http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/89477/jernstedt-gives-big-east-big-boost
Jernstedt gives Big East big boost
By Dana O'Neil | ESPN.com
When Tom Jernstedt started at the NCAA, March wasn't terribly mad. The NCAA tournament field was a measly 25 teams in 1972. But with Jernstedt's help, the tourney grew to its current 68-team bracket, turning March into a basketball lover's three-week holiday.
In between, Jernstedt earned the respect and admiration of his peers, not always an easy feat for a lifer at NCAA headquarters.
That's why the Big East's announcement that Jernstedt would join the league as a senior advisor is a big deal. The new-look Big East is still getting its house in order, trying to figure out where exactly it fits in the college basketball hierarchy, trying to best determine how to maximize its potential.
According to the league, Jernstedt will help commissioner Val Ackerman and other league administrators with officiating, scheduling, postseason play and an entire strategic plan.
Jernstedt can help with all of those things, but more important, his presence gives the Big East instant credibility. The core of the league, the Catholic 7, made the quick move to secede and reform, but since then it's been slow in filling out the particulars of the conference. Ackerman was named commissioner in June, but the new Big East remains very much in the creation stages.
In addition, just how it will be perceived in college basketball remains to be seen. Jernstedt's playing days are slightly behind him -- he was a quarterback, anyway -- but he can help the conference navigate through the landmines of what is now very much a power-broker world.
He's both well versed in basketball and well connected. During his tenure at the NCAA, he negotiated television contracts, marketed the NCAA tourney and worked hand-in-hand with the selection committee. His opinions and thoughts are so valued that he was recently named to the inaugural College Football Playoff selection committee.
A Hall of Famer, Jernstedt spent 38 years at the NCAA headquarters before stepping down in 2010. Though it was announced that he resigned, Jernstedt technically was forced out when Mark Emmert came on board as NCAA president and reconfigured his management team.
"(Jernstedt's) stature, knowledge, relationships, professionalism and unqualified passion for the game will be of tremendous value to the Big East as we look to make our mark in our first season as a reconstituted league and build our long-term basketball and conference development plan," Ackerman said in a statement.
Sounds good to me.
Gotta wonder what they hired Val Ackerman to do? Frankly, the start of the conference has been poorly executed.
Quote from: keefe on October 28, 2013, 06:22:40 PM
Gotta wonder what they hired Val Ackerman to do? Frankly, the start of the conference has been poorly executed.
She came in very late.
Quote from: keefe on October 28, 2013, 06:22:40 PM
Gotta wonder what they hired Val Ackerman to do? Frankly, the start of the conference has been poorly executed.
Gonna go with "run the whole conference, not just men's basketball."
Anyone else incredibly entertained by the fact that an employee of the Big East will help pick the college football playoff teams?
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 28, 2013, 06:34:36 PM
She came in very late.
Two sins
1. It took 3 months to hire a CEO
2. The CEO has been unusually ineffectual almost half a year into her tenure
She should have accomplished a lot more by this time. Hiring Jernstedt suggests she isn't getting it done. Would Marissa Mayer have brought in a hired gun within 4 months?
What exactly did you expect her to accomplish that she hasn't?
Quote from: keefe on October 28, 2013, 06:59:46 PM
Two sins
1. It took 3 months to hire a CEO
2. The CEO has been unusually ineffectual almost half a year into her tenure
She should have accomplished a lot more by this time. Hiring Jernstedt suggests she isn't getting it done. Would Marissa Mayer have brought in a hired gun within 4 months?
Agree on number 1.
For number 2, I think she's only been in the gig for the Big East since late June. Only 4 months. I'm a firm believer of hiring smarter people than yourself (not hard in my case) and if she is doing that, I give her credit. Just my opinion. The whole website thing I don't blame her one bit. Hell, $634M and 3+ years can't build a website apparently....I don't think we can expect Val to have it done in one month.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 28, 2013, 09:07:02 PM
Agree on number 1.
For number 2, I think she's only been in the gig for the Big East since late June. Only 4 months. I'm a firm believer of hiring smarter people than yourself (not hard in my case) and if she is doing that, I give her credit. Just my opinion. The whole website thing I don't blame her one bit. Hell, $634M and 3+ years can't build a website apparently....I don't think we can expect Val to have it done in one month.
So The Chicos Rules:
Basketball Coach: 5 years
CEO: 3 years
BE Commissioner: 4 months
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 28, 2013, 09:18:59 PM
So The Chicos Rules:
Basketball Coach: 5 years
CEO: 3 years
BE Commissioner: 4 months
Blackheart, it really isn't that hard. You are a smart guy, I know you are so I really don't understand the issue on your part.
So let's start...AGAIN...I'd like a coach to have 1 or 2 classes go through the system. That takes...drumroll...4 to 5 years. This avoids the problem of coaches doing well the first 2 or 3 years with the previous guy's talent. It proves he can recruit, etc.
This really isn't that hard, especially for the educated folks here. I don't know why the educated folks make it so hard. Common sense and why most first year contracts for coaches are.....drumroll....5 years. Been in this business for almost 20 years working in and with pro and college sports. It isn't hard, it's why the timelines are used and why most AD's worth their salt will say they want coaches to prove they can do it with their guys, unless the wheels come off earlier. Lane Kiffin.
CEO...doesn't need 5 years. He may replace some of the C level employees or the EVPs to get his/her team in place, but this isn't college athletics. Commissioner....hmm....I didn't realize I had given her any kind of approval of any kind. Merely said it has been 4 months and nothing more. Didn't judge her one way or the other.
Carry on.....clearly there has to be something more to be outraged by than this.
Actually Cheeks I don't have a problem with your "Five Year Rule" so much as you giving a pass to Val. The BE and FS1 have one chance to get this right and they have stumbled out of the blocks, some say miserably. First impressions in media are all you get. You should know that instead of making excuses for her. And you have skin in this game.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 28, 2013, 09:43:16 PM
Actually Cheeks I don't have a problem with your "Five Year Rule" so much as you giving a pass to Val. The BE and FS1 have one chance to get this right and they have stumbled out of the blocks, some say miserably. First impressions in media are all you get. You should know that instead of making excuses for her. And you have skin in this game.
I don't think I'm giving Val a pass. I didn't say anything about her other than she's been on the job for 4 months.
I disagree with you that they have one chance to get things right. Was the Pac 12 network and their first year without flaws? Of course not. Have they lived for another day? Yup. Let's not get overly dramatic here.
Can you list how they have stumbled out of the blocks, let alone miserably. They may have, but I'd like to understand what those are. Or what has she and the conference failed to do that should have been done by someone of more competence?
1) website late to launch
2) ?
3) ?
4) ?
5) ?
6) ?
7) ?
8) ?
9) ?
10) ?
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 28, 2013, 09:43:16 PM
Actually Cheeks I don't have a problem with your "Five Year Rule" so much as you giving a pass to Val. The BE and FS1 have one chance to get this right and they have stumbled out of the blocks, some say miserably. First impressions in media are all you get. You should know that instead of making excuses for her. And you have skin in this game.
So, other than one mildly critical Dana O'Neil column four months ago and a bunch of message board nerds whining about the launch of a website they've probably never visited since said launch, who's out there saying the Big East has stumbled, much less stumbled miserably?
Examples, please.
"First impressions in media are all you get," said no one who's ever watched the career of Conan O'Brien or the first season of Seinfeld.
Why don't you list what she has done? That is right...time to call in the grown ups to get the job done now.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Jiminy_Cricket.png)
Conan? Thanks for making my point...seven months on the big stage and canned. And heaven forbid those who consume media would want access to that Internet thingy. Streaming, merchandising, standings, content, sponsorships, buzz, tickets...yeah that is only for few of us nerds only. A very poor launch by any standard...except you two, which is scary as you both are in media.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 12:00:40 AM
Why don't you list what she has done? That is right...time to call in the grown ups to get the job done now.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Jiminy_Cricket.png)
Conan? Thanks for making my point...seven months on the big stage and canned. And heaven forbid those who consume media would want access to that Internet thingy. Streaming, merchandising, standings, content, sponsorships, buzz, tickets...yeah that is only for few of us nerds only. A very poor launch by any standard...except you two, which is scary as you both are in media.
She was hired June 26th. The website launched 2 months later. The US Gov't has had $634million and 3+ years and can't get one launched right, what resources did the Big East have? I'm just curious.
Streaming....not controlled by the Big East, out of her hands.
Standings??...pac-12.com has standings for only 4 sports...where are the others?
Sponsorships...they have several sponsors already in hand and more on the way.
Tickets...is there a problem with tickets? I'm asking. Go to pac-12.com...check out the tickets section...HUGE holes, missing information, for a conference that has been around two years.
Wait, is all of the above just limited to the website? Seems like it. So we're back to item 1 still.
Where else has she messed up in her 4 months where she has literally had to start from scratch? Maybe she, maybe she hasn't, but I suspect you think she has a lot more resources than she actually has at her disposal. If her office is like the Big Ten or Pac 12 offices I deal with, I assure you there is much more myth than reality. They don't have very many people and not much in resources either. My guess is the Big East is going to be a step down in that regard.
It's not our job to list what she has done, you are claiming a miserable scenario and supposed mockery out there. Shouldn't it be up to you to show outside of a website what all these issues are? Did the tv deal fall through? Are the games not scheduled? Do we have no refs? Did the Big East tournament get cancelled? Are other sports not playing games? Etc? Where is the misery?
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 28, 2013, 11:04:22 PM
I don't think I'm giving Val a pass. I didn't say anything about her other than she's been on the job for 4 months.
I disagree with you that they have one chance to get things right. Was the Pac 12 network and their first year without flaws? Of course not. Have they lived for another day? Yup. Let's not get overly dramatic here.
Can you list how they have stumbled out of the blocks, let alone miserably. They may have, but I'd like to understand what those are. Or what has she and the conference failed to do that should have been done by someone of more competence?
1) website late to launch
2) ?
3) ?
4) ?
5) ?
6) ?
7) ?
8) ?
9) ?
10) ?
Chico
Compare Ackerman's first 4 months with Mayer's. Only one belongs on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour...
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 12:24:45 AM
Chico
Compare Ackerman's first 4 months with Mayer's. Only one belongs on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour...
Since Mayer has taken the helm, Yahoo's revenue has not grown (in fact it is down). The stock has gained largely because of Jerry Yang's investment in Alibaba (which has taken off). Ackerman has not had an opportunity to succeed or fail yet, give her some time...she is starting all this from scratch.
Quote from: forgetful on October 29, 2013, 12:50:48 AM
Since Mayer has taken the helm, Yahoo's revenue has not grown (in fact it is down). The stock has gained largely because of Jerry Yang's investment in Alibaba (which has taken off). Ackerman has not had an opportunity to succeed or fail yet, give her some time...she is starting all this from scratch.
Revenue is down but profits are up and SHV has more than doubled. Alibaba is a part of the portfolio but Mayer could have spun it off in a number of ways and for different reasons. But she didn't. Point is, when a leader takes over the most important time is the first 100 days. Ackerman has been underwhelming, at best.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 01:12:08 AM
Revenue is down but profits are up and SHV has more than doubled. Alibaba is a part of the portfolio but Mayer could have spun it off in a number of ways and for different reasons. But she didn't. Point is, when a leader takes over the most important time is the first 100 days. Ackerman has been underwhelming, at best.
