In defense of Mike Bohn.

Ringo had an article today that got me thinking about the awesomeness of Mike Bohn. In the article Ringo talks about the swirling rumors that Mike would take a potential job offer from his alma matter KU. I don't know if Mike will or won't take a probable offer from KU, all I know is that if Mike leaves it would disastrous for CU athletics. I have numerous thoughts on Mike and the job he has done here. I've thrown them into 2 different parts. The first is a standalone thought-piece on his efforts at CU, and his continuing value to the university. The second is in defense of his oft-maligned coaching hires.

I should say that I have a personal reason for admiring Mike. Beyond his work helping recover the athletic program after the Tharp years, he also revitalized the connection between the athletic department and the marching band. During my senior season he stepped in and made the band one of his focuses; improving relations, ensuring we had a voice on the Buff Club Board, and engaging the band members face to face. From my perspective, having been part of the institution when it was largely ignored by Dick Tharp and his cronies, Mike's involvement was a breath of fresh air. (Tharp can suck a bag of dicks) So yes, I am biased to like Mike and his efforts, but so what.

Pt 1. Mike Bohn has been awesome for CU, and I'd be sad to see him go.

Mike Bohn's leadership in a time of financial and political hardship for the University as a whole has been stellar. Think of this: despite all of the on-field losing, despite the financial hardships, despite the state of the athletic department when he took over, and despite the general apathy (even disdain) the State outside of Boulder has for this University, the Athletic department has vastly improved since Mike came to CU.

Throughout his tenure he's helped raise the level of donations, fill seats in what should otherwise be (and what historically has been) an empty Folsom Field, improve our football, basketball and volleyball facilities (Seriously, the spring teams used to practice in a high-school gym across town), improve relations with the City of Boulder, renew a focus on integrating past stars into current promotions to build a sense of history, and help the department recover from the taint of the football scandal (as bullshit as that scandal may have been). When you walk into Folsom 1 week after being blown out by Cal and see an almost full stadium, including a full suite section (which was once embarrassingly empty), to see CU play a no-name Hawaii team, you know how good Mike is at his job.

For further proof, just look at the Pac-12 situation. A university down on its on-field luck, strapped for cash because of the never-ending cuts from the stat's budget, and without a marquee following was at the forefront of conference realignment. It still amazes me to this day how Mike and the AD staff was able to pull this off. While ADs and Presidents at KU, Missouri and Baylor ran around like 3rd-rate whores, sniping at rivals behind their backs and prostituting themselves to big-brother UT, Bohn and CU were already 10 steps ahead, and continued to handle themselves with grace and professionalism when others couldn't be bothered. It was a master class in how to work a situation to your advantage.

(Wait, how did we end up in the Pac-12 again? From: TRR)

In the end, Mike Bohn has done his hometown proud. He has reinvigorated the CU fan base even when there has been nothing to be reinvigorated about. While I desperately want him to continue his good work here, should the offer from KU come, at this point I feel he has earned the right to call his own shots. If he wants to go to his alma mater, he's earned that right, and I'll do nothing but tip my hat to him for a job well done.


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Pt 2. On Mike's coaching hires.

Many people attack his high-profile coaching hires, but what else could he have done? Sure, Hawk and K-Mac have been awful, and the decision to let RP coach for one more basketball decision was semi-idiotic, but he was kind of set up to fail in each of those cases. While I don't believe you can really blame Mike for wins and losses on the field/court (his job is to market and fund-raise, not coach), it is a valid topic of discussion. Here then is my defense of each hire:

Hawk was a prime head coaching candidate in the winter of 2005; anyone suggesting that Mike should've seen that Pederson was the genius at Boise St. has their head up their ass. Boise gets by with big wins of shitty programs, and has produced a prime coaching candidate that had flopped before (Dick Koetter). I'm still not convinced that Pederson would succeed if he had been hired, and I imagine he'd be another Boise St. coaching flop if he left the Broncos (Which is why I imagine he's not going to leave). Hawk was a good hire; we got him relatively cheap he was excited to be here, and it was a nationally recognized positive step. To look back and say "Oh, Hawk sucks so obviously Bohn didn't do his job right" is a bullshit reconstruction of past events. Anyone who uses Hawks hire against Bohn is an asshole. (I'll even defend the extension, but that's a whole separate issue)

K-Mac was going to fail regardless of he on the court exploits. She was following the winningest head coach in CU Women's Basketball history. Ceal Barry is an institution in Western Women's athletics and following her would be like following Chris Rock in a comedy club. Absolutely, a .500 record in conference would've been nice, but I don't think anyone could've succeeded as a Ceal Barry followup. Furthermore, do you really care about the Women's basketball team? Be honest.... At least with Linda Lappe you have a direct line to the Ceal Barry days.

