Furman football gets a big boost

[Yadkin]

Speaking of items that seem to have gone unnoticed and under-reported, anybody know how the university's student recruitment efforts have gone the last few years in terms of meeting class size goals? Swings and misses there? Also, how much is FU spending annually on the Furman Advantage?

[Affirm]

I did a casual google search into major donations for a few FCS programs.
I've not found a school that has had three million dollar donations anytime recently.
You might say this won't go far — handled correctly and I'm sure these gifts are and will be they will go far.
Clay made the point that gifts like these help the program in many ways, including showing that in this case, a former player believes in Clay and the program.

I would expect that only a portion of the annual investment earnings (probably less than what we could get for one high-paying FBS game) would go directly to the program. I would expect the donation goes into endowed funds.
The point about “showing that someone believes in Clay and the program” is absolutely correct, in that showing that can potentially and hopefully shake loose other big donations.
By the way, where was evidence found that the anonymous donor was actually a former player? And whether it was or was not a former player, why is there not more engagement by former players showing noticeable support for Furman football? Is it just a secret?

The Furman Football Players Association ( FFPA) has gone about it's business since the Bobby Johnson days. It's financial contribution annually is critical for the football operations budget and represents the equivalent of a $2.5mm endowment. The funds have been used for game day communication equipment, uniforms, recruiting travel, golf carts, practice equipment, etc., as deemed necessary by the coaching staff. In fact the annual fund raiser for the FFPA is this weekend when approximately 120 former players will be on campus for golf and socializing.

Thanks, and best wishes to that group for good health of every kind, for success, for happiness.

[Affirm]

Speaking of items that seem to have gone unnoticed and under-reported, anybody know how the university's student recruitment efforts have gone the last few years in terms of meeting class size goals? Swings and misses there? Also, how much is FU spending annually on the Furman Advantage?

If student recruitment results these days are great at Furman, that would be an anomaly among small private liberal arts colleges. I don’t know for the year just beginning. I think it’s better than 1 year ago.

[The Jackal]

This may be a dumb question, but how common are $1m gifts to an FCS program?

It's certainly better than not having a gift. If the answer is "extremely rare," then that's a great move for Furman. If the answer is "most FCS schools get 10 such gifts every other year," then we've got work to do.

This isn't a scientific measurement - I did a random pull of several of the pre-season top ten schools. No major gifts showed up - except for NDSU's Team Makers program https://gobison.com/news/2019/1/11/gene ... etics.aspx

A google inquiry about Furman gets you this
https://www.google.com/search?q=Furman+ ... CA4&uact=5

I'll go out on a limb and say these three gifts during Clay's tenure are rare for FCS football programs.

“Rare” perhaps, but seemingly minor when we’re used to reading about and hearing about the enormous individual donations to UofSC football and to CU football.

We can't compare ourselves to the big FBS programs. If they want a new weight room, a donor gives them a new weight room.

[FurmAlum]

Confirming Astro's point. JD and CH did say on the podcast that the 1M$ donation was from a former player.

As a former FU golfer I believe the former golfer's donations to the program have greatly improved since the golf team was almost axed in 2014 but...

If I was a betting man, I would bet that football would be #1 in all FU sports in donations from former players.

[Affirm]

This may be a dumb question, but how common are $1m gifts to an FCS program?

It's certainly better than not having a gift. If the answer is "extremely rare," then that's a great move for Furman. If the answer is "most FCS schools get 10 such gifts every other year," then we've got work to do.

This isn't a scientific measurement - I did a random pull of several of the pre-season top ten schools. No major gifts showed up - except for NDSU's Team Makers program https://gobison.com/news/2019/1/11/gene ... etics.aspx

A google inquiry about Furman gets you this
https://www.google.com/search?q=Furman+ ... CA4&uact=5

I'll go out on a limb and say these three gifts during Clay's tenure are rare for FCS football programs.

“Rare” perhaps, but seemingly minor when we’re used to reading about and hearing about the enormous individual donations to UofSC football and to CU football.

We can't compare ourselves to the big FBS programs. If they want a new weight room, a donor gives them a new weight room.

I believe schools like Elon, Mercer, Richmond, Wofford, Villanova, and Abilene Christian have multimillion dollar gifts from single sources during the last 14 years.
But yes … I agree that we should realize and accept our level and size, and we need to be extremely grateful for the support we do have.