Steven Leath Out As AU President.

[McLoofus 35,182]

On 7/4/2019 at 11:38 AM, oracle79 said:

I view a good University President like I do a good sports official.  If they're doing their job correctly, you don't notice them or even realize they are there.  If they start to become noticed, something is wrong.

When Mike Slive retired I was suddenly like, holy crap, he was really good at doing whatever it is he's been doing. 

[toddc 13,194]

Gotta know when to...

[aujeff11 6,243]

3 hours ago, toddc said:

Gotta know when to...

Change the underwear?

[AURex 1,994]

On 7/4/2019 at 10:02 AM, aubiefifty said:

TURNER: Auburn University’s Jetgate II comes and goes… We’re still asking, why Leath?

Troy Turner | Editor Opelika-Auburn News tturner@oanow.com

8-10 minutes

A little more than two years ago when the Opelika-Auburn News broke its weekend story about Steven Leath being tabbed as the search committee’s candidate to become Auburn University’s next president, he was sitting at an Iowa State basketball game in the NCAA tournament.

Then-president of Iowa State, there had been no announcement made yet about him leaving to accept his new role. Auburn’s trustees still had to attend a special-called meeting that following Monday to officially vote to hire Leath.

Much to Leath’s and Auburn’s chagrin, given that Iowa State seemingly was unaware of his plans and that the massive PR machine at Auburn has a mission of controlling its storyline, we purposely published the previously unannounced news based on trusted sources and one very important question:

Could the Auburn University board of trustees, before its Monday morning vote, truly be aware of Leath’s skeletons in the closet that weren’t just hanging, but still walking?

An ignored warning

Two years later, Leath and Auburn University have parted ways. But why was Leath hired in the first place?

We in the newsroom did not want to simply break a story back then, although that’s our business. Rather, through only a few hours of investigation, we uncovered a number of concerns that left us puzzled by the school’s pending decision to hire Leath.

Just to be sure the point was made before the board’s Monday vote, our Sunday story was accompanied on the Opinion page by a column from yours truly with the headline: “Is Jetgate II coming to Auburn?”

That commentary included this:

“Perhaps the Auburn University board of trustees will ask some of the same questions on Monday morning that I’m about to ask and decide to deny it has ever seriously considered Steven Leath. Or explain to us why it’s satisfied with answers it already has received from those questions.” 

Longtime Auburn folks need little introduction to what Jetgate I was, but as a refresher for the younger or newer crowd, it involved a years-ago secret flight in a behind-the-back ploy to replace former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. The entire episode did not bode well for the university.

The term Jetgate II was a play on words because of Leath’s previous troubles involving an infamous flight of his own.

Leath was mired in a controversy at Iowa State after it was revealed that he was learning how to fly and was building his personal flight credentials using a university aircraft.

Leath ended up paying the university back for use of the aircraft, which he used for personal travel out of state. However, in addition to use of the plane, he also seriously damaged it making a so-called hard landing, costing the university thousands more.

There also were questions raised about a high-paying job given to his flight instructor, among other things.

Those were but a few of the red flags that shot up when we started our investigation into Leath’s background, but when those flags started turning into a carpet, our attention instead turned to the Auburn trustees and the question again of: Why Leath?

Leath’s attributes

Surely, we thought, our Sunday story and commentary would do one of two things: either cause the Monday morning decision to hit a pause button, or prompt some sense of public reassurance as to how the now-publicized concerns were satisfactorily addressed.

Leath, after all, did seem to have many fine qualities as an educator and administrator. Primarily, he understood the mission of a land-grant university such as Auburn, in which there must be a certain dedication to agricultural research.

He also seemed to have high hopes for enhancing Auburn’s reputation on the national and international stages for various other types of research. And, to Leath’s credit, there were positive moves made during his brief tenure.

Auburn’s growth in the cyber security field, for example, has netted several impressive forums with big names attending.

Perhaps Leath’s best move was the hiring of former three-star general Ronald Burgess as the school’s chief operating officer.

Burgess, an Auburn alum, is considered a rock star in national security and intelligence circles, a qualified source told me. His enhanced association with the university has opened eyes from afar.

Leath also sat in our office after an invite to meet with us and our community editorial advisory board, a diverse group, and talked about his own goals of improving diversity at the university, something many Auburn followers don’t want to think about, but should.

Following through on that promise, he hired Auburn’s first black athletic director, Allen Greene.

Oh, but there’s that word athletic. And now we get to the heart of the matter.

What matters most?

Surely, by now, every human being on planet Earth knows that any SEC school must hire a president who understands SEC sports.

It just means more.

A good university president is measured by many attributes, hopefully most of them from the academic world, but in the Southeastern Conference athletic alliance, the competition is too fierce and the payout too immeasurable to disregard it as a top point of consideration for any presidential candidate checklist.

