``Very possible'' that Hightower could move from board chair to CEO of U.S. track

oh , oh wrote:

Ramblings yes , accurate ramblings yes , running corporations yes , hiring and firing CEO's yes.

Working in the sport no , active in the sport yes , TV yes , sponsorship yes , athletes yes.

Im sorry ,why am I explaining this, ? gardening state , now I remember.

Please wow us with the details of all the outside money you brought into the sport of track and field.

Assuming this is legit, I understand your frustration. This sport never appreciates anyone but goes by the mantra "what have you done for me lately." (Funny, I didn't know Janet Jackson was a board member...)Back in the 90s I had a MAJOR sponsor. A condom company very interested to the tune of a $4 million deal for my athletes alone. (There were other athletes, and the federation could have profited from this as well.) Ollan killed the deal because he didn't want the sport, an international sport, to be associated with an international problem of AIDS.

oh , oh wrote:

Ramblings yes , accurate ramblings yes , running corporations yes , hiring and firing CEO's yes.

Working in the sport no , active in the sport yes , TV yes , sponsorship yes , athletes yes.

Im sorry ,why am I explaining this, ? gardening state , now I remember.

Nike take over and remake it?

That is pretty much complete

Ive said much , please enlighten us with your background and expertise.

Running on your college team , reading T & F News , attending a couple of track meets and posting on this board do not count.

Ouch ! This was not the only time something like this happened. I heard of others cases that if Olin or Alvin where not "involved" deals were killed.

Was Alvin involved in any of this ?

I apologize to my fellow posters. We are getting off topic.

We need over qualified candidates for this CEO job , period.

[quote]Moe's Tavern wrote:

Assuming this is legit, I understand your frustration. This sport never appreciates anyone but goes by the mantra "what have you done for me lately." (Funny, I didn't know Janet Jackson was a board member...)

Back in the 90s I had a MAJOR sponsor. A condom company very interested to the tune of a $4 million deal for my athletes alone. (There were other athletes, and the federation could have profited from this as well.) Ollan killed the deal because he didn't want the sport, an international sport, to be associated with an international problem of AIDS.

[quote]oh , oh wrote:

First to call BS - at least partial. While I have no doubt Ollan and/or Alvin killed some deals for reasons good and bad but I cannot imagine a niche product company would spend more than the Mobil and Nike (at the time) combined were spending.

The sports marketing landscape has changed significantly over last two decades. Add in massive shift in television and Al Gore's invention (the internet) and you have a different world. The days of some "guy" (national office staffer, CEO, board member, random club coach) signing deals left and right are gone. While not an apologist for USATF staff (any of the CEOs) or marketing department, but the organization has retained several different agencies, hired consultants and recycled staff. It is simply not easy to just call up a sport drink or auto company and sell a sponsorship. Logan was hired for one of two reasons (1. some on Board new he would fail and thus easy to fire for later take over...2. peopel actually believed his BS lines about his ability to sell tens of millions in sponsorships through his contacts). Logan obviously failed to sign anyone except the expected extension of the Nike deal (that the receptionist could have negotiated). I just felt the need to put others' irrational comments in perspective.

For $400,000/year I'm willing to rubber stamp any documents Ian and Stephanie places on my desk at the new USATF Executive Office Suite I will open on Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills.

As long as we are resigned to the fact that we are a niche sport that can't compete for prime TV slots then why have a high paid CEO at all. The job description for CEO reads that it has no power at all, it's really a day to day operations gig. So why not just get contractors for 2 year non-renewable terms from a wide pool of NCAA Division I T&F Directors of Operations for cheap, like $40k year. I.E. sell the job as an exciting two-year career opportunity gain international experience. If you give successive guys a chance to work with USATF for 2 year contracts at a time it will be better for our sport in the USA.

I'm pretty sure this was well documented so you can call bullshit all you want but this was a legitimate deal. It was a pretty smart move thinking outside of the usual NIKE, Reebok and Mazda back then.

"NCAA Division I T&F Director of Operations" aka "Chief of hurdles crew".

Shit. I'd die for a job that pays $40k/yr in the middle of this George W. Bush Economic Depression.

Well, I just as soon you die if you're too stupid to think that Obama has put me and my grandkids into a economic funk they'll never get out of. Politically, Obama has "stayed the course" for the most part.

Obama hates whites. He's against human rights for white people in the Middle East. What an effing racist that Obama is !

You stupid shit retarded pale face. WBush is the worst president since Tricky Dick. Even worse than Truman or LBJ, and other war criminals.

was there wrote:

I'm pretty sure this was well documented so you can call bullshit all you want but this was a legitimate deal. It was a pretty smart move thinking outside of the usual NIKE, Reebok and Mazda back then.

I stand by BS. No chance a niche consumer product has $4M to spend in sports marketing much less on some indiv track athletes. Ollan did not have 10% of that in TV inventory. If you have the documentation, post it.