I'll agree with your 100 day rule, but remember this isn't a takeover, it is establishing something new from scratch. That is where the difference lies. When starting something from the ground up on a forced short-time scale things are bound to have a few snags. No major issues yet so I will give her the benefit of the doubt.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 29, 2013, 12:20:44 AM
She was hired June 26th. The website launched 2 months later. The US Gov't has had $634million and 3+ years and can't get one launched right, what resources did the Big East have? I'm just curious.
Streaming....not controlled by the Big East, out of her hands.
Standings??...pac-12.com has standings for only 4 sports...where are the others?
Sponsorships...they have several sponsors already in hand and more on the way.
Tickets...is there a problem with tickets? I'm asking. Go to pac-12.com...check out the tickets section...HUGE holes, missing information, for a conference that has been around two years.
Wait, is all of the above just limited to the website? Seems like it. So we're back to item 1 still.
Where else has she messed up in her 4 months where she has literally had to start from scratch? Maybe she, maybe she hasn't, but I suspect you think she has a lot more resources than she actually has at her disposal. If her office is like the Big Ten or Pac 12 offices I deal with, I assure you there is much more myth than reality. They don't have very many people and not much in resources either. My guess is the Big East is going to be a step down in that regard.
It's not our job to list what she has done, you are claiming a miserable scenario and supposed mockery out there. Shouldn't it be up to you to show outside of a website what all these issues are? Did the tv deal fall through? Are the games not scheduled? Do we have no refs? Did the Big East tournament get cancelled? Are other sports not playing games? Etc? Where is the misery?
You are the one who defended her...what has she done? She is 10 days away from the launch of her prime product. Build awareness, build trial, build repeat. Standard new product launch. Meagan Kelly is her landing page right now from MU WOC. Val was hired because she had launched the WNBA...the timing shouldn't be an excuse (btw, she isn't starting from scratch as the C7 bought the assets...including branding, etc....and her predecessor handled all the pros you pointed out. Lame)
The Soccer Bowls are upcoming...last year Red Bull was a sponsor of the men's. MU is hosting the women's...is the Dog Haus this year's sponsor? As to the website charge...ever hear of integrated marketing? Video streaming isn't Fox's responsibility...that is for the games...I am talking other content...see MU's today and they have a feature on Boot Camp. I live in Omaha and am excited to attend the BE Championship...how do I find info? Wait...although MLB baseball teams are asking for renewals now.
You want a good integrated approach..see you friends at the B1G...here is there website...you can see the same integration on the BTN and in the MSM, social media, merchandising, sponsorships, etc. Simply no excuse.
http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/102713aaa.html
Quote from: forgetful on October 29, 2013, 01:26:00 AM
I'll agree with your 100 day rule, but remember this isn't a takeover, it is establishing something new from scratch. That is where the difference lies. When starting something from the ground up on a forced short-time scale things are bound to have a few snags. No major issues yet so I will give her the benefit of the doubt.
This, plus she has to satisfy a 10 person BOD (the 10 Universities) who likely have varying degrees of experience in athletic conference operation. Yahoo has been around nearly 20 years. Other than the name, this conference has been around less than a year.
As a person who started a new position four months ago and is dealing with unreasonable expectations, I say cut her some slack.
Let's assess her next June.
Quote from: warriorchick on October 29, 2013, 07:40:46 AM
As a person who started a new position four months ago and is dealing with unreasonable expectations, I say cut her some slack.
Let's assess her next June.
I'd love to except that again the brand launches now, not next June. I look at it this way, I'm on a message board dedicated to a Big East team multiple times a day, I watch FSL now because I've banned ESPN from my house, I'm a season ticket holder, very active on social media, and I'm a part of a podcast about Marquette basketball....I've barely noticed the Big East launch, maybe that's not a fair bar but shouldn't someone as ingrained into college basketball as I am at least notice the launch? If I'm not really seeing it, how is Joe Schmoe going to see it?
I go back to things like the podcast, doing one of those things is SO easy and we don't have nearly the resources the Big East has, they couldn't get videos or podcasts going and integrate them with social media? Their webpage consists of a home page that pulls AP stories, a facebook and twitter feed(which they seem to update only every couple of days) and that's it. They have a schedule page and an entire page about Val Ackerman....pretty utilitarian.
This technology stuff is not that big a deal, you can do some pretty cool stuff pretty easily. Personally, especially with the short ramp up, I would have done crowd sourcing on this, plus it would have differentiated the Big East brand. Think of all the material out there that is generated by the fans of all the teams, websites like Anonymous Eagle and Paint Touches. Why couldn't they have developed a crowd sourced product for the fans, by the fans. Say what you want about things like Bleacher Report(I don't read it), but they pump stories out on the cheap that people read at a low effort.
Again everyone should have gone into this with eyes wide open, especially Val so there is no reason not to hold them accountable.
Quote from: warriorchick on October 29, 2013, 07:40:46 AM
As a person who started a new position four months ago and is dealing with unreasonable expectations, I say cut her some slack.
Let's assess her next June.
What new position would that be?
First of all, I'm not exactly sure what major "launch" you were expecting and how she failed to deliver. Fox seems to be promoting the heck out of the product, including putting together a pre-season show that focused entirely on men's basketball.
Second, I lay the entirety of the web-site's problems on the member schools. That should have been outsourced immediately and completed by July 1.
Look, I have no idea if she is going to be good or not. I think she walked into a situation that was very bare bones. But I am struggling to see something that she has done wrong. I agree with warriorchick that you have to give her a year to see what the results are. (And the parallels to Yahoo are laughable. The situations are nowhere near the same.)
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 08:28:17 AM
First of all, I'm not exactly sure what major "launch" you were expecting and how she failed to deliver. Fox seems to be promoting the heck out of the product, including putting together a pre-season show that focused entirely on men's basketball.
Second, I lay the entirety of the web-site's problems on the member schools. That should have been outsourced immediately and completed by July 1.
Look, I have no idea if she is going to be good or not. I think she walked into a situation that was very bare bones. But I am struggling to see something that she has done wrong. I agree with warriorchick that you have to give her a year to see what the results are. (And the parallels to Yahoo are laughable. The situations are nowhere near the same.)
Major launch would be its main product: basketball. I don't see what so hard to figure out. The conference's future relies on this launch...in ten days. The only mention on the website, in the press, in any of the conference's marketing assets is from BE Media Day announcing MU was the preseason choice. Yes, FS1 is promoting it...but is it coordinated or integrated with the Big East's assets like the B1G does so well? No...you would barely know the Big East has basketball.
As to what she has done wrong...that is not the question here...it is what she hasn't done...which no one yet has been able to point out one thing. Cut her some slack? She got the job because of her start up and marketing experience...I will cut her the slack on the administrative side but not the marketing. So far, so FAIL.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 08:47:16 AM
...it is what she hasn't done...which no one yet has been able to point out one thing.
Exactly
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 08:47:16 AM
Major launch would be its main product: basketball. I don't see what so hard to figure out. The conference's future relies on this launch...in ten days. The only mention on the website, in the press, in any of the conference's marketing assets is from BE Media Day announcing MU was the preseason choice. Yes, FS1 is promoting it...but is it coordinated or integrated with the Big East's assets like the B1G does so well? No...you would barely know the Big East has basketball.
As to what she has done wrong...that is not the question here...it is what she hasn't done...which no one yet has been able to point out one thing. Cut her some slack? She got the job because of her start up and marketing experience...I will cut her the slack on the administrative side but not the marketing. So far, so FAIL.
I understand where you are coming from, but again I am not exactly sure what you think she should have done that she isn't.
But I will also add that the BIG has had years to perfect this and has a deep bench of experienced people who have been working for them. I am not sure what the Big East has personnel wise, etc. because the whole damn thing started too late. That is why I am willing to cut her some slack - I have no idea what assets she even has right now.
Quote from: forgetful on October 29, 2013, 01:26:00 AM
I'll agree with your 100 day rule, but remember this isn't a takeover, it is establishing something new from scratch. That is where the difference lies. When starting something from the ground up on a forced short-time scale things are bound to have a few snags. No major issues yet so I will give her the benefit of the doubt.
Exactly....totally different. For all practical purposes, this is a totally new entity and any comparison to Yahoo or anything else is apples to oranges. The old administration walked out with the formation of the AAC conference. The Big East, with a few exceptions, started from scratch.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 08:47:16 AM
Major launch would be its main product: basketball. I don't see what so hard to figure out. The conference's future relies on this launch...in ten days. The only mention on the website, in the press, in any of the conference's marketing assets is from BE Media Day announcing MU was the preseason choice. Yes, FS1 is promoting it...but is it coordinated or integrated with the Big East's assets like the B1G does so well? No...you would barely know the Big East has basketball.
As to what she has done wrong...that is not the question here...it is what she hasn't done...which no one yet has been able to point out one thing. Cut her some slack? She got the job because of her start up and marketing experience...I will cut her the slack on the administrative side but not the marketing. So far, so FAIL.
Did you really just compare the Big Ten with the Big East? Really?
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 12:24:45 AM
Chico
Compare Ackerman's first 4 months with Mayer's. Only one belongs on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour...
Keefe, that is a crazy bad comparison....just crazy bad.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 08:08:44 AM
I've barely noticed the Big East launch, maybe that's not a fair bar but shouldn't someone as ingrained into college basketball as I am at least notice the launch? If I'm not really seeing it, how is Joe Schmoe going to see it?
By watching the World Series and the NFL.
http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/college/content/20131028-big-east-benefiting-from-world-series-ratings.ece
QuoteTheir webpage consists of a home page that pulls AP stories, a facebook and twitter feed(which they seem to update only every couple of days) and that's it. They have a schedule page and an entire page about Val Ackerman....pretty utilitarian.
The stories about the weekly awards on BigEast.com are press releases generated by the conference.
QuoteThis technology stuff is not that big a deal, you can do some pretty cool stuff pretty easily.
If you have employees to do it and keep it maintained.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 29, 2013, 09:02:56 AM
Did you really just compare the Big Ten with the Big East? Really?
Overstate much...I compared what I mean by gold standard integrated marketing...on a scale from 1 to 10, I would have thought a 5 would be outstanding...she is at a 0 right now. Again, going back to your statement of support...what has she done?
As to this myth of a start up from scratch...stop it. The MSG Tournament deal was in place, the TV deal was in place, the server assets were in place with CBS, the AD's took on the scheduling, the C7 bought all the assets including records, the schools were in place and settled....what wasn't was an office and a staff on the admin side....but on the marketing side you have agencies who can do your marketing, advertising, merchandising, sponsorship. This was why she was hired...yet nary a mention of basketball on their website? It doesn't get any weaker than that.
The fact you give her a pass is even more puzzling...
Dr.....it seems to all go back to a website for you.
I can't believe you are really comparing the Big Ten, 100+ year old conference with a conference that is less than 6 months old. And I'm not defending her, I'm pointing out the factual evidence that exists. No staff, hell do we even know if her budget was even established at the time?
Priorities, of which no one here knows what they are. I can guarantee you a podcast or where to get baseball tickets is low on the priority list compared to what she stepped into.
