Why did we fire Long?

I think he would have fired Bert.\

Eta: buyout would be one factor

Was it because he wouldn't hire Gus?


Yup

quote:

---

Was it because he wouldn't hire Gus?


Yup

---

So we paid him to go away, and he was right.....

Mainly because he sounded like Kermit the Frog and wanted us to be Vanderbilt. Not a strong position for an AD.

quote:

---

However, let’s not act like Long was sailing on smooth seas. Given the fact that the football program was in the shitter in an historic way and a sizable portion of the fan base hated the shite out of him for myriad reasons (some understandably), his reckoning was coming. It just happened to be sooner rather than later.

---

The two, possibly three with the GSD, factors that did him in... in my humble opinion... were his support of a failed Bielema and growing concern that Long had badly fouled up the stadium expansion that had been his pet project.

I was a supporter of Long right up until the end but as more details of the cost over runs and potential financial trouble surrounding the expansion came to light... yeah he needed to be fired.

quote:

---

I have yet to see any concrete information supporting this and the fact that we offered Gus a crazy amount of money makes me think that the financial problems were exaggerated.

It's not coincidental that Long was fired shortly after he gave his presentation stating that wms was in bad shape and needing 10 million in renovations to continue hosting the hogs.

---

The financial "trouble" was important insofar as it gave the GOBN donors leverage by which to stage their coup. In other words, they'd continue to pony up (and even go deeper by financing the Gus hire and taking care of the various buyouts required to make the move) if the organization fell in line with their desires, which were to get rid of Long (for the WMS deal, impediment to hiring Gus, and general antipathy they felt toward the 'yankee" who never really fit in) and hire Gus.

Now they're looking like idiots because we've got plenty of their money, but we don't have an AD or a head football coach.

That's my reading of the situation at least. Admittedly, my "sauces" are in the Long camp, so I may have a biased reading on it.

quote:

---

I have yet to see any concrete information supporting this and the fact that we offered Gus a crazy amount of money makes me think that the financial problems were exaggerated.

---

Well the BoT was sold on a 160 million dollar expansion. Now since we are funding 120 million dollars of that with a bond we are going to be paying 9-10 million a year for twenty years to pay off. Best case scenario even Long said the new seats would generate an additional 5 million a year. The other 4-5 million a year? Well someone will pony up the money for it.

Add in the usual circumcision of ten percent cost over runs, which seems to be the case from what I've heard, and we are looking at a price tag of about a quarter of a billion, that is with a B, for the stadium expansion.

A few hundred million here, a few hundred million there, soon we are talking about real money. Add in the BoT watches TV, or attends games, like the rest of us and they are seeing the same half empty stadium we've all seen this year and suddenly there is cause for concern.

When the BoT first approved the decision to move ahead with stadium expansion they were told it would cost about 95 million. Even with interest and circumcision that would be a total cost under 120 million. Not five years later and the probable cost is going to be about twice that. Even though the BoT approved that, they weren't exactly dancing in the streets over it.

A swelling price tag, half empty stadium, and refusing to fire an unpopular coach combined to make Long untenable to keep.

Now there are rumors he may have played fast and loose with funding to make it seem that the athletic department was in better shape financially then it was. Whether they are true or not, in combination with other factors, it was enough to get anyone not named Frank Broyles fired.

I'm just going with numbers I found online and using my calculator to sum up things. I'm sure someone like Stonehog or Rev probably has a better idea of what the total cost will look like then I do. I may very well be way off base. If my estimates are right... that is a lot of money going out.