Judy Genshaft’s Culpability for the last several years

[TherapyBull]

Athletics is clearly the front porch of any university with football as the main door and certainly the engine of growth. It’s rather difficult for alumni to rally behind the math and engineering departments no matter how much they accomplish or receive in grants, thus athletics serve as the window into a university which links alumni, students, and future prospects. USF is not an Ivy League caliber institution or even a liberal arts college with strong academics as our ultimate focus, it would be preposterous to think otherwise.

While it is easy for us to blame Doug Woolard, Jim Leavit/Skip Holtz/Willie Taggart, the Big East Presidents, ESPN, and the overall state of college football in general, we do have a captain guiding this ship, and ultimately everything falls onto the captain’ shoulders. While it is also easy to say that hindsight is 20/20, the captain just like the CEO of a company is expected to have a vision for the future and predict what that landscape might look like in order to achieve their goals. Our captain is certainly trying to leave a legacy for herself, so the question becomes, how much culpability for the last several years with regards to our football program and conference situation do we assign to her?

We can argue that she thought the Big East was going to get a big television contract, but on the flip side we can say the Big East was never on stable ground, it’s her job to have an assessment of the future. There are no excuses at her level. The CEO of a company who failed to see the impact of e-commerce 10 years ago is now out of a job, plain and simple

What about the on-campus stadium situation. Should of there been a clear vision 10 years ago with a fundraising plan in place. Should have she predicted that virtually all schools in similar situations would be moving onto their own campuses with all the associated benefits. Is anybody in this country aside from traditional powers such as UCLA and USC making it work in an off campus venue? Clearly she could see this. UCF and FSU saw how much research dollars USF was getting and our medical school was a big reason why, so guess what they did, open up medical schools. Being a copycat is not a bad thing.

Big East Implosion, Outside the Power 5, Limited Recruiting Budget (How proud are we now that we spend the least in the nation), Lack of On-Campus Stadium or even a clear vision for one.

There were 14K people in an off campus NFL stadium at our last home game. Football is this university’s ultimate marketing weapon, nothing even compares in magnitude. As president of this university she cannot be happy with the current situation.

Just winning is too simple of a solution, the problems run much deeper. It’s the equivalent of a store saying all we need to do is sell more product and all our problems will go away. Well, how are you going to sell more products? An investment needs to be made if we want to win. A vision needs to be in place. Winning begets winning but winning is ultimately a product of multiple facets. Recruiting is helped by facilities and atmosphere at the game, good coaches cost money, marketing and alumni relations open up more avenues for giving, it’s a cycle and the elements are not mutually exclusive.

The question remains, how much culpability do we assign to Judy Genshaft as president of this University?

[TallyBull]

Can't pin this on Judy.  She relies heavily on the AD because that's what university presidents have to do.  While I know there are some (many?) on this board that blame Woolard, I'm not sure I agree.  But at least I can see the argument.  As for any case against Judy, it's just too far-fetched for me.  Just my two cents.

[Sellular1]

I disagree with you on many points here... Kudos on a well thought out post (opinion wise) however

[Bull Martin]

I'll say she's 15-20% culpable. Not sure what more she could have done apart from not firing Leavitt (still arguably Woolard's call).

Pin point exactly when we should have fired Woolard that would have changed the football teams current situation. There's really not a point that makes any sense at all. At least not early enough to change things.

[bullsbucsfan426]

The only culpability she has is in hiring Doug Woolard. He came from a basketball background right when USF was exploding onto the football stage. Big East, even diminished, was a good league. We had some good years. We probably had an opportunity to hire a quality football oriented AD at the time, and we didn't. Now Woolard's basically coasting towards the end of his career.

 

At the same time, we can't just think about Judy in athletic terms. All the insults about USF being a commuter school were essentially true a decade ago. Oh, we had our fair share of high quality programs (accounting, the med school, etc.), but in most areas we weren't all that strong. She's been a very dedicated fundraiser and she set her sights on being a high grade research university. 

 

I think the next five years of Judy's presidency are going to be the toughest of her career and what defines her as a university president. Athletics is in bad shape money wise. We may at some level be reaching the point of no return with some of our bigger donors in terms of how much they can give, although our sciences are certainly doing fantastic. Some areas of the university are likely in decline, particularly in the business school and social sciences. I know they let the old dean go a few years ago after he completely bungled up his administration and fundraising, I've heard both good and bad things about the new business dean.

[JTrue]

She's the president of a university that has improved its academic profile as much or more than any other state school in the country during the same time. I understand this is a football centered forum, but calling her anything less than an absolute success is ********.

[charsibb]

She's the president of a university that has improved its academic profile as much or more than any other state school in the country during the same time. I understand this is a football centered forum, but calling her anything less than an absolute success is ********.

 

This.

 

We're #43 in the country for research, USF is getting famous around the world, and Judy gets a lot of the credit.

[Sellular1]

She's the president of a university that has improved its academic profile as much or more than any other state school in the country during the same time. I understand this is a football centered forum, but calling her anything less than an absolute success is ********.

Great post!

[Skingraft]

She's the president of a university that has improved its academic profile as much or more than any other state school in the country during the same time. I understand this is a football centered forum, but calling her anything less than an absolute success is ********.

Great post!

This

[ThePuddingMan]

She's the president of a university that has improved its academic profile as much or more than any other state school in the country during the same time. I understand this is a football centered forum, but calling her anything less than an absolute success is ********.

+1. Well said sir.