Actually, probably not... I'm sure for the top position at the university the BOG is using a headhunter to find/sort candidates. That said, I doubt his name would be on this "finalist" list if he didn't at least put a bug in someone's ear that he would be interested.
BOG announces five finalists for MU President
- Thread starter Chris McLaughlin
- Start date
Lol at the list of finalists. The other four are barely window dressing for the real goal of the “search committee”.
To comment on a previous post that doubted BS would take the job the fact he is a finalist says he has already expressed a very serious interest in the position. Reading the thread I get the feeling a lot of people think Smith is a lot younger than he actually is.
To comment on a previous post that doubted BS would take the job the fact he is a finalist says he has already expressed a very serious interest in the position. Reading the thread I get the feeling a lot of people think Smith is a lot younger than he actually is.
Brad Smith is approx 57 years old. Pretty damn young compared to a lot of us on here!! 😂
Our academics are what they are. As others have said we should be best regional university we can be. We have grown some programs and elevated our status as a research institution but we are where we are and won’t go much higher. If we can get finances in order and increase fund raising that could increase enrollment. Hell if nothing else he could be better at marketing than what we’ve had the last decade and a half.
The purpose of higher education may be to educate. But most importantly, it is now a business. Who better to run your university (a business) than someone such as Brad Smith, who has run a major corporation to the highest level of success. He can find others to run the various departments of the university.
I couldn’t find his dob. Let’s say 57. Tell me something, Duke: How many guys younger than 57 have become Marshall U. President? I would venture less than 4…..
For instance, Kopp was 54 when he was chosen ….
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Maybe he needs to balance out his brother from another mother, Michael W.
Okay, lets try this again.
Anyone would tell you it'd probably look bad for him to donate anywhere else ahould be he MU's next president, that I actually did agree with you on.
However, anything Brad Smith's done with his money up until the point of (let's hope) being elected MU president, should provide exactly zero fu*ks from anyone.
Your post was making a remark about what he has been doing with his money, with the hopes he doesn't do it if elected in the future. The latter (or future) I agree, the former (or past) shall continue to be answered with,
"Who gives a sh*t?
It's his money."
I was reading recently that nearly 20% of college presidents do not have academic backgrounds or PHD's. It's all about being a successful CEO
Interesting that the many of the search committee members are staff reps. or faculty. An endorsement of Smith by them would be huge.
Smith is the man for the job. It is a business. The Provost is essentially the academic head.
Smith is the man for the job. It is a business. The Provost is essentially the academic head.
If they do go with Smith I would like to see them give him very specific metrics to meet within a reasonable timetable, something like 3 years. This should not be like hiring a president for life. Maybe along the lines of enrollment and endowment. The unknown would be who gets to select the next AD. If I were him, I would insist that the board can recommend people but he has the final decision, not like the last major hiring. I do believe that everyone in the chain of command, from JJ on down, wants the best for Marshall. And for Marshall athletics.
I agree, never understood this BOG , or Justice is wanting to destroy Marshall. These people either graduated from Marshall, or have been around Marshall for decades. Yes, their view may be different than yours, but that doesn't mean they don't want the best for Marshall. Internet has made too many people conspiracy theorist.
Since the grossly unfair system of first the state Board of Education and then the 99% WVU dominated Board of Regents systems were done away with and MU got its own Board of Governors, it is obvious that anybody who takes the time to devote to a thankless and AFAIK unpaid job wants what is best for MU. Likewise, while you may disagree with him on whatever, JJ, the first real MU graduate to hold a statewide office in nearly 100 years (Tomblin went to WVU and then furthered his avoidance of the draft with an MU master’s) wants what is best for MU.
All that said, the most realistic way to grow MU is a governor and a legislature with the balls to invest in some padlocks and “closed” signs and directions to places like Athens, Institute, Beckley, Glenville, and so on.
Read deeper most of those hires have encountered major resistance from the faculty and staff. Also most hires have not been highly successful or even moderately successful in leading a university. But at the end of the day in the state of West Virginia all things are driven by some political hack. They really don’t give a damn what the majority of students, faculty, alumni or friends of the university think. The powers that be will crown the new king, and in the future wonder why it didn’t produce the expected results. Marshall is not held back by Marshall. The university is stagnant because it’s shackled to a higher education system that’s stuck in the 1970’s. Until that’s blown up…little to nothing will change…for the item most important to people on this site. Increased enrollment. There seems to be nothing more important than that.
Well, now that he's a candidate, can MU and/or its selection committee/BOG afford to turn him down? One of the biggest donors/financial supporters ever. Face facts: Joan C. and James Edwards are DEAD: sadly, too, Billionaire alum Chris Cline is also, a victim of a terrible air travel crash. Fellow billionaire, or use to be, Gov. Jim Justice, is awash in lawsuits, debts and debtors emerging almost daily and snapping at his heels. Quite frankly, he's trying to keep his multi faceted variety of business interests solvent and afloat. That is after he plays part time Governor and tries to stay about a step and a half ahead of further lawsuits/litigation arising out of his official residency while occupying the Chief Executive's office. And all that, apparently, only takes a lesser fraction of Big Jim's daily activities and mental attention, secondary to, as we all know, his one true consuming interest and passion: to be a high school basketball coach: boys team, girls team, and even, yes, if it comes to pass, the Greenbrier East High's "transgender team"!
