Reusse: Getting rid of Mark Dienhart was huge Gophers' blunder

Donate To GopherHole
BleedGopher

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
61,972
Reaction score
18,166
Points
113
per Reusse:

Dienhart resigned at the university to become the president and CEO of the Schulze Family Foundation. Schulze has said the goal is to increase the charitable foundation's fund from its current $100 million to $1 billion.

One of Dienhart's goals at St. Thomas was to provide the assets necessary to turn football into the same powerhouse as the rest of Tommies' athletics. That has been well-accomplished with Glenn Caruso as coach.

This has always amazed me: At Minnesota, the administration and athletic director Joel Maturi had to huff-and-puff to come up with $90 million for the on-campus football stadium. This included the bargain of the century for TCF Bank: a mere $35 million for 25 years of naming rights, plus benefits around the campus.

That left $55 million in gifts from boosters and other corporations. Dienhart and St. Thomas received more than that from Lee and Penny Anderson.

We know this: If Dienhart had not been run off at Minnesota for no good reason, Mason would have had more assets to work with, Tim Brewster never would have been hired, and a master plan for $190 million in improved athletic facilities would not seem such a long-shot.

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/PJR_Getting_rid_of_Dienhart_was_huge_Gophers_blunder090813

Go Gophers!!
 

So what does say about his thoughts on Norwood?
 

I quit reading as soon as I got to two words, one name: Glen Mason. We get it, Pat. You want Mason's love child.
 

Pat is right on this one. Maturi and Mason were as opposite as gasoline and water. Maturi couldn't get it through his thick head that football is the fuel that feeds the machine. He always thought of it as one of the additives. He was more concerned on we we ranked in the Sears Cup. He pissed off T. Denny, who thought Maturi never understood the big picture. I do know for a fact that Dienhart had
promised Mason additions to the football program that Maturi always put on the back burner. Dienhart's record stands on its own. Maturi will go down with Ike Armstrong as one of the worst AD's the U has had.
 



Guess I'd have to disagree about Ike Armstrong. He was rock solid in standing behind Murray Warmath in 1958 and 1959 and totally thumbing his nose to the media and the foolish boosters and movers and shakers around the Twin Cities who wanted Warmath's head. Ike stood by Murray and between 1959 & 1960, and Gopher Football was in the TOP three or four of the Big Ten from 1960 to 1968.

Ike did face the evil onslaught of "professionalism" that invaded the Twin Cities in the form of mlb and the nfl with the arrival of the twins and the creation of the Vikings. Still, in the past 53 seasons, there has not been a time that was as good for Golden Gopher Football as that stretch of seasons between 1960 and 1968. And, I would credit Ike Armstrong for having the stones to stand up to the Twin Cities media, the boosters and any and everyone else who wanted to ditch and dump and throw Murray Warmath under the bus during and following the 1959 season. It goes to show you how "out to lunch" mobbers and bashers can be. Had Ike done a mature or even a Norwood buy-out and fire move on Murray in 1959 Gopher Faithful would have missed a GREAT decade of Golden Gopher Football...

Just my opinion...of course...Ruppert...

; 0 )
 

Nobody does as a job so badly and for so long unless they're doing what's expected.

Joel was a helluva guy.
 

I have always stated the opinion that at the U of M, the prexy ALWAYS gets EXACTLY what the prexy wants. macturi has been receiving his rewards for playing the fool for prexy b... That has been obvious for a LONG time. macturi danced on the strings manipulated from above him. And, prexy b was hand-picked by Prexy Y. At least Prexy Y raised a couple of billion for improvements around the campus of the U and for the endowment fund...THAT placed Prexy Y a step above the other clowns...

0 )
 






Killjoy said:
Where did you learn to speak "wren"? When he does it, it makes absolutely no sense but when you do it it does.
Click to expand...

I dunno. History of Art. Or, is it the fact that I have lived with a keyboard since the introduction of the Apple IIe. Green screen. Yuck.
 

Killjoy said:
Where did you learn to speak "wren"? When he does it, it makes absolutely no sense but when you do it it does.
Click to expand...

I dunno. History of Art. Or, is it the fact that I have lived with a keyboard since the introduction of the Apple IIe. Green screen. Yuck. Or, maybe the fish art t-shirt that my kids made be do with a bass dipped in paint. Best thing since finger painting.
 



I have to agree with Reusse. In hindsight, I think the U would have been in much better shape with Dienhart as AD. Back in my college days, I met Dienhart a few times when he was the Sports Information Director at St. Thomas, following his playing days as a really good offensive lineman. Very sharp guy and very personable.

