Deadspin article: How UNH Turned A Quiet Benefactor Into A Football-Marketing Prop

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https://deadspin.com/how-unh-turned-a-quiet-benefactor-into-a-football-marke-1819064622

Cliffs:

- Librarian worked for 49 years at the UNH library.
- No family and no expensive habits let him accrue $4 million over his years.
- He bequeathed his silent fortune to the university, with no restrictions.
- They spent $1 million on a football scoreboard (they are um....not....a football powerhouse and never will be.)
- To make it sound like this is what he wanted to do with the money, the university marketed the fact that he started watching football games on TV once he was in a hospice center.

Tidbits from the story:

- "only 21 of the 201 Division I athletic departments they studied broke even or turned a profit. The other 180 depended on a staggering $10 billion in student fees and other subsidies to cover their ever-expanding athletic budgets."

-"To keep its sports teams afloat, though, the school slaps one of those additional “student athletics” fees on every full-time undergrad. Multiply the fee—$1,075 for the current academic year—by the school’s 12,000 or so students and you’ve got a $13 million annual subsidy. And it’s not clear the students want big-time college sports; last year, even with the upgraded stadium and a good team, UNH couldn’t crack the FCS’s top 30 in attendance."

- "But none of this seems to matter. UNH’s administration has fetishized football, just like pretty much every other administration has fetishized football, and now even the meekest programs seem desperate to spend."

Last from me:

- Why does football have such a strong impact on the decisions college administrators make; even schools that make less-than-zero dollars from their football program?
 
- Why does football have such a strong impact on the decisions college administrators make; even schools that make less-than-zero dollars from their football program?

Because the people in administration can do pretty whatever they want to do.

30 yrs ago the UMich football program paid for itself, every other varsity sport and 1/3 of first year scholarships. Not anymore. Now it's just a dick swinging contest between chancellors and alums.
 
One last thing from me:

I see that $2.5 million of the money went to the university's Career Center.

That seems like a part of the university system that seems underfunded (or just under utilized).

If UNH has the highest in-state tuition costs, then you would bet that a soon-to-be graduate would want decent help in finding a job once he/she graduates.....to pay for their soon-to-be college debt.
 
He could've left specific instructions for the money if he wanted it spent or not spent on certain things but he left it to them with no restrictions and they spent it, whats the problem?
 
He could've left specific instructions for the money if he wanted it spent or not spent on certain things but he left it to them with no restrictions and they spent it, whats the problem?

This issue really isn't that they spent the money on football and now there's some big outcry because the guy didnt like football or something. It's that they fabricated this whole "He fell in love with football on his deathbed" story line so people wouldn't bitch about it, when there were many other things in the school that could use a good chunk money. Their football team sucks, nobody goes to the games, and it doesn't turn a profit for them. A new $1,000,000 scoreboard isn't going to change that.

He didn't specify where to spend it, so they didn't dishonor him or anything. However, they did decide to spend a big chunk of it on stuff that's kind of useless to them, while giving very little at all to the library that he worked at for 49 years. People are more mad that they lied to use the money on something like that.
 
https://deadspin.com/how-unh-turned-a-quiet-benefactor-into-a-football-marke-1819064622

Cliffs:

- Librarian worked for 49 years at the UNH library.
- No family and no expensive habits let him accrue $4 million over his years.
- He bequeathed his silent fortune to the university, with no restrictions.
- They spent $1 million on a football scoreboard (they are um....not....a football powerhouse and never will be.)
- To make it sound like this is what he wanted to do with the money, the university marketed the fact that he started watching football games on TV once he was in a hospice center.

Tidbits from the story:

- "only 21 of the 201 Division I athletic departments they studied broke even or turned a profit. The other 180 depended on a staggering $10 billion in student fees and other subsidies to cover their ever-expanding athletic budgets."

-"To keep its sports teams afloat, though, the school slaps one of those additional “student athletics” fees on every full-time undergrad. Multiply the fee—$1,075 for the current academic year—by the school’s 12,000 or so students and you’ve got a $13 million annual subsidy. And it’s not clear the students want big-time college sports; last year, even with the upgraded stadium and a good team, UNH couldn’t crack the FCS’s top 30 in attendance."

- "But none of this seems to matter. UNH’s administration has fetishized football, just like pretty much every other administration has fetishized football, and now even the meekest programs seem desperate to spend."

