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Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Scathin' Online Schoolmarm...


...leads today's reading from the Book of Boone.

'The wheels touch down five miles from the University of Georgia campus, and the first thing Dallas billionaire [$$$$!] T. Boone Pickens sees after leaving the $50 million [$$$$!], leather-couch comfort of his Gulfstream 550 [$$$$!] is a stuffed cowboy hanging from the control tower. [The reporter for the Dallas Morning News is a genius. He knows exactly what his readers want to read. They want to read about big money. Right away. Up front.]

It's almost as if the Bulldogs knew Pickens was coming.

"This isn't Nebraska, where the fans applaud you if you win," Pickens says. "If we win, these Georgia fans are going to be nasty."

The day started with Pickens quickly bagging his limit of 15 doves while hunting with family and friends on his 45,000-acre ranch [$$!] near Pampa in the Texas Panhandle.

All Pickens could talk about as he picked off birds as if they were stationary targets at a state fair was the Oklahoma State-Georgia game, set to kick off at 5:45 p.m. Central time.

"This is big," said Pickens, whose energy and stamina belie his 79 years. "We find out where we are tonight. The whole country may be talking about Oklahoma State tomorrow." [Don't wanna give away the ending, but OSU loses. Just shows that when you hand your program to a billionaire because you want his money, it's liable to stink.]

Pickens' fourth wife, Madeleine, 60, causes people to stop and stare as much for her statuesque, blond-haired beauty as for the 30-carats-plus, heart-shaped diamond [$$!] on her left hand.

The couple resides during the week in Dallas but spend most weekends at the ranch, which could be confused for a resort in Dubai [$$!]. Boone and Madeleine, who married in 2005, recently built a runway there. Now the couple can come and go on their airplane the way most people drive out of their garage.

"Boone is spending so much time thinking about Oklahoma State these days, I think it's moved into the top three things that he does," said Madeleine, referring to her husband's many ventures.

At the moment, those include commodities and equities investing, buying up water rights in West Texas to sell water across the state and building the world's largest wind farm.

But Madeleine is no stranger to being around aggressive businessmen who love sports. She was married to Gulfstream founder and magnate Allen E. Paulson before he died in 2000, at age 78.

Paulson was an avid thoroughbred horse owner, and Madeleine remains the owner of Cigar, who captured the Breeders' Cup Classic and was voted horse of the year in 1995 and 1996 while winning a record 16 straight races.

After the plane stops in Oklahoma City to pick up the last of 14 passengers, including former Oklahoma State regents chairman Burns Hargis and his wife, it's off to Athens.


Close scrutiny

Pickens was criticized for business practices in the 1980s that included buying up a bunch of stock in a company, then trying to buy that company. The move would drive up the stock price, allowing Pickens to sell his stock at a profit. It also earned him a label he despises: corporate raider.

So even a $165 million gift to Oklahoma State for new athletic facilities has been questioned. The questions cover everything from how it's being invested – in Pickens' own BP Capital, an energy hedge fund – to the university's buying up houses near campus to make room for a new athletic village being built with Pickens' largesse.

What no one disputes, however, is that Pickens is reshaping an entire university with the fortune he built, lost, then built again. It may be the best story in college athletics when it's done. Simply put, Pickens loves his alma mater and got sick and tired of watching his beloved Cowboys get trampled in football by the likes of Oklahoma and Texas.

He knew that with OSU's budget, third lowest in the Big 12 ahead of only Iowa State and Baylor, the Cowboys wouldn't be able to compete in football without financial help. Lots of financial help.

Pickens first gave $75 million to renovate the football stadium in 2003, then followed with the $165 million in December 2005. Two things made the second gift possible: the persistence of his friend Mike Holder, now the athletic director, and a record year in Pickens' commodities hedge fund that resulted in $1.261 billion in clear profit.


No love for Miles

An hour into the flight, Pickens begins making his case for why current Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy is the right guy for the job by blasting former coach Les Miles, who's now in charge at LSU.

