Do Smu And Other Boosters Have Too Much Influence?

[Mean Green 93-98]

There's gotta be an inoculation for these boosters

Updated: Jan/11/2008 05:19 PM

It's more than a bit troubling that boosters have recently had a significant say in business, or at least tried to, at SMU and Washington.

SMU boosters have ponied up (pun intended) the $10 million needed to pay June Jones over the next five years. A Washington booster offered president Mark Emmert $100,000 if he fired Tyrone Willingham.

Does SMU not remember how it got into its current predicament (no bowls since 1984)? The reason the program got the death penalty 20 years ago is because boosters were paying players.

"You allowed us to compete at a Top 25 level," current AD Steve Orsini told the group he nicknamed "The Circle of Champions."

The Washington thing doesn't bother me as much. I'm sure boosters have offered ADs and presidents money, previously, if they would fire a coach. What's the difference between that and in helping pay off a coach who is fired?

The increasing booster influence, though, should be a concern. T. Boone Pickens basically runs the athletic department (and the school) at Oklahoma State. That's what you get when you contribute approximately $200 million to the school.

Football coach Mike Gundy is a favorite of Pickens. The billionaire basically hired him. It has been speculated that basketball coach Sean Sutton isn't a Pickens favorite. To be fair, Sutton hasn't done himself any favors with a 9-5 record (tied for second-worst in the Big 12).

Phil Knight withheld his funding for a while when Oregon joined the Worker Rights Consortium, a sweatshop monitoring group. To Oregon's credit it didn't roll over to Knight's wishes.

And to Washington's credit, it didn't fire Willingham, although AD Todd Turner did get fired. But not because of the booster's "bribe."

SMU is asking for another scandal, or at least more losing football. What happens if SMU keeps circling the drain? Suppose one of those big boosters wants Jones fired after next season? Who is making the call, the boosters who paid the money or Orsini?

It being SMU, let's hope the booster payments are limited to just the coach.

http://www.sportsline.com/columns/weblogs/entry/10554246

[JesseMartin]

Alumni and current students are the heartbeat of any school. Boosters and other alums have a greater investment, both financial and social, in the system they come from than do people who are hired on to do a job. Not that administrators don't know what they're doing, but many run it as a business with little or no affection for the school itself. Alums are involved because they care about more than just a paycheck and/or promotion. I would usually trust the opinions of alums more than those of administrators, because the alumi have a much more altruistic state of involvement. I don't see the problem with alumni putting some pressure on to make sure that their alma mater remains something to be proud of...and as long as it doesn't violate laws or rules, then so be it.

[UNTflyer]

Anyone know what kind of vehicle Justin Willis is driving these days?