What's a Heisman Trophy worth?

[VideoEagle]

I got my MBA from Baylor and was at a networking event for their business school this morning. They have raised $300 MILLION in new donations since the Heiman Trophy was announced.

Something they have done I wish NT would consider is pooling funds. Cash is fungible - donations to one part of the university can help the entire school by simply moving it around. If you make a large donation to the building fund for their new business school or to the general scholarship fund, it counts toward your donation for club seats.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Aren't they raising funds for a new on-campus stadium? I bet this has a much higher impact on donations than Robert Griffin III winning the Heisman.

[TheTastyGreek]

Aren't they raising funds for a new on-campus stadium? I bet this has a much higher impact on donations than Robert Griffin III winning the Heisman.

They'd been hoping wishing dreaming for a new stadium for a long, long time. The stadium concept had been a non-starter until they had some success under Griffin.

Even if it is stadium money, nobody seemed eager to pass that on until after The Robert Griffin Show.

[VideoEagle]

According to a former regent with whom I spoke this morning, at the time of the votes for the new stadium they had zero dollars for it. None. They thought Drayton McClain would step up, but he had not done so yet. When he did, funding started flowing to fill in the stadium money. That was done before the Heisman announcement. The $300 million has all been pledged since then.

But the pooling idea is still what I really like. Money donated for one project frees up dollars for other projects. Everyone benefits. Back when I was an undergrad in the late 70s, the Arts and Sciences school was at war with itself. The budget was considered a zero sum game - anything that benefited one department was considered a harm to all of the others. Thus all the departments campaigned to fight any upgrades to any OTHER departments. Effectively, they blocked growth for each other. It was stupid, but that was the way off of the department chairs thought and nothing could be done about it.