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View Full Version : T. Boone needs to go



SleestakSooner
4/8/2008, 12:03 PM
I posted this elsewhere but I feel it needs it's own thread.

It is abysmal that a public university is so easily controlled by one demented individual.

Look at the general perception of the Dallas Cowboys for instance. Most people would NEVER go work as their head coach becuse they would be forced to kowtow to Jerry Jones. At least in their case, he IS the owner and has the right to demand certain things and be involved.

T. Boone Pickens does not own OSU. He can never own OSU. OSU is a state run public university and needs to start acting like one. Please Pokes... stop embarrassing the state of Oklahoma and tell Pickens thanks for the money, now get along little doggie!

JimmyJamJman
4/8/2008, 01:06 PM
I posted this elsewhere but I feel it needs it's own thread.

It is abysmal that a public university is so easily controlled by one demented individual.

Look at the general perception of the Dallas Cowboys for instance. Most people would NEVER go work as their head coach becuse they would be forced to kowtow to Jerry Jones. At least in their case, he IS the owner and has the right to demand certain things and be involved.

T. Boone Pickens does not own OSU. He can never own OSU. OSU is a state run public university and needs to start acting like one. Please Pokes... stop embarrassing the state of Oklahoma and tell Pickens thanks for the money, now get along little doggie!

Alas, it will never happen. I had the sheer happenstance to go to school there (it was 8 miles away and the then soon to be wife was going there, but she's enrolled at OU med now...) and I can honestly say, most of the campus like the man and what he is doing.

Thank god I graduated and never have to go back there, as soon as the intro year of teaching is over, no more OSU ties.

Mixer!
4/8/2008, 01:06 PM
I posted this elsewhere but I feel it needs it's own thread.

It is abysmal that a public university is so easily controlled by one demented individual.

Look at the general perception of the Dallas Cowboys for instance. Most people would NEVER go work as their head coach becuse they would be forced to kowtow to Jerry Jones. At least in their case, he IS the owner and has the right to demand certain things and be involved.

T. Boone Pickens does not own OSU. He can never own OSU. OSU is a state run public university and needs to start acting like one. Please Pokes... stop embarrassing the state of Oklahoma and tell Pickens thanks for the money, now get along little doggie!

Tell that to our lawmakers who can't even get the budget done to fund the basic services.

badger
4/8/2008, 01:11 PM
Mike Holder, athletic director of Oklahoma State: Boonie?

T. Boone Pickens, benevolent dictator, owner and donor of OSU: What's up, Mikey?

Holder: I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go.

T.BP: What?

Holder: You're fired as owner and donor. Clean out your football suite by 5 p.m.

T.BP: Why?

Holder: Bad press, bad publicity... I just don't want relationships between donors and departments to becoming meshed to the point that it damages our other relationships with alumni, students, the community and state.

T.BP: Do I need to remind you that all of Oklahoma State's athletic funds are currently invested in my hedge fund?

Holder: Huh?

T.BP: No, no, I understand that you don't want a conflict of interest. Neither do I. I will keep my private funds out of your public institution.

Holder: Whoa, hold on...

T.BP: I guess you'll have to find some other way to pay for that big contract you already promised Bill Self to after yesterday's game...

Holder: Wait! I love you!

T.BP: Excuse me?

Holder: Don't leave me, Boonie. We were meant for each other. We are destined to be together, my athletic department, your money... you many, many millions of money...

T.BP: Go on.

Holder: I'm the beyonce! I'm the beyonce! I don't deserve you Boonie, but if you'll have me back, I promise to never stray from your side again.

T.BP: There, there, Mikey. Give me a hug... NO, no kisses. Dry those tears on a twenty.

Holder: Could I dry my tears with... two twenties?

T.BP: You can have as much money to dry those tears on unfathomable sadness as you want, Mikey.

Holder: Good, because there's sure a lot to cry about here at OSU.

T.BP: D@mn straight.
---

Sorry, just had to picture how such a conversation would go. SPAM is here to stay :D

r5TPsooner
4/8/2008, 01:14 PM
Hmmmn.... if OU had such a person who donated the truckloads of cash that Boone does, as an OU fan, I'd have absolutely no problem with that at all. As a matter of fact I kinda respect the guy for trying to put oSu on the sports map the way he does.

