I believe you were a fan of HBO's "Game of Thrones." Academia resembles a 'Game of Thrones' feudal system more than any other organization.
"Ruffling the wrong feathers" has cost people their jobs.
Troy Dannen rumblings
- Thread starter ATX_Husker
- Start date
"Ruffling the wrong feathers" has cost people their jobs.
They don't call the AD directly - they call their favorite (aka bought and paid for) Regent or Administrator - who then leans on the AD.
My take on the whole thing from 30,000 feet above ground.
Back in the day, college sports was a very parochial thing. Basically, individual entities interacting for their mutual benefit. Local control was vested in those who exhibited the most interest, most often displayed with money. As TV coverage grew, and money became more of a factor, the number of patrons who could legitimately affect things became smaller, thus concentrating the power at each school.
In the past few decades, the commercialization of College sports has resulted in a tremendous influx of capitol, from TV rights to corporate involvement (Nike,Adidas, et al) The entities that had the power previously don't want to give it up and use whatever tactics they can to hold on. Whether it's threatening to hold back money, or through their sitting on the Board of Regents, they attempt to strongarm anyone who doesn't kowtow to them.
We are rapidly coming to a tipping point where Athletics cannot be run by parochial overlords, but the battle will be ugly and vicious. I hope it ends soon and the current powers that be accept second tier influence.
Anyways, what do I know, I might just be some keyboard warrior in his mom's basement eating a meatloaf sandwich. What do you think?
Back in the day, college sports was a very parochial thing. Basically, individual entities interacting for their mutual benefit. Local control was vested in those who exhibited the most interest, most often displayed with money. As TV coverage grew, and money became more of a factor, the number of patrons who could legitimately affect things became smaller, thus concentrating the power at each school.
In the past few decades, the commercialization of College sports has resulted in a tremendous influx of capitol, from TV rights to corporate involvement (Nike,Adidas, et al) The entities that had the power previously don't want to give it up and use whatever tactics they can to hold on. Whether it's threatening to hold back money, or through their sitting on the Board of Regents, they attempt to strongarm anyone who doesn't kowtow to them.
We are rapidly coming to a tipping point where Athletics cannot be run by parochial overlords, but the battle will be ugly and vicious. I hope it ends soon and the current powers that be accept second tier influence.
Anyways, what do I know, I might just be some keyboard warrior in his mom's basement eating a meatloaf sandwich. What do you think?
So when Trev was AD he asked that the AD start reporting to the University President and not the chancellor. The president at that time was Ted Carter. Now its Gold. Maybe Dannen and Gold aren't seeing eye to eye.
What could possibly be so contentious that it would cause a rift that results in our AD moving on to another school? Is it that one of them thinks that all the little people should be slaves and the other thinks .25 cents an hour is a livable wage?
I swear, these "people" at the top are nothing more than spoiled children who throw tantrums anytime they don't get their way. And I swear, I'd love to go through these elitist ahole ranks and do a hell of a lot more than "ruffle" their feathers.
No idea but my source said those rumors were squashed internally last night. Sounds like because Dannen is from Iowa and has family in Iowa that ISU put out some feelers. Definitely a step down from where he's at currently.
I hope your source is right, SUH.
It's natural that Iowa State would reach out to one of the most respected ADs in the country who is a 'native son.' What isn't understandable is why Dannen listened to them enough for this internal matter to become 'a story.' As @Blatz said earlier in this thread, it doesn't make sense why he did. To me, it says he was 'sending a message' to senior administrators in Varner Hall, on campus, and in the State Capitol.
One of The Best Things that could happen to Husker Athletics in general and Football in particular is for the team to have a breakout season this fall. The public's "We're Back!" jubilation would give Dannen and Rhule more 'untouchable' clout and help keep all the University's Dukes, Dutchesses, Counts, Earls, Viscounts, Lords and Ladies as well as our State's Governor and members of the Regents off their backs.
Grizzled Omaha media vet Gary Sharp said Randy Peterson knows what's going on, so refer back to ATX's original post.
UGH...I had to suffer through a Chris Schmidt podcast to get to the Dannen part. For some reason Schmidt's voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Okay, being truthful, I actually kept moving the needle until I found the Dannen part.
I agree with everybody's takes--it's nuts to think Dannen would leave Nebraska for Iowa State. But it still begs the question WHY has Dannen's name been mentioned for at least a week now? Our discussion thread started yesterday but the rumor mill has been chirping on this much longer than that.
Honestly, if you are a hot-shot AD at a B1G school, ISU is NOT where you'd want to go for a wide variety of reasons so it's hard to shake this off as simply a 'family considerations' thing.
At a very difficult time in his Husker AD career with the start of the stadium project coming up, he might've took advantage of the timing to get a few more assurances from President Gold that he's got his back.
(Even so, the University's modern history would suggest our ADs have been 'left standing alone on an island' by their Boss on more than a few occasions.)
Well, to be fair, I don't think anyone controls the rumor circuit. I don't know if TD is interested in ISU, or looking to leave, or if everything is peachy-clean. What I do know is a rumor and a denial are about as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle...
I share your concerns about tomorrow's game, Deighved ...I'm a 48 hours-before-a-game worry wort... but I have a different take on this Dannen rumor deal.
When it comes to major executive level-type jobs, search firms have had to become more top-secret than government spies. Their ability to attract The Very Best Candidates requires that their targets, who already have executive jobs at other places, are able to consider new opportunities in absolute secrecy
I say this only to opine that if "the rumor mill started buzzing" about Dannen, it's because he -- for whatever reason -- wanted it to get a buzz.
It's one thing for the rumor mill to instantly kick off for Matt Rhule when the Penn State job suddenly opened, but nobody was going to immediately shout, "Omigosh, we could lose Troy Dannen" when the Iowa State AD job came open.
...or the rumor may have been started by someone from the behind the scenes to grease the slide out the door. "There was talk of him leaving anyway, If he's not committed, we're better off without him.", would be a typical smear job before firing someone.
There are many starting points for a rumor.
There are many starting points for a rumor.
Okay, one last comment on this: The whole 'super-secrecy' aspect of executive job searches is to prevent this kind of "What? You're...gasp!...looking at another job" business from happening.
But who knows? Maybe this was simply an innocent case of Troy checking into it since Ames, Iowa, near where he's spent a big portion of his life while at the same time ignoring the potential consequences of word getting out. (Although Dannen doesn't strike me as an innocent and naive kind of guy.)
My instinct is that Dannen knows damn well we're fortunate to have him (and our programs he's overseeing haven't been this good in a LONG time.) I have ZERO knowledge of what's going on. It just felt to me like TD might have been 'sending a little message' that if he's going to steer this stadium project to completion, he needs everybody to have his back during the sh*tstorm that the two-years of stadium reseating is going to cause.
I personally have floated at least a dozen rumors/conspiracy theories. Some of them may have been valid.
