The financial side is just not that hard. The culture/mindset side is where the yeoman’s work is going to have to go. As far as the financial side, first step is hiring a competent AD who can SELL THE VISION. That is going to be imperative. Someone who can talk to the admin and academia and tell them why a thriving athletics program can help the University overall—attracting better overall student candidates, raising the national profile of the school, and yes, even generate revenue that can be used to better the university overall, not just athletics. Have case histories from Stanford and Northwestern showing direct correlation between commitment to athletics and benefits to the University. After that hire is made...
Roll out the Vanderbilt Vision 20/20 for 2020 program which is a $1,000,000,00 commitment to Athletics over the course of 10 years. Annually it would be broken down like this:
$40 million from SEC—untouchable by the University--only for AD.
$30 million from donors
$30 million school match. We have a $6 billion endowment, right? If our endowment grows at 5% and Athletics get just 10% of the annual GROWTH, that covers the match. That’s $100 million a year for 10 years.
Not to mention naming rights, sponsorships, advertisers, bonds, etc. that could be other streams of additional income.
Spell it out in 5 2-year phases. Phase 1 addresses the immediate needs for each sport that is needed right now. Phases 2-5 are forward-looking and would be things like new football stadium, plan for Memorial, and statue for Tim Corbin. Again, the financials are not super-difficult, but the embedded stubbornness of the entrenched academics are where you are going to have the biggest challenge. As someone said in another thread, BOT needs to lay down the law, and if you are not on board, go teach at Sewanee.
Roll out the Vanderbilt Vision 20/20 for 2020 program which is a $1,000,000,00 commitment to Athletics over the course of 10 years. Annually it would be broken down like this:
$40 million from SEC—untouchable by the University--only for AD.
$30 million from donors
$30 million school match. We have a $6 billion endowment, right? If our endowment grows at 5% and Athletics get just 10% of the annual GROWTH, that covers the match. That’s $100 million a year for 10 years.
Not to mention naming rights, sponsorships, advertisers, bonds, etc. that could be other streams of additional income.
Spell it out in 5 2-year phases. Phase 1 addresses the immediate needs for each sport that is needed right now. Phases 2-5 are forward-looking and would be things like new football stadium, plan for Memorial, and statue for Tim Corbin. Again, the financials are not super-difficult, but the embedded stubbornness of the entrenched academics are where you are going to have the biggest challenge. As someone said in another thread, BOT needs to lay down the law, and if you are not on board, go teach at Sewanee.