So, we see that Big Jim Justice really has no time to, as the State's Chief Executive Officer, help or aid MU and do things in State Government to help MU to grow and flourish. Likewise, he personally can't afford any real substantial donations or gifts to MU, his alma mater, due to the deep, deep doo-doo financial morass his and his family's financial empire finds itself.
All that said, Marshall finds that it holds a very, very short list of "Sugar Daddy" alums and friends of the school, multi millionaires many times over or even billionaires, who are willing AND able to substantially help the school! So the school's powers that be, or Board of Governors, etc., can't really afford to piss off a very wealthy alum like Brad Smith by NOT selecting him as the University's next President, if he truly and sincerely wants the position!!
So, we see that Big Jim Justice really has no time to, as the State's Chief Executive Officer, help or aid MU and do things in State Government to help MU to grow and flourish. Likewise, he personally can't afford any real substantial donations or gifts to MU, his alma mater, due to the deep, deep doo-doo financial morass his and his family's financial empire finds itself.
All that said, Marshall finds that it holds a very, very short list of "Sugar Daddy" alums and friends of the school, multi millionaires many times over or even billionaires, who are willing AND able to substantially help the school! So the school's powers that be, or Board of Governors, etc., can't really afford to piss off a very wealthy alum like Brad Smith by NOT selecting him as the University's next President, if he truly and sincerely wants the position!!
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“if he truly and sincerely wants the position!!”
And therein lies the 🔑. He wouldn’t have allowed the process to go this far w/o wanting to be our next Prez.
This is a no brainer. Hire Smith today. I promise you if he can run INTUIT he can handle Marshall.
The higher education system in this country is broken. Cost have skyrocketed. Useless degrees. And AntiAmerican rot gut runs through the professor ranks.
We have young people going in debt for usless pieces of paper. They can never get caught back up.
Maybe professors and academics should teach and let the business people run some of it. It is a house of cards that will fail.
Increase the outreach of the MU marketing team
Increase enrollment by 2,500 per year for 5 years.
Open John Marshall Law School
Increase enrollment by 2,500 per year for 5 years.
Open John Marshall Law School
I think four of the five candidates are essentially third party candidates. Qualified? Probably, but they do not have a chance in Huntington to win.
This made me laugh. After the MT game, I needed that. Thanks!
My thought is there is absolutely no way Brad Smith’s name would be on a released public list if he didn’t want the job. Next thought is there’s no way his name would be on a released public list unless he’s going to get the job. You don’t embarrass a major donor by publicly saying he wasn’t good enough.
As far as the education angle, my point is that Marshall will never be Michigan, let alone Harvard. We found a great niche with the forensic science program and it’s those kind of alternative careers we can excel in. We will never be a national med school or business school. We won’t get to the level where people come here for their masters instead of Duke, but that’s okay. We simply aren’t going to steal the resources those schools have built over decades and even centuries. We don’t have the financial infrastructure in the state to build those public/private partnerships that drive huge research dollars that attract top research faculty.
We need to stay in our lane and be the best at that we can be, provide a quality education at a reasonable price and help graduates find meaningful employment when they graduate while being a significant contributor to the community.
As far as the education angle, my point is that Marshall will never be Michigan, let alone Harvard. We found a great niche with the forensic science program and it’s those kind of alternative careers we can excel in. We will never be a national med school or business school. We won’t get to the level where people come here for their masters instead of Duke, but that’s okay. We simply aren’t going to steal the resources those schools have built over decades and even centuries. We don’t have the financial infrastructure in the state to build those public/private partnerships that drive huge research dollars that attract top research faculty.
We need to stay in our lane and be the best at that we can be, provide a quality education at a reasonable price and help graduates find meaningful employment when they graduate while being a significant contributor to the community.
Yeah, I’d be happy with growing enrollment by 300-400 a year, which I think is doable. You could get 100-200 by offering in-state tuition to bordering Ohio and KY counties.
I just figured that’s where the expectations might be for the next guy based on well, unrealistic expectations
Marshall needs a Law school not just a pre law program and the marketing needs a full overhaul or really, a beginning
Better yet offer in-state tuition to Ohio, Pa, KY, western Virginia, DC, North Carolina, South Carolina—-places where a lot of Marshall folks settled and have kids that are almost college age
Wvu law school is mediocre at best. Why does the state need another law school of even less stature. There are more than enough greasy ambulance chasers roaming the courthouses.
Rock98 & Island - 2 sane voices in a cacaphony of noise!! Great ideas. It’s going to take outside the box ideas to reverse the decline….
Why does the world need Duke football the lowest quality program in the nation perhaps? Cause they wanted it and it was good for them.
Marshall needs a law school, a good one at that, and they need to get kids in the know about highly profitable areas of law less commonly discussed, like real estate law where you can make a fortune without selling your soul as a defense attorney or gimmicky civil suit attorney
Attempting to rile me up with Duke football smack is pretty funny. WV doesn’t need another law school and Marshall should get better at what they currently offer.
