Tulane's 2003 Review front page NYTimes

[tpstulane]

Big Mike quoted
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/sp ... .html?_r=0
“There was too much history,” said Mike Johnston, president of the Tulane Greenbackers booster club. “We go back to 1893 playing football. It’s not like we were the new kids on the block.”

[jonathanjoseph]

Great to know that "Tulane isn't sure it's serious about football" is back on the front cover of the NYT.

[GreenLantern]

Somewhere in the Mediterranean, that lard-azzed Cowen is soaking up some rays,
making his $940K annual sabbatical and thinking 'life is good'. May he suffer
rectal itch.

[DfromCT]

“Football affects admissions, enrollment and donations,” he said. “It’s hard for schools to wrap their arms around things like this because they don’t necessarily see them on the athletic department’s budget sheet. A few years down the road, U.A.B. could wonder why it’s not as attractive to students.”

This quote is from the article, not Gary Roberts, who can kiss my royal highness. If he's a law professor, what about the legal argument that had Tulane made the investments and commitment to competitive D1 athletics, we'd be in a P5 now. The failure to take that path (thanks, Roberts) cost the University 100's of millions of dollars. And it could have been done with integrity, as shown by Stanford, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and a slew of others. TCU and Baylor played the game to win, and look where they are. The likes of Gary Roberts, SC and the BOA making sure we weren't "compromising ethics" the reason we've been horrible for the last 15 years is something that some think was a breach of fiduciary responsibility. I say the argument could be there, but it would be a tough one to prove. Then again, you could argue that the SC administration had different ethics than most others.

Clearly, the review, coupled with SC's failure to demand excellence and cash in on success, cost the University a whole lot of money. If we were tied at the hip with TCU, look where they are now. Instead we still have RD and the FAILURE known as "The Tulane Model."

[Fred Dowler]

“Football affects admissions, enrollment and donations,” he said. “It’s hard for schools to wrap their arms around things like this because they don’t necessarily see them on the athletic department’s budget sheet. A few years down the road, U.A.B. could wonder why it’s not as attractive to students.”

This quote is from the article, not Gary Roberts, who can kiss my royal highness. If he's a law professor, what about the legal argument that had Tulane made the investments and commitment to competitive D1 athletics, we'd be in a P5 now. The failure to take that path (thanks, Roberts) cost the University 100's of millions of dollars. And it could have been done with integrity, as shown by Stanford, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and a slew of others. TCU and Baylor played the game to win, and look where they are. The likes of Gary Roberts, SC and the BOA making sure we weren't "compromising ethics" the reason we've been horrible for the last 15 years is something that some think was a breach of fiduciary responsibility. I say the argument could be there, but it would be a tough one to prove. Then again, you could argue that the SC administration had different ethics than most others.

Clearly, the review, coupled with SC's failure to demand excellence and cash in on success, cost the University a whole lot of money. If we were tied at the hip with TCU, look where they are now. Instead we still have RD and the FAILURE known as "The Tulane Model."

Gary Roberts, at least, was/is up front in his views (and also long gone from TU).

The worse problem is those who have such views, who have a fear of TU making a strong priority out of winning games in the two major sports because they think that inevitably TU is going to "compromise ethics" but who are in the background. And, make no mistake, they're there, and their influence is felt. Then, at the same time, we have administrators and the group who operate the other forum looking to put the hard sell on alumni to donate generous sums and pay higher and higher prices for tickets telling you that "oh yes, TU is committed...."