Jamie Pollard...

[CyNerd]

He is reimbursed appropriately for doing what he has been asked to do. I am sure you are in a similar situation at your job. People seem to think he also deserves high praise for doing something he was expected to do. Do you think you deserve high praise for creating Widget A as expected?

 

[Tre4ISU]

Yeah I guess it wasn't feasible when he didn't even put an offer on the table or even throw out any offers.

If he matches that offer, we probably don't see obvious ramifications and your happy. What actually would have happened, though, is he stuck a bunch of money into something that will never yield a return to justify it. Never. I enjoy wrestling but it's not, and won't, make money which, at ISU is his job. As we have seen, a disappointing wrestling program doesn't affect anything else.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have the best wrestling program in the country and be able to put millions into it but we can't. PSU can. Michigan can. OSU can. OU can. ISU cannot.

 

[cyclone13]

Nope just doing his job, no big deal. Geesh, I'd hate to have some of you on here as my supervisor.

Would you like your supervisor to give you credit for a job well done by you? I know a lot of people appreciate if their supervisor gives them credits if they do good job. I'd hate to have you as a supervisor too

 

[Tre4ISU]

Pollard has done very good things at ISU as far as facilities and finances. IMO, it's silly to try and minimize his accomplishments in those areas (yet some on here continue to try).

I think the big issue regarding his decision making was giving the Rhoads contract extension. Whether or not it seemed good at the time (and there were a few who questioned it originally, based on the fact that Rhoads really only had one winning season at ISU, and given the flame-out after the OkSU upset), it seems like a bad decision now.

For me, the big issue is whether lessons are learned from mistakes. I think that not just the AD, but the ISU community as a whole, needs a change of mindset. We need to stop worrying about being a "stepping stone" , and just get the best coach available for the money we can pay. Hoiberg should have shown us that if someone has bigger aspirations, they are going move on, hometown boy or not.

There is a thread going on about Utah football. Urban Meyer used Utah as a stepping stone to Florida. The next guy stuck around and the program has done well since. Dennis Franchione used TCU as a stepping stone to Alabama. The next coach at TCU stuck around, and their program has done as well.

You can't control the decisions that a person will make in the future. Get the guy who can do the most good for you. Benefit and grow from his knowledge and abilities. Make reasonable attempts to keep him around with compensation. If he is successful and raises up your program, but decides to move on, where is the harm in that? There is no reason that the stepping stone can't become the destination.

The problem with that line of thought is that without that, we may have lost him. There was genuine interest elsewhere. At that point, would the fanbase have been okay with that? I highly doubt it considering he started off better than I think anyone expected. Say he goes to Wisconsin and is winning. We hire Tim Beckman and do what Illinois has done, does the fanbase like the way that went? I kind of doubt it. In the situation he was in with Rhoads, I think he had to do what he did. Mac was different, but Rhoads, to that point, had justified that extension. It's really not even that bad of a contract at this point when compared to others.

 

[thrillcat]

He is reimbursed appropriately for doing what he has been asked to do. I am sure you are in a similar situation at your job. People seem to think he also deserves high praise for doing something he was expected to do. Do you think you deserve high praise for creating Widget A as expected?

I get your point, but I think you're minimizing what has been done. If I was evaluating JP on a scale of 1-10, 1 being poor, 5 being adequate, and 10 being excellent, I'd give him about a 7, 7.5. I'd give his predecessors a 3-4.

If the degree of upgrades we've seen in facilities, from football and basketball to track & field, etc., are simply "expected", then there are a metric **** ton of other ADs across the country that should be fired long before Pollard.

I understand you're unhappy with CPR, but you're basically saying Jamie has simply done the minimum requirement over the past decade, and that's horse ****.

 

[bringmagicback]

I was unaware that the main criteria to judge the effectiveness of an AD was wins/losses in football until I read this thread. Thanks CF.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Gosh I hope not. Our programs would really tank then :shocked:

 

[CarolinaCy]

For everyone saying that JP didn't really do anything all that great in the fundraising department, tell me what BVDV accomplished while at ISU in that regard? Bruce presided over some of the greatest years in Athletics history - 9 win football season, bowl games, Heisman run by Seneca, multiple basketball titles (men's and women's). Surely he was able to parlay that into massive increases in private funding, upgrades to facilities, increases in National Cyclone Club memberships and donations, etc. After all, those sorts of things just fall into every AD's lap.

