Quote in the OWH stated that Epply is pissed that fundraising for the Osborne complex is not what he thinks it should be. He kind of ripped the fans a new bad guy. (I'll try to get a link to it, later :thumbs _
A sign of things??? <_<
BTW, Boyd, if you are losing support, its best not to rip those who may offer you support. :blink:
I believe he said he was dissapointed and thought fund raising would be higher by now. I hardly call that "ripping them a new one", but hey, I'm not one to add undue hype
Slow start affects NU off field as well as on
BY RICH KAIPUST
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN - It started with the University of Nebraska announcing its football facility project and asking potential donors "Are You N?"
Husker football coaches may be able to move into offices in the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex by July. The four-story building, part of a $56 million project, is rising at the north end of Memorial Stadium.
At the two-year anniversary mark, not everybody is.
NU Athletic Director Steve Pederson said raising just under 40 percent of the necessary funds so far is a good pace. "I'd say we're maybe about where we thought we'd be."
But project director Boyd Epley expressed frustration.
"Quite frankly, I'm a little disappointed in the fans," said Epley, the NU associate athletic director. "I really expected, when we asked for help with this project, that we would raise the $50 million right away, and maybe even more than that."
Nebraska set out on Nov. 6, 2003, to raise $40 million of a $50 million price tag for the facility upgrade, including the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex. Another $6 million has been added to the cost as further amenities have been added.
The most recent figure released by the NU athletic department shows $21.5 million raised.
Not long after the drive started, Pederson fired coach Frank Solich, ousting former head coach Osborne's handpicked successor for the job.
Solich had just completed a 9-3 regular season, but that had followed a 7-7 season. Solich's firing was followed by an awkward 40-day search for his replacement.
Osborne was unhappy with the firing of Solich and reluctant to keep his name on the building before announcing in February 2004 that the name could stay.
Bill Callahan's first season as coach was then the worst in more than four decades as the Huskers went 5-6 and missed a bowl game.
But work on the four-level Osborne Complex started - and remains on schedule. Husker football coaches could move into offices by July 17.
The additional 6,000 seats on the north side of Memorial Stadium, and 13 skyboxes atop the Osborne Complex, will be ready for next season. The field in the indoor practice facility already has been used a few times as work on that structure wraps up.
Bonds and loans are covering what hasn't been raised, but they might cost the university as much as $30 million in interest in future years. As donations come in, they are funneled into the athletic department budget and applied to debt service payments.
Epley said he can't understand how the Huskers could have 63,416 fans for their spring game in April, yet only 4,000 people contribute $100 or more to the drive.
"That shocks me," Epley said. "I'm not sure why more people have not contributed, but we need their help. They must have the wrong impression. They must think that some big donor is going to write a check and cover this."
Pederson said he isn't panicking because Nebraska continues to receive checks daily. He said a man stopped by his office before last weekend's game to say hello and introduce himself, and promised $10,000 in January.
Paul Meyers, the NU associate athletic director heading fundraising for the project, said other such commitments haven't yet been processed or figured into the total. Meyers said he and Pederson are regularly working on some big-money people capable of making a difference.
"I don't think it's stalled at all," Meyers said. "If anybody's perceived it as such, they might not have perceived it correctly."
Pederson said many schools work behind the scenes with fundraising before going public with plans. In Nebraska's case, he thought that could have delayed the start of construction by a year or longer.
"That would have put us so far behind in recruiting that we couldn't afford to do it," said Pederson, who launched the project about 10 months after he was hired. "As we announced it, we just had faith in the people of Nebraska that they would help us."
Of Epley's frustration, Pederson said: "Boyd's a guy who always wants things to go faster. Boyd's always had great big dreams, which are fabulous.
"Of course, like all of us, he wants more and more and more. But I have tremendous confidence that we're going to be where we want to be," Pederson said.
As NU concentrates on this project, Epley said, it will have to wait to start others "that are badly needed." If more money had been raised by this point, he had hoped the Huskers could convert the old West Stadium weight room into expanded space for the Hewit Center and athletes' training table, and perhaps a Hall of Champions.
Pederson oversaw a similar project as athletic director at the University of Pittsburgh when the Petersen Events Center basketball arena was built. He said the progress on that project was similar to NU's.
"We had people giving us money right up to the grand opening of that building," Pederson said. "If I had thought things had dried up here, maybe I'd be discouraged about that. But they haven't at all."
The consensus of NU personnel is that the completed Osborne Complex is going to be impressive. Epley said Callahan spent 21/2 hours in the facility when the Huskers weren't playing on Sept. 24.
"It's unbelievable," Epley said. "I've been looking at drawings for a couple years now, so it's exciting now that you can see it."
From:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=2059624
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I dunno, sounds kind of upset to me :blink:
You got anything else to say about AR's post?
No, not really, its pretty fair and even balanced, thanks for asking though