Lyons on bribery admission scandal

[PK88]

I don't know the exact answer, but I would assume most of the ISU employees that like to tweet about sitting courtside or in the first few rows do not donate to get those seats and I say that because they are in different seats depending on the game.

Show us the tweets. You said we'd be surprised by how many corporate seats we give away, so why not tell us how many? Can you?

You clearly know the answer. Why don't you say how many are giveaways?

I don't know at all. I also don't pretend to like you do.

 

[ricohill]

Who were the other qualified candidates? Use facts. Not speculation. Prove what you’re saying.

The answer is none. They received a special waiver to hire Matt. The job was never posted.

So the hire was made over more qualified candidates, but the number of candidates was zero. Got it.

OK, you got me. Congrats. You win. You clearly come on here to just attack ISU Fan 1 and myself so I will let you think not interviewing anyone and hiring an employees son behind everyones back is the appropriate and best way to find qualified candidates.

 

[Cindy00]

We don't sell 4,000 season tickets anymore. You would be surprised how many ISU employee and corporate seats we give away. It's kind of sad to talk with the people that used to go to games in the 80's and 90's and don't anymore. There was such a rabid, passionate fan base back in those days. Too many loses and burned bridges to get season ticket sales back up.

Surprise us. How many tickets do we give away? What is the number?

I don't know the exact answer, but I would assume most of the ISU employees that like to tweet about sitting courtside or in the first few rows do not donate to get those seats and I say that because they are in different seats depending on the game.

So what ISU employees have you seen tweeting from these front row seats?

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[Cindy00]

The answer is none. They received a special waiver to hire Matt. The job was never posted.

So the hire was made over more qualified candidates, but the number of candidates was zero. Got it.

OK, you got me. Congrats. You win. You clearly come on here to just attack ISU Fan 1 and myself so I will let you think not interviewing anyone and hiring an employees son behind everyones back is the appropriate and best way to find qualified candidates.

It seems to me that PK88 has only ever asked you to back up what you post with facts.

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[Cindy00]

To back up to the start of this. Why is anyone asking Larry about anything right now other than when does he plan to retire?

Even though the more I think about it, a guy that employed hired his son over more qualified candidates without a search could be the expert on this subject.

We are down to the percentage of fans that are probably committed regardless of the performance. I would guess that number to be 4000 season ticket holders. A small percentage might decide to call it a day. But, the rest like the social atmosphere. They prefer to watch a little ball, converse with the friend next to them and go home and chill out. Maybe even go home and cheer for their real team. As long as that is the expectation Larry is safe. Long gone are the days where it’s expectations.

We don't sell 4,000 season tickets anymore. You would be surprised how many ISU employee and corporate seats we give away. It's kind of sad to talk with the people that used to go to games in the 80's and 90's and don't anymore. There was such a rabid, passionate fan base back in those days. Too many loses and burned bridges to get season ticket sales back up.

Corporate seats aren't given away, they are given to corporations that donate to ISU.
From what I know, the only employees that get free tickets are people associated with the athletic department (and not even all of them get free tickets), the President, & maybe the vice-presidents. The rest of the faculty/staff do get a discount but definitely not on courtside seats.

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[ricohill]

So the hire was made over more qualified candidates, but the number of candidates was zero. Got it.

OK, you got me. Congrats. You win. You clearly come on here to just attack ISU Fan 1 and myself so I will let you think not interviewing anyone and hiring an employees son behind everyones back is the appropriate and best way to find qualified candidates.

It seems to me that PK88 has only ever asked you to back up what you post with facts.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

As I have in almost every post.

Facts: Matt was hired in a process where no other candidates were interviewed.

ISU gives away corporate seats and to isu employees. (It happens at every University).

ISU does not sell 4,000 season tickets. If you look at the seat maps of games they have nearly 500 unsold tickets in the lower bowl, plus student sections, and corporate/giveaways. Additionally, only a few season tickets sold in the upper bowl. If you really need me to prove this I believe I have some screen grabs on my computer.

If you want exact figures I’m sure you can ask ISU and prove me wrong.

 

[ricohill]

We are down to the percentage of fans that are probably committed regardless of the performance. I would guess that number to be 4000 season ticket holders. A small percentage might decide to call it a day. But, the rest like the social atmosphere. They prefer to watch a little ball, converse with the friend next to them and go home and chill out. Maybe even go home and cheer for their real team. As long as that is the expectation Larry is safe. Long gone are the days where it’s expectations.

