https://twitter.com/jordanstrack/status ... 04677?s=21
Good work Moose. You named the stadium after him then tried to cut the program before a game was played after that. Moose played baseball, quit baseball, cut baseball, and ran off it’s biggest contributor. Does Holy Cross need a Deputy AD who quit his college baseball team?
Gary Haas Stadium
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footballguy51
- Peregrine
- Posts: 3025
- Joined: Wed May 23, 2007 5:19 pm
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
By what evidence do you make the claim that the gift was retracted because baseball was on the chopping block at one point? Also, wouldn't retracting that gift promise almost promise that the program would be eliminated? The stadium was named in October of 2019. BGSU baseball was on the chopping block in 2020 thanks to budget issues from COVID. Baseball was saved thanks to donors stepping up. The Haas family recently issued a statement in writing that they would not be following through on their planned gift of $1million. If that decision was a reaction to the baseball COVID cuts, wouldn't that decision have been made over a year ago? I would have to think this decision was less about anger around the baseball situation. If I were in that position, I would make that decision for two reasons: I no longer wished to financially support that institution; I no longer was able to financially fulfill that gift obligation.guest44 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 12:57 pm https://twitter.com/jordanstrack/status ... 04677?s=21
Good work Moose. You named the stadium after him then tried to cut the program before a game was played after that. Moose played baseball, quit baseball, cut baseball, and ran off it’s biggest contributor. Does Holy Cross need a Deputy AD who quit his college baseball team?
I know you don't like the AD, but does everything have to be his fault?
ROLL ALONG!!!
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
I look forward to the details coming out.
In the meantime, this is just an embarrassing story. I don’t know how you can be an alumnus, have the stadium named after you and go through all the fanfare of that process, and then not follow through on a huge donation. And at the same time, how do we let this fall through?! What differences could we not work through to keep this on track?
Rough look for the department and the Haas family. This got ugly and it shouldn’t have.
In the meantime, this is just an embarrassing story. I don’t know how you can be an alumnus, have the stadium named after you and go through all the fanfare of that process, and then not follow through on a huge donation. And at the same time, how do we let this fall through?! What differences could we not work through to keep this on track?
Rough look for the department and the Haas family. This got ugly and it shouldn’t have.
BGSU '20
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
Plenty of fault on BOTH sides. Was a disaster from the start and majority of gift was an insurance policy and NOT “ upfront cash.
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
It's funny how many times you try to hold him "quitting baseball" against him, when his former teammates don't.guest44 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 10, 2021 12:57 pm https://twitter.com/jordanstrack/status ... 04677?s=21
Good work Moose. You named the stadium after him then tried to cut the program before a game was played after that. Moose played baseball, quit baseball, cut baseball, and ran off it’s biggest contributor. Does Holy Cross need a Deputy AD who quit his college baseball team?
Phi or Die
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
Do they hold him accountable for cutting baseball? Why could a group of former players do in two weeks what Moose and Kingston Jr could never do in raise the necessary funds? Why couldn’t Moose do that in the sport he used to play at BGSU?
Because people don’t trust him.
Because people don’t trust him.
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
Moosbrugger has zero respect from the baseball Alumni. I am friends with several guys and he isn’t welcome at any events.
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
I worked with one of his teammates a 4 years ago. He said they got together rather frequently when they were closer to town.
Phi or Die
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
Moosbrugger was hired at BGSU because of fundraising. He cut the program he played for and the alumni of the program rallied to do what he could never do in two weeks. Look for the stadium to potentially be named after someone who tweets something nice about Bob. Twitter likes over dollars.
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
He was fine with the alumni until he lied multiple times to Danny Schmitz and then cut the program using Covid as an excuse. I can assure you he isn’t thought well of by 99% of alumni.
They basically went over his head to get the program reinstated and a couple people in the discussions were amazed at how poorly he even understood the budget.
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
An article from the Blade on the situation. Perhaps someone with some free time can comb through this and simplify it for conversation here?
https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/bgsu ... 0211215123
https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/bgsu ... 0211215123
BGSU '20
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bgsumepley
- Egg
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2015 10:32 am
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
if you dont get the Blade....
"Briggs: So, why is Gary Haas' name coming off Bowling Green's baseball stadium?
Dec 15, 2021
5:07 PM
BOWLING GREEN — It was a day of fanfare and celebration, an occasion for Bowling Green State University to honor one of its own.
In a cheerful ceremony, the school announced that it was naming its baseball stadium after Gary Haas, the former Falcons star shortstop who had recently pledged $1 million to his alma mater.
“Welcome to Gary Haas Stadium,” Bowling Green president Rodney Rogers said that day in October 2019. “That has a great sound to it!”
Or so it did.
Fast all the way forward to two years later, and you’ve probably heard BG is on the market for new stadium signs, only with a bit less money to pay for them.
The Bowling Green board of trustees voted Friday to remove Haas’ name from the ballpark, the result of Haas, 74, withdrawing — or “unwinding,” according to the university — his much-publicized donation to the baseball program, including, records show, an $800,000 life insurance policy that made up most of the gift.
It was a bizarre turn of events, and, given the vacuum of details, imaginations ran wild.
What could have possibly caused a public divorce between Bowling Green and one of its Hall of Fame athletes and biggest donors?
Was Haas in financial trouble and needed the money back? Was he being canceled for a past transgression? (Maybe he had sent an insensitive tweet in 1995, one Twitter wag suggested).
In fact, it was neither.
Rather, it seems it was a clash of visions. While Haas declined to comment on why he’s pulling back — and no one I spoke to wanted to touch this on the record — several people close to the school said it relates to a dispute over how the gift was used, or not used.
University records show Haas pledged in 2014 to give $1 million to the Falcons’ baseball program, a donation that was to include five annual payments of $40,000 and the life insurance policy, with BG listed as the beneficiary. The $200,000 was specifically designated to make improvements to the baseball stadium, earmarked for the “Steller Field Improvement Fund.”
Read into this what you will, but there have since been no stadium upgrades of note, and records show that Haas cut off his pledged contributions. Haas made four payments of $40,000 and four payments on the insurance policy ($9,720 per year), then stopped after 2017. (Yes, that means BG put Haas’ name on the stadium after he stopped making the payments, perhaps in a last-ditch effort to keep an important booster on board.)
Bowling Green athletic director Bob Moosbrugger declined to comment, referring us to Pam Conlin, vice president for university advancement. She deferred to a sunny university statement that all but referred us to a confidentiality agreement.
Our excellent BG beat writer, Corey Crisan, has an ongoing request out for records that should help fill in the blanks. Stay tuned for his story.
But we’ll save the nitty gritty — and any debate about who’s right and who’s wrong — for another day.
For now, all we can say is the whole situation is too bad, an unfortunate look for all parties.
This would be like if Freddie and Frieda Falcon stopped getting along.
Again, Haas isn’t any alumnus. The Eastwood graduate is a school legend and ambassador, the only BG baseball player to have his number (6) retired.
A two-time captain, Haas helped the Falcons win their first Mid-American Conference baseball championship in 1972 and finished his career with nine school records.
The experience was the time of his life, and he didn’t forget it. Over the years, as Haas climbed the ranks at Rudolph Libbe, where he was an executive vice president at the time of his retirement, he became one of the school’s biggest boosters. His previous gifts included a $50,000 donation for new dugouts.
Also of note: His grandson, Tyler, is a senior catcher on the current Falcons team.
So, yeah, it’s crazy that it’s come to this.
“It breaks my heart,” Haas said in a brief interview. “Nobody has supported this program — forget the monetary part — more than I’ve supported it. But it is what it is.”
As for where this leaves Bowling Green baseball, good question.
Remember, this isn’t a program with change to spare. It was just last May that the school cut baseball, only for hundreds of alums to stage a last-at-bat rally, committing $1.5 million to the program over three years to save the day.
But if privately financing a Division I team is a difficult long-term play, I’m told the fundraising remains on track. Moosbrugger suggested the same in an email to the team.
“This has no effect on the status of the baseball program,” he wrote. “We continue to work with the alumni group on our goal of taking the baseball program from surviving to thriving.”
Haas, for his part, wishes the program the best.
He’ll just be doing so from a distance.
The man with his number on the wall of the ballpark formerly known as Gary Haas Stadium said his grandson’s final game this season will be his last Bowling Green baseball game, too".
"Briggs: So, why is Gary Haas' name coming off Bowling Green's baseball stadium?
Dec 15, 2021
5:07 PM
BOWLING GREEN — It was a day of fanfare and celebration, an occasion for Bowling Green State University to honor one of its own.
In a cheerful ceremony, the school announced that it was naming its baseball stadium after Gary Haas, the former Falcons star shortstop who had recently pledged $1 million to his alma mater.
“Welcome to Gary Haas Stadium,” Bowling Green president Rodney Rogers said that day in October 2019. “That has a great sound to it!”
Or so it did.
Fast all the way forward to two years later, and you’ve probably heard BG is on the market for new stadium signs, only with a bit less money to pay for them.
The Bowling Green board of trustees voted Friday to remove Haas’ name from the ballpark, the result of Haas, 74, withdrawing — or “unwinding,” according to the university — his much-publicized donation to the baseball program, including, records show, an $800,000 life insurance policy that made up most of the gift.
It was a bizarre turn of events, and, given the vacuum of details, imaginations ran wild.
What could have possibly caused a public divorce between Bowling Green and one of its Hall of Fame athletes and biggest donors?
