New AD Announced

[Paul C]

My $0.02....I like it. Share many of the sentiments above. What i liked was the quote from Dr Davis in the release "....demonstrating a key understanding of the important role that athletics plays in higher education."

She could have left out the adjective "important"....but she didn't....

[Affirm]

I checked his Villanova page . . . he led fundraising for a new $18 million football operations facility. I think he understands purple needs to reign both places.

Sounds like a great hire. Fund raising at Furman will be a lot more difficult than at Villanova. National championships in basketball tend to open pocketbooks. Villanova has no major universities to compete with. On the other hand FU has the mecca of college football 30 miles down the road that has the market sewed up.

True. And Villanova has 3x as many students Furman, is Big East for basketball, has law and engineering schools, is in major population area generally. Plus JD grew up in and went to college in that “general area” and lived there all his life so he was very familiar. Coming to Furman may be a very big adjustment. But I believe he can succeed at Furman, and I am excited by this great hire!

Look at the undergrad numbers. They are roughly the same.

This is not gospel, but in my experience, most folks tend to align with their undergraduate university. Those folks that show up for law and engineering school aren't really there for the "experience," they are there to work. It is less a college experience and more of a job.

In my view, the number of grad students is largely irrelevant. It makes the school bigger, but when you are discussing dedicated, interested, and financially invested alumni, you are looking at the undergrad population.

Appears to me that our 2662 undergrad enrollment is only 41% of their 6500 undergrad enrollment. Also, don’t totally discount the impact of those 3500
Grad students. For high level basketball at Villanova, and to some extent even for FCS football there, I am sure that some number of grad students adopt the school’s athletics. Not all the grad students were undergrad at some big-time sports school; and not all of them are oblivious to the basketball and football teams.

[FUBeAR]

"Villanova has no major universities to compete with."

That would be news to the folks at Penn, Drexel, Temple and St. Joes.

The fine folks at Penn State, Rutgers, and Delaware might also cast a glance askewed at that assertion.

[The Jackal]

I checked his Villanova page . . . he led fundraising for a new $18 million football operations facility. I think he understands purple needs to reign both places.

Sounds like a great hire. Fund raising at Furman will be a lot more difficult than at Villanova. National championships in basketball tend to open pocketbooks. Villanova has no major universities to compete with. On the other hand FU has the mecca of college football 30 miles down the road that has the market sewed up.

True. And Villanova has 3x as many students Furman, is Big East for basketball, has law and engineering schools, is in major population area generally. Plus JD grew up in and went to college in that “general area” and lived there all his life so he was very familiar. Coming to Furman may be a very big adjustment. But I believe he can succeed at Furman, and I am excited by this great hire!

Look at the undergrad numbers. They are roughly the same.

This is not gospel, but in my experience, most folks tend to align with their undergraduate university. Those folks that show up for law and engineering school aren't really there for the "experience," they are there to work. It is less a college experience and more of a job.

In my view, the number of grad students is largely irrelevant. It makes the school bigger, but when you are discussing dedicated, interested, and financially invested alumni, you are looking at the undergrad population.

Appears to me that our 2662 undergrad enrollment is only 41% of their 6500 undergrad enrollment. Also, don’t totally discount the impact of those 3500
Grad students. For high level basketball at Villanova, and to some extent even for FCS football there, I am sure that some number of grad students adopt the school’s athletics. Not all the grad students were undergrad at some big-time sports school; and not all of them are oblivious to the basketball and football teams.

It happens. It just has been my experience that most grad students maintain their allegiances to their undergrad universities.

[apaladin]

"Villanova has no major universities to compete with."

That would be news to the folks at Penn, Drexel, Temple and St. Joes.

The fine folks at Penn State, Rutgers, and Delaware might also cast a glance askewed at that assertion.

None of these schools are "major" in terms of athletics except Penn St and PSU is 200 miles from Villanova, not in the same market. A small example of the struggle he faces is channel 4 didn't even mention his hiring tonight. Imagine that.

[The Jackal]

"Villanova has no major universities to compete with."

That would be news to the folks at Penn, Drexel, Temple and St. Joes.

The fine folks at Penn State, Rutgers, and Delaware might also cast a glance askewed at that assertion.

None of these schools are "major" in terms of athletics except Penn St and PSU is 200 miles from Villanova, not in the same market. A small example of the struggle he faces is channel 4 didn't even mention his hiring tonight. Imagine that.

So the flagship university in the state of Pennsylvania is not in the same market as another college in Pennsylvania?

You'll have to explain that one to me.

