STrib: U of M 'athletics village' project delayed again

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If he wins the West and the facilities remain undecided, then he should be undecided also. He wouldn't be limited to lateral moves at that point. No telling what jobs will be open, but every year there are jobs available better than Minnesota's. He would also be considering the futures of his staff members--they have remained with him throughout because he has delivered better opportunities at regular intervals. Getting stuck someplace while better opportunities await is something he's never done, shouldn't expect him to suddenly do it here.
 

justthefacts said:
I like this line because it implies that previously the plan was to do it wrong.
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Of course they were always intending to do it right. But as someone who has done several capital projects, I can tell you that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. You have something detailed, everyone is on board, thinks it's great, and then someone not related to the project says "it can do X, right?" Everyone says, "ooh, that's a good idea!!", and now you're starting from scratch. In this case it could be argued the intent was to do it wrong with not including track and field. I don't think so, but it's all your perspective.
 

Love how coach Kill is good with words. To paraphrase, Kill says that if everyone is good for their word, ground will be broke in October.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Love how coach Kill is good with words. To paraphrase, Kill says that if everyone is good for their word, ground will be broke in October.
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He also says"prouder" so don't elevate him up to Churchillian oration status.
 



History repeats itself; the VCU basketball facility was delayed and the site moved due to failure to include women's facilities in the initial plans. Good riddance to a substandard hire. Once this all passes we will be better off moving forward.

Kill was unusually blunt IMO, saying don't make me look like a liar. Fighting words. Time to patch up relations with the activists and get the initial project moving to keep Jerry and the recruits satisfied progress is being made.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
History repeats itself; the VCU basketball facility was delayed and the site moved due to failure to include women's facilities in the initial plans. Good riddance to a substandard hire. Once this all passes we will be better off moving forward.

Kill was unusually blunt IMO, saying don't make me look like a liar. Fighting words. Time to patch up relations with the activists and get the initial project moving to keep Jerry and the recruits satisfied progress is being made.
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Yep,
Drop the the track shoehorned somewhere ridiculous and asinine on campus so the track athletes don't have to take a 5 min bus ride to the St. Paul campus.
It will be a terrible place for a facility, but at least the squeaky wheels will get their grease. It hurts me to write this because I love track and field, but the idiots who are holding this thing up deserve endless ridicule and embarrassment.
 

Saw an interesting tweet yesterday that the $12 M Athletic Donate to the U went to $13 M with the updated contract with Kill.
 






nsmike said:
I believe a lot of the delay is due to addressing the track issue, I blame Teague for the problem, it was the 600 lb gorilla in the room he refused to address.
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You are absolutely correct. And that made me absolutely correct three or four months ago when a posted that Teague had dropped the ball on this project by not dealing with the track location issue right from the start. I was cursed and abused by the usual suspects in GopherHole for having the audacity to criticize Teague. As usual, it turned out that I was right about him before anyone else.

At that time I predicted that the U would not be able to solve this issue by cramming a relocation to St. Paul down the throats of the the track & field athletes, coaches, alumni, and their donors/supporters. That may be how it is done at other schools but it will never happen at the U. I was right about that, too. I now believe there is a better than even chance that the track facilities will remain on the main campus when all is said and done. If I am wrong and the facilities do move to the St. Paul Campus they will be gold plated and among the best in the country. Some of the money to construct them will come from funds that would normally have gone to the football, basketball, and hockey programs. Take it to The Bank.
 



UpnorthGo4 said:
You are absolutely correct. And that made me absolutely correct three or four months ago when a posted that Teague had dropped the ball on this project by not dealing with the track location issue right from the start. I was cursed and abused by the usual suspects in GopherHole for having the audacity to criticize Teague. As usual, it turned out that I was right about him before anyone else.

At that time I predicted that the U would not be able to solve this issue by cramming a relocation to St. Paul down the throats of the the track & field athletes, coaches, alumni, and their donors/supporters. That may be how it is done at SEC schools but it will never happen at the U. I was right about that, too. I now believe there is a better than even chance that the track facilities will remain on the main campus when all is said and done. If I am wrong and the facilities do move to the St. Paul Campus they will be gold plated and among the best in the country. Some of the money to construct them will come from funds that would have normally gone to the football, basketball, and hockey programs. Take it to The Bank.
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You were criticized because the idea that a track team would dictate ANYTHING to a Power 5 AD is unheard of.
It's self defeating and stupid. Non revenue teams know their place and accept the fact that they have a place in the dept because of football and men's basketball. This occurs everywhere. Teague changed the tone of the dept for the better, his sexual harrassment being unrelated. Whoever started this title IX crap essentially took the nuclear option and now the board of regents is holding up for a Fing track?
Unfortunately for everyone, including the track team, you were right.
Congrats.
We all lose.
 

The St Paul campus is on campus, no?
 

There's been a lot of griping on here about the track program. Just wanted to offer a somewhat differing opinion.

