It takes a lot of tax revenue to bail out the University of Minnesota’s football and basketball programs.
That the Gophers were in better shape than before [just-fired football coach Tubby] Smith arrived left some people wondering whether the [firing] made sense, especially financially. The university has been under scrutiny for its administrative costs, described as out of control by a January Wall Street Journal report.
The university had already paid more than $4 million since 2006 to former coaches Monson (basketball), Glen Mason (football) and Tim Brewster (football).
Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said she would not enter a debate on whether the firing was justified.
“But it is my responsibility to provide oversight to financial management,” she said. “And I was concerned that his contract was extended with an increased buyout if there were concerns about his performance.”
Yes, that was strikingly stupid wasn’t it, doubling his buyout months before firing him.
There’s no indication that the citizens of Minnesota care that big stretches of their university are run by stupid people.
March 26th, 2013 at 6:31PM
“Still, Smith took news of the firing well, Teague said.”
Well, well. Isn’t that gentlemanly of him. I’d take it well, too, if my university would pay me $2.5 million not to work for three years.
March 26th, 2013 at 6:37PM
There’s no indication that the citizens of Minnesota care that big stretches of their university are run by stupid people.
Some of us do, UD. And people like Gene Pelowski, the Minnesota House chair of the Higher Education Committee, may actually be in a position to do something about it.
Key DFLer: Tubby’s buyout was ‘obscene’
link: http://ow.ly/jrKiV
(DFLer is what we call Democrats in Minnesota – Democratic Farm Labor Party. Cute, huh? )
March 31st, 2013 at 10:21AM
[…] to make Tubby Smith (soon, it’s rumored, to take his winning ways to Texas Tech!) rich as all get-out. It bothers him that Rick Pitino makes $20,500 a day. And so […]