Herman presser at 11am today (Jan 5)

[Juan]

The staff-to-athlete ratio inside Bellmont is close to 1:1.....

At the presser today, it was called a "mom-and-pop" operation

 

[prosfromdover]

And we thought we were the Joneses.

If that's not a little hyperbolic, pretty embarrassing for Belmont.

 

[Randolph Duke]

Where can one find the details behind the staff-to-athlete ratio and the tens of millions in "unallocated expenses"? 

 Below is a snapshot of the UT Athletics expenses filed with the Dept of Education for the fiscal year ending Aug 31, 2015. For some reason, the 2016 financials haven't been posted to the database. As you can see, there are $75 million in "unallocated" expenses, roughly half the total budget. Where this money goes, no one outside Bellmont exactly knows.

A very large chunk (probably around 40%) is allocated to "Support staff/ Administrative salaries, benefits and bonuses paid." The total of salaries, benefits and bonuses paid that are not able to be allocated to any specific team dwarfs the amounts allocated to specific men's and women's sports teams. And by "dwarfs" I mean the unallocated expenses are roughly ten times the total allocated expenses for men's and women's sports combined. The amount of "Game Expenses" that cannot be allocated to any particular game or any particular sport runs more than twice the amount that can actually be allocated to a particular game. Think about that for a minute.

The unduplicated totals for athletes are 301 men, 262 women. You can probably get the headcount on the Bellmont payroll off the UT Athletics website. If not, call Bellmont and ask for the number.

UT Austin spends $270,000 per student athlete. Stanford spends $114,000 per athlete and wins the Director's Cup every single year. Ohio State spends $130,000 per athlete, Alabama spends $190,000. UT spends far more in overall expenses and FAR more in expenses per athlete than any other school in the nation.

UT athletics isn't a "mom and pop" operation. UT outspends every other program in the nation. The unallocated resources have never been questioned by any reporter, as doing so would probably risk having their credentials pulled. UT athletics is, without a doubt, the most wasteful athletic department in the nation. Its not that Bellmont doesn't spend money, it's that Bellmont doesn't have a clue how to spend money wisely. The bloat and waste that goes on inside Bellmont is shameful.

The DOE database can be found here:

https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/search

 

[prosfromdover]

Damn, dude, go get em.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

It sounds to me that Texas does things with money that other schools do not. However, money is not the equivalent of "support." Throwing money at something rarely really helps things. So its refreshing to see that instead of measuring the collective wallet, he's looking at tangible results instead.

Whatever the Bamas and Ohio States are doing, its working. Whatever we've been doing, is not.

 

[Juan]

....UT athletics isn't a "mom and pop" operation. UT outspends every other program in the nation. The unallocated resources have never been questioned by any reporter, as doing so would probably risk having their credentials pulled. UT athletics is, without a doubt, the most wasteful athletic department in the nation. Its not that Bellmont doesn't spend money, it's that Bellmont doesn't have a clue how to spend money wisely. The bloat and waste that goes on inside Bellmont is shameful.

Our numbers are brought up somewhat, relative to other schools, by the fact that we pay for more head coaches at one time than most programs. Same for ADs.

While I agree on the bloating, generally, this is definitely not because of our recruiting staff.  We are way behind the other big schools on this front.

Lastly, it was called a "mom and pop operation" today at the presser.  That's a quote.

 

[TeamMayhall]

Tom Herman press conference [Jan. 05, 2017]

 

[tejasrulz]

He has been told "yes" to every request of Admin

Hopefully they learned from their mistakes with Strong

 

[Earl Nobis Jefferson]

Tom Herman press conference [Jan. 05, 2017]

Thanks for posting. That was a very interesting and informative look into the man that will lead this program. And for sure there is ONE GUY in charge.

 

[Randolph Duke]

Our numbers are brought up somewhat, relative to other schools, by the fact that we pay for more head coaches at one time than most programs. Same for ADs.

