A few months ago, we made a to-do list for the next University of Toledo athletic director.
Now, with Bowling Green having dismissed AD Bob Moosbrugger, our unsolicited consulting services are back in demand.
Here goes, our friendly list for the next hire at BG ...
■ Go all-in on hockey: It’s the one sport in which Bowling Green has won a national championship, and it’s the one sport in which it realistically can win one again.
Is it really crazy to suggest the Falcons should embrace that pursuit?
Bottom line: BG has a much higher ceiling in hockey than, say, football, and, rather than continuing to throw good money after bad to stay three laps back in a runaway gridiron arms race, it ought to pour more resources into the one sport in which it can consistently win big on a national stage.
OK, maybe that is crazy.
Football will always drive the bus, no matter how outrageously lopsided the landscape becomes. (Think about this: In the last fiscal year before the pandemic, BG spent $24.7 million on athletics — or less than half what Alabama and Ohio State poured into football alone. And that was before the Big Ten and SEC signed their kazillion-dollar TV deals.)
Still, a relative reprioritization makes sense.
Consider the four teams that made the Frozen Four last year. They spent between $2.5 million (Western Michigan) and $4.5 million (Minnesota) on hockey in the 2019 fiscal year, per federal records. BG spent $2 million.
That tells us BG could be right there, with just a little more investment.
No, hockey isn’t football or basketball. But think of the potential bang for the buck. The Falcons going to a Frozen Four — and competing for national titles — would be no small point of pride, and it would go a long ways in energizing and galvanizing the university community (and donors). If there’s one sport in which BG should stretch its limited resources, it’s hockey.
■ Fundraise, fundraise, fundraise: At BG, every penny under the cushion matters.
The next AD needs to relentlessly and energetically connect with current donors and go find new ones.
Then go find some more.
■ Audit the football program: Coach Scot Loeffler’s seat isn’t quite as warm as those national hot-seat rankings — and his 7-22 record in three seasons — make it seem.
All along, we knew this would be a long rebuild and the university’s top boosters remain squarely in Loeffler’s corner.
But ...
It’s time to produce.
With Loeffler in the second-to-last year of his contract, we’ve reached the fateful get-extended-or-get-fired crossroads. After jumping from zero wins in 2020 to four last season, the veteran Falcons need to continue to show clear progress. (If not, it would cost Bowling Green $525,000 to buy out Loeffler’s final season.)
■ Decide on Huger: Similar situation with men’s basketball coach Michael Huger, who is under contract through the 2024-25 season at a salary of $415,000 per year.
Huger has enjoyed his moments in seven seasons at his alma mater, but decision time is coming.
BG went 13-18 last season in a year punctuated by a 40-point loss to Toledo, and, in all, Huger is 59-69 in MAC play, the seventh-best league mark during that span.
That’s not good enough when it comes to what is — relatively — the university’s most resource-rich program. (While most BG programs have one of the smallest budgets in the conference, men’s basketball has one of the biggest, thanks to the endowment from the late Bill Frack that gives the program nearly $1 million per year in perpetuity).
If the Falcons don’t turn it around this season, here’s betting the new AD will move on. (If BG dismissed Huger after this season, it would owe him up to $830,000, though likely much less. Any salary the coach might earn elsewhere the next two years would be subtracted from the buyout.)
■ Figure out baseball: After Bowling Green cut baseball in 2020, hundreds of alums staged an incredible rally to bring it back, committing $1.5 million to the program over three years.
But is privately financing a Division I program a realistic long-term play?
While the fundraising remains on track, the next AD needs to do their part to support the effort.
■ Land splashier games: It can feel damn near impossible for a mid-major AD to bring in nonconference football opponents that will excite fans, but Bowling Green needs to pull more strings.
Since 2009, at the same time rival Toledo has hosted five power-conference opponents — and netted the gate as the home team in a game against Ohio State in Cleveland — BG has welcomed two power programs to town: Indiana in 2014 and Maryland in 2018.
Also, can we talk about the men’s basketball schedule?
While ADs usually leave basketball scheduling to the coaches, it’s ridiculous that BG this season has two regular-season home games against non-Division I opponents (Ohio Dominican and Fairmont State) and another two home games against schools beginning their transition to Division I (Southern Indiana and Queens University of Charlotte). That’s a slap in the face to fans, and it has to change.
■ Stay classy: In a Bowling Green athletic department filled with good people, Moosbrugger was a good man who cared deeply about representing his alma mater with grace and class.
And, by and large, Falcons athletes represent the university well, too.
In the 2021 fall term, they registered a cumulative 3.44 GPA, the highest in department history. The next AD should keep that part of the BG culture rolling.
■ Rally the students: I’ve traveled all over the MAC, and, at its best, I’d put BG’s student support up against anyone (Ohio University basketball fans not included).
I’m thinking of the Bleacher Creatures at hockey games, the out-of-this world electricity at the Buffalo basketball game a few years ago, and the student section at big football games.
But, beyond winning (which, admittedly, is 99 percent of the battle), BG needs to find creative new ways to more consistently engage students.
First Published August 28, 2022, 9:49 p.m.
