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FAU AD Pat Chun Interviews at Illinois

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Rick said

OwlFamily said

I think the Jury is still out if Pat leaves.
Posted On: Feb 4th 2016, 9:41 AM #354397

Assume you mean voluntarily, correct?


Posted On: Feb 4th 2016, 9:50 AM #354399

Of course. Now if this is a force out, then that will be VERY interesting indeed. #popcorn


I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick @$$ and I'm out of bubble gum.

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Cheddar is good...
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Rick said

Cheddar is good…
Posted On: Feb 4th 2016, 10:33 AM #354402

Do you know something we don't?
I mean I Chun getting pushed out him and Kelly are very different people.
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I'm alright with it too.

I understand it's a Group 5 program with undoubtedly a bigger budget and larger fanbase and of course when you have more people to hit up for donations you're more likely to succeed and in turn look like you're better at your job, creating opportunity for a higher salary and further career advancement.

I further acknowledge this is a really tough job because you don't have many resources or donors and are forced to return to the same well over and over again.

So you focus on inproving other things like academic performance and nutrition programs and there absolutely has been progress in that area.

That said…

Chun WAS brought in here with the expectation that he could find money where his predecessor could not. While the naming rights haven't been secured, we have seen multimillion dollar donations in his time here but it's extremely difficult to tell whether it wasvhis doing vs somebody else's. For instance when the $16M donation for the Athletic Complex came out, a story ran saying something to the effect of, "when John Kelly came here he wanted to meet with one of the university's boggest donors, the Schmidt Family" -  which obviously makes me think it was more (or all) Kelly and not Chun. I don't know.

Same thing with the other donations.

Here's what I do know. He was rude to me. The firing of CP was handled suspiciously. He oversaw changes to the program - going from blue to red, calling it Florida Atlantic instead of FAU, changing the uniforms, copying FSU's "word inside the state silhouette" logo, not promoting Bury The Burrow in Red the way it deserves, etc - that really bother me to the point where I feel a little alienated from the program. I feel like the traditions we built are gone and this is a new program, but for me I was part of that tradition-building as a student and alumnus, and I feel like some guy from Ohio and some guy from Arkansas came and said to hell with all that but by the way buy season tickets and donate to the school.

(I'm not resistant to all change: I like Owl In, Fab15/Super16, The Cove, red helmets, and some other things)

I think the program needed to have things built upon the base we had, not reinvented the base. It feels disrespectful. And as head of Athletics, he is undeniably part of that process. And if it turns out that he was just following orders from the President, then his hands are clean.

But I feel like, for instance, we refer to it as Florida Atlantic instead of FAU because in Columbus they called it Ohio State moreso than OSU. 

Anyway, whatever, it is what it is for now. If he leaves I have faith that Kelly will get somebody good.
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David Slavic said

GeorgiaOwl said

Unless this is just a negotiating ploy for his contract, this is not a good sign regarding athletics and in particular the football training/student center. Just my thinking.
Posted On: Feb 4th 2016, 8:44 AM #354388
I don't know. I could be way off, but it seems like The Coach and Dr. Kelly have done more to push the facilities than Chun. And I think Dr. Kelly would do a really good job in hiring an athletic director.

Posted On: Feb 4th 2016, 8:53 AM #354390

Well put, couldn't agree more
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owl2Doc said


That said…

Chun WAS brought in here with the expectation that he could find money where his predecessor could not. While the naming rights haven't been secured, we have seen multimillion dollar donations in his time here but it's extremely difficult to tell whether it wasvhis doing vs somebody else's. For instance when the $16M donation for the Athletic Complex came out, a story ran saying something to the effect of, "when John Kelly came here he wanted to meet with one of the university's boggest donors, the Schmidt Family" -  which obviously makes me think it was more (or all) Kelly and not Chun. I don't know.

Same thing with the other donations.

Here's what I do know. He was rude to me. The firing of CP was handled suspiciously. He oversaw changes to the program - going from blue to red, calling it Florida Atlantic instead of FAU, changing the uniforms, copying FSU's "word inside the state silhouette" logo, not promoting Bury The Burrow in Red the way it deserves, etc - that really bother me to the point where I feel a little alienated from the program. I feel like the traditions we built are gone and this is a new program, but for me I was part of that tradition-building as a student and alumnus, and I feel like some guy from Ohio and some guy from Arkansas came and said to hell with all that but by the way buy season tickets and donate to the school.