You keep pointing to the Big Ten site....why is it when I go to the Pac 12 site I can only get standings for 4 sports? I can only get ticket information for half the conference? The horror.
Let's just talk numbers for a second. The Big ten has about 55 people in their administration. The old Big East had 30....of those 30, how many went to the AAC? From what I understand, 25 of them did.
The new Big East....skeleton crew. She has to launch a conference, build a team, etc, etc all at the same time. Any comparison to other conferences is laughable. These are just the facts. I have no idea if she is doing well or not, but these comparisons to Yahoo and the Big Ten, et al, are wild.
I gave you many more things besides the website...but the website is so blatantly off that it is any easy target. Please read my comments on the B1G for once...would have been very happy with a 50% integration level, was expecting a 25%...there is nothing.
As to a staff, etc...she had Fox and CBS on dial and on contract...she could have purchased all the agency help she needed for a launch and if she wasn't getting a budget she should have yelled bloody murder. I am fine with FS1 efforts even if ratings are lagging or some of the execution has been weak...that will work itself out....but the conference's job is to integrate with that spending push. Crickets.
You say she deserves a pass...no she doesn't, as this is why she was hired...and which is why they are now hiring some heavy experience around her.
I don't see where Big East Basketball marketing is behind other conferences:
- I do not believe I've seen (or don't remember) any promotion for B1G Basketball on TV, or heard it on radio, or read it in national publications
- Same for ACC, AAC, PAC X and others
- I have seen multiple stories on Big East Basketball
While I am biased toward the Big East and their promotion likely made more of an impression, I cannot see where Big East Basketball is a 0 on a B1G scale of 10.
Hold on...the experience that they hired wasn't marketing based. It looks like he is specifically an operations guy. Perhaps she has had to spend too much of her time working on something that wasn't in her specialty.
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 08:58:52 AM
I understand where you are coming from, but again I am not exactly sure what you think she should have done that she isn't.
But I will also add that the BIG has had years to perfect this and has a deep bench of experienced people who have been working for them. I am not sure what the Big East has personnel wise, etc. because the whole damn thing started too late. That is why I am willing to cut her some slack - I have no idea what assets she even has right now.
At least from my perspective, this does get distorted a little in that this isn't all Ackerman's "fault", the member schools, ADs, and the BEast organization in general all get credit so in that regard she should get some slack. Having said that, in general what has Ackerman or anyone at the BEast done in the last 4 months? Yes there have been promotions through the WS and NFL(fair point Brewtown) however that is Fox's doing because Fox owns the rights, of course they are going to promote their content. There is nothing that I've seen that the BEast is trying to do to build off of that awareness that Fox is generating.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 09:27:13 AM
I gave you many more things besides the website...but the website is so blatantly off that it is any easy target. Please read my comments on the B1G for once...would have been very happy with a 50% integration level, was expecting a 25%...there is nothing.
As to a staff, etc...she had Fox and CBS on dial and on contract...she could have purchased all the agency help she needed for a launch and if she wasn't getting a budget she should have yelled bloody murder. I am fine with FS1 efforts even if ratings are lagging or some of the execution has been weak...that will work itself out....but the conference's job is to integrate with that spending push. Crickets.
You say she deserves a pass...no she doesn't, as this is why she was hired...and which is why they are now hiring some heavy experience around her.
Do you really think she is going to yell "bloody murder" about not getting enough resources after two months the job?
That would look really good for the conference. And then, everyone on here would be complaining about how we made the wrong hire cause she thought it was going to be easy.
Also, you keep saying how she can just hire people or bring in contractors? The American Athletic took everyone, including the old office space. Have you ever been in a position of leadership? You can NEVER do it on your own. You are only as good as the people beneath you and she had....no one. And if you just bring in "marketing" contractors, that's only going to cause problems once you get into the season and all those contractors go away.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 09:49:12 AM
At least from my perspective, this does get distorted a little in that this isn't all Ackerman's "fault", the member schools, ADs, and the BEast organization in general all get credit so in that regard she should get some slack. Having said that, in general what has Ackerman or anyone at the BEast done in the last 4 months? Yes there have been promotions through the WS and NFL(fair point Brewtown) however that is Fox's doing because Fox owns the rights, of course they are going to promote their content. There is nothing that I've seen that the BEast is trying to do to build off of that awareness that Fox is generating.
Isn't that the point of selling your content to a big provider? So they can do most of the marketing, at least nationally? Someone brought up sponsorship of the soccer championships and what not. That is a fair point to a degree, but really you aren't just going to get a high quality sponsor like that. I would also say, at least for this year, thats probably more on whichever AD did the schedules for the respective sports.
Quote from: Brewtown Andy on October 29, 2013, 09:06:55 AM
By watching the World Series and the NFL.
http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/college/content/20131028-big-east-benefiting-from-world-series-ratings.ece
Right, Fox is driving the eyeballs, does the BEast have any place for them to land or make them sticky? In Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point he talks about 3 core groups that help trends tip, Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Fox is the connector, they are bringing the concept to the masses....the BEast should be the salesmen, why is the product good, why do I want to be a part of it, and part of their strategy should also be to integrate the Mavens the people with content that just want to get information(about the BEast) out there.
Quote from: Brewtown Andy on October 29, 2013, 09:06:55 AM
The stories about the weekly awards on BigEast.com are press releases generated by the conference.
I grant the point, but our crowning marketing achievement is press releases generated by the conference about weekly awards?
Quote from: Brewtown Andy on October 29, 2013, 09:06:55 AM
If you have employees to do it and keep it maintained.
Completely agreed, and this is where I have the biggest issue....there is not an organization in place to accomplish a lot in the first 4 months. Is that all Ackerman's fault, absolutely not because the schools dragged their feet(which I complained about at the time and everyone told me they had plenty of time) and now Ackerman had 4 months to get everything spun up. However, she still has a lot of responsibility in getting it to this point because its not like no one knew this. I was talking about this stuff 6 months ago and I'm a dork sitting anonymously behind a keyboard with no connection to the inner workings of the conference.
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 09:33:23 AM
Hold on...the experience that they hired wasn't marketing based. It looks like he is specifically an operations guy. Perhaps she has had to spend too much of her time working on something that wasn't in her specialty.
Where did I say he was hired for marketing? This is exactly the point...she isn't getting it done for what she was hired for...the marketing launch...this is just a sign of that that she is drowning. One last thing as we have exhausted this and we will never agree although no one has shown me one thing from the conference that is integrated around the basketball start (not talking the Media Day for the MSM)...but here is the definition of integrated marketing so we are level set at least:
Quote"True IMC is the development of marketing strategies and creative campaigns that weave together multiple marketing disciplines (paid advertising, public relations, promotion, owned assets, and social media) that are selected and then executed to suit the particular goals of the brand."[4] Instead of simply using various media to help tell a brand's overall story, with IMC the marketing leverages each communication channel's intrinsic strengths to achieve a greater impact together than each channel could achieve individually. It requires the marketer to understand each medium's limitation, including the audience's ability/willingness to absorb messaging from that medium. This understanding is integrated into a campaign's strategic plan from the very beginning of planning - so that the brand no longer simply speaks with consistency, but speaks with planned efficacy.[5] This concept inherently provides added benefits that include: a singular/synchronized brand voice and experience, cost efficiencies generated through creativity and production, and opportunities for added value and bonus.
So, FS1 is driving all this advertising, and the Big East has nothing integrated...no content on the website, no e-commerce, merchandising, sponsorships, media blasts of their own, no events. Just fallow. Why no Red Bull Big East Women's Soccer Bowl sponsorship? Any apps? Why not leverage a merchandising deal, e-commerce? Advertising on the conference assets? Turning on bloggers, using the network of school's assets, driving local media with a roadshow? What are they doing to enhance the live experience? The BE has this great MSG deal...how are they leveraging that? It is on a calendar. Um Ok.
As to the other conferences...first, their main brand is football...second, they are integrated all over the place on basketball. The B1G is the gold standard...but apparently Chicos is a big fan of the PAC efforts.
This whole thing is playing out like the office scene from Anchorman...
Dr. Blackheart: I mean, come on, Chicos, it's bullcrap! Don't get me wrong, I love the ladies, they rev my engine, but Val Ackerman doesn't belong in the Big East Commish chair!
mu03eng: It is a website, not rocket science, and that is a scientific fact!
archies bat: I don't know what we're yelling about!
Dr. Blackheart: Go with us, keefe, what do you think?
keefe: (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0e/76/d6/0e76d646ccaa3b2de38460fcf39c3fd4.jpg)(http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ba/0b/31/ba0b31f54eeabf80f4d6cfabce645753.jpg)(http://paksoldiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/us-forces-israeli-company-to-back-out-of-indian-air-force-fighter-jet-bid-100x100.jpg)
archies bat: LOUD NOISES!!!
Chicos: Everyone relax, she's not going to get it all done in one day.
archies bat: I think this marketing is just like the Big Ten and the Badgers. The Badgers can smell the marketing!
Dr. Blackheart: Well that's just great. Did ya hear that, Cheeks? Badgers. Now you're putting the whole league in jeopardy.
Quote from: Abode4life on October 29, 2013, 09:50:51 AM
Do you really think she is going to yell "bloody murder" about not getting enough resources after two months the job? That would look really good for the conference. And then, everyone on here would be complaining about how we made the wrong hire cause she thought it was going to be easy.
Also, you keep saying how she can just hire people or bring in contractors? The American Athletic took everyone, including the old office space. Have you ever been in a position of leadership? You can NEVER do it on your own. You are only as good as the people beneath you and she had....no one. And if you just bring in "marketing" contractors, that's only going to cause problems once you get into the season and all those contractors go away.
As a leader, if she isn't getting the resources to do the job she was hired for, you need to make your business case known...not sit back. Who says she has to yell "bloody murder" in public?
You do know it is standard to hire agencies in just about all schools and conferences? That the conference staff is lean and they set the strategy, budgets and direction in conjunction with their partners? Marquette uses Nelligan Sports...and I have to say MU has done a very good job integrating their efforts as of late.
Quote from: brewcity77 on October 29, 2013, 10:02:47 AM
This whole thing is playing out like the office scene from Anchorman...
Dr. Blackheart: I mean, come on, Chicos, it's bullcrap! Don't get me wrong, I love the ladies, they rev my engine, but Val Ackerman doesn't belong in the Big East Commish chair!
mu03eng: It is a website, not rocket science, and that is a scientific fact!
archies bat: I don't know what we're yelling about!
Dr. Blackheart: Go with us, keefe, what do you think?
keefe: (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0e/76/d6/0e76d646ccaa3b2de38460fcf39c3fd4.jpg)(http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ba/0b/31/ba0b31f54eeabf80f4d6cfabce645753.jpg)(http://paksoldiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/us-forces-israeli-company-to-back-out-of-indian-air-force-fighter-jet-bid-100x100.jpg)
archies bat: LOUD NOISES!!!
Chicos: Everyone relax, she's not going to get it all done in one day.
archies bat: I think this marketing is just like the Big Ten and the Badgers. The Badgers can smell the marketing!
Dr. Blackheart: Well that's just great. Did ya hear that, Cheeks? Badgers. Now you're putting the whole league in jeopardy.
Spot on, but I don't use all caps.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 09:13:38 AM
Overstate much...I compared what I mean by gold standard integrated marketing...on a scale from 1 to 10, I would have thought a 5 would be outstanding...she is at a 0 right now. Again, going back to your statement of support...what has she done?
