When I asked last week for the 11-30-2021 ULAA financials, I also asked for a recent summary of the endowment balances. I already had a copy of what was on account around the time Tyra took the AD job.
I recalled from a few years back that Tyra had significantly raided the Hickman Camp Fund (HCF) during his first year, FY2018, but I hadn’t seen a recent summary. U of L just sent one as of 10-31-2021, and the first thing I noticed is that the HCF is no longer on a list of endowments. However, there is a large balance under the name “ULAA ST Investments JPM,” which I interpret as short term investments on account with JP Morgan, most likely a Chase bank account. I have asked U of L to confirm that I’m reading that correctly, but I show the HCF and JPM funds on the list below as one and the same until we hear otherwise.
One shocking takeaway 3+ years later is that there are no new endowments on the list. The Bratcher endowment near the top of the page was funded after 6-30-2017 by what was called a “transfer” at that time. Perhaps Tyra brought in that money if they weren’t just funds moved from somewhere else. But keep in mind that Jurich didn’t technically leave until the Fall of 2017. There’s no other indication that Tyra brought in anything as a new endowment.
Then, there are the balances… Compared to the $25 million total in 2017, most of the endowments are relatively small but growing. I show a widely known stock market index at the bottom of the list to gauge that growth. Although most of the gains in the smaller endowments are impressive, it could have simply been underlying investment growth and not new funds added to existing endowments. In other words, since we don’t know about distributions from the various endowments or how funds were invested, it’s unknown whether Tyra was able to get existing donors to increase their endowment donations. Or if they did donate more, whether he played any role in that.
At the bottom of the list is a pretty sobering analysis of the endowments overall. The total balance of $25 million in 2017 has declined to just $11.6 million in 2021. $8.6 million of the remaining $11.6 million (75%) are endowments that have lost assets over the last four years. Why would anyone believe that trend won’t continue?
For someone in college athletics--or secondary education in general--to champion their fund raising abilities when a measure as basic as endowments shows this type of dismal performance is almost beyond belief. Maybe Tyra can try to respond to this question without an expletive.
I recalled from a few years back that Tyra had significantly raided the Hickman Camp Fund (HCF) during his first year, FY2018, but I hadn’t seen a recent summary. U of L just sent one as of 10-31-2021, and the first thing I noticed is that the HCF is no longer on a list of endowments. However, there is a large balance under the name “ULAA ST Investments JPM,” which I interpret as short term investments on account with JP Morgan, most likely a Chase bank account. I have asked U of L to confirm that I’m reading that correctly, but I show the HCF and JPM funds on the list below as one and the same until we hear otherwise.
One shocking takeaway 3+ years later is that there are no new endowments on the list. The Bratcher endowment near the top of the page was funded after 6-30-2017 by what was called a “transfer” at that time. Perhaps Tyra brought in that money if they weren’t just funds moved from somewhere else. But keep in mind that Jurich didn’t technically leave until the Fall of 2017. There’s no other indication that Tyra brought in anything as a new endowment.
Then, there are the balances… Compared to the $25 million total in 2017, most of the endowments are relatively small but growing. I show a widely known stock market index at the bottom of the list to gauge that growth. Although most of the gains in the smaller endowments are impressive, it could have simply been underlying investment growth and not new funds added to existing endowments. In other words, since we don’t know about distributions from the various endowments or how funds were invested, it’s unknown whether Tyra was able to get existing donors to increase their endowment donations. Or if they did donate more, whether he played any role in that.
At the bottom of the list is a pretty sobering analysis of the endowments overall. The total balance of $25 million in 2017 has declined to just $11.6 million in 2021. $8.6 million of the remaining $11.6 million (75%) are endowments that have lost assets over the last four years. Why would anyone believe that trend won’t continue?
For someone in college athletics--or secondary education in general--to champion their fund raising abilities when a measure as basic as endowments shows this type of dismal performance is almost beyond belief. Maybe Tyra can try to respond to this question without an expletive.
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