The Travesty - or - Travesties

[Wyovanian]

The only "good hires" are the ones that result in success. When your hire fails, you look back and examine it, and try to identify the erroneous decisions. Any personality profile or MMPI-type diagnostic probably would have tripped someone like Christensen up pretty quickly. Arrogance and blind obstinacy in the face of direct results and tangible evidence are pretty indicative of personality disorders of a level that should preclude someone as an executive.

Well, I don't want to get hung up on terminology, so maybe we don't really disagree. What I mean is that the hiring of a big-time, successful coordinator, who was coveted by other schools, was a good choice. Do all good choices pan out? Nope. But we aimed high, as we should, and gave him the tools he said he needed to succeed. The failure rests on him, not our process or choice.

(The notion of giving candidates diagnostic tests is funny, though! At that level of football coach, they're probably all OCD sociopaths.)

No, it seemed like a "good hire" at the time. As it turned out, it was a bad one. A hire is either good, or it is bad, and it generally takes time to learn which it is.

And plenty of executive searches require test batteries including the types I referred to. It's completely up to the hiring entity if they want to insist on them, but given Christensen's lack of a total resume (no HC experience)- I think it would have been a reasonable request and one that just about any school interested in him should have insisted on.

 

[CowboyNV]

After spending the past 20 years in mid-level management for a Fortune 100 company, I can tell you that Tom Burman would have been fired a long time ago for his missteps and mistakes - especially the contract extensions based on a small body of work. In the "real world" an executive is only as good as his last hire. If one has a history of bad hires, then that person can expect a pink slip.

In the end, college athletics is a business and in most places it is run as such. Tom Burman is in charge of that department, and right now he is bleeding money and not having what I would call stellar results. If I was king for a day, his ass would be gone.

 

[Wyovanian]

After spending the past 20 years in mid-level management for a Fortune 100 company, I can tell you that Tom Burman would have been fired a long time ago for his missteps and mistakes - especially the contract extensions based on a small body of work. In the "real world" an executive is only as good as his last hire. If one has a history of bad hires, then that person can expect a pink slip.

In the end, college athletics is a business and in most places it is run as such. Tom Burman is in charge of that department, and right now he is bleeding money and not having what I would call stellar results. If I was king for a day, his ass would be gone.

:agree:

 

[WyoAlum1987]

After spending the past 20 years in mid-level management for a Fortune 100 company, I can tell you that Tom Burman would have been fired a long time ago for his missteps and mistakes - especially the contract extensions based on a small body of work. In the "real world" an executive is only as good as his last hire. If one has a history of bad hires, then that person can expect a pink slip.

In the end, college athletics is a business and in most places it is run as such. Tom Burman is in charge of that department, and right now he is bleeding money and not having what I would call stellar results. If I was king for a day, his ass would be gone.

Cowboy NV, You got my vote for King for a day!!!
(still waiting for the last episode of DC and Burman BTW)

How come we dont get to vote for the UW Board of Trustees?
Seriously, do you think the people of WY would choose those guys?
Why should we put up with (and pay for) this mismanaged good old boys club that is accountable to no one?

Who do you think they answer to?-the governor's brother is on the Board of Trustees

Who the hell are they accountable to?
Not the people of Wyoming thats for sure

 

[WYCowboy]

After spending the past 20 years in mid-level management for a Fortune 100 company, I can tell you that Tom Burman would have been fired a long time ago for his missteps and mistakes - especially the contract extensions based on a small body of work. In the "real world" an executive is only as good as his last hire. If one has a history of bad hires, then that person can expect a pink slip.

In the end, college athletics is a business and in most places it is run as such. Tom Burman is in charge of that department, and right now he is bleeding money and not having what I would call stellar results. If I was king for a day, his ass would be gone.

Cowboy NV, You got my vote for King for a day!!!
(still waiting for the last episode of DC and Burman BTW)

How come we dont get to vote for the UW Board of Trustees?
Seriously, do you think the people of WY would choose those guys?
Why should we put up with (and pay for) this mismanaged good old boys club that is accountable to no one?

Who do you think they answer to?-the governor's brother is on the Board of Trustees

Who the hell are they accountable to?
Not the people of Wyoming thats for sure

This! We need to make this happen that they are on the election ballot for the people of Wyoming to vote for.

 

[McPeachy]

Who the hell are they accountable to?
Not the people of Wyoming thats for sure

They (and the culture of the BOT really) are nothing but a bunch of holier-than-thou egotistical wannabe know-it-all sum bitches, that think their shit doesn't stink. And that is putting it lightly.

 

[WestWYOPoke]

After spending the past 20 years in mid-level management for a Fortune 100 company, I can tell you that Tom Burman would have been fired a long time ago for his missteps and mistakes - especially the contract extensions based on a small body of work. In the "real world" an executive is only as good as his last hire. If one has a history of bad hires, then that person can expect a pink slip.

