Regular Season Reflection: Where's the light at the end of the tunnel?

[valporun]

Don't forget, since the NCAA changed the transfer rules, coaches have been practically on eggshells about what they can do because kids are transferring out, without penalty, at any given moment. Lottich has even referred to this as a learning curve that coaches can't look to a reference book about how to handle constant change of roster, even when that change is during the season. This transfer portal, while fans think it is great, it is driving coaches insane because they don't know how to recruit for their programs in the same manner we all knew for years.

I completely agree, but every other coach in America is dealing with the same thing. It shouldn't be a reason why Lottich gets a pass.

Prior to the pandemic, if you transferred you had to sit out ONE season. NOW, you can transfer and play immediately. Pay to play with NIL and the transfer portal has made it damn near impossible to recruit character kids because of the schools that can offer so much money compared to the programs that only have the local hot dog joints that could offer a couple hundred bucks to say "I love the Bacon wrapped 4-cheese chili dog before a game".

[Dr. T]

Valporun - do you seriously think Valpo is the only victim of the new transfer rule + NIL? Seriously ... how can you use this as an excuse to justify anything?

[valpo64]

valporun is correct in his assessment.   That scenario holds true for many mid-majors especially those in small markets like Valpo.  The problem is some schools and coaches can deal with it and others have problems with it...like ML.  It is just part of the problem with ML.   

[usc4valpo]

Lottich needs to learn from this and move, for his sake and for Valpo's sake. Another year of the same is in the wrong direction and the wrong decision.

[wh]

Lottich needs to learn from this and move, for his sake and for Valpo's sake. Another year of the same is in the wrong direction and the wrong decision.

Matt Lottich doesn't owe it to Valparaiso University, legally, morally, or otherwise, to walk away from a signed contract or "negotiate" a buyout. It's not his fault that the university is running on fumes. He negotiated a short term contract in good faith that unlike the vast majority of American workers offers ZERO long term job security. Valpo isn't the Little Sisters of the Poor (or at least it shouldn't be). It was once a viable business with a clear vision, mission, and values that lost its way through poor leadership and myriad errors in judgement. There are no victims here.

[usc4valpo]

Wh - where I am going is that both sides need to make a compromise and move on. Regardless, keeping the same is bad for Valpo and bad for ML. Something needs to be figured out.

[valpofb16]

0 reason for Matt to compromise. He had a 24-9 season under his belt and the verdict is out about Valpo the University.

He's still owed about 680k, Stanford degree and a head coach before 40.

He's going to keep getting them checks.

Valpo had 10/15 seasons with under 10 wins the 15 years prior to Homer Drew.
Tom Horne is the second fastest football coach to 100 losses.

Bryce was an anomaly for the University in modern sports. First coach to take a successful program over and use it to further career.

Historically outside of the Drew's, VU has struggled since the 50s

[usc4valpo]

Ok I get it. We're D1, let's act like it. fork out the cash and move on. Ok, more debt, but so is the rest of the US.

[humbleopinion]

Bryce was an anomaly for the University in modern sports. First coach to take a successful program over and use it to further career.

Have you forgotten about Scott? 

An argument could be made (and has been on this forum) that Valpo's success under the Drews was due to his ability to recruit -- a skill that he took with him to Baylor.

[vu84v2]

Ok I get it. We're D1, let's act like it. fork out the cash and move on. Ok, more debt, but so is the rest of the US.

I would doubt that debt is needed...again, remember that the athletic department gained an approximately $300K windfall from the New Mexico State buy football game.

[vu84v2]

Lottich needs to learn from this and move, for his sake and for Valpo's sake. Another year of the same is in the wrong direction and the wrong decision.

Matt Lottich doesn't owe it to Valparaiso University, legally, morally, or otherwise, to walk away from a signed contract or "negotiate" a buyout. It's not his fault that the university is running on fumes. He negotiated a short term contract in good faith that unlike the vast majority of American workers offers ZERO long term job security. Valpo isn't the Little Sisters of the Poor (or at least it shouldn't be). It was once a viable business with a clear vision, mission, and values that lost its way through poor leadership and myriad errors in judgement. There are no victims here.

There clearly have been some poor decisions and there are steps that need to be taken to right the ship with the university, but the "running on fumes" quote is too extreme. A private university with a $275M endowment is not running on fumes.

I do, however, agree that Matt Lottich does not owe the university anything and thus should not seriously concede on terms for a buyout.

[wh]

Lottich needs to learn from this and move, for his sake and for Valpo's sake. Another year of the same is in the wrong direction and the wrong decision.

Matt Lottich doesn't owe it to Valparaiso University, legally, morally, or otherwise, to walk away from a signed contract or "negotiate" a buyout. It's not his fault that the university is running on fumes. He negotiated a short term contract in good faith that unlike the vast majority of American workers offers ZERO long term job security. Valpo isn't the Little Sisters of the Poor (or at least it shouldn't be). It was once a viable business with a clear vision, mission, and values that lost its way through poor leadership and myriad errors in judgement. There are no victims here.

There clearly have been some poor decisions and there are steps that need to be taken to right the ship with the university, but the "running on fumes" quote is too extreme. A private university with a $275M endowment is not running on fumes.

I do, however, agree that Matt Lottich does not owe the university anything and thus should not seriously concede on terms for a buyout.

Forbes 2020 - Why Not Use Those Large Endowments To Save Colleges?

The refrain is all too common. As projected losses for the coming year due to Covid-19 continue to grow, and as the full impact of lost revenue and new expenses become known, some people point to colleges' large endowments (which are, in some cases, very large) and ask what seems like a reasonable question. "Why not dip into (or even spend down) your endowment?"

