The role of an AD is fairly clear: build a championship caliber athletic department and thereby enhance the university brand.
To do that, an AD must hire the best coaching staffs, build elite facilities, facilitate recruitment of the best athletes and win Championships and if an AD does that, then he/she will be successful at enhancing the University Brand.
Sports of course, is the most visible aspect of collegiate life and if an AD is successful at his job, then the results lead to optimum ticket prices, full stadiums, an increase in donations/endowments while the sale of athletic or branded merchandise becomes a consistent and meaningful revenue stream.
But something is missing at Michigan State under Bill Beekman’s watch: Championships!!!
In 2020/2021, not a single revenue sport finished in the top half of their respective Big Ten standings; in fact, Football finished 13th out of 14 Big Ten teams; Basketball finished 9th out of 14; while Hockey finished “dead last”.
Meanwhile, nonrevenue sports were equally dysfunctional.
Let’s look at how men’s athletic teams finished in 2020/2021:
Revenue sports:
- Football: 13th place out of 14 Big Ten teams (bottom 10th percentile).
- Basketball: 9th place out of 14 Big Ten teams (bottom 35th percentile).
- Hockey: 7th place out of 7 Big Ten teams competing (last place).
Nonrevenue sports:
- Baseball: 11th place out of 13 Big Ten teams competing (bottom 15th percentile).
- Soccer: 6th place out of 9 Big Ten teams competing (bottom 35th percentile).
- Tennis: 8th place out of 12 Big Ten teams competing (bottom 35th percentile).
- Track & Field: 12th place out of 13 Big Ten teams competing (bottom 10th percentile).
- Wrestling: 12th place out of 14 Big Ten teams competing (bottom 15th percentile).
The preceding tells us Men’s Athletics is floundering across the entire athletic landscape, and yet the captain of the ship (the AD) seems to be rearranging deck chairs without a coherent plan to save the ship!
Women’s sports struggle as well:
In addition to the dismal misfortunes of men’s sports, 8 of 9 women sports finished in the bottom half of their respective Big Ten standings as well, with Volleyball finishing dead last.
It’s notable however that Women’s Golf won a Big Ten Championship, so congratulations to Women’s Golf, but let’s be honest: Women’s Golf doesn’t move the needle when measuring success of Spartan athletics as a national brand especially when Football and Basketball stumbled to historically bad seasons.
In all, 16 of 17 Spartan sports failed to finish in the top half of their respective Big Ten standings, while 2 teams finished dead last.
Yet, there was a time when Spartan athletics were feared across the athletic landscape because John Hannah & Biggie Munn ensured Spartan sports consistently competed for Championships, not only revenue sports, but non revenue sports as well, including: Cross-Country, Swimming & Diving, Track & Field, Wrestling and more…but no more!
Today, plenty of former athletes who won team and individual championships at Michigan State in years gone by are dismayed at the dysfunction of their respective sports under Bill Beekman.
After all, “participation trophies” don’t pass muster.
If a sport is worth competing, then it’s worth hiring the best coaches, recruiting the best athletes and competing for Championships. Is that happening at Michigan State under Bill Beekman? The facts say no…so what is Bill Beekman doing with his time?
What is his plan?
Measuring the best AD’s:
The best AD’s understand their job is a relentless pursuit of enhancing and optimizing revenue and that means consistently competing for Championships, year in and year out.
Of course, it is critically important to optimize revenue in Football, Basketball and Hockey because revenue sports pay the freight for the entire athletic department.
Consequently, the best AD’s optimize revenue by hiring the best coaches, building elite facility’s and recruiting the best athletes because the “return on investment” is winning championships and building the brand, and that increases revenues.
If a University consistently competes for Championship’s then money flows not only at the stadiums, but money also flows from “donors” as well as the lucrative revenue stream of “branded merchandise” (shoes, hats, T-shirts, hoodies, jackets and more).
It goes without saying that donations and the sale of branded merchandise are in direct proportion to winning championships: Win and donations go up…lose and donations go down! Win and everyone buys a Hat…lose and Spartan branded apparel is forgotten!
Let’s remember, Hannah and Munn started from “scratch” and built a championship empire, yet they never ignored nonrevenue sports and yet they won championships at every level.
In fact, Hannah & Munn embraced nonrevenue sports because those sports enhanced the campus experience, so it’s noteworthy that Bill Beekman recently “cut” Swim & Dive, a program with a 100 year history, yet dissolving the program will have a negligible and mostly meaningless impact on athletic expenses.
What is he doing?
So, Swim & Dive is now added with Men’s Gymnastics and Men’s Lacrosse as nonrevenue sports that have been “cut”, and yet no one can explain that cutting Gymnastics or Lacrosse had a positive impact on the financial wellbeing of Spartan Athletics”
Of course, if an AD is incapable of enhancing revenue by winning championships then the only tool in their Toolbox is cutting nonrevenue sports. But, let’s make this clear, no AD ever found success by cutting non revenue sports hoping to make up for a lack of revenue.
Cutting non revenue sports is simply rearranging Deck Chairs!
The UT model:
Consider the University of Texas which generates by far and away the most revenue of any athletic department in the country: $224 million to be exact in the latest data available.
