Bring Doug back and pay him twice as much!
Bring Doug back and pay him twice as much!
O-Factor wrote:
What are the serious criticisms against Hightower and USATF? Again, I'm not a fan of either right now, but I plead ignorance and most of you should too.
Considering money issues were the cover story Hightower's board used to get rid of Logan, her own history in the financial arena during her days running the Columbus school board aren't exactly glowing.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2006/01/04/20060104-E1-02.htmlAnd just days after concluding a successful operating levy on a theme of fiscal accountability last year, the district announced that its self-insurance fund was $13 million in the red and began budget cuts that included closing a school.
This, in addition to her attempt to give away a $17 million Columbus Public School asset(the radio station) to Ohio State, as well as ripping off the State of Ohio for long distance phone calls until she was caught and made to repay the State.
Ultimately, that is the biggest reason Hightower has no business as a CEO of USATF, where the main(only?) responsibility if maintaining financial stability. And she has shown little to no financial stewardship skills when she's been in a position of influence.
O-Factor wrote:
What are the serious criticisms against Hightower and USATF? Again, I'm not a fan of either right now, but I plead ignorance and most of you should too.
What about Hightower's performance within the USATF makes her deserving of the CEO position? Does anyone know?
mjr wrote:
This is not a rumor. She is really trying to do this. The Board is not 100% behind her though. There is a faction which is speaking loudly against it, as it is unethical (no big surprise w/ usatf) and against most state non-profit laws. She's run out 2 CEOs and poisoned the well so that the only option is to hire her.
Is that really against state non-profit laws? I have some experience with small non-profits (nothing like USATF) and have never heard of that.
No one seems to want to say publicly what a lot of people know, that besides Lananna, Mary Wittenberg and Rich Kenah were also seriously considered for USATF CEO. Wittenberg also came to her senses and took herself out of the running. I'm not sure what happened with Kenah but I suspect it was the same. These names have been bouncing around privately for months.
USATF is a dreadful organization that should be dissolved as soon as possible. It shouldn't even be debated.
Clowns of the Purple Sage wrote:
USATF is a dreadful organization that should be dissolved as soon as possible. It shouldn't even be debated.
Yeah, we've heard that. What in your opinion makes it dreadful? How can it become better?
I think there are a lot of very caring, hard working individuals that put their heart in soul into the sport and do a lot for little in return. Besides the CEO mess, are things improving and becoming more functional? I don't have the financial data to back it up, but it seems like revenues are strong and the broadcasts continue to improvement and grab major network coverage. I can't speak for other events, but distance "Farm Systems" and sponsorships are as prevalent as I've ever seen. There is still a lot of tension in the background, but how can there not be when USATF has to struggle to actually fulfill its role as an NGB? USATF is majorly a system of volunteers.
I guess my big question is - how can USATF have the influence in the US that IAAF has on a global scale? Whats holding it back? I'd love to hear a serious discussion on those type of shortcomings.
Thanks skeleton for the info, keep it coming!
What's holding USATF back?!! Are you people dense? Weldon/Robert wake up!
This is as bad as any drug cheat scandal and how the hell you two don't respond to theft and corruption with the same intensity you guys display when ousting drug cheats is a mystery to me.
USATF is rotten, rife with insider corruption, for example: John Chaplin bending the rules to kick athletes out of ntwo Olympic Trials (1996 Shannon Butler 28:33 out of the 10000, Jon Hume 28:38 in). He was also fired as coach at Washington State for NCAA rules violations, his trail of dirt goes back to the 1980s. he has no business doing anything more than pumping gas. Thanks to him USATF was sued by Shannon Butler.
You also have an anti-trust element. NIKE is exerting its financial clout to influence decisions made at the expense of other coaches and athletes, top Nike athletes have to train in Oregon with Nike coaches, get access to meets, etc. Also, all of the USATF Olympic trials and USATF national championships are in Eugene (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012). This is a complete failure to promote the sport nationally, it allows for a monopoly, is in NIKE's back yard so they pushed for it in order to self-promote their company.
You also have Stephanie Hightower and her grifting ways, with quotes cited above. She is not a viable candidate to be CEO of anything.
The voting structure of USATF is corrupt. It is such that the board votes eachother in at far-flung meetings few members can attend, and this is also how they vote for their budgetary considerations (perks), and pass rules and regulations without input from its membership base. I cannot vote for a USATF officer remotely. the board member voting process needs to be overhauled. Until we can nominate and vote for members on-line or at local USATF regional offices, this voting process is a sham designed to enable the corrupt few in power to remain where they are.
The best solution is to dissolve USATF and start a new organization. There are way too many shady characters entrenched now.
Putting McDonnel/Lananna/Wittenberg/Kenah as CEO would be more of the same as Hightower. Just another mafia family in charge with the same corruption and insiders game. What we need is internet voting, term limits, a new BoD, and a media CEO who knows Hollywood TV and NY City TV and can take us to prime time network broadcast TV, so we can make some big money for all of us. Having an ex-coach, ex-athelete, ex-meet dir as CEO doesn't do that. Sure the names mentioned are popular and we love them all, but that won't pay money for us all.
[quote]Brooks Johnson for CEO--hehe wrote:
Good responses!
