Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

[NightHawk78]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

Sounds like UNO is in a deeper mess than we thought. I think the Regents should make Belck squeam a bit when they meet next week because it's pretty clear that her job performance has been subpar.

[Mavs_Rule]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

Even more out of Omaha:

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=...;u_sid=2212863

Regents want answers on UNO athletics

BY MATTHEW HANSEN

University of Nebraska regents knew little about the fiscal problems facing the University of Nebraska at Omaha's athletic department and will demand answers at their meeting this week.

In interviews with The World-Herald, five regents said UNO Chancellor Nancy Belck never told them that she had shifted $1 million in each of the last two years from reserve funds to keep the UNO athletic department out of the red.

They said Belck and NU President J.B. Milliken never informed them that Maverick sports had lost about $3.5 million over five years. And Milliken said Belck told him only last month.  .  .  .

When the regents meet Friday in Grand Island, several said, they want to talk with Belck and get answers to some lingering questions:

? Why weren't key athletic boosters consulted before the UNO athletic department laid off five employees?

? Did Belck and others have their priorities confused when they shifted university money to bolster the athletic department?

? Why are the regents learning of all this from a newspaper?

"How can you be part of the solution when you don't know about the problem?" asked Regent Randy Ferlic of Omaha this week. "(Boosters) are mad. . . . I feel the same way."

Regents often don't know about budget problems in specific university departments and say they didn't need to know every detail about the UNO athletic department budget crunch.

But they say that Belck broke what Regent Kent Schroeder of Kearney called "an unwritten rule" - tell the regents about potential controversies, particularly involving something as high-profile as sports, especially if the controversy might become public.

For example, Milliken told regents about a UNO student's complaint that high-profile dean Tom Gouttierre allegedly slapped her weeks before the complaint became public, Schroeder said. But for whatever reason, he said, the UNO athletic department budget woes never reached the regents.

"I want to hear from Chancellor Belck, and (UNO vice chancellor) Jim Buck, and whoever else," said Regent Charles Wilson of Lincoln.

Responding, Belck said she doesn't believe that she withheld any information that should have been shared with the NU president or the regents.

The budgetary moves weren't large enough to take to the board, she said Tuesday.

Her focus was on handling the athletic department crisis in-house, not making that crisis public, Belck said.  .  .  .  

Several regents said they would have objected to the extra $2 million that Belck sent to the athletic department, had they known about it.  .  .  .

Hassebrook and Wilson said any additional money for the athletic department should be questioned, especially since a budget crisis forced UNO to cut nearly $12 million - including 170 academic positions - several years ago.  .  .  .  (read more)



Sure glad this isn't my Alma Mater.  


Go State!  

89

Yes we are having are problems, but don't act as though you alma mater is squeaky clean. I am quite sure that you know what I am talking about.








Mavs#1

[Mavs_Rule]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

Lets take it to the next level.  Over the three years that Nagy and McKenna went head to head - NCAA post season appearances:

SDSU NCAA playoff appearances = 3

UNO NCAA playoff appearances = 2

NCAA Playoff wins and loses

SDSU 3-3
UNO 1-2

Oh, by the way who ended both of McKenna's runs with UNO .  .  .  that is right South Dakota schools.  8-)

'01-'02

SDSU 96 - UNO 76

'03-'04

USD 81 - UNO 71

Looks to me like McKenna is the state of South Dakota's whipping boy.  Even after we left D-II McKenna still couldn't get it done come playoff time.  He lost to Winona St. in the first round in his last season at the helm of the lone cow program.  McKenna's NCAA D-II playoff record is 1-3.  No wonder he jumped at the chance to be an assistant coach at the D-I level.   ;D


Go State!  

At least he never lost to Morningside at home and never got drubbed by Metro State by 50 points.

[89rabbit]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

You are right, McKenna did have that big 2 point win vs. Morningside in Omaha in '03-'04.

UNO 75 - Morningside 73

As far a Metro goes, you guys were never good enough to even get in a game with Metro.  The year Metro spanked us, and went to the final four, you lost to USD who lost to Nebraska Kearney who lost to Metro, what does that say about your program?  :-? Just another 1 and done for a McKenna lead UNO team.


Go State!  


P.S.  UNO vs. Morningside all time record:  51 - 46

[1bunnies]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

When is the UNO auction scheduled . Has anyone seen the list of property that is for sale. I understand that Si Tanka in Huron has now recieved a down payment. These 2 Naia schools sure seem to have similiar problems.

[89rabbit]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

 


89

   Yes we are having are problems, but don't act as though you alma mater is squeaky clean. I am quite sure that you know what I am talking about.


    Mavs#1

I am glad to see you picked up on my subtle hint of highlighting "allegedly".  So your point (my point) is, and I am paraphrasing here, to quote an old verse "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".  I think that is a fine sentiment.  So now lets try and figure out who the stone thrower is here.  You are a UNO supporter (D-II school) on a SDSU board (D-I school), who post are almost exclusively to be found in the smack section of the board .  .  .  hmmmmm.  :-?


