AD has pushed for them for years. Endowed athletic scholarships are a great thing in my view. The shame is that they appear to be the only significant athletic fundraising VU AD has undertaken or been allowed to do in recent years, which is unreal even if it is just partly true.
Endowed scholarships may be a factor in the possibility that Kirkland would like to drop football down the road (a prospect I find less likely than some due to diversity priorities and SEC money, among other reasons).
VUAD announced the funding of a new football endowed scholarship yesterday. If the family's gift to the University really is restricted to use for a football player, as a gift like this would typically be structured, then the existence of a number of endowed football scholarships would be another hedge against dropping football, as there would be no students who would meet the criteria to qualify for one if there were no football team. Would Kirkland want to leave several fully endowed scholarships on the shelf, especially ones that would in many cases go to minority student-athletes? If VU AD ever achieved 85 endowed football scholarships (likely a long time off, but would be an amazing accomplishment) that would be a hedge against dropping down to FBS or Div II (with lower scholarship numbers), provided the donors had not agreed to allow the gift to be used elsewhere if there are no football players to use the scholarship. Hopefully the donors funding the athletic scholarships have not agreed to that in the fine print.
By the way, from someone who hasn't funded an athletic scholarship at VU, a big thank you to the Ingram and Farnsworth families (the Farnsworths funded the new football scholarship) and all the other families and individuals who have had the love for- and faith in - the VU AD to contribute significant sums of their wealth to help sustain VU AD and VU student athletes for years to come.
Endowed scholarships may be a factor in the possibility that Kirkland would like to drop football down the road (a prospect I find less likely than some due to diversity priorities and SEC money, among other reasons).
VUAD announced the funding of a new football endowed scholarship yesterday. If the family's gift to the University really is restricted to use for a football player, as a gift like this would typically be structured, then the existence of a number of endowed football scholarships would be another hedge against dropping football, as there would be no students who would meet the criteria to qualify for one if there were no football team. Would Kirkland want to leave several fully endowed scholarships on the shelf, especially ones that would in many cases go to minority student-athletes? If VU AD ever achieved 85 endowed football scholarships (likely a long time off, but would be an amazing accomplishment) that would be a hedge against dropping down to FBS or Div II (with lower scholarship numbers), provided the donors had not agreed to allow the gift to be used elsewhere if there are no football players to use the scholarship. Hopefully the donors funding the athletic scholarships have not agreed to that in the fine print.
By the way, from someone who hasn't funded an athletic scholarship at VU, a big thank you to the Ingram and Farnsworth families (the Farnsworths funded the new football scholarship) and all the other families and individuals who have had the love for- and faith in - the VU AD to contribute significant sums of their wealth to help sustain VU AD and VU student athletes for years to come.
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