President Sands will be the last of a dying breed. The average tenure of a
University President has dropped precipitously over the last 20 years. University presidents used to average 8-9 years at the helm and that is all the way down to under 6 years now. Lots of issues to navigate in a major university setting. He has some nice accomplishments here. And it has also gotten to the point of the inevitable stale state. That is not unusual, or necessarily an individual problem, but the time has come to move to a fresh approach.
This will mean a different approach to athletics when the dust settles. That is not an ominous comment at all. We should embrace this opportunity. I would imagine the BOV will ask about experience with athletics when the interview process begins. And I would imagine fundraising experience will also be explored/emphasized (and Sands' tenure from an overall university perspective has been good with fundraising). VT, as an institution, is embarking on a journey to break the $300M goal of fundraising in the very short term. And longer term, we would love to hit $500M. That is beyond transformative. But to get to those numbers, athletics fundraising will be pivotal to achieving those goals. That means the new president will probably be more "in tune" with athletics fundraising moving forward, and the methodology behind the operation.
As a closing comment, President Sands wasn't a "natural" with major college athletics. He does like them and has come to appreciate the significance of them at VT. And tried to help as best he knew how. He probably has learned over the last few years how quickly things can change with management of college athletics and how you can't just accept the status quo from the AD on how things are going relative to industry changes. You have to take some time and study yourself and I guess it could have been more of a "trust but verify" situation here than it was.
An example is the "Invest to Win" campaign that was just announced 9 months ago. There was supposed to be a donor/alumni/supporter wide initiative (to share the messaging/strategy) that was to be rolled out within a month of James Franklin's hiring. Didn't happen. Then, it really, really was supposed to be released in February!!! And now, it is the eve of April 10. Still nothing. That is the kind of thing that just can't happen. We had loads and loads of momentum, and it isn't too late in the grand scheme of things, but it is unexplainable and something a President (who supported going to bat to the BOV) has to ask his AD, "what is going on?" Sharing that message with 30-40 donors isn't the answer. Lots and lots and lots of strong donors below the top 30-40.
We can thank the President for his time and service. But a new day will soon be upon us, and hopefully we can capture a great fit for all things VT, including a thriving athletics department.
5 Replies
Q
QCP
3mo
as to your thoughts on what we might see in terms of timing for new President, new AD and then potential new baseball coach.
Coach Szefc's contract runs through June 30, 2027 so do you think we will hire a president say by end of Q3 this year, then get a new AD by end of Q4 this year and then basically have Szefc coach out the final year of his contract next season and the new AD potentially bring in a new baseball coach the beginning of Q3 2027?
(In response to this post by VTScoop)
3mo
addressing the timelines right now...and I don't know how baseball will go. This is a transition year financially here...What is going on this year (and I don't wish to talk super specifics) is that we are seeing the first year of unlimited scholarships (up to 34 for the entire roster). So, there is a wide disparity this year with some schools.
Baseball did get a few additional scholarships (as part of the overall 45 or so the department shared across all sports back in the Fall), but as of right now (this year), they are a long way off from many of their competitors. So, our NIL dollars (which are actually pretty decent), are having to help some with scholarship offset as best as possible. But, hopefully that will be addressed for next year (as part of the enhanced scholarships coming from the increased budget). If that happens some, as expected, it will allow NIL dollars to make more of a difference. As you might imagine, all of this impacts roster building immensely.
So, that is something to keep in mind, and if we ever changed coaches, that will need to be addressed before anyone new takes any job. So, the transition year is impacting some of what we are doing, and hopefully it becomes stable moving forward. Hope that helps a little....maybe :-)????
(In response to this post by QCP)
2
2hhoop3
3mo
in putting this on the baseball board? ;-)
There is a lot of food for thought in your post and while I may be reading too much between the lines I think there are some other insights if people read closely and think. I hope things do not get worse before they get better but, that is dependent on the design and effectiveness of the search for the next President and the actions of the next domino. I expect the process to be under a microscope, especially given what has transpired the last six months. I agree with you that momentum can be regained but, the window has been significantly compressed. The irony is that in some ways the last six months is a reflection of the last six years that got VT to this point
(In response to this post by VTScoop)
3mo
the baseball board reads it as well!
(In response to this post by VTScoop)
3mo
This might be the most insightful of insightful post you have ever posted!
Just having fun with that 🙂
So much appreciate all your posts. It’s the most insight into the VT athletic department we receive… sounds like time are a changing and can’t wait
(In response to this post by VTScoop)