PiPress: Gophers coaches told of travel budget error

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Wow.. that is some serious penny pinching. $25k?? I can find $25k in other areas of the athletics budget if they need some assistance.
 

This is either a non-story or a sad story. I can't decide which....
 

So sad it's funny. Why do I even bother cheering for this mismanaged Athletics Dept?
 



It ain't easy being Joel. Even the bean-counting has become over-whelming. Oy. Please Joel, just pick your gold watch and leave already.
 


Remember when MACturi had the Gophers BUS to the freaking NCAA tournament in Milwaukee? That was one of the most embarrassing penny pinching moves in the history of Gopher Athletics.
 

EG#9 said:
Remember when MACturi had the Gophers BUS to the freaking NCAA tournament in Milwaukee? That was one of the most embarrassing penny pinching moves in the history of Gopher Athletics.
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The NCAA pays for the travel during March Madness. Because Milwaukee was less than 400 miles away, the NCAA only pays if they bus. Gophers bussed about 5 hours....Kansas bussed about 4 hours that same year.
 



This is your Golden Gopher AD at work, folks!!!!! How does it smell to you? Are you finally embarrassed enough?

We're trying to compete in the BIG - and who is the steering the ship? We've got the captain of the SS Minnow going against the likes of Admiral Nimitz.

Have . . . you . . . had . . . enough . . . already ?!?!?!?!

Geesh!
 

If the U hadn't given the Vikings an additional discount for the use of TCF stadium ( 90,000.00 ?) the so called MACBUDGET could be reimbursed from general funds. Agree, Maturi needs to ride off into the Iron Range and live in a double-wide. He is and will forever be thought of as the Silas Marner of AD's
 

Maturi gets a lot of undeserved heat from a lot of Gopher fans...

...but this is just flat-out embarrassing. There is no other way to spin it. This is MIAC-level stuff.
 

I wonder how this jives with the linemen on the football team flying first class (which apparently they didn't do before).
 



Gopher Warrior said:
Wow.. that is some serious penny pinching. $25k?? I can find $25k in other areas of the athletics budget if they need some assistance.
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the women's rowing team needed som new oars and boats for their big ten rowing meets that no one comes to watch (at any big ten school) or even pays to watch when they do show up. that and the women's softball team also needed some new chest protectors to play their games that practically no one pays to attend as well. ;-)
 

spermophilus said:
This is your Golden Gopher AD at work, folks!!!!! How does it smell to you? Are you finally embarrassed enough?

We're trying to compete in the BIG - and who is the steering the ship? We've got the captain of the SS Minnow going against the likes of Admiral Nimitz.

Have . . . you . . . had . . . enough . . . already ?!?!?!?!

Geesh!
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+1
 

Maturi had some quote like, "these are the type of tough calls you make in big time athletics.".
This is the opposite of "big time".
I can't believe Maturi doesn't have someone with deep pockets he can call for situations like this.
 

Maybe I'm a terrible person for asking, but why does the women's basketball team fly charter? Do all non-revenue sports teams fly charter?

There are dozens of flights every day to Chicago. It just seems like an excessive expense for a program that is not profit-producing to be flying charter.
 

playhosea! said:
Maybe I'm a terrible person for asking, but why does the women's basketball team fly charter? Do all non-revenue sports teams fly charter?

There are dozens of flights every day to Chicago. It just seems like an excessive expense for a program that is not profit-producing to be flying charter.
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Excuse me sir...this thread is dedicated to being outraged that teams have to take a couple of commercial flights!
 

playhosea,

I don't think you're a horrible person. I asked myself similar questions after reading the story.

I think there are times and places where the men's and women's teams should probably fly commercial. I get flying charter for midweek games to help ensure players go to class the next day.

But let's look at this weekend, the team is on break, but it appears as if the team is going to charter to Michigan. There is no class on Monday, so what's wrong with flying commercial, even if it means having to spend another night in a hotel. According to the story, a charter trip to Michigan is $39,000. There will probably be 25 people on the trip when you figure players, coaches, trainer, strength coach, managers. That averages out to be more than $1,500 per person. The story says flying commercial costs about $10,000, a difference of $29,000.

Maybe this is because I've worked at places that pinch pennies when it comes to travel, but that seems to be excessive. I'm not saying both teams should fly commercial all the time, but it seems like for some games over break and some Saturday games (depending on location), it seems like a realistic expectation. It isn't that tough to fly commercial to Chicago or Detroit and maybe not even Columbus or Indy.

And I believe the only non-revenue sport that flies charters is women's basketball. Others fly commercial just like the rest of us average joes.
 


anonymous said:
playhosea,

I don't think you're a horrible person. I asked myself similar questions after reading the story.

I think there are times and places where the men's and women's teams should probably fly commercial. I get flying charter for midweek games to help ensure players go to class the next day.

But let's look at this weekend, the team is on break, but it appears as if the team is going to charter to Michigan. There is no class on Monday, so what's wrong with flying commercial, even if it means having to spend another night in a hotel. According to the story, a charter trip to Michigan is $39,000. There will probably be 25 people on the trip when you figure players, coaches, trainer, strength coach, managers. That averages out to be more than $1,500 per person. The story says flying commercial costs about $10,000, a difference of $29,000.

Maybe this is because I've worked at places that pinch pennies when it comes to travel, but that seems to be excessive. I'm not saying both teams should fly commercial all the time, but it seems like for some games over break and some Saturday games (depending on location), it seems like a realistic expectation. It isn't that tough to fly commercial to Chicago or Detroit and maybe not even Columbus or Indy.

