Miller: Iowa Regents Throw Tantrum Over Ferentz

Rawkhawk73 said:
I'm sorry, but I've about had it up to here with Michael Gartner and his freaking grandstanding over how the University of Iowa Athletic Department conducts it's business. The guy is an outright horse's a$$.

This is a guy who has only run organizations that were either heavily subsidized or lost tons of money. He wouldn't know the first thing about running a highly profitable, successful organization....free and clear of any taxpayer funds.

Here we have an organization (the Iowa Athletic Department) that not only makes over $100 million/year for Johnson County, but makes enough revenue on it's own merits to pay for it's entire existence. Not only that, but because of the tremendous success of the football program, all of the crappy Title IX programs that no one bothers to see are able to be offered. It isn't like if we all of a sudden cut Ferentz's pay down to $100,000 that the Writer's Workshop is all of a sudden going to see a windfall of over $3 million, or the Glee Club get a windfall of over $3 million. All of that stays right in the athletic department.

If he's looking at an egregious use of athletic department funds, why doesn't he start looking at the women's field hockey team that doesn't have a single in-state player on it's roster, meaning that all those full-ride scholarships that are offered are being offered at the out-of-state rate.

As far as I'm concerned, Gartner and his crony Ruth Harkin can both take a flying leap. If there's one thing we've learned in this country, it's that in bad times, whether we're talking a recession, a war, a terrorist attack, etc.....this country turns to sports for a diversion. So in a time of economic hardship, when a great number of Iowans look to Kinnick on Saturday afternoon to give them just a few hours of joy, Michael Gartner and Ruth Harkin want to give us a kick in our collective junk.

In the immortal words of Sgt Murtaugh...."GO SPIT!!"
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I believe as president of NBC news he took them from the lowest network ratings to the highest and was one of, if not the, longest standing president.

I don't agree with most of what he says and stands for, but he does know business. I know him pretty well and he can be very difficult to get along with.

He's a wonderful writer, I wish he would stick to that.
 
Jon, if you ever get the chance to interview Gartner, ask him how much his private owned Iowa Cubs AAA franchise pays the City of Des Moines to lease the first class AAA ballpark they get to play in (it's next to nothing - biggest steal in the history of sports franchises). And how much of the concessions and parking he has to share with the City (again I don't think they share any of this revenue, which is unheard of for a landlord of an event facility). Ask him if he thinks that's fair to Des Moines and Polk County tax payers. My guess is he would say the economic impact the Iowa Cubs bring to central Iowa offsets this subsidy. Go figure.
 
zppr17j said:
To do a comparison you have to look at the donations to the AD/FB department in a 10 yr span(any consecutive 10) to 10 years of KF. Add in the over out of state attendance at Iowa for the same periods, sales of Hawk gear etc. then adjust for inflation, and include inflation in CFB salary.

as far as ISU, if you guys win 6 games.....you are under paying your coach. If 6 wins+bowl win? National COY should be a consideration B12 CoY at the very least. way OT but when was the last time a 1st year coach at ISU had a winning record?
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It happened once. Last year.
 
My 2 cents...

KF and the University of Iowa Football program has got to be one of most recognized things about this state. Come on, we don't have sun draped beaches, wonderlous skylines, or fantastic National Monuments. Besides corn and hogs, this is what we have as solid representation.

IMO, When you read their bios on the Iowa Regents Website, it's seems almost like the writer of the bios is trying to push connectivity to the state as a whole. Only a couple of them I can see have as much roots in the state as a person of this position should have.

Gartner is probably just upset that even with bringing in Ryne Sandberg as the big dog for the I-Cubs, the Hawkeyes and KF will steal the front page of the paper 9 out of 10 times.
 
jchromes said:
Well...its kind of their business. They are the State Board of Regents. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they should have any say about how much we pay our football coach using non-state money. But, no one has a problem when we get permission from them to renovate Kinnick or CHA, and that is private donation/fundraising money. I think they just want to give the okay, they want to be in loop. Barta and Co. rarely "ask" for permission, they tell the Regents what they want to do, how much its gonna cost, where the money is coming from and Barta "gets" permission.

No matter where the money comes from, its still being spent by a state university on a state employee. Its not about what KF has done or will do, its just about letting everyone know the situation.
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A voice of reason appears. While I'd personally be okay with UI writing Ferentz a blank check, Iowa is a state school, not an independent pro sports franchise. Much of the response in this thread thus far has been little more than reactionary political blather. Is 'waaahhhh' what passes for an argument now?

Having said that, Ferentz donates a not insignificant chunk of cash back to UI academic programs, and is about as philanthropic for the Iowa City community and the state of Iowa as one could ever hope for. The points that have been made about Iowa being a self-sustaining, revenue generating program, good for local businesses , etc. are good ones, and something it would behoove the Regents to keep in mind - and something Mason, Barta and crew should be reminding them of, too.

tl;dr - step back from the ledge, dudes. it's going to be okay. really.
 
brett108 said:
There is such a thing as overpaying, you know this right? Or you can put incentives in a contract, which has been done a lot for coaches in the past. Make him the highest paid coach in the land if he wins a BCS title. Didn't Urban Meyer have that in his. My only point is he is the highest paid coach in the Big Ten now. When is the last time he beat Jim Tressel at OSU? He should have some titles to show for this, but he doesn't.