He's not the only one who does it and almost every school has a Boone Pickens.

jccouger
4/8/2008, 01:39 PM
yeah, if we were in the same situation I doubt we would be complaining about it...

Remembering Tom Stidham
4/8/2008, 01:47 PM
Never rip a guy from Holdenville.

cheezyq
4/8/2008, 01:49 PM
I agree with the last couple of posts. The only problem I see is that his money seems to be intended for athletics only. We'll never know what's being done with all that money, but I doubt much of it is being used to improve academics. Heck, the money's not improving the athletics all that much either. :D

birddog
4/8/2008, 01:50 PM
i think there is something to be said for donating money and letting the school make decisions. when t boone starts affecting the decisions of coaches, that's crossing the line.

badger
4/8/2008, 02:28 PM
yeah, if we were in the same situation I doubt we would be complaining about it...

Oh yeah, no complaints from anyone when we changed our football stadium to Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium :rolleyes:

That "Rock the Fock" thing was just a joke with no background to it at all :D

Then again, the real issue might be in such weird sounding names. Why did our donor have to be Gaylord and not Smith or Jones? Why did OSU's donor have to have a name that could be easily mocked with 'Booger Pickin' or something similar?

There you have it - if Phil Knight is your donor, its ok, because "Knight" sounds cool! However, have a male nurse name on your front door and were rocking and focking :pop:

jkm, the stolen pifwafwi
4/8/2008, 02:42 PM
truly you have a dizzying intellect

SleestakSooner
4/8/2008, 04:27 PM
I am still not happy with the name change to OUr beautiful history filled, tradition rich stadium. The Lords of Gay and their family should all have to change their names to Memorial in exchange for that travesty.

But at least the Gaylords have since not been in the headlines as reportedly trying to control the OU athletics department or even the Journalism school they endowed.

T. Boone is a wonderful benefactor for OSU sure, but the strings he attaches with his money are not worth the hassle from where I sit. They will be better when he is gone for good.

SoonerMom2
4/8/2008, 06:28 PM
i think there is something to be said for donating money and letting the school make decisions. when t boone starts affecting the decisions of coaches, that's crossing the line.

Exactly! If a donor was dictating that we hire and fire coaches, then he could keep his money. Pickens pulls all the strings in the Athletic Department just like Nike and Oregon. Something about one donor pulling the strings on who is hired and fired goes against the grain of college athletics.

Posters comparing the Gaylord Family with the football stadium better look around because to the west and south of the stadium is the Gaylord College of Journalism. Our donors give to both. In fact, the majority of the 1B+ raised since President Boren has been at OU has gone to academics. Looks to me like Pickens could care less about academics.

Our coaches with their raises give donations to the academic side of the house too. Our athletic department is self sustaining and does not depend on the academic side since Bob Stoops and Joe Castiglione arrived.

I would hate to have one donor like Pickens that felt he could pick up the phone and the AD would hire or fire a coach. No thank you! What coach would want to go to OSU under those circumstances except to take the money and count on leaving if it didn't work out. Next thing you know Pickens will be drawing up plays if he doesn't already.

Sooner_Havok
4/8/2008, 06:46 PM
heh (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/sportsline/main10766397.shtml)

SAN ANTONIO -- Yo, T. Boone. We ain't talking no drive-thru teller anymore. Forget the cashier's check. Go directly to whatever hedge fund you fancy and start withdrawin', pards.

Will Bill Self leave Lawrence and take his national title net to Stillwater? (AP)
Will Bill Self leave Lawrence and take his national title net to Stillwater? (AP)
Six million? Bill Self spits on $6 million. That's the amount Oklahoma State's Ol' Billionaire -- T. Boone Pickens -- is rumored to be willing to pay the Kansas coach just for putting his name on a contract to coach the Cowboys.

Once he does, Self could get into some really serious money. Six years for an additional $26 million in actual salary is a number that could set up Self's grandchildren's grandchildren for life. That's before Pickens offers to take, say, 80 percent of that money and invest it for Self.

That's what the great money managers do. Two years ago Pickens gave a then-record $165 million donation to Okie State. The New York Times reported that the money spent less than an hour in the university's account before being invested in a hedge fund controlled by Pickens' own BP Capital Management.

It is said to be worth $300 million now.

Monday night, then, was great for Self, bad for Kansas. The guy is going to make out like a bandit one way or another. Good for him. He deserves everything he gets. Five years into the job, Self won the school's third national title, first in 20 years.