As to this myth of a start up from scratch...stop it. The MSG Tournament deal was in place, the TV deal was in place, the server assets were in place with CBS, the AD's took on the scheduling, the C7 bought all the assets including records, the schools were in place and settled....what wasn't was an office and a staff on the admin side....but on the marketing side you have agencies who can do your marketing, advertising, merchandising, sponsorship. This was why she was hired...yet nary a mention of basketball on their website? It doesn't get any weaker than that.
The fact you give her a pass is even more puzzling...
The fact that you ignore this was a conference from scratch, almost no employees, etc....is even more puzzling. What's her budget? What did the fine (cheap) Catholic schools give her as an operating budget? If its like it was when I was in MU athletics, it would make you blush in terms of marketing dollars. Not enough money to run 2 ads in the MJS back in the day...I am not joking. I get your frustration over certain things, but I truly think you have no idea how bare bones this operation was at the start.
This is an all sports conference, not just men's basketball. The league is getting a lot of exposure from Fox right now, as they should have them do the heavy lifting for them. It keeps coming back to a website for you. How do you know what sponsorships, marketing, etc have been done or not done? Because they don't have a sponsorship link on the website that means nothing has been done? Please. You really don't know, so you shoot at a website as if the website is the definition of conference success. They have many more issues to prioritize before that. Scheduling, championships, venues, staffing, etc.
Just like FS1 has got off to a very rocky start despite millions of dollars and enormous expertise, they will come around. I think the Big East conference with a fraction of the money and staffing deserves the same outlook. That is not giving someone a free pass, that is acknowledging the reality of what this fledgling new conference is. This isn't the Big Ten, it's not even the AAC in terms of staffing. This isn't Yahoo. This is a brand new conference with an old name.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 12:00:40 AM
Why don't you list what she has done? That is right...time to call in the grown ups to get the job done now.
So ... um... hmmm. The evidence to support your assertion that "they have stumbled out of the blocks, some say miserably" is that
I haven't listed Val Ackerman's accomplishments?
Is that seriously your best response?
QuoteConan? Thanks for making my point...seven months on the big stage and canned.
That obviously flew over your head. Because Conan's short-lived stint with "The Tonight Show" totally was his first impression.
QuoteAnd heaven forbid those who consume media would want access to that Internet thingy. Streaming, merchandising, standings, content, sponsorships, buzz, tickets...yeah that is only for few of us nerds only. A very poor launch by any standard...except you two, which is scary as you both are in media.
Well, for starters all that stuff - streaming, merchandising, standings, content, sponsorships, buzz, tickets - was/is out there for public consumption without an official conference site.
Want to see Xavier's women's volleyball schedule? http://www.goxavier.com/sports/w-volley/
Want DePaul women's basketball tickets? http://www.depaulbluedemons.com/tickets/depa-w-baskbl-tickets.html
Want the latest news on Butler soccer? http://www.butlersports.com/sports/m-soccer/index
In fact, I think most people who are interested in these things would go directly to the school's site for them, not a conference site.
Very few people go to conference websites. Big10.org ranks about 34,000th for most-visited sites in the U.S. (a number currently inflated because we're in the middle of football season). In comparison, mgoblue.com (Michigan athletics site) ranks 11,735. Huskers.com ranks 14,568. Gopusports.com ranks 15,899.
Look, all that stuff you mention - streaming, standings, content, tickets, whatever - would be nice to have on a conference website, and I'm sure will get there eventually. But compared with all that other stuff that needed to be accomplished (hiring staff, establishing policies, setting schedules, setting up conference tournaments, hiring officials, etc.) it's small potatoes and far from a priority.
And yeah, comparing the infrastructure of the new Big East - a venture that's not even four months old - to the 117-year-old Big 10 is completely reasonable.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 10:08:40 AM
As a leader, if she isn't getting the resources to do the job she was hired for, you need to make your business case known...not sit back.
Might have to tone down the rage until we know that she is just sitting around.
For all we know, she's working 80 hours per week trying to put the infrastructure/people in place, and is finally getting some help.
OR
Maybe she's totally incompetent.
EDIT: spelling. ugh.
Quote from: Guns n Ammo on October 29, 2013, 10:33:35 AM
Might have to tone done the rage until we know that she is just sitting around.
For all we know, she's working 80 hours per week trying to put the infrastructure/people in place, and is finally getting some help.
OR
Maybe she's totally incompetent.
Exactly. We have no idea what her bosses have asked her to do and what resources they have provided for her.
Quote from: Dr. Blackheart on October 29, 2013, 10:08:40 AM
As a leader, if she isn't getting the resources to do the job she was hired for, you need to make your business case known...not sit back. Who says she has to yell "bloody murder" in public?
You do know it is standard to hire agencies in just about all schools and conferences? That the conference staff is lean and they set the strategy, budgets and direction in conjunction with their partners? Marquette uses Nelligan Sports...and I have to say MU has done a very good job integrating their efforts as of late.
Yes I do know that, but when Val started, she was the only Big East employee...The American Athletic took everyone. You expect her to wave her wand, bring in agencies, direct them in all facets of what makes a conference run, and also look for office space, hire full time staff (since she had none), and oh yeah four months is her measuring stick.
I just think you are being way unreasonable with what you expect to get done in four months. Granted, if next year isn't a remarkable improvement, absolutely I am with you.
Is there an organization in place prior to Ackerman to support marketing? No and that is the members fault
Has Ackerman put an organization in place since? Bits and pieces but doesn't seem significant, that's on Ackerman
Are there things like sponsorships and marketing deals in place at the championships? No, some of that is on the schools, some on the parent organization.
Has there been any progress, doesn't seem like much if any. Yes it takes an organization to do these things, but that organization should have been in place prior(schools fault) and should be in place now(Ackerman's fault)
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 11:09:40 AM
Has there been any progress, doesn't seem like much if any. Yes it takes an organization to do these things, but that organization should have been in place prior(schools fault) and should be in place now(Ackerman's fault)
I'm legitimately curious ... what's your knowledge of the organization in place, where/how did you come about that knowledge and what's your basis for asserting there's been little, if any, progress?
Quote from: Pakuni on October 29, 2013, 11:11:48 AM
I'm legitimately curious ... what's your knowledge of the organization in place, where/how did you come about that knowledge and what's your basis for asserting there's been little, if any, progress?
Look at the webpage, under leadership it is only Val Ackerman there is no about section or FAQ or staff directory
Now look at the ACC
http://www.theacc.com/#!/page/StaffDirectory
(http://www.theacc.com/#!/page/StaffDirectory)
or the AAC
http://theamerican.org/staff.aspx (http://theamerican.org/staff.aspx)
Or look at the results, pretty minimal, so does that tell you there is a staff in place or not. If there is no staff in place what's the hold up? If there is a stay in place what are they delivering?
Not to mention the article that started this thread, the need to bring in an adviser to create a strategic plan....4 months after Ackerman should have had a strategic plan. You don't take on this job without a very detailed 90 day plan. And if she had a 90 plan and accomplished it without a strategic plan being one of the outputs than she is incompetent.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 11:21:11 AM
Look at the webpage, under leadership it is only Val Ackerman there is no about section or FAQ or staff directory
Now look at the ACC
http://www.theacc.com/#!/page/StaffDirectory
(http://www.theacc.com/#!/page/StaffDirectory)
or the AAC
http://theamerican.org/staff.aspx (http://theamerican.org/staff.aspx)
Or look at the results, pretty minimal, so does that tell you there is a staff in place or not. If there is no staff in place what's the hold up? If there is a stay in place what are they delivering?
It's a stretch to suggest that because the staff isn't listed on the website then no staff exists, isn't it?
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 11:23:25 AM
Not to mention the article that started this thread, the need to bring in an adviser to create a strategic plan....4 months after Ackerman should have had a strategic plan. You don't take on this job without a very detailed 90 day plan. And if she had a 90 plan and accomplished it without a strategic plan being one of the outputs than she is incompetent.
Have you ever taken part in the creation of a strategic plan. Claiming Ackerman should have had one in place before she even started, or even four months into the job, suggests you haven't. No organization the size of the Big East develops a strategic plan that quickly, especially when there are much more pressing issues to address - such as putting the infrastructure in place to conduct an actual season.
Also, the story does not, in fact, say Jernstedt is being brought in to create a strategic plan. It states that he's been brought in to help in the process, as well as in several other areas.
Seriously, this thread is becoming more evidence (like the FS1 preseason show thread) that Scoopers will complain about anything. Here we have the league being praised for bringing in a highly respected advisor to help it continue to get off the ground, and some of you turn it into a b*tchfest about a website you'll never visit.
the schedule is out and Bball will be played on time - job well done <clap>
Quote from: Pakuni on October 29, 2013, 11:34:40 AM
Have you ever taken part in the creation of a strategic plan. Claiming Ackerman should have had one in place before she even started, or even four months into the job, suggests you haven't. No organization the size of the Big East develops a strategic plan that quickly, especially when there are much more pressing issues to address - such as putting the infrastructure in place to conduct an actual season.
Also, the story does not, in fact, say Jernstedt is being brought in to create a strategic plan. It states that he's been brought in to help in the process, as well as in several other areas.
Seriously, this thread is becoming more evidence (like the FS1 preseason show thread) that Scoopers will complain about anything. Here we have the league being praised for bringing in a highly respected advisor to help it continue to get off the ground, and some of you turn it into a b*tchfest about a website you'll never visit.
Not to go all Chicos, but I manage a $10 mil product business and I had a strategic plan in place 60 days into my role(there were all sorts of pieces all over the place from previous management) and grew the business 20% over the last 3 years. I've done this sort of thing for 10 years...I know a thing or two about strategic plans, product development, and marketing as well as rolling out new products(We've launched 4 in the last 1.5 years). It's not like I don't know what I'm talking about.
My point, which you want to take to extremes, is there is a basic level of delivery 4 months in that should be more than just having a sports league running and a crappy website. I haven't seen that delivered. How hard is it have an org chart up? What if I'm a potential sponsor, who do I contact, Ackerman?? At no point am I calling for Ackerman's or anybodys ouster. I'm willing to give them the year Sultan and Warriorchick suggest, it's perfectly reasonable. However, it also entirely fair to say to date they have not delivered what should have been delivered a week prior to a new league go live. Some of that is on the schools, some on Ackerman.
I showed you mine, how big is yours? :o
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 08:28:17 AM
First of all, I'm not exactly sure what major "launch" you were expecting and how she failed to deliver. Fox seems to be promoting the heck out of the product, including putting together a pre-season show that focused entirely on men's basketball.
Second, I lay the entirety of the web-site's problems on the member schools. That should have been outsourced immediately and completed by July 1.
Look, I have no idea if she is going to be good or not. I think she walked into a situation that was very bare bones. But I am struggling to see something that she has done wrong. I agree with warriorchick that you have to give her a year to see what the results are. (And the parallels to Yahoo are laughable. The situations are nowhere near the same.)
