Post by RockawayHoya on Jun 7, 2010 22:31:30 GMT -5
Haven't seen this posted anywhere on the board, and if someone else has talked about it already in a different thread, I apologize in advance.
Anyways, on Saturday morning, I attended the University President’s Symposium entitled: Athletics in the Academy, Community and Society on campus during reunion weekend (my 5th). DeGioia moderated a panel discussion which included JTIII, Ted Leonsis, Lee Reed, and the captain of the women's soccer team (an impressive girl that may or may not have been offered a job by Leonsis during the panel). It was intended to be a general discussion on the impact that athletics have on the Georgetown community and the student athletes who represent the school. I'll try and offer a quick recap on the event to the best of my memory (which isn't all that fresh since it happened over 2 days ago and let's just say I had a pretty good time at the reunion festivities this weekend
). If anyone else attended and wants to add, please feel free.
Anyways... from what I can remember:
On Leonsis: I had never heard him speak before, but found him to be a pretty impressive guy. Don't know if he was embellishing, but sounds like a completely self-made guy who really cares about DC and Georgetown. Excited about having the opportunity to try to turn around the Wizards, and is obviously ecstatic about having the #1 pick. His various comments about how he looks to hire people who have athletic backgrounds because they tend to be driven and competitive as well a funny story about his intramural days as an undergrad were some things I remember.
On DeGioia: Fielded obligatory questions about facilities, saying they were proud to have finished the business school building (pretty awesome BTW, I definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't done so already), and to have started to break ground for the new science building. Was kind of ambiguous when talking about the MSF being the next priority on the list, but I think we all knew he would have to dance around the question. Definitely mentioned the zoning issues that HoyaTables and others have discussed on this board in earlier threads, and I'm sure its still an issue and probably a bigger one than he wanted to discuss in-depth with the audience.
On JTIII: One thing really struck me listening to him, and it came up on more than one of his responses: he is REALLY REALLY ticked off at coaches like Calipari for taking advantage of what he termed "uneven playing fields." He pretty much just stopped short of naming coaches who pay off players and recruit unethically, and you could definitely tell he was frustrated. That being said, he also reiterated that he would never compromise the university's values just to improve the team. He stressed that GU players are students as well as athletes, and that not every school in the BE does the same (called out L'ville specifically, but said the same could be said about a lot of other schools). Said he was proud of graduating players, and briefly explained how the NCAA calculates graduation rates (for those who weren't aware), and specifically mentioned Rivers as a guy who will count against us (not sure if there's any bad blood there, but my eyebrows rose when I heard his name). Another thing he talked about was how today's player has changed. He described the difference between his first 2 years at Princeton when he complained about his clashes with Carrill (JTII told him over the phone to man up and stop whining before hanging up on him) and today's players, who are constantly told how great they are by everyone around them (parents, coaches, etc,) and decide that coaches and not themselves are to blame when they don't get as much playing time or the roles they want. He said this has led to problems in recruiting as well as transfers, and made it known that he tells the parents of recruits to call him anytime about their son's life as a student (academics, social aspects of college, etc.), but that if they wanted to meddle from a basketball standpoint, they'd have to go somewhere else. I bet that's cost him some recruits. Also something I clearly remember: III obviously knows how much we care about the team, and that he really appreciates the support we as a fan base gives him and the team. He said he's well aware a lot of us have good or bad days based on whether or not we win or lose, and that he and the team want to win just as bad as we want them to win.
On Lee Reed: Don't know too much about him, but evidently he turned around Cleveland State's athletic program and at the very least achieved a moderate level of success. Seemed like a nice guy who spoke well, but having been on campus for only 3 weeks, definitely was still getting acclimated to the school and really couldn't offer much to the discussion besides talking about his past experiences with athletics (as an athlete and as an admin). Saturday didn't really help me form an opinion about him one way or the other.
Overall, I'm glad I attended the event. The five minute intro video on GU athletics (which Austin was a big part of) was well-made, and the many anecdotal experiences offered by the panelists definitely kept the crowd engaged and entertained. Hopefully these guys can back up their talk with results in their respective capacities in the near future.
