Joel Maturi has no regrets as he prepares to exit as Gopher AD

Donate To GopherHole
station19

station19

Moderator
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
22,605
Reaction score
1
Points
36
& Tinsley's family to attend graduation

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/...ts_as_he_prepares_to_exit_as_Gophers_AD050612

"It's always been important to me that we see the big picture academically, socially, as well as athletically and I think that Norwood has demonstrated that anywhere that he has been," Maturi.

Where the two differ, however, is Teague's reputation as a fundraiser and unrelenting marketer, which Maturi admits without hesitation extends beyond his areas of expertise.

"He's got great abilities from the fundraising standpoint, from the marketing standpoint and external areas that quite frankly far exceed mine," Maturi remarked. "I am very much aware of that and I say that not embarrassingly, just very openly and very honestly. I think he'll bring an element that is needed in today's world of big time college athletics, especially that business side."

"I don't think he can put in any more hours in that I didn't put in, very honestly... But I think you make the decision to go to a student athlete banquet or a contest or to dinner with a donor. I think he'll probably tend to go to dinner with a donor, which right now might serve this department overall in the long run better than me going to the functions that I went to. That remains to be seen."
 

It sounds as if we are getting a fundraiser rather than a cheerleader.
 

It does seem like the pieces are finally starting to fall into place and MN might start becoming very competitive in the revenue sports. The more I hear about Norwood the more I like; just like when Kill was hired. Things do appear to be looking up for MN athletics.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
It sounds as if we are getting a fundraiser rather than a cheerleader.
Click to expand...

That's the plan, anyway. Although Norwood will still be somewhat of a cheerleader just in a different way. It will be his job to get donors and potential donors fired up about the possibilities of U of M athletics that can be achieved with that donor's contribution.
 

Of course Joel has no regrets on leaving. He has a golden parachute with no responsiblilty for his rehiring and subsequent firing of Monson and Mason at a cost to the U of millions of dollars. I'd imagine we'll also lose the Williams case in the Supreme Court again costing us bucks. That's all old news but he should go quietly into the sunset and leave the U and its fans to find their way to a better future. I'll take a fundraiser/cheerleader who makes proper business decisions than what we've just survived.
 


Joel does not have many regrets, but I have plenty on his behalf.
 


strokemonster said:
Of course Joel has no regrets on leaving. He has a golden parachute with no responsiblilty for his rehiring and subsequent firing of Monson and Mason at a cost to the U of millions of dollars. I'd imagine we'll also lose the Williams case in the Supreme Court again costing us bucks. That's all old news but he should go quietly into the sunset and leave the U and its fans to find their way to a better future. I'll take a fundraiser/cheerleader who makes proper business decisions than what we've just survived.
Click to expand...

You forgot hiring coach Chili Hot.
 





I wouldn't have any regrets either if I got overpaid to do a crappy job in a position that I am unqualified for.
 

He was over his head for most of his tenure, it's too bad he didn't have a boss who held his feet to the fire.
 

goldengophers said:
He was over his head for most of his tenure, it's too bad he didn't have a boss who held his feet to the fire.
Click to expand...

Bruininks loved the way Maturi did his job. Bob not only agreed with Joel's decisions, he made many of the important ones himself.

If you morons think a carpetbagger AD from a second rate sports school out east is going to come to Minnesota and be able to shake the money tree for Gopher's sports than you are far more stupid than I thought. Kaler recently went to the legislature for more money for the U and they told him to get lost.

Expect the same thing to happen to our new AD when he tries to shake down our notoriously cheap alumni. He will be out of here at the end of his contract with a new BB practice facility and not much else to show for his time in the Midwest. Certainly no Big 10 Championships in football or basketball. And Maturi's reputation as the best Gopher AD since 1967 will be secure for awhile longer.
 



Oh lord.

Kaler recently went to the legislature for more money for the U and they told him to get lost.
Click to expand...
Because going to a legislature that isn't in favor of funding anything and is dysfunctional in general is EXACTLY the same as talking to private citizens, boosters, and corporations and getting them to part with money. I think this is where people usually mention the differences between apples and oranges.

I get that you think the alums are notoriously cheap but you must have missed the part of this article where Joel admits that he sucks at raising money. Logic would suggest that perhaps some are cheap and that some didn't give because A) they weren't asked or B) because they were asked in the wrong way. You also forget (or missed, or ignored) the article that describes how this "carpetbagger" from a "second rate sports school" managed to get non-alums to give money to his crappy little program down in the South. Which is exactly what I would expect from someone with no fundraising skills. It's exactly the sort of failure that would make me worrisome about his hire here.

