Dr. Jim - 2nd highest compensated AD in country

SciCat_rivals

Sophomore
Mar 7, 2005
1,848
185
0
May 29, 2001
45,734
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0
And, IMO, worth every penny. NU’s on-the-field successes, academic records, fundraising activities, and facilities investments are more than just noteworthy. They’re friggin awesome.

Here’s to the good Dr Jim spending another decade or more in Evanston.
Dunno about being lucky to have him. Still, we really haven't accomplished anything in the major revenue sports other than spending a ton of money (Both Bigtime Donor and Casual Fan) and commercializing the product. Along the way, he completely destroyed loyalty in football and basketball as he refused to allow the longtime STH to have the right of first refusal to the new seats or comparable seats at the new arena, and he basically made a poor decision by overpricing the football parking at $600 donation + the price of parking. That blew up many longtime tailgates and has caused the west lot to be half full and imo cost us attendance.

On the field, our football team still can't secure a division crown or close to it, and our basketball team finished off the radar in a bad way.

But oh ye can squeeze money out of donors and fans. I scaled back on my donations but still donate, even though I got booted from my courtside. But since our fans are now paying a 'donation fee' due to Dr Jim of thousands, plus the cost of the ticket, I'm assuming he will schedule "Top OOC" games as I can't see dropping thousands of dollars on a non established program watching the Mississippii Valley States, and the Brown Bombers filling out the non conference schedule. Hell, anything less than Duke will be a disappointment at this gauging when TV is readily available.

Go Cats!
 

DaCat

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
25,714
2,124
113
Dunno about being lucky to have him. Still, we really haven't accomplished anything in the major revenue sports other than spending a ton of money (Both Bigtime Donor and Casual Fan) and commercializing the product. Along the way, he completely destroyed loyalty in football and basketball as he refused to allow the longtime STH to have the right of first refusal to the new seats or comparable seats at the new arena, and he basically made a poor decision by overpricing the football parking at $600 donation + the price of parking. That blew up many longtime tailgates and has caused the west lot to be half full and imo cost us attendance.

On the field, our football team still can't secure a division crown or close to it, and our basketball team finished off the radar in a bad way.

But oh ye can squeeze money out of donors and fans. I scaled back on my donations but still donate, even though I got booted from my courtside. But since our fans are now paying a 'donation fee' due to Dr Jim of thousands, plus the cost of the ticket, I'm assuming he will schedule "Top OOC" games as I can't see dropping thousands of dollars on a non established program watching the Mississippii Valley States, and the Brown Bombers filling out the non conference schedule. Hell, anything less than Duke will be a disappointment at this gauging when TV is readily available.

Go Cats!

I see you're still on your Fake by the Lake rant against Phillips. It's never gonna happen because Phillips can't be trusted!
 

its_the_sauce

Junior
May 29, 2001
4,578
367
83
Dunno about being lucky to have him. Still, we really haven't accomplished
anything in the major revenue sports other than spending a ton of money (Both Bigtime Donor and Casual Fan) and commercializing the product. Along the way, he completely destroyed loyalty in football and basketball as he refused to allow the longtime STH to have the right of first refusal to the new seats or comparable seats at the new arena, and he basically made a poor decision by overpricing the football parking at $600 donation + the price of parking. That blew up many longtime tailgates and has caused the west lot to be half full and imo cost us attendance.

On the field, our football team still can't secure a division crown or close to it, and our basketball team finished off the radar in a bad way.

But oh ye can squeeze money out of donors and fans. I scaled back on my donations but still donate, even though I got booted from my courtside. But since our fans are now paying a 'donation fee' due to Dr Jim of thousands, plus the cost of the ticket, I'm assuming he will schedule "Top OOC" games as I can't see dropping thousands of dollars on a non established program watching the Mississippii Valley States, and the Brown Bombers filling out the non conference schedule. Hell, anything less than Duke will be a disappointment at this gauging when TV is readily available.

Go Cats!

Oh Pulease......
 

SciCat_rivals

Sophomore
Mar 7, 2005
1,848
185
0
Dunno about being lucky to have him. Still, we really haven't accomplished anything in the major revenue sports other than spending a ton of money (Both Bigtime Donor and Casual Fan) and commercializing the product. Along the way, he completely destroyed loyalty in football and basketball as he refused to allow the longtime STH to have the right of first refusal to the new seats or comparable seats at the new arena, and he basically made a poor decision by overpricing the football parking at $600 donation + the price of parking. That blew up many longtime tailgates and has caused the west lot to be half full and imo cost us attendance.

On the field, our football team still can't secure a division crown or close to it, and our basketball team finished off the radar in a bad way.

