Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Step 1: Overspend while losing in nearly every sport.

Step 2: Act shocked when you budgeted a 7 million dollar deficit and you need more money.

Step 3: Retirements and turnover of staff in all things that don’t impact the one thing that most generates revenue. WINNING.

Tuition is going up, fees are going up, and the losses are piling up.

On behalf of BGSU Athletics, Vice President of Athletics Strategy Derek van der Merwe issued the following statement regarding the non-renewal of Assistant AD for Strategic Communications Vince Briedis:

"We have made the decision not to renew Vince Briedis' role as assistant AD for strategic communications. I want to thank Vince for his contributions to our department during his time and wish him the best moving forward. The Strategic Communications unit will be led by Kyle Edmond in the interim as we begin a national search for a permanent replacement."

All football, hockey and athletic department media inquires should be directed to Kyle Edmond ([email protected]) as BGSU Athletics administers the national search.

I have a lot of questions Since when did a position like this require a statement for a non-renewal? I'm guessing his contract ran through the end of May or end of June, so why now? Why the Morning Show BG as the one to be fed the non news story until you made it a story?

On a positive note the Stroh parking lot is being ripped up and repaved. $20 parking on the way?

guest44 wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 9:53 am I have a lot of questions Since when did a position like this require a statement for a non-renewal? I'm guessing his contract ran through the end of May or end of June, so why now? Why the Morning Show BG as the one to be fed the non news story until you made it a story?

On a positive note the Stroh parking lot is being ripped up and repaved. $20 parking on the way?

I agree that a statement for this is pretty weird. In my experiences working in college athletics (which, granted, I haven't now in a couple of years) the SID is not a contracted position, so a "non-renewal" just means a dismissal, and that isn't a senior enough role that it should even be a known thing. Just hire a new SID and announce their start.

Guest, you and I both agree and disagree on a lot of things re: the athletics program, but I will say I'm starting to swing a bit more in your direction that things are not being run super well right now. I do think a lot of the hires have been smart, no-brainer hires (Simon, Williams, even Chmiel on paper, and I still think Gardner was a very good hire for softball), but the use of smoke and mirrors and celebrity impact as a crutch does not ever result in long-term stability (see: Eddie George & Pudge). This isn't saying George wasn't a good hire. He was brought in super late in the process last year and has recruited very well, but the athletic department has seemed to lean more on an "Omg we have Eddie George, isn't that cool" which is getting pretty old.

The deficit thing is unfortunately a problem far beyond BG, and I don't think they are necessarily handling it any worse than a lot of peers (though certainly not as well as some others) and will eventually be a breaking point for about 50-60% of D-1 institutions. I know of a few other (non-MAC, thankfully) universities that are basically betting the future of their entire institution on athletics and I think it will fail for some. BG is fortunate to not be in that position, thanks to their overall growth and an increasingly successful (financially speaking) alumni base, but who knows how much longer we can bet on an increasing enrollment.

Even the most die hard fans can’t even create something to discuss about BGSU football. It’s just dead. The biggest part of that hire was about Urban Meyer and celebrity obsession that goes beyond football and the athletic department itself. It’s ego, it’s smoke, it’s about everything but real substance. That’s what happens when what you do best is social media and no accountability exists. It’s the number one theme in athletics since Rogers became President. Doesn’t matter the AD, doesn’t matter the coaches, it’s just a smoke and mirrors culture. Some coaches like Fralick, Simon, Williams just work around it until a better opportunity exists, but they are gone when it does. It works with students, it works with parents, it works with the people on Facebook 12 hours per day, it doesn’t work in athletics.

BillyLP wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 12:16 pm

guest44 wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 9:53 am I have a lot of questions Since when did a position like this require a statement for a non-renewal? I'm guessing his contract ran through the end of May or end of June, so why now? Why the Morning Show BG as the one to be fed the non news story until you made it a story?

On a positive note the Stroh parking lot is being ripped up and repaved. $20 parking on the way?

I agree that a statement for this is pretty weird. In my experiences working in college athletics (which, granted, I haven't now in a couple of years) the SID is not a contracted position, so a "non-renewal" just means a dismissal, and that isn't a senior enough role that it should even be a known thing. Just hire a new SID and announce their start.

Guest, you and I both agree and disagree on a lot of things re: the athletics program, but I will say I'm starting to swing a bit more in your direction that things are not being run super well right now. I do think a lot of the hires have been smart, no-brainer hires (Simon, Williams, even Chmiel on paper, and I still think Gardner was a very good hire for softball), but the use of smoke and mirrors and celebrity impact as a crutch does not ever result in long-term stability (see: Eddie George & Pudge). This isn't saying George wasn't a good hire. He was brought in super late in the process last year and has recruited very well, but the athletic department has seemed to lean more on an "Omg we have Eddie George, isn't that cool" which is getting pretty old.

The deficit thing is unfortunately a problem far beyond BG, and I don't think they are necessarily handling it any worse than a lot of peers (though certainly not as well as some others) and will eventually be a breaking point for about 50-60% of D-1 institutions. I know of a few other (non-MAC, thankfully) universities that are basically betting the future of their entire institution on athletics and I think it will fail for some. BG is fortunate to not be in that position, thanks to their overall growth and an increasingly successful (financially speaking) alumni base, but who knows how much longer we can bet on an increasing enrollment.

Totally agree with the oddity of releasing this which seems to be a completely non-news story.
I used to be a longtime supporter of BGSU but with NIL and the new power conferences, I simply can't get behind financially supporting an athletic department that continues to repeatedly make the same mistakes. I've had many conversations with DVDM over the years and always come away very unimpressed.
He is a bro and constantly mugging for the cameras. My guess is Briedis didn't hit his DVDM Instagram photo quota for the last quarter and he was told that was the last straw.

'92Falcon wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 2:54 pm [quote=BillyLP post_id=470855 time=<a href="tel:1777997775">1777997775</a> user_id=2208]
[quote=guest44 post_id=470852 time=<a href="tel:1777989188">1777989188</a> user_id=909]
I have a lot of questions Since when did a position like this require a statement for a non-renewal? I'm guessing his contract ran through the end of May or end of June, so why now? Why the Morning Show BG as the one to be fed the non news story until you made it a story?

On a positive note the Stroh parking lot is being ripped up and repaved. $20 parking on the way?

I agree that a statement for this is pretty weird. In my experiences working in college athletics (which, granted, I haven't now in a couple of years) the SID is not a contracted position, so a "non-renewal" just means a dismissal, and that isn't a senior enough role that it should even be a known thing. Just hire a new SID and announce their start.

Guest, you and I both agree and disagree on a lot of things re: the athletics program, but I will say I'm starting to swing a bit more in your direction that things are not being run super well right now. I do think a lot of the hires have been smart, no-brainer hires (Simon, Williams, even Chmiel on paper, and I still think Gardner was a very good hire for softball), but the use of smoke and mirrors and celebrity impact as a crutch does not ever result in long-term stability (see: Eddie George & Pudge). This isn't saying George wasn't a good hire. He was brought in super late in the process last year and has recruited very well, but the athletic department has seemed to lean more on an "Omg we have Eddie George, isn't that cool" which is getting pretty old.

The deficit thing is unfortunately a problem far beyond BG, and I don't think they are necessarily handling it any worse than a lot of peers (though certainly not as well as some others) and will eventually be a breaking point for about 50-60% of D-1 institutions. I know of a few other (non-MAC, thankfully) universities that are basically betting the future of their entire institution on athletics and I think it will fail for some. BG is fortunate to not be in that position, thanks to their overall growth and an increasingly successful (financially speaking) alumni base, but who knows how much longer we can bet on an increasing enrollment.
[/quote]

Totally agree with the oddity of releasing this which seems to be a completely non-news story.
I used to be a longtime supporter of BGSU but with NIL and the new power conferences, I simply can't get behind financially supporting an athletic department that continues to repeatedly make the same mistakes. I've had many conversations with DVDM over the years and always come away very unimpressed.
He is a bro and constantly mugging for the cameras. My guess is Briedis didn't hit his DVDM Instagram photo quota for the last quarter and he was told that was the last straw.
[/quote]

The key to job security these days is about who is in your corner. If you work in it, stay in good graces with the spouse group. We see more and more stories about the spouses than the actual athletes anymore. Thus no athletes have actual NIL value.

'92Falcon wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 2:54 pm

BillyLP wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 12:16 pm

guest44 wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 9:53 am I have a lot of questions Since when did a position like this require a statement for a non-renewal? I'm guessing his contract ran through the end of May or end of June, so why now? Why the Morning Show BG as the one to be fed the non news story until you made it a story?

On a positive note the Stroh parking lot is being ripped up and repaved. $20 parking on the way?

I agree that a statement for this is pretty weird. In my experiences working in college athletics (which, granted, I haven't now in a couple of years) the SID is not a contracted position, so a "non-renewal" just means a dismissal, and that isn't a senior enough role that it should even be a known thing. Just hire a new SID and announce their start.

Guest, you and I both agree and disagree on a lot of things re: the athletics program, but I will say I'm starting to swing a bit more in your direction that things are not being run super well right now. I do think a lot of the hires have been smart, no-brainer hires (Simon, Williams, even Chmiel on paper, and I still think Gardner was a very good hire for softball), but the use of smoke and mirrors and celebrity impact as a crutch does not ever result in long-term stability (see: Eddie George & Pudge). This isn't saying George wasn't a good hire. He was brought in super late in the process last year and has recruited very well, but the athletic department has seemed to lean more on an "Omg we have Eddie George, isn't that cool" which is getting pretty old.

The deficit thing is unfortunately a problem far beyond BG, and I don't think they are necessarily handling it any worse than a lot of peers (though certainly not as well as some others) and will eventually be a breaking point for about 50-60% of D-1 institutions. I know of a few other (non-MAC, thankfully) universities that are basically betting the future of their entire institution on athletics and I think it will fail for some. BG is fortunate to not be in that position, thanks to their overall growth and an increasingly successful (financially speaking) alumni base, but who knows how much longer we can bet on an increasing enrollment.

Totally agree with the oddity of releasing this which seems to be a completely non-news story.
I used to be a longtime supporter of BGSU but with NIL and the new power conferences, I simply can't get behind financially supporting an athletic department that continues to repeatedly make the same mistakes. I've had many conversations with DVDM over the years and always come away very unimpressed.
He is a bro and constantly mugging for the cameras. My guess is Briedis didn't hit his DVDM Instagram photo quota for the last quarter and he was told that was the last straw.

I agree 100% with this (the part I highlighted in bold). I haven't had many conversations with DVDM at all, but I feel like everything he does is for show. I can't say if Briedis was or wasn't a good SID, but I am guessing that he and DVDM did not see eye to eye on how the SID office should be run, and obviously the AD is going to win that battle 100 times out of 100.

As for the release, I wonder if it was more of just a heads-up for the media, to let them know who to contact? Briedis is no longer on the staff directory, so it appears he was let go, effective immediately.