Kansas? Athletic director Lew Perkins better have his short list ready.

What we're trying to say here, Jayhawks, is that Mario and the Miracles winning the national championship was about the worst thing that could happen.

To your program.

Pickens is the sweetest of Sugar Daddies. The noted corporate raider is nearing 80. He has preferred late in life to buy Oklahoma State, his alma mater, multiple championships in any sport possible, but mostly football and, now, basketball.

A Tulsa World columnist wrote in a weekend column what we've all been hearing here in San Antonio, that Pickens is going after Self the way Ahab went after whales.

Even if the money figure is not accurate -- some say it's a $10 million bonus -- the whole episode would be ground-breaking.

Maybe it's enough, Jayhawks, that you have your title. Maybe you're willing to wave a fond goodbye to Self.

"Six-million dollar bonus?" Kansas fan Sush Govindan said from his seat three rows behind the KU bench. "He's gone."

"But we love him."

Self is at least intrigued. It's going on a week now and he has not said the words, "I'll be back at Kansas next year."

In fact, Self crossed a line deep into the night after the game. Asked in the bowels of the Alamodome late Monday about the Oklahoma State job he said, "If somebody from OSU calls me, I'm not going to not take the call. It's my alma mater. But they haven't contacted me."

That's a long way from last Tuesday's, "They should go in a different direction," which Self repeated earlier Monday night.

The juxtaposition of elements around the Alamodome after the game was interesting. You had actor Tim Robbins, who is purportedly some sort of Oklahoma State fan. What was he doing there a few rows behind the KU bench?

NCAA president Myles Brand knew exactly what a reporter was talking about when CBSSports.com asked him about rising salaries. A celebrating Self was only a few feet away.

"It doesn't seem appropriate to me ... but it's a free market and people are worth what you'll pay them," Brand said. "But the context of higher education makes us ask some very hard questions."

Former Kansas guard Jacque Vaughn, already a millionaire because of a long NBA career, was asked how Self could turn down millions.

"I think the University of Kansas is one of the best in the country," Vaughn said. "If you look back to tonight it makes it hard to leave. ... I hope it is tough to leave."

Self might have gone even if he lost Monday night, but winning a game for the ages makes it a lot easier to head to Stillwater with your head held high.

Alabama paid a sin tax to get Nick Saban. It had screwed up so much off the field that it took $4 million a year to get the Sabanator. At least 'Bama has some tradition. Oklahoma State has a pretty good basketball program, in some years. Eddie Sutton milked that cow(boy) dry, combining jucos, transfers and his defensive wizardry to get the Cowboys to two Final Fours during his tenure.

Kansas, though, is a great program. A top three program. Coaches don't leave those places for other jobs unless it's the NBA (see Larry Brown) or another top three program (see Roy Williams).

Pickens is about to change the game at Kansas' expense, becoming the George Steinbrenner of college sports. Buying Self with his millions.

At least Alabama has a board of trustees to sort of ratify the whole Saban thing. Around Stillwater, some call it T. Boone State.

"Buying" is the correct term. No matter, how you look at it, Self would be taking a step down. In essence, Pickens would be paying Self an ungodly bonus to make up for the fact that he'll be waking up every morning to mesquite rolling around his driveway.

Self can look at this way: He has done all he can at Kansas. In one weekend he went from Phil Mickelson to A-Rod, from a guy who couldn't get past the Elite Eight to the hottest coach in the country.

If you win a national championship and someone throws the gross national product of Switzerland in your face, who wouldn't think about your family more than your employer?

But in some ways, this is worse than Steinbrenner. The Boss had tradition and New York to sell to free agents. And winning, too.

Pickens has a hedge fund and he's not afraid to use it.

Piware
4/9/2008, 01:14 PM
I hope Nose Pickens stays around until he croaks, they stuff him and prop him up on the sidelines as stiff as Gundy's hair gel. I hope he continues to pour money down that black hole until even he starts to cringe at the sight of a scoreboard.

Lest we forget, the old reprobate is a cold blooded, greedy, slash and burn corporate raider who would assassinate his own grandmother to make a buck be it one or a billion. His minions at Stillwater like him? That's good, because the only person I knew of that really liked him was Hugo Chavez - they are two of a kind.

