many thx to current interim athletic director michael williams for keeping the seat warm for me
negotiations are moving along with chancellor nicky d & his crew in my pursuit of being named the next athletic director at the university of california, berkeley
among the sticking points:
***my financial strategy of restructuring the $400m+ memorial stadium renovation debt via venture capital investments in start ups along with london & manhattan commercial real estate holdings is viewed as too speculative...the next ad needs to be a much stronger hands on fiscal manager, not a super fan traveling 40 weeks of the yr to the women's field hockey match in tulsa in order to cheer on the team
***all cal non revenue sports would need to be 80% financially self supporting via donations/fund raising within the next 5 yrs, no exceptions, or become a club sport...all existing schollys for current student athletes would be honored thru graduation
***a cal bb alumni game featuring jason kidd, kevin johnson, shareef abdur rahim, jorge gutierrez, ryan anderson, tony gonzalez, leon powe, max zhang, leonard taylor, sean lampley, alan crabbe, russ critchfield, jerome randle, patrick christopher, yogi stewart, sean marks, al grigsby, richard midgley, michael chavez, ayinde ubaka, joe ship, mark mcnamara, carl bird, theo robertson, keith smith, harper kamp, francisco elson, jamal boykin, larry friend, phil chenier, darall imhoff, matt beeuwsaert, butch hays, gene ransom, charles johnson, roy fisher, michael pitts, ryan forehan kelly, brian wethers, ed gray, lamond murray, jackie ridgle, ansley truitt, jon wheeler, kevin singleton, monty buckley, doug vilotti, devon hardin, richard butler, dennis gates, doug true, brian hendrcks, aj digs, robert thurman, prentice mcgruder, monty buckley, justin labagh & the 1959/1960 final four teams would be played at a sold out haas in 2015...assistant coach slots on the bench would be sold for $10,000 donations, marshawn lynch would be the game's only ref & there would be a halftime musical performance by the souls of mischief in conjunction with the cal band...the game would also be aired on the pac 12 network
cal bb has an untapped goldmine of potential donor support from its highly successful bb alumni group because of its inability to stay connected with former players, that needs to change...every former bear needs a personal phone call welcoming them back to berkeley, that's what great organizations do to ensure a strong legacy (and that's the essence of the recruiting message to ivan, "what do you want your legacy to be?")
***the costly & unsuccessful baseball team program would be discontinued immediately with evans diamond converted into a short game practice area with putting greens & bunker areas (designed by bill coore) for the men's & women's golf teams (and myself)
***oski would be my 2nd in command as the deputy associate athletic director once he gets out of rehab
***my commitment to assist with the recruiting of qualified student athletes for the dance & cheerleading squads has been labeled as "inappropriate" behavior for an ad...asu would be the model, everyone knows the sun devils have the smartest, best looking & most athletic women on planet earth...adios diane milano, you can start packing up your stuff now
***current efforts to secure a cypress point membership for me have proven unsuccessful...this is a non negotiable point as part of my compensation package, not gonna leave the desert w/o a cypress bag tag...an annual pass at top golf ain't gonna cut it
***the rebranding of cal athletics...all cal uniforms, facilities, letterhead, etc. would clearly state the athletic department's new mission statement for the university of california, berkeley: "don't be a dumbazz"
this **** is gonna be live
the university of california, berkeley=#1 ranked public university in the world