Steven Leath may aspire to great things in academic research, and he may know how to fly an airplane, but when it comes to SEC sports, Leath doesn’t know diddly.

Well, he might now.

Leath rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way with his sometimes blunt and abrasive approach, and with his dogmatic ownership of matters including in sports, various sources have told me. But people, especially in the politics of academia, will say that about most presidents, or something similar.

Not surprising since, speaking of diversity, a university faculty will have viewpoints and expectations that will come from all directions, with many different ideas on how best to run a university. Perfection and popularity never will be easy to find.

Throw athletics into the picture, and you might as well turn loose a porcupine in a nudist colony.

Auburn’s power base

Is Allen Greene a good athletic director? Was he leading, involved or on the distant sidelines of recent decisions such as coach contract negotiations?

He has a tough job. It’s another position sure to have its unfair share of critics, second-guessers and Monday morning quarterbacks.

However, his track record at Buffalo, his previous job, looks pretty darn good, and the talk is that we’ll find out more about him now that Leath is removed from office. About him, and the trustees, of course.

The Auburn University board of trustees is a powerful lot. It should be. Billions of dollars and thousands of influential jobs, not to mention the school’s primary role of providing academic contributions that this world needs, all are governed by this board.

There are board members who bleed orange and blue in their dedication to Auburn.

Among them, someone, or the entire board, obviously thought Leath would be a good president. However, the board made a mistake in not taking the challenge seriously to share more about why it hired Leath.

Questions were raised, but went unanswered.

Transparency in the hiring process was promised, but then denied.

The result two years later, therefore, cannot be considered a big surprise.

Here we are again

This next go-around, the trustees need to do better.

Better than finding a new president who can score touchdowns and hit home runs or sink three-pointers.

Better than finding a new leader who can inspire and open doors to greatness in research and academia.

Better… in sharing with us all why the school’s next president should be its next president.

Motivational leadership begins with trust.

Auburn University deserves nothing less.

Troy Turner is editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He can be contacted at tturner@oanow.com and followed on Twitter @troyturnernews.

I'm not charging out there with flags waving and bands playing to defend Leath. Obviously there was some sort od issue that led to him being axed.

HOWEVER, this is the biggest  NOTHING article I've seen in a long time. There is NOTHING in this article of substance. It's just a lot f words that amount to conjecture, unsubstantiated pictures, and glorified "I told you so" fabricated window dressing.

If he needs to go, well, he needs to go. But this kind of Opelika BS is not contributing to our understanding of the real facts.

 

[WarTiger 3,901]

On 6/27/2019 at 11:31 AM, AURex said:

 

Was Leath "fired" at Auburn? After all, technically, he resigned.
Was Bruce Pearl "fired" at Iowa after the huge mess he created and the stink he caused for Iowa in that imbroglio? After all, he got a job coaching at Southern Illinois.
Was Bruce Pearl "black-balled" by Div I schools? After all, it took only a decade at Southern Illinois, riding around in a bus, he finally landed a job at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

I'm not a CBP hater. He wins BB games and is a popular coach. Maybe he's hexed. Maybe things just sorta happen wherever he is. It doesn't change the fact that his reputation beyond Auburn is not pretty.

But I love Auburn and I love college BB. I'm along for the ride, however long it lasts.

 

Are you referring to the incident involving the recruit that went to  Illinois and got caught up in alleged recruiting violations?  If so, that occured in 1988-89.  Pearl coached at Iowa (as an assistant) until 1992.  He wasn't fired over that.  The job at Southern Indiana was as HEAD COACH and his first head coaching job. 

[AUsince72 11,084]

On 7/5/2019 at 10:51 PM, AURex said:

It's just a lot f words that amount to conjecture, unsubstantiated pictures, and glorified "I told you so" fabricated window dressing.

Just for the record I didn't see any f words...

 

 

 

[Auburn Kev 1,653]

JABA

[augolf1716 21,109]

4 minutes ago, Auburn Kev said:

JABA

Money well spend.................this time dumbass idea to hire him in the first place

 

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

47 minutes ago, Auburn Kev said:

JABA

Auburn sucks at contracts.  JABA indeed.

[CR 2,442]

And I thought coaches left AU  with full pockets. Who would trust this BOT to hire a new President after this disaster?

[gr82be 14,423]

The amount of money Auburn pays people to "not" be there is unreal. We actually gave him a raise to leave. Good Lord does anyone at Auburn have any sense whatsoever when it comes to contract negotiations?

[Mike4AU 1,739]

This BOT has to be the dumbest in the history of mankind.  The money that the BOT has given away to just two people is shameful. 

[Gowebb11 9,314]

This is a terrible look for AU. What a goat screw. And when does it ever end?

