is doing to address this is raising the bar on academics. He was complaining about the state of players grades when he got here and people were thinking he was talking about players flunking out. Turns out, his baseline for player's grades is a B. He wants and expects everyone to have a B average or better. If successful, that will quickly put to rest any academic issues.
Click to expand...

Yes, and it might attract better students and better citizens who are more apt to stay and contribute for four years. Recruiting kids who other schools don't want because of academic or behavioral problems is not the answer. Establish a reputation for recruiting good kids who take pride in and bring pride to the U. The winning marketing strategy today is to find an under-filled niche and own it.
 

dpodoll68 said:
More attempts at scapegoating by people looking for the easy, quick fix. The not-so-easy, not-so-quick, but very simple fix is there - hire a good coach and give him the support he needs. All the "institutional change" in the world won't matter if you continue hiring one poor coach after another. If we do succeed under Jerry Kill, will that happen because he was given the "institutional support" that all the other coaches before him lacked? No, it means that he is a good coach who was given the support because he earned it.

Blaming football's woes on baseball and women's rowing is troglodytic.
Click to expand...

You would agree that the athletic focus at the U during the 80's and 90's was not primarily on football.
 


yeah, i never felt that it was $ concern more than it was an institutional change...hold on I think I just answered my own question. The institutional change might be that every sport rides shotgun to football. Mod: close thread.
 

Time will tell if Prexy K and Norwood Teague can get the job done. We NEED BIG TEN WINS. May we FINALLY compete in the Big Ten during the football season with our two major rivals AND the top half of the schools within the Big Ten Standings with much more consistency than we got with badger joel MACturi.

; 0 )
 

GopherInPittsburgh said:
Time will tell if Prexy K and Norwood Teague can get the job done. We NEED BIG TEN WINS. May we FINALLY compete in the Big Ten during the football season with our two major rivals AND the top half of the schools within the Big Ten Standings with much more consistency than we got with badger joel MACturi.

; 0 )
Click to expand...

LOL - I never knew that wren had a twin brother in Pittsburgh!
 


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