Ok, perpetuating your horn bullshite isn't going to get far with me. Like many ADs over the last 20 years, we've transitioned from a good old boy network to a real business. Byrne wanted to clean house but was told he couldn't. The bridge loan was made public to embarrass the university so that Byrne could fire some good old boy employees. Bridge loans are SOP for athletic departments (including yours) as cash flow is not steady and usually comes in huge chunks (at season ticket time). Byrne used that to pressure the powers that be to let him do what he felt he needed to do.

Hell, we didn't even lose money as an AD the year we took that loan and it was paid back within a year. But you guys bring it up every chance you get despite the fact that you have in fact taken a bridge loan since then. It happens to even well financed ADs because it's the nature of the business. When you want to spend money, sometimes you don't have cash on hand.

As to donations, when you invested a ton in your stadium upgrades - which long term will be well worth it - you greatly inflated both your revenues and your expenses. Those huge donation commitments are being exactly offset against the committed expenses. It's not real. It's accounting bullshite. When the expenses vanish so will the donations. Joe Jamail didn't write a $100mm check. He committed to give that money. And each year he gives exactly enough to pay your debt service.

And you are wrong on how A&M seats are handled. We have the same system fwiw

This post was edited on 5/8/13 at 2:14 am

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Posted by texashorn

Member since May 2008

13122 posts

Posted on 5/8/13 at 2:22 am to tmc94

Well no shite, Sherlock, you've restated what I said originally -- the A&M contributions have been inflated by a capital improvements campaign that is just beginning. UT's is long past.

quote:
And you are wrong on how A&M seats are handled. We have the same system fwiw

I don't think so.

Look at this chart and tell me that I'm wrong.

That's not to get new seats, that's the donation required to KEEP the seats.

At UT, whatever you original level you gave to get the seats becomes the baseline, and stays the baseline.

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Posted by texashorn

Member since May 2008

13122 posts

Posted on 5/8/13 at 2:43 am to tmc94

quote:
Bridge loans are SOP for athletic departments (including yours) as cash flow is not steady and usually comes in huge chunks (at season ticket time). Byrne used that to pressure the powers that be to let him do what he felt he needed to do.

Completely revisionist history, and bullshite to boot.

The University of Texas has NEVER taken a loan from the academics side to pay the bills for athletics.

I can't think of a single time, either, that UT has had to go to a bank and get a bridge loan. UT goes to its big-wigs and gets the money it needs.

But back to Byrne and the $16 million loan.

quote:
The Texas A&M athletic department lacks control of its finances, according to an audit obtained by the Express-News.

The department "requires significant improvement in its financial controls and processes," according to the 25-page report that reviews a span from September 2007 to December of last year. Six accountants from the A&M system performed the internal audit.

Two high-ranking A&M officials said Wednesday that athletic director Bill Byrne's job was not in jeopardy based on the findings. Byrne, who couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday night, addressed the audit in his weekly online column.

"The auditors also made one very serious observation," Byrne wrote. "During the period under audit, they believed that we had limited monitoring of, and limited accountability for, daily financial operations. And during that time, the auditors were correct."

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A&M athletics is no stranger to fiscal troubles this year. In June, then-university president Elsa Murano revealed as part of her annual review that the university had loaned the athletic department $16 million four years ago, and that the department must follow a strict business plan to now begin repaying the 10-year loan. A month later, Byrne slashed 17 jobs from the athletic department.

The audit reviews the department's fiscal problems on a multitude of fronts and summarizes, "These weaknesses have hindered the Athletic Department's ability to achieve and maintain financial stability."