Posted On: Feb 4th 2016, 10:49 AM #354404

I completely concur. I've never met him, but he's always seemed to have his own agenda to turn FAU into a B1G-style school. The south Florida culture doesn't mesh with the barren wasteland of Ohio though. Again, I never met him, but he always just kind of seemed like a guy who dumped a hot chick and started dating an uglier chick, and was embarrassed to be associated with us.
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owl2Doc said

I'm alright with it too.

I understand it's a Group 5 program with undoubtedly a bigger budget and larger fanbase and of course when you have more people to hit up for donations you're more likely to succeed and in turn look like you're better at your job, creating opportunity for a higher salary and further career advancement.

I further acknowledge this is a really tough job because you don't have many resources or donors and are forced to return to the same well over and over again.

So you focus on inproving other things like academic performance and nutrition programs and there absolutely has been progress in that area.

That said…

Chun WAS brought in here with the expectation that he could find money where his predecessor could not. While the naming rights haven't been secured, we have seen multimillion dollar donations in his time here but it's extremely difficult to tell whether it wasvhis doing vs somebody else's. For instance when the $16M donation for the Athletic Complex came out, a story ran saying something to the effect of, "when John Kelly came here he wanted to meet with one of the university's boggest donors, the Schmidt Family" -  which obviously makes me think it was more (or all) Kelly and not Chun. I don't know.

Same thing with the other donations.

Here's what I do know. He was rude to me. The firing of CP was handled suspiciously. He oversaw changes to the program - going from blue to red, calling it Florida Atlantic instead of FAU, changing the uniforms, copying FSU's "word inside the state silhouette" logo, not promoting Bury The Burrow in Red the way it deserves, etc - that really bother me to the point where I feel a little alienated from the program. I feel like the traditions we built are gone and this is a new program, but for me I was part of that tradition-building as a student and alumnus, and I feel like some guy from Ohio and some guy from Arkansas came and said to hell with all that but by the way buy season tickets and donate to the school.

(I'm not resistant to all change: I like Owl In, Fab15/Super16, The Cove, red helmets, and some other things)

I think the program needed to have things built upon the base we had, not reinvented the base. It feels disrespectful. And as head of Athletics, he is undeniably part of that process. And if it turns out that he was just following orders from the President, then his hands are clean.

But I feel like, for instance, we refer to it as Florida Atlantic instead of FAU because in Columbus they called it Ohio State moreso than OSU.

Anyway, whatever, it is what it is for now. If he leaves I have faith that Kelly will get somebody good.
Posted On: Feb 4th 2016, 10:49 AM #354404


I love being called Florida Atlantic, it helps with the whole F_U thing.
Also the other traditions are on the students just as mush as athletics.
Bury the burrow should be pushed by SGA and athletics would go along with it because they wanted to go along with anything tat would get students out.
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Don't deny the students play a part and we had an especially enthusiastic SGA when they got started but everybody has to carry the torch here to keep it going. Student organizations are too inconsistent to be trusted. Some club events have disappeared. The Tortuga Trail is overgrown. Even the paid positions like SGA, UP, Program Board have issues.
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Was Chun a Saunders hire?  Perhaps him and Kelly don't see eye to eye on certain things and plus Illinois is a step up for him in terms of pay I'm sure.  I have confidence Kelly would bring in someone who can continue to move us forward.
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owlmart said

Was Chun a Saunders hire?  Perhaps him and Kelly don't see eye to eye on certain things and plus Illinois is a step up for him in terms of pay I'm sure.  I have confidence Kelly would bring in someone who can continue to move us forward.
Posted On: Feb 8th 2016, 10:54 AM #354499

He was hired about two years before Kelly was hired (2012). But, Kelly promoted him to Vice President in June 2014. At that point, Kelly had been the president for about six months.

So I don't know if they disagree, since Kelly promoted Chun. However, it was six months into his tenure, so it could have been a premature promotion.

Who knows man. I can get sucked into this political, athletic, and educational intrigue the way my wife gets sucked into Vanderpump Rules…
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