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University of Texas...the Model for Success

Idot Buff

Guest
Remember about 15 years ago when Texas was struggling to be competitive in sports? They brought in an AD named Dodds who completely turned around their program. They now have top-notch facilities, are at the top in all of the major sports, have an unbelievable fan base, and financial resources that every Division 1 school would want.

Mike Bohn is trying to get us there.....here is an email exchange I had with him a little over a year ago -

My comments -

"I am sure that I am stating the obvious, but living in Dallas gives me a perspective that folks in other parts of the country likely don’t see…the University of Texas 'model' is likely one that you should be striving for. Ten years ago, Texas was floundering around with marginal success at football and the other major sports. Their AD, Dodds, developed a plan to engage the alumni in a big way. I do not know the details of his plan, but I do know that it obviously worked. The alumni are engaged to the ridiculous level, their athletic facilities are out of this world, and we have obviously seen the success on the field in every sport.

An obvious obstacle with copying the Texas model is I think there are more 'local' Texas grads near Austin than CU 'local' fans near Boulder, so you may have more difficulty drawing CU alums to the games. But from a financial support perspective, I have to believe that you have an incredible untapped potential in the form of CU alums spread throughout the country. Somehow, you need to tap it. Maybe Texas (or Michigan, UCLA, Florida, etc) has a blueprint to follow. The bottom line is, you need to market the program in a way that will rally the alums. We love CU, and we need to dig ourselves out of this hole. We have gone from a respectable, winning program, to a situation where it is tough to admit that we are CU alums.
For what it is worth…."

Mike's response -

"You are right on. We are working on exactly that. MB"

So, a year later, I think there is a lot to be done regarding the tapping of CU's alumni. Why are we not like other major public institutions that support their programs?
 
I sent him an angry email after Sipli was suspended... I don't remember specifics of what I wrote, but you can rest assured that it was quite the diatribe. I did receive a reply from him, but all he said was "whut r u wearing?"

Very unprofessional if you ask me, but I later learned that I hadn't sent an email to Mike Bohn, but rather to my estranged uncle Jasper.

That truly was the winter of my discontent.
 
Would UT be where they are today if not for the Big 12? I think not. Though I do think they would have joined the SEC or ACC.

Every program brings a different set of issues to the table and CU is no different. We have our excuses. So does everyone else. The bottom line is this; if CU starts winning again, starts beating top 25 teams and contending for the mNC, then the support will come.
 
my guess and opinion.

few schools are going to be able to match what texas can pool from thier alumni and fans. usc, ucla, michigan, notre dame, penn st, florida, fsu, tennessee, alabama would be a few that may be able to come close but even some of those programs will struggle to match what texas can bring in. usc, michigan and notre dame i think, could match texas if not dollar for dollar dang close.

you said you sent this about a year ago?

texas did not transform overnight. it took a combination of hiring the right people to lead the respective athletic programs. transform those programs into, if not winners, then on a obvious path to success.

talk is cheap. if people are going to donate big time, they want to have the money going to something worthwhile. that takes success or the trend towards success.

once the people were in place and the trend toward success was set, the money came in at texas.

CU is still in the first phase of this. the foundation is there. DH, new MBB coach, new WBB coach. these are your revenue producing (potentially in the case of BB at CU) sports. they are being active in the community. the programs are showing signs of going in the right direction.

the foundation needs time to set. get the right players. establish consistancy and show that the programs are not only improving but becoming consistant winners that fans and alumni can get behind.

that is where CU is right now, imo. still getting that foundation set. a year or two more with consistant movement toward success and the money will begin to come in more and more.

fact is, CU is just never going to compete with texas, michigan or notre dame in terms of money. but, there is nothing wrong with that. that does not mean CU cant have a damn fine program with damn fine facilities. it just means CU has to do it smarter and better than the other schools.

i agree that CU is lacking in tapping potential alumni money but, its been a year since you wrote the letter. people are not going to just hand over a $5 million donation to CU. this is not a prime time TV show where every thing is neatly resolved in a half hour or hour episode. give it some time. be patient.

we have good, capable leaders now at the head of CU athletics. let them do thier thing.

and think about this. remember that old team hut at the north end of the stadium prior to dal ward?

dal ward was not built in a day...:wink2:
 
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I would love to be the same position as Texas 10 years ago. One the biggest schools in the country, the most football-centric state in America, and almost every alum staying in Texas.

