Tamboni to Penn State

[billhoward]

Team budgets and coaches' salaries are public records at state universities, so sooner or later we'll know the package that lured him away.

[David Harding]

Tambroni confirms to the The Ithaca Journal that it was all about an opportunity for his wife:

Jeff Tambroni said his decision to leave Cornell for Penn State was not motivated by money or any "flaw or fault" with his Ivy League home of 12 years -- it was simply about family.

"It was an agonizing decision to say the least," Tambroni said Friday, after he was named Penn State's men's lacrosse coach Thursday night in a stunning move.

Tambroni's wife, Michelle, was a standout field hockey player at Penn State in the early 1990's. From 1997 to 2002, she coached Cornell's program but has been idle since while raising the couple's three children.

She'll have an opportunity to contribute to Penn State's field hockey program in some capacity with the move, although there's no specific role for her at the moment.

"It felt like it was a chance for our family, for my wife and I to both pursue our goals," Tambroni said.

[ben03]

...

"It felt like it was a chance for our family, for my wife and I to both pursue our goals," Tambroni said.

well i guess we know who wears the pants in that family ...

[ajh258]

Lastly, you're right about the $200k example, I was exaggerating. I just wished people at Day had a bit more guts to make changes rather than sticking to the status quo. It's an oft observe shortfall of groups and bureaucracies.

I think Day Hall would have the guts to make more changes if they controlled more of the money. Right now everything but Arts and Engineering is like a separate little financial fiefdom, and you get bizarre outcomes like the Hotel School hiring yet another professor of hospitality marketing while the Arts college continues to cut already bare-bones programs in theatre or foreign languages. The budget model Day Hall is proposing would hopefully change some of this.

From what you said and the metaezra article about the AEM donation, it's clear that Day doesn't have the guts to say no to money. This is really pathetic. Although the donation was sizable, are the marginal gains really worth further delineating other departments in different schools? How does a new building on the ag quad or hiring more finance professors compare to the broader cuts that other academic departments have to suffer? What happened to "...any person...any study"? I guess as long as "any"="business" or "finance," it's still true.

Additionally, it's a shame that some alumni are more concerned about "protecting their turf" than doing what's best for the University. I'm not asking for communism here but is it really that awful to integrate and optimize? Our country was founded upon the "Join or Die" ideal and these wealthy alumni should know that you don't run a successful business by simply throwing more money at a deteriorating systems.

[CUontheslopes]

A sad day. Its becoming increasingly clear that if we want to compete on a national level in athletics, the athletic dept. is going to have to increase the endowments for some key coaching positions, e.g. basketball and lacrosse so we don't just become a coaching conduit for other schools. It's incredibly frustrating to lose coaches to other schools. I understand the money was probably key and an opportunity for his wife to coach, but damn you Cornell, fire the field hockey coach to keep Tambroni. Who the hell cares about field hockey? Go ahead, jump on me. I don't care and I don't care about women's athletics in the slightest. Obviously no one else at Cornell does either since field hockey draws about 14 non-family fans a match. After Donahue's departure, I consoled myself with the notion that at least we wouldn't lose Tambroni because lacrosse isn't a big money sport like basketball. Turns out I was wrong. The Ivy League really really really needs a TV contract of some sort to get SOME money into the athletic budgets so we could get a little bit more $$$ to keep our coaches.

[Rosey]

A sad day. Its becoming increasingly clear that if we want to compete on a national level in athletics, the athletic dept. is going to have to increase the endowments for some key coaching positions, e.g. basketball and lacrosse so we don't just become a coaching conduit for other schools. It's incredibly frustrating to lose coaches to other schools. I understand the money was probably key and an opportunity for his wife to coach, but damn you Cornell, fire the field hockey coach to keep Tambroni. Who the hell cares about field hockey? Go ahead, jump on me. I don't care and I don't care about women's athletics in the slightest. Obviously no one else at Cornell does either since field hockey draws about 14 non-family fans a match.

As unpopular as most of the women's teams are spectator-wise, spectators are the least important aspect of collegiate athletics.  Sports are about the players' personal development: giving a team a crappy coach simply so that coach's husband will remain on-campus is about the most insulting notion I can imagine.

