After spending months telling everyone there was no plan to cut down Idaho's athletic department, Chuck Staben was forced to finally acknowledge the obvious today -- moving to FCS is costing us enough money to hurt and cuts will be made, likely including dropping sports. From a letter today:

We will ask the SBOE this week to lift this funding restriction for one year and allow us to use money from our own savings account to balance the athletics budget. This money does not come from academic reserves; it comes from central institutional reserves. But providing additional support alone is not enough. Changes need to be made inside the athletics program to ensure a strong future that is beneficial to our students, student-athletes, staff, faculty and our university.

Accordingly, every line item in the athletics budget is being reviewed. Many potential scenarios have been developed; all including a combination of cost-cutting measures ranging from sports that we sponsor, to scholarships, to administrative and other program costs. The right combination of changes has not been determined and creating a financial strategy is in the early stages. With this SBOE waiver, UI will have time to thoughtfully review each scenario and create an athletics program that complements our prestige and relevance as a leading research university.

Chuck, you filthy liar. Go away and ruin somebody else's school.

Sorry. You guys deserve better.

On the bright side, maybe he'll drop football.

(04-18-2017 06:42 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  On the bright side, maybe he'll drop football.

That might be on the table after all.

Is he an idiot??

Why haven't Idaho fans and donors pushed this fool out already?

(04-18-2017 09:55 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Is he an idiot??

Why haven't Idaho fans and donors pushed this fool out already?

That'd be real hard to do. No U of I Board of Regents. State Board of Education controls everything and they had the final say in appointing Chuckles. Plus a lot of the board members probably would rather see BYU-Idaho flourish than any state school so it's not like they give a crap.

(04-18-2017 09:55 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Is he an idiot??

Why haven't Idaho fans and donors pushed this fool out already?

It's very frustrating. The way higher ed is set up in Idaho we have few levers to actually put pressure on the guy. He answers to the State Board of Education, which is responsible for not just all higher ed in the state but also K-12 and is made up of people appointed by our governor, who's in his 3rd term and has never made the U of I any kind of priority. Short of an embezzlement scandal or something I don't know how we get rid of him unless he leaves on his own.

(04-19-2017 12:01 AM)LatahCounty Wrote:  

(04-18-2017 09:55 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Is he an idiot??

Why haven't Idaho fans and donors pushed this fool out already?

It's very frustrating. The way higher ed is set up in Idaho we have few levers to actually put pressure on the guy. He answers to the State Board of Education, which is responsible for not just all higher ed in the state but also K-12 and is made up of people appointed by our governor, who's in his 3rd term and has never made the U of I any kind of priority. Short of an embezzlement scandal or something I don't know how we get rid of him unless he leaves on his own.

You have to knock him out and them take pictures of him in compromising poses with a transvestite hooker. Then threaten to release them if he doesn't get out of town. It worked in Sons of Anarchy.

I feel really bad for Idaho. I was hoping a UAB miracle could for them especially when Liberty was given FBS independent. If Idaho stayed as FBS you would have 8 football independent programs.

Army
BYU
NMSU
Liberty
UMASS
BYU
ND* (Independent in Name Only)

(04-19-2017 12:01 AM)LatahCounty Wrote:  

(04-18-2017 09:55 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Is he an idiot??

Why haven't Idaho fans and donors pushed this fool out already?

It's very frustrating. The way higher ed is set up in Idaho we have few levers to actually put pressure on the guy. He answers to the State Board of Education, which is responsible for not just all higher ed in the state but also K-12 and is made up of people appointed by our governor, who's in his 3rd term and has never made the U of I any kind of priority. Short of an embezzlement scandal or something I don't know how we get rid of him unless he leaves on his own.

That's terrible. Those with the most vested interests in the Univeristy are blocked from holding any direct accountability for the school's leadership. What a terrible system.

(04-19-2017 06:59 AM)boroeagle2 Wrote:  

(04-19-2017 12:01 AM)LatahCounty Wrote:  

(04-18-2017 09:55 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Is he an idiot??

Why haven't Idaho fans and donors pushed this fool out already?

It's very frustrating. The way higher ed is set up in Idaho we have few levers to actually put pressure on the guy. He answers to the State Board of Education, which is responsible for not just all higher ed in the state but also K-12 and is made up of people appointed by our governor, who's in his 3rd term and has never made the U of I any kind of priority. Short of an embezzlement scandal or something I don't know how we get rid of him unless he leaves on his own.

You have to knock him out and them take pictures of him in compromising poses with a transvestite hooker. Then threaten to release them if he doesn't get out of town. It worked in Sons of Anarchy.

See, that's the kind of creative, outside-the-box thinking I'm looking for when I post these updates.

(04-19-2017 08:33 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(04-19-2017 12:01 AM)LatahCounty Wrote:  

(04-18-2017 09:55 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Is he an idiot??

Why haven't Idaho fans and donors pushed this fool out already?

It's very frustrating. The way higher ed is set up in Idaho we have few levers to actually put pressure on the guy. He answers to the State Board of Education, which is responsible for not just all higher ed in the state but also K-12 and is made up of people appointed by our governor, who's in his 3rd term and has never made the U of I any kind of priority. Short of an embezzlement scandal or something I don't know how we get rid of him unless he leaves on his own.

That's terrible. Those with the most vested interests in the Univeristy are blocked from holding any direct accountability for the school's leadership. What a terrible system.

Maybe the worst state higher ed setup in the nation. The whole system is designed so that all the schools have to compete against each other rather than work together.

(04-19-2017 10:41 AM)LatahCounty Wrote:  

(04-19-2017 08:33 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(04-19-2017 12:01 AM)LatahCounty Wrote:  

(04-18-2017 09:55 PM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  Is he an idiot??

Why haven't Idaho fans and donors pushed this fool out already?

It's very frustrating. The way higher ed is set up in Idaho we have few levers to actually put pressure on the guy. He answers to the State Board of Education, which is responsible for not just all higher ed in the state but also K-12 and is made up of people appointed by our governor, who's in his 3rd term and has never made the U of I any kind of priority. Short of an embezzlement scandal or something I don't know how we get rid of him unless he leaves on his own.

That's terrible. Those with the most vested interests in the Univeristy are blocked from holding any direct accountability for the school's leadership. What a terrible system.

Maybe the worst state higher ed setup in the nation. The whole system is designed so that all the schools have to compete against each other rather than work together.

Even worse, it is designed so all of public higher education (including, to a degree, the 4 CCs) fight each other and battle K-12 for funds as all are governed by the same board. The current board is heaviest with BYU alums. You almost couldn't come up with a worse governance system for state education if you had a contest to make the worst one and only let legislators from Mississippi and Louisiana enter.

It is amazing how damage much one bad Pres, AD or Coach can do in such a short time. I hate that we did not jump in 2000 when the Belt was first being formed but at the same time when the economy crashed our former AD and two Presidents ago might have pulled some idiocy like this.