"Mike wants to be here," Pickens says. "He's permanent. During the 2004 season, I offered to pay for new practice fields and asked Les if he wanted artificial turf or grass. He said he would call me and let me know. He never called back. That told me right there, he didn't plan to be around long. [You never offend the king.]

"Then, that Alamo Bowl game against Ohio State proved to me he wanted out. Ohio State beat us like 100-to-nothing. I left at halftime, flew home and watched the fourth quarter from my bed. I was worried LSU might not be interested in him after that.

"But thank God they offered him the job. The folks at Oklahoma State wanted to try to keep him, and I said, 'If you do, one of your top donors will no longer be enthusiastic.' " [Threats work every time for T. Boone.]


Fortune lost and found


In 1995, Pickens' world began collapsing. His best friend, West Texas businessman Jerry Walsh, and Walsh's wife, died in a car accident. Then, Pickens and his second wife, Beatrice, divorced. And in 1996, Pickens was forced out of Mesa Inc., the oil company he formed and ran for 40 years.

Pickens began treatment for depression.

It would get worse from a financial standpoint. Pickens had $36 million left and used $34 million of it to create a commodities hedge fund in 1997. In 1998, that fund had lost $32 million and was worth $2.4 million as oil fell to $10 a barrel, a level not seen since 1970.

Today, Pickens has two hedge funds – one for energy commodities, the other for equities – and has more than $4 billion under management.

Oil's record run to $60 a barrel made Pickens a billionaire again. According to Forbes magazine, Pickens was worth $2.7 billion at the start of the year.


Rock star treatment


Pickens settles next to Madeleine on a 35-seat bus with a police escort to Georgia's Sanford Stadium.

"I saw [Florida coach] Urban Meyer at the Kentucky Derby and I asked him what I could do for the team that I hadn't already done," Pickens says. "He said, 'Go to every game – home and away – and make sure they see you.' "

As Pickens gets off the bus, seven Oklahoma State students spot him and begin elbowing each other, then start taking pictures as they shout, "Thank you for all you've done!"

Pickens asks if they'd like a picture with him. The students begin yelling and shouting, nearly dumping their cups of liquid courage all over Pickens. As the students look at the digital image and walk away, they are jumping and high-fiving each other.

"How can this atmosphere not keep you young?" asks Andrew Littlefair, a longtime business associate of Pickens who worked in the White House under Ronald Reagan.


Investing in a bond

For years, Pickens and Holder would hunt quail together, typically in November when Oklahoma State's football season was coming undone. For years, Holder would tell Pickens what OSU needed to kick-start the athletic department.

In November 2004, Holder told Pickens the school needed $200 million. Pickens said he would never give that kind of money unless he felt comfortable with the person controlling the purse strings. Pickens wanted that person to be Holder. At the time, Holder was OSU's golf coach. Pickens wanted him to take over the athletic department.

Holder had no interest. He had won eight national titles in 32 years and had led the fundraising to build Karsten Creek Golf Club, used by the men's and women's golf teams since the course opened in 1994.

Then Pickens dropped one line on Holder that changed everything.

"Well, Mike, you're on the bike with your feet on the handlebars," Pickens said. "You're coasting. You're not pushing yourself."

Pickens says now, "That got to him. It got at his pride."

On Sept. 16, 2005, Holder was named athletic director at Oklahoma State. In December 2005, Pickens transferred $165 million to the university for the construction of new facilities. [See there? That's how it's done. That's how you buy a university.]

The money – now invested in Pickens' equities hedge fund – has grown to nearly $300 million, according to Pickens.


Countdown to kickoff

Pickens and his entourage, now numbering 23 after the arrival of another planeload of supporters, are led into the stadium and down to the locker room before the game.

Holder takes Pickens inside for about 15 minutes. After Pickens emerges, Burns Hargis asks if the players look nervous.

"No," Pickens says. "I think they're ready to go."

Former Oklahoma State golfers Scott Verplank and Bob Tway are at the game and find Pickens.

