New athletic director Nicki Moore

[Ken711]

i would not be surprised if the SEC would be paying 5-10x as much as cornell.

Yes, you're not going to be anywhere in the same ballpark salary wise.  Hope she sticks around, but being a graduate of Missouri probably has some pull.

[billhoward]

I believed in two career paths for Nicki Moore:
* Here at Cornell for 5 years and then on to something SEC, Big Ten big. Every university needs to have a female head athletic director now or within the next decade and Moore appears to have the skills to be an AD just about anywhere. With only a handful of SEC / Big Ten good-old-boy alumni griping it was gender that got her the job. P
* Here at Cornell for the rest of her career.
Now the third possibility:
* Her alma mater wants her back. It's kind of impolite to bail after just a year in a new job, maybe two for a major new job, but for your alma mater, that'd be exception.

About the numbers:

On its website, Arizona announced that, pending approval by the school's Board of Regents, Reed-Francois will get a five-year contract at Arizona, where she received her law degree. Her deal at Arizona, as reported by The Athletic, starts with an annual base salary of $1 million, with an additional $250,000 contribution from the university's foundation and other opportunities for incentives based on the Wildcats' success in athletics and academics.

The [Arizona] contract has a base salary elevator to $1.2 million in the fifth year. Reed-Francois is scheduled to begin with Arizona on March 3.

"Leaving behind such an amazing fan base is not easy [blah blah blah] I carry with me cherished memories [blah blah blah] It has been an honor and a privilege to serve ...."

At Missouri, Reed-Francois received a contract extension in April 2023, which paid her a total of $1.25 million annually in base salary ($900,000) and non-salary compensation ($350,000).

[CU2007]

Every university needs to have a female head athletic director now or within the next decade

Why?

[ugarte]

Every university needs to have a female head athletic director now or within the next decade

Why?

He's being glib

[billhoward]

Every university needs to have a female head athletic director now or within the next decade

Why?

He's being glib

Exactly so.

Even if it's not in university trustee bylaws, every school has to come to grips with not having had a female president, athletic director, dean of students, etcetera, and there's implied pressure to not be, say, the last Ivy school to hire a woman.

It looks as if Nicki Moore may be the best-qualified person for the Cornell AD job, not the best-qualified woman, based on what's filtering out of Colgate and their regrets they only had her for five years.

[Local Motion]

So far I have been very impressed by Nicki Moore and she has a bright future on the East Hill.   The Cornell AD position is a great job at a major university without the overwhelming pressure of a Power 5 Conference.   Ithaca is a beautiful college town and nice for families, so we hope she is enjoying her job at Cornell.  Go Big Red!

[dbilmes]

So far I have been very impressed by Nicki Moore and she has a bright future on the East Hill.   The Cornell AD position is a great job at a major university without the overwhelming pressure of a Power 5 Conference.   Ithaca is a beautiful college town and nice for families, so we hope she is enjoying her job at Cornell.  Go Big Red!

You can tell she is doing a good job because she hasn't come in to a lot of criticism on this listserv!

[BearLover]

If Nicki leaves, Cornell should make Martha Pollack the next AD.

[George64]

So far I have been very impressed by Nicki Moore and she has a bright future on the East Hill.   The Cornell AD position is a great job at a major university without the overwhelming pressure of a Power 5 Conference.   Ithaca is a beautiful college town and nice for families, so we hope she is enjoying her job at Cornell.  Go Big Red!

She's been terrific!  I like that she communicates regularly with us alumni, even when not asking for money.  Speaking of money, she should get a raise and a contract extension.

[Chris '03]

So far I have been very impressed by Nicki Moore and she has a bright future on the East Hill.   The Cornell AD position is a great job at a major university without the overwhelming pressure of a Power 5 Conference.   Ithaca is a beautiful college town and nice for families, so we hope she is enjoying her job at Cornell.  Go Big Red!

You can tell she is doing a good job because she hasn't come in to a lot of criticism on this listserv!

Nothing did more to make Moore look good than two decades of Andy Noel.

[billhoward]

Nothing did more to make Moore look good than two decades of Andy Noel.

Unfounded and uncalled for. Presumes that Cornell sports suffered more under the previous AD than in years previous. Basketball got to the Sweet Sixteen under Noel, lacrosse has been to multiple final fours, women's ane men's hockey are thriving, wrestling is perennial top ten, soccer is doing well. This year's successes came from Noel's years at the helm.

Fairer comments would be:
* The greatest disparity of men's versus women's titles in the Ivy League belonged to Cornell. This is Daily Princetonian data and goes back to the Ivy League founding in 1956, so responsibility for that record also falls to Bob Kane '34, Bob Kane '34, Dick Schultz, Michael Slive, Laing Kennedy '63,  Charlies Moore '52, and Noel.
* Football has always been a weak point, never an unshared Ivy League title.
* A decade with Cornell's losingest football coach went on too long. Noel had the decency to not fire then hire a football coach in the year before retiring and have Moore stuck with that choice.