After Donahue's departure, I consoled myself with the notion that at least we wouldn't lose Tambroni because lacrosse isn't a big money sport like basketball. Turns out I was wrong. The Ivy League really really really needs a TV contract of some sort to get SOME money into the athletic budgets so we could get a little bit more $$$ to keep our coaches.

I think you've got that backward: someone would have to pay a TV station $$$ to carry the Ivy League's crappy games.  Tell me: did you fail basic economics, or simply skip that class?

[Weder]

Even if the athletic department had an unlimited budget, Cornell simply is not going to give a head coach a salary that is out of step with what the tenured faculty are making.

[mnagowski]

A sad day. Its becoming increasingly clear that if we want to compete on a national level in athletics, the athletic dept. is going to have to increase the endowments for some key coaching positions, e.g. basketball and lacrosse so we don't just become a coaching conduit for other schools. It's incredibly frustrating to lose coaches to other schools. I understand the money was probably key and an opportunity for his wife to coach, but damn you Cornell, fire the field hockey coach to keep Tambroni. Who the hell cares about field hockey? Go ahead, jump on me. I don't care and I don't care about women's athletics in the slightest. Obviously no one else at Cornell does either since field hockey draws about 14 non-family fans a match.

As unpopular as most of the women's teams are spectator-wise, spectators are the least important aspect of collegiate athletics.  Sports are about the players' personal development: giving a team a crappy coach simply so that coach's husband will remain on-campus is about the most insulting notion I can imagine.

After Donahue's departure, I consoled myself with the notion that at least we wouldn't lose Tambroni because lacrosse isn't a big money sport like basketball. Turns out I was wrong. The Ivy League really really really needs a TV contract of some sort to get SOME money into the athletic budgets so we could get a little bit more $$$ to keep our coaches.

I think you've got that backward: someone would have to pay a TV station $$$ to carry the Ivy League's crappy games.  Tell me: did you fail basic economics, or simply skip that class?

Wait, did Kyle and I just agree about something?

[CUontheslopes]

A sad day. Its becoming increasingly clear that if we want to compete on a national level in athletics, the athletic dept. is going to have to increase the endowments for some key coaching positions, e.g. basketball and lacrosse so we don't just become a coaching conduit for other schools. It's incredibly frustrating to lose coaches to other schools. I understand the money was probably key and an opportunity for his wife to coach, but damn you Cornell, fire the field hockey coach to keep Tambroni. Who the hell cares about field hockey? Go ahead, jump on me. I don't care and I don't care about women's athletics in the slightest. Obviously no one else at Cornell does either since field hockey draws about 14 non-family fans a match.

As unpopular as most of the women's teams are spectator-wise, spectators are the least important aspect of collegiate athletics.  Sports are about the players' personal development: giving a team a crappy coach simply so that coach's husband will remain on-campus is about the most insulting notion I can imagine.

After Donahue's departure, I consoled myself with the notion that at least we wouldn't lose Tambroni because lacrosse isn't a big money sport like basketball. Turns out I was wrong. The Ivy League really really really needs a TV contract of some sort to get SOME money into the athletic budgets so we could get a little bit more $$$ to keep our coaches.

I think you've got that backward: someone would have to pay a TV station $$$ to carry the Ivy League's crappy games.  Tell me: did you fail basic economics, or simply skip that class?

Did you skip basic civility or are you just a jackass? I could give a rat's ass about women's field hockey (as could 99.99% of Cornellians) and I frankly don't care what you think is insulting. I'm all for women's field hockey and I'm all for having as many varsity sports as practicable. That said, I'd much rather have Tambroni still here and keep a sport in which we have risen to national promenade clicking. Obviously Cornell didn't think his wife was too bad of a coach since they hired her once. I agree on the narrow point that just because a team doesn't draw fans doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.  However, the converse is also true. Sports which make money and pay the athletic department's budget should get precedence. Do you think Duke wouldn't give Mrs. K a job if it kept Coach K in town? Lacrosse makes money. Period. Do what it takes to keep it going.

