As you may have heard, Matt Painter left the Purdue Boilermakers in order to take the Mizzou job. At least that’s what every single person on Twitter with an interest in college hoops said Monday night. This was of course retracted. But then legit media outlets like Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported Matt Painter called Missouri AD Mike Alden to accept his offer. 670 The Score Chicago said it’s a done deal. The Indy Star disputed it.
And now multiple outlets are saying that he is staying in West Lafayette. Word is still not official until it comes from either school.
Purdue has a reputation as one of the lower paying jobs in the Big Ten. Not actually a low-paying job; just low by what the other leagues coaches make. Therefore, the idea of Painter’s status in limbo meant it was a perfect situation for the Athletic Department to exploit; by scaring their donors into giving more money.
Here’s a form letter, emailed to their donors yesterday. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, skip down towards the bottom and pay attention to what I emboldened. It says that you, yes you donor club member are to blame for this!! Why didn’t you recruit more donors, why didn’t you give us more money??
It’s all your fault!
Dear John Purdue Club Members:
Thanks for the outpouring of support for Matt Painter and for your concern for our Purdue men’s basketball program.
In an effort to allay many of your concerns and dispel much of the misinformation by “unnamed sources”, Athletics Director Morgan Burke has asked me to share with each of you that he is working diligently with President France Córdova and our Board of Trustees to ensure that Matt remains our head coach for many years to come.
Proactively they have made an investment in Matt that was communicated last evening, clearly reinforcing their continued commitment to him and to our championship program. They did not wait to counter anyone else’s offer. It is my hope that the words and actions of our President, our Board and Morgan will encourage Matt, Jerri and their family to remain with Purdue.
Personally, I have been overwhelmed with the number of e-mails pledging to join the John Purdue Club or increase support. Ironically, I believe we would not be in this situation had more than 11% of our current membership participated in the Mackey Challenge and more than 150 of our nearly 9,000 members recruited at least one new member. More of the Big Ten television revenues could have been allocated for compensation for the basketball coaching staff members and less toward the critical path of updating Mackey Arena.
As a self-supporting university auxiliary, we can spend only what we raise, so everyone’s participation will ensure that we retain Matt and provide championship-quality experiences for every single one of our Boilermaker student-athletes.
Thanks for your continued loyal support and passionate commitment….stay tuned!
BOILER UP, HAMMER DOWN, and HAIL PURDUE!
Nancy L. Cross
Sr. Associate Athletics Director-Development and Sports
Now I can only assume that Nancy Cross has read Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine.” It’s an economic history book focusing on how the state uses public disorientation following massive collective shocks – wars, terrorist attacks, or natural disasters — to achieve control by imposing economic shock therapy.
The idea is literally “never let a good crisis go to waste,” exploit disaster-shocked people and countries by imposing economic policies that favor you, and extort people at their weakest point.
This is the exact same principle, just in a less serious setting; and with lower stakes. The University is preying upon scared alumni and fans, at a very critical point, in order to augment their financial bottom line.
UPDATE:
I got to give Nancy credit for realizing the error of her ways.
Dear John Purdue Club Members:
As a follow-up to my email of Tuesday morning, I want to offer a heartfelt apology if I offended you.
As a member of the John Purdue Club, you are part of our greatest affinity group whose generosity has been integral to the accomplishments of our Boilermaker student-athletes. Be assured that we are doing everything we can to make sure Matt Painter remains a Boilermaker.
Sincerely,
Nancy L. Cross
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest webzine. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
He does a regular guest spot each week for Chicagoland Sports Radio.com You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank