I would counter that looking at this as a professors vs. statues argument is flawed. I can't imagine that the booster(s) that are paying for this wouldn't give the money for academic purposes if requested, rather they have been asked to donate for this purpose.
Now why would we ask them to do this? As has been previously stated, we are in an arms race to fund our athletic programs and be in a position to donate significant dollars back to the university. That arms race is in part fueled by winning teams, which are created with tremendous student-athletes. Now, what do you think will influence that stud RB to attend UF, a new religion professor or seeing those statues, knowing that one day he might have one too? It can be argued that without the statues, we will lose recruits, which will cost us to lose some games, which will reduce donations (see the Zook years) and ultimately have less money going back to the academic side of the university. Having said all of that, I don't like the statues. Not because of who or how they are being funded, I just think the whole idea is tacky. And I certainly wouldn't put one up of SOS until he leaves the cocks and retires. Ken K. MNGator -----Original Message----- From: gatortalk@googlegroups.com [mailto:gatort...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Shane Ford Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 2:59 PM To: gatortalk@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Re: [gatortalk] Re: [gatornews] [SUN]: 6/17 06:01 --- UF statues to honor Heisman winners [Crabbe] Ok, Zeb! Gosh! You have me questioning my own position on this. You raise some very good points concerning the UAA vs the university. Man, are you a lawyer or some thing? :-) ---------- Sent from AT&T's Wireless network using Mobile Email ------Original Message------ From: John Vega <zebu...@gate.net> To: <gatortalk@googlegroups.com> Date: Thursday, June 17, 2010 3:39:05 PM GMT-0400 Subject: Re: [gatortalk] Re: [gatornews] [SUN]: 6/17 06:01 --- UF statues to honor Heisman winners [Crabbe] On Jun 17, 2010, at 3:18 PM, oli...@bobparks.com wrote: > That is why it's called a donation. Giving more money to the > university could be justified in any year, not just this year when > things are bad. If the UAA were part of the University, it would be called a budget. But for the University, the UAA would not earn a dime. Semi-pro football founders, and even minor league baseball has trouble making money (with better players than play NCAA ball). So, I have trouble understanding that, when an arm of the University comes in under-budget, why not spending more money is considered a "donation." > Actually, the UAA gives more money than most other schools get out > of their sports programs. Besides, who do you think funds softball, > soccer and lacrosse? Ticket sales? Not only the sports, but all the > scholarships related to ALL of the non-revenue sports at UF are > funded by UAA. Well, OK, but how does this matter? Wouldn't they be part of the athletic department budget at another school? Money is fungible. I think your real point is that football pays for everything. Fine, but understand that a football-only athletic department would have serious Title IX problems, and that the non-revenue women's sports could reasonably be considered a part of the cost of operating the football program. > The vast majority of colleges don't do that, nor do they even run > in the black in any given year. That takes money directly away from > professors at f$U. Does the financial success of the UF football program depend upon: 1. our students and alumni 2. our success on the field 3. the adroitness of the UAA? I recall selling out Florida Field in 1979 when we were 0-10-1. I have trouble believing that, but for the UAA, we would not have the same football revenue. Maybe we should pull a Vandy, and bring all of athletics in-house. -Zeb -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
