AJC Report: Cobb New Ga. St. AD

[NewApp]

All I am going to say about fundraising capabilities is, " are the facilities paid for yet?"

No and they won't be for many years. The debt is set up to be paid back over 21 years, There should be 13 or 14 "debt service" payments remaining to be paid. Once per year plus interest (debt service). It was done through bonds. Bonds are repaid on a schedule designed to pay the lenders yields on their money.

Thanks. That is the first full explanation I have seen on here. I think it was a horrible way to do it but at least now everyone knows.

Evidently borrowing money was the only way to improve the facilities to the extent that we did, but like a couple other posters on here once said (something to the effect of) let's try to pay for what we now have before we talk about lowering the field and and/or moving toward 40K seating capacity. Equating it to a mortgage or car loan doesn't cut it for me.

It's an analogy......to help you understand why an institution would take on debt for a long period of time...Heck, even Goldman, IBM and Caterpillar issue 30 year bonds.....it wasn't to minimize the burden of debt.

I totally realize the analogy, but just don't like to rationalize that way.

[BeauFoster]

A lot of they money we have already raised is sitting in investments, earning more than the interest we are paying on the bonds. Sometimes it is smarter to take on debt than pay cash for something. Sometimes paying cash is actually the wrong financial decision.

[bcoach]

This is all well and fine but a lot of it sounds a lot like what was pitched to people that are now underwater in their homes. Debt is such a wonderful thing. When debt is a really wonderful thing though is when someone else has to pay for it. The bottom line is that we took on 25 years worth of debt that we could not pay for without raising student fees. The point is that we sit in seats that are being paid for by someone else. Take on the debt then if we can't pay just raise student fees. Just like the government.
Twenty years left on our debt then what the heck let's just add some more. We won't have to pay for it. I am willing to bet that if ticket prices had to support the department this site would go silent on any further expansion.
All I am saying is at some point in this country and this university we are going to have to figure out what we can afford and it is not our ever growing wish list.

[NewApp]

A lot of they money we have already raised is sitting in investments, earning more than the interest we are paying on the bonds. Sometimes it is smarter to take on debt than pay cash for something. Sometimes paying cash is actually the wrong financial decision.

You mean like the $17,000,000,000,000.00 plus that we owe mostly to the Chinese?

[NewApp]

This is all well and fine but a lot of it sounds a lot like what was pitched to people that are now underwater in their homes. Debt is such a wonderful thing. When debt is a really wonderful thing though is when someone else has to pay for it. The bottom line is that we took on 25 years worth of debt that we could not pay for without raising student fees. The point is that we sit in seats that are being paid for by someone else. Take on the debt then if we can't pay just raise student fees. Just like the government.
Twenty years left on our debt then what the heck let's just add some more. We won't have to pay for it. I am willing to bet that if ticket prices had to support the department this site would go silent on any further expansion.
All I am saying is at some point in this country and this university we are going to have to figure out what we can afford and it is not our ever growing wish list.

Rep point

[BeauFoster]

This is all well and fine but a lot of it sounds a lot like what was pitched to people that are now underwater in their homes. Debt is such a wonderful thing. When debt is a really wonderful thing though is when someone else has to pay for it. The bottom line is that we took on 25 years worth of debt that we could not pay for without raising student fees. The point is that we sit in seats that are being paid for by someone else. Take on the debt then if we can't pay just raise student fees. Just like the government.
Twenty years left on our debt then what the heck let's just add some more. We won't have to pay for it. I am willing to bet that if ticket prices had to support the department this site would go silent on any further expansion.
All I am saying is at some point in this country and this university we are going to have to figure out what we can afford and it is not our ever growing wish list.

There should not be an issue taking on debt responsibly. Plenty of people do it every day. The world can turn upside down in an instant, which can and will cause issues with servicing the debt, but with stable investments, you will make more than you are spending on the interest. That's why so many people who make millions of dollars a year still take out mortgages - it makes sense in many instances.

I'm going to stay out of the political conversation, because 1) this isn't the political folder (dont tell cline that, he can't understand) and 2) it isn't relevant to this conversation. What the US govt and what ASU does are two (hopefully) different things.

[NewApp]

This is all well and fine but a lot of it sounds a lot like what was pitched to people that are now underwater in their homes. Debt is such a wonderful thing. When debt is a really wonderful thing though is when someone else has to pay for it. The bottom line is that we took on 25 years worth of debt that we could not pay for without raising student fees. The point is that we sit in seats that are being paid for by someone else. Take on the debt then if we can't pay just raise student fees. Just like the government.
Twenty years left on our debt then what the heck let's just add some more. We won't have to pay for it. I am willing to bet that if ticket prices had to support the department this site would go silent on any further expansion.
All I am saying is at some point in this country and this university we are going to have to figure out what we can afford and it is not our ever growing wish list.