Like it or not, under Maturi, the U's policy was to treat the non-revenue programs as equals to the revenue program (in attention, if not in funding). Those sports, including the athletes and coaches, got used to that level of attention. Then, Teague comes in and attempts to institute a major shift in policy - emphasizing the revenue sports and not paying as much attention to the non-revenue sports. You can argue that Teague's approach makes more sense in the long run, but in the short run, the non-revenue teams cannot have been happy being told that, for all practical purposes, they didn't matter as much anymore, and they had to go sit at the little kids table during Thanksgiving dinner.

Some backlash was inevitable. And Teague handed the track program the issue they needed by not dealing with the situation. I don't blame the track program. If you want to blame anyone, blame Teague for the way he handled the situation, and failing to address the issues with the track facilities.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
There's been a lot of griping on here about the track program. Just wanted to offer a somewhat differing opinion.

Like it or not, under Maturi, the U's policy was to treat the non-revenue programs as equals to the revenue program (in attention, if not in funding). Those sports, including the athletes and coaches, got used to that level of attention. Then, Teague comes in and attempts to institute a major shift in policy - emphasizing the revenue sports and not paying as much attention to the non-revenue sports. You can argue that Teague's approach makes more sense in the long run, but in the short run, the non-revenue teams cannot have been happy being told that, for all practical purposes, they didn't matter as much anymore, and they had to go sit at the little kids table during Thanksgiving dinner.

Some backlash was inevitable. And Teague handed the track program the issue they needed by not dealing with the situation. I don't blame the track program. If you want to blame anyone, blame Teague for the way he handled the situation, and failing to address the issues with the track facilities.
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Have to agree here...Mega wide tongue effed this up.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
There's been a lot of griping on here about the track program. Just wanted to offer a somewhat differing opinion.

Like it or not, under Maturi, the U's policy was to treat the non-revenue programs as equals to the revenue program (in attention, if not in funding). Those sports, including the athletes and coaches, got used to that level of attention. Then, Teague comes in and attempts to institute a major shift in policy - emphasizing the revenue sports and not paying as much attention to the non-revenue sports. You can argue that Teague's approach makes more sense in the long run, but in the short run, the non-revenue teams cannot have been happy being told that, for all practical purposes, they didn't matter as much anymore, and they had to go sit at the little kids table during Thanksgiving dinner.

Some backlash was inevitable. And Teague handed the track program the issue they needed by not dealing with the situation. I don't blame the track program. If you want to blame anyone, blame Teague for the way he handled the situation, and failing to address the issues with the track facilities.
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Teague is gone, but apparently the problem remains. I have to say as a fan, minor sports and Title IX are potential stumbling blocks to success of revenue sports, which causes everyone to lose. I like a baseball, enjoyed playing softball, and who doesn't like a good race now and then? But, add up all the people who would pay to see minor sports and give them some of the remaining tickets to next Thursday's game and we'd still have a few seats left. It's ok to have a well-rounded athletic program and the minor sports ought to have some nice facilities, but if track is causing problems in the facility project, they are foolish and selfish, and whomever is leading this anti-Gopher movement needs to be called out by name and exposed.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
There's been a lot of griping on here about the track program. Just wanted to offer a somewhat differing opinion.

Like it or not, under Maturi, the U's policy was to treat the non-revenue programs as equals to the revenue program (in attention, if not in funding). Those sports, including the athletes and coaches, got used to that level of attention. Then, Teague comes in and attempts to institute a major shift in policy - emphasizing the revenue sports and not paying as much attention to the non-revenue sports. You can argue that Teague's approach makes more sense in the long run, but in the short run, the non-revenue teams cannot have been happy being told that, for all practical purposes, they didn't matter as much anymore, and they had to go sit at the little kids table during Thanksgiving dinner.

Some backlash was inevitable. And Teague handed the track program the issue they needed by not dealing with the situation. I don't blame the track program. If you want to blame anyone, blame Teague for the way he handled the situation, and failing to address the issues with the track facilities.
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That's just it though. The institution Maturi built needed to be demolished, and fast.

Teague for all his faults, likely just wasn't very gentle with the changes, because he needed to get crap done. Getting rid of Maturi's croneys needed to happen. Putting the non rev sports in their place needed to happen. Raising money for the football and basketball programs needed to happen since Maturi essentially failed at doing that his entire time here.

I'm not pissed at the track team, just specifically whoever is leading this insurrection. I want names too, they are likely not track team members or coaches. More like some self important alum or maturi era administrator.
 

One thing that the tracksters can entertain is switching their major to Agriculture or other excellent majors being offered on the Saint Paul campus.

In that way, they can have a marvelous facility and not have to commute by bus.
 

Ole said:
That's just it though. Teague for all his faults, likely just wasn't very gentle with the changes, because as we've found out, was a narcissistic, arrogant, out-of-touch doosh-bag, who as a fund raiser was also entirely lacking.
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Agreed.
 

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