Once again your lack of sophistication is showing. But you are correct on one point: it is not about Yahoo. It is about Yahoo's CEO who came into a directionless enterprise and energized it immediately. It is about leadership. Mayer is a leader. Ackerman is a bureaucrat. The Big East could have done much better in every way.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 12:53:35 PM
Not to go all Chicos, but I manage a $10 mil product business and I had a strategic plan in place 60 days into my role(there were all sorts of pieces all over the place from previous management) and grew the business 20% over the last 3 years. I've done this sort of thing for 10 years...I know a thing or two about strategic plans, product development, and marketing as well as rolling out new products(We've launched 4 in the last 1.5 years). It's not like I don't know what I'm talking about.
My point, which you want to take to extremes, is there is a basic level of delivery 4 months in that should be more than just having a sports league running and a crappy website. I haven't seen that delivered. How hard is it have an org chart up? What if I'm a potential sponsor, who do I contact, Ackerman?? At no point am I calling for Ackerman's or anybodys ouster. I'm willing to give them the year Sultan and Warriorchick suggest, it's perfectly reasonable. However, it also entirely fair to say to date they have not delivered what should have been delivered a week prior to a new league go live. Some of that is on the schools, some on Ackerman.
I showed you mine, how big is yours? :o
So what information do you have that there is none in place? Having a plan and implementing one is vastly different. So you have grown your business (most likely a division of an already established company) and then grew the business over the last 3 years. How was growth in 4 months?
Lets be real here. In the Big East Media Days, Ackerman talked a little bit about what she was doing the past four months and that was find office space and build a staff. (That was probably step 1 in the strategic plan) She also talked about how she was able to visit each school during that time. Most likely getting additional input on where the conference should go and probably also what else can be leveraged.
The fact that people are ripping on everything after four months is ridiculous. Have there been issues? Yes. Is it Hiroshima and our conference cannot succeed because of it? No. Granted, you agreed that we should give them a year but the others who are acting like its the end of the world are just being ridiculous. Give them time and if we still have some fumbling after a full year, then I'll be with you all complaining.
And heading off the "all she was able to do was find an office, visit schools, and hire some people" comment. Thats all that I know she has done as thats what I have heard her say in interviews. If you have other information that she is not working hard and making strides, then feel free to prove me wrong.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 01:15:26 PM
Once again your lack of sophistication is showing. But you are correct on one point: it is not about Yahoo. It is about Yahoo's CEO who came into a directionless enterprise and energized it immediately. It is about leadership. Mayer is a leader. Ackerman is a bureaucrat. The Big East could have done much better in every way.
Nevermind....you aren't worth my time.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 29, 2013, 09:03:31 AM
Keefe, that is a crazy bad comparison....just crazy bad.
C'mon Jamie it's about leadership. And after 4 months they bring in another bureaucrat. This isn't comparing Yahoo to the Big East (or vice versa.) It's about leadership.
Ackerman's number one priority is to build the Big East brand. How do I know it's not working? Because everyday on ESPN I hear mainstream journalists refer to it as the "NEW BIG EAST!" I can think of no more compelling indictment of Ackerman's ineptitude.
Quote from: Abode4life on October 29, 2013, 01:17:05 PM
So what information do you have that there is none in place? Having a plan and implementing one is vastly different. So you have grown your business (most likely a division of an already established company) and then grew the business over the last 3 years. How was growth in 4 months?
Lets be real here. In the Big East Media Days, Ackerman talked a little bit about what she was doing the past four months and that was find office space and build a staff. (That was probably step 1 in the strategic plan) She also talked about how she was able to visit each school during that time. Most likely getting additional input on where the conference should go and probably also what else can be leveraged.
The fact that people are ripping on everything after four months is ridiculous. Have there been issues? Yes. Is it Hiroshima and our conference cannot succeed because of it? No. Granted, you agreed that we should give them a year but the others who are acting like its the end of the world are just being ridiculous. Give them time and if we still have some fumbling after a full year, then I'll be with you all complaining.
If you could send the hyperbole machine in for servicing so we could have a moment of level talk that would be great.
No one said anything about Hiroshima or abject failure or the pastors wife in the corner screaming please god would someone please think about the children. The point is, to date things have been a disappointment...the article to start the thread raises some concerns about the organization being a little rudderless and delayed....lets hope this turns around....that's it, full stop.
Also for the record, hiring Tom Jernstedt is a great move, it should have been done 3 months ago, but it's a strong move to get the organizational pieces together. I hope a year from now someone thread necromances this thing and we're all laughing at what an idiot I am(as I am most times). I just have some misgivings and the interwebs were built for misgivings and I've got a bad feeling about this.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 01:26:21 PM
C'mon Jamie it's about leadership. And after 4 months they bring in another bureaucrat. This isn't comparing Yahoo to the Big East (or vice versa.) It's about leadership.
OK...why do you keep calling her a bureaucrat? If you look at her background, that isn't how I would describe her.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 01:15:26 PM
Once again your lack of sophistication is showing. But you are correct on one point: it is not about Yahoo. It is about Yahoo's CEO who came into a directionless enterprise and energized it immediately. It is about leadership. Mayer is a leader. Ackerman is a bureaucrat. The Big East could have done much better in every way.
If you were just one-tenth as smart as you think you are, they surely would have declared you long of the world by now.
Quote from: Abode4life on October 29, 2013, 01:19:24 PM
And heading off the "all she was able to do was find an office, visit schools, and hire some people" comment. Thats all that I know she has done as thats what I have heard her say in interviews. If you have other information that she is not working hard and making strides, then feel free to prove me wrong.
So we are at the "you prove that I'm not wrong...no you prove I'm not right stage"? This thread can officially close for business.
It is a legitimate point that we don't have enough evidence to draw a complete conclusion, but I've seen enough to be concerned. Seems you and Pakuni and Sultan are comfortable with everything to date. Great, let's hope you're right and we'll see.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 01:31:09 PM
Also for the record, hiring Tom Jernstedt is a great move, it should have been done 3 months ago, but it's a strong move to get the organizational pieces together. I hope a year from now someone thread necromances this thing and we're all laughing at what an idiot I am(as I am most times). I just have some misgivings and the interwebs were built for misgivings and I've got a bad feeling about this.
I agree bringing in Jernstedt is a good move but only because the Commissioner isn't getting it done. But from his CV it would appear he is far more administrator and much less visionary. Ackerman would seem to excel at neither so the conference consistently referred to as the "New Big East" still has major deficiencies in its leadership portfolio.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 12:53:35 PM
Not to go all Chicos, but I manage a $10 mil product business and I had a strategic plan in place 60 days into my role(there were all sorts of pieces all over the place from previous management) and grew the business 20% over the last 3 years. I've done this sort of thing for 10 years...I know a thing or two about strategic plans, product development, and marketing as well as rolling out new products(We've launched 4 in the last 1.5 years). It's not like I don't know what I'm talking about.
My point, which you want to take to extremes, is there is a basic level of delivery 4 months in that should be more than just having a sports league running and a crappy website. I haven't seen that delivered. How hard is it have an org chart up? What if I'm a potential sponsor, who do I contact, Ackerman?? At no point am I calling for Ackerman's or anybodys ouster. I'm willing to give them the year Sultan and Warriorchick suggest, it's perfectly reasonable. However, it also entirely fair to say to date they have not delivered what should have been delivered a week prior to a new league go live. Some of that is on the schools, some on Ackerman.
I showed you mine, how big is yours? :o
Well, if we're going to bring out a measuring stick and all, I've been part of the creation of a strategic plan for an entity with revenues of more than $85 million annually (at the time, today it's over $100 million, for which I take and deserve no credit).
This is something we took many months creating, making sure that all stakeholders had their say and opportunities to review before publishing, and we did so with the benefit of an already well-established model, staff and hierarchy (the organization is well over a century old).
Ackerman had none of these benefits, and yet you think a strategic plan is reasonable within a few weeks? Perhaps we're talking past one another, and your understanding of a strategic plan is different from my own.
And congrats on your success.
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 01:32:11 PM
OK...why do you keep calling her a bureaucrat? If you look at her background, that isn't how I would describe her.
Let me ask you this: what reaction do you have when every Mike DeCourcy writes about the "New Big East?" There are sins of omission and sins of commission.
There has been a stunning lack of productivity at a critical juncture. Great leaders inspire and deliver tangible results.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 01:27:59 PM
If you could send the hyperbole machine in for servicing so we could have a moment of level talk that would be great.
No one said anything about Hiroshima or abject failure or the pastors wife in the corner screaming please god would someone please think about the children. The point is, to date things have been a disappointment...the article to start the thread raises some concerns about the organization being a little rudderless and delayed....lets hope this turns around....that's it, full stop.
Full stop + two more. The article to start was about hiring Jernstedt (which I agree with you looks great). You and others then read into the following quote:
"The new-look Big East is still getting its house in order, trying to figure out where exactly it fits in the college basketball hierarchy, trying to best determine how to maximize its potential."
And I don't think anyone out there can disagree with that statement. However, if you are trying to bring in real quality people (like it seems they are with the couple known hires they have made), you can't just snap your fingers and get people to jump ship and join you.
Speak of the devil...Big East hires Amber Cox as Women's Hoops Admin. Seems like she has some good experience with the Phoenix Mercury.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/29/3718334/big-east-hires-amber-cox-as-womens.html
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 01:44:10 PM
Let me ask you this: what reaction do you have when every Mike DeCourcy writes about the "New Big East?" There are sins of omission and sins of commission.
There has been a stunning lack of productivity at a critical juncture. Great leaders inspire and deliver tangible results.
Before I answer your question, I would like you to answer mine.
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 01:49:10 PM
I will note that you never addressed the question I asked you.
I answered it. Great leaders inspire. And build. She has done neither.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 01:50:37 PM
I answered it. Great leaders inspire. And build. She has done neither.
That wasn't the question I asked. I asked why you keep referring to her as a "bureaucrat" when that isn't what her background suggests at all.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 01:44:10 PM
Great leaders inspire and deliver tangible results.
And speak in platitudes.
Has Ackerman been on campus yet? I know she visited providence and had a local Q&A with them.
Quote from: brewcity77 on October 29, 2013, 10:02:47 AM
This whole thing is playing out like the office scene from Anchorman...
[
Please update after we get to the 5th page, and let me know if I have a speaking role.
Quote from: Abode4life on October 29, 2013, 01:19:24 PM
And heading off the "all she was able to do was find an office, visit schools, and hire some people" comment. Thats all that I know she has done as thats what I have heard her say in interviews. If you have other information that she is not working hard and making strides, then feel free to prove me wrong.
Which is our issue. Relaunching a brand...one with roots back to 1979... should have been Job 1. Issuing the Ackerman Report, finding a plush office, visiting schools, filling out paperwork isn't as that can be delegated or deprioritized. Building the brand in conjunction with an integrated marketing plan with your marketing partners is. Don't have a budget? Try getting some ad revenue and sponsorship cash. Nothing is more important as that is why 80% of new products fail: no sustaining support.
Why compare to the B1G? Because that is the big boy and everyone else is comparing you to them. You need to be edgier to breakthrough...Right now, the BE is DePaul looking to collect other teams' NCAA credits (in this case, Fox) to use an analogy. Each fan, reporter, recruit, advertiser, media outlet are comparing them to you.
Conan was a relaunch for prime time...didn't work as NBC did not support it. Bad mix, no support. FAIL
This is a competitive situation where the BE has been marginalized: by the football schools, ESPN, the MSM. Why wait and not integrate with the one time Fox investment? Makes no sense.
