What is this guy's credentials? Is he any good? Is he going to kick out Rutgers and Maryland and add Texas and OU?
Jim Philips // Big Ten Commissioner
- Thread starter DkeCat
- Start date
I'm afraid to ask - WTH is going on in your profile pic?
I'm glad the one guy is facing the other way. although the standing guy still has a bad view.
I've always felt that Phillips wants to complete the facilities buildout before he leaves with the stadium renovation as the final item on the list before he goes off to pursue another challenge like being the next NCAA President as replacement for Mark Emmert. Just feels like he had a 10-15 year roadmap here and he's almost completed it.
So...how are there not more guesses on what happened here? Do we think Phillips made it known he wasn't interested in the job? Or did he say/do something to alienate the search committee? Is he actually aiming higher, like NCAA President? Was it a priority for the conference to hire a person of color?
Or maybe they hired the person the committee thought would do the best job?
If they use the same type of formula they used for the parking lots, I'm afraid you will be disappointed.
A guy whose entire career has been in pro sports? A guy with no obvious tv right negotiation experience and no obvious connection to the business side of college athletics? A guy who by his own admission was contacted 30 days out from his hire, out of the blue? Sorry, that doesn't scream "person the committee thought would do the best job," for one of the highest profile, most powerful positions in college sports.
Meanwhile, the news release from the Vikes reads as follows:
"He was the highest-ranking African-American executive working on the business side for a team in the NFL and was the first African-American COO in NFL history.
Warren is the first African-American commissioner of a Power Five conference."
It's clearly a point of pride and a newsworthy detail. There is nothing wrong with this. But to my original question...Phillips was clearly a perceived "obvious" choice, but that's not the way it shook out. I am interested in why - whether he wasn't interested, wasn't as qualified as the media pumped him up to be, or it was his to lose and he somehow lost it.
Phillips never lost the gig; it's more probable that he didn't want it.
I'm like 99% sure that Phillips was offered the job before anybody else and turned it down. Teddy and other media people have reported for years that Phillips would be the first choice for the Big Ten when Delany leaves. The fact that it didn't happen makes it pretty clear that Phillips turned it down.
Why? Two reasons are pretty obvious imo. 1) He wasn't done with what he wanted to accomplish here. There's still the stadium renovation left on the list of major projects before Phillips looks to another challenge. 2) He's looking for something bigger as his next position (I think NCAA President as Emmert's replacement would be a pretty fitting position for Phillips).
The fact that Phillips is still here makes me think that the stadium renovation is likely to be announced in the next 12-15 months with a view towards completion by 2023.
I am a big Phillips fan, but all this seems like a bit of stretching in terms of speculation. I suppose it's possible, but seems unlikely. Honestly, if I were him I don't really think I'd want to be Pres of the NCAA... it's a beleaguered organization right now. Big 10 commissioner seems like a better job to me. And while I think Phillips really likes NU, I don't see him as an NU "lifer" like Fitz is - I don't think wanting to complete a stadium renovation would prevent him from taking the B1G job.
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With the money at stake, selecting the B1G Commissioner is not a trivial decision. I highly doubt they chose the second best candidate.
I don't know, he sure immerses himself in the position and seems both happy and successful. I doubt Mr Ryan would let him go if it was purely a money issue. Maybe he is happy and still sees some challenges ahead at NU. It would be quite a career accomplishment to do all that he has done and bring online a new stadium all the while bringing a program that we all agree gets no respect to the National championship. That sounds fun to me and life should be fun once basic survival is well taken care of.
Only reason I suggest it that way is because I'd imagine that the process of raising funds and planning out the stadium renovation has probably been in the works for at least a couple of years. There's been hints from Ryan in the few interviews he's granted that it is coming at some point but they wanted to finish the other projects in the pipeline first.
I mean, if you're Phillips and you've been working on this for that long, maybe you do care about finishing it instead of jumping ship right now. For someone of Phillips' skillset, there will always be big positions available. There's always going to be leagues that need commissioners and whatnot whereas currently Phillips is one of the highest paid and most well-respected in a position he enjoys.
But yeah, it's all speculation. Either way, I do believe he'd have been offered the job or contacted about the position to see if there was interest from the search committee especially given that decision makers know him well at the Big Ten office.
