Nancy Zimpher on her way out

[Reds4Life]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

WLW ran off some statistics about nonathletic things that have changed at UC since she was hired. The class rankings of incoming students, number of national merit scholars, annual giving, the capital improvement campaign, campus construction, and faculty awards. The difference was substantial.
Two months ago, I was in a debate over whether or not UC would be able to retain Brian Kelly, which they obviously have, for now. She had a sit down with Kelly, and Mike Thomas, and they hatched out a plan that Kelly seemed to agree with that is keeping him in town, so far. She has vision, and it should not be downplayed.

It is obvious that some UC fans, underestimate how much good she did for the university. The Bob Huggins thing was not handled well, but a university should not be defined by how they hire and fire and basketball coach.

It's not just the Bob Huggins incident. She ran off the dean of CCM (top school in the nation), and several others. She insulted former graduates by implying thier degrees were worthless. The fact is, Nancy burned a lot of bridges in this town, and she knows it. Her image here will never change, she sealed her own PR problems with her arrogant attitude, probably part of the reason she's been interviewing for a new job for the past few years.

[Cyclone792]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

WLW ran off some statistics about nonathletic things that have changed at UC since she was hired. The class rankings of incoming students, number of national merit scholars, annual giving, the capital improvement campaign, campus construction, and faculty awards. The difference was substantial.
Two months ago, I was in a debate over whether or not UC would be able to retain Brian Kelly, which they obviously have, for now. She had a sit down with Kelly, and Mike Thomas, and they hatched out a plan that Kelly seemed to agree with that is keeping him in town, so far. She has vision, and it should not be downplayed.

It is obvious that some UC fans, underestimate how much good she did for the university. The Bob Huggins thing was not handled well, but a university should not be defined by how they hire and fire a basketball coach.

Nancy Z could have kept her hands 100 percent out of athletics and I would still loathe that woman. I was a student at UC when she arrived in town, and her attitude toward the current students there was, as R4L stated, insulting. She carried with her the stench of arrogance everywhere she went on campus with a type of holier than thou attitude.

Were there improvements at the university overall? Possibly so. But the way that woman went about doing things was completely absurd. Burning bridges and insulting the students and alumni is no way to go about bringing change to a university.

[Hoosier Red]

Is CCM still a top school?
Are the other programs much higher thought of than when she went in?

No body likes the person who comes in to kick tail and shape everyone up, but from what I've seen, it's certainly looks like the University is in better shape when she leaves than it was when she came in.

As I recall, everyone pretty much liked Dr. Steger(who I believe was her predecessor) but the school wasn't in better shape when he left it, than it was when she left it.

[Reds4Life]

Originally Posted by Hoosier Red

Is CCM still a top school?
Are the other programs much higher thought of than when she went in?

No body likes the person who comes in to kick tail and shape everyone up, but from what I've seen, it's certainly looks like the University is in better shape when she leaves than it was when she came in.

As I recall, everyone pretty much liked Dr. Steger(who I believe was her predecessor) but the school wasn't in better shape when he left it, than it was when she left it.

Most of the renovations and buildings on campus (that Nancy likes to take credit for) were actually formulated by Joe Steger, not Nancy. And yes, CCM is still a top school, just like it was when Steger was there, along with DAAP.

[Hoosier Red]

Originally Posted by Reds4Life

Most of the renovations and buildings on campus (that Nancy likes to take credit for) were actually formulated by Joe Steger, not Nancy. And yes, CCM is still a top school, just like it was when Steger was there, along with DAAP.

Still didn't answer my question though, Is the university better off now than it was when she came into office?

All indications are yes. Despite firing the dean of CCM, it remains a top music school. She made an absolute ton of changes to the deans of a number of schools, are you saying the school has improved in stature in spite of these changes?

[Reds4Life]

Originally Posted by Hoosier Red

Still didn't answer my question though, Is the university better off now than it was when she came into office?

All indications are yes. Despite firing the dean of CCM, it remains a top music school. She made an absolute ton of changes to the deans of a number of schools, are you saying the school has improved in stature in spite of these changes?

Some have, some have not. In addition, the school now faces a huge budget crisis, her appointment for Senior VP of Finance is her old lawyer, Monica Rami, who has NO finance/accounting expierence before this, now she's in charge of a billion dollar budget. It has been a disaster for the school.