But oh ye can squeeze money out of donors and fans. I scaled back on my donations but still donate, even though I got booted from my courtside. But since our fans are now paying a 'donation fee' due to Dr Jim of thousands, plus the cost of the ticket, I'm assuming he will schedule "Top OOC" games as I can't see dropping thousands of dollars on a non established program watching the Mississippii Valley States, and the Brown Bombers filling out the non conference schedule. Hell, anything less than Duke will be a disappointment at this gauging when TV is readily available.

Go Cats!

I Love it when the people who ***** the loudest when the teams aren’t performing big time, also ***** the loudest when they need to pony up. Can’t have it both ways, dude. As a hard core Republican, you should know that more than most.
 

mikewebb68

Senior
Oct 24, 2009
9,811
501
113
Dunno about being lucky to have him. Still, we really haven't accomplished anything in the major revenue sports other than spending a ton of money (Both Bigtime Donor and Casual Fan) and commercializing the product. Along the way, he completely destroyed loyalty in football and basketball as he refused to allow the longtime STH to have the right of first refusal to the new seats or comparable seats at the new arena, and he basically made a poor decision by overpricing the football parking at $600 donation + the price of parking. That blew up many longtime tailgates and has caused the west lot to be half full and imo cost us attendance.

On the field, our football team still can't secure a division crown or close to it, and our basketball team finished off the radar in a bad way.

But oh ye can squeeze money out of donors and fans. I scaled back on my donations but still donate, even though I got booted from my courtside. But since our fans are now paying a 'donation fee' due to Dr Jim of thousands, plus the cost of the ticket, I'm assuming he will schedule "Top OOC" games as I can't see dropping thousands of dollars on a non established program watching the Mississippii Valley States, and the Brown Bombers filling out the non conference schedule. Hell, anything less than Duke will be a disappointment at this gauging when TV is readily available.

Go Cats!
Incredibly profound observation as always! Now tell us again how the earth is actually flat...
 

stpaulcat

Senior
May 29, 2001
35,339
901
113
Based on my interaction with him, we couldn't have a better Athletic Director. If we aren't tOSU in sports, good for us.
 

DarthCat

Sophomore
Jun 5, 2001
3,375
194
63
Not going to say there isn’t room for more from our programs. But my goodness, Dr. Phillips has been the absolute best AD we could have ever dreamed of having. That any school could have dreamed of having. Look at the buffoons running programs all over the country and the embarrassment they bring to their schools.

There was a systemic reason why we couldn’t get facilities improved for decades. It wasn’t just fundraising. And he’s gotten past all of that to get NU some of the best in the country. What our coaches do with that, how they successfully leverage it, well, that remains to be seen. But Phillips is, by all measurements of which I’m aware, the best AD in the BT if not the country.

As for Big Ten championships, by that measure, we’d be saying Rick Taylor is the best AD in NU history? C’mon.
 

Figrating

Redshirt
Dec 19, 2007
3,568
30
0
The NU AD position is about the most challenging in the country. NU is fortunate to have JP there to build a future.
 

Styre

Senior
Oct 14, 2004
7,774
466
83
The NU AD position is about the most challenging in the country. NU is fortunate to have JP there to build a future.

Perhaps the most challenging among the Power 5 schools. I'm sure the AD at Eastern Michigan would like to have NU's resources.
 

catsattackfor3

Freshman
Mar 2, 2011
2,629
53
0
Perhaps the most challenging among the Power 5 schools. I'm sure the AD at Eastern Michigan would like to have NU's resources.
I would argue its one of the better AD's jobs in the country. Metro area, Big 10 job, Great salary, terrific academic school (send your kids for free) not unrealistic pressure from alums and subway alums, winning just enough in the 2 major sports is applauded not criticized if not National Championship caliber, etc.
 

Styre

Senior
Oct 14, 2004
7,774
466
83
I would argue its one of the better AD's jobs in the country. Metro area, Big 10 job, Great salary, terrific academic school (send your kids for free) not unrealistic pressure from alums and subway alums, winning just enough in the 2 major sports is applauded not criticized if not National Championship caliber, etc.

Yeah, that's entirely fair. I guess it depends what you mean by "challenging" - if you define that as external pressures and the odds of getting fired for poor performance, it's not that challenging. If you define it as the difficulty of building championship-caliber teams across the department, it's very challenging.
 

its_the_sauce

Junior
May 29, 2001
4,578
367
83
I would argue its one of the better AD's jobs in the country. Metro area, Big 10 job, Great salary, terrific academic school (send your kids for free) not unrealistic pressure from alums and subway alums, winning just enough in the 2 major sports is applauded not criticized if not National Championship caliber, etc.

For these same reasons Fitz and Collins have a couple of the better coaching jobs around.
 
May 29, 2001
45,734
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Turk has a PhD in buckets of cold water
A bucket of reality.

