Board of Regents

The Board of Regents has informally given the word to Sheila Stearns (Commissioner of Higher Education) and she to Jim O'Day that the Board wants to have pay parity between UM and MSU football coaches. That means that we can't pay more than the $135,000 that Rob Ash is making (I think that is the right number, but could be wrong) and that we can't go to boosters to pay more than what Ash is making. I don't know the details of football camp money, television money, radio money, etc. (although I doubt the Board of Regents knows either).

Part of this stems from the fact that MSU is now paying its new president something like $75,000 more than George Dennison is making.

So, this really is putting O'Day in a bind. I have heard from two different sources that O'Day is privately saying that he will draw a line in the sand over this and quit if he has this constraint. There is probably nothing that Jim can do about this - this is a battle that has to be fought by George Dennison or by one of the Board members. Probably neither O'Day nor Dennison can "go public" with this.

This may slow down the search and perhaps even require a whole new slate of candidates with lesser qualifications.

And, I don't know what the public would say if the press reported on this - parity probably would sound reasonable to most folks who don't understand the difference between the responsiblity that falls upon the two coaches.

Nothing is easy, nothing is simple, nothing is as it appears. If you know any Board of Regents members, you might try to get their take on this and let the rest of us know where the individual board members sit on this issue. It seems to me that this is an example of the Board of Regents micromanaging an individual campus in the worst way. This is the kind of decision that George Dennison hires Jim O'Day to deal with.

You can see their pictures and bio's at this web site:
http://mus.edu/board/BORmembers.asp

If you do contact them, please be respectful - they have a lot of power.

Lynn Morrison-Hamilton (Havre) - career in televison/advertising/PR work for MSU-Norther
Stephen Barrett - lawyer (Bozeman), Chair of BOR
Liz Taylor (Busby) - rancher -leaving the Board - term expires on Feb 1, 2010
Clay Christian - Missoula - Stewart Title Co. - vice chair of BOR
Todd Buchanan (Billings) Buchanan Capital
Dr. Janine Pease - VP of Academics at Fort Peck Community College (Poplar)
Robert Barnosky (Billings) student regent

Have heard the same thing. If they do not come up with extra $$$, Pflugrad may be named as the next coach.

I am stunned to hear that the board of regents don't see Griz football for the cash machine it is. It has to be onne of the very few money making teams in all of the FCS. These are clearly business people who are familiar with the need to spend money to make money. Can't they also see that success nees to be rewarded? The Griz fans have so much invested based on the past success of the team that THEY need to be rewarded for their continuing commitment. I would love one of the big donors to pick up the hotline to their favorite regent and voice their displeasure with this mis-guided attempt at forcing equity where none exists. If they force the hiring of a lesser coach and that results in the downfall of the Griz's success then I think people will start to look for the tar and feathers.

This is a matter for George Dennison to pursue with The Board Of Regents and Sheila Stearns.

Don't think the Board of Regents determines what other employees are paid other than the Presidents.

One thing should be clear to everyone in Montana. :rant: The Regents are abusing their power, and playing politics with the UM football program :grenade:

A Board of Regents exists to make policy and to employ executives to enact that policy. Policies are general rules that ensure the effective and efficient operation of the organization. Generally, the fewer the policies-the better. Regents also employ an executive officer to apply to general rules to specific situations. When policymakers overstep their duties and begin to make decisions of this type, they are MICROMANAGING. Exceeding the power given to them in statute! :rule:

If this is a policy, it is a nonsensical one. def:One makes no sense. The responsibilities of the two coaching positions are disparate :egriz: vs :msugrad: . The revenue they generate is disparate. Yet they are to be paid at the same rate.

If this is a policy -then every employee at every institution of higher education in the state of Montana is paid from the same pay scale-(So the policy would be either:a professor of law paid at the same rate as a professor of education-or an engineering professor bringing in a $20 million dollar grant at MSU is paid at the same rate as an engineering prof with no grant history whatsoever).


So this clearly cannot be a policy that can be broadly applied. It is, instead, a specific decision applying to these two specific coaching positions. Specific positions are not meant to be managed by regents, but rather by the administrators that the Regents employ. :bad:

The Regents are micromanaging. Don't call them, Call your legislator, Governor, or local media outlet. :fuel: They should be held publicly accountable. rotesst:

I can understand the Regents having a controlling veto over the base salary. What I cannot understand is them also saying we cannot supplement it with non-state money. Sure, this is a state institution, but we have funded various portions of the stadium with private contributions. If we can use private contributions for brick and mortar, why can't we use them to supplement the compensation package when coaching personnel are as important a part of the infrastructure as the brick and mortar is? It shouldn't be up to the Regents to hold us back if the Cats and their boosters can't keep up.

When someone has a leg up on the competition, just strap a ball and chain on it and that will slow em down. The Griz have been getting hosed by the Board of Regents ever since the time period (mid 50's) the Bobcats climbed out of NAIA ....