As far as a tv station goes, Versus carries Ivy football and Ivy basketball in the wake of Cornell's recent success would not be an impossible sell at all. Cornell basketball is a hot ticket and has some cache value. Now's the perfect time to try to get a contract. Any, even limited amount of exposure would help. You know what you'd have to pay people to put on tv? ANY women's field hockey game.

[Jacob '06]

A sad day. Its becoming increasingly clear that if we want to compete on a national level in athletics, the athletic dept. is going to have to increase the endowments for some key coaching positions, e.g. basketball and lacrosse so we don't just become a coaching conduit for other schools. It's incredibly frustrating to lose coaches to other schools. I understand the money was probably key and an opportunity for his wife to coach, but damn you Cornell, fire the field hockey coach to keep Tambroni. Who the hell cares about field hockey? Go ahead, jump on me. I don't care and I don't care about women's athletics in the slightest. Obviously no one else at Cornell does either since field hockey draws about 14 non-family fans a match.

As unpopular as most of the women's teams are spectator-wise, spectators are the least important aspect of collegiate athletics.  Sports are about the players' personal development: giving a team a crappy coach simply so that coach's husband will remain on-campus is about the most insulting notion I can imagine.

After Donahue's departure, I consoled myself with the notion that at least we wouldn't lose Tambroni because lacrosse isn't a big money sport like basketball. Turns out I was wrong. The Ivy League really really really needs a TV contract of some sort to get SOME money into the athletic budgets so we could get a little bit more $$$ to keep our coaches.

I think you've got that backward: someone would have to pay a TV station $$$ to carry the Ivy League's crappy games.  Tell me: did you fail basic economics, or simply skip that class?

Did you skip basic civility or are you just a jackass? I could give a rat's ass about women's field hockey (as could 99.99% of Cornellians) and I frankly don't care what you think is insulting. I'm all for women's field hockey and I'm all for having as many varsity sports as practicable. That said, I'd much rather have Tambroni still here and keep a sport in which we have risen to national promenade clicking. Obviously Cornell didn't think his wife was too bad of a coach since they hired her once. I agree on the narrow point that just because a team doesn't draw fans doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.  However, the converse is also true. Sports which make money and pay the athletic department's budget should get precedence. Do you think Duke wouldn't give Mrs. K a job if it kept Coach K in town? Lacrosse makes money. Period. Do what it takes to keep it going.

As far as a tv station goes, Versus carries Ivy football and Ivy basketball in the wake of Cornell's recent success would not be an impossible sell at all. Cornell basketball is a hot ticket and has some cache value. Now's the perfect time to try to get a contract. Any, even limited amount of exposure would help. You know what you'd have to pay people to put on tv? ANY women's field hockey game.

I'm guessing lacrosse makes Cornell very little money if it makes it any. I also would venture a guess that the ivy league is paying versus to broadcast the football games, not the other way around.

EDIT: Heres an article about the struggles to find sponsorship for Ivy games on Vs. I guess the schools aren't necessarily paying for the coverage, but it sounds like they aren't actually receiving any money either. http://thedp.com/article/football-supplement-penn-football-versus-television-execs

[Luke 05]

The Ivy League does encompass the New York, Boston and Philadelphia TV markets. That's 3 of the top 10 markets covered by 8 teams. If the Pac10+2 is excited about adding the SLC TV market, it's reasonable that if athletics were given more priority, then the League could score a sizable TV contract.

[CUontheslopes]

A sad day. Its becoming increasingly clear that if we want to compete on a national level in athletics, the athletic dept. is going to have to increase the endowments for some key coaching positions, e.g. basketball and lacrosse so we don't just become a coaching conduit for other schools. It's incredibly frustrating to lose coaches to other schools. I understand the money was probably key and an opportunity for his wife to coach, but damn you Cornell, fire the field hockey coach to keep Tambroni. Who the hell cares about field hockey? Go ahead, jump on me. I don't care and I don't care about women's athletics in the slightest. Obviously no one else at Cornell does either since field hockey draws about 14 non-family fans a match.

As unpopular as most of the women's teams are spectator-wise, spectators are the least important aspect of collegiate athletics.  Sports are about the players' personal development: giving a team a crappy coach simply so that coach's husband will remain on-campus is about the most insulting notion I can imagine.

