President Heckler is Retiring(?) What kind of impact does this have on Athletics

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/valpo_hoops/status/1159828691985358848?s=21

Is this a net negative or positive for the future of Valpo Basketball?

Does the next VU President value athletics and think heavily investing in the Basketball program is worth it? Or does he/she think Athletics is a waste of $ and not make it a priority. There are huge ramifications here.

Side Note: I've already heard some conspiracy theories that some board members were trying to force him out. I have no clue of the validity to these rumors.

[wh]

Analysis 101 - Every action has 3 possible effects: positive, negative, and none.  Assign risk/reward scenarios to the 3 possibilities. I would say that there is a very low risk of Heckler leaving causing damage (or more accurately further damage) to the men's basketball program.  That leaves us with 2 possible risk scenarios: Low Risk/Low Reward or Low Risk/High Reward.  I'll accept the first and hope for the second.   

[usc4valpo]

I wonder what will happen to MLB.

[M]

I think there will be lots of change at the top over the next 4ish years. Whether that will be good or bad for the athletics part of the university...impossible to say right now.

[craftyrighthander]

Great moments are born of great opportunity.  That's what you have here.

[bbtds]

Great moments are born of great opportunity.  That's what you have here.

Sounds like you are expecting another O.P. Kretzmann to be hired.

[FieldGoodie05]

This smells like a board/president uproar. It sounds like it ended in the president resigning and several board members resigning their post. We are seeing dropping enrollment, escalating cost, loss of confidence in the leadership, etc.

I hope I'm not reading too much into it, but there is plenty brewing under the surface. In general, most private schools are experiencing similar trends. To varying degrees.

Maybe he and his board cronies needed to retire?  With endowment seemingly in decent position, maybe this happening now gives us adequate time to recover.

[usc4valpo]

Situations like this are typical. And Valpo needs fresh ideas.
The most constant thing in life is change.

[Valpo2013]

Situations like this are typical. And Valpo needs fresh ideas.
The most constant thing in life is change.

Very well said
Less concern is needed about the faith and religion aspect of the University and more attention to the financial well being moving forward

[VU2014]

I'm interested to see what type of background the new president will have. Will he be from an academic background or more of "business"/"numbers" driven individual. Maybe a bit of both.

Maybe it's just me but I think Valparaiso could use a business oriented person at the top, who could also be a charismatic/positive face of the institution. 

[usc4valpo]

You have to have a high level of business sense to lead. Look at Joel Osteen as an example

[Just Sayin]

You have to have a high level of business sense to lead. Look at Joel Osteen as an example

Yep, when he shows those pearly whites with that smile, money just rolls in. Especially when he preaches the gospel of Osteen in which n'er a verse in scripture will be uttered.

[bbtds]

Situations like this are typical. And Valpo needs fresh ideas.
The most constant thing in life is change.

Wish the Republicans realized this about many things but then I digress and I shouldn't have.

[NativeCheesehead]

Sweet baby jeebus, can you imagine Joel Osteen in our beautiful chapel preaching that ridiculous prosperity gospel?

Just thinking about that makes me need a long, scalding hot shower.

[usc4valpo]

bbtds - fresh ideas that are good and have merit? You can say that for anyone.

Mark Heckler's retirement is good, not because of his performance which has significant results, but because IMO Valparaiso University is in some funk that is not getting enthusiasm or buy in.

[usc4valpo]

Yep, and former VU football coach Dale "3-40" Carlson bought into Osteen's crapola him hook, line and sinker. Which, BTW, we also need a president and a vision to hire competent employees.

[4throwfan]

Situations like this are typical. And Valpo needs fresh ideas.
The most constant thing in life is change.

Very well said
Less concern is needed about the faith and religion aspect of the University and more attention to the financial well being moving forward

Be careful with abandoning culture for short-term goals.  Many perennially successful companies are perennially successful due to their ardent adherence to their culture.  It has been said something along the lines of "culture eats strategy for breakfast".  If the culture of the university is faith and religion, I'd be exceptionally cautious on abandoning that.

[usc4valpo]

4throw - totally agree wit you comment. However, Valparaiso University is in a funk where changes and different approaches are required.

[VULB#62]

I am unaware of any rule that says you have to abandon culture and belief in order to implement change. Adaptability allows for a wide spectrum of changes and tweaks to optimize an institution's strengths and reduce its liabilities. IDK,  but perhaps the magic key is even doubling down on the Lutheran tradition, not abandoning or reducing it.

But I am not smart enough to even speculate on that. All I know is that change is coming. My hope is that the next president can build off what has been achieved to date (e.g., the increased endowment, new science facility to name just two) and find ways to increase on-campus as well as on-line enrollment (and, therefore, revenue), fully leverage the amazing potential of a solid athletics program to further expand the VU brand thus attracting those new enrollees, and expand/adjust/tweak the academic environment (i.e., offerings) to lend new enrollees increased substance to justify their enrollment at Valpo.

[usc4valpo]

62 - implementing online enrollment and classes are a tremendous gap at Valpo. This should have been addressed decades ago. The convenience of having at 100-200 level classes online is imperative. This can integrate and not diminish the Lutheran heritage vision.

Valpo needs to stop implementing yesterday's technology today.

[VU2014]

62 - implementing online enrollment and classes are a tremendous gap at Valpo. This should have been addressed decades ago. The convenience of having at 100-200 level classes online is imperative. This can integrate and not diminish the Lutheran heritage vision.

Valpo needs to stop implementing yesterday's technology today.

Valpo has offered online courses for more than a decade. Online degrees? I'm not sure on that one. I know when I was there, the credit hour for an online class and a regular class hour was the same.

It comes down to value. There no way of getting around it. Valpo is a relatively expensive school to attend, especially if you don't get financial aid. I think one of the only ways to keep cost the same or lower is to increase enrollment. More students per class. The problem with increasing enrollment is infrastructure.

[crusadermoe]

The endowment was north of $200 million when Harre completed his term in mid-2008. 

For all of these many years of "Forever" we hear big talk about endowment.  But what is the endowment worth as of June 30, 2018?   I can't recall that number.  The market has climbed rapidly.

The MH Legacy will be the big building debts he incurred in his pursuit of trying to lure 6,000 students.  The cup board is being left bare and that will affect the quality of candidate we can attract.

 

[crusader05]

I see this comment a lot about built for 6,000 but that's not true. All buildings replaced current buildings. the plan for 6,000 included a lot more buildings that would only be built if enrollment grew over the course of 20+ years.

You can be skeptical of the endowment as you want but you seem to ignore what people post just to make the same weird "forever" comments about an endowment drive that is pretty well documented both on here and on the website.

[vu72]

The endowment was north of $200 million when Harre completed his term in mid-2008. 

For all of these many years of "Forever" we hear big talk about endowment.  But what is the endowment worth as of June 30, 2018? 

The endowment was $199,045,000 at the end of 2008.  It was $235,200,000 in the 2017 report, which wouldn't, in all likelihood, include any of the pledged $217,000,000 currently intended for the Forever Valpo campaign. 

[VU2014]

For these "pledges" are they just verbal agreements or these documented in legal paperwork (trusts) that University is going to get this $ at the time of someone's death (and partners passing).

Cut that pledge number in half of it's just a verbal agreement, because people saying they'll do something and actually following up is another thing.