Is your point essentially that Furman and Clemson are close and that somehow directly impacts Furman's ability to fundraise?

[FUBeAR]

"Villanova has no major universities to compete with."

That would be news to the folks at Penn, Drexel, Temple and St. Joes.

The fine folks at Penn State, Rutgers, and Delaware might also cast a glance askewed at that assertion.

None of these schools are "major" in terms of athletics except Penn St and PSU is 200 miles from Villanova, not in the same market. A small example of the struggle he faces is channel 4 didn't even mention his hiring tonight. Imagine that.

I lived in the Philly area for 6 years. I can assure you that Penn State IS in the same ‘market’ as Villanova. Rutgers is an hour from Villanova. You do know that Rutgers is a P5 school in The Big Ten (with Penn State), right? Delaware is 45 minutes from Villanova, has 24k students, a 22k seat football stadium, has won an FCS/I-AA Championship & played in the FCS/I-AA Championship Game 4 times.

[Affirm]

"Villanova has no major universities to compete with."

That would be news to the folks at Penn, Drexel, Temple and St. Joes.

The fine folks at Penn State, Rutgers, and Delaware might also cast a glance askewed at that assertion.

None of these schools are "major" in terms of athletics except Penn St and PSU is 200 miles from Villanova, not in the same market. A small example of the struggle he faces is channel 4 didn't even mention his hiring tonight. Imagine that.

I lived in the Philly area for 6 years. I can assure you that Penn State IS in the same ‘market’ as Villanova. Rutgers is an hour from Villanova. You do know that Rutgers is a P5 school in The Big Ten (with Penn State), right? Delaware is 45 minutes from Villanova, has 24k students, a 22k seat football stadium, has won an FCS/I-AA Championship & played in the FCS/I-AA Championship Game 4 times.

Good points, and you did not even mention the major league pro sports in the Philly area.
For what it’s worth, though, I want to mention that we are in the same “market” with not only huge Clemson but also Wofford and huge South Carolina and huge Georgia, as much as Villanova is with huge Penn State and FBS Temple and FCS Penn, etc., and Rutgers. (By the way, Villanova is in the middle of not only Big 10 PSU and Big 10 RU, but also Big 10 Maryland - and actually, it does still seem strange to me to say that Philly is Big 10 territory.)

[apaladin]

Let's just say this that fundraising at FU will be a lot tougher than at Villanova. I don't think anyone can argue that. Clempson dominates the Greenville market like no other in the country. I don't think anyone can argue that either. I am sure JD will do a great job and wish him good luck.

[Affirm]

I will continue the comparisons and the contrasts.
Villanova is in Big Ten territory as well as Philly pro sports territory, and has numerous other college sports programs in the immediate area.
Furman is in ACC and SEC territory, and has 1 or 2 other small college sports programs in the immediate area.
Of course, Clemson IS the huge “player” with South Carolina perhaps being only slightly less huge in Furman’s area.
Still Furman is, and should be seen as, “Greenville’s team”.
But look at the population difference, which weighs greatly in Villanova’s favor.
The 16-county Philadelphia
CSA is > 7,200,000.
The Greenville-Spartanburg CSA is < 1,500,000, with Clemson Pickens County) being officially being a part of the 10-county Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson CSA.
Also, and as previously mentioned, Villanova is Big East basketball.
So yes, even though I like the JD selection and believe JD will do well, I hope we don’t expect miracles from him. I do think we can expect success from him. That is good.

[Affirm]

I viewed the video of his speech in the press conference yesterday. So very good to have him and his family on our side.
- Encouraged to know his wife is from only 2 hours away. Maybe that is what got him interested in taking the job; and hopefully it will add to our ability to keep him long as possible.
-Want to know if he actually goes by Jack or Jason.
-I look forward to when he speaks of Furman and Paladins in first person, not second. He does not start officially until 12 August. Hopefully he is already done with saying “you”, “your program”, “your university”. I have great respect for Villanova, and I appreciate the work he did there. By 12 August, Furman needs him to be, and to make it clear that he is, 110% Furman. Furman needs him, as of 12 August if not sooner, to say “I have, at Furman, the best job in the world”, and Furman needs him to mean it.

[Affirm]

I doubt that he has time to read this, but I am saying WELCOME to Furman, and BEST WISHES, to OUR new AD Jason Donnelly and his family.
I believe that today, 8/12/19, is Jason Donnelly’s first official day in the position.
May he (and family) have many great years as Furman AD, including 2019-2020 !!!!!
And may he (and family) always be very glad to be at Furman !!!!!