Sorry for the length, but Tyra took almost a half hour including Q&A. I’ve now gone through it in detail, and here’s my understanding and analysis. It’s organized by subject, and I welcome everyone’s comments esp. if I misunderstood anything…
Sr. Management Reorganization
Four senior employees have retired or been fired, Kevin Miller and the three terminated who were in the news. Kevin Miller will be replaced by a “deputy AD” in Tyra’s words, which sounds to me like a more junior, lower paid direct report to Tyra. Miller’s title was Executive Sr. Assoc. AD.
There will be two new staff positions, and both appear to be Tyra direct reports as well: Assoc. AD of Student Health and Wellness and Assoc. AD of Administration. The three who were terminated held the former positions of Sr. Assoc. AD/Development (M. Jurich), Assoc. AD/Human Resources (Maffet), and Assoc. AD/Marketing (Waldron). Maffet’s former position and the new Administration AD position overlap a lot from the way Tyra described the new position.
I’ve already remarked that Tyra’s adopting a lot more of an internal focus, and it’s clear from this reorganization. The Health and Wellness AD focused on student-athletes is replacing the Development (fundraising) and Marketing ADs, both of which had an external focus.
Salaried Cost Saving
Tyra’s reduction in salary from $1.2 million to $850K has been discussed at length. How he arrives at the number is my question. I linked data in a
separate thread for AD compensation nationally, and the three highest paid ADs in the ACC are at Duke, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech. Neither their base salaries nor total compensation average $854K as reported by Tyra on Thursday.
I’m more in the dark why he thinks his average should include Duke’s AD who was previously AD at Notre Dame, or Wakes’ who has been in the job 26 years. Both are lifelong athletics guys; Tyra’s a lifelong fan. Average AD base salaries in the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC are respectively $630K, 690, and 650. Later in Tyra’s presser, he said that both his position and his head coaches would be paid “the market” going forward. That could be interpreted as at the market for the position or for that particular individual (someone with similar credentials). On either basis and considering his credentials, it’s hard to fathom why Tyra deserves more than the average salary for ADs in those conferences.
He committed to a million dollars total in salaried reduction from his job which I calculate as $350K plus the aforementioned job reductions which were reported as $504,428 incl. car allowances. The remaining $150,000 to get to a million will come from Miller’s replacement along with other “backfilling” in the department.
Fundraising
IMO this is the determining factor for Tyra and U of L athletics in the future… The Juriches clearly handled fundraising at the highest level and had a combined thirty years’ experience at U of L. When asked about Mark and his fundraising role during Q&A, Tyra commented that his department “no longer needs support management and fundraising” which I interpreted as functions or departments explicitly. (Surely to God, he thinks we need some focus on charitable gifts in a nonprofit…) That is, those functions are being downscaled and folded into other jobs. He continued that they have “already backfilled on the fundraising side with current talent.”
When asked—I think by Howie—“who is leading that fundraising effort?”…Tyra’s quick response was “Assistant AD of fundraising” along with “filling in lower ranks”. Translated, that means Tyra designated a junior guy mentioned in the presser to be Mark Jurich’s replacement functionally. It’s clear that fundraising as a departmental priority is being de-emphasized. Since Tyra knows it would be hopeless trying to replace the Juriches in ability, it’s easier for him to conclude that function isn’t as important anymore. When there is that need, he and the Asst. AD are gonna spearhead it.
Tyra said donors have a “small but mighty voice,” and he referred to “noise from passionate fans.” He also said “I’m not here trumpeting every time we add a new donor.” As far as him personally, Tyra claimed not to be “panicked” but acknowledged a “need to educate.” I’ll comment later in this thread on those remarks.
“Student-athlete Experience”
I counted five times (it may have been more) Tyra evoke the term “student-athlete experience”. In contrast to a de-emphasis on marketing and fundraising, he is evidently making this a priority. However, he was vague in both defining it as well as why he thinks it needs increased focus. The implication is that it wasn’t getting proper attention under Jurich—
my words.
It’s my understanding that his new AD for Student Health and Wellness will have that primary accountability.
Coaching Contracts
Tyra has re-signed or extended the contracts of Dani Busboom Kelly (volleyball), Karen Ferguson-Dayes (women’s soccer), and Ken Lolla (men’s soccer). Lolla’s was a new five-year deal; Tyra called it an “extension,” but his contract had expired. He added two years to the three remaining on Ferguson-Dayes’ contract. And Tyra made it sound like Kelly’s had or was about to expire, so he added another year. He also mentioned that he gave Kelly “a bump with incentives” which likely means an increase in compensation. No mention of an increase with the other two.
As mentioned, Tyra committed to pay “market” salaries for his coaches and staff. He said that cost reductions will specifically not affect recruiting or coaching salaries.
The issue of nepotism was brought up in conjunction with recent football coaching hires. Tyra said that Petrino applied for "exception reports" and those were approved by HR and Tyra himself.
“Fan experience”
Tyra referred to marketing efforts behind improving it but with few details.
The only detail was that he’s pursuing transportation for students to and from games because their attendance has been so weak—
my words again. I’ve often heard Jeff Walz remark that the trip downtown is the major reason he’s given up trying to appeal to students to attend women’s games. U of L didn’t want a downtown arena location in part because of this problem; interesting now that it’s in U of L’s lap to fix it.
Stadium Expansion
This subject’s also been discussed a lot, and there’s nothing much to add from his presser. Tyra confirmed that premium seats are almost sold out, and those sales are what was used to financially justify breaking ground on the expansion. I don’t understand why that wasn’t the issue he called attention to, and not how many seats are actually included which is a red herring.
Open Door Policy
Tyra claims to have one, but I’m not sure from the tone of his comments how often it’s used.
He will fire someone he considers a “close friend” which is how he describes Mark Jurich. And he acknowledged that he has “challenged [my staff] to get on board or move along.” I’m skeptical how well those things make people feel about an open door policy.
Communication and Attitude
I’m departing now from a mostly factual account of the content, and speaking more to Tyra’s style and subliminal message… I just mentioned what I think he is communicating to his staff.
Make no mistake, this guy has a smooth delivery. And it’s easy to understand how way too many people comment “he says the right things” and say little else meaningful. That is, people are judging him mostly on style points. But you read a lot about his attitude from the little things he says, some of the direct quotes that I included above. It's interesting that all of these are in the context of donations and fundraising...
“Donors have a small but mighty voice…” Translated:
Even if they don’t account for much, they're loud and perhaps make trouble for him.
He’s hearing “noise from passionate fans…” Translated:
There isn’t much of significance in what fans say. Noise BTW is something you suppress.
“I’m not here trumpeting every time we add a new donor…” Translated:
The donors we lose are going out of their way to publicize it. And don’t believe for a second that Tyra wouldn’t publicize a new gift from John Schnatter.
Tyra simply “needs to educate” his naysayers. Translated:
His plan is fine; if you don’t agree with it, you’re stupid.
“I’ve been clear that this department is greater than any one man.” Translated:
Do me a favor and forget about the last guy...
