Brennan Resigns

Hamdonger

Hamdonger

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Adunk33 said:
Many have mentioned we are in a spend money to make money world, which I agree. Brennan spending 23k to land 3mil is good, in theory but....unless I'm missing something ISU never got any of that 3 mil and won't comment on it.

Which tells me....it hasn't. Or if it had, they rejected it with the recent news.
www.wglt.org

ISU Athletics Director resigns after questions about spending for Big Ten trip on Aaron Rossi’s plane

Illinois State University Athletics Director Kyle Brennan has resigned following questions raised by WGLT about spending on a donor trip to Indianapolis on one of Aaron Rossi’s private planes.
www.wglt.org www.wglt.org

ISU has to be more conservative and calculated with the way money is spent.
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You're saying that with hindsight. If ISU brass could have predicted the Rossi happenings, he wouldn't have been touched with a 10' pole.
 
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Phantom

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Humdinger said:
You're saying that with hindsight. If ISU brass could have predicted the Rossi happenings, he wouldn't have been touched with a 10' pole.
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That's the thing...whatever the whole picture is with the Indy trip and the resignations are bad enough, but add the Rossi situation and all of it looks like an even bigger black eye.
 
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Adunk33

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BirdGrad2011 said:
Agree. The good news? We can still sell naming rights to Hancock. We can sell naming rights to the Bubble. Clean house of whatever comes of this. Bring in the right people and keep building our future.
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You know...now that I think of it...maybe the naming rights deal for Redbird was Kyle's response to learning the 3 mil wasn't materializing from Rossi?

But yeah, sell everything you can. Hancock will always be Hancock to us diehards just like Redbird will always be Redbird.
 
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DoubleDeuce

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Adunk33 said:
You know...now that I think of it...maybe the naming rights deal for Redbird was Kyle's response to learning the 3 mil wasn't materializing from Rossi?

But yeah, sell everything you can. Hancock will always be Hancock to us diehards just like Redbird will always be Redbird.
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If CEFCU is willing to give $10 mil for naming rights to that helps out ISU...I'm willing to call it CEFCU Arena. Doesn't cost me a dime!
Wonder how much it would cost me to get naming right to one of the urinals.
 
Hamdonger

Hamdonger

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Phantom said:
That's the thing...whatever the whole picture is with the Indy trip and the resignations are bad enough, but add the Rossi situation and all of it looks like an even bigger black eye.
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I GAR-on-TEE the feds know every nook and cranny of that Indy trip, because of Rossi. Wouldn't surprise me if they know details about Rossi's prostate. I'm only half joking. Mere speculation, but it may be the fed deal that really opened up this ISU ripple effect.

I don't see how ISU could have prevented the Rossi agreement outside of a full-detailed high priced background investigation (that somehow could have predicted the future), into Rossi, prior to coming to a deal. And if you do THAT...you're chasing away any future significant donorship candidates - forever.
 
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Adunk33

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DoubleDeuce said:
If CEFCU is willing to give $10 mil for naming rights to that helps out ISU...I'm willing to call it CEFCU Arena. Doesn't cost me a dime!
Wonder how much it would cost me to get naming right to one of the urinals.
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CEFCU deal is 3 mil over 10 years. Rossi's "donation" was 3 mil. :unsure:
 
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Reggie Redbird

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Adunk33 said:
CEFCU deal is 3 mil over 10 years. Rossi's "donation" was 3 mil. :unsure:
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Isn’t the fact that the naming rights deal came quickly after it would appear that no funds were coming from Rossi.

If this project were to be $6 million short, before any naming rights money transferred over, that would create a very difficult situation for any admins who greenlit construction. People would be held responsible for that. You don’t start construction without having at/near certainty that the funds are coming.

It will be interesting if anyone involved with the Rossi “pledge” process will be deposed as part of those criminal and civil matters. That could bring ISU up in a bad light again.
 
DougSutton

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MadBird said:
The thing with speculation is, these days, it starts like wildfire. This story is only 24 hours old, hardly enough time for anyone to get after it (cept WGLT). The story will come out, in time, by prying or by "confession", at some point. People don't like to wait anymore for things to "play out". They want instant answers. So they/we speculate.

I'm interested in whether there's a connection between the president resigning and Brennan resigning. Seems obvious, but you never know. And how. And so forth. How big is this? Just this one time, with one "sketchy" donor? Will be interesting to see it play out, over time!
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Completely agree with many people's tendency to not like waiting for things to play out. There must be more to this story and over time, I'm sure what is meant to come out will. Side note, one thing I hate about message boards during times like these is the certainty that new "burner accounts" will come on here to share information. These are either longtime posters that don't want to share under the account they're known for or lurkers. Regardless, it's people who choose to be completely anonymous and spread rumors.

@She_Also_Said is a bit of an anomaly because this poster is coming to the defense of the accused, not to proclaim innocence but to at least suggest that there may be more to the story and not to take what is shared via WGLT as completely factual. That's at least how I interpreted what he or she shared. With this context or intention, I don't mind it as much however still wish during times like these, if people are going to share information about sensitive topics and make claims, at least have the courage and integrity to share your real identity. If I was a moderator, I'd ban burner accounts.

Regarding Ryan's claims in the article....

First off, in many ways it's refreshing and kind of cool to have a true investigative reporter that is willing to write articles about stories that are relevant to our community and that may not shine a positive light (assuming what they are sharing is true)

While I appreciate a lot of what he is doing, I do have a few pieces of critical feedback.

1. The headline and article implies that it was this trip in question that was the reason Kyle resigned. While this may be the only factor, my senses tell me there is much, much more to the story that contributed to this.

