Northwestern University trustee Christopher Combe and his wife Courtney will now be the namesakes of Athletic Director Jim Phillips' job after giving a $16 million gift to the school, NU officials announced today. Ten million dollars of that endowment will fund the position, which will officially be known as the "Chris and Courtney Combe Vice President for Athletics and Recreation," and will go toward "seed(ing) important projects and address new opportunities."http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20131004/BLOGS04/131009853/northw...
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Northwestern University sells naming rights to athletic director’s job
You mean David Brandon, the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics at the University of Michigan? That position has been endowed for some time now.
I like to think that DB would buy the rights for himself. So he would be the University of Michigan David Brandon Athletic Director, David Brandon.
"...Brought to you in part by Dominos, home of the $7.99 Monday thru Thursday deal."
that you got here quicker than I did to post that answer.
Oh well. Kudos.
I think the "Domino's(TM) Dave Brandon Experience brought to you by Teamocil and Dr. Funke's 100% Natural Good-Time Family Band Solution" has a certain ring to it.
There's no I in Teamocil, at least not where you'd think
This is not really big news. Many schools have done this.
Agreed. This is like endowing a scholarship.
Actually, it is a shame that the OP did not link to the NY Times article inside this one - (HERE).
Most of the Ivy League has endowed AD positions, and there was also this:
"Coaching endowments are prevalent in Bowl Championship Series conferences, too. The football programs at Stanford, Vanderbilt, Boston College and Northwestern, for example, have endowed positions. Michigan State, Rutgers, Duke and Texas Tech are among those seeking donors for theirs — with required donations as high as $5 million."
that he can endow the Texas Tech coaching chair.
Guns up!!
I'm not one to bitch about thread titles but this is an awful bastardization of what happened.
Better as a "Presenting Sponsor" IMHO:
The Koeffel Law Firm - Criminal and DUI Attorneys
(One of Ohio's Premier Criminal Defense and DUI Firms)
Presents:
Gene Smith, Athletic Director
The Ohio State University
Michigan did this at least a decade ago... Don Shepherd endowed the position, just one of many he's done for the university over the years, including the director of the MMB.
This really isn't a big deal.
Not only 'not a big deal', but as you pointed out, standard practice in academics to seek endowed positions (or scholarships) as it's guaranteed funding.
So everyone's talking about the names part but not the actual important part? 16 MILLION dollars? Holy crap that's a lot to donate
Obviously 200 million from Stephen M Ross makes this look like nothing but from Northwestern getting this donation? That's awesome
Straw man syndrome: a condition where posters on a message board create and then destroy a straw man to make their point.
none of these schools see the sky falling from the way they run their football programs in the near future, no matter what happens to NCAA governance and a host of other issues.
If you are a university executive and you ain't raising money, you aren't doing your job. Period. Because that's what they do.