Permanent AD

[BirdGrad2011]

Apparently Dr Jeri Beggs wants to keep the job.

“A couple of reasons. One is that I only want to do this for a few more years,” said Beggs. “I don't see myself here five years from now or 10 years from now. When you apply for a job, you really should have some plans for longevity. And that's not what I'm interested in right now.”

I can’t stress enough how against retaining her for another year or 2 I am. She did an amazing job stepping in last fall and righting the ship. That said we need leadership and a permanent AD not extending the interim when her eyes are on retirement. With all the realignment and her discouraging quotes on NIL we need a visionary and go getter.

Anyways, here’s the link.

ISU Interim AD Beggs might want to keep the job

Now that the flap over spending on donor entertainment is over, and trustees have named a permanent ISU president, several interim positions need to be filled. One of those is in the Athletics Department.

www.wglt.org

 

[Bdub777]

The interview was sort of odd to me. She seemed to say she wanted the job on one hand, but then gave a number of fairly good reasons not to hire her given her short time horizon. Am I missing something? Is she suggesting that for a short window of time we need to keep her to navigate the complexity of NIL, the portal and conference realignment? I wasn’t following what made her a good candidate versus hiring someone with a five or ten year time horizon, which she specifically said she did not have….

 

[cubird]

On each side of Lyons we had short timers that didn't work out and Lyons many think stayed too long. Any AD should have a vision on their athletic program. However, that takes an understanding of the culture first and what the the campus and community is willing to support.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

The interview was sort of odd to me. She seemed to say she wanted the job on one hand, but then gave a number of fairly good reasons not to hire her given her short time horizon. Am I missing something? Is she suggesting that for a short window of time we need to keep her to navigate the complexity of NIL, the portal and conference realignment? I wasn’t following what made her a good candidate versus hiring someone with a five or ten year time horizon, which she specifically said she did not have….

Agree the comments left me confused about her own intentions, qualifications and abilities. Even the title of the article …”MIGHT” want to keep… is so open ended.

 

[Birdswin]

I agree with the other comments - rather odd statements. Then to say only two years?? Thanks, but no Thanks. Let's get a permanent AD. Also, I would NOT do the public comment part - that restricts the population of people. It should be the President and who he decides to assist him - but make your own decision.

 

[Reggie Redbird]

I agree with the other comments - rather odd statements. Then to say only two years?? Thanks, but no Thanks. Let's get a permanent AD. Also, I would NOT do the public comment part - that restricts the population of people. It should be the President and who he decides to assist him - but make your own decision.

I had to re-read that part, but it sounds like she would not put her name in to be a candidate in the search. It appears she wants to be named AD without a search. I first took that as assisting too.

 

[Hamdonger]

The WGLT journalist needs to rewrite this article.

 

[Reggie1857]

They need to thank Dr. Beggs for her service and move on. They don't need administrators, they need fundraising brand builders. They need a needle mover, not a pencil pusher.

 

[Phantom]

This is strange. "Permanent" AD isn't someone already saying they want out in a few years. It doesn't necessarily mean a lifer either, but it should mean someone with long-term vision and preparing to commit to that. This seems like a very ISU thing. If it's only going to be a 2-5 year run, call Zenger back.

 

[Hamdonger]

This is strange. "Permanent" AD isn't someone already saying they want out in a few years. It doesn't necessarily mean a lifer either, but it should mean someone with long-term vision and preparing to commit to that. This seems like a very ISU thing. If it's only going to be a 2-5 year run, call Zenger back.

The article reads like a Whodunit mystery. But we're not staying for a murder mystery. Still trying to understand what the article is implying.

 

[cubird]

AD search won't start until August according to today's Pantagraph. Beggs has not decided if she might be a candidate.

 

[isuquinndog]

Illinois State president says AD search will launch in August if you don't get paywalled or pop up ad to death.

 

[isuquinndog]

Tarhule says they don't want to do a search in the summer when no one is on campus. Why didn't we do this in the spring then? Beggs contract is up in June. I don't understand waiting so long.

 

[SlackBooDom]

Give the job to Paul Kabbes like planned. Jeri Beggs treating this like a fun retirement hobby is hurting Illinois State. Put your ego aside and let someone with experience do the job.

 

[Total Red]

Give the job to Paul Kabbes

+1, why wait?

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

Give the job to Paul Kabbes like planned. Jeri Beggs treating this like a fun retirement hobby is hurting Illinois State. Put your ego aside and let someone with experience do the job.

