egregiousbob

Dr. Miller was hired to accomplish 2 main objectives: 1. Stabilize the university's finances. Fact: They recently had to dip into emergency funds AGAIN to the tune of $30MM and are on track for another $50MM shortfall next year. This "rainy day" fund is drying up. 2. Reverse enrollment declines. After much hullabaloo about attracting a whopping 11 more students than the year before in fall 2023 (even though undergrad enrollment declined by nearly 200), the board was disappointed and embarrassed to hear that enrollment is projected to decline again in the fall 2024. And not by a small number. The board had to do something, even if only for optics. When enrollment numbers are released in September there will be a hue and cry from faculty, alumni, etc. The university is caught in a severe financial emergency.

It's an urban university. Part of the role of an urban university is to help people of all ages discover whether college is right for them. This automatically reduces retention. It would be interesting to see the trendline over the past 10-12 years, however.

You're incredibly naive if you believe MAC commissioner, ADs and presidents aren't already talking about this as a revenue possibility as well.

I'm guessing enrollment projections for fall show another decline.

Has anyone ever seen a study on whether the incidence of injury is higher in a game between a P5 and G5 team than any other regular season contest? I suspect there's not a lot of difference.

APR is about to become meaningless for P5 conferences/teams. Hopefully not for schools/programs that still value the concept of student/athlete. having said that, being last in this area is not something we should be proud of. Need to take a hard look at why this is the case - is it a natural outcome of a program overhaul or is Akron trying too hard to "win now" at the risk of a shitty graduation rate?

I've spoken to a couple of MAC head coaches and these games are recruiting tools for MAC level athletes. It's a thrill for a player to compete in the Horseshoe, at Tennessee, Penn State, etc. And every once in awhile, the underdog pulls one out. I'm sure Appalachian State fans aren't sorry they played Michigan at the Big House. Or Ohio fans for the game at Penn State several years back.

You do realize the university had to borrow $30MM from its ever shrinking reserves this past year and that at least that amount must be cut from the budget going into fall 2024. I'm guessing those facts led Miller to retire 3 years early.

That was a fast search process. They authorized the search and then named the new president 45 seconds later.

Guessing he didn't want to oversee the coming budget cuts.

Likely not a good development.

15-20%?

I don't think that's true based on $30MM budget shortfall UA is facing. Miller said faculty layoffs not an option this time, so expect major cuts to colleges and athletics. Likely a very big cut to athletics.

Shocking that the university's debt is higher than its endowment. Had no idea the endowment was less than $300MM. This is not a good situation. Very surprised, also, that Miller allowed the university to operate at a $30MM deficit this fiscal year. I thought he was making more progress than that.

Heard something very interesting from a well-placed source. Next year's team should be named the Wentz Financial Group Zips - Mr. Wentz wrote the necessary checks for each and every newcomer.

Mr. Wentz's skills at hypebole might qualify him as a certain presidential candidate's running mate.

There are two sides to NIL funds. Coaches not only have to find new players but retain existing players. If a team has a solid returning core (not implying Kent falls into this category), they might not be able to throw around much money to add new pieces. The whole thing sucks, basically.

I assume you haven't seen the plans for their new arena. WMU received a $100M gift to athletics ($1B overall) that is putting them on another level. They'll still be stuck with the "directional Michigan" label, but nonetheless.

Yeah, okay, I hate to keep calling BS on Wentz, but he doesn't even have a website operational and he claims we're on pace or ahead of other G5s? I would not be surprised if we're behind even a few other MAC schools - though not many. WMU, Toledo and OU come to mind.

This is an EXTREME exaggeration. Take another look at JMU's facilities, for example. Their volleyball facility is better than the JAR, much less the bball arena.

Quaker was an investment without a plan. Complete waste of money. Example of the mania of Proenza's later years. Another was overspending on InfoCision. The Big 10 caliber tower could have been built for $20M less and still more than served its function.

Gary Trent was both FOTY and POTY. Has that been replicated? I'd guess so.

I live in Akron and want the university to survive and thrive. But I find it interesting that UA and Toledo are roughly equivalent in many key rankings...and both have experienced severe (40% +) enrollment declines over the past decade. They also show similar financial strength profiles, as seen in an interesting ABJ article today. I hope this doesn't happen, but if state university consolidation does occur in the next 10 years, both UT and Akron are in jeopardy. I suspect the state will revert to its original "4 in the corners, one in the middle" higher education structure, which would consolidate a bunch of schools in the NE, NW and SW quadrants.

That's such a simplistic argument. Compare test scores and GPA of incoming students. Compare rankings of national research universities. Hell, even compare rankings of engineering schools, where Ohio recently passed UA in overall program quality. Is Athens fun? Yes, but OU offers a very good education and a superior total student experience. The latter explains the higher engagement of Ohio students and alums with the school's athletic programs, which tends to pee off other MAC alumni. As to long-term enrollment trends, the university's post-Covid enrollment is 28k+ versus about 31k pre-pandemic, but trends are up given two consecutive record-setting freshman classes.

I wouldn't include Ohio, Miami or BG in your list of schools facing enrollment problems. BG is near an all-time high. Ohio has had record size freshman classes each of the past two years. Toledo and Wright State, like Akron, are struggling. All three are urban schools...gotta be something there. With regard to budget figures, schools are not consistent in how they account for athletic expenditures. Buffalo, for example, pays for facilities out of the general fund, unlike Ohio schools.