There should not be an issue taking on debt responsibly. Plenty of people do it every day. The world can turn upside down in an instant, which can and will cause issues with servicing the debt, but with stable investments, you will make more than you are spending on the interest. That's why so many people who make millions of dollars a year still take out mortgages - it makes sense in many instances.

I'm going to stay out of the political conversation, because 1) this isn't the political folder (dont tell cline that, he can't understand) and 2) it isn't relevant to this conversation. What the US govt and what ASU does are two (hopefully) different things.

I totally understand, but didn't you notice the "wink?
"Besides last I checked, our Appalachian State University is part of the government, so to speak.
FWIW We do get a good bit of federal funding.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Beasley is interim AD just announced.

Edit Link: http://chancellor.appstate.edu/messages/id/39

Any chance Beasley could end up getting the job? Why not???

Rick is a great guy, an admired part of ASU's athletic history and as asu66 said a politician. Anyone who has been around Rick for any length of time can tell you he has never taken a position contrary to that of the administration who is in place. When Borkowski and Laney were running the show Rick was in 100% agreement with their actions and agenda. Peacock came along, hired Cobb, did a 180 from the previous administration and Rick jumps in 100% behind the new team's ideas. One thing you have to say about Rick, he is Mr Positive. Some say to the point of living in a fantasy world.

Rick is not a leader, he's a follower. He is also not AD material.

Do you recall that Rick was town manager of Newton for many moons? One has to support the elected officials in the hierarchy to hold that type job for a couple decades or so.

He's not AD material for a university of our size, but has definitely shown leadership skills during his careers. He raised a great deal of the money that Gerald Adams has been credited for since he has been onboard. On the playing field, Rick exhibited a great deal of leadership when he was hooked up as a sure handed receiver with Steve Brown back in the day. It could be argued that Steve wouldn't be our color announcer today had it not been for Rick's part in the duo. Of course Rick might not be an employee of ASU today had it not been for Steve's influence input in getting Beasley on board. . To me, that says a lot a about leadership skills even as a 22 + or - a year old or so..

Minor detail but Rick was town manager of Conover, though the Twin Cities are close in many ways beyond geography.

[NewApp]

Beasley is interim AD just announced.

Edit Link: http://chancellor.appstate.edu/messages/id/39

Any chance Beasley could end up getting the job? Why not???

Rick is a great guy, an admired part of ASU's athletic history and as asu66 said a politician. Anyone who has been around Rick for any length of time can tell you he has never taken a position contrary to that of the administration who is in place. When Borkowski and Laney were running the show Rick was in 100% agreement with their actions and agenda. Peacock came along, hired Cobb, did a 180 from the previous administration and Rick jumps in 100% behind the new team's ideas. One thing you have to say about Rick, he is Mr Positive. Some say to the point of living in a fantasy world.

Rick is not a leader, he's a follower. He is also not AD material.

Do you recall that Rick was town manager of Newton for many moons? One has to support the elected officials in the hierarchy to hold that type job for a couple decades or so.

He's not AD material for a university of our size, but has definitely shown leadership skills during his careers. He raised a great deal of the money that Gerald Adams has been credited for since he has been onboard. On the playing field, Rick exhibited a great deal of leadership when he was hooked up as a sure handed receiver with Steve Brown back in the day. It could be argued that Steve wouldn't be our color announcer today had it not been for Rick's part in the duo. Of course Rick might not be an employee of ASU today had it not been for Steve's influence input in getting Beasley on board. . To me, that says a lot a about leadership skills even as a 22 + or - a year old or so..

Minor detail but Rick was town manager of Conover, though the Twin Cities are close in many ways beyond geography.

Yep, my mistake. Never heard Newton-Conover described as "cities," though.

[Saint3333]

Conover is a town of 8,000 to put this in perspective.

[AppinVA]

I thought Newton-Conover was one combined city, like Winston-Salem. You never really hear of one without the other. Learned something new.

[asu66]

Conover is a town of 8,000 to put this in perspective.

Here's the type of AD we should be recruiting experience-wise...

http://www.siusalukis.com/genrel/moccia_mario00.html
http://www.hawkeyesports.com/administra ... e-dir.html

[CVAPP]

Although I don't know that Rick would be the top choice were we to conduct a true national search, he was very well respected as Conover's city manager. And believe it or not, Conover is far from a slouchy gig compared to the municipalities in which many of our grads serve as town managers. From an administrative standpoint, Rick certainly has the wherewithal and experience to manage the budget/finances. We are lucky to have him and I am confident he will do a fine job as interim AD.