Quote from: Pakuni on October 29, 2013, 01:55:41 PM
And speak in platitudes.
I think keefe is the CEO of Left Twix. "
Dammit, it's cloaked in chocolate! Totally different process than being covered in chocolate."
Quote from: brewcity77 on October 29, 2013, 02:10:21 PM
I think keefe is the CEO of Left Twix. "Dammit, it's cloaked in chocolate! Totally different process than being covered in chocolate."
Aren't you a fireman? The point being, what, exactly, have you done in the corporate world?
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 02:17:13 PM
Aren't you a fireman? The point being, what, exactly, have you done in the corporate world?
Nothing at all. Which is why I don't weigh in on stuff like this. But all you do is try to obfuscate the issue, change the topic to suit your argument, and scare people off with big words and walls of pictures.
The point being, any average guy with passing knowledge of forums can see how you operate. I don't need a business degree for that.
Quote from: brewcity77 on October 29, 2013, 02:22:34 PM
Nothing at all. Which is why I don't weigh in on stuff like this. But all you do is try to obfuscate the issue, change the topic to suit your argument, and scare people off with big words and walls of pictures.
The point being, any average guy with passing knowledge of forums can see how you operate. I don't need a business degree for that.
Don't forget the dismissive insults.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 02:24:56 PM
From the Bully of Scoop...
Uh huh....sure.
Have yet to answer the question I see.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 02:24:56 PM
From the Bully of Scoop...
And from the post accusing you of dismissive insults, you go for a dismissive insult ;D
Classic keefe.
Quote from: brewcity77 on October 29, 2013, 02:28:27 PM
And from the post accusing you of dismissive insults, you go for a dismissive insult ;D
Classic keefe.
No.
Classic keefe would have meant photos depicting bullies.
(https://eweb.psdschools.org/students/bully/Images/bully2.jpg) (http://www.crsd.org/cms/lib5/PA01000188/Centricity/Domain/1248/bully_cartoon.gif) (http://www.infusionmma.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/01-bully-prevention-martial-arts.jpg)
So I decided to go back and take a look at when Ackerman was hired, and found this, which outlines a great deal of what she faced in the short term.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2013/06/27/Colleges/Ackerman.aspx?app_data=%7B%22pi%22%3A%2238048_1372353561_1607150263%22%2C%22pt%22%3A%22twitter%22%7D
Given all that was needed to be done, including things as mundane as finding office space, I don't really think it is fair to judge her performance yet.
Can someone get in a quick Hitler reference so we can call it a day for all internet memes in this thread and move over to the don't talk to recruits thread and REALLY jack that one up?
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 02:54:53 PM
Can someone get in a quick Hitler reference so we can call it a day for all internet memes in this thread and move over to the don't talk to recruits thread and REALLY jack that one up?
Let's call it a day.
(http://bbsimg.ngfiles.com/1/9954000/ngbbs44e3fbf310453.jpg)
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 02:54:45 PM
So I decided to go back and take a look at when Ackerman was hired, and found this, which outlines a great deal of what she faced in the short term.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2013/06/27/Colleges/Ackerman.aspx?app_data=%7B%22pi%22%3A%2238048_1372353561_1607150263%22%2C%22pt%22%3A%22twitter%22%7D
Given all that was needed to be done, including things as mundane as finding office space, I don't really think it is fair to judge her performance yet.
Is it unfair to be concerned?
Well she apparently thinks that she is starting from scratch
"My challenge is an operational challenge. We have to create the infrastructure again and create some important pieces from scratch," she said.
She says she's still shopping for office space in New York City and is busy weighing how large of a staff the Big East needs. Groups of athletic directors have carried a heavy load and Fox Sports officials crafted much of the men's basketball schedule. Several major holes in that schedule — mainly in unequal preparation time and home/road splits — emphasize that the first year of the Big East will see some hiccups.
"This time next summer I hope I would have had a summer vacation, which I didn't this year," Ackerman said.
Here are Ackerman's thoughts on some other major Big East issues:
http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/college/content/20130911-big-east-commissioner-ackerman-will-build-on-what-gavitt-set-in-motion.ece
Article from September 11th
Quote from: 4everwarriors on October 29, 2013, 08:23:38 AM
What position would be?
Rodeo.
Jebus, the rest of you MFers were too busy pud whacking over the Yahoo broad and missed this low hanging fruit.
I misspoke earlier, but was damn close.
The old Big East had 29 full time employees. Of the 29, 23 went to the American Athletic Conference and departed the Big East. ~80%. Below is the list of Big East staff from the old conference...those that are crossed out didn't go to the AAC. Everyone else did. Starting from scratch.
Mike Aresco Commissioner
Paul Brazeau Senior Associate Commissioner (Men's Basketball)
Nicholas V. Carparelli, Jr. Senior Associate Commissioner (Football & Marketing)
Joseph F. D'Antonio, Jr., Esq. Senior Associate Commissioner (Compliance & Governance)
Donna DeMarco Egan Senior Associate Commissioner (Administration)
Jennifer M. Condaras Associate Commissioner (Compliance & SWA Liaison)
Danielle M. Donehew Associate Commissioner (Women's Basketball)
Thomas R. Odjakjian Associate Commissioner (Television & Men's Basketball Scheduling)
John Paquette Associate Commissioner (Communications)
James A. Siedliski Associate Commissioner (Olympic Sports)
Barbara M. Jacobs Assistant Commissioner for Women's Basketball Officiating
Kristen D. Brown Director of Sport Administration
Susan S. Eaton Director of Business Affairs
Mark A. Hodgkin Director of Digital Media
Shawn P. Murphy Director of Men's Basketball Operations
Sara Naggar Director of Communications
Kenny A. Schank Director of Compliance
Chuck Sullivan Director of Communications
Robert A. Weygand, Jr. Director of Sport Administration
Patrick Colbert Assistant Director of Sport Administration
Michael A. Costa Assistant Director of Football & Video Administration
Michael A. Coyne Assistant Director of Communications
G. Arthur Hyland, Esq. Coordinator of Men's Basketball Officiating
Terry McAulay Coordinator of Football Officiating
Lisa Zanecchia Assistant to the Commissioner
Lois A. DeBlois Senior Administrative Assistant for Administration and Basketball
Wanda L. Factor Administrative Assistant
Linda A. Yates Administrative Assistant for Officiating
Kathy Kirkpatrick Receptionist
Jamie Corun Digital Network Assistant
Catherine Carmignani Olympic Sport/Sport Administration Assistant
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 02:54:53 PM
Can someone get in a quick Hitler reference so we can call it a day for all internet memes in this thread and move over to the don't talk to recruits thread and REALLY jack that one up?
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 02:54:53 PM
Can someone get in a quick Hitler reference so we can call it a day for all internet memes in this thread and move over to the don't talk to recruits thread and REALLY jack that one up?
Here, let me settle this:
All of your penises are the same size.
Pissing contest over.
Quote from: warriorchick on October 29, 2013, 05:07:38 PM
Here, let me settle this:
All of your penises are the same size.
Pissing contest over.
Thanks, I appreciate measuring up to Keefe.
Quote from: ElDonBDon on October 29, 2013, 03:18:57 PM
Well she apparently thinks that she is starting from scratch
"My challenge is an operational challenge. We have to create the infrastructure again and create some important pieces from scratch," she said.
She says she's still shopping for office space in New York City and is busy weighing how large of a staff the Big East needs. Groups of athletic directors have carried a heavy load and Fox Sports officials crafted much of the men's basketball schedule. Several major holes in that schedule — mainly in unequal preparation time and home/road splits — emphasize that the first year of the Big East will see some hiccups.
"This time next summer I hope I would have had a summer vacation, which I didn't this year," Ackerman said.
Here are Ackerman's thoughts on some other major Big East issues:
http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/college/content/20130911-big-east-commissioner-ackerman-will-build-on-what-gavitt-set-in-motion.ece
Article from September 11th
Ms Ackerman knew the magnitude of what needed to get done. She is the CEO. And her challenge is not really all that difficult. Launching a multi-party, scientific-focused joint venture in the 3rd World is much more difficult. Figuring out ways to solve the cold chain issue for vaccine distribution in Africa is far more difficult. Having 24 hours in which to put together an actionable plan for evacuating 80,000 terrified civilians from a war-torn land is difficult. Turning around the former leading innovator in the i-space is much more difficult. Reorienting the world's leading hardware firm into an agile service delivery enterprise is difficult.
From what you've said, her challenge was to make key hires and find office space. From first hand experience I can tell you that once you are presented with an opportunity you begin building your team. You start making phone calls and getting commitments from key people immediately. Only then can you decide if you can execute the mission and make a commitment with your shareholders. She should have had her team roster filled before she told the Big East yes.
Finding office space is a two-hour drill - your staff presents you with options and you decide. A CEO doesn't walk around Manhattan looking for a place to hang the shingle. Your staff should have recommendations within 3 days. At GE we knew we needed new offices after acquiring Toho Semei, for practical, functional, and symbolic reasons. Our staff pulled together recommendations based on Six Sigma protocols. In one afternoon the Executive Committee selected Mark City in Shibuya. The need for new offices for the Conference was known to Ackerman before she took the job. This was the very least of her priorities. As a leader she knew intuitively that the new HQ needed to be in Manhattan; any idiot could see that. Before she said yes to the job she should have tapped into her network to begin the site selection process.
But the real reason she was hired was to establish the reconstituted Big East as the leading collegiate basketball-focused brand. And in that she has done precious little. The fact that there is confusion about league identity screams failure on her part. As others have made clear, the BE has no coherent MarComm strategy. It seems to me that her emphasis on office space and hiring suggests she is much more comfortable addressing bureaucratic issues than providing strategic leadership. Marissa Mayer understands that difference as demonstrated by her actions at Yahoo.
Whether a restructuring, launch, or spin-off (the Big East has elements of all 3,) successful enterprises sharpen the focus on core skills and competencies. This was done to perfection by Ford, Starbucks, and Apple. But in the case of the Big East, Ms Ackerman has yet to articulate that core competence. I would hazard to say that everyone on this site knows what it must be but as yet we have not heard this from Ms Ackerman. One indication she seems to be getting around to defining that would be the hiring of Jernstedt.
Successful enterprises also capitalize on changing environmental conditions. There is a superb HBS Case Study by Lynda Applegate on Gerstner's re-engineering of IBM. Prof Jan Rivkin of HBS cites this model as a roadmap for Michael Dell's current challenge at Dell. And the insights from the IBM case are useful for the Big East model. Some would see the seismic movement taking place in collegiate athletics as a threat but Rivkin would argue that gifted leaders would discern then deliver on the opportunity.
The Big East has many unique qualities and proprietary assets that are screaming to be leveraged into something more valuable. One needn't look any further than the conference's own DNA to fathom what those gems are. But we have yet to see any recognition of that from the conference leadership.
Both Applegate and Rivkin would say that Ackerman must deliver on two essential elements in order for the Big East to capitalize on the opportunity it was given last March. In order to solidify the short term position, an enterprise must identify those assets from which it can squeeze the absolute most cash and marketing excitement. One could point to the FS1 deal but I would counter that it was only a good first step. There is too much else that has not happened which is solely the responsibility of Ms Ackerman.