While I agree on the bloating, generally, this is definitely not because of our recruiting staff. We are way behind the other big schools on this front.

Lastly, it was called a "mom and pop operation" today at the presser. That's a quote.

Those numbers were from FY 2014-2015. Texas was paying one AD and one HC per program during that time. Severance payments are broken out and allocated to specific programs, so they would not show up in the unallocated total.
Bellmont's finances are a mess of bloat and waste. Whoever called UT athletics a mom and pop operation is an idiot. The money has always been there, the staff has always been huge and the payroll has always been enormous. What has been missing is responsible leadership. Deloss got lazy and let everybody build their little fiefdoms with horrific levels of waste. Patterson added to spending and tried to nickle and dime expenses. So far, Perrin hasn't shown the balls to reform Bellmont.

My guess is that Herman's higher headcount will get added to the bloat.

 

[Juan]

...  Bellmont's finances are a mess of bloat and waste. Whoever called UT athletics a mom and pop operation is an idiot. ....

I could not see who said it, he was off screen

But it was someone in the media with a first-hand familiarity with the program

And no one there objected or even audibly groaned at this premise -- the view seemed to carry the consensus of the entire packed room

 

[Randolph Duke]

I could not see who said it, he was off screen

But it was someone in the media with a first-hand familiarity with the program

And no one there objected or even audibly groaned at this premise -- the view seemed to carry the consensus of the entire packed room

The consensus of the entire packed room (and the entire group of writers who cover UT athletics) is to never question the bloat and waste that exemplifies how Bellmont operates. It is the subject that is intentionally never discussed.

The average public university spends about $110,000 per student athlete on its athletics program. As I mentioned, Stanford spends $114,000 per athlete and wins more championships, year in and year out, than any school in the nation. Texas spends far more than any school (two and a half times the national average) and still complains about the lack of facilities. Why? Because the tens of millions Texas spends more than other schools goes into bloated  Bellmont spending and not into providing better facilities and better opportunities for UT athletes. (Remember Randa Ryan's spending upwards of $20k on throw pillows and writing desks from a store she and her husband owned? Did anyone ever ask why Bellmont employees are being given $20,000 decorating budgets for their offices?)

The worst part is the writers who cover Bellmont are complicit in that they tacitly or explicitly agree not to question the waste in exchange for maintaining access to the program. Not one has the journalistic integrity to ask Mike Perrin what level of sending per athlete he believes would represent a responsibly managed athletics program and when he intends to get UT athletics to that spending level. Not one.

When the elephant in the room is how tens of millions of dollars goes annually into bloated spending and not on facilities development, each and every time, no one objects or even audibly groaned at the premise that Texas is operated on shoestring funding -- that view seems to carry the consensus of the entire packed room every time, even though the entire audience knows it isn't true.

Bellmont operates for the benefit of the employees inside Bellmont, not for the athletes, not for the students, not for the alumni. It is a fiefdom where reason, oversight and responsible fiscal management simply do not exist.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Those numbers were from FY 2014-2015. Texas was paying one AD and one HC per program during that time. Severance payments are broken out and allocated to specific programs, so they would not show up in the unallocated total.

Bellmont's finances are a mess of bloat and waste. Whoever called UT athletics a mom and pop operation is an idiot. The money has always been there, the staff has always been huge and the payroll has always been enormous. What has been missing is responsible leadership. Deloss got lazy and let everybody build their little fiefdoms with horrific levels of waste. Patterson added to spending and tried to nickle and dime expenses. So far, Perrin hasn't shown the balls to reform Bellmont.

My guess is that Herman's higher headcount will get added to the bloat.

My impression when people talk about UT athletics being "a mom and pop" operation is that they are talking more about "how" things are done rather than how much is being spent. 

I also think that Herman's higher headcount will be people that will actually contribute to the success of the football program versus people who hold a position simply because they are part of someone's "little fiefdom". 