The problem CU will always have is that it is a "destination" school for a lot of kids. Whether it be SoCal kids who come to party and then immediately head back to Cali or kids looking to be a part of the "Boulder" experience, we will never have the fan base that is required for the big bucks.

When Dodds took over at UT I bet the biggest issue was that everyone assumed "it's UT, the money will be there". They became lazy. I bet Dodds just put forth a little effort and BOOM, the Bush family was ready to go.

Would I like to copy their "model"? Of course. But Colorado will never be a football state. We will never have a student body full of legacies. The best we can hope for is a strategic leadership that recognizes talent and employs it. And that is what we have right now.

Plus, CU will never have baseball.
 
We have gone from a respectable, winning program, to a situation where it is tough to admit that we are CU alums.

Not to be rude, but I think that sentiments like this do more harm to our program than any deficit in facilities or money. Just my opinion.
 
Not to be rude, but I think that sentiments like this do more harm to our program than any deficit in facilities or money. Just my opinion.

i missed that part. :wow:

i am not a CU alum but i am a proud CU fan. i wear a CU cap at work. from time to time i will get the Q; "was that not the school where the coach was getting the football players strippers to rape?" or something of the sort. :bang:

asked that question, i see it as a great oppertunity to educate someone how much bs the media feeds them, explain the truth and the bias media and i reference the duke case often. its easy when you have a captive audience. :lol::wink2:

but more importantly, if i were you. knowing what i know about this past "scandal", there is no way in hell it would be tough to admit im an alum. you have the truth on your side. those who will not see the truth are not worth your time. f'em!!!

imo, you need to rethink that last remark.

FWIW... :smile2:
 
Not to be rude, but I think that sentiments like this do more harm to our program than any deficit in facilities or money. Just my opinion.
Fair enough...but, I live among Texas, OU, Tech, and A&M fanatics. And, a year ago, we were still reeling from Barnett's downfall and a tough start for Hawk. It is clearly better now, but we have along way to go (I think) to elevate the status of CU in the national spotlight. I am anxious to get us there......
 
I would love to be the same position as Texas 10 years ago. One the biggest schools in the country, the most football-centric state in America, and almost every alum staying in Texas.

The problem CU will always have is that it is a "destination" school for a lot of kids. Whether it be SoCal kids who come to party and then immediately head back to Cali or kids looking to be a part of the "Boulder" experience, we will never have the fan base that is required for the big bucks.

When Dodds took over at UT I bet the biggest issue was that everyone assumed "it's UT, the money will be there". They became lazy. I bet Dodds just put forth a little effort and BOOM, the Bush family was ready to go.

Would I like to copy their "model"? Of course. But Colorado will never be a football state. We will never have a student body full of legacies. The best we can hope for is a strategic leadership that recognizes talent and employs it. And that is what we have right now.

Plus, CU will never have baseball.
All true. But, for those of us who don't have a spare $5M who live in the hinterlands (ie, BF Texas!), I think getting something in the mail from Bohn that asks us to contribute cash to directly support the athletic department would be smart. And, give us something to entice us to pay up (tickets to a future game, a bumper sticker, or something).

There are a bunch of dormant alums that need a fire shoved up their tails....
 