In the end, college athletics is a business and in most places it is run as such. Tom Burman is in charge of that department, and right now he is bleeding money and not having what I would call stellar results. If I was king for a day, his ass would be gone.

Cowboy NV, You got my vote for King for a day!!!
(still waiting for the last episode of DC and Burman BTW)

How come we dont get to vote for the UW Board of Trustees?
Seriously, do you think the people of WY would choose those guys?
Why should we put up with (and pay for) this mismanaged good old boys club that is accountable to no one?

Who do you think they answer to?-the governor's brother is on the Board of Trustees

Who the hell are they accountable to?
Not the people of Wyoming thats for sure

This! We need to make this happen that they are on the election ballot for the people of Wyoming to vote for.

While I think it would be a great idea for those fans that are diehards and are insanely invested in the University, I think overall it would be a bad idea. The majority of voters would have mild-to-zero interest in voting for the quality candidate and would more than likely vote based on name appeal, regional bias, "he's my cousin's brother's barber's buddy", etc.

I think it would lead to a situation similar to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction where the voters would put someone in office that has no business being there and then we "knowledgeable, invested diehards" would be even more incensed with the idiots in charge.

In a perfect world, I agree, let's vote; but I fear it would lead to more problems than it would solve.

 

[WyoAlum1987]

This is the problem. We don't trust the unwashed masses to hold the bureaucracy accountable. Those unwashed masses are my grocer, barber, the guy who delivers beer.
Yeah, give them a chance to hold government accountable

 

[WYCowboy]

After spending the past 20 years in mid-level management for a Fortune 100 company, I can tell you that Tom Burman would have been fired a long time ago for his missteps and mistakes - especially the contract extensions based on a small body of work. In the "real world" an executive is only as good as his last hire. If one has a history of bad hires, then that person can expect a pink slip.

In the end, college athletics is a business and in most places it is run as such. Tom Burman is in charge of that department, and right now he is bleeding money and not having what I would call stellar results. If I was king for a day, his ass would be gone.

Cowboy NV, You got my vote for King for a day!!!
(still waiting for the last episode of DC and Burman BTW)

How come we dont get to vote for the UW Board of Trustees?
Seriously, do you think the people of WY would choose those guys?
Why should we put up with (and pay for) this mismanaged good old boys club that is accountable to no one?

Who do you think they answer to?-the governor's brother is on the Board of Trustees

Who the hell are they accountable to?
Not the people of Wyoming thats for sure

This! We need to make this happen that they are on the election ballot for the people of Wyoming to vote for.

While I think it would be a great idea for those fans that are diehards and are insanely invested in the University, I think overall it would be a bad idea. The majority of voters would have mild-to-zero interest in voting for the quality candidate and would more than likely vote based on name appeal, regional bias, "he's my cousin's brother's barber's buddy", etc.

I think it would lead to a situation similar to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction where the voters would put someone in office that has no business being there and then we "knowledgeable, invested diehards" would be even more incensed with the idiots in charge.

In a perfect world, I agree, let's vote; but I fear it would lead to more problems than it would solve.

Is that you Mead?

 

[WyoExpat]

After spending the past 20 years in mid-level management for a Fortune 100 company, I can tell you that Tom Burman would have been fired a long time ago for his missteps and mistakes - especially the contract extensions based on a small body of work. In the "real world" an executive is only as good as his last hire. If one has a history of bad hires, then that person can expect a pink slip.

In the end, college athletics is a business and in most places it is run as such. Tom Burman is in charge of that department, and right now he is bleeding money and not having what I would call stellar results. If I was king for a day, his ass would be gone.

Cowboy NV, You got my vote for King for a day!!!
(still waiting for the last episode of DC and Burman BTW)

How come we dont get to vote for the UW Board of Trustees?
Seriously, do you think the people of WY would choose those guys?
Why should we put up with (and pay for) this mismanaged good old boys club that is accountable to no one?

Who do you think they answer to?-the governor's brother is on the Board of Trustees

Who the hell are they accountable to?
Not the people of Wyoming thats for sure

This! We need to make this happen that they are on the election ballot for the people of Wyoming to vote for.

This is an interesting conversation and something I have been thinking about. As much as I like the Pokes, I am much more concerned with the general perception of the school resulting from the last two presidential hiring fiascoes. Athletics is pretty much peripheral to the academic activities on campus, even though most people see the institution through the lens created by the athletic department.

Is a UW degree something that a job or graduate school candidate must overcome or is it something that provides that candidate an advantage over other candidates? Would a directly-elected Board of Trustees change the answer to that question?

