To the members of the consulting firm that is currently making phone calls to interested parties of Louisiana Tech Athletics. Let me welcome you to our board. As I feel certain that I am not on your call list, please let me take this opportunity to express my feeling and views of Mr. Jim Oakes, the current Athletic Director at Louisiana Tech University. First, on a personal level, I think Jim is a nice guy. He makes time to listen, and is pleasant to be around. It is my opinion that Mr. Oakes was brought into Louisiana Tech University with the goal of keeping the athletic department in the black. To his credit, Mr. Oakes has been successful in this endeavor.
That said, as an avid fan of Louisiana Tech athletics, I must say that I have been extremely disappointed in the manner in which this has been accomplished. When Louisiana Tech entered the Western Athletic Conference, we seemed to be poised to make great strides to establish ourselves as an elite mid-major 1A program. We won the WAC in football and women's basketball. From this point on, we, the alumni, fans, and supporters of Louisiana Tech Athletics, have seen a steady decline in all programs with the possible exception of baseball. Certainly, there are numerous factors that have resulted in this decline. However, it is my view that the buck stops with administration and the leader in administration is Mr. Jim Oakes.
To be honest, I do not see where Mr. Oakes was in any way, prepared for the challenge that was assigned to him when he was named Athletic Director for Louisiana Tech University. He had, to my knowledge, no experience in being an Athletic Director nor was his college degree indicative of preparation for the position for which he was hired. Mr. Oakes would appear to be another political appointment in a long line of such unbenneficial practices that unfortunately, charaterise the Louisiana political scene. Couple this with a program that did and continues to have limited resources directed at producing an elite program and you can see the recipe for failure. Thus, to the best of Mr. Oakes ability, he prosituted Louisiana Tech's athletic program where ever possible to make sure that the primary directive, keeping the program out of the red, was assured.
Certainly Mr. Oakes had no crystal ball and could not look down the road to see where such decisions would lead the program. He had no experience nor the resources to look at other programs that had made similar moves, to see what the long term results might be. Thus, he did the best he knew how to do. My criticism is that he should have never been put in this position. Now that there appears to be a "consulting firm" that is looking into the situation, I ask for the replacement of Mr. Oakes.
The individual that should be placed in the position should have several characteristics that Mr. Oakes does not possess. The most important of which, at least to me, is a we are going to succeed mentality that Mr. Oakes does not seem to foster. It is my opinion that the political experiences of Mr. Oakes past have given him a get by, don't rock the boat, and as Cartman on the sitcom South Park says - "don't challenge my authoriti" philosophy. Though I have not personally experienced it, I am under the impression that Mr. Oakes becomes all but irate when challenged on his decision making and can be, for lack of a better term, a back stabber. Case and point, when the baseball coach - Wade Simeneaux - went out and got money through donations for improvements for the baseball team, his budget was apparently cut by the amount he had raised through contributions. I believe this is illogical. The way I look at this is that a coach that is willing to get off of his keyster and do what is necessary to help his team, should be rewarded for his work, not undercut by having dedicated funds stripped from his control. Also, you do not let coaches that can make an impact leave. In this instance, Coach Kim Mulkey, a life long Lady Techster was insulted by gestures made on the part of the Athletic Department in their "efforts" to hire her as the Lady Techsters Head Coach. She made a decision to go to Baylor as a partial result of the way she was treated and has since made the Baylor women's basketball program into a perrinial contender.
There are many more examples that could be brought to the forefront. However, let's just focus on money for the conclusion. North Louisiana is not blessed with a tremendous number of businesses or industries that are knocking down the door to give Louisiana Tech additional funds for athletics. However, those that do exist are not courted by the University's athletic department. In addition, those who have attempted to support Lousiana Tech have become so disheartened by Mr. Oakes leadership that we have reduced what we do. Inroads, should have been made by this point to saturate the Shreveport and North Louisiana market and extend thanks to those who already contribute in any way. The casinos certainly should not be included in an outreach program. However, getting on a telephone and calling on business and industry to get them interested and if nothing else begin or continue the process of starting a relationship is well overdue. A new athletic director must be focused on this aspect. The reality is that to grow a program, the program must win. That is not a high probability when you are prostituting your programs to the highest bidder which will be looking for what is considered an easy win. Establishing long lasting booster partnerships with area corporations, businesses, and industry would infuse the program with the needed captial to no longer be forced to sell ourselves into uncompetitive situations that leave the alumni, fans, and supporters desperate for some reason to hang on. This is an aspect in which Mr. Oakes has fallen woefully short. Such moves have to be made from the top and the top today is Jim Oakes. For these reasons and many others, it is my opinion that Mr. Oakes needs to be replaced. I ask that you not only recommend that Mr. Oakes is replaced, but that you would also recommend a replacement. In this way, we would all hope that we have not traded one negative for another negative. Please, I beg you, help us move our athletic programs toward the success we all want to see!
Thank you!
Grady "Andy" Allred
Louisiana Tech Class of 92
Hey Dawgs, put your opinions up too. Hopefully, AG's pollster will look at the board and get additional input.
|
|
Reply With Quote
Re: Consulting Firm Members - New AD Please!
Originally Posted by steltz