A few comments, I just want to ask the important questions that I don't understand:
1)Ok, so Chaplin is shady. He's the USATF - High Performance Division - Men's Track & Field Committee Chairperson.
What are the committee's responsibilities? There's the accountability aspect I referred to earlier. Who holds Mr. Chaplin accountable and why wasn't anything done? Can anyone really describe the role off Associations/Committees and the decision making process. A few other Chaplin links:
http://givingless.blogspot.com/2008/07/douche-for-decades-john-chaplin.html
http://www.flotrack.org/blog/3038-john-chaplin
http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=13776&PageNum=1
2) How do you remove a guy like Chaplin if he presumably continues to get voted in by the process at the Annual Meeting? Does USATF & the CEO really have a lot to do with overseeing the Divisions/Associations/Committees or are they strictly self-sufficient? I don't see how an understaffed USATF can keep a huge network of volunteers in check if they (the div/assoc/com) truly hold the power.
3) I have to disagree with you on Nike. A lot of things are unfortunate/undesirable about big business, but I can't imagine USATF and the sport as a whole without them. Eugene is a Mecca with great weather, facilities, organization, and influence. No, it shouldn't be a monopoly, but I would like to see the Trials there and a consistent # of major meets. Does USATF have a bargaining chip to put some sort of pressure on Nike and restrict their influence? In 2009, USATF's revenues were over $20 mil presumably for the first time ever with 12.1m of that coming from sponsorships. Thanks Nike :D We, myself included, can't cry for $ and then whine about the subsequent influence it has on the sport.
4) Here's where I praise Letsrun and the Brothers WeRoJo. It's hard to dig through all the websites to find articles about our sport. Letsrun really is where I go to first. Is part of the reason there is lack in accountability because the sport gets relatively little-to-no media attention? Indianapolis is the Amateur capital of the US (cheers Pierre de Coubertin) , and I hear relatively little coming from its major newspaper, the Star, and the local TV stations. I guess this is a consequence of having an Olympic sport and it being based in a non-major market. If the Board is responsible for the system of checks and balances, then that needs to be the pressure point over the next few years, and that needs to have a media outlet.
We should have a 10 year rule for championships and Olympic Trials. I.E. no city/venue can hold a major meet for 10 years after hosting it. That way our showcase meets get spread around the country and helps promote our sport. We're stuck in a rut now having champs over and over again in the same boring and dead little piss hole towns. It's pathetic how little exposure we get in the media.
Thanks for the detail.
You forgot Steve Spence from the Chaplin Indy collapse. Chaplin was never held accountable. ( about 12 athletes lost out )
Chaplin is a nasty bully.
None of the athletes or coaches mentioned in other post's here have the smarts or ability to bring about the mass change needed to clean up an out of date , corrupt organization.
Nike does not bother me as much , a strong CEO could manage the relationship to benefit the sport.
Mr. Obvious wrote:
Is that really against state non-profit laws? I have some experience with small non-profits (nothing like USATF) and have never heard of that.
It is against Federal/State 501c3 regulations to do business with a non-profit organization if you are on the Board without a full and public disclosure of all bids presented for that work. The same rules apply to hiring, as there is a contract involved for services. If it were different, every President of a non-profit would hire themselves to be the paid staff too.
Everything done here has been behind closed doors. Steph also dissolved the Ethics Committee which oversaw all Board actions upon her election. There are no checks & balances on this self important fraud.
The saddest thing is that the USOC has to act as the moral compass in this, if they choose to act at all. Sort of like the pot calling the kettle black.
I'm really doubtful about this as a legal theory that would prevent a board member from resigning their post and becoming the CEO. I'm open to a clearer definition in the statute if it is available.
3
4
5
6
The USATF needs to be dissolved. It is trash. Throw out the garbage, it stinks up the sport of track and field.
It would be unethical for Hightower to run for CEO; she cannot run out the other CEOs and then try to get the job herself. She is NOT qualified to be CEO of USATF.
I hope everyone just gets so upset about USATF that they demand big changes NOW. If we sit by and do nothing, it'll be partly us who are to blame. So what is to be done about it?
Everything done here has been behind closed doors. Steph also dissolved the Ethics Committee which oversaw all Board actions upon her election. There are no checks & balances on this self important fraud.
Very similar to what happened in Columbus, when Hightower dissolved the school district's Technology committee, and cost it's chairman his job. The committee discovered bid-rigging in a computer consulting contract and demanded the contract, which was $500,000 HIGHER than the next highest bid, be pulled. Of course it wasn't, and while it's chairman was out of town the committee was eliminated.
Not too many competitive bid processes that look for the HIGHEST bidder.
O-Factor wrote:
[quote]Brooks Johnson for CEO--hehe wrote:
2) How do you remove a guy like Chaplin if he presumably continues to get voted in by the process at the Annual Meeting?
USATF requires members to be present at the annual meetings to cast a vote. Hence, you would have to fly to Indy or Hawaii or Vegas or whatever in order to vote.
THIS IS EASILY remedied by switching to remote site (for example, a regional USATF office's headquarters) or better yet, allowing for INTERNET voting by all dues-paying members of USATF, or at least club officers throughout the country. It would have to be structured with a recognition protocol so members could not abuse it (Internet).