We don't sell 4,000 season tickets anymore. You would be surprised how many ISU employee and corporate seats we give away. It's kind of sad to talk with the people that used to go to games in the 80's and 90's and don't anymore. There was such a rabid, passionate fan base back in those days. Too many loses and burned bridges to get season ticket sales back up.

Corporate seats aren't given away, they are given to corporations that donate to ISU.
From what I know, the only employees that get free tickets are people associated with the athletic department (and not even all of them get free tickets), the President, & maybe the vice-presidents. The rest of the faculty/staff do get a discount but definitely not on courtside seats.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I get that is how it works. All coaches get free tickets as well. My point was they don’t sell 4,000 season tickets.

 

[Cindy00]

We don't sell 4,000 season tickets anymore. You would be surprised how many ISU employee and corporate seats we give away. It's kind of sad to talk with the people that used to go to games in the 80's and 90's and don't anymore. There was such a rabid, passionate fan base back in those days. Too many loses and burned bridges to get season ticket sales back up.

Corporate seats aren't given away, they are given to corporations that donate to ISU.
From what I know, the only employees that get free tickets are people associated with the athletic department (and not even all of them get free tickets), the President, & maybe the vice-presidents. The rest of the faculty/staff do get a discount but definitely not on courtside seats.

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I get that is how it works. All coaches get free tickets as well. My point was they don’t sell 4,000 season tickets.

Why bring it up like it is a horrible, no good thing that ISU does it if every else does it? You could have easily said some of those are corporate sponsors seats. Instead you said ISU gives them away. That is far from the truth.

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[ricohill]

Corporate seats aren't given away, they are given to corporations that donate to ISU.
From what I know, the only employees that get free tickets are people associated with the athletic department (and not even all of them get free tickets), the President, & maybe the vice-presidents. The rest of the faculty/staff do get a discount but definitely not on courtside seats.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

I get that is how it works. All coaches get free tickets as well. My point was they don’t sell 4,000 season tickets.

Why bring it up like it is a horrible, no good thing that ISU does it if every else does it? You could have easily said some of those are corporate sponsors seats. Instead you said ISU gives them away. That is far from the truth.

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Season ticket sales being down was the point. I was just using that there are a decent amount of corporate seats so it is less than 4,000 season ticket holders. I don’t have an issue at all with those tickets.

 

[ISU FAN 1]

OK, you got me. Congrats. You win. You clearly come on here to just attack ISU Fan 1 and myself so I will let you think not interviewing anyone and hiring an employees son behind everyones back is the appropriate and best way to find qualified candidates.

It seems to me that PK88 has only ever asked you to back up what you post with facts.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

As I have in almost every post.

Facts: Matt was hired in a process where no other candidates were interviewed.

ISU gives away corporate seats and to isu employees. (It happens at every University).

ISU does not sell 4,000 season tickets. If you look at the seat maps of games they have nearly 500 unsold tickets in the lower bowl, plus student sections, and corporate/giveaways. Additionally, only a few season tickets sold in the upper bowl. If you really need me to prove this I believe I have some screen grabs on my computer.

If you want exact figures I’m sure you can ask ISU and prove me wrong.

I know a car dealer in town that donated cars to the athletic dept and got tickets in exchange. He was always a good source for postseason tickets, since he often didn’t go to games. I think there’s usually some exchange for corporate tickets. The Corp entities usually more interested in the tax benefit, than attending games. So, like in the case of my car dealer buddy, many are eventually given away.

 

[ricohill]

It seems to me that PK88 has only ever asked you to back up what you post with facts.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

As I have in almost every post.

Facts: Matt was hired in a process where no other candidates were interviewed.

ISU gives away corporate seats and to isu employees. (It happens at every University).

ISU does not sell 4,000 season tickets. If you look at the seat maps of games they have nearly 500 unsold tickets in the lower bowl, plus student sections, and corporate/giveaways. Additionally, only a few season tickets sold in the upper bowl. If you really need me to prove this I believe I have some screen grabs on my computer.

If you want exact figures I’m sure you can ask ISU and prove me wrong.

I know a car dealer in town that donated cars to the athletic dept and got tickets in exchange. He was always a good source for postseason tickets, since he often didn’t go to games. I think there’s usually some exchange for corporate tickets. The Corp entities usually more interested in the tax benefit, than attending games. So, like in the case of my car dealer buddy, many are eventually given away.

Yep, this is pretty common everywhere. It's kind of annoying when those people show up to about 4 games a year with tickets.