I understand we needed an “interim” A.D. for all the right reasons. The interim role should be someone that holds down the day to day operations and keeps the department functioning until the permanent A.D is hired. Clearly nothing strategic should be undertaken by the “interim” A.D. given a new more thoroughly vetted A.D. will soon be arriving.

That said, our interim A.D. promoted someone to be the chief operations officer and run the day to day operations. WHY? Isn’t her interim role to run the day to day operations until we hire a permanent A.D.? What the heck is our interim A.D. doing given she has promoted someone to perform her interim duties? We already spend multi millions more on staffing than our peers and this seems like an expensive/waste of valuable athletic funds. Is ISU athletics not cost conscious at all? Am I being too harsh?

No wonder she “might” want to keep the A.D. job…she will mostly be a figure head given the ill-conceived structure she has created. ISU Athletics certainly needs someone with long term strategic athletic decision making but they also desperately need someone to reshape ISU Athletics big time!! We may win the all sports conference trophy but we are in last place on operations/expense management as we are one of the poorest managed athletic departments I can find relative to peer institutions. Btw..There is public data available to back up this statement!

 

[WoodlandWarrior]

I understand we needed an “interim” A.D. for all the right reasons. The interim role should be someone that holds down the day to day operations and keeps the department functioning until the permanent A.D is hired. Clearly nothing strategic should be undertaken by the “interim” A.D. given a new more thoroughly vetted A.D. will soon be arriving.

That said, our interim A.D. promoted someone to be the chief operations officer and run the day to day operations. WHY? Isn’t her interim role to run the day to day operations until we hire a permanent A.D.? What the heck is our interim A.D. doing given she has hired someone to perform her interim duties? We already spend multi millions more on staffing than our peers and this seems like an expensive/waste of valuable athletic funds. Is ISU athletics not cost conscious at all? Am I being too harsh?

No wonder she “might” want to keep the A.D. job…she will mostly be a figure head given the ill-conceived structure she has created. ISU Athletics certainly needs someone with long term strategic athletic decision making but they also desperately need someone to reshape ISU Athletics big time!! We may win the all conference trophy but we are in last place on operations as we are one of the poorest managed athletic departments I can find relative to peer institutions.

I just don’t get any good vibes that the new president will be supportive of athletics.

 

[isuquinndog]

I understand we needed an “interim” A.D. for all the right reasons. The interim role should be someone that holds down the day to day operations and keeps the department functioning until the permanent A.D is hired. Clearly nothing strategic should be undertaken by the “interim” A.D. given a new more thoroughly vetted A.D. will soon be arriving.

That said, our interim A.D. promoted someone to be the chief operations officer and run the day to day operations. WHY? Isn’t her interim role to run the day to day operations until we hire a permanent A.D.? What the heck is our interim A.D. doing given she has hired someone to perform her interim duties? We already spend multi millions more on staffing than our peers and this seems like an expensive/waste of valuable athletic funds. Is ISU athletics not cost conscious at all? Am I being too harsh?

No wonder she “might” want to keep the A.D. job…she will mostly be a figure head given the ill-conceived structure she has created. ISU Athletics certainly needs someone with long term strategic athletic decision making but they also desperately need someone to reshape ISU Athletics big time!! We may win the all sports conference trophy but we are in last place on operations/expense management as we are one of the poorest managed athletic departments I can find relative to peer institutions. Btw..There is public data available to back up this statement!

I'm not disagreeing, because honestly I don't know. Can you share some of that data? I don't know where to look or what I'm looking at.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

I just don’t get any good vibes that the new president will be supportive of athletics.

I hear you! Although certainly too early to know how the new Prez will do I remain hopeful for the best. Will admit though I am not feeling any warm and fuzzies at this point.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

I'm not disagreeing, because honestly I don't know. Can you share some of that data? I don't know where to look or what I'm looking at.

NCAA Finances: Revenue & Expenses by School - USA TODAY

Which are the most profitable college athletic programs in the country? See a ranked listed, including total revenue and expenses. Brought to you by USA TODAY.

sports.usatoday.com

In this database of public universities that annually self report data:
1 select university
2 click on expense tab located right of revenue tab

That tab breaks out annual athletic department expenditures into several categories including expenditures related salaries/staff expenses. Compare ISU to any other MVC public university or whomever based upon athletic revenue size ..etc. we are typically the highest in salaries/staff expenses by far when compared to “similiar” athletic departments.

I have posed this someplace before but Uni pays both their football and basketball coach more than ISU pays their respective coaches yet we currently spend around +$3,600,000 annually in salaries/staff expenses. Really sticks out to me even without factoring in results in football and basketball. Once you factor in post season results, in which UNI has historically dominated compared to ISU’s post season results it is shocking to me.