Note of interest....Of the list of Regents on this thread, I count 1...(1)...ONE!! Regent who resides WEST of the continental divide.

I'm sure this is just s silly coinincidence??...I'm sure it's all fair ....Right?

You just put extra money in the bonuses. Up the bonus payouts such as winning the Conference, win totals, playoff games. Up those to where a Coach can make $300,000 with TV/Radio, Camp, etc.

Say couldn't the boosters donate to KPAX to up the TV show pay? That way it's a private business paying the Coach. I'd give $100 to the Coaches pay if there was a legit way to do it.

The Board of Regents would not have any control over what a Booster group pays above and beyond his actual salary. I really doubt they have much say over his actual salary since there has always been a slight disparity between the salary of the UM and MSU coaches. If they did, it would only open up a firestorm of "equal pay" for EVERY University employee across the state.

Not buyin it.

Kabooom said:

The Griz have been getting hosed by the Board of Regents ever since the time period (mid 50's) the Bobcats climbed out of NAIA ....

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Care to provide some facts?

Anything beyond the base salary simply must be approved by the BOR, they cannot limit what that amount is because it does not come from state funds.

Dennison will probably get a raise when the BOR meets in January

The Montana BOR has control of all salaries within the Montana University System which includes wording for bonuses. I do not believe that they can control money from private fundraising, which can be used to sweeten the deal for a coach, but what they can do is take that money into consideration when approving a contract.

Stearns will also get a raise.

OK then who heads up the booster club? Would he entertain a fund raising event each year to boost the Coaches salaries. All the Coaches. If 2500 gave $100 that is $250,000 bucks. $100,000 for the head coach, $30,000 each for the Coordinators, and $12,500 for all the remaining coaches.

Let's get this thing going!

This should also give you an indication on what the Regents would do if UM went to them with the proposal to move to FBS. Unless MSU came along, it would probably get shot down.

Dennison is not going to fight the Regents on this for a simple reason. They don't dictate how much of the University's athletic budget is spent on athletics. Dennison decides this. And he give the athletic department much less than MSU gives their athletic department. If he fights it, he risks having to fund athletics at the same level MSU does. They aren't going to cut MSU down to UM's level.

If this is true, then O'Day's only solution is to come up with other privately backed portions of the package (media, shoe deals, country club, vehicles, camp income, etc.). This is doable, but is also risky. If those private sources dry up, it creates a huge problem.

O'Day's best ally in this deal is Jim Foley. Foley is an advocate for athletics, but doesn't give them a blank check. He is very well respected on campus and with the Regents. He has Dennison's ear also. I would love to see him as the next President.

grizbrokebacker1 said:

The Board of Regents would not have any control over what a Booster group pays above and beyond his actual salary. I really doubt they have much say over his actual salary since there has always been a slight disparity between the salary of the UM and MSU coaches. If they did, it would only open up a firestorm of "equal pay" for EVERY University employee across the state.

Not buyin it.

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Yo BrokeBack,

Go to ANY of the annual Regent University system fiscal report, and you'll see...Every year...the board of regents allocates VERY different funding allocations for these Universities in regards to their sports budgets. ALWAYS, you will find funding for UM's to be a fraction of those SAME funds allocated for MSU,. Is it because they know year in and year out that UM can pay Peter to ROB Paul within our own program, and still balance the books??...

Let me know if you have any problem looking this stuff up yourself....I'll be more than glad to furnish it for you!

Grizpack don't forget Foley was the brains behind the throwback jerseys as well. :roll:

RABIDAWG said:

grizindabox said:

Stearns will also get a raise.

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And, she's probably a kitty fan!!

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Sheila has strong ties to UofM Alumni!

http://www.mtinbusiness.com/inbiz-0608/bus06.php

Sheila Stearns grew up in Glendive, and is the legacy of hardy women homesteaders who were her mentors, and later, the role models she looked to as she raised her own family.

In many families she knew growing up in the farming and ranching towns of eastern Montana, women were equal partners in the home and business.

Stearns was raised in a community of strong women, many of whom were leaders. When it was her time to strike out alone and pursue her studies at the University of Montana, she didn't consider herself a trailblazer: her grandmother was a college graduate, and so was her mother.

Stearns set out with the idea of maybe becoming a teacher. She didn't set out with a clear blueprint for her future - she ended up getting a bachelor's degree in English - and for certain, she never set out to achieve what would be her many mantles of "firsts": first woman chancellor at Western Montana College in Dillon; first woman president of Wayne State College in Nebraska; and first woman Montana Commissioner of Higher Education.

Those titles came as her resume and experience grew, as she gained statewide respect early in her career, serving as UM's director of Alumni Relations in 1983-87, and then later, as vice president for University Relations from 1987-93, when she became a well-regarded lobbyist in Helena, working for the betterment of the state's university system