For their part, UT consistently competes for championships across the entire athletic landscape which means their stadiums are at capacity while donati0ns and branded merchandise become major sources of athletic revenue. In Texas, everyone has a closet full of UT gear. Therefore there is no need at UT to “cut” nonrevenue sports, in fact there is an operating surplus to fund facility improvements as well.
(If you are curious, Texas A&M follows UT closely with $213 Million in athletic revenue, while Ohio State posts $211 Million)!
More importantly, UT has demonstrated they are willing to make the tough decisions to win at the highest level. In fact, UT recently demonstrated what I would refer to as a “Will2Win”, which means they made tough decisions for the greater good of UT athletics.
It’s notable that UT Football compiled a solid record of 25-12 (68%) over the past 3 years yet fired their Head Football Coach because he wasn’t winning Championships and that meant UT Football was not optimizing revenue and that cost the Head Coach his job.
By comparison, Michigan State compiled a dismal upside/down record of 16-17 (48%) over the same 3year period for which Bill Beekman seemingly ordered his helmsmen: “stay the course and steady as she goes”.
Let’s put the UT model into perspective: UT generates $224 million in athletic revenue, while Michigan State generates $140 million and that’s a difference of nearly $85 million a year.
Yet, apparently, Bill Beekman is satisfied with his football program.
In fact, he seems to be a cheerleader for roster Turnover, whereby the Spartans have experienced an unprecedented Turnover of 77 players.
In that regard, Spartan Football lost 40 players since last November including: 27 via the Transfer Portal; 3 declared for the NFL; and a conservative estimate is 10 departed due to graduation or general attrition.
Meanwhile inbound players include 18 via the Transfer Portal and 19 via conventional recruiting.
By all measures the Turnover of 77 players is a shocking scenario because it’s unprecedented and unproven, yet it seems to be Bill Beekman’s approved recipe for success because he hired and endorsed his Head Football Coach!
However, most experienced AD’s and Championship coaches would agree that a massive turnover of 77 players is a recipe for disaster because it rips at the heart of program continuity which means consistency on the field will be nearly impossible to achieve in less than 2 or 3 years.
When fall practice resumes, will anyone know the playbook? Will the players know the coaches, and will the coaches know the players? Will anyone know how to find the practice facility or Spartan Stadium without a map?
According to reports, based upon a dismal 2-5 season and a unprecedented roster turnover, ticket renewals are swooning, while donors are uninspired to “open their respective checkbooks” to support 16 foundering programs that failed to finish in the top half of their respective Big Ten standings.
Meanwhile, branded merchandise and athletic apparel are also falling short of revenue projections.
There are hundreds if not thousands of Spartan supporters who haven’t purchased Spartan athletic apparel or branded merchandise since the Spartans reached the College Football Playoffs in 2015, that’s more than 6 years ago and that’s an incredible loss of revenue.
So, I ask a rhetorical question: what in the world is Bill Beekman’s plan for saving his ship?
Steady as she goes isn’t working!!!
Beekman is least experienced AD in major college athletics:
I want to be respectful because by all accounts Bill Beekman is a good man of good character, but let’s be clear, he’s not competing in a likeability contest.
By every measure Bill Beekman is the least experienced AD in major college athletics, and he should never be in that position.
Let’s recall, he was a general university administrator with zero AD experience when he was appointed interim AD in 2018. Of course, it seemed reasonable to appoint Beekman as interim AD to stabilize the position after the sudden departure of Mark Hollis.
Yet instead of appointing a search committee to search for and hire an experienced AD with championship pedigree, problematically Michigan State President and Board of Trustees appointed Bill Beekman as permanent AD.
What were they thinking?
Bill Beekman should have never been appointed permanent AD and we have to ask: how in the world would a university appoint an AD to guide a $140 million department if that Director had zero experience? Who thinks that’s a good idea?
Let’s make this clear, Bill Beekman is no more qualified to oversee Spartan Athletics than I am qualified to guide the Physics Department. In fact, 3 years after taking the helm as AD, 16 of 17 Spartan sports earned a failing grade so the results are coming in loud and clear.
We underscored the UT revenue model which is consistent with the Championship/revenue model deployed at Ohio State, but is Michigan State willing to make the same tough personnel decisions to find the best AD in the country, or are they content with “steady as she goes”?
Will Michigan State be content with 16 failing grades amongst 17 athletic teams, or are they willing to do what it takes to win Championships?
At the bottom line (Stakeholders have a voice):
Bill Beekman is about to start his 4th season, yet instead of improvement across the athletic landscape, his teams are faltering and his compass is pointed “south”.
From my perspective, Bill Beekman needs to have a breakout season, starting with a winning Football season, but that’s a 50/50 proposition at best.
By all accounts, Football Stadiums across the land will be able to return to full capacity this season (2021) but if Spartan Football is unable to post a winning record, then Bill Beekman is likely to have a rude awakening as Spartan fans stay home!
So, Michigan State stakeholders have a decision to make!
Just like government, people have a voice and that means Spartan stakeholders need to make a decision: Championships or participation trophies?
From my perspective, President Stanley and Bill Beekman will forever be measured against the Championship model built by President Hannah and Biggie Munn, yet the current President and AD are failing.
Spartan stakeholders have a voice and it’s time to let their voices be heard. Are they prepared to make the tough decisions for the greater good of Michigan State University and Spartan athletics?
It’s time to let Bill Beekman return to general university administration and appoint a search committee to find a Championship caliber AD.
Thank you for reading!
