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Rick George is a badass
- Thread starter Duff Man
- Start date
Would love to know what happened to George Solich. Did he take his ball and go home because he didn't get to dictate who ran the AD?
Nice find. I couldn't get that link to work, but did find it on buffzone.com
http://www.buffzone.com/ci_29660542/rick-george-leads-cus-fundraising-explosion
I shutter to think where we'd be without George.
White_Rabbit
Well-Known Member
damn.
He hates Benson.
RG is the man and I'm glad he's getting paid. He's earned it and more
Several years ago, Colorado's athletic department was curious how much it could raise in funds, and associate athletic director Kurt Gulbrand hired a firm to conduct a feasibility study and find out.
"They went out and visited with our donor base and came back and told us we could raise $35 million here at Colorado," Gulbrand said.
"They went out and visited with our donor base and came back and told us we could raise $35 million here at Colorado," Gulbrand said.
RG has done what he was hired to do. We absolutely needed to get that IPF done. We still have another $150MM or so in stadium improvements and enhancements, though. I have faith that he understands this and isn't tapping the breaks anytime soon.
He really could use some help with generating student support and involvement. If there's a glaring weak spot in his performance, it's that student involvement has plunged. With 30,000 or so undergrads, it shouldn't be too hard to get 10,000 in the stands on a Saturday afternoon and 2,500 in the stands at the CEC. The effort has to be made, though. So far, it's been all about raising funds and getting facilities built. Don't mistake my intent - that stuff is vital and it needed to happen. There is more to running a successful athletic department, though. I would love to see them hire a person whose sole responsibility is student engagement.
He really could use some help with generating student support and involvement. If there's a glaring weak spot in his performance, it's that student involvement has plunged. With 30,000 or so undergrads, it shouldn't be too hard to get 10,000 in the stands on a Saturday afternoon and 2,500 in the stands at the CEC. The effort has to be made, though. So far, it's been all about raising funds and getting facilities built. Don't mistake my intent - that stuff is vital and it needed to happen. There is more to running a successful athletic department, though. I would love to see them hire a person whose sole responsibility is student engagement.
Deleted member 807
Guest
1) Where is reporter Kuta from the BDC going out to get a quote from Regent Ludwig? Last time CU AD $$$ issues were in the press for an expense overrun, our esteemed Regent said something about being "sad." Hey Ludwig, are you still on the record about being sad, or does the CUAD know what it's doing?
2) George could not achieve this without Gulbrand and his staff. In all my interactions with various departments at CU, the outreach and relationships with the AD is my favorite. The CUAD figured out that the CU Foundation can't be relied upon to do this kind of fundraising and outreach by themselves.
2) George could not achieve this without Gulbrand and his staff. In all my interactions with various departments at CU, the outreach and relationships with the AD is my favorite. The CUAD figured out that the CU Foundation can't be relied upon to do this kind of fundraising and outreach by themselves.
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BlackNGold
Club Member
Solich is still around and still supports CU AD. I do not think he liked the spotlight especially after what happened with Butch Jones where he was paraded out as THE CU donor. Solich has always said he wanted to be a donor but did not want to be THE donor. Solich has been very busy with his new company just completing his new office building and purchasing assets from Cheasapeke Energy.
Is this something you know or just like to make things up? I know it is the latter!
Deleted member 807
Guest
I'd imagine that the plummeting energy prices are making Solich a little more cautious these days with his discretionary spending on charitable causes.
The energy sector was a lot richer back when CU was looking for Embree's replacement.
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Like many in the oil and gas business, I wouldn't blame him if his focus was solely on managing his assets and cash flow in a depressed market.
Broncos.
I think the fact that we are showing we can raise money without the huge donor is really encouraging.
And it takes the "pressure" off a guy like Solich. If he chooses to donate, he can do so in relative anonymity.
Kurt sucks I honestly am surprised he still has a job, firgured he'd get run with the other Sr Bohn guys that did. I've tried to work with him on a few things but unless its a generational thing he has a hard time connecting, "cold fish" was a term i have heard tossed around about him.
To me this says a lot about what Rick is able to do when he focuses.
Didn't he sell high? And now I suspect he's buying low. A drop as big as this one has to have a certain amount of knowledgeable speculators trading cash flow for assets at a deep deep discount. Ive hear there are few dozen players out there that are teetering on bankruptcy.
Deleted member 807
Guest
There's some good folks under Kurt.
George is the best thing to happen to Colorado athletics in a long time.
He definitely did, but I think he was paid a good portion in stock, which has certainly lost a lot of value. But he's got to be worth 100's of millions either way. And he can certainly donate whatever he wants. Sure is a testament of what RG acomplished given the hole he started in without Solich's giant donation. I'd never had believed it....
One rumor that has consistently been floated is that Solich is waiting to see what plays out with the Broncos, the Bowlens, and the team valuation. Bowlens money is also oil money so they share the same ups and downs, and with the teams success of late they maybe priced out of what even Solich could pay.
Solich is still around a bunch still has significant commitments to mens hoops (I dont know **** about the football side of it) and significant ticket expenditures my guess is he's into the CU ad for 250k recurring every year even without a big one time donation.
Interesting. All signs point to the Broncos staying in the Bowlen family, so unless they decide to sell...
I think this was more Solich spit-balling, and it was before the most recent SB win which changes things - the info came from another donor i know reasonably well who has done business with Solich, it came up more than a few times though.
definitely a few steps in the right direction in terms of fostering a donor culture here at CU. Long overdue, but no where near done. RG still has work to do and I am so glad he is sticking with us to see it through.
I think that even if it stays in the family they will still offer a minority ownership to some people since the taxes the kids will have to pay on the inheritance of the team are so high. That is where Elway and his group (Solich included) would come in).