The second major deliverable, which has longer term consequences, is to identify those assets in which to reinvest to fuel the enterprise's strategic objectives. To date we have heard nothing from Ms Ackerman on this score. We should have expected something two months ago.
There are many examples of leading brands squandering their equity primarily due to poor leadership. Industry leaders are rarely brought down by catastrophic events. It is almost always a series of small yet completely avoidable problems or failure to respond to a changing competitive landscape. Boeing has superb engineering but fails miserably in operational execution. Sears and K Mart failed to counter Wal-Mart's category killer low-cost strategy despite decades of early warning (and they compounded the problem by merging which exacerbated the decline.) Sony went from being an innovator to being a me-too. Motorola and RIM once dominated the marketplace. And the Big East was the pre-eminent basketball brand as recently as this past April.
There is another HBS case study detailing Mark Hurd's success at HP in the wake of Carly Fiorina. Under Hurd's leadership, HP refocused on its core competence as a printer/PC company – HP's only profitable lines of business – and spun out of everything that was unprofitable. These moves satisfied Rivkin's assertion that that an enterprise must solidify its short term position by capitalizing on those assets that will yield the absolute most cash and marketing sizzle.
And Hurd knew that in the long-term, HP's survival was threatened by its sole presence in the highly competitive hardware commodity space. He therefore leveraged his core strengths by diversifying his portfolio into other lines of business that were strategically vital for HP's future. Hurd acquired EDS and transformed HP through development of a compelling product portfolio that included the high margin software, IT services, and tech consulting verticals.
Ms Ackerman has not performed as one has every right to expect of a senior executive. Her behavior has been much more typical of a bureaucrat – she speaks of not having an office when a dynamic leader speaks of building the brand and taking the enterprise to greater places. Mark Hurd, Marissa Mayer, and Lou Gerstner don't quibble; they act. I would submit that Prof Rivkin would evaluate Ms Ackerman's performance rather harshly. And with good reason.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 29, 2013, 12:53:35 PM
Not to go all Chicos, but I manage a $10 mil product business and I had a strategic plan in place 60 days into my role(there were all sorts of pieces all over the place from previous management) and grew the business 20% over the last 3 years. I've done this sort of thing for 10 years...I know a thing or two about strategic plans, product development, and marketing as well as rolling out new products(We've launched 4 in the last 1.5 years). It's not like I don't know what I'm talking about.
My point, which you want to take to extremes, is there is a basic level of delivery 4 months in that should be more than just having a sports league running and a crappy website. I haven't seen that delivered. How hard is it have an org chart up? What if I'm a potential sponsor, who do I contact, Ackerman?? At no point am I calling for Ackerman's or anybodys ouster. I'm willing to give them the year Sultan and Warriorchick suggest, it's perfectly reasonable. However, it also entirely fair to say to date they have not delivered what should have been delivered a week prior to a new league go live. Some of that is on the schools, some on Ackerman.
I showed you mine, how big is yours? :o
One assumes you had some infrastructure in place to work with....clients, IT systems, etc. In other words, you didn't arrive on the job day one, with absolutely zero other people and start the product, the strategy, the sales, etc. A lot of that existed....not to sound like someone, but you didn't build that comes to mind. Certainly you have taken it to another level, but there were things in place.
This is not the case for this conference. While she was supposed to be creating that strategic plan, she also had to hire people, deal with 10 schools, deal with FOX, schedule championships, etc. I think you guys really have no idea how shoe string these organizations are to begin with and then to make it so she and a skeleton crew is all she had, confirms it for me. It was one of the reasons I got out of working directly in sports and went to the other side. Whether it was at IU, MU, Angels, Ducks or any number of mates that are still doing that for teams, there is a lot of smoke and mirrors going on. Skeleton crews, not like anything in the corporate big world. You just can't compare them and I've been on both sides of the table on this stuff and lived it for a number of years.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 01:15:26 PM
Once again your lack of sophistication is showing. But you are correct on one point: it is not about Yahoo. It is about Yahoo's CEO who came into a directionless enterprise and energized it immediately. It is about leadership. Mayer is a leader. Ackerman is a bureaucrat. The Big East could have done much better in every way.
Yahoo certainly had a direction and many operating units within were doing just fine and would continue to do fine with or without Mayer being there. I truly do not understand why you are making these comparisons.
Put another way, if Mayer had stepped into the situation that Ackerman has, what would have happened? When's the last time Mayer had to start anything from scratch? Would Mayer even know how to dial the phone without an assistant's help?
Strategic plans change, they are in the works all the time. I'm responsible for over $3B in revenue, it's a huge arse number that keeps me up every night. We have modified the strategies year over year, sometimes in a more fluid manner than that. Strategies should hold you through unforeseen circumstances, but sometimes a strategic change is necessary. Despite what I am in charge of and the growth over a $500M in the last four years, I had the ability to leverage existing assets. I wasn't starting from scratch. Customers existed. Sales systems existed. Partners existed. Employees existed. Now, many of those things I changed, but I wasn't starting from scratch and if I had died on the spot, some sales were still going to happen regardless. There is an inertia with any business that exists to some extent, unless the business doesn't exist and you are starting from scratch, which is darn close to what she had to do. Honestly, I don't like going to bat for her because she may be horrible, but I do not see how any comparison of her performance to existing entities is rational.
A better comparison would be to compare her to a CEO that starts with nothing and has a startup and where they are 4 months later.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 29, 2013, 06:47:52 PM
Yahoo certainly had a direction and many operating units within were doing just fine and would continue to do fine with or without Mayer being there. I truly do not understand why you are making these comparisons.
Put another way, if Mayer had stepped into the situation that Ackerman has, what would have happened? When's the last time Mayer had to start anything from scratch? Would Mayer even know how to dial the phone without an assistant's help?
Again - it is not a comparison of companies. Rather, it is a comparison of leadership dynamics. Read my thoughts in another post.
And a good friend of mine reports to Mayer and is extremely impressed. She has made mistakes but overall has re-energized a dying company. When I was at PepsiCo CEO Wayne Calloway asked an audience of Strategic Planners to stand up if you had made a costly mistake in the past year. Relatively few stood but were rewarded on the spot by Calloway for their honesty and the fact they were pushing the outer edge of the envelope. Calloway chastised the gathering, saying that as planners we needed to take risks for that was the essence of intellectual vitality and corporate success. No mistakes signaled no risks, something Calloway knew was anathema to the Pepsi culture.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 29, 2013, 06:54:53 PM
Strategic plans change, they are in the works all the time. I'm responsible for over $3B in revenue, it's a huge arse number that keeps me up every night. We have modified the strategies year over year, sometimes in a more fluid manner than that. Strategies should hold you through unforeseen circumstances, but sometimes a strategic change is necessary. Despite what I am in charge of and the growth over a $500M in the last four years, I had the ability to leverage existing assets. I wasn't starting from scratch. Customers existed. Sales systems existed. Partners existed. Employees existed. Now, many of those things I changed, but I wasn't starting from scratch and if I had died on the spot, some sales were still going to happen regardless. There is an inertia with any business that exists to some extent, unless the business doesn't exist and you are starting from scratch, which is darn close to what she had to do. Honestly, I don't like going to bat for her because she may be horrible, but I do not see how any comparison of her performance to existing entities is rational.
A better comparison would be to compare her to a CEO that starts with nothing and has a startup and where they are 4 months later.
I am extremely disappointed in you. To suggest Ackerman "started with nothing" just dismissed 100 years of basketball tradition at Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, et al... As one entrusted with senior executive responsibility you should know that her "nothing" in the cupboard was administrative. She was not hired to find offices or install an IT network. To suggest so makes me wonder about your strategic conceptualization.
The woman was handed the keys to a platinum asset - The Big East Conference. She knew she needed to build infrastructure but that is not why she was hired. My role at GE Cap was in the Venture Group - to find opportunities in which to invest the half trillion dollars ripping through the GE system. We often had to install infrastructure in investments but we spent zero time on that - and Val Ackerman should have not wasted a second on it either. The Big East, like GE, could easily outsource that administrivia.
Start thinking like an executive and not a bureaucrat!
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 07:09:42 PM
Start thinking like an executive and not a bureaucrat!
This reminds me....you have yet to answer my question.
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 07:30:08 PM
This reminds me....you have yet to answer my question.
Oh, but I did. Read what I posted. If you wish to discuss I can PM my phone number and I can take you through the case studies that are highly relevant.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 07:34:51 PM
Oh, but I did. Read what I posted. If you wish to discuss I can PM my phone number and I can take you through the case studies that are highly relevant.
Brew is right. Brag, big words, etc. But when people people ask you a specific question, you can't even answer it.
I specifically asked why you keep referring to Ackerman as a bureaucrat. Not answered....three times now. Lol.
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 07:38:05 PM
Brew is right. Brag, big words, etc. But when people people ask you a specific question, you don't have the balls to actually answer it.
I specifically asked why you keep referring to Ackerman as a bureaucrat. Not answered....three times now. Lol.
And I answered it. Read my post. If you need further insight I am happy to speak with you. I am not sure if the curriculum at Indiana State University included case study but my answer is in that post. I provided ample detail. I know you prefer inarticulate sound bites, bluff and bluster.
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 07:42:58 PM
And I answered it. Read my post. If you need further insight I am happy to speak with you. I am not sure if the curriculum at Indiana State University included case study but my answer is in that post. I provided ample detail. I know you prefer inarticulate sound bites, bluff and bluster.
NM....just putting you back on ignore...
Quote from: keefe on October 29, 2013, 07:09:42 PM
I am extremely disappointed in you. To suggest Ackerman "started with nothing" just dismissed 100 years of basketball tradition at Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, et al... As one entrusted with senior executive responsibility you should know that her "nothing" in the cupboard was administrative. She was not hired to find offices or install an IT network. To suggest so makes me wonder about your strategic conceptualization.
The woman was handed the keys to a platinum asset - The Big East Conference. She knew she needed to build infrastructure but that is not why she was hired. My role at GE Cap was in the Venture Group - to find opportunities in which to invest the half trillion dollars ripping through the GE system. We often had to install infrastructure in investments but we spent zero time on that - and Val Ackerman should have not wasted a second on it either. The Big East, like GE, could easily outsource that administrivia.
Start thinking like an executive and not a bureaucrat!
Actually, I think she was hired to do those things. That's my point. In the world you and I live in, the CEO wouldn't be caught dead having to track down office space, etc. In this case, I think she had to do that very thing. I understand your point entirely, but I think she actually has been asked to be both executive and bureaucrat, and that's the problem. You are right, there is 100 years of tradition from these universities, but that doesn't come ready made and you just plug and play into a new conference. One need to look at many other schools that have changed conferences to bear that out....the difference there, of course, is that the conference they moved to actually already existed. I think back to the days of the creation of CUSA or the Great Midwest, a lot of this type of stuff going on, but that was during the days that the internet largely didn't exist and tv was not an issue. It hid the ugliness of starting a conference....essentially from scratch (I'll give you the brand names of the individual teams, but it takes more than that).
While I agree with you that the Big East could outsource this stuff, I again go back to my roots at two athletic departments, two major league franchises and 15 years working with teams and leagues....you would be amazed at how much of a shoestring these guys operate on and the jobs that these folks often have to do. It isn't GE, or Yahoo, or anything of the sort. They have huge brand recognition, but not the staffing, infrastructure, etc behind the curtain like other entities with equal brand recognition.