I was also thinking, if we assume the media hype was accurate and Phillips was the darling candidate who declined, it may simply be that he sees NU as a perfect fit. He's not just an AD; he's a university Vice President. He feels at home here, I'm sure it's a taxing job but one that he's essentially mastered, travel is surely involved but not as much there would be as a Big Ten commish, taking time away from his very big family.
Only X factor I'm wondering about...how hot is Morty's seat? His departure always has the potential to destabilize Phillips' comfort at NU.
Only X factor I'm wondering about...how hot is Morty's seat? His departure always has the potential to destabilize Phillips' comfort at NU.
why would Morty be on the hot seat? I thought he's done a good job (or that was the common perception)
agreed on the rest of it.
Finances...$62.5MM shortfall this current FY. Current contract expires 2022, at which point he will have been in office for 13 years.
I'm not trying to stir any pots - I'm fine with the job Morty has done, but I remember there being a lot of layoffs and an unhappy campus climate coming out of last fall.
Plus, Morty will be 69 years old at the time his contract expires.
I’m not sure how Morty justifies starting major renovation of Ryan Field while the University as a whole is struggling with deficits. Add a likely recession over the next several years and I’ll be surprised if he’s extended after 2022.
I get that but the athletics budget is separate (and is probably operating with a surplus). If the stadium renovation fundraising is as strong as expected, they could begin the project even with rest of campus operating on deficit if only because it will be fully funded pretty quickly.
Plus, the Big Ten payouts are going to be much higher as we're fully into the new TV deals now, so I'd be surprised if the AD couldn't easily handle the project.
Yeah it won't look good optics-wise, but the stadium renovation won't be affected by the overall campus budget woes.
I understand your point, but I don’t think it’s that easy. Authorizing a campaign... and so soon after major fundraising campaigns for other athletic projects...is only going to happen with a vote of the trustees. The trustees understand the role of athletics, but they have much bigger fish to fry, specifically financial aid for students to attend.
Pat Ryan’s check is going to have to be massive to even get the subject on the agenda. I also think that Philips will have to make a hell of a case that avrenovation of Ryan Field is going to translate into more fans coming through the gates long term.
What I read here are long term fans (season ticket holders) being priced out of supporting the team over basic necessities like parking.
My opinion is that the massive demographic shifts and interests are leading to fans who are interested in coming to games 2-3 times a year and not 6 or 7. While the Big Ten does have league revenue sharing for conference ticket revenue (to the benefit of NU, Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana etc and the detriment of Michigan Ohio State etc), I don’t see a strong case being made that increased revenues will be a result of renovations (especially for a facility only used 7 times a year). Renovations may mean PSLs to keep seat locations and I think for a significant amount of people, that may be the final straw.
As always, I appreciate the conversations.
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IMO, no way PSL’s are on the table. Are PSL’s common for college renovation? I thought they were predominantly a NFL thing.
Yeah I understand all of your concerns. That's why I think if we do see a stadium renovation, we'll see far more emphasis on up-front funding from donors than things like PSLs. I expect the full court press to all the major donor families on the fact that this is likely to be the last major athletics building for a long time.
It doesn't make sense to me to do something that might severely shrink our fanbase. It's one thing with basketball pricing given much smaller supply and demand, but with football, I really think they'll be careful to not alienate the fanbase with pricing.
The last thing Phillips/Ryan et al. would want to happen is that they rebuild the stadium and then we lose 3k purple fans a game, and see virtually every major game feature clear majorities of opposing fans.
As far as budgeting goes, it's really hard to know what the plan will be. It does look bad to be announcing a major stadium renovation at the same time that the general budget is in stress and other parts of campus are facing spending pullbacks. I'm not sure how they navigate that issue, but I've thought the project would be announced by mid-2020.
Weren’t they implemented (in some form) for the re-seating in basketball post renovation?
The advantages are that Northwestern doesn’t have to share the money with the league (as they do with direct ticket sales) and these “required donations” are annual. Now that these “donations “ are no longer tax deductible, those who did take part for the write off are rethinking tax strategy.
Unless Northwestern can pay/pledge for 100% of the renovation cost ahead of time, what means do they have for long term income other than increased ticket costs (again , kicking into league revenue sharing formulas and NOT going to 100% support the university)?
A second (or third if you separate Lakeside and Welsh-Ryan) major ask of athletic donors in 3/4 years? Some of those people still have one more payment to go (on a 5 year plan) from previous pledges.
Not saying it’s impossible, just that it’s a very tall order.