So to everyone that says "well anyone could do what JP is doing" clearly that isn't true. You don't even have to look back very far in our own history to prove yourself wrong.

 

[aeroclone]

For everyone saying that JP didn't really do anything all that great in the fundraising department, tell me what BVDV accomplished while at ISU in that regard? Bruce presided over some of the greatest years in Athletics history - 9 win football season, bowl games, Heisman run by Seneca, multiple basketball titles (men's and women's). Surely he was able to parlay that into massive increases in private funding, upgrades to facilities, increases in National Cyclone Club memberships and donations, etc. After all, those sorts of things just fall into every AD's lap.

So to everyone that says "well anyone could do what JP is doing" clearly that isn't true. You don't even have to look back very far in our own history to prove yourself wrong.

Great point. BVDV accomplished much less in regards to increasing revenue, increasing attendance, and improving facilities. And he was only given the best seasons in school history in football and basketball to work with.

 

[CyNerd]

I get your point, but I think you're minimizing what has been done. If I was evaluating JP on a scale of 1-10, 1 being poor, 5 being adequate, and 10 being excellent, I'd give him about a 7, 7.5. I'd give his predecessors a 3-4.

If the degree of upgrades we've seen in facilities, from football and basketball to track & field, etc., are simply "expected", then there are a metric **** ton of other ADs across the country that should be fired long before Pollard.

I understand you're unhappy with CPR, but you're basically saying Jamie has simply done the minimum requirement over the past decade, and that's horse ****.

Lets look at it this way. This might be a stretch but I will go for it.

You own two stores, A and B. These two stores each have 1 sales person, A and B respectively. For every person that comes in the store these sales people can either 1) Make this person spend 0% of what they planned to spend 2) Make this person spend 50% of what they planned to spend 3) Make this person spend 100% of what they planned to spend or 4) Spend 200% of what they planned to spend.

The average person that goes into store A plans to spend $200. The average person leaves the store with $200 worth of product.

The average person that goes into store B plans to spend $25 dollars. The average person leaves the store with $50 worth of product.

Who is the better sales person?

Even if sales person A only got people to spend 50% of what they planned to spend, store A still outperforms store B. Regardless, sales person B is clearly the better sales person but outside factors have made store A appear more successful.

Soooo.....point is that it is basically impossible to compare JP to previous AD's because outside factors are so incredibly different now than they were then that you can never really come to an accurate conclusion. I also don't know if JP is the 50%, 100%, or 200% guy, and quite frankly neither do you. My opinion is that he is somewhere in the 50 - 100% and thus I do not feel he deserves any praise.

Regarding your "I understand you're unhappy with CPR, but you're basically saying Jamie has simply done the minimum requirement over the past decade, and that's horse ****." comment, I just don't think he has proven he deserves to conduct a coaching search without outside help and doesn't deserve final say once the search has concluded and we are between a few candidates.

 

[Wesley]

I support JP. Comparing his tenure with past ADs, he is superior. He did not know that McD could not handle better talent. He did not realize that Gene was an unhappy camper from day one when he was hired. Paul should have worked out but he failed to recruit in 2011 and 2012 to high enough standards. We all make mistakes.

 

[CyRann22]

Lets look at it this way. This might be a stretch but I will go for it.

You own two stores, A and B. These two stores each have 1 sales person, A and B respectively. For every person that comes in the store these sales people can either 1) Make this person spend 0% of what they planned to spend 2) Make this person spend 50% of what they planned to spend 3) Make this person spend 100% of what they planned to spend or 4) Spend 200% of what they planned to spend.

The average person that goes into store A plans to spend $200. The average person leaves the store with $200 worth of product.

The average person that goes into store B plans to spend $25 dollars. The average person leaves the store with $50 worth of product.

Who is the better sales person?

Even if sales person A only got people to spend 50% of what they planned to spend, store A still outperforms store B. Regardless, sales person B is clearly the better sales person but outside factors have made store A appear more successful.

Soooo.....point is that it is basically impossible to compare JP to previous AD's because outside factors are so incredibly different now than they were then that you can never really come to an accurate conclusion. I also don't know if JP is the 50%, 100%, or 200% guy, and quite frankly neither do you. My opinion is that he is somewhere in the 50 - 100% and thus I do not feel he deserves any praise.

Regarding your "I understand you're unhappy with CPR, but you're basically saying Jamie has simply done the minimum requirement over the past decade, and that's horse ****." comment, I just don't think he has proven he deserves to conduct a coaching search without outside help and doesn't deserve final say once the search has concluded and we are between a few candidates.

