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Ohio Football Topic
Topic: OT-Tressel to Akron
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SBH
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Posted: 4/12/2014 4:32 PM
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The Optimist wrote:expand_more
Optimist on multiple occasions, including in the chat room, has insisted that a Tressel presidency at Akron is a done deal. Now we'll see if he is right, but I'm thinking this latest news is an indication he's not.

I remember it a little differently, SBH.

A discussion came up in chat mentioning Tressel to YSU as President a couple months back and I stated that the U of Akron Presidency was where his real interest was. You dismissed this entirely.

A month later, he applied to the Akron job. At this point in the chat I stated that the board of trustees at Akron had a real interest in Tressel and that he had been pushing for this job for a couple years. You stated there was no chance he would get the job.

Contrary to your belief that the YSU application is an indication he is not interested in the Akron job, I view the application to YSU not as a sign he won't end up at Akron, but rather a sign that Tressel's push to become a President at a University is very real. There is interest for the vest among multiple boards who believe he will stir up $$$$$$$$$$$ for their schools. The push against him is coming from academia. The professors don't like it at all. Who will win that battle? As I said on multiple occasions, my gut says Tressel to Akron. Why? $$$. And as I've said, he has been pushing for this for years.


Actually, I believe the exchange was,

Optimist:  Tressel will be the next Akron president.

SBH:  No he won't

Optimist:  Yes he will.

I never questioned his desire to be president, but feel it's just silly to believe he's qualified.  You seem to think whoever lands him will have a huge fundraising advantage over all other schools but OSU.  He's come up empty as a fundraiser at Akron.  He was asked to hit up big donors to help launch a basketball arena project and there's nothing, zilch on the boards.  OSU followers have turned their backs on him.  People at Akron say he's already in over his head. His big initiative now it a letter writing campaign to high school seniors to ask them to attend Akron. Enrollment down 6% last year, expected to drop again in the fall.  NO respect from faculty and other administrators other than Proenza…who, by the way, has left a horrible mess for his successor.


Last Edited: 4/12/2014 4:38:01 PM by SBH
Pete Chouteau
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Posted: 4/12/2014 4:34 PM
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I was about to posit that any increase in alumni giving would be offset by the inevitable academic backlash.

Then I realized the flaw in my logic.

 

L.C.
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Posted: 4/12/2014 8:55 PM
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SBH wrote:expand_more
I never questioned his desire to be president, but feel it's just silly to believe he's qualified. ..

There is one regard in which he is qualified. Being a football coach requires managing a large number of people, and keeping them motivated and focused. Being President of a University also requires management abilities. Beyond that, though, I'm not sure that there is a not in common between the two jobs.
OUPride
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Posted: 4/13/2014 10:05 AM
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The Optimist wrote:expand_more
[QUOTE=OUPride][QUOTE=The Optimist]
"Substantial" increase as in 10's to 100's of millions. Whether that can happen, debate away... No debating both schools could use that money. The thought that JT could bring that, that is why his name is in the running.

No offense, but I don't think you understand the scale of current fundraising for Ohio universities.  Ohio and Miami barely take in 30 to 40 million dollars a year, and I the record year for both is just around 50.  Yet the hiring of a football coach is going to vault Akron or YSU into "increases in the 10s to 100 $MM range.  Could JT take an existing small donor base and bring in another $5MM, which I'll admit is a decent percentage increase for Akron and especially YSU?  I believe so, but to think he's going to vault them to--or past--the level of Ohio is ridiculous.  And is that $5MM worth the complete embarrassment (probably more a consideration for Akron which has delusions of being a major research university) of hiring a disgraced football coach as your President?
 
OUPride
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Posted: 4/13/2014 10:14 AM
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SBH wrote:expand_more
[QUOTE=The Optimist][QUOTE=SBH]

Actually, I believe the exchange was,

Optimist:  Tressel will be the next Akron president.

SBH:  No he won't

Optimist:  Yes he will.

I never questioned his desire to be president, but feel it's just silly to believe he's qualified.  You seem to think whoever lands him will have a huge fundraising advantage over all other schools but OSU.  He's come up empty as a fundraiser at Akron.  He was asked to hit up big donors to help launch a basketball arena project and there's nothing, zilch on the boards.  OSU followers have turned their backs on him.  People at Akron say he's already in over his head. His big initiative now it a letter writing campaign to high school seniors to ask them to attend Akron. Enrollment down 6% last year, expected to drop again in the fall.  NO respect from faculty and other administrators other than Proenza…who, by the way, has left a horrible mess for his successor.



Yep.  People--in their OSU loathing--tend to not accept this fact, but the truly big money at Ohio State doesn't really care about football to the degree that the average Ohioan does.  I'm not talking about the t-shirt alums who donate their whatever to the athletic department for the right to buy tickets or the alum with the dental practice in the Cleveland suburbs.  The real money behind Ohio State (Wexner, Ong, Schottenstein etc not to mention the Fortune 500 companies, Big 6 accounting firms or big law firms around the state) does not live and breathe football, and they are not going to return any phone calls from Jim Tressel anytime soon.  To them, he's a cancer whose recklessness humiliated the university on a national level.

 
RSBobcat
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Posted: 4/13/2014 11:10 PM
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L.C. wrote:expand_more
Not defending anyone or castigating blame as all of this is water long under the bridge but let's not forget the person w/ the personal problem could have really hurt someone.  Granted, that didn't happen, thankfully.