 

[Brew_Poke]

"Wyoming Board of Trustees President David Bostrom said he has, "complete faith" in AD Tom Burman to hire UW's next football coach."


one word.




dammit.

Two words.

Oh, shit!!! :roll:

Three words.

We are fucked.

I am completely gobsmacked by this. Are the BOT's that out of touch? Seriously, nothing is going to change until voters can fire those people.

I sincerely doubt more than a couple Wyoming voters care about UW's BOT. Most of them follow whatever the issues du jour are than the national media feeds them.

 

[WYCowboy]

"Wyoming Board of Trustees President David Bostrom said he has, "complete faith" in AD Tom Burman to hire UW's next football coach."


one word.




dammit.

Two words.

Oh, shit!!! :roll:

Three words.

We are fucked.

I am completely gobsmacked by this. Are the BOT's that out of touch? Seriously, nothing is going to change until voters can fire those people.

I sincerely doubt more than a couple Wyoming voters care about UW's BOT. Most of them follow whatever the issues du jour are than the national media feeds them.

It's like the old saying - If you don't vote then you can't complain about your elected officials. In this case, if you don't care about the BOTs, then you have no legitimate gripe about how the UW is being run. I'm not preaching to the choir here because I know most on this board do care.

 

[WyoAlum1987]

If the positions were elected, more of the issues would be made public, and more people might care

 

[WestWYOPoke]

If the positions were elected, more of the issues would be made public, and more people might care

If this were an elected position, instead of allowing the citizens of Wyoming to vote, I feel it would be in the best interest of the University to only let current students and alumni vote. This could include alumni not living in the state. I don't want Billy Bob Gardner from Star Valley that is a life-long byu fan voting for the UW BOT.

 

[WYCowboy]

If the positions were elected, more of the issues would be made public, and more people might care

If this were an elected position, instead of allowing the citizens of Wyoming to vote, I feel it would be in the best interest of the University to only let current students and alumni vote. This could include alumni not living in the state. I don't want Billy Bob Gardner from Star Valley that is a life-long byu fan voting for the UW BOT.

Good post and I completely agree with your last sentence.

 

[WyoAlum1987]

Have to disagree. If Wyoming people pay -they should have a voice

 

[Wyovanian]

If the positions were elected, more of the issues would be made public, and more people might care

If this were an elected position, instead of allowing the citizens of Wyoming to vote, I feel it would be in the best interest of the University to only let current students and alumni vote. This could include alumni not living in the state. I don't want Billy Bob Gardner from Star Valley that is a life-long byu fan voting for the UW BOT.

You don't let the whole state vote for the whole Board- you break the representation into districts apportioned by population.

 

[McPeachy]

If the positions were elected, more of the issues would be made public, and more people might care

If this were an elected position, instead of allowing the citizens of Wyoming to vote, I feel it would be in the best interest of the University to only let current students and alumni vote. This could include alumni not living in the state. I don't want Billy Bob Gardner from Star Valley that is a life-long byu fan voting for the UW BOT.

You don't let the whole state vote for the whole Board- you break the representation into districts apportioned by population.

Can you imagine who could be appointed from the south western part of Wyoming? Holy shit - that in itself would be worth the price of admission.

:rofl:

 

[Wyovanian]

If the positions were elected, more of the issues would be made public, and more people might care

If this were an elected position, instead of allowing the citizens of Wyoming to vote, I feel it would be in the best interest of the University to only let current students and alumni vote. This could include alumni not living in the state. I don't want Billy Bob Gardner from Star Valley that is a life-long byu fan voting for the UW BOT.

You don't let the whole state vote for the whole Board- you break the representation into districts apportioned by population.

Can you imagine who could be appointed from the south western part of Wyoming? Holy shit - that in itself would be worth the price of admission.

:rofl:

Yeah, you'd have to dilute the wack-job quotient by putting Green River with Evanston and Rock Springs with Rawlins.

 

[WestWYOPoke]

If the positions were elected, more of the issues would be made public, and more people might care

If this were an elected position, instead of allowing the citizens of Wyoming to vote, I feel it would be in the best interest of the University to only let current students and alumni vote. This could include alumni not living in the state. I don't want Billy Bob Gardner from Star Valley that is a life-long byu fan voting for the UW BOT.

You don't let the whole state vote for the whole Board- you break the representation into districts apportioned by population.

While I agree that districted representation is a good idea, I also think that there are places where there might be multiple qualified candidates (I.E. Casper and Cheyenne) due to population distribution. Furthermore, I think that there could be several people/alumni from outside the state (I.E. Denver metro) that could bring a lot to the table if given the opportunity. I recognize the inherent problem with having a state-funded institution with a board member(s) that doesn't live within the state, but I also feel an "outside" perspective is helpful at times.