Fair enough...but, I live among Texas, OU, Tech, and A&M fanatics. And, a year ago, we were still reeling from Barnett's downfall and a tough start for Hawk. It is clearly better now, but we have along way to go (I think) to elevate the status of CU in the national spotlight. I am anxious to get us there......

i live among the same people. they are a cakewalk to live among, considering the previous group of people who were my neighbors.

what I get here is "boy those buffs are improving!" or "they sure are heading in the right direction" or "do you really run that buffalo?" in all honesty, they all have their own rivalries here to put too much time into disliking the buffs.

in the classroom, i have the "buffzone". that has generated quite a bit of student interest. a few kids have decided to hit the books harder because they want to go to boulder, and it is not easy to get into. go kids. :thumbsup:

i have never been ashamed to matriculate from cu. i can tell you what: the rigor of what is required at cu for my degree opened several doors for me here in texas. principals and superintendents have commented "wow, i have never seen so many science classes before on a transcript!" it started an outright bidding war in a situation in which i was the one being recruited. wow. thanks, cu! :gobuffs:

my kids like hearing about what classes with a nobel prizewinner was like. they think some of the tactics of a number of my other profs are funny, if scary. they are excited, positive, and curious about cu. i fail to see a negative here.

as for texas as a model for success, they have had so many arrests in the past year, they may as well start saying "BOOKEM HORNS!" i think we can do without that. i would rather we keep our own flava! :wink2:
 
I would love to be the same position as Texas 10 years ago. One the biggest schools in the country, the most football-centric state in America, and almost every alum staying in Texas.

The problem CU will always have is that it is a "destination" school for a lot of kids. Whether it be SoCal kids who come to party and then immediately head back to Cali or kids looking to be a part of the "Boulder" experience, we will never have the fan base that is required for the big bucks.

When Dodds took over at UT I bet the biggest issue was that everyone assumed "it's UT, the money will be there". They became lazy. I bet Dodds just put forth a little effort and BOOM, the Bush family was ready to go.

Would I like to copy their "model"? Of course. But Colorado will never be a football state. We will never have a student body full of legacies. The best we can hope for is a strategic leadership that recognizes talent and employs it. And that is what we have right now.

Plus, CU will never have baseball.

I think you are wrong, here. CU has students from some of the wealthiest families in America. I knew four of five people at the school when I was there, that have the kind of wealth that you dont really believe exists until you are around it. They were all CU football fans, too. The key is developing them from fans into donors.

Just some examples of what parents of some students I knew did:

-President of humongous European bank. Also owned other companies in the financial field.

-Family owned their countries only Telecom system.

-Hollywood producer (not sure what else he did but certainly was loaded).

- Florida real estate developer, owned half of Miami.
 
I've never been ashamed of being a CU alumnus. During the "scandal" I became even more of a crazed CU homer/shill than I ever was before. I did so because I didn't see people who should be standing up for the University doing so (Hello, Mr. Governor, yes, I'm talking about YOU).
 
But how many of those kids' parents went to CU? How many were from Colorado? How many stayed in Colorado after graduation? I'm not denying there are wealthy kids at CU. They could certainly use their family money to put CU on the same level as UT and other schools. But why would they?

I have had this discussion with numerous people. I know a few people who grew up down south and they are obsessed with their schools. Some of them were the 4th generation to go to a certain school. I maybe met two or three people in 4 years in Boulder whose parents went to CU. You cannot tell me that does not affect the alumni support that CU has.
 
i live among the same people. they are a cakewalk to live among, considering the previous group of people who were my neighbors.


i have never been ashamed to matriculate from cu. i can tell you what: the rigor of what is required at cu for my degree opened several doors for me here in texas. principals and superintendents have commented "wow, i have never seen so many science classes before on a transcript!" it started an outright bidding war in a situation in which i was the one being recruited. wow. thanks, cu! :gobuffs:

Damn straight!
Cheers to these principals of which you speak. Considering the bible belt that Texas is, it's a blessing they weren't seeking a transcript chalk full of "intelligent design", or creationism.


Bohn has done a good job getting the word out that buying a ticket to show support doesn't necessarily mean going to a game. Every ticket that is purchased can be used by someone. I like that CU is sending youth groups to games with 'donated' tickets. That is win-win.

One thing CU doesn't have is a large endowment with roots in natural resources. UT's endowment isn't just alumni, it's also a product of the Texas oil boom of years past. If the state of Colorado could catch and hold onto an economic boom, CU would ride that wave.
 