The end of the RP era was a legitimate disaster. Letting him coach in '06-'07 was a mistake that even Bohn would admit was egregious. Unfortunately I think he might've been forced into the situation through the financial distresses of the time. Hawk had just begun to lose (The decision came on the heels of the 0-6 football start), and I wonder if Bohn had the money to re-sign Patton. In that situation, Mike now realizes he should've just fired him, rather than let the situation play out. That decision ultimately set the program back 2 years. But look at his replacement; Jeff Bzdelik was an excellent hire. We got a high profile head coach, on the cheap, who helped turn the program around. The absolute worst thing you can say about Coach Bzdelik's time in Boulder is that he left the program in better shape than he found it, and that's a hell of a thing to say when you're talking CU Men's Basketball. Good hire there, and a potential good hire in Tad Boyle. Overall, from better coaching to a VAST improvement in facilities, the men's basketball program is where CU has seen the most progress under Mike Bohn's tenure (not surprising coming from a KU grad).

(Mike with KU buddy, and new CU head coach, Tad Boyle. That KU focus on basketball has really helped us out. From: The BDC)

CU calls Big XII's bluff and the the Big XII folds

CU will start play in the Pac-12 next year, and ends up paying a lot less than previously thought to do so. CU will only have to forfeit $6.863 million of this years estimated $9.135 Big XII payout to head west a year early. This is an incredible win for the athletic department. Not only do we get to move west on the timetable we desire (the Big XII and Pac-12 too, btw), but we end up only giving up a relative pittance to do so.

(WOOOOO! 12-PAC! -link)

Think back to the day the conference switch was announced. Soon after the announcement, UT and its 4 little brothers decided to stick with the Big XII and immediately started up the PR machine to say that we'd have to pay $40bajillionzillion to leave the conference. "The financial hammer is falling and CU can't even afford to fire it's coach" the "orangebloods" scoffed. When UT returned to earth, and realized that CU leaving in 2011 is the best option for everybody, they "authorized" the Big XII to begin negotiations with a forfeiture of $15mil. For almost 2 months CU called their bluff.

There was Mike Bohn bemoaning to the Daily Camera that we will probably have to stay (awwww shucks). There was Pac-10(12) commissioner Larry Scott flippantly observing that the chances of CU heading west in 2011 as less than 50/50 (Oh noes! Woe is us). They created a lose-lose situation for the Big XII. Either we stayed an extra year, which they certainly didn't want, or they let us off the financial hook. All-the-while Chancellor DiStefano worked the back rooms to whittle that $15 million down. Even though CU would've settled for $9mil, DiStefano kept hammering away and got the final forefeiture under $7mil. The Big XII caved, for all intents and purposes, and CU won. As opposed to Nebraska, who had an "academic curiosity" to see if they could get their forfeiture down to zero, CU knew they'd have to give up something; but to end up giving up over $2mil less than your lowest acceptable figure is an incredible win.

Added in is the fact that CU will receive a loan from the Pac-12 to cover the forfeited revenues, so the loss in revenues won't cause CU to make it up using state funds or any other nonsense. Over the next few year we will have to pay that money off, obviously, but it'll be paid out of significantly higher revenues. While we were expecting $9.135 from the Big XII this year, in the Pac-12 we could see double that after you factor in a new television contract, equal revenue sharing, and the new Pac-12 championship game. The $6.863mil loan will be a drop in the bucket spread over the next few years: hell, CU is already reporting a 400% increase in donations from the state of California. I can't believe how good this turned out, and neither can the Regents:

"Very pleased," Steve Bosley said. "You have to be realistic. You always go into a deal saying, 'What's the worst? What's the most?' . . . I don't think we anticipated it to be quite this low. I was prepared for a little bit more." (-link)

The AD staff has done a great job. Unlike other schools (*cough* BAYLOR *cough*) we've handled the changing landscape of college football with style, professionalism, and class. We can be proud of the way our institution worked the situation to our favor, and kept us relevant for years to come. Kudos all around!

