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Will Turner turn towards VU's paradigm? By Richard Linde, 20 June 2004 Learning that Todd Turner was about to be named AD at the UW, I went on a google search, hunting for articles written about the new hire. According to scuttlebutt, Turner is unflappable, hard working, optimistic, a career administrator and a single-digit handicapper in golf, the last of which should make Coach Keith Gilbertson happy, since he won’t have to give Turner any strokes on the golf course. Turner recently completed a seven-year stint as AD at Vanderbilt that ended when its chancellor, Gordon Gee, decided to make some seismic reforms in the Commodores' athletic department. The AD position was eliminated when Gee decided to house the athletic department under the umbrella of Student Life and Recreation – “partly a reaction to the athletics-out-of-control charges sweeping the country,” as one local media source wrote. Another source writes, "Gee’s overarching mission is to head off what he perceives as the growing separation of athletics and academics on college campuses, and he wants Vanderbilt to be the paradigm of this objective." [Lane]. “By segregating these programs, we’ve created an arms race that has no place in what’s happening in the rest of the institution,” Gee says. “We’re paying football coaches more than we’re paying surgeons." [Lane]. Since the UW faces potential NCAA sanctions for being an institution out of control, Tuner would seem a perfect fit. Is college athletics out of control, as some members of the media have charged? Is that what incoming president Mark Emmert had in mind when he discussed Turner with Gee? Gee has worked with Emmert in the past when Gee was president at Colorado and Emmert held faculty and administrative positions? Undoubtedly, Gee and Turner have spent considerable hours in the past discussing the current state of big-time college sports, although Gee is quoted as saying, “To say that (Turner) likes this (new Vanderbilt) model is probably not correct.” Hence, I doubt whether Turner will bring the Vanderbilt model to the UW, however intriguing an idea as it may be to several Seattle columnists. More significantly, Turner chaired the NCAA’s Division I Working Group on Incentives/Disincentives, which developed a proposal approved by the NCAA on April 29 to punish institutions for student athletes performing poorly in the classroom. "I will be pleased when there is evidence that behaviors have changed and our student-athletes are more like students than professionals," Turner has been quoted as saying. "This is one of the most significant things we've tried to do to make academics important." Emmert has called the NCAA legislation "a step in the right direction." Interim U Dub president Lee Huntsman called the changes “seismic shifts,” saying they will "change the calculus of how we recruit student-athletes." Turner takes over an athletic department at the UW that can boast of one of the highest student-athlete graduation rates in the country. For example, the UW graduated 67% of its football players during the last reporting period. This new legislation could be as dramatic in effect for Washington as any the NCAA has previously enacted. It will even the playing field for the Huskies, a field designed by former AD Barbara Hedges and implemented by former coaches Jim Lambright and Rick Neuheisel, both of whom sought athletes that would perform in the classroom as well as on the field -- meaning that, as of today, the talent pool from which Huskies draw players is more limited than those schools that dominate football rankings on a yearly basis. Seemingly, the Huskies won't take just any run-of-the mill, 4.3 second, 300-pound behemoth -- unless he has classroom potential. Because of Turner’s background at Vanderbilt and his experience at chairing the NCAA committee on academic reforms, he is more than qualified to understand the new “calculus of how we recruit student-athletes.” Certainly the NCAA infractions committee, which is deliberating on the UW’s recent set of violations, will take the hiring of Tuner as a step in the right direction, possibly being a mitigating factor in its sanctions against the UW, although I’m certain that’s not why Emmert decided to hire him. Turner steps inside a new athletic milieu at Washington, one of which he clearly understands and one in which he can provide positive direction. Considering the direction that college-sports is taking, let’s give the UW credit for a credible hire. Here are some positives and negatives I found while doing my googling of Todd Turner: -- Turner, 53, graduated from the University of North Carolina. He is married – his wife is named Sara – and is the father of three daughters and one son. -- Turner has nearly 17 years’ experience as an AD, having spent eight years at Vanderbilt, six at North Carolina State and three at the University of Connecticut. He recently served on the NCAA Academics, Eligibility, Compliance Cabinet and that body’s subcommittee on recruiting. Turner also was involved with the NCAA’s academic reform initiatives and chaired the NCAA Management Council’s Working Group on Incentives and Disincentives tied to academic performance. -- On May 2, 2002, Turner hired Tom Collen from Colorado State to coach the women's basketball team. Collen resigned the following day because of a discrepancy on his resume. Almost a year later, Vanderbilt agreed to pay Collen $900,000 as part of an out-of-court settlement. -- On the internet, Matt Pulle writes, “As first reported in passing by The Tennessean's Joe Biddle, (Todd) Turner seems to have inflated his bio as well--and long before the Collen imbroglio.” [Pulle]. As AD at UConn, Turner’s bio said that he was a four-year member of of the University of North Carolina golf team, when, in fact, Turner played a few junior varsity matches his freshman year and, after that, never again competed for the Tar Heels. His bio as AD at North Carolina State University and Vanderbilt makes no mention of having participated in intercollegiate golf. He removed his golfing credentials from the Connecticut biography, stating that, although the bio was correct, it was causing a controversy. Turner practiced with the North Carolina golf team but never played with the team. -- Turner has been needled for time spent on the golf course, but Christ Wyrick, Vanderbilt's executive director for development, says it was time well spent. "People that want to take shots at him say he's a golfer, out playing golf," Wyrick has been quoted as saying. "I never knew him to play golf when he wasn't with donors, raising money. Many a buck was made on the golf course." [Withers, Condotta]. -- Turner was embroiled in a couple of instances of alleged discrimination within the Commodores' athletic department. [Withers, Condotta]. -- One writer opines that several events during Turner's tenure at Vanderbilt may have led to his ouster. [Organ]. One involved football coach Woody Widenhofer. In 1999, Turner gave him a contract extension through the 2005 season and an undisclosed pay raise after his team posted a 5-4 record. The Commodores lost to Kentucky the following night and Tennessee in the final game to finish at 5-6. Widenhofer's teams went 5-17 over the next two seasons. In 2001, Turner fired Widenhofer five days after the Commodores lost to Florida, 71-14. According to this writer who had contacted a top booster, Turner's ultimate downfall may have been his struggle with the athletic department's budget. [Organ]. -- In May of 2003, with fan support and fundraising on the decline, Turner reduced the athletic department budget by $1.5 million and made significant staff reductions. A month later, Turner announced that season ticket sales for football had declined to 5,244, the third consecutive year sales had slipped. -- In September 2003, Turner was removed as athletic director and asked to serve as special assistant to the chancellor (Gordon Gee) for athletic/academic reform, for which Turner opted out. -- June 19, 2004. Todd Turner becomes the fifteenth athletic director in UW history. References: [Lane]. Lane, Anthony, "Chancellor overhauls VU," nashvillecitypaper.com, September 10, 2003. [Withers, Condotta]. Withers, Bud; Condotta, Bob, "UW's search turns to Turner," The Seattle Times, 17 June, 2004. [Organ]. Organ, Mike, "Turner out as AD in restructuring," Tennessean.com, September 10, 2003. Link: (Turner out as AD). [Pulle]. Pulle, Matt, “The Gotcha Game: Did Vanderbilt athletic director Todd Turner play golf? Should anyone care?” Nashville Scene, May 16-22, 2002. Link: (Gotcha Game). Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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