A good coach, but remember Fry was going to Rose Bowls, so he was winning the conference.
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For as much money as Kirk makes the school (3 million dollars a home game, 100 million dollars annually for Johnson County, and the football program basically funding every other program in the Athletic Department), Kirk would be a bargain at twice the price. Like it or not, athletics are public face of pretty much every school in the country. I don't know who any of the professors at Duke or UNC are, but everyone knows who coaches each schools basketball team.
 
AUSTXHAWK said:
I believe as president of NBC news he took them from the lowest network ratings to the highest and was one of, if not the, longest standing president.

I don't agree with most of what he says and stands for, but he does know business. I know him pretty well and he can be very difficult to get along with.

He's a wonderful writer, I wish he would stick to that.
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Since you know him so well, ask him how much money NBC News made while he was there. I'll give you a hint......it was less than zero.

And no, he does NOT know business because he's never lived in the real world. He has a sweetheart deal on Principal Park (at taxpayer expense, by the way), he doesn't have to pay for player salaries and he keeps most, if not all, of the concession and parking (unheard of in minor league sports).

Of course, when you've got an ego the size of Mount Rushmore like he does, he can certainly trick a lot of people into believing that he really does know what he's talking about. Fortunately, a lot of people can see through the facade and know what he really is......a phony blowhard.
 
Maroons19 said:
Jon, if you ever get the chance to interview Gartner, ask him how much his private owned Iowa Cubs AAA franchise pays the City of Des Moines to lease the first class AAA ballpark they get to play in (it's next to nothing - biggest steal in the history of sports franchises). And how much of the concessions and parking he has to share with the City (again I don't think they share any of this revenue, which is unheard of for a landlord of an event facility). Ask him if he thinks that's fair to Des Moines and Polk County tax payers. My guess is he would say the economic impact the Iowa Cubs bring to central Iowa offsets this subsidy. Go figure.
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That's the reason why whenever he talks about this stuff, I pretty much hit the mute, or moot, button.
 
jchromes said:
Well...its kind of their business. They are the State Board of Regents. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they should have any say about how much we pay our football coach using non-state money. But, no one has a problem when we get permission from them to renovate Kinnick or CHA, and that is private donation/fundraising money. I think they just want to give the okay, they want to be in loop. Barta and Co. rarely "ask" for permission, they tell the Regents what they want to do, how much its gonna cost, where the money is coming from and Barta "gets" permission.

No matter where the money comes from, its still being spent by a state university on a state employee. Its not about what KF has done or will do, its just about letting everyone know the situation.
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The reason that no one has a problem with them being consulted on infrastructure expenditures is because that process is much different and typically involves bonding issues; selling of bonds to help finance the project getting started and completed, with the pledge that those bonds will be paid back. Close to $100,000,000 in bonds were issued to finance the $86,000,000 Kinnick project.

The Athletic Department will wind up paying for the projects...but over time. So they in essence 'borrow' the money, and the BOR is involved with that. I have no problem with an oversight committee being involved there.

However with Kirk's salary, the money is in the bank already and there is no mortgaging of the future to pay it.

Big, big difference.
 
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Rawkhawk73 said:
Since you know him so well, ask him how much money NBC News made while he was there. I'll give you a hint......it was less than zero.

And no, he does NOT know business because he's never lived in the real world. He has a sweetheart deal on Principal Park (at taxpayer expense, by the way), he doesn't have to pay for player salaries and he keeps most, if not all, of the concession and parking (unheard of in minor league sports).

Of course, when you've got an ego the size of Mount Rushmore like he does, he can certainly trick a lot of people into believing that he really does know what he's talking about. Fortunately, a lot of people can see through the facade and know what he really is......a phony blowhard.
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He made his money well before the Cubs. I thought I'd heard he made it in the real world.
 
Mikey made a lot of his money the old fashioned way- he married into it.

Heres a classic Gartner story...he used to serve on board of Vision Iowa. This organization awarded grants to cities for projects. They awarded Dubuque millions to improve their riverfront. And Dubuque did a great job.

So shortly after he helps award the city the loot, Nikey buys a second minor league team from Lansing, Michigan. He wants to move the team to guess where...Dubuque. Not only that, he wants the taxpayers of the city to pay for building him a park on the river. yeah, you cant make this stuff up.

So it's going to a vote. The city of Dubuque is 96 percent Catholic and very pro life. I notice a flier for Planned Parenthood here in Des Moines and that Mikey is the keynote speaker at the gala. The local Right to Life organization in Dubuque is notified of this by a great American, it gets all kinds of press and the park gets voted down.

At the Planned Parenthood gala, Gartner made the remark, "I dont know what the big deal was..we werent going to allow abortions after the seventh inning."

Very funny Mikey. One day you will give an account for that remark to someone who wont be impressed by your money or that cheesy bow tie.
 
spliff45 said:
Here's what his wiki page says:

Michael Gartner (born October 25, 1938, in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American journalist and businessman. He was President of the Iowa Board of Regents. He is a graduate of Carleton College and the New York University School of Law and is a huge *********.

Michael Gartner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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i don't know the word you said it said about him in Wiki - if it did, it does not anymore. last edited 9/17.
 
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