Don't forget that in this comparison, the person with the personal problem held on to his job, but remains on permanent probation, while the person with the track record of integrity issues moved up after the first issue from YSU to OSU, and then for the second issue was fired only because it was required by the NCAA, and is now apparently being considered for even higher positions.

If Tressel was still at YSU, but on probation from YSU because of the violations, it would be comparable to what happened to Solich, and no one would be saying anything. Since Solich remains on permanent probation with Ohio University we can conclude that off-the-field issues do matter to Ohio. Since the integrity issues have not held Tressel back, we can presume that integrity is not something that concerns some people, and that winning is more important to those people.

So basically you're saying 'Kron has no integrity - we knew that before. Why dance around it? 

 
SBH
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Posted: 4/22/2014 9:46 AM
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An update on Tressel: According to a knowledgeable party involved in Akron politics, there are 2-3 republicans on the Akron board who badly want Tressel and are openly campaigning for him.  Could be interesting…and not impossible that the Vest could end up in the big chair.  A disaster for the school but fun to watch.


ShoreCat
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Posted: 4/22/2014 2:28 PM
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Tressel is one of 3 finalists for the position.  The other two are Ronald Nykiel, provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Maryland; and Scott Scarborough, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Toledo, per Cleveland.com

Last Edited: 4/22/2014 2:28:41 PM by ShoreCat
Casper71
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Posted: 4/22/2014 2:46 PM
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Wow, those are the best candidates that Akron could get?  Just give it to Tressel and get it over with!
The Optimist
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Posted: 4/22/2014 3:24 PM
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Only on the day Tressel is officially named a finalist have SBH's "sources" reversed course on the matter.
 

Crazier things than Tressel not becoming UA President have certainly happened, but I think it is pretty clear the interest from the board is still there. This has been in the works for years.

SBH
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Posted: 4/22/2014 5:10 PM
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Merely reporting what I read in a blog that was posted yesterday.  I am not surprised that their only internal candidate is a finalist, are you?  That would be awfully embarrassing for him not to be a finalist among this pathetic field.  I still don't believe even Akron's board is delusional enough to hire him at president, but there's no way to explain irrationality.  You seem convinced he'll get the job.  We'll see.




Pataskala
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Posted: 4/22/2014 6:03 PM
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Nykiel may actually be too good for Akron.  And like Tressel, Scarborough has a tainted past.
Paul Graham
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Posted: 4/22/2014 7:17 PM
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Looks like Scarborough is another conservative choice....Has a history of turning schools into for-profit degree mills

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/26/toledo#sthash.bGH0Ta1c.dpbs
Monroe Slavin
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Posted: 4/23/2014 2:11 AM
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SBH wrote:expand_more
Merely reporting what I read in a blog that was posted yesterday.  I am not surprised that their only internal candidate is a finalist, are you?  That would be awfully embarrassing for him not to be a finalist among this pathetic field.  I still don't believe even Akron's board is delusional enough to hire him at president, but there's no way to explain irrationality.  You seem convinced he'll get the job.  We'll see.





#whenyouknoweverythingablogisatotallyauthoritativesource

Violating both halves of "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.  It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

 
OUPride
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Posted: 4/23/2014 10:46 AM
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Paul Graham wrote:expand_more
Looks like Scarborough is another conservative choice....Has a history of turning schools into for-profit degree mills

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/26/toledo#sthash.bGH0Ta1c.dpbs

That's interesting.  I wonder if a faction on their board will use the upcoming financial crisis that Proenza has set in motion in order to turn the place into a for-profit, online degree mill.  Tressel would be the perfect facade of a President to do their bidding all the while mouthing a bunch of pious platitudes to a public too obsessed with foosball to view the man for what he truly is.

Then again, I think it was the height of idiocy to save Akron in the first place and fold it into the system when the state already had a perfectly good four year university right down the road, so let their own people burn it down and rectify the initial mistake.

 
Tyler
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Posted: 4/23/2014 4:28 PM
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From The Jambar (YSU's student newspaper):

Harry Meshel, a member of Youngstown State University's Board of Trustees, said that Jim Tressel is among the eight finalists for the university's president position.

 
L.C.
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Posted: 4/23/2014 6:00 PM
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Paul Graham wrote:expand_more
Looks like Scarborough is another conservative choice....Has a history of turning schools into for-profit degree mills

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/02/26/toledo#sthash.bGH0Ta1c.dpbs

Very interesting that he's one of the final three.
Mike Johnson
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Posted: 4/23/2014 10:13 PM
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Just think.  If Akron names Tressel, he likely would be establishing a precedent - the first university president to have led two football programs slammed by the NCAA for violations of rules under his watch.  Oh, what the heck, that's only two strikes; give him a third.
Tyler
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Posted: 4/28/2014 4:19 PM
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YSU interviewed the top six candidates over the weekend. Tressel is now one of the three finalists.

The YSU Board of Trustees have announced their three finalists for YSU President:  

James P. Tressel
Gary L. Miller
Mary Cullinan


 
Last Edited: 4/28/2014 4:20:04 PM by Tyler
Bobcatbob
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Posted: 4/29/2014 2:37 PM
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We can knock Tressel all we want but where there is smoke there is fire.  The guy obviously has something that that these Trustees like and, maybe, want.

They have to know that this would be an extremely controversial hire, which makes it that much more intriguing. 
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