[steeleagle 2,945]

Explain to me why they would pay him more to leave than just pay him what’s left on his remaining 5 yr contract?

He’s owed 1.9 m but they pay him 4.1m? 

Is there other monies he was getting not specified in the contract? Allowance, car, clothing etc. 

[twilli13 600]

15 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

Explain to me why they would pay him more to leave than just pay him what’s left on his remaining 5 yr contract?

He’s owed 1.9 m but they pay him 4.1m? 

Is there other monies he was getting not specified in the contract? Allowance, car, clothing etc. 

Because its Auburn, quite possibly the least fiscally smart University in America. Absolutely unreal the contracts tye buffoons running the show seem to consistently agree to. We pay the top 10 money to everybody for everything regardless of whether their past performance dictates anything close to it and then agree to these absurd (even compared to the market) buyouts. The sad thing is consistent stupidity like this will kill the schools chances of ever achieving what I feel AU could. 

[twilli13 600]

1 hour ago, gr82be said:

The amount of money Auburn pays people to "not" be there is unreal. We actually gave him a raise to leave. Good Lord does anyone at Auburn have any sense whatsoever when it comes to contract negotiations?

I feel all of this reeks of desperation. Au negotiaters have no balls or self respect for AU. I feel like the word has gotten out AU will pay top dollar if just play hardball and the vampires have come to the feast. 

[AU64 10,122]

Something wrong with those calculations in my view.    $625K per years....when many Presidents of major universities are in the range of a million a year...but at Auburn the President of the University is paid less than half the coaching staff.....including some guys barely into their 30s?   

Sounds like the contract had some kind of deferred payment features or we got what we paid for......   

[Gowebb11 9,314]

1 hour ago, steeleagle said:

Explain to me why they would pay him more to leave than just pay him what’s left on his remaining 5 yr contract?

He’s owed 1.9 m but they pay him 4.1m? 

Is there other monies he was getting not specified in the contract? Allowance, car, clothing etc. 

There was a reference in another article that stated that Dr. Leath could not disparage the University or divulge confidential information. If true, we are paying him to be quiet. Usually referred to as hush money. 

[AlaskanFAN 1,665]

ugh, choice resign or get fired. So he resigns...….then he did not fulfill the contract.  Now if he was able to negotiate in his contract the if he resigns and gets paid then I need the name of his agent because that is some powerful negotiating. This does not make a bit of sense. If the BOT bleed OB then WFT are they thinking!!! 

[steeleagle 2,945]

40 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Something wrong with those calculations in my view.    $625K per years....when many Presidents of major universities are in the range of a million a year...but at Auburn the President of the University is paid less than half the coaching staff.....including some guys barely into their 30s?   

Sounds like the contract had some kind of deferred payment features or we got what we paid for......   

Well if the President of USA only makes only around $400,000 then why would u be surprised Leath made only $625,000?

I think a lot of university presidents have a base salary plus other compensations. That may be why their total compensation must be a lot more. 

[leglessdan 1,934]

On 7/7/2019 at 5:38 PM, AUsince72 said:

Just for the record I didn't see any f words...

 

 

 

How’ve you been 72? Hope all is well.

[AUsince72 11,084]

3 minutes ago, leglessdan said:

How’ve you been 72? Hope all is well.

Hi Dan....or Legless, whichever you prefer 😁

I'm doing pretty well at the moment, thanks.  I'm 2 weeks into recovery from the radiation so I'm starting to feel better.  If all goes well we're actually going to go up to Knoxville, for a week, at the end of the month for a family reunion.  SO looking forward to travelling somewhere besides a Dr 🤣😂.

I have a Pet scan Aug 6th, so in another month we'll see where we stand!!  🙏🙏🙏

Thanks for the continued prayers and support!  It's so greatly appreciated.

War Eagle!

[AU64 10,122]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

There was a reference in another article that stated that Dr. Leath could not disparage the University or divulge confidential information. If true, we are paying him to be quiet. Usually referred to as hush money. 

In a "mutual decision" it's common for folks to agree not to say bad things about each other.....which IMO is the best way to terminate a relationship....marriage or otherwise.    Nobody comes out a winner in a  p+++++g contest.

Still.….there is probably more than just salary involved....usually is at that level.  If you wanted him gone, just be happy, forget the money and move along....works best that way in my experience. 

[DAG 33,979]

2 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

There was a reference in another article that stated that Dr. Leath could not disparage the University or divulge confidential information. If true, we are paying him to be quiet. Usually referred to as hush money. 

It works that way at a lot of places tbh including every day managers in the workforce. 

[1auburn1 1,110]

I’m putting in my application in now for a job, any job, at Auburn.   Then I’ll sit back and wait to get showered with cash upon my firing....er....resignation.   

What buffoons.