Go State!  

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

This is almost like piling on, but this place is a mess.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=...;u_sid=2212841

I support my A.D, Belck says

BY HENRY J. CORDES AND ROB WHITE

UNO Chancellor Nancy Belck gave her vote of confidence on Tuesday to Athletic Director David Herbster, throwing water on speculation within the department that he might be forced out as the head of Maverick athletics.

The buzz was fueled by a meeting Belck held last week with head coaches at the University of Nebraska at Omaha - a meeting at which Herbster was not present.

The meeting was followed by an e-mail Belck sent to Herbster and the coaches in which she spoke of the possibility Herbster would be leaving, even discussing the process of finding a successor.

But in a telephone interview on Tuesday, with Herbster by her side, Belck said the meeting with the coaches was simply part of the department's strategic planning process. She said Herbster is her athletic director.

"We've got to show support and got to move forward together," she said.

Several people associated with the Maverick athletic department interpreted the meeting and Belck's subsequent e-mail - a copy of which was obtained by The World-Herald - as part of an effort by the chancellor to undermine Herbster's support among coaches and force him out 19 months after his hiring. Several sources said Belck asked coaches at the meeting for their opinions on Herbster, although Belck denied it.

...

David Sokol, a prominent UNO booster, said he found the chancellor's e-mail "just amazing."

Even if it were true that Herbster had confidentially indicated he might leave, it undercut his support among his employees for Belck to break the confidence and tell them that, Sokol said.

"How can that be a supportive statement?" he asked. "That can't be interpreted as anything but an effort to push him out and an effort to garner support from the coaches to do so. . . . That is so wrong, it's just incredible."

Sokol said he thinks that it was part of an effort by Belck to make Herbster a scapegoat for the athletic department's troubles, even though the budget shortfalls precede by years his arrival at UNO. Sokol said Belck and her administration need to accept responsibility for the problems.

[89rabbit]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

Ohhhhhhh now they have done it .  .  . they have brought heat down on Big Red this can't be good for UNO.  

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=...;u_sid=2213692

Regent calls for audits of sports departments

by Matthew Hansen, Omaha World Herald

A University of Nebraska regent said today that he wants an audit of all three NU athletic departments.

His request will come at a Friday meeting of the NU Board of Regents, where UNO Chancellor Nancy Belck has been called to discuss the UNO athletic department's financial problems.  .  .  .

"This is an opportunity to start a dialogue about the cost of athletics on all campuses," said Regent Randy Ferlic of Omaha, who plans to request the audit.

"I welcome that. I'm sure the campuses aren't going to welcome it," he said.  .  .  .

Three regents - Ferlic, Regent Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons and Regent Charles Wilson of Lincoln - recently have criticized what they see as a college athletics financial arms race. Hassebrook has called for UNO to cut football to balance its budget.  .  .  .  (read more)



Go State!  

[89rabbit]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

Wait there is more:

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=...;u_sid=2213924

Audit of UNO athletics sought

by Henry J. Cordes and Matthew Hansen, Omaha World Herald

UNO athletic booster David Sokol for years has sponsored a bonus program for Maverick athletics administrators.

In that role, he says, he would sit down each spring with UNO Chancellor Nancy Belck and Vice Chancellor Jim Buck to evaluate the performance of the athletic director and his staff, with one of the most important criteria being on-budget performance.

So Sokol was surprised to learn in recent weeks that the University of Nebraska at Omaha has had athletic budget woes for five years.

That period would include at least three years when Sokol says he wrote bonus checks - annually totaling $25,000 to $35,000 - in part as a reward for the department's fiscal management.

"We paid significant bonuses in those years, with the chancellor and vice chancellor agreeing," said Sokol, chief executive of Mid-American Energy Co. "It's part of the bizarreness of what's going on."

That is one reason Sokol wants an audit of UNO's athletics finances, either by an outside firm or by the NU system's central administration. And he's not the only one.

In the wake of recent revelations, an NU regent and a growing number of UNO boosters are also requesting such an audit.

Both Sokol and booster Lee Sapp say they won't make any new financial commitments to UNO's athletic department until their concerns are met.

"Not until this thing is straightened out," Sapp said. "We need an audit, and it should be an outside audit rather than an inside audit."

UNO's fieldhouse is named for Lee Sapp and his wife, Helene, because of previous major donations. . . . (read more)


Ouch, ugly ugly times at UNO. :'(


Go State!

[NightHawk78]

Re: Isn't Omaha Amazing - Part 2

My, oh, my! Belck accepted tens of thousands of dollars in "bonus" donations because of "sound fiscal management" even though she KNEW that UNO had to transfer reserve dollars and other funds in to make the numbers look right. I think the regents are going to want someone's head to roll once the audit is done for the UNO athletic dept.

The Mav Twins better hope that Belck arrives in Grand Island with her resignation letter in hand. Otherwise, we'll have to call them Jays#1 and Roopower in a few months........