I was just trying to do the math to see where actual season tickets bought is currently at. I thought I still had some screen shots of games late in the season with the tickets not sold in the lower bowl, but can't find them. Being retired you get bored, I hand counted all the tickets not sold, and it is around 500 in the lower bowl sections not sold as season tickets. Plus you subtract student ticket sections, plus those giveaways, and they have to be way down on season ticket sales. The opposite end zone from the students in the lower bowl only sold about 30 season tickets this year.

What will be interesting is what happens to season ticket sales next year. I can't see it going up. There isn't going to be any hype and prices going up.

 

[ISU FAN 1]

As I have in almost every post.

Facts: Matt was hired in a process where no other candidates were interviewed.

ISU gives away corporate seats and to isu employees. (It happens at every University).

ISU does not sell 4,000 season tickets. If you look at the seat maps of games they have nearly 500 unsold tickets in the lower bowl, plus student sections, and corporate/giveaways. Additionally, only a few season tickets sold in the upper bowl. If you really need me to prove this I believe I have some screen grabs on my computer.

If you want exact figures I’m sure you can ask ISU and prove me wrong.

I know a car dealer in town that donated cars to the athletic dept and got tickets in exchange. He was always a good source for postseason tickets, since he often didn’t go to games. I think there’s usually some exchange for corporate tickets. The Corp entities usually more interested in the tax benefit, than attending games. So, like in the case of my car dealer buddy, many are eventually given away.

Yep, this is pretty common everywhere. It's kind of annoying when those people show up to about 4 games a year with tickets.

I was just trying to do the math to see where actual season tickets bought is currently at. I thought I still had some screen shots of games late in the season with the tickets not sold in the lower bowl, but can't find them. Being retired you get bored, I hand counted all the tickets not sold, and it is around 500 in the lower bowl sections not sold as season tickets. Plus you subtract student ticket sections, plus those giveaways, and they have to be way down on season ticket sales. The opposite end zone from the students in the lower bowl only sold about 30 season tickets this year.

What will be interesting is what happens to season ticket sales next year. I can't see it going up. There isn't going to be any hype and prices going up.

Yes, but it’s important that Dan be comped a car every year. He only makes $600K.

Speaking of which, Jim Boeheim has a net worth of $12 million, but “chooses” the GMC Acadia to mow down pedestrians.

 

[SgtHulka]

As I have in almost every post.

Facts: Matt was hired in a process where no other candidates were interviewed.

ISU gives away corporate seats and to isu employees. (It happens at every University).

ISU does not sell 4,000 season tickets. If you look at the seat maps of games they have nearly 500 unsold tickets in the lower bowl, plus student sections, and corporate/giveaways. Additionally, only a few season tickets sold in the upper bowl. If you really need me to prove this I believe I have some screen grabs on my computer.

If you want exact figures I’m sure you can ask ISU and prove me wrong.

I know a car dealer in town that donated cars to the athletic dept and got tickets in exchange. He was always a good source for postseason tickets, since he often didn’t go to games. I think there’s usually some exchange for corporate tickets. The Corp entities usually more interested in the tax benefit, than attending games. So, like in the case of my car dealer buddy, many are eventually given away.

Yep, this is pretty common everywhere. It's kind of annoying when those people show up to about 4 games a year with tickets.

I was just trying to do the math to see where actual season tickets bought is currently at. I thought I still had some screen shots of games late in the season with the tickets not sold in the lower bowl, but can't find them. Being retired you get bored, I hand counted all the tickets not sold, and it is around 500 in the lower bowl sections not sold as season tickets. Plus you subtract student ticket sections, plus those giveaways, and they have to be way down on season ticket sales. The opposite end zone from the students in the lower bowl only sold about 30 season tickets this year.

What will be interesting is what happens to season ticket sales next year. I can't see it going up. There isn't going to be any hype and prices going up.

How many did you come up with in the upper bowl?

 

[ricohill]

I know a car dealer in town that donated cars to the athletic dept and got tickets in exchange. He was always a good source for postseason tickets, since he often didn’t go to games. I think there’s usually some exchange for corporate tickets. The Corp entities usually more interested in the tax benefit, than attending games. So, like in the case of my car dealer buddy, many are eventually given away.

Yep, this is pretty common everywhere. It's kind of annoying when those people show up to about 4 games a year with tickets.

I was just trying to do the math to see where actual season tickets bought is currently at. I thought I still had some screen shots of games late in the season with the tickets not sold in the lower bowl, but can't find them. Being retired you get bored, I hand counted all the tickets not sold, and it is around 500 in the lower bowl sections not sold as season tickets. Plus you subtract student ticket sections, plus those giveaways, and they have to be way down on season ticket sales. The opposite end zone from the students in the lower bowl only sold about 30 season tickets this year.