Meanwhile, at the U of M, "our new Norwood," as Wren would say, announces a new fund-raising campaign - and then, says the U has to commission a fund-raising study from an outside firm to figure out how to meet the U's fund-raising goal. Hey, I thought the reason the U hired this guy was because he was a hot-shot fund-raiser - and he has to conduct a study before launching his first big campaign? Here, let me offer some advice:
1. find rich people
2. ask rich people for money
3. repeat
 

He is right, but Dienhart was not perfect either, he hired Monson who did not acept how hard a B1G coach has to recruit to be competitive. He hired Mason, which was a good move. And I do think he could have helped Mason with relationships within the U which is really what kept him from getting better support, and eventually cost him his job. MD was on a whole level higher than Joel, Dlll background or not.
 

corcoran1 said:
He is right, but Dienhart was not perfect either, he hired Monson who did not acept how hard a B1G coach has to recruit to be competitive. He hired Mason, which was a good move. And I do think he could have helped Mason with relationships within the U which is really what kept him from getting better support, and eventually cost him his job. MD was on a whole level higher than Joel, Dlll background or not.
Click to expand...

Do you recall the situation that brought about the hiring of Coach Monson? You know...the academic scandal perpetrated by clem haakins? Mark Yudof hired Dan Monson in July of 1999 to CLEAN UP the hoops program and to lead the Gophers through what ever the NCAA was about to throw at the Men's hoops Program at the U.

By November of 1999, Mark Dienhart had resigned as AD.

When all was said and done, the penalties handed down by the NCAA took away scholarships, recruiting visits and put severe sanctions on the program for a LONG period of time.

Yet, in retrospect, Monson's .393 Big Ten winning percentage was not all that far behind Tubby Smith's .426 Big Ten winning percentage. Tubby didn't have the loss of scholarships, sanctions and recruiting visits to hamper his efforts the way Monson did. Not to mention ALL the negative publicity that the Haskin's scandal generated for the U of M Men's Hoops Program that Monson had to deal with on a daily basis.

The jury is very much out on our new Norwood's new hoops hire. I wish him much luck and success...but...time will tell what kind of B1G record he will be able to achieve. Will he surpass the Big Ten winning percentages of Monson and Smith? Easier said than done, I fear...but good luck and best wishes to him.

Football would have been much better off had Dienhart remained. Although, Tom Moe did a great job during his days of filling-in as AD.

; 0 )
 


The hiring of Monson wasn't a bad one. It was the contract extension and subsequent firing that was the blunder.

Reusse has talked before about the ability of St. Thomas to fundraise vs. the U., and he's right. But a lot of that is a cultural thing.
It's not true nationwide, but certainly here in MN - the private schools in the state tend to have a significant amount of alumni support that the public schools (both the U system and the MNSCU system) do not. The students and alumni of those schools have a sense of identity with their college that doesn't exist at the public schools here. They also tend to attract the wealthiest students going in, who then when they become wealthy adults, give back generously. This has nothing to do with the President or the AD - it's simply the culture here, and it's not likely to change. We don't have a Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens here, though it would be nice if we did.
 

discochris said:
The hiring of Monson wasn't a bad one. It was the contract extension and subsequent firing that was the blunder.

Reusse has talked before about the ability of St. Thomas to fundraise vs. the U., and he's right. But a lot of that is a cultural thing.
It's not true nationwide, but certainly here in MN - the private schools in the state tend to have a significant amount of alumni support that the public schools (both the U system and the MNSCU system) do not. The students and alumni of those schools have a sense of identity with their college that doesn't exist at the public schools here. They also tend to attract the wealthiest students going in, who then when they become wealthy adults, give back generously. This has nothing to do with the President or the AD - it's simply the culture here, and it's not likely to change. We don't have a Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens here, though it would be nice if we did.
Click to expand...

Why, then, did Prexy Y manage to raise 1.6 billion in private donations during his tenure here. That included money for academic programs, rehabbing the Union, and other projects on the U of M campus and also added a nice boost to the endowment of the U. Seriously, why was HE successful raising a HUGE amount of money for the University of Minnesota, while you make excuses for the administration of prexy b and now Prexy K? Prexy Y ROCKED when it came to raising billions of dollars for the betterment and sustainability of the University of Minnesota! He was the BEST! Then he was off to Texas and their University System and then to California and their University System...but he raised a LOT of hard, cold cash in Minnesota for the U...

; 0 )
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom