Haha, his penchant of wearing bowties has always stuck in my head. But I have heard him a couple of times on sports talk radio shows out of Nashville and read some stuff about him and he seems to have a big ego. Granted, he is a very intelligent guy but possibly with old-fashioned views (which he seems to revel in) just like his bowties.
Manny.. First off.. I love Chancellor Gee.. as do basically all students..I think he had a 96% approval rating lol He was loved at Ohio State as well.. etc.. Probably because of the fact that he has so much interaction with the students.. heck he dressed as Santa for a choir concert on Sunday.. not many university chancellors would do that... On all the occasions I've talked to him, he was a great guy.. and always spends time with the students.. if he has an ego (which I dont think he really does that much).. it would be because he is considered one of the tops in the nation.. former head of ohio state.. brown.. turned down job of running all the cali schools etc... The people who don't know him personally seem to think he has an ego. But if you talk to him, he really is a good guy. This wasn't just a publicity stunt.. he has been working for a long time to help rid schools of corruption in athletics... he has won national championships in football while at other schools.. so he knows about the athletic part as well.. As for the not good athletic teams.. Let's look at last year.. -Mens Basketball Sweet 16 -Womens Basketball Sweet 16 -Baseball Super Regional (top 16) -Mens Tennis - 16th in nation -Womens Tennis - 2nd in nation -Womens Lacroose - Final 4 -Womens Golf 5th in nation Half of the 14 varsity programs finished the year in the top 16 in the nation. The only other school to have baseball in top 16 and both mens and womens basketball in top 16 was Texas. We finished the year ranked 28th in the nation for overall athletics. Yes, football is the big sport that has everyone think we are bad at sports.. but in reality we are good in pretty much every sport except football.
oh and manny. he had a bow tie with the santa claus outfit... It's just his trademark.. Here is an interesting article .. sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/magazine/specials/sportsman/2004/11/22/bechtel.gee/index.html
one last thing.. manny the local hosts seem to be horrid... I think most of their disgust with the situation was they know their listeners are mostly utenn fans that don't like to hear about how horrible the academics for their athletes are.. when you no you are guilty of throwing out morals when it comes to athletics.. you resent people who actually make their players graduate... I'll admit the man can come across on the radio etc as if he has an ego sometime.. but if you ever see him somewhere, have a convo with him.. It's amazing how the outside world sees him as a big ego, while his students love him for the fact that he will actualy take the time to eat with them in the student dining halls etc..
manny.. you're welcome.. judging by this years start though.. ill have to not be talking about a sweet 16 mens team .. Memorial is still a fun place to see a game though regardless.
manny.. since you are somewhat familiar with the situation.. did you think the actual move made sense.. granted it did not need to be done at vu.. but he was trying to set an example... do you think seperate athletic departments just add more chance for corruption and the low graduation rates that this whole thread is about? If I'm hired as an AD, and know I have to win.. I can see how the AD's woudl stop caring about academics... and when they are seperated from the rest of the university you end up with what we now have in college sports
Two schools - Duke in I-A and William & Mary in I-AA - acheived 100% in men's football this year. I salute them. More schools should move to I-AA; W&M is a powerhouse there as well as a top notch academic institution. Harvard managed to go 11-0 (though the Ivy's aren't on the level of the top I-AA programs) Guys like Rice, Duke, Army, Navy, & even lesser academic institutions should stop trying to fight the losing battle of I-A. The money's only there if you get just lucky enough to be able to sell your soul.
sam.. the problem is that many conferences require you to have a division 1 football team etc... I think Duke is too good at basketball to want to move out of division 1 A
Thanks for the clarification. I'm just really used to seeing bits in the school newspaper about the university trying to find new ways to kick people out in 4 years... I just thought that this was more of the same. Sorry for the confusion and senseless rant on my part.
Yea, it made sense but like you said, it didn't really needed to be done at Vanderbilt. You had said earlier that Gordon Gee was at Ohio State at one point in his career. From what you have told me about him as well as the stuff I have already read about him, I think it would be safe to say that if he was still at OSU now, that all that crap going on with Clarett and stuff would not be happening.
The one school who should just stop playing D1 is Rutgers. In the history of the Big East, Rutgers has never been to a bowl game or March Madness. That is beyond futility. Baylor, meet Rutgers.
manny.. he has commented on ohio state a number of times...it's one of the examples he commonly uses.. When he speaks of Ohio State he seems very saddened by what has happened there.. . It's interesting to note that Vice Chancellor David Williams who basically is running athletics now at Vandy.. was at Ohio State with Gee... and according to Gee, David Williams basically ran the Ohio State athletic program while Gee was there... So it seems that even when he was at Ohio State, he worked to make sure the athletic department didn't get too out of hand by having people like our current vice chancellor playing a major role.. His usual point is that .. universities should be places of integrity and its sad what is happening across the nation. .. it hits home to him because he used to run Colorado as well.. when you allow athletic corruption.. your universities whole integrity ends up being at question.. I think us making the first move was more or less.. we have to make for certain we are exactly how we should be before we ask anyone else to... trying to set some type of example.. and hope someone follows... and apparently quite a few schools have been looking into our setup..
I think the maurice situation specificaly wouldnt have happened because of the increased role of the actual univeristy officals in athletics... somewhere it would have been caught earlier had the athleic department not been so seperate
Division I-AA exists only for football since it is a loss leader at most schools; most, and, I believe all I-AA football schools are Division I basketball schools. Anyway, look at the former Big East (G-Town, St. Johns, UConn, Villanova, Seton Hall) or the former A-10 (Rhode Island, George Washington); each maintained top notch B-ball programs but either I-AA (though Connecticut decided to go into huge taxpayer financed debt to move up), D-III or no FB programs.
I think the environment has changed where big time basketball needs big time football to lead the way for a school. It makes the school much more attractive to have D1A football. The basketball only schools are not what they used to be. Georgetown, St. Johns, Villanova, etc appear to have peaked 10-15 years ago. I don't they'll be competing for a championship anytime in the near future. The current coaches poll includes one basketball only school. Football is king.
It is sad, but true...Athletics over education, but its up to the individual to want to succeed in the classroom and get educated...
Unless you count the reigning national champ UConn. In fact, UConn has used its phenomenal success in basketball to fuel its recent foray into I-A football in a PR sense -- which is mildly successful though a financial boondoggle to Connecticut taxpayers who paid $90 million for their stadium. They do have a decent team with a respectable record but their schedule is populated with I-AA victories and the dregs of I-A - most of which routinely lose to I-AA schools (Buffalo, Temple, etc). Either way the prospect of UConn football becoming self-sustaining in the near future is bleak.
I'm embarassed for what college athletics has become. The only guys who shouldn't be graduating are the guys who leave after their junior year for the pros. Most of these guys are going to school for free, so it would be nice to see them at least graduate and get something out of their education.
