Step 6: Seal out the Competition. . .the Soccer Alumni
Identify all potential threats to your plan and stomp them out.
Threat #1 – The soccer alumni. In order to stand up lacrosse as a varsity sport at Richmond, you need to displace soccer. You need the 8 men’s soccer scholarships, and the 26 men’s athletic slots that soccer affords. You also need the men’s track slots to support a 40-member men’s varsity lacrosse team. If someone comes along and bolsters the men’s soccer program with financial assistance and other aid, your plans for lacrosse are in jeopardy.
How should the inner circle address this risk? You as the inner circle will ignore the soccer alumni’s efforts and offers to help bolster the program. Instead, you will serve up Tom Gutenberger to listen to the soccer alumni plans. You will have Tom Gutenberger tell the soccer alumni that President Ayers is aware of their efforts and that he supports their efforts. At no time, however, will you grant the soccer alumni a meeting directly with President Ayers.
Meanwhile, the inner circle will aggressively pursue its plan to replace soccer with lacrosse. If any soccer alumni hear whispers that the soccer program is in jeopardy, simply mislead them. Tell them it is highly unlikely that soccer will be dropped. Tell them that no one at the University wants to drop any sports programs.
By the time the soccer alumni figure out what’s going on, lacrosse will be voted in by the trustees as a varsity sport. Soccer will be out. It will be too late for the soccer alumni to do anything about it. Even if the soccer alumni protest the decision, President Ayers will forcefully and publicly put down the dissent: “The decision has been made and will not be revisited.”
Does it sound hard to believe that University administrators would systematically mislead alumni in order to seal them out of a decision, a decision they wanted to control themselves? Those in doubt should attend the Carry the Flag press conference in person at Friday, November 2 at 1 p.m. in the Jepson School, Room 120. At this press conference the Carry the Flag consortium will reveal very specific details about how the lacrosse inner circle massaged the numbers, hid the ball and sealed out the alumni. Can’t attend the press conference in person? You can watch a live streaming video here.
Threat #1 – The soccer alumni. In order to stand up lacrosse as a varsity sport at Richmond, you need to displace soccer. You need the 8 men’s soccer scholarships, and the 26 men’s athletic slots that soccer affords. You also need the men’s track slots to support a 40-member men’s varsity lacrosse team. If someone comes along and bolsters the men’s soccer program with financial assistance and other aid, your plans for lacrosse are in jeopardy.
How should the inner circle address this risk? You as the inner circle will ignore the soccer alumni’s efforts and offers to help bolster the program. Instead, you will serve up Tom Gutenberger to listen to the soccer alumni plans. You will have Tom Gutenberger tell the soccer alumni that President Ayers is aware of their efforts and that he supports their efforts. At no time, however, will you grant the soccer alumni a meeting directly with President Ayers.
Meanwhile, the inner circle will aggressively pursue its plan to replace soccer with lacrosse. If any soccer alumni hear whispers that the soccer program is in jeopardy, simply mislead them. Tell them it is highly unlikely that soccer will be dropped. Tell them that no one at the University wants to drop any sports programs.
By the time the soccer alumni figure out what’s going on, lacrosse will be voted in by the trustees as a varsity sport. Soccer will be out. It will be too late for the soccer alumni to do anything about it. Even if the soccer alumni protest the decision, President Ayers will forcefully and publicly put down the dissent: “The decision has been made and will not be revisited.”
Does it sound hard to believe that University administrators would systematically mislead alumni in order to seal them out of a decision, a decision they wanted to control themselves? Those in doubt should attend the Carry the Flag press conference in person at Friday, November 2 at 1 p.m. in the Jepson School, Room 120. At this press conference the Carry the Flag consortium will reveal very specific details about how the lacrosse inner circle massaged the numbers, hid the ball and sealed out the alumni. Can’t attend the press conference in person? You can watch a live streaming video here.