Given the way Boonie's handpicked little toads have learned the SPAM way of doing things, it is only a matter of time until they run afoul of the NCAA. And I can darn well guarantee you that it will all be blamed on them old Gooners and Gaylords (who by the way, rank in their top 150 financial donors as does The Oklahoman).

If the Nose can pony up $2.7M for the old coach and another $4M for Bill Self, I wonder why their medical school was about to get evicted for non-payment of $6.5M to the hospital owner. Sometimes the whole thing just makes me laugh out loud.

badger
4/9/2008, 01:54 PM
From a Sooner fan perspective, he needs to go just so that OSU's athletic department can go back to having no money and need to dip into academics just to stay afloat. Then, all the students would want to come to OU and OSU would finally cease to exist :D

I keed. From an Oklahoman perspective (not the paper, silly) it is hard to tell how much control he really has over the athletic department, but he shouldn't get too involved. The way he talks about it is like one of his businesses, it seems. As I candidly put above, private funds should not take over a public university, even it's athletics.

They haven't said it officially, but even though a certain Mike Holder denied it, I really think they are going to be putting down a big signing bonus ($6 mil sounds right) and a big annual contract ($3.5 sounds right) for Self. However, they can't make that public, or risk the chance of looking like Nebbish's football program a few years back when they settled for the effin' hillbilly himself, Callyburger. They made it known that they were going after big name coaches, but then had each one turn down what they called "the greatest job in the country." Whoops, guess not.

So let Holder deny it all he wants, but there is a huge offer out there on the table right now. Let Self deny it all he wants, but he is very interested in returning to the Sooner state (albeit at an aggie institution in the Sooner state) in return for job security of Charlie Weiss/Notre Dame proportions in terms of money and longterm deals. Let T. Boner deny it all he wants, but he will write checks to ensure that OSU can afford an alumnus coach that actually won't use OSU as a stepping stone (Boone has said numerous times that he hated Lester for using OSU to get to LSU, even though history shows that they should have embraced someone that could actually beat their "rival").

Self once said back at Illinois that he was interested in staying and not planning to leave. Sound familiar?

RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!
4/9/2008, 02:35 PM
Drag out that McCain-Feingold money limitations thing on old T. Boone. The lawyers can find a way to apply that abort*on to Boone's generosity, and make his money illegal.

stoopified
4/9/2008, 06:35 PM
I don't care how much money T.Boone gives to oSu.In the end they are still cowboys and WE ARE THE SOONERS.

Frozen Sooner
4/9/2008, 06:50 PM
Guys, you're fooling youselves if you don't think that OU has donors that influence decision-making at OU. They're not as influential as Pickens is at OSU, nor are they as vocal, but you better believe that OU listens to them.

One is mindful of a certain fraternity in the early 90s that was going to be booted and the name of a couple of buildings on campus.

SoonerMom2
4/9/2008, 07:36 PM
One of my biggest problems is when he gives the money, he then gets it back to invest in his hedge funds. How much donated money does OU give back to their donors to invest in their funds. My guess is none. Donors at all universities have some say but it is not openly flaunted like it is at OSU by only one individual just like Oregon. OU's donors also give a lot more to the education side of the house then athletics.

wishbonesooner
4/9/2008, 07:51 PM
To hell with T boone Pickens. His corporate raider BS has put a lot of hard working folks out of work right here in Oklahoma. I'd rather lose than sell out to a scumbag like Pickens. he can buy all the bricks and steel he wants, he cannot buy them class.

goingoneight
4/9/2008, 10:51 PM
Mike Rich is right. Want to know why things don't always go your way when you're ****ed about your "team?" The donors aren't exactly groaning about the Bob Stoops or his staff's work, they aren't concerned with the fact that god forbid OUr stadium isn't bowled in. We have insane amounts of cash coming in and OUr donations are plentiful as always. The only reason people rip T Boone is because he IS their only big donor and the style in which his money is being used is rather odd.

Remember the Jeff Bowden deal at FSU? It's not just offense that FSU has sucked at since we knocked them off their high and mighty, but the donors one-by-one starting groaning and poof! He's magically replaced by a "head coach in waiting" that the donors were all drooling over.

SleestakSooner
4/10/2008, 12:21 AM
Only time the big money donors at OU screwed up in my reckoning is when they ran the King off. That was actually understandable given the craptastic circumstances.

The way things happen in Stillwater are strange as hell, and their attention hound big time donor does not help things by sticking his neck out to any reporter within earshot.