[JTApps1]

Rick is a great guy, and he has always treated me well. However, we need someone who has worked their way up through college athletic departments, and has experience running medium to large athletic departments. Someone with connectors throughout the country in Division 1 athletics not just the SoCon. Most of all we need fresh ideas from the outside.

[Saint3333]

I see this as a similar situation to Satterfield. He he hadn't left App to go be an OC at two FBS programs it would have been very difficult for him to get the HC job. No one doubts Rick's commitment and heart when it comes to App, but he may be going up against a couple candidates that have more experience at the AD position.

I consider Rick a good friend and a valuable member of the current staff, but I look for us to have a very competitive pool of applicants.

If he could sign a home game vs. a few solid programs in the next couple months that would be impressive ;-).

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

I thought Newton-Conover was one combined city, like Winston-Salem. You never really hear of one without the other. Learned something new.

I grew up 5 miles north of Conover just off NC-16 so I know a little about this.

They of course have the combined school district, where I student taught, but are separate corporate bodies. I don't think there is any legal difference in village, town, or city and any can incorporate as either with no regard to size, population or difference in legal treatment from Raleigh. (Some that know this stuff please correct me but I read about this a few years ago.) In some states there is a legal difference in the three or more titles, but not so in NC.

Anyway I remember years ago in the late 1980s I would guess that both cities had a nice brick welcome sign on the main roads into each city that for both cities said "Welcome to Newton-Conover" and I do believe it was Conover that decided to change their signs to just "Welcome to Conover." At some point after that Newton decided to do the same with their welcome signs, though for Newton, the sign said "Welcome to Newton." as it would have made no sense for Newton to welcome someone with a "Welcome to Conover" sign.

Both Conover and Newton have the word City in their Seals or slogans, and not the word town, so regardless of population, they are cities. Though in the case of Conover, and also Newton, both have much larger populations during the workday from all the industry and workers that enter each city Monday through Friday. Newton annexed some years ago a large rural area on the county and added some population but a lot of land area.

As far as the moniker "Twin-Cities." It is a name for a few businesses in the area. Twin-City Knitting makes sports socks and has production based in both Conover (near the YMCA) and Newton (Burris Rd), though as expected they also receive a lot of production from China. It may be one of the last hosiery mills in the Catawba Valley that has some actual production left in the Catawba Valley.

Well, that was more than most wanted to know about this area.

[AppState2014]

Rick is a great guy, and he has always treated me well. However, we need someone who has worked their way up through college athletic departments, and has experience running medium to large athletic departments. Someone with connectors throughout the country in Division 1 athletics not just the SoCon. Most of all we need fresh ideas from the outside.

I'm with you on this. Rick is a good guy and if he wants to be the AD one day then I would like for him to go out and work as an associate AD at some B5 schools and then come back down the line. He's done a very good job in his current role and I would like to see him have a shot at the job one day. We do need some fresh ideas from the outside and even more importantly someone who will come in and truly evaluate our staff to see who should stay and who should go. Part of me thinks we probably have some dead weight that could go.

[App1990]

The debt discussion is entertaining, if not disturbing. First, issuing debt for academics is different than issuing debt for athletics. One is the mission of the university while also being a public good to the state. The other is entertainment for alumni. Second, borrowing money for a house when you have enough income to pay the bills is different than borrowing money when you dot generate enough money to cover the bills. Athletics runs a huge operating deficit, and only lives on subsidies from the institution and student fees. No business would borrow money to do things that increase costs more than revenues, but then again, no business can take from others to cover the loses. Third, to suggest that borrowing money was good because it got us out of the SoCon is like the dude that got a subprime loan to get them in a house they could not afford. It's easy to be stupid with other people's money. Unfortunately, the system breeds it. But we should be better than the rest.

[Rekdiver]

You can't discuss the value of intercollegiate athletics to a schools development with those who see no value or see the correlation in school growth and athletic success and improved student admissions. That is what is disturbing.

[asu66]

The debt discussion is entertaining, if not disturbing. First, issuing debt for academics is different than issuing debt for athletics. One is the mission of the university while also being a public good to the state. The other is entertainment for alumni.

Now there's a really broad-minded view for us. That took a lot of thought. Were you ever a member of a varsity team in any sport at our Alma Mater? Ever leave your blood on a field or court on our campus? Are you a contributor to the Yosef Club?

If this is how you feel, what brings you to this forum, anyway?