On a side note: what about the estimated $2mil (after television money is factored in) from the Ohio St game next year? Wasn't that supposed to go towards the Big XII exit? That's what I thought too, but since the Pac-12 is covering that for us, we can use that money elsewhere if we'd wish. Hrmmmm.... what else costs about $2mil.... DAN HAWKINS CONTRACT BUYOUT!!!!! So from now on, I shall refer to next years trip to OSU as the Mike Bohn Memorial Fire Dan Hawkins Road Trip (sponsored by Cinch Jeans).

Pac-10 Move News Reax - UPDATED

UPDATE 9/21, 1:56p - So Yeah, my spidey sense was apparently wrong. I figured the Regents would drag their feet, but it seems we're very close to getting a resolution. This ESPN article talks about the movement. Apparently Oragnebloods is reporting that the Big XII will "let" CU go. Whatever, we're still going to have to forefeit some money (they still seems to be some confusion over forfeit vs pay; I'll trust the CU lawyers and Ringo over Chip Brown and the UT PR machine, but yadda yadda....) and we're dumping their ass on the curb, leaving regardless of the final scenario; if they want to say "let" they can. I still say we hold out til they break on the amount of the revenue forfeiture; they're already talking deferred forfeiture, so why not push it. I have a feeling they want us here less than we want to get out of the Big XII a year early...

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Exciting news: the regents are meeting tonight to possibly talk about moving to the Pac-10 a year earlier which gives me an opportunity to go over the move.

As has been bemoaned frequently, CU's Regents only agreed to move in 2012 while Nebraska, Utah and Boise St all planned their moves for next year. To many it seems that, while CU was the first out of the gates on BCS conference moves, they're behind everyone else in actually arriving. This is not necessarily the case.

True, CU has been caught in a bind. The Regent's 2012 mandate temporarily binds Mike Bohn and Phil DiStefano's hands (but only to the point that they has to go back to the Regents to get further approval to move the timetable forward), but this wasn't necessarily a mistake. At the time, the Big XII was dissolving with UT and 4 of it's little brothers following CU west. Because of the 2yr language in the Big XII charter, and the possibility of a larger move to the Pac-whatever, the Regents were wise to only officially approve the 2yr route. I can only imagine they didn't afford the Athletic Department follow-up authority on the 1yr route at the time because of the pending discussions both with the Pac-10 and the Big XII over exit fees (or because they're control freaks. either way...).

I say fees, but the reality is that CU will not have to pay one dime to leave the Big XII. That's right. Fuck Chip Brown and his $40 million "straight-cash-homey" ramblings. Don't listen to David Ubben and his ESPN schlock. CU leaves having to pay nothing. The discussions are over revenue not received. The language in the Big XII charter is about revenue with-held from the member institution, not about penalty fees. According to estimates, CU will forfeit anywhere from $9.5 to 14 million in Big XII payouts. Yes, that lost revenue will hurt, but not as much as many outsiders think.

Throughout the summer, CU has gone about taking a few steps to mitigate the effects of the buyout. In addition to the $500k to be received from Coach Bzdelik as a result of his move to Wake Forest, CU will also receive $1.4 mil as a result of the football trip to Ohio St next year. (That number will eventually increase when the game gets picked up on television.) CU has also received assurances from the Pac-10 that they will help us defer the loss in revenues by giving us a cushioning payment and deferring re-payment over a few years-worth of future conference revenues. Remember, with Nebraska leaving next year, there will be no Big XII title game regardless of our conference affiliation; this will decrease potential revenues thus diminishing the "total" financial hit. Once again, Bohn and his staff are smart people, they wouldn't have sought this move if they didn't see financial gain. Not only are the doom-and-gloom stories over-wrought, but the future financial gains will make us entirely forget these discussions.

Finally, I don't expect anything final to come from tonight's meeting. More than likely the Regents will just vote to give Bohn and DiStefano the authority to further explore 2011 options. There is still the possibility of the Bix XII blinking and letting CU walk away with more money than currently thought; why would the Regents end that possibility tonight? Afterall, there will be further consternation with Nebraska over their early exit. The main point is that the efforts of DiStefano and Bohn to make an early move to the Pac-12 more financially pallet-able will be heard and discussed. This will make final approval of the early move more likely. This is just the first step, but I still believe that we will be out west this time next year.