Last from me:

- Why does football have such a strong impact on the decisions college administrators make; even schools that make less-than-zero dollars from their football program?

I thought they are a hockey school. JVR went to UNH.
 
He could've left specific instructions for the money if he wanted it spent or not spent on certain things but he left it to them with no restrictions and they spent it, whats the problem?

The crux of the article is not the way the university spent the money. The author concluded that the guy really wouldn't have cared where the money went.

I think the issue that the article raises is that the university foreshadowed a PR issue if the money went to football (after all, the guy was a librarian for five decades at the school). Therefore, the university did mental gymnastics to try to make it sound like the guy was a fan of the football program.

When I read the piece, I thought "Damn, that Ms. Mantz, the university's media relations director, should be in politics."
 
https://deadspin.com/how-unh-turned-a-quiet-benefactor-into-a-football-marke-1819064622

Cliffs:

- Librarian worked for 49 years at the UNH library.
- No family and no expensive habits let him accrue $4 million over his years.
- He bequeathed his silent fortune to the university, with no restrictions.
- They spent $1 million on a football scoreboard (they are um....not....a football powerhouse and never will be.)
- To make it sound like this is what he wanted to do with the money, the university marketed the fact that he started watching football games on TV once he was in a hospice center.

Tidbits from the story:

- "only 21 of the 201 Division I athletic departments they studied broke even or turned a profit. The other 180 depended on a staggering $10 billion in student fees and other subsidies to cover their ever-expanding athletic budgets."

-"To keep its sports teams afloat, though, the school slaps one of those additional “student athletics” fees on every full-time undergrad. Multiply the fee—$1,075 for the current academic year—by the school’s 12,000 or so students and you’ve got a $13 million annual subsidy. And it’s not clear the students want big-time college sports; last year, even with the upgraded stadium and a good team, UNH couldn’t crack the FCS’s top 30 in attendance."

- "But none of this seems to matter. UNH’s administration has fetishized football, just like pretty much every other administration has fetishized football, and now even the meekest programs seem desperate to spend."

Last from me:

- Why does football have such a strong impact on the decisions college administrators make; even schools that make less-than-zero dollars from their football program?

Look up the Flutie Effect.

Successful athletics tends to increase interest in the university. It's no coincidence that universities see increased applications after high profile performances or titles.

Athletics durectly increase prestige of universities, profitable or not. That's why they give a shit.
 
Look up the Flutie Effect.

Successful athletics tends to increase interest in the university. It's no coincidence that universities see increased applications after high profile performances or titles.

Athletics durectly increase prestige of universities, profitable or not. That's why they give a shit.


Flutie went to Boston College. BC was/is a DI college.

UNH is in the FCS.

As someone posted above, UNH is a hockey school. It is not a football school. Even with a BIG upgrade in their football facilities, they still can't break the top 30 in FCS attendance. But hey, once upon a time they had Chip Kelly as an assistant coach. So, I guess there is that.
 
Look up the Flutie Effect.

Successful athletics tends to increase interest in the university. It's no coincidence that universities see increased applications after high profile performances or titles.

Athletics durectly increase prestige of universities, profitable or not. That's why they give a shit.

My buddy looked at BC for his daughter. It's over $60k a year.

Jesus H.
 
I got my whole degree for less than that, and I had professors who taught at BC, BU and Harvard.

I told my older daughter that I won't spend $250k on her ugrad education. If she wants to go to Stanford, she can earn a scholarship.
 
I told my older daughter that I won't spend $250k on her ugrad education. If she wants to go to Stanford, she can earn a scholarship.
99% of the jobs out there it's a waste of money. You will get the same job making the same money.
 
99% of the jobs out there it's a waste of money. You will get the same job making the same money.

The US is a funny place though. Places like MoFo (the law firm) have all of their employees from top institutions. It's kind of ridiculous. I worked at a "venture" firm in Copley square and I was pretty much the only non-Harvard/MIT grad there. It was always an issue.
 
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The US is a funny place though. Places like MoFo (the law firm) have all of their employees from top institutions. It's kid of ridiculous. I worked at a "venture" firm in Copley square and I was pretty much the only non-Harvard/MIT grad there. It was always an issue.
That's the 1% where it does matter.
 
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