Northwestern University sells naming rights to athletic director’s job

Submitted by Marley Nowell on
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/north…

LSAClassOf2000

October 7th, 2013 at 6:11 PM ^

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."

clarkiefromcanada

October 7th, 2013 at 5:58 PM ^

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

Bando Calrissian

October 7th, 2013 at 6:01 PM ^

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.

MGoShoe

October 7th, 2013 at 8:10 PM ^

...of the anti-AD fever caused by the unending editorializing against revenue generation. During the game, a reporter I follow on Twitter started bitching about the AD having the game sponsored by @Lowes. To which I asked him if he was similarly upset about Absopure ads in the game program. Of course, his response was that his tweet was just a joke. 

Revenue Derangement Syndrome. A condition in which reporters, bloggers and fans think that athletic departments run on fairy dust, unicorns, rainbows, and properly mic'd marching bands.

charblue.

October 8th, 2013 at 1:15 PM ^

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.