What will be interesting is what happens to season ticket sales next year. I can't see it going up. There isn't going to be any hype and prices going up.

Yes, but it’s important that Dan be comped a car every year. He only makes $600K.

Speaking of which, Jim Boeheim has a net worth of $12 million, but “chooses” the GMC Acadia to mow down pedestrians.

Haha Jimmy B. Stayed at the same hotel as Syracuse one year at the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis (just went to watch). He was one of the nicest coaches I have ever met. I'm sure his assistants were doing all his work, but he hung out in the lobby and talked with our group for an hour. Some funny stories. My kids were in the pool and his players couldn't have been nicer and classier on the off day in between games. I'll never forget how much fun our kids had randomly hanging out with their players.

Looking back it seems like it was a good thing his assistant Bernie Fine wasn't in the pool area though.

 

[ricohill]

I know a car dealer in town that donated cars to the athletic dept and got tickets in exchange. He was always a good source for postseason tickets, since he often didn’t go to games. I think there’s usually some exchange for corporate tickets. The Corp entities usually more interested in the tax benefit, than attending games. So, like in the case of my car dealer buddy, many are eventually given away.

Yep, this is pretty common everywhere. It's kind of annoying when those people show up to about 4 games a year with tickets.

I was just trying to do the math to see where actual season tickets bought is currently at. I thought I still had some screen shots of games late in the season with the tickets not sold in the lower bowl, but can't find them. Being retired you get bored, I hand counted all the tickets not sold, and it is around 500 in the lower bowl sections not sold as season tickets. Plus you subtract student ticket sections, plus those giveaways, and they have to be way down on season ticket sales. The opposite end zone from the students in the lower bowl only sold about 30 season tickets this year.

What will be interesting is what happens to season ticket sales next year. I can't see it going up. There isn't going to be any hype and prices going up.

How many did you come up with in the upper bowl?

I didn't count tickets not sold because that would take hours. From what I could tell it looks like around 250-500 upper bowl season tickets sold. That could be off because people could have bought tickets to make that number higher. I will be interested to see if this goes up next year with it being a better deal (no donation and cheaper prices).

 

[ISU FAN 1]

Yep, this is pretty common everywhere. It's kind of annoying when those people show up to about 4 games a year with tickets.

I was just trying to do the math to see where actual season tickets bought is currently at. I thought I still had some screen shots of games late in the season with the tickets not sold in the lower bowl, but can't find them. Being retired you get bored, I hand counted all the tickets not sold, and it is around 500 in the lower bowl sections not sold as season tickets. Plus you subtract student ticket sections, plus those giveaways, and they have to be way down on season ticket sales. The opposite end zone from the students in the lower bowl only sold about 30 season tickets this year.

What will be interesting is what happens to season ticket sales next year. I can't see it going up. There isn't going to be any hype and prices going up.

Yes, but it’s important that Dan be comped a car every year. He only makes $600K.

Speaking of which, Jim Boeheim has a net worth of $12 million, but “chooses” the GMC Acadia to mow down pedestrians.

Haha Jimmy B. Stayed at the same hotel as Syracuse one year at the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis (just went to watch). He was one of the nicest coaches I have ever met. I'm sure his assistants were doing all his work, but he hung out in the lobby and talked with our group for an hour. Some funny stories. My kids were in the pool and his players couldn't have been nicer and classier on the off day in between games. I'll never forget how much fun our kids had randomly hanging out with their players.

Looking back it seems like it was a good thing his assistant Bernie Fine wasn't in the pool area though.

Wasn’t Syracuse the superball game at Horton? That was a good 2 for 1 away/home series. Bouie, Orr, Shackleford, Schayes.

 

[ricohill]

Yes, but it’s important that Dan be comped a car every year. He only makes $600K.

Speaking of which, Jim Boeheim has a net worth of $12 million, but “chooses” the GMC Acadia to mow down pedestrians.

Haha Jimmy B. Stayed at the same hotel as Syracuse one year at the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis (just went to watch). He was one of the nicest coaches I have ever met. I'm sure his assistants were doing all his work, but he hung out in the lobby and talked with our group for an hour. Some funny stories. My kids were in the pool and his players couldn't have been nicer and classier on the off day in between games. I'll never forget how much fun our kids had randomly hanging out with their players.

Looking back it seems like it was a good thing his assistant Bernie Fine wasn't in the pool area though.

Wasn’t Syracuse the superball game at Horton? That was a good 2 for 1 away/home series. Bouie, Orr, Shackleford, Schayes.