[Caveat Emperor]

I certainly hope whoever is hired as her replacement will be on board with the football program, and coack Kelly, the same way that she was.

Firing Huggins was a bad move, but hiring Brian Kelly and dedicating herself to retaining him / improving the football program is more than adequate mitigation.

[paintmered]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

WLW ran off some statistics about nonathletic things that have changed at UC since she was hired. The class rankings of incoming students, number of national merit scholars, annual giving, the capital improvement campaign, campus construction, and faculty awards. The difference was substantial.
Two months ago, I was in a debate over whether or not UC would be able to retain Brian Kelly, which they obviously have, for now. She had a sit down with Kelly, and Mike Thomas, and they hatched out a plan that Kelly seemed to agree with that is keeping him in town, so far. She has vision, and it should not be downplayed.

It is obvious that some UC fans, underestimate how much good she did for the university. The Bob Huggins thing was not handled well, but a university should not be defined by how they hire and fire a basketball coach.

She also took reduced my college from top billing to red-headed stepchild. That's my biggest complaint with her. It's sobering to think that UC Engineering once ranked in the top 10 nationally.

[acredsfan]

Originally Posted by paintmered

She also took reduced my college from top billing to red-headed stepchild. That's my biggest complaint with her. It's sobering to think that UC Engineering once ranked in the top 10 nationally.

She's also alienated people on outer campuses by cutting programs that helped working people earn bachelor degrees without going to Clifton. It's obvious that she had her own set of priorities, which is to be expected with each new president. She was her own worst enemy in the end though. I was once a part of that Engineering program that is nowhere near where it once was. She was slowly trying to turn us into OSU south. UC actually had more programs rated as some of the best nationally when she took over.

She gets way too much credit for the academics. All she really did was raise the criteria to get into the different colleges, but smarter students do not alone make for a great university. From the inside it just seems like we are a University of many good programs rather than a University of select top programs. I'd rather go to a University that is tops in my actual area of study than have many good colleges. But that's just my opinion.

[Hoosier Red]

She gets way too much credit for the academics. All she really did was raise the criteria to get into the different colleges, but smarter students do not alone make for a great university. From the inside it just seems like we are a University of many good programs rather than a University of select top programs. I'd rather go to a University that is tops in my actual area of study than have many good colleges. But that's just my opinion.

There is some merit to this. My dad always said Harvard was actually a little overrated and was pretty easy. If you were smart enough to get in, you were smart enough to get through.

[Matt700wlw]

Paul Daugherty:
Former athletic director Bob Goin had proposed this, as a solution to the Huggins mess: Allow him to coach a year in the Big East, with the stipulation that he resign after that season. That way, Huggins could coach UC for a year, in a league he helped get the Bearcats into, while also trolling for other job options. This would give Zimpher ample time to search for Huggins' replacement, and for someone to replace Goin, who was retiring at the end of that year.
None of this would be made public, so at the end of the year, the transition would appear seamless.
"He (Huggins) had agreed to resign," Goin said today.
Zimpher rejected the deal.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Matt700wlw

Paul Daugherty:
Former athletic director Bob Goin had proposed this, as a solution to the Huggins mess: Allow him to coach a year in the Big East, with the stipulation that he resign after that season. That way, Huggins could coach UC for a year, in a league he helped get the Bearcats into, while also trolling for other job options. This would give Zimpher ample time to search for Huggins' replacement, and for someone to replace Goin, who was retiring at the end of that year.
None of this would be made public, so at the end of the year, the transition would appear seamless.
"He (Huggins) had agreed to resign," Goin said today.
Zimpher rejected the deal.

Thats all fine well and good, except a fellow conference rival likely would have made room for Huggins and made the divorce a little more bitter.

Could you really see UC letting the world know their coach is available after the season, and West Virginia likely being named the front runner even with Beilein at the helm?

It would be a bigger mess than what Zimpher did.

[SeeinRed]

Originally Posted by WVRed

Thats all fine well and good, except a fellow conference rival likely would have made room for Huggins and made the divorce a little more bitter.

Could you really see UC letting the world know their coach is available after the season, and West Virginia likely being named the front runner even with Beilein at the helm?

It would be a bigger mess than what Zimpher did.

I'm sure there would have been some control over where he interviewed while still under contract at UC. Doc later says to the effect of part of the thought was that public sentiment would have forced Nancy to extend his contract.

I don't know how circumstances could have been much worse.