[BearLover]

Nothing did more to make Moore look good than two decades of Andy Noel.

Unfounded and uncalled for. Presumes that Cornell sports suffered more under the previous AD than in years previous. Basketball got to the Sweet Sixteen under Noel, lacrosse has been to multiple final fours, women's ane men's hockey are thriving, wrestling is perennial top ten, soccer is doing well. This year's successes came from Noel's years at the helm.

Fairer comments would be:
* The greatest disparity of men's versus women's titles in the Ivy League belonged to Cornell. This is Daily Princetonian data and goes back to the Ivy League founding in 1956, so responsibility for that record also falls to Bob Kane '34, Bob Kane '34, Dick Schultz, Michael Slive, Laing Kennedy '63,  Charlies Moore '52, and Noel.
* Football has always been a weak point, never an unshared Ivy League title.
* A decade with Cornell's losingest football coach went on too long. Noel had the decency to not fire then hire a football coach in the year before retiring and have Moore stuck with that choice.

When a school has like 40 different varsity sports, it's going to perform well in some of them. Evaluating Noel calls for a more holistic evaluation. Also, hockey and lacrosse were already the marquee Cornell sports before Noel arrived.

[Chris '03]

Nothing did more to make Moore look good than two decades of Andy Noel.

Unfounded and uncalled for. Presumes that Cornell sports suffered more under the previous AD than in years previous. Basketball got to the Sweet Sixteen under Noel, lacrosse has been to multiple final fours, women's ane men's hockey are thriving, wrestling is perennial top ten, soccer is doing well. This year's successes came from Noel's years at the helm.

Fairer comments would be:
* The greatest disparity of men's versus women's titles in the Ivy League belonged to Cornell. This is Daily Princetonian data and goes back to the Ivy League founding in 1956, so responsibility for that record also falls to Bob Kane '34, Bob Kane '34, Dick Schultz, Michael Slive, Laing Kennedy '63,  Charlies Moore '52, and Noel.
* Football has always been a weak point, never an unshared Ivy League title.
* A decade with Cornell's losingest football coach went on too long. Noel had the decency to not fire then hire a football coach in the year before retiring and have Moore stuck with that choice.

Unfounded and uncalled for? Here's my perception. Andy was an unpleasant person. He cared about wrestling and sometimes only that. He liked to insert himself into lacrosse huddles. The department came across as amateur hour compared to other schools. He saw students as a nuisance. He gladly threw Cornell students under the bus whenever convenient.


Moore, by contrast, seems to care about building a community and culture that doesn't treat students as a problem to be dealt with. And in a short time has created a cohesive communication style and presence that is actually professional.  

She inherited lacrosse and hockey success just like Andy did. But the image she presents to the outside is so much better than Andy's. And I'd bet that it makes some impact on recruiting across sports.

So yes. Andy being someone I find distasteful does make Moore look great. In other words, nothing made her look good quite like two decades of Andy.

[CAS]

Football was not always a weak point before Andy.  In the 11 years before Andy became AD, we had 6 winning seasons.  During Andy's tenure, we had only 2 winning seasons in 23 years! (including his first year as AD).

[kingpin248]

Nothing did more to make Moore look good than two decades of Andy Noel.

Unfounded and uncalled for. Presumes that Cornell sports suffered more under the previous AD than in years previous. Basketball got to the Sweet Sixteen under Noel, lacrosse has been to multiple final fours, women's ane men's hockey are thriving, wrestling is perennial top ten, soccer is doing well. This year's successes came from Noel's years at the helm.

Fairer comments would be:
* The greatest disparity of men's versus women's titles in the Ivy League belonged to Cornell. This is Daily Princetonian data and goes back to the Ivy League founding in 1956, so responsibility for that record also falls to Bob Kane '34, Bob Kane '34, Dick Schultz, Michael Slive, Laing Kennedy '63,  Charlies Moore '52, and Noel.
* Football has always been a weak point, never an unshared Ivy League title.
* A decade with Cornell's losingest football coach went on too long. Noel had the decency to not fire then hire a football coach in the year before retiring and have Moore stuck with that choice.

Unfounded and uncalled for? Here's my perception. Andy was an unpleasant person. He cared about wrestling and sometimes only that. He liked to insert himself into lacrosse huddles. The department came across as amateur hour compared to other schools. He saw students as a nuisance. He gladly threw Cornell students under the bus whenever convenient.


Moore, by contrast, seems to care about building a community and culture that doesn't treat students as a problem to be dealt with. And in a short time has created a cohesive communication style and presence that is actually professional.  

She inherited lacrosse and hockey success just like Andy did. But the image she presents to the outside is so much better than Andy's. And I'd bet that it makes some impact on recruiting across sports.

So yes. Andy being someone I find distasteful does make Moore look great. In other words, nothing made her look good quite like two decades of Andy.

I can't be certain that it was directly her call, but I do also have to note — during her first summer in charge, Athletics retired "Huggy Bear," which had been the official logo for two decades.