Phillips has commercialized the product and it doesn't include loyalty in the recipe. Is there anything wrong with that? No. Do I support that? Yes, I can cut in line and be in front of all of the longtime dark ages supporters. And I hope and believe that this path continues this way which will eventually loosen the academic requirements as well. In fact, that's why I bought into the basketball program this year. As a commercial product, it's going to be all about performance now. That's just a fact because most aren't going to drop $10,000 to watch a half baked BB team playing against the Mississippi Valley State's. Just keeping it real. Look, I didn't graduate from NU, I just wanna see championships and crowns and if we can get there by going from A to B the quickest route then fine as long as we don't bring in rapist and thugs. I don't mind a C student or some new 'athletic program' degree we can come up with like some sorta "Sports management" degree.
 

Hungry Jack

All-Conference
Nov 17, 2008
38,142
4,182
67
A bucket of reality.

Phillips has commercialized the product and it doesn't include loyalty in the recipe. Is there anything wrong with that? No. Do I support that? Yes, I can cut in line and be in front of all of the longtime dark ages supporters. And I hope and believe that this path continues this way which will eventually loosen the academic requirements as well. In fact, that's why I bought into the basketball program this year. As a commercial product, it's going to be all about performance now. That's just a fact because most aren't going to drop $10,000 to watch a half baked BB team playing against the Mississippi Valley State's. Just keeping it real. Look, I didn't graduate from NU, I just wanna see championships and crowns and if we can get there by going from A to B the quickest route then fine as long as we don't bring in rapist and thugs. I don't mind a C student or some new 'athletic program' degree we can come up with like some sorta "Sports management" degree.
I think your OP had a considerable merit. You have always played the contrarian—sometimes for fun, sometimes to call BS on purple-tinted types like me. But your arguments often have merits (except flat earth stuff. That’s crazy).
 

lunker35

Junior
Jan 1, 2010
5,705
231
62
In other words, start exploiting athletes bigtime.
If by exploiting you mean providing world class facilities, meals, education and a lifetime network then yes they’re downright abused. The athletes are pampered and I’m jealous, even though 15 years ago we had it real good then too.
 

Gladeskat

All-Conference
Feb 16, 2004
116,629
1,824
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If by exploring you mean providing world class facilities, meals, education and a lifetime network then yes they’re downright abused.

I mean bringing in kids who cannot succeed academically at Northwestern simply for their athletic talent.
 
May 29, 2001
45,734
386
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In other words, start exploiting athletes bigtime.
Start exploiting? Really?

College athletes have been exploited like forever, and NU isn't any exception. Last I heard, Fitz doesn't even maximize the full $ that a player can now get.
And I'm sure that the communication major or "X Studies" Program provides an easy path to get a degree already.

I will disagree with those who think that a NU degree is fair in return for someone to get their body ripped apart. College revenue sports has HUGE profit margins and NU exploited their longtime fans regarding the parking lots and cost attendance in doing so, and now is asking fans to pay a 'yearly' PSL for seats in the stands in the basketball arena. All commercial and price gauging for a program that is not top flight, but Phillips took the plunge and it may pay off for the program. But, with millions more in the pockets, all we can say is that the players get the same ole degree.

I believe this path will almost certainly force us to loosen academic requirements. I'm all for that but many of the Pollyanna's here are not. I don't think loosening academic requirements is a big exploitation, it's just another ingredient of the recipe Phillips is crafting on our way with the hope of establishing some championship games in football and basketball.

Unless you know of a consistent model that has proven this otherwise? I've read of these boards how Stanford has looser academic standards and allows a lot more waivers for 'prime athletes'. I don't claim to know but if anyone reads this board alone then you can't help but assume that NU academic standards are far superior than Notre Dame, Stanford, Duke, Vandy, etc. Are they? I bet they are, but not for long imo.
 
May 29, 2001
45,734
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I Love it when the people who ***** the loudest when the teams aren’t performing big time, also ***** the loudest when they need to pony up. Can’t have it both ways, dude. As a hard core Republican, you should know that more than most.
Dudett, I'm not a Republican. Never have been. Not sure what you are talking about. And what do you mean a fan can't have it both ways? If someone is dropping money, it is both/and, not either/or. A fan is entitled to ***** about both. That said, I didn't ***** the loudest. Posters like DaCat flip like pancakes and started blasting the obvious after our rough start last year. I point out weaknesses whether we win or lose. And few fans pony up. Period. I doubt you pony up much at all.
I even wonder if they got 3,000 fans to drop the money for W/R seats. Yea I know they have a waiting list but that is all smoke and mirrors. You sign up on the waiting list and they call you in less than a month for seats and offer you virtually any seat upstairs, and most sections on the lower level other than a couple corners.
 

zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
3,651
277
83
It's hard to evaluate him compared to other ADs in other situations because Northwestern's AD situation is somewhat unique: we had enormous potential, but it was untapped for decades.

In a lot of ways, Phillips has simply exploited and executed on what NU always had (great location outside of Chicago, extremely wealthy alumni base, Big Ten).