Anyways, on Saturday morning, I attended the University President’s Symposium entitled: Athletics in the Academy, Community and Society on campus during reunion weekend (my 5th). DeGioia moderated a panel discussion which included JTIII, Ted Leonsis, Lee Reed, and the captain of the women's soccer team (an impressive girl that may or may not have been offered a job by Leonsis during the panel). It was intended to be a general discussion on the impact that athletics have on the Georgetown community and the student athletes who represent the school. I'll try and offer a quick recap on the event to the best of my memory (which isn't all that fresh since it happened over 2 days ago and let's just say I had a pretty good time at the reunion festivities this weekend
). If anyone else attended and wants to add, please feel free.Anyways... from what I can remember:
On Leonsis: I had never heard him speak before, but found him to be a pretty impressive guy. Don't know if he was embellishing, but sounds like a completely self-made guy who really cares about DC and Georgetown. Excited about having the opportunity to try to turn around the Wizards, and is obviously ecstatic about having the #1 pick. His various comments about how he looks to hire people who have athletic backgrounds because they tend to be driven and competitive as well a funny story about his intramural days as an undergrad were some things I remember.
On DeGioia: Fielded obligatory questions about facilities, saying they were proud to have finished the business school building (pretty awesome BTW, I definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't done so already), and to have started to break ground for the new science building. Was kind of ambiguous when talking about the MSF being the next priority on the list, but I think we all knew he would have to dance around the question. Definitely mentioned the zoning issues that HoyaTables and others have discussed on this board in earlier threads, and I'm sure its still an issue and probably a bigger one than he wanted to discuss in-depth with the audience.
On JTIII: One thing really struck me listening to him, and it came up on more than one of his responses: he is REALLY REALLY ticked off at coaches like Calipari for taking advantage of what he termed "uneven playing fields." He pretty much just stopped short of naming coaches who pay off players and recruit unethically, and you could definitely tell he was frustrated. That being said, he also reiterated that he would never compromise the university's values just to improve the team. He stressed that GU players are students as well as athletes, and that not every school in the BE does the same (called out L'ville specifically, but said the same could be said about a lot of other schools). Said he was proud of graduating players, and briefly explained how the NCAA calculates graduation rates (for those who weren't aware), and specifically mentioned Rivers as a guy who will count against us (not sure if there's any bad blood there, but my eyebrows rose when I heard his name). Another thing he talked about was how today's player has changed. He described the difference between his first 2 years at Princeton when he complained about his clashes with Carrill (JTII told him over the phone to man up and stop whining before hanging up on him) and today's players, who are constantly told how great they are by everyone around them (parents, coaches, etc,) and decide that coaches and not themselves are to blame when they don't get as much playing time or the roles they want. He said this has led to problems in recruiting as well as transfers, and made it known that he tells the parents of recruits to call him anytime about their son's life as a student (academics, social aspects of college, etc.), but that if they wanted to meddle from a basketball standpoint, they'd have to go somewhere else. I bet that's cost him some recruits. Also something I clearly remember: III obviously knows how much we care about the team, and that he really appreciates the support we as a fan base gives him and the team. He said he's well aware a lot of us have good or bad days based on whether or not we win or lose, and that he and the team want to win just as bad as we want them to win.
On Lee Reed: Don't know too much about him, but evidently he turned around Cleveland State's athletic program and at the very least achieved a moderate level of success. Seemed like a nice guy who spoke well, but having been on campus for only 3 weeks, definitely was still getting acclimated to the school and really couldn't offer much to the discussion besides talking about his past experiences with athletics (as an athlete and as an admin). Saturday didn't really help me form an opinion about him one way or the other.
Overall, I'm glad I attended the event. The five minute intro video on GU athletics (which Austin was a big part of) was well-made, and the many anecdotal experiences offered by the panelists definitely kept the crowd engaged and entertained. Hopefully these guys can back up their talk with results in their respective capacities in the near future.