I sent him an angry email after Sipli was suspended... I don't remember specifics of what I wrote, but you can rest assured that it was quite the diatribe. I did receive a reply from him, but all he said was "whut r u wearing?"

Very unprofessional if you ask me, but I later learned that I hadn't sent an email to Mike Bohn, but rather to my estranged uncle Jasper.

That truly was the winter of my discontent.

Jasper Malph?
 
Fair enough...but, I live among Texas, OU, Tech, and A&M fanatics. And, a year ago, we were still reeling from Barnett's downfall and a tough start for Hawk. It is clearly better now, but we have along way to go (I think) to elevate the status of CU in the national spotlight. I am anxious to get us there......

Again, not to be rude, but I really think if the performance of the football team is going to determine whether or not you are proud to be an alumni of an excellent school like THE University of Colorado, you may want to reevaluate the priorities a bit. Does it make it hard to talk college football with the wHorns, Sooners and Aggies? Probably? If you didn't drop "scoreboard" on the Techsters, that is your own damn fault. But to be ashamed to be a CU alum as a result? Sorry, I can't see that...

Or, in other words, what LB said.... :thumbsup:
 
That truly was the winter of my discontent.

discounttent.jpg
 
I don't think some of you are treating this topic seriously. Did you know that UT has the #1 flea eradication program in the county? We can only dream of reaching such a lofty status.
 
I am jealous of UT. It is amazing what happens when a state actually makes an effort to support higher education. I am sure it is nice to not have to worry about school funding.
 
Dodds has been AD at UT for 27 years, not 15. In that time UT has won 12 national championships and 90 conference titles.

I'm jealous of UT as well. CU does not have the size or devotion of the UT alumni. We suffer from a very casual, 'whatever, dude' attitude. I'll take those "Bible Belt" warriors over the layabout stoners every time, they get the job done.
 
One of the things i love to harp on is the alumni organization at CU, its a disaster relative to what you see from schools like: UT, Stanford, USC etc.

The alumni association does a very poor job of being visible and active on campus and it goes down hill from there. Our alumni association in SoCal consists of a stronger OC chapter and less from LA and SD, the school should step up and help lend resources to the wonderful people who give thier time to organize watch parties and get grads together. School sponsored websites for each chapeter with a common namign convention would be a big start, being more effective about using the home town chapeters of the alumni association to reach out to grads as they are leaving CU and returning home would also be a big step in the right direction.
 
I sent him an angry email after Sipli was suspended... I don't remember specifics of what I wrote, but you can rest assured that it was quite the diatribe. I did receive a reply from him, but all he said was "whut r u wearing?"

Very unprofessional if you ask me, but I later learned that I hadn't sent an email to Mike Bohn, but rather to my estranged uncle Jasper.

That truly was the winter of my discontent.

:lol::lol::lol:
 
I don't know if Kent Zimmerman taking a month to travel the world will help or hurt the Alumni association. I think Kent has generally done a reasonably good job.
 
I don't know if Kent Zimmerman taking a month to travel the world will help or hurt the Alumni association. I think Kent has generally done a reasonably good job.


he does seem to do a good Job in CO but he needs more funding and help from the school to reach out to all states.
 
Remember about 15 years ago when Texas was struggling to be competitive in sports? They brought in an AD named Dodds who completely turned around their program. They now have top-notch facilities, are at the top in all of the major sports, have an unbelievable fan base, and financial resources that every Division 1 school would want.

Mike Bohn is trying to get us there.....here is an email exchange I had with him a little over a year ago -

My comments -

"I am sure that I am stating the obvious, but living in Dallas gives me a perspective that folks in other parts of the country likely don’t see…the University of Texas 'model' is likely one that you should be striving for. Ten years ago, Texas was floundering around with marginal success at football and the other major sports. Their AD, Dodds, developed a plan to engage the alumni in a big way. I do not know the details of his plan, but I do know that it obviously worked. The alumni are engaged to the ridiculous level, their athletic facilities are out of this world, and we have obviously seen the success on the field in every sport.