He will be out of here at the end of his contract with a new BB practice facility and not much else to show for his time in the Midwest. Certainly no Big 10 Championships in football or basketball.
Click to expand...
Assuming you're right, this would still be an improvement over Maturi. I fail to see the outrage.

Can I promise or do I expect that he'll be a great success? No. I have no idea. I see lots of reasons to be encouraged however given that the 2 biggest problems facing the dept are fundraising and marketing (the areas Teague excels at).
 

I absolutely love how some people like to pretend that Minnesota was this athletic department juggernaut (particularly in football and men's basketball) and Joel Maturi just came in here and wrecked everything.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I absolutely love how some people like to pretend that Minnesota was this athletic department juggernaut (particularly in football and men's basketball) and Joel Maturi just came in here and wrecked everything.
Click to expand...
I didn't that mentioned here, if you believe Maturi did the best job possible that's fine. I know one thing I would want a person with your mindset as far away from athletic dept decision making as possible.
 

goldengophers said:
I didn't that mentioned here, if you believe Maturi did the best job possible that's fine. I know one thing I would want a person with your mindset as far away from athletic dept decision making as possible.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying Maturi did a great job or anything close to it. I'm also not going to pretend that Maturi was a plague and a pox upon the AD like some want to believe.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I'm not saying Maturi did a great job or anything close to it. I'm also not going to pretend that Maturi was a plague and a pox upon the AD like some want to believe.
Click to expand...

Correct. Maturi did a horrible job when it came to terminating coaches (although it seems those decisions were not solely his), but he did help bring FB back to campus, which does help the FB program tremendously. So both sides of the Maturi debate have ammunition to show that he was a bad AD or a decent AD. He certainly wasn't the worst AD nor the best.
 


dpodoll68 said:
I'm not saying Maturi did a great job or anything close to it. I'm also not going to pretend that Maturi was a plague and a pox upon the AD like some want to believe.
Click to expand...

I'll go out on a limb and praise Maturi for the great job he did getting football back on campus after numerous athletic directors came and went under the teflon sky. For the thousands of us who graduated from the University of Minnesota in the 80's, 90's and 00's, who really had no hope of ever watching really excellent football in a really excellent venue, Joel Maturi's work, leadership, and yes, fundraising, brought football back to campus in what most of us would agree to be an excellent facility.

He's the face (for a few months longer) of an athletic department that has done no better or no worse than the previous 3-4 decades. I guess it stands to reason that the frustration of losing gets directed at him, but I don't get the venom. He worked hard for Minnesota and, like us, took pride in winning and pain in losing.

I hope to high heaven we're seeing the end of an era of pathetic revenue sports at the U of M, because I hate seeing my Gophers lose; but if we are witnessing a shift, Joel Maturi deserves some credit for leading us out of the wilderness.

Go Gophers!
 

actually mark dienhart did a pretty decent job with the football program while he was here. it was under joel's tenure that things started to creep back downhill. so yes, joel has mostly been a turd of an AD. as is the poster on here named "Go4Broke". that guy is a real PUTZ....to say the least. what a jerk.
 

We are in a Fix...

What I don't understand about Joel's "golden parachute" is that Kaler indicated he kept Joel on chiefly as a "Fund Raiser". Joel was so valuable as a fund raiser that he felt it prudent to pay the guy $450,000.00+ to continue in that capacity. Kaler said it is money very well spent.

Kaler then hires Teague because we really need a top notch "Fund Raiser".

I thought the whole point of retaining Joel was to mine his fund raising ability while the new AD was to fix the "broken" athletic department.

Looks like we have two fund raisers and no fixer.
 

sec105 said:
What I don't understand about Joel's "golden parachute" is that Kaler indicated he kept Joel on chiefly as a "Fund Raiser". Joel was so valuable as a fund raiser that he felt it prudent to pay the guy $450,000.00+ to continue in that capacity. Kaler said it is money very well spent.

Kaler then hires Teague because we really need a top notch "Fund Raiser".

I thought the whole point of retaining Joel was to mine his fund raising ability while the new AD was to fix the "broken" athletic department.

Looks like we have two fund raisers and no fixer.
Click to expand...

You assume they are going to use him for sports fundraising (where he failed) versus in some other venue. As I recall, he is being employed as part of the University's Foundation, which is it's wider fundraising arm. That suggests his involvement will not be limited to athletics.

I cannot stress enough that whether he turns out to be right or wrong, there is no logical reason to see any motive behind this other than what Kaler has stated (that he thinks Joel can help with some fundraising). Kaler has no ties to Joel and no reason to give him a soft landing.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom