Schadenfreude wrote:As far as why this thread isn't longer: It's tough to know what to say.
This is the biggest hire since we hired Krebs, obviously. But many of us don't have the tools to evaluate whether or not Dr. Ribeau hit this one out of the ballpark.
It does look like a good resume. The fundraising track record at Purdue really is impressive.
Congratulations to Mr. Christopher on getting the AD position. I do not intend this to be bad comments about him in any way. But here is why I am apprehensive about this.
We have put such a HUGE focus on the fund raising issue, I am not sure we paid attention to the entire requirements of the position. Reading over the job posting, I was wondering if the athletic department was being converted to a branch of the Red Cross. And whenever Dr. Ribeau or University officials spoke of the positon, fund raising was the focus. Not about building programs (football, hockey, basketball, volleyball, etc) that have the chance to compete for MAC titles year in and year out. IMO, the more successful a program is, the easier it is to raise funds. So the two go hand in hand.
Again, this is not meant to slight Mr. Christopher whatsoever. Given what the powers that be set out to hire, he looks like a great choice. I just hope we didn't focus too much of the probverbial tree and didn't notice the forest around us.
"An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools."
- Ernest Hemingway
