IMHO,
BP, as stated, he is too old. Let him coach at Concord or some like to get the year he needs to be in the HOF.
MH, he is tied at the hip to Doc and Doc's fate will be his fate. This is a big year for both. He inherited a mess and has done some good things as far as buildings and expanding the donor base and repairing what KO destroyed. But it comes down to coaching. His first baseketball hire was a failure and DD is certainly an unusual hire and the time to reach a conclusion is not yet here. Doc also inherited a mess and this year is the year for both men.
Gilbert, I have never met the man. Seems like a typical liberal academic functionary. Like every other he hit the ground here looking for the next bigger gig at the next bigger school. Running a school that the other school in the state wants to close in an era when the state is flat broke is not an easy job. I wish him luck.
JJ, as it relates to Marshall, I really believe he wants to improve the school. But as with JJ generally, his handlers will not let him make the real changes that would be needed. If a governor wanted to improve Marshall, the answers are obvious.
- Like many states (NC, CA, OH, FL, among others) create as single unified University of West Virginia (which we had for a brief time under Cappertax, until WVU killed it) with a common board and a common academic standard with complete transferability of all credits. The common board will be populated with equal MU and WVU graduates and would act in the best interests of the PEOPLE of WV, not of WVU or MU.
- Create one unified UWV Foundation with a common set of trustees. No donations, other than athletic booster clubs, to individual instituions.
- Fund all state universities and colleges directly based on the number of in-state students.
- Raise out-of-state tuition at WVU to the average charged by the colleges to which it agrandizes itself and from which its students come (OSU, Pitt, PSU, SUNY, Rutgers, UVa, VPI, etc). Goal being 90% in-state students within 5 years with out-of-state students paying 100% of their costs, no subsidy.
- CLOSE the dorms at WV State and turn it into a community college for Charleston. Segregation is over, it was in all the papers.
- CLOSE colleges. WV used to have 500K more people, a lot more young people, and a road system that made travel more than a couple of counties away not realistic. And we used to have segregation. There is nobody in the state that cannot be at one or both of the two real universities in a few hours today, and there are less HS graduates every year. The colapse of WV Tech is not the last that will happen. The WVUF and the taxpayers cannot save all of them. Get ahead of the wave and be proactive and not reactive. CLOSE colleges. The student growth at MU and the replacements for the New Jersites at WVU is right there for the taking. At Glenville, and Bluefield, and Keyser, and Fairmont. All the state needs, or can afford, is two legitimate universities, supplemented by limited subject (mostly teachers) colleges along the edges (Shepherd, Concord, West Liberty) and a good community college system (some of which, like State, can be allowed to grant some 4 year degrees). All we need, all we can afford.
- Sell the Osteopathic College to the Via system.
- Make it clear that all profits from the WVU and MU medical systems (currently theoretically independent) are to be turned over to the state for spending as we the taxpayers decide via the democratic process.
But, I might as well ask for the moon. JJ is powerless to make real change. He represents the insider statehouse gang that has run WV for nearly 100 years. No changes will be made.