But it's not actually that simple given that nobody before him managed to execute on what NU has had for its entire existence as a member of the Big Ten. Northwestern has always been one of the wealthiest private universities with a great location and a charter member of the Big Ten.

It's only under Phillips that sports has really taken "center stage" and gotten funding comparable to what the traditional powerhouses have.

Based on the fact that he's gotten donors to give $400 million for just the current 3 major projects, along with the assumption that he oversees another $200 million+ renovation of the stadium, I'd argue that he's worth his pay.

The 2 most important aspects of his job are to 1) get the alumni to give generously to athletics projects and 2) make sure the football and basketball programs are succeeding. We've been successful on both fronts over the past decade.
 

NJCat

All-Conference
Mar 7, 2016
21,493
1,660
113
It's hard to evaluate him compared to other ADs in other situations because Northwestern's AD situation is somewhat unique: we had enormous potential, but it was untapped for decades.

In a lot of ways, Phillips has simply exploited and executed on what NU always had (great location outside of Chicago, extremely wealthy alumni base, Big Ten).

But it's not actually that simple given that nobody before him managed to execute on what NU has had for its entire existence as a member of the Big Ten. Northwestern has always been one of the wealthiest private universities with a great location and a charter member of the Big Ten.

It's only under Phillips that sports has really taken "center stage" and gotten funding comparable to what the traditional powerhouses have.

Based on the fact that he's gotten donors to give $400 million for just the current 3 major projects, along with the assumption that he oversees another $200 million+ renovation of the stadium, I'd argue that he's worth his pay.

The 2 most important aspects of his job are to 1) get the alumni to give generously to athletics projects and 2) make sure the football and basketball programs are succeeding. We've been successful on both fronts over the past decade.
You also cannot discount the effect of Morty. Having a President who supports athletics is critical. See Bob Strotz, Exhibit A.
 

zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
3,651
277
83
You also cannot discount the effect of Morty. Having a President who supports athletics is critical. See Bob Strotz, Exhibit A.
Yeah, it helps that Schapiro and the trustees are the most "pro-sports" of any leadership we've had at the university historically. It's hard to imagine a project like the Fieldhouse getting to this point under some of the previous administrations to say the least.

Phillips and Schapiro will leave the program with a foundation as strong as any traditional powerhouse has in terms of facilities and administrative support. At least on those fronts, there shouldn't be any excuses in a few years.
 

DaCat

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
25,714
2,124
113
Posters like DaCat flip like pancakes and started blasting the obvious after our rough start last year.

Lying again I see. I'm the one you always accuse of being a pollyanna, and yet you the loudmouth know-it-all who loves to disparage players, coaches, and administrators continues to make stuff up. I was one of the first to say we would run the table after the Penn State loss. I guess you have a hard time separating truth from fiction. The fake by the lake sure looks real, as do those satellite images from NASA that shows the earth being round. But don't let reality interrupt your trolling.

Phillips, by the way, has accomplished more in his tenure than arguably the other AD's combined have done in the last 100 years.
 

docrugby1

Senior
Jun 16, 2010
6,918
511
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I mean bringing in kids who cannot succeed academically at Northwestern simply for their athletic talent.

If you graduate from NU with a 2.0-did you succeed ? I believe depriving young men a chance at an NU degree because they "might fail" is probably selling a lot of a high quality kids short.

I got in NU off the waiting list, so I was obviously a borderline NU candidate but I graduated "With Highest Distinction"(Summa *** Laude). NU was much easier than my HS. I played a varsity sport with added time requirements and still sailed through
I will take 5* FB and BB players that project a 2.5 GPA as long as they are high quality kids
 
May 29, 2001
45,734
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Lying again I see. I'm the one you always accuse of being a pollyanna, and yet you the loudmouth know-it-all who loves to disparage players, coaches, and administrators continues to make stuff up. I was one of the first to say we would run the table after the Penn State loss. I guess you have a hard time separating truth from fiction. The fake by the lake sure looks real, as do those satellite images from NASA that shows the earth being round. But don't let reality interrupt your trolling.

Phillips, by the way, has accomplished more in his tenure than arguably the other AD's combined have done in the last 100 years.
like it or not, you had meltdowns after some ugly losses early, then got on Corbi's bandwagon against the OL Coach. Not that I disagreed because it's fully acceptable for fans to want coaching changes, QB switches, etc., and YOU were not immune to it. Sorry.
 

DaCat

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
25,714
2,124
113
like it or not, you had meltdowns after some ugly losses early, then got on Corbi's bandwagon against the OL Coach. Not that I disagreed because it's fully acceptable for fans to want coaching changes, QB switches, etc., and YOU were not immune to it. Sorry.

So... maybe I'm not the Pollyanna you accuse me of being? I'd better go restock my purple kool-aid.