CyNerd, I totally agree with you and more importantly appreciate your avatar. You don't want to put the universe in a tube.

 

[CTTB78]

....My only complaint is with his ego..... Takes jabs at Iowa all the time....I don't think he goes anywhere, including Wisconsin. I think he knows he has a pretty good thing here.

Agree with this. But I think the jabs at Iowa are well deserved.

 

[jbhtexas]

The problem with that line of thought is that without that, we may have lost him. There was genuine interest elsewhere. At that point, would the fanbase have been okay with that? I highly doubt it considering he started off better than I think anyone expected. Say he goes to Wisconsin and is winning. We hire Tim Beckman and do what Illinois has done, does the fanbase like the way that went? I kind of doubt it. In the situation he was in with Rhoads, I think he had to do what he did. Mac was different, but Rhoads, to that point, had justified that extension. It's really not even that bad of a contract at this point when compared to others.

At that point, IMO, Rhoads had justified an extension of perhaps 5 years, but not 10 years. As I mentioned above, Rhoads was working on two-losing seasons, and some issues were already starting to show. You can always add more years to a contract.

It's a bad contract if the cost of the buyout is the reason that Rhoads wasn't fired last year, or if ISU continues to lose this year, is the reason he can't be fired at the end of this year.

 

[Judoka]

To put it simply, I don't trust Jamie Pollard to hire our next football coach. And that's why I'd love to see somebody hire him away.

 

[thrillcat]

Soooo.....point is that it is basically impossible to compare JP to previous AD's because outside factors are so incredibly different now than they were then that you can never really come to an accurate conclusion. I also don't know if JP is the 50%, 100%, or 200% guy, and quite frankly neither do you. My opinion is that he is somewhere in the 50 - 100% and thus I do not feel he deserves any praise.

Regarding your "I understand you're unhappy with CPR, but you're basically saying Jamie has simply done the minimum requirement over the past decade, and that's horse ****." comment, I just don't think he has proven he deserves to conduct a coaching search without outside help and doesn't deserve final say once the search has concluded and we are between a few candidates.

Like I said, I see your point, but you could also look at it this way.

Customer R had $25 million to spend, and they knew which store they wanted to spend it in, but they wanted to make sure they got to get the most for their money, so instead of spending that money in 2003, they waited until 2014 because they had more trust in the salesperson.

Do I trust JP to conduct a search for a head football coach? I don't know. I'm glad Leath has proven that he's willing to look over JP's shoulder and make sure the right process is followed and a solid choice is made (knock on wood, but I'm impressed with the MBB recruiting this fall). Hopefully JP learned from that experience that he can't get by conducting a search like he has in the past. If he didn't, hopefully SL will step in again.

But in my job, for about 3 days of the year each year I'm an event planner. I hope what I do the other 362 days of the year outweigh, or at least weigh comparatively to what I do for those 3 days.

 

[CyNerd]

But in my job, for about 3 days of the year each year I'm an event planner. I hope what I do the other 362 days of the year outweigh, or at least weigh comparatively to what I do for those 3 days.

And if that event was for the board of directors and C-suites, that 3 days may severely outweigh what you had done for the rest of the year, given the level of exposure involved. Lets say you HAVE to event plan but you recognize, based on past experience, that you are less that good at it. Do you continue on doing it yourself anyway, or do you recognize the gap and surround yourself with people who can support you through the event so it is successful, ensuring that you aren't judged unfairly on 3 days of work?

 

[thrillcat]

And if that event was for the board of directors and C-suites, that 3 days may severely outweigh what you had done for the rest of the year, given the level of exposure involved. Lets say you HAVE to event plan but you recognize, based on past experience, that you are less that good at it. Do you continue on doing it yourself anyway, or do you recognize the gap and surround yourself with people who can support you through the event so it is successful, ensuring that you aren't judged unfairly on 3 days of work?

Like I said, hopefully I learned that my new boss wasn't going to put up with my **** poor job of event planning in the past and I do things by the book, but obviously my new boss isn't going to let me **** up this big event like I have in the past.

 

[CyNerd]

Like I said, hopefully I learned that my new boss wasn't going to put up with my **** poor job of event planning in the past and I do things by the book, but obviously my new boss isn't going to let me **** up this big event like I have in the past.

God bless President Leath

 

[Gossamer]

Let's not blame JP for CPR's inability to effectively run his football program. The very things JP has done might help attract a better coach than the one we currently have.