After Donahue's departure, I consoled myself with the notion that at least we wouldn't lose Tambroni because lacrosse isn't a big money sport like basketball. Turns out I was wrong. The Ivy League really really really needs a TV contract of some sort to get SOME money into the athletic budgets so we could get a little bit more $$$ to keep our coaches.

I think you've got that backward: someone would have to pay a TV station $$$ to carry the Ivy League's crappy games.  Tell me: did you fail basic economics, or simply skip that class?

Did you skip basic civility or are you just a jackass? I could give a rat's ass about women's field hockey (as could 99.99% of Cornellians) and I frankly don't care what you think is insulting. I'm all for women's field hockey and I'm all for having as many varsity sports as practicable. That said, I'd much rather have Tambroni still here and keep a sport in which we have risen to national promenade clicking. Obviously Cornell didn't think his wife was too bad of a coach since they hired her once. I agree on the narrow point that just because a team doesn't draw fans doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.  However, the converse is also true. Sports which make money and pay the athletic department's budget should get precedence. Do you think Duke wouldn't give Mrs. K a job if it kept Coach K in town? Lacrosse makes money. Period. Do what it takes to keep it going.

As far as a tv station goes, Versus carries Ivy football and Ivy basketball in the wake of Cornell's recent success would not be an impossible sell at all. Cornell basketball is a hot ticket and has some cache value. Now's the perfect time to try to get a contract. Any, even limited amount of exposure would help. You know what you'd have to pay people to put on tv? ANY women's field hockey game.

I'm guessing lacrosse makes Cornell very little money if it makes it any. I also would venture a guess that the ivy league is paying versus to broadcast the football games, not the other way around.

EDIT: Heres an article about the struggles to find sponsorship for Ivy games on Vs. I guess the schools aren't necessarily paying for the coverage, but it sounds like they aren't actually receiving any money either. http://thedp.com/article/football-supplement-penn-football-versus-television-execs

a f
Having talking to the higher ups in athletics dept., I can tell you that lacrosse makes a fair amount of money, which is not surprising given the crowds it sometimes draws - 7,000+ for Syracuse. Pton drew 12,000 plus a few years back and I believe over 10,000 last year. Not too shabby. Men's basketball, hockey, lacrosse (and in good attendance years) and football make money.

[Jacob '06]

A sad day. Its becoming increasingly clear that if we want to compete on a national level in athletics, the athletic dept. is going to have to increase the endowments for some key coaching positions, e.g. basketball and lacrosse so we don't just become a coaching conduit for other schools. It's incredibly frustrating to lose coaches to other schools. I understand the money was probably key and an opportunity for his wife to coach, but damn you Cornell, fire the field hockey coach to keep Tambroni. Who the hell cares about field hockey? Go ahead, jump on me. I don't care and I don't care about women's athletics in the slightest. Obviously no one else at Cornell does either since field hockey draws about 14 non-family fans a match.

As unpopular as most of the women's teams are spectator-wise, spectators are the least important aspect of collegiate athletics.  Sports are about the players' personal development: giving a team a crappy coach simply so that coach's husband will remain on-campus is about the most insulting notion I can imagine.

After Donahue's departure, I consoled myself with the notion that at least we wouldn't lose Tambroni because lacrosse isn't a big money sport like basketball. Turns out I was wrong. The Ivy League really really really needs a TV contract of some sort to get SOME money into the athletic budgets so we could get a little bit more $$$ to keep our coaches.

I think you've got that backward: someone would have to pay a TV station $$$ to carry the Ivy League's crappy games.  Tell me: did you fail basic economics, or simply skip that class?

Did you skip basic civility or are you just a jackass? I could give a rat's ass about women's field hockey (as could 99.99% of Cornellians) and I frankly don't care what you think is insulting. I'm all for women's field hockey and I'm all for having as many varsity sports as practicable. That said, I'd much rather have Tambroni still here and keep a sport in which we have risen to national promenade clicking. Obviously Cornell didn't think his wife was too bad of a coach since they hired her once. I agree on the narrow point that just because a team doesn't draw fans doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.  However, the converse is also true. Sports which make money and pay the athletic department's budget should get precedence. Do you think Duke wouldn't give Mrs. K a job if it kept Coach K in town? Lacrosse makes money. Period. Do what it takes to keep it going.