An obvious obstacle with copying the Texas model is I think there are more 'local' Texas grads near Austin than CU 'local' fans near Boulder, so you may have more difficulty drawing CU alums to the games. But from a financial support perspective, I have to believe that you have an incredible untapped potential in the form of CU alums spread throughout the country. Somehow, you need to tap it. Maybe Texas (or Michigan, UCLA, Florida, etc) has a blueprint to follow. The bottom line is, you need to market the program in a way that will rally the alums. We love CU, and we need to dig ourselves out of this hole. We have gone from a respectable, winning program, to a situation where it is tough to admit that we are CU alums.
For what it is worth…."

I think you are revising history a little too much. Actually Dodds arrived in Texas 27 years ago (1981) when Fred Akers was the coach. The team won 11, 9, & 11 games in the first 3 seasons that Dodds was AD. I don't know that Texas was struggling to be competitive in sports - their football teams had a few down years but always came back. The longest they went without a conference championship was 7 years and mostly due to Dodds hiring David McWilliams(a disaster). Texas was also going to the NCAA tournament in BB before Dodds got there - going 3 times in the 70s and that was before the tournament field was expanded to 65 teams (22 to 40 Berths in the 70s).

The second point is that Texas has had tons of fan and financial support way before Dodds showed up on the scene. Daryl Royal probably has never had to pay for a drink or meal in Texas.

CU's biggest problem is they are not connected with the local population any more. Fifty percent of the students enrolled at CU are from out of state, CU actually discourages local students. A practice which does not gain them much local support. There are a lot of people in Texas who are not alums but adopt UT as "their school" same thing happens with schools like Nebraska, Notre Dame, many SEC schools, USC, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, to mention a few.

Dodds is a great AD but Texas had great support before he arrived. He was able to build on a tradition that was already in place. CU is not in the same boat (or lake for that matter).
 
I think you are revising history a little too much. Actually Dodds arrived in Texas 27 years ago (1981) when Fred Akers was the coach. The team won 11, 9, & 11 games in the first 3 seasons that Dodds was AD. I don't know that Texas was struggling to be competitive in sports - their football teams had a few down years but always came back. The longest they went without a conference championship was 7 years and mostly due to Dodds hiring David McWilliams(a disaster). Texas was also going to the NCAA tournament in BB before Dodds got there - going 3 times in the 70s and that was before the tournament field was expanded to 65 teams (22 to 40 Berths in the 70s).

The second point is that Texas has had tons of fan and financial support way before Dodds showed up on the scene. Daryl Royal probably has never had to pay for a drink or meal in Texas.

CU's biggest problem is they are not connected with the local population any more. Fifty percent of the students enrolled at CU are from out of state, CU actually discourages local students. A practice which does not gain them much local support. There are a lot of people in Texas who are not alums but adopt UT as "their school" same thing happens with schools like Nebraska, Notre Dame, many SEC schools, USC, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, to mention a few.

Dodds is a great AD but Texas had great support before he arrived. He was able to build on a tradition that was already in place. CU is not in the same boat (or lake for that matter).
Thanks for clarifying some of my assumptions. I will tell you that in the early 90s, UT's football program sucked. I give credit to Dodds for turning it around.

My primary point is this -

We should use UT as the model...build successful athletic programs, reach out to your alumni base, and great things will happen for the entire university (academic and liberalites included...).
 
I sent him an angry email after Sipli was suspended... I don't remember specifics of what I wrote, but you can rest assured that it was quite the diatribe. I did receive a reply from him, but all he said was "whut r u wearing?"

Very unprofessional if you ask me, but I later learned that I hadn't sent an email to Mike Bohn, but rather to my estranged uncle Jasper.

That truly was the winter of my discontent.

LOL:thumbsup:
 
best thing that happened for texas was the big 12 and mac brown


:stupid:

The reason UT was down in the early 90's was because they were in a weak conference that was spiraling into irrelevancy.

The bottom line with 18 year old football and basketball players is everyone wants to be on TV.
 
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