This sounds like it could get kinda ugly.
https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-04 ... ssis-plane
TylerDurden wrote:Investing roughly $24K to secure a pledge of $3 million seems like good business to me.
Why are they clutching pearls about this?
Are they taking the position that this looks like the AD and staff are not being good stewards of donor money?
Is ISU saying that they want your donation, but they aren't planning to entertain you to get it?
Or is it because the prospective donor has some tax issues that showed up after the trip?
Edit - after looking up Rossi (the donor) I'm sure this is about the association with him and his legal entanglements. He's accused of tax evasion and, in a separate civil suit, stealing money from his partners to the tune of $100m. His company is one that handled COVID testing in Illinois.
I'm still not sure how this is what gets the AD to resign. He was hired, at least in part, because of his ability to fundraise. He entertained, got a huge pledge and the guy turns out to be a complete tool bag. I'm not familiar enough with fundraising to know how much vetting goes into a potential donor...but I'm guessing if you can secure a $3m pledge, you do whatever it takes to get it.
Does that damage his reputation to the point where he can no longer be an effective leader and fundraiser?
MissouriValleyUnite wrote:That was a really thorough article. Good journalism and detailed accounts. Basically a donor/wine-and-cheese trip on the ISU Foundation's dime.
Cliff notes:
- Unplanned trip to Indy on 12/4/21 for B1G CCG
- 9 100-level club seats bought on StubHub totaling $18,754
- Flew from Bloomington to Indy on a Falcon 900 jet
- Uber/Lyft rides with one being $144
- Strip club after game
- 8 hotel rooms at Hampton Inn for >$4500
- Flew back next morning
Adunk33 wrote:23k to secure a 3 mil donation is the cost of doing business, right? After all, it was needed to complete the indoor practice facility that is currently being built. However, ISU will not confirm or deny if the money ever came through, which suggests to me, it didn't. Or if it did, there would be some level of obligation to report it to the fed-which would be a public record that we haven't seen.
For years, Redbird fans (myself included) felt the university needed someone new, with fresh ideas in leadership positions. Too long had they just promoted from within leading to years of treading water and no moving forward. Now, with the most recent external hires being the AD and President of the University being MASSIVE swings and misses, hopefully a familiar face is brought in to right the ship. It's going to be an interesting few months. The current president of the university as an interim tag. No interim AD has been named at this time and people in the dept are reporting directly to the interim president for the time being.
Brennan has almost completely cleared house of the "old guard" and brought in a lot of "his people." Rumors from those in the "old guard" who survived the transition to Brennan is that he didn't foster the best workplace environment and chased off several.
There are additional rumors about Brennan that I won't get into but it doesn't appear the spending of 23k was an isolated incident but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. There are a couple more dominos that will likely fall.
TylerDurden wrote:I can believe this.
When a new AD comes in, they're going to want their own people. There are different approaches to making that happen - some fire existing staff and some create a situation where people leave on their own.
If the rumors you're mentioning are true, it sounds like Brennan's approach to fundraising wasn't quite what ISU expected and they felt they had leverage to get rid of him.
I was about to ask if Sheahon Zenger was available to come back, but then a quick search showed he's currently the interim president at the University of New Haven as well as the AD there. It's a DII school. Not sure how that relationship was when he left, but I recall ISU having some success when he was there.
Hopefully they land a good replacement.
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