As far as a tv station goes, Versus carries Ivy football and Ivy basketball in the wake of Cornell's recent success would not be an impossible sell at all. Cornell basketball is a hot ticket and has some cache value. Now's the perfect time to try to get a contract. Any, even limited amount of exposure would help. You know what you'd have to pay people to put on tv? ANY women's field hockey game.

I'm guessing lacrosse makes Cornell very little money if it makes it any. I also would venture a guess that the ivy league is paying versus to broadcast the football games, not the other way around.

EDIT: Heres an article about the struggles to find sponsorship for Ivy games on Vs. I guess the schools aren't necessarily paying for the coverage, but it sounds like they aren't actually receiving any money either. http://thedp.com/article/football-supplement-penn-football-versus-television-execs

a f
Having talking to the higher ups in athletics dept., I can tell you that lacrosse makes a fair amount of money, which is not surprising given the crowds it sometimes draws - 7,000+ for Syracuse. Pton drew 12,000 plus a few years back and I believe over 10,000 last year. Not too shabby. Men's basketball, hockey, lacrosse (and in good attendance years) and football make money.

Here are the attendance figures for this year:
army- 519
binghamton- 321
virginia- 1640
Yale- 217
Harvard- 2986
Syracuse- 7235
Brown- 2125

15043 total

Assuming that every single one of those tickets was a full price $10 adult ticket (unlikely) ticket sales brought them in a whopping $150,430. I assume thats maybe enough to pay a coach or two?

[KeithK]

Having talking to the higher ups in athletics dept., I can tell you that lacrosse makes a fair amount of money,

Here are the attendance figures for this year:

15043 total

Assuming that every single one of those tickets was a full price $10 adult ticket (unlikely) ticket sales brought them in a whopping $150,430. I assume thats maybe enough to pay a coach or two?

There are other potential sources of revenue. They might count concessions sold at games.  There might be a payout for making it to the tournament (not sure if lax works that way or not). More importantly, I would bet that they include alumni donations when determining whether a program earns money or not, since what matters to the AD is whether the program is a a drain on the sports budget or not.

As usual with college athletics it all depends on how you count the various colors of money.

[Jim Hyla]

Having talking to the higher ups in athletics dept., I can tell you that lacrosse makes a fair amount of money,

Here are the attendance figures for this year:

15043 total

Assuming that every single one of those tickets was a full price $10 adult ticket (unlikely) ticket sales brought them in a whopping $150,430. I assume thats maybe enough to pay a coach or two?

There are other potential sources of revenue. They might count concessions sold at games.  There might be a payout for making it to the tournament (not sure if lax works that way or not). More importantly, I would bet that they include alumni donations when determining whether a program earns money or not, since what matters to the AD is whether the program is a a drain on the sports budget or not.

As usual with college athletics it all depends on how you count the various colors of money.

But when you add in all the equipment, travel ,and everything else, I don't think any CU sports make a lot of money. Certainly the whole department loses money. I'm with Kyle on all this, WTF::help::, CU athletics exists for the student athlete first, fans second, and money last. It's why the Ivies generally have more D1 sports than any other universities. If we start going the way of the money schools, which seems like some want, we would drop sports. That would be a shame. As much a hockey fan as I am, I enjoy reading the CU athletic website and their posting about all the sports. I'm proud of the fact that we can compete nationally in some sports, and field teams in so many sports. Having gone to UMich, and living in Syracuse, I understand what happens when you go big time. I don't want it.

Some seem to think we can keep all we have and still compete in all ways with the big boys. Won't happen, can't happen. If we can get great coaches who form strong ties to the U like Schafer, Moran, Koll, and maybe DeLuca, we will be successful. Those coaches respect what the Ivys stand for, enjoy their work, enjoy living here, and likely will stay. A coach like Donahue, who has big time aspirations, will leave.

I'm reading the book "Enough" by John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Funds. It's out in paperback; I'd recommend it to everyone.