Was Haas in financial trouble and needed the money back? Was he being canceled for a past transgression? (Maybe he had sent an insensitive tweet in 1995, one Twitter wag suggested).
In fact, it was neither.
Rather, it seems it was a clash of visions. While Haas declined to comment on why he’s pulling back — and no one I spoke to wanted to touch this on the record — several people close to the school said it relates to a dispute over how the gift was used, or not used.
University records show Haas pledged in 2014 to give $1 million to the Falcons’ baseball program, a donation that was to include five annual payments of $40,000 and the life insurance policy, with BG listed as the beneficiary. The $200,000 was specifically designated to make improvements to the baseball stadium, earmarked for the “Steller Field Improvement Fund.”
Read into this what you will, but there have since been no stadium upgrades of note, and records show that Haas cut off his pledged contributions. Haas made four payments of $40,000 and four payments on the insurance policy ($9,720 per year), then stopped after 2017. (Yes, that means BG put Haas’ name on the stadium after he stopped making the payments, perhaps in a last-ditch effort to keep an important booster on board.)
Bowling Green athletic director Bob Moosbrugger declined to comment, referring us to Pam Conlin, vice president for university advancement. She deferred to a sunny university statement that all but referred us to a confidentiality agreement.
Our excellent BG beat writer, Corey Crisan, has an ongoing request out for records that should help fill in the blanks. Stay tuned for his story.
But we’ll save the nitty gritty — and any debate about who’s right and who’s wrong — for another day.
For now, all we can say is the whole situation is too bad, an unfortunate look for all parties.
This would be like if Freddie and Frieda Falcon stopped getting along.
Again, Haas isn’t any alumnus. The Eastwood graduate is a school legend and ambassador, the only BG baseball player to have his number (6) retired.
A two-time captain, Haas helped the Falcons win their first Mid-American Conference baseball championship in 1972 and finished his career with nine school records.
The experience was the time of his life, and he didn’t forget it. Over the years, as Haas climbed the ranks at Rudolph Libbe, where he was an executive vice president at the time of his retirement, he became one of the school’s biggest boosters. His previous gifts included a $50,000 donation for new dugouts.
Also of note: His grandson, Tyler, is a senior catcher on the current Falcons team.
So, yeah, it’s crazy that it’s come to this.
“It breaks my heart,” Haas said in a brief interview. “Nobody has supported this program — forget the monetary part — more than I’ve supported it. But it is what it is.”
As for where this leaves Bowling Green baseball, good question.
Remember, this isn’t a program with change to spare. It was just last May that the school cut baseball, only for hundreds of alums to stage a last-at-bat rally, committing $1.5 million to the program over three years to save the day.
But if privately financing a Division I team is a difficult long-term play, I’m told the fundraising remains on track. Moosbrugger suggested the same in an email to the team.
“This has no effect on the status of the baseball program,” he wrote. “We continue to work with the alumni group on our goal of taking the baseball program from surviving to thriving.”
Haas, for his part, wishes the program the best.
He’ll just be doing so from a distance.
The man with his number on the wall of the ballpark formerly known as Gary Haas Stadium said his grandson’s final game this season will be his last Bowling Green baseball game, too".
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Flipper
- The Global Village Idiot
- Posts: 18315
- Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2004 1:01 am
- Location: Ida Twp, MI
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
Read the article...sounds like a really ugly situation. It sounds like the AD wasn't spending the $$$ in the agreed upon fashion...
It's not the fall that hurts...it's when you hit the ground.
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
Yeah, I gather that the money wasn't being spent so Haas stopped fulfilling his pledge, which then lead to a disagreement about how to move forward. This actually happens pretty often with big gifts at every university (University of Chicago had a super embarrassing one a few years back), but it isn't normally involving something as public as a stadium being named. Definitely not a great look from that angle.
BG '10
Attended more games than any responsible student should have.
Attended more games than any responsible student should have.
Re: Gary Haas Stadium
Yes Billy this is totally common. It happens all the time.
-Schools often name stadiums after people then cancel the program prior to a game being played after that.
-Schools often lose million dollar donations in sports where the AD played that particular sport.
-Schools often lose donations from donors when the AD was hired back to his alma mater because his previous experience is in fundraising.
-Schools often hire athletic directors who quit the sport they played at the school.
Like Billy said, this happens all the time. Bob Moosbrugger and Kit Hughes are the victims.
-Schools often name stadiums after people then cancel the program prior to a game being played after that.
-Schools often lose million dollar donations in sports where the AD played that particular sport.
-Schools often lose donations from donors when the AD was hired back to his alma mater because his previous experience is in fundraising.
-Schools often hire athletic directors who quit the sport they played at the school.
Like Billy said, this happens all the time. Bob Moosbrugger and Kit Hughes are the victims.