And I believe the only non-revenue sport that flies charters is women's basketball. Others fly commercial just like the rest of us average joes.
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In theory I agree, but it's a competative issue. It doesn't make much sense to stump about the absolute need for $20 million for a practice facility and then pinch pennies herding the players into coach on the cheapest Delta flight. Also, I'm not sure where they get the figures on the savings. Does the U really not own a plane that it uses for these flights? The only way the savings would be that huge is if they are renting one out each time. Don't most major Universities own a plane or two specifically for this purpose?
 

howeda7 said:
In theory I agree, but it's a competative issue. It doesn't make much sense to stump about the absolute need for $20 million for a practice facility and then pinch pennies herding the players into coach on the cheapest Delta flight. Also, I'm not sure where they get the figures on the savings. Does the U really not own a plane that it uses for these flights? The only way the savings would be that huge is if they are renting one out each time. Don't most major Universities own a plane or two specifically for this purpose?
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I would doubt that any major Universities would be able to convince the Powers That Be to buy these multi-million dollar jets unless that University has a T Boone Pickens behind them.
 

Here's something to reflect on:
Some years ago, during the Monson Era, season ticket holders and fans were invited to travel with the team to Arizona. It was quite affordable, we had a great time and stayed at a good place. A reception with the coaches and team. A few former players came as well.
We were told that adding us to the charter enabled the team to save enough on that trip to be able to fly charter for all their away games that year.
 

Dr.Don said:
I would doubt that any major Universities would be able to convince the Powers That Be to buy these multi-million dollar jets unless that University has a T Boone Pickens behind them.
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Perhaps. But I suspect they have easier (cheaper) access to them than simply paying $xx,000 to rent one for every trip, as the U is apparently doing.
 

Moonlight said:
Here's something to reflect on:
Some years ago, during the Monson Era, season ticket holders and fans were invited to travel with the team to Arizona. It was quite affordable, we had a great time and stayed at a good place. A reception with the coaches and team. A few former players came as well.
We were told that adding us to the charter enabled the team to save enough on that trip to be able to fly charter for all their away games that year.
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Tubby and the louisville game is what I think you mean, or least the did the same thing for the louisville game.
 

In addition to chartered flights for the team's away games, some programs pay for the coach to fly private (for recruiting and other trips). Very nice benefit and I'm all for it (if the coach is getting the job done). The video below shows a certain coach talking about the benefits of flying private...

 

Let's see now. This budget problem was identified and resolved rather easily in the athletic department about 2 months ago. It was probably resolved before either team had taken a single road trip. Relative to a $75 million athletic budget, the amount involved seems rather small. Nonetheless, Maturi addressed the issue with those affected and quite likely with those that were actually responsible for the error(s). Good management. Don't let the little things slide else they become big things.

Regardless, the nit-pickers and Maturi bashers here are not going to let any opportunity slide. They claim to be embarrassed by Maturi when they should be embarrassed by their own willingness to criticize with so little knowledge of what happened and who was actually responsible.

In almost 20 years of submitting annual budget proposals for my sales department I have never once held my manager or the president of the company responsible for any errors or discrepancies that occurred in the final budget that came back to me. Over the years a few errors have occurred. And yes, I've also had my budget cut (and worse, even cut in the fourth quarter) for reasons that had nothing to do with me or my department. You just suck it up like the coaches did here and be a team player. Kind of like when a teammate misses a free throw or commits a turnover at the end of a close game.

IMO this article and this thread are a big to-do about relatively nothing.
 

Calgoph said:
Let's see now. This budget problem was identified and resolved rather easily in the athletic department about 2 months ago. It was probably resolved before either team had taken a single road trip. Relative to a $75 million athletic budget, the amount involved seems rather small. Nonetheless, Maturi addressed the issue with those affected and quite likely with those that were actually responsible for the error(s). Good management. Don't let the little things slide else they become big things.

Regardless, the nit-pickers and Maturi bashers here are not going to let any opportunity slide. They claim to be embarrassed by Maturi when they should be embarrassed by their own willingness to criticize with so little knowledge of what happened and who was actually responsible.

In almost 20 years of submitting annual budget proposals for my sales department I have never once held my manager or the president of the company responsible for any errors or discrepancies that occurred in the final budget that came back to me. Over the years a few errors have occurred. And yes, I've also had my budget cut (and worse, even cut in the fourth quarter) for reasons that had nothing to do with me or my department. You just suck it up like the coaches did here and be a team player. Kind of like when a teammate misses a free throw or commits a turnover at the end of a close game.

IMO this article and this thread are a big to-do about relatively nothing.
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While this is no big deal to you, when a recruit is visiting, let's say Wisconsin, and bo Ryan says: here at UW we charter every flight for away games. I see you have a MN offer too, how do you feel about flying coach? How do you feel about not being able to practice any time? Isn't our practice facility nice?

Things that are meaningless to the average person, may mean a lot to a recruit when deciding between two schools. This is bad press and makes the school look cheap and being cheap is a tough message to sell to an 18 year old.
 

From the Barn said:
Tubby and the louisville game is what I think you mean, or least the did the same thing for the louisville game.
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Nope - ASU. The difference between this and other "events" is that they took a reasonable profit and did not gouge the fans.
 

Calgoph said:
Regardless, the nit-pickers and Maturi bashers here are not going to let any opportunity slide.
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I am not going to let any opportunity to bash the man slide until we are rid of the AD who took three revenue sports to no bowl game, NCAA tournament, or NIT tournament.
 

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