The question comes equally from those within the university (faculty and students) and those outside the university. It reflects a lack of understanding of how such endowments work (why they are created, and how they are managed and accessed) and a lack of appreciation for the purpose/strategy of creating such permanent funds for colleges and universities.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrosowsky/2020/06/01/why-not-use-those-large-endowments-to-save-colleges/?sh=6d2e0a423f0a

At a minimum, Valparaiso University by its own admission is in critical need of modernizing student housing and expanding/modernizing its nursing facilities to compete for students in a hyper competitive market. It is mired in a death spiral of deficit spending due to declining enrollment and fixed costs it can't shed. Its credit rating was just lowered for the third (or is it fourth) time in the past 10 years. And, it just raised a ton of donor-controlled, locked down endowment money that it can't touch. It is so desperate, it it resorting to auctioning off valuable paintings that have been entrusted to it's care for generations to raise some quick cash, a meager $10M at that.

I would say that "running on fumes" is the perfect descriptor. What is it you don't understand about the seriousness of this situation?

[crusader05]

10M has never been a "meager" amount for Valpo.

It's also a function of choosing to prioritize their fundraising towards the bigger projects that will come with naming rights and other perks while realigned assets to make a quick fix while they can. Enrollment is a short term focus while fundraising is a long term goal. The endowment drive was created while enrollment was growing with the hopes to work to continue to take more and more "operation" costs off the book in the future through scholarships and endowed faculty chairs.

Obviously selling the paintings is not a good choice but imagine how people would react if programs kept getting cut more and more and it turned out the university was sitting on Millions of dollars in assets outside of the endowment.  If I was students and faculty I would be mad they didn't sell them to try to right the enrollment ship

[vu84v2]

wh - I think that we are disagreeing on semantics. I agree that the situation is serious. Indeed, priority 1 needs to be student recruitment, priority 1a needs to be student retention, priority 2 needs to be student recruitment, etc. In other posts, I was very critical of the university's strategic plan because it had way too many "priorities", when the priority needs to be attracting students and getting them to stay because of the value that they see. Immediately addressing facilities is only part of that...they also need all faculty and many of the staff making this a priority and they need a system from the administration that fosters this (in discussing this with current faculty, Valpo falls far short of this versus universities that are very effective at this). I also think the marketing of the university has been way too centralized, limiting colleges like nursing, engineering and business from presenting their own unique value.

When I think of "running on fumes", I think of something that will imminently need to cease operations. For Valpo to be at this point, they would need to be declaring exigency in which tenure terms are no longer valid and there would be a concerted effort to repurpose the endowment. Further, the endowment serves two important purposes: 1. it reduces annual operating costs, 2. serves as an insurance policy if things get really bad.

And again, selling the art is fiscally responsible (see priorities above). Very few (single digits) students will select Valpo or decide to stay at Valpo because of the art.

[wh]

wh - I think that we are disagreeing on semantics. I agree that the situation is serious. Indeed, priority 1 needs to be student recruitment, priority 1a needs to be student retention, priority 2 needs to be student recruitment, etc. In other posts, I was very critical of the university's strategic plan because it had way too many "priorities", when the priority needs to be attracting students and getting them to stay because of the value that they see. Immediately addressing facilities is only part of that...they also need all faculty and many of the staff making this a priority and they need a system from the administration that fosters this (in discussing this with current faculty, Valpo falls far short of this versus universities that are very effective at this). I also think the marketing of the university has been way too centralized, limiting colleges like nursing, engineering and business from presenting their own unique value.

When I think of "running on fumes", I think of something that will imminently need to cease operations. For Valpo to be at this point, they would need to be declaring exigency in which tenure terms are no longer valid and there would be a concerted effort to repurpose the endowment. Further, the endowment serves two important purposes: 1. it reduces annual operating costs, 2. serves as an insurance policy if things get really bad.

And again, selling the art is fiscally responsible (see priorities above). Very few (single digits) students will select Valpo or decide to stay at Valpo because of the art.

I forgot how logical and articulate you can be. Well said.

[Just Sayin]

"Padilla emphasized that he's not closing down the museum and that these are three paintings of over 5,000 in the collection.

We recognize there are some on this campus and in the community who disagree with this," he said. 'We know it's very heartfelt. We recognize that these pieces have been part of the collection for years, and we respect their opinion, but we respectfully disagree because we believe this will ultimately meet our mission of providing a first-rate student and academic experience.'" NWITimes

[valpopal]

"Padilla emphasized that he's not closing down the museum and that these are three paintings of over 5,000 in the collection.

When Padilla reduces his understanding of the artworks to mere numbers, and tries to pass them off in the media as if all are equivalent, it comes off as ignorance or deception. Jose is not an ignorant man, and I hate to see him stoop to such spin. One of those paintings is a significant piece by an artist who is considered by many as the most important woman American artist of all time and called "the Mother of American modernism." It is not just another painting in the collection. Indeed, it is recognized as the collection's centerpiece.

[usc4valpo]

Valpopal - I did not get that impression from the president. I know you're upset about it, but how does Valpo scrap out the cash to do the things we need to do? find a way to tap out the endowment?

[VU2014]

"Padilla emphasized that he's not closing down the museum and that these are three paintings of over 5,000 in the collection.

We recognize there are some on this campus and in the community who disagree with this," he said. 'We know it's very heartfelt. We recognize that these pieces have been part of the collection for years, and we respect their opinion, but we respectfully disagree because we believe this will ultimately meet our mission of providing a first-rate student and academic experience.'" NWITimes

I know it may be unpopular to say but I fully support President Padilla's decision and agree with his statement.

Tough times call for tough measures.

[historyman]

Historically outside of the Drew's, VU has struggled since the 50s

I think you are forgetting about Gene Bartow, Valpo coach in the 60's who went to the Final 4 with UCLA & Memphis State in the 70's.