Yep, the good old days. Boeheim said he would never come back after that.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/suathletics.com/documents/2017/6/22/GAME_05.pdf

 

[isuquinndog]

Haha Jimmy B. Stayed at the same hotel as Syracuse one year at the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis (just went to watch). He was one of the nicest coaches I have ever met. I'm sure his assistants were doing all his work, but he hung out in the lobby and talked with our group for an hour. Some funny stories. My kids were in the pool and his players couldn't have been nicer and classier on the off day in between games. I'll never forget how much fun our kids had randomly hanging out with their players.

Looking back it seems like it was a good thing his assistant Bernie Fine wasn't in the pool area though.

Wasn’t Syracuse the superball game at Horton? That was a good 2 for 1 away/home series. Bouie, Orr, Shackleford, Schayes.

Yep, the good old days. Boeheim said he would never come back after that.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/suathletics.com/documents/2017/6/22/GAME_05.pdf

Pretty hard to win when the other team shoots 61% :shock:

 

[Reggie Redbird]

ISU Athletics representatives have the ability to give away tickets to people. There are a variety of reasons, but they could include: 1.) Someone backs out of using tickets. 2.) Trying to get someone to a game to see the atmosphere and hopefully become a sponsor or STH. 3.) They have friends/relatives/associates who want to go to the game. There is a reason you will run into friends of the Athletic Director and/or his family in the AD suite, as you would friends/relatives of the President and First Lady in their suite when you go to the games.

My hope is most of those tickets are being used to cultivate relationships with donors or people with influence to advance the university and athletic department.

That being said, MBB coaches and coaches of other sports can do the same thing in giving away tickets. I know DM, TJ, and PM all did that with seats behind the bench for people who may not have been able to afford to go to games or were passionate fans who would enjoy the experience.

ISU Fan 1, I am only mentioning you because you talked about donating $5,000 a year and I mentioned development reasons above. I bet if you called our development staff and asked about getting those tickets for a game that you'd have them for about any pick of games. Same as if DP Dough (as a business owner) asked for the tickets, he'd probably get them too.

Very interesting with this scandal, I am guessing if they would have donated $500k or $1 million, they could have gotten their kids into most any schools. A lot of schools, in the current environment, would find a way to get them in. They don't need to commit fraud to do it. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford may not need the money but a lot of schools do.

If someone offered to donate $1 million to ISU to let their kid in, I'm sure that would be hard for administrators to turn down in the current IL budget climate, if the student could qualify. Consider that you could give full tuition scholarships to like 40 other kids for a year with that amount of money. It definitely is an interesting ethical issue to discuss.

 

[ricohill]

ISU Athletics representatives have the ability to give away tickets to people. There are a variety of reasons, but they could include: 1.) Someone backs out of using tickets. 2.) Trying to get someone to a game to see the atmosphere and hopefully become a sponsor or STH. 3.) They have friends/relatives/associates who want to go to the game. There is a reason you will run into friends of the Athletic Director and/or his family in the AD suite, as you would friends/relatives of the President and First Lady in their suite when you go to the games.

My hope is most of those tickets are being used to cultivate relationships with donors or people with influence to advance the university and athletic department.

That being said, MBB coaches and coaches of other sports can do the same thing in giving away tickets. I know DM, TJ, and PM all did that with seats behind the bench for people who may not have been able to afford to go to games or were passionate fans who would enjoy the experience.

ISU Fan 1, I am only mentioning you because you talked about donating $5,000 a year and I mentioned development reasons above. I bet if you called our development staff and asked about getting those tickets for a game that you'd have them for about any pick of games. Same as if DP Dough (as a business owner) asked for the tickets, he'd probably get them too.

Very interesting with this scandal, I am guessing if they would have donated $500k or $1 million, they could have gotten their kids into most any schools. A lot of schools, in the current environment, would find a way to get them in. They don't need to commit fraud to do it. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford may not need the money but a lot of schools do.

If someone offered to donate $1 million to ISU to let their kid in, I'm sure that would be hard for administrators to turn down in the current IL budget climate, if the student could qualify. Consider that you could give full tuition scholarships to like 40 other kids for a year with that amount of money. It definitely is an interesting ethical issue to discuss.

I would hope no one is bribing someone at ISU with $1 million dollars to get their kid into school. (that is a joke before the fun police come after me).

I wish I still had the article I read the other day on this. They were talking about how this has gone on for a long time. Usually though the people are more delicate in how it happens instead of a straight up bribe. Most times it is a donation for a library or wing of a building and they let the kid in late after they've already selected students and expect a summer melt so it doesn't look obvious. Not getting into politics, but the one example they used was the Kushner family at Harvard.