2. The comment "WGLT was planning to publish a story Thursday about the December 2021 trip when ISU pre-emptively announced Brennan’s resignation." feels like they are giving themselves a little too much credit for the resignation, as if the university forced Brennan to resign before the article came out so they could get ahead of the story. Perhaps this is true but it feels more like them trying to take credit for this.

3. As others have said, a $23,000 trip for an investment to cater to a potential donor for a massive donation is done all of the time. Not just at big universities but also in the non-profit world. It is a standard of practice and from the amount invested perspective, I see absolutely nothing wrong with this at all. The comments the university made regarding the importance of any expenses being "consistent with the University’s mission and values". I can respect that a trip to a strip club would not be in alignment with the "mission and values".

4. What was the relevance of mentioning this being the same night as the home game against Jackson State?? Should Brennan have courted our potential donors by taking them to this game instead?

5. The strip club: Using the Lyft receipt of the 437 S. Illinois St as a sole piece of supposed "evidence" that this must have been where the group was at is irresponsible investigative journalism and should come with consequences for making such a claim if not true. As others have said, they could have been at any business in the immediate area and just got picked up outside of this location. No other source or evidence was used other than this in the article. If he corroborated this claim with saying he spoke to anonymous sources, or that there were credit card receipts from inside the club, that would be the only way I believe the claim of the strip club should have been made in this article.

6. Even if they did go to a strip club as one stop after the game, I do not personally believe this is newsworthy. I had my chapter of life (when I was much younger in my 20s) that I went to strip clubs and I don't associate such a negative stigma. Now, IF the money was used for prostitutes or illegal drugs and there was proof of that, that would be a completely different story and worthy of a big headline making national news.

In short, this trip, by itself, if nothing else was going on from my perspective isn't worthy of this level of reaction, a forced resignation and being a national news story. Because of that, I'm sure there must be a lot else going on behind the scenes and I only really care to find out what naturally unfolds and hope that the only things that are shared come through channels with people that openly share their identity as the source of the information with proof that whatever claims are made are truthful.
 
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Reggie1857

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Adunk33 said:
Many have mentioned we are in a spend money to make money world, which I agree. Brennan spending 23k to land 3mil is good, in theory but....unless I'm missing something ISU never got any of that 3 mil and won't comment on it.

Which tells me....it hasn't. Or if it had, they rejected it with the recent news.
www.wglt.org

ISU Athletics Director resigns after questions about spending for Big Ten trip on Aaron Rossi’s plane

Illinois State University Athletics Director Kyle Brennan has resigned following questions raised by WGLT about spending on a donor trip to Indianapolis on one of Aaron Rossi’s private planes.
www.wglt.org www.wglt.org

So, it's a flushed 23k when the athletics budget is around 30 mil, annually. 23k at a school like Illannoy, who operates around 150 mil is a drop in the bucket- they can afford to take these big swings. ISU has to be more conservative and calculated with the way money is spent.
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Illinois State has a history of bad athletic dept leadership and laughable focus on athletic fundraising. This guy was trying to get sh*t done and you have to appreciate that. Back in the day, I'd turn in tens of thousands in receipts for Red Garter type entertainment. Most of those trips bore fruit down the road, others did not so I know what's it's like when it bites you in the ass. It'd be a damn shame to lose a good AD who's actually hustling and trying to pull ISU out of the hole left by the Lyons, Zenger, Greenspan, etc. Besides, lifting up young people and helping them achieve their goals should be a focus of this university................... single mothers included.
 
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BirdGrad2011

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Reggie1857 said:
Illinois State has a history of bad athletic dept leadership and laughable focus on athletic fundraising. This guy was trying to get sh*t done and you have to appreciate that. Back in the day, I'd turn in tens of thousands in receipts for Red Garter type entertainment. Most of those trips bore fruit down the road, others did not so I know what's it's like when it bites you in the ass. It'd be a damn shame to lose a good AD who's actually hustling and trying to pull ISU out of the hole left by the Lyons, Zenger, Greenspan, etc. Besides, lifting up young people and helping them achieve their goals should be a focus of this university................... single mothers included.
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There. Is. More. To. The. Story.
 
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Buffett1

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BirdGrad2011 said:
I don’t think it gets to that. We have absolutely phenomenal coaches in place and that isn’t changing.
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BirdGrad2011 said:
There. Is. More. To. The. Story.
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AD: “But that same revised contract also requires him to pay ISU back 25% of his annual salary if he resigned prior to June 2027, according to contract documents obtained by WGLT; 25% of his salary would be around $60,723.
Just added info from wglt
 
Hamdonger

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Bdub777

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Reggie1857 said:
Illinois State has a history of bad athletic dept leadership and laughable focus on athletic fundraising. This guy was trying to get sh*t done and you have to appreciate that. Back in the day, I'd turn in tens of thousands in receipts for Red Garter type entertainment. Most of those trips bore fruit down the road, others did not so I know what's it's like when it bites you in the ass. It'd be a damn shame to lose a good AD who's actually hustling and trying to pull ISU out of the hole left by the Lyons, Zenger, Greenspan, etc. Besides, lifting up young people and helping them achieve their goals should be a focus of this university................... single mothers included.
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Lumping in Zenger with those others is silly, and I am not sure where you got your expenses paid back but it wasn’t here unless you were back in the Will/Clean Gene days, where there are some stories!
 
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leeno33

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Bdub777 said:
Lumping in Zenger with those others is silly, and I am not sure where you got your expenses paid back but it wasn’t here unless you were back in the Will/Clean Gene days, where there are some stories!
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Also forgot about Friedman... He did at least get Hancock (mostly) built unlike Zenger.

My wife did bring up a good point about what else could have happened on that trip. Rossi is a known heavy drug user so it is possible drugs were involved.
 
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