Anyone else overwhelmed to the point that you aren't even intelligent enough to chime in?
F*ckin', where you at in all this, chief?
Quote from: 4everwarriors on October 29, 2013, 08:05:14 PM
Anyone else overwhelmed to the point that you aren't even intelligent enough to chime in?
F*ckin', where you at in all this, chief?
time to make the donuts, bro.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 29, 2013, 07:58:53 PM
Actually, I think she was hired to do those things. That's my point. In the world you and I live in, the CEO wouldn't be caught dead having to track down office space, etc. In this case, I think she had to do that very thing. I understand your point entirely, but I think she actually has been asked to be both executive and bureaucrat, and that's the problem. You are right, there is 100 years of tradition from these universities, but that doesn't come ready made and you just plug and play into a new conference. One need to look at many other schools that have changed conferences to bear that out....the difference there, of course, is that the conference they moved to actually already existed. I think back to the days of the creation of CUSA or the Great Midwest, a lot of this type of stuff going on, but that was during the days that the internet largely didn't exist and tv was not an issue. It hid the ugliness of starting a conference....essentially from scratch (I'll give you the brand names of the individual teams, but it takes more than that).
While I agree with you that the Big East could outsource this stuff, I again go back to my roots at two athletic departments, two major league franchises and 15 years working with teams and leagues....you would be amazed at how much of a shoestring these guys operate on and the jobs that these folks often have to do. It isn't GE, or Yahoo, or anything of the sort. They have huge brand recognition, but not the staffing, infrastructure, etc behind the curtain like other entities with equal brand recognition.
I admit to having zero experience in the wide world of sports. But if Ackerman was asked to address these foundational administrative issues as CEO then someone on the BE BoD needs to make some changes. And if I'm walking up and down Park Ave looking at office space as the Commish I am thinking being a direct report at the NBA is more prestigious.
I would argue this is not a start-up but actually a hybrid model comprising elements from spin-off, start-up, and restructuring models. But in no way should the CEO be doing anything other than strategic decision-making. GE and PepsiCo probably spend more on morning pastries than the operating budgets of some companies.
In the case of Ackerman, I would argue she still hasn't delivered as a CEO. In a separate post I articulated the continuum of activities that should have happened; looking for office space does not absolve her of said responsibilities. In my experience it would mean less sleep, missing dinners at home, and not reading bedtime stories to your kids. And like I said, part of her decision-making construct in taking the job was profiling the functions/action items then identifying people to address them. If she didn't delegate the mundane to minions then she is likely not right for a C-level role.
I have a feeling she is delegating just fine....assuming she had a budget to actually hire minions in the first place. I suspect she has missed plenty of meals, less sleep, etc, to get this thing off the ground. Whether she is a good C level executive, I don't know. My guess is most C level executives would have trouble going into that role.
Wow, this is waaay too easy.
And a one, and a two, and a....
IN BEFORE THE LOCK!. ;D
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 29, 2013, 08:40:29 PM
I have a feeling she is delegating just fine....assuming she had a budget to actually hire minions in the first place. I suspect she has missed plenty of meals, less sleep, etc, to get this thing off the ground. Whether she is a good C level executive, I don't know. My guess is most C level executives would have trouble going into that role.
I will give you that running a sports organization is a very different beast. But remember it was Pete Rozelle's genius as a Madison Avenue marketing expert that made the NFL what it is today. I have read how the Big East "reached outside" to recruit Ackerman. Witnessing her reign I do think we would have been better served if the Big East would have gotten a marketing genius from the corporate world a la Pete Rozelle.
Quote from: ZiggysFryBoy on October 29, 2013, 08:19:56 PM
time to make the donuts, bro.
So Tom Jernstedt likes donuts? Or was that Val that likes donuts? I'm confused.
Quote from: rocky_warrior on October 29, 2013, 09:11:00 PM
So Tom Jernstedt likes donuts? Or was that Val that likes donuts? I'm confused.
Both, but they're not sure which kind.
Val spent the latter half of August searching for a daily donut provider. Needless to say, they have yet to come to a conclusion. Seton Hall's newspaper quotes her as saying "running through proposals from potential breakfast options for [Big East] staff has taken a toll on the day-to-day activities." She was also quoted as saying that she plans to "spend the first week of September touring various Staples and OfficeDepots in Manhattan searching for requisite operational materials such as industrial-strengh binder clips."
Quote from: The Sultan of Syncopation on October 29, 2013, 07:47:15 PM
NM....just putting you back on ignore...
Not sure which is more amusing - the petulance or the hubris.
Quote from: keefe on October 30, 2013, 01:04:05 AM
Not sure which is more amusing - the petulance or the hubris.
Flatulence is always amusing.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 29, 2013, 06:54:53 PM
Strategic plans change, they are in the works all the time. I'm responsible for over $3B in revenue, it's a huge arse number that keeps me up every night. We have modified the strategies year over year, sometimes in a more fluid manner than that. Strategies should hold you through unforeseen circumstances, but sometimes a strategic change is necessary. Despite what I am in charge of and the growth over a $500M in the last four years, I had the ability to leverage existing assets. I wasn't starting from scratch. Customers existed. Sales systems existed. Partners existed. Employees existed. Now, many of those things I changed, but I wasn't starting from scratch and if I had died on the spot, some sales were still going to happen regardless. There is an inertia with any business that exists to some extent, unless the business doesn't exist and you are starting from scratch, which is darn close to what she had to do. Honestly, I don't like going to bat for her because she may be horrible, but I do not see how any comparison of her performance to existing entities is rational.
A better comparison would be to compare her to a CEO that starts with nothing and has a startup and where they are 4 months later.
I don't disagree that she has significant head winds but to say she is starting from nothing is disingenuous. She has assets: BEast brand, Fox contract, 10 university ADs and presidents with a very vested interest in success, contacts from her previous roles, and presumable existing relationships with corporate entities. She has to know what her budget is and she should have had a plan and a requested budget to accomplish that plan prior to taking the job.
The critical shortage is employees, I will concede that, it does take some time to bring them in and get spun up. That is why I don't think she should be fired and let's revisit this in the summer, but I definitely concerned we aren't trending in the right direction. I also think there are some basic things that be done without a ton of employees via outsourcing that aren't being done.
Quote from: mu03eng on October 30, 2013, 08:24:37 AM
I don't disagree that she has significant head winds but to say she is starting from nothing is disingenuous. She has assets: BEast brand, Fox contract, 10 university ADs and presidents with a very vested interest in success, contacts from her previous roles, and presumable existing relationships with corporate entities. She has to know what her budget is and she should have had a plan and a requested budget to accomplish that plan prior to taking the job.
The critical shortage is employees, I will concede that, it does take some time to bring them in and get spun up. That is why I don't think she should be fired and let's revisit this in the summer, but I definitely concerned we aren't trending in the right direction. I also think there are some basic things that be done without a ton of employees via outsourcing that aren't being done.
Engineer
Ackerman is guilty of uninspired leadership as well as failing to address the key deliverables vital to any restructuring/spin-off/launch. Her inability to recognize and accomplish these actions suggests she might not be the best fit for what should be an energizing assignment.
Her BoD should have told Akerman that not having organic staff to develop and deploy a Mar Comm program worthy of an impeccable brand was not an excuse. She should have been on the phone with Burson-Marsteller, ZAAZ, and SEOMoz on her very first day. Within one week those pros would have had the entire world thinking, talking and excited about The Big East. Instead we have nothing. Her default position seems to be to let FS1 do her brand management.
Some people cannot grasp the magnitude of her sins of omission. Frankly, my alma mater deserves better. I know my other alma maters would not accept such shoddy leadership from a steward of their brands.
Quote from: keefe on October 30, 2013, 02:29:15 PM
Engineer
Ackerman is guilty of uninspired leadership as well as failing to address the key deliverables vital to any restructuring/spin-off/launch. Her inability to recognize and accomplish these actions suggests she might not be the best fit for what should be an energizing assignment.
Her BoD should have told Akerman that not having organic staff to develop and deploy a Mar Comm program worthy of an impeccable brand was not an excuse. She should have been on the phone with Burson-Marsteller, ZAAZ, and SEOMoz on her very first day. Within one week those pros would have had the entire world thinking, talking and excited about The Big East. Instead we have nothing. Her default position seems to be to let FS1 do her brand management.
Some people cannot grasp the magnitude of her sins of omission. Frankly, my alma mater deserves better. I know my other alma maters would not accept such shoddy leadership from a steward of their brands.
Agree Keefe. Sins of omission.
Quote from: keefe on October 30, 2013, 02:29:15 PM
Engineer
Ackerman is guilty of uninspired leadership as well as failing to address the key deliverables vital to any restructuring/spin-off/launch. Her inability to recognize and accomplish these actions suggests she might not be the best fit for what should be an energizing assignment.
Her BoD should have told Akerman that not having organic staff to develop and deploy a Mar Comm program worthy of an impeccable brand was not an excuse. She should have been on the phone with Burson-Marsteller, ZAAZ, and SEOMoz on her very first day. Within one week those pros would have had the entire world thinking, talking and excited about The Big East. Instead we have nothing. Her default position seems to be to let FS1 do her brand management.
Some people cannot grasp the magnitude of her sins of omission. Frankly, my alma mater deserves better. I know my other alma maters would not accept such shoddy leadership from a steward of their brands.
Zizzo group was available on the cheap too, brah.
Quote from: keefe on October 30, 2013, 02:29:15 PM
Engineer
Ackerman is guilty of uninspired leadership as well as failing to address the key deliverables vital to any restructuring/spin-off/launch. Her inability to recognize and accomplish these actions suggests she might not be the best fit for what should be an energizing assignment.
Her BoD should have told Akerman that not having organic staff to develop and deploy a Mar Comm program worthy of an impeccable brand was not an excuse. She should have been on the phone with Burson-Marsteller, ZAAZ, and SEOMoz on her very first day. Within one week those pros would have had the entire world thinking, talking and excited about The Big East. Instead we have nothing. Her default position seems to be to let FS1 do her brand management.
Some people cannot grasp the magnitude of her sins of omission. Frankly, my alma mater deserves better. I know my other alma maters would not accept such shoddy leadership from a steward of their brands.
I'd love to know what kind of budget she has. I'm guessing it is peanuts, hands tied. Just knowing how many of these schools operate picking up the phone for those firms sounds good, but I suspect they would have laughed at what she had to spend.
You guys would laugh at some of the budgets out there....absolutely laugh.
This article confirms the starting point....ground zero.
http://ajerseyguy.com/?p=7251
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 30, 2013, 09:56:31 PM
I'd love to know what kind of budget she has. I'm guessing it is peanuts, hands tied. Just knowing how many of these schools operate picking up the phone for those firms sounds good, but I suspect they would have laughed at what she had to spend.
You guys would laugh at some of the budgets out there....absolutely laugh.
Chico,
Your Jersey guy article makes no mention of operating budget. You know as well as I that the BE can afford Burson-Marsteller, ZAAZ, SEOmoz, Metia, and Pop. You make it sound like she's out on the street with a tin cup. In any event, the bottom line is she has not accomplished what she should have by this date.