Strib: Teague's signature project - athletic facilities upgrade - will continue

[supadupafly]

Per Minneapolis Tribune:

U officials insist fundraising for sports facilities won’t stall

Though Kaler had praised Teague only last month on his overall efforts — he said Teague had the athletic department “clearly moving in the right direction” — others on Friday tried to minimize Teague’s fundraising for the athletics remodeling.

“He is just a cog in the wheel,” said John Lindahl, a longtime school donor who recently contributed $17 million to the university. “I don’t think it really changes anything.”

Lindahl said two-thirds of his contribution would go to the athletics upgrade, and said he and his wife, Nancy, had played a role in persuading Land O’Lakes Inc. to pledge $25 million last year to the school’s academic and athletics program.

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill also said the fundraising would continue. “Nothing’s going to stop,” said Kill, who has said the facility remodeling is critical to the school’s ability to compete with the top athletic programs in the country and had wanted an early groundbreaking. “You put [Teague’s resignation] behind you, get it all over today and let’s go to work tomorrow and move on.

http://www.startribune.com/norwood-teague-s-signature-project-athletic-facilities-upgrade-will-continue-as-planned/321106651/

 

[BleedGopher]

Interesting quotes from Ames. Good to see.

Some large school donors, however, were not unhappy about Teague’s departure.

“He was supposed to be a fundraiser,” said Dick Ames, the board chairman at Ames Construction and a financial contributor to the athletic village project. “Why wouldn’t they hire somebody in-state [instead of Teague who] could open the doors to some of those [local] Fortune 500 companies?

“In fact, if [the school] came to me, I might give them a little bit more after he’s gone than I would before.”

Ames said the school’s use of Lou Nanne, the former Gopher and longtime local hockey executive, to help lead the fundraising drive was meant as a message. “Why would they have Lou come on there?” Ames asked. “It wasn’t going very good.”

Go Gophers!!

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I believe that same Strib story used the figure of $80 million for the fund-raising total, which at least would be an improvement over the $70 million figure they were stuck on for quite a while.

Chad Hartman was also suggesting that some additional larger donations should be/will be announced fairly soon.

You have to think the U is desperate to have some positive news and shift the focus from Teague's tongue. An announcement of new donations would certainly fill the bill. And, if there are other donors like Ames who were not big fans of Teague, then Teague's leaving could wind up helping the fund-raising process.