 

[Randolph Duke]

My impression when people talk about UT athletics being "a mom and pop" operation is that they are talking more about "how" things are done rather than how much is being spent. 

I also think that Herman's higher headcount will be people that will actually contribute to the success of the football program versus people who hold a position simply because they are part of someone's "little fiefdom". 

My question was whether there will be any effort to shift spending from bloat and waste to legitimate needs such as Herman has identified, or whether the alumni will just get the cost of legitimate needs added on to the current tab and the bloat, waste, and lack of accountability be allowed to continue as usual?

Urban Meyer is well known for stating that winning programs have an attitude that runs from the top of the organization to the lowest paid employee. Meyer was a strong proponent that when athletes see administrative staff being allowed to be lazy, wasteful, focused on their own needs and not the needs of goals of the organization, and not being held accountable for their failures, the athletes adopt the same attitude. One would hope Herman would try to bring that winning organizational attitude to Austin.

I'm just asking if anyone has had the courage to ask whether the new priorities are being funded by improvements in how Bellmont operates, or are we still talking about business as usual and the Jabba-the-Hut-esque financial appetite of Bellmont grows ever more corpulent.

 

[Juan]

The consensus of the entire packed room (and the entire group of writers who cover UT athletics) is to never question the bloat and waste that exemplifies how Bellmont operates. It is the subject that is intentionally never discussed.....

We share different opinions on the role of the media

 

[Randolph Duke]

We share different opinions on the role of the media

My opinion is that one of the roles of the media is to ask difficult questions to public employees concerning how they are stewarding public assets.

I also believe the role of the media is not to avoid asking uncomfortable questions in order to preserve their media credentials or continue to report fawningly on the actions of public employees who don't want to be asked to account for how they are stewarding public assets.

But I'm old fashioned. The "new media" evidently sees their role differently. lol.

Those with media access to UT athletics long ago discarded any pretense of journalistic integrity. The lack of journalistic integrity is why Bellmont is the way it is and the waste that exemplifies Bellmont has been allowed to bloat to its present, disgusting situation.

As you stated, we share different opinions of the role of the media.

One question that will never be asked to the UT athletic director is "What level of spending per athlete, in your opinion, reflects a responsibly managed athletics program and when you you believe UT athletics will get to that level."

Every other athletics director in the nation would willingly answer that question. But it will never even be asked at UT. UT athletics will never be managed with the goal of achieving and maintaining the highest level of fiscal responsibility and the highest level of excellence. Every student athlete who walks through the front door of Bellmont will immediately understand UT athletics is about bloat, over spending, waste and perpetuating fat salaries; and not about excellence from the highest level of the program. UT athletics isn't about excellence, it's about "everybody getting theirs while the getting is good."

It's beyond frustrating to want to see these kids get a chance to reach their goals and then see the entire UT sports apparatus, from the AD, to the bloated payroll, to the media covering UT sports, ignore the wasteful pissing away of tens of millions of dollars every year (while the head football coach identifies numerous serious program deficiencies within his first month on the job), all so everyone (including the media covering the program) can continue to try to expand their personal, little career niches.

All while everyone self-servingly ignores the elephant in the room - the bloat and waste that exemplifies Bellmont.

Hell, UT isn't the Joneses. We aren't even the Clampetts. We can't even limp into a bottom tier bowl game on APR these days. Mississippi State could, but Texas couldn't. UT these days isn't even Mississippi State.

And I'm still wondering whether the obvious failings that exist in the UT program will be paid for from a reallocation of wasteful resources to the needs of the head football coach, or paid for by just adding another layer of expenses onto a bloated, withering and wasteful program.

But I can't get that answered, because you don't agree asking Mike Perrin that question is a legitimate role of the media covering UT athletics. Give me a break.

The media covering UT athletics have earned their UT athletics credentials.

 

[Juan]

 

[Juan]

 

[Juan]

Latest numbers show Alabama far outspends Texas on football

 

[Juan]