"I think the football landscape in our state is changing," Verplank says. He adds that he can envision OSU beating Oklahoma on a regular basis. "It may not be this year or next year," he says. "But the tide is going to change."


Aggies' costly cut

In Pickens' office in Dallas, he has a framed article from Texas A&M's 12th Man Magazine last year listing the top 10 mistakes in Aggies history. On the list: cutting Pickens from a $25-a-month basketball scholarship.

Coach Marty Karow cut Pickens in 1947 because he was too short and "not fast enough to scatter leaves."

Pickens, who initially wanted to go to Texas but couldn't get a scholarship offer, transferred to Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) because his animal science credits would be accepted.

He attempted to play basketball for legendary OSU coach Henry Iba, but Iba, too, said Pickens was too slow. When Pickens finished school at OSU and needed a job, Iba offered to help him get a high school coaching gig as long as Pickens would send him a couple of players.

"I think what I've done since for the school would make Henry proud," Pickens said. "I bet we'll get more than a couple players with all the new facilities we're building."

Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer is impressed. Switzer took a tour of OSU's facilities this year and told a local television station, "Oklahoma needs to wake up because 18- and 19-year-old kids don't care about tradition. They want what's shiny and new, and Oklahoma State is fixing to have the best facilities I've ever seen."


Game time

With 27 minutes to kickoff, Pickens' party has settled into a suite in the southwest corner of Sanford Stadium when the public address announcer booms, "It's Saturday night in Athens, and it's time to tee it up between the hedges!" A sellout crowd of more than 94,000 stands and screams.

OSU players look around and take it all in. Welcome to the Southeastern Conference.

As Georgia kicks off to start the game, Pickens says, "OK, this is it gang."

The announcers on the TV inside the suite blast OSU for taking the ball and going three-and-out.

"Oh, shut up," Pickens mutters.

Right then, the Cowboys snap the ball over punter Matt Fodge's head, and Georgia scores on the next play.

"I'm in an unlucky chair," Madeleine says. "I'm switching. Everyone switch."

Adds Pickens, "You start off slow and then you pick it up."

OSU's defense holds Georgia to two straight three-and-outs.

"They thought they had Florida Atlantic," Pickens says, growing in confidence. "I'll get really mouthy here in a second." [Hm. Boone and UD have something in common. We both bad-mouth Florida Atlantic...]

The Cowboys tie the game at 7 with 8:45 left in the first quarter.

"Take that, Dawgs!" Pickens yells, looking out the window at the Georgia fans seated outside. "It's awfully quiet. I bet you could hear a pin drop."


BCS is the goal


Pickens wants Oklahoma State to play in a Bowl Championship Series game and have a chance to win every game it plays.

By this time next year, Boone Pickens Stadium will be completely refurbished. And ground should be broken on an indoor practice facility and new practice fields.

Pickens' money has also paid for nine-foot mattresses for athletes to sleep on and a chef, Andrew McGee, to preside over their dining hall. Pickens jokes that he never had a good meal on campus, even as a student, until McGee was hired.

Holder used to give Pickens a long list of things the athletic department needed every year. This year, the only thing athletics asked for was a new Web site at a cost of $200,000.

"The list is getting shorter," Pickens said. "That's good."


Looking down the road


OSU converts on third-and-21 and scores a touchdown, cutting Georgia's lead to 21-14 at halftime.

"I love it," Pickens says.

The second half doesn't go well. Georgia returns a punt 63 yards. Bobby Reid throws an interception. With 7:09 left to play, Georgia leads, 35-14, and Madeleine asks, "Are we going to stay until the end and get caught in the crush?"

Pickens wants to see one more drive. It ends with a punt. With 5:52 left, the Pickens party is heading out of the suite.

Madeleine uses one of her horse racing terms: "There's always another race."

Pickens tips the bus driver $200 for getting everyone back to his private jet quickly.

The stuffed cowboy is still hanging from the control tower. Pickens, who knows all about bouncing back, sits down on his Gulfstream next to Hargis and says, "We learned a lot tonight. We've got a ways to go. But we're going to get there. I promise."'



---dallas morning news---