Steven Leath Out As AU President.

[Gowebb11 9,320]

9 hours ago, AU64 said:

BOT has probably totally turned over at least twice at least in the time frame that all of this happened....same people not involved in most instances.   That's the purpose of a BOT....so nobody is really personally accountable.  

Interesting point. How long does a BOT member typically serve? An do they have set terms of service, or are they there for as long as they want to serve?

[AU64 10,122]

4 hours ago, Gowebb11 said:

Interesting point. How long does a BOT member typically serve? An do they have set terms of service, or are they there for as long as they want to serve?

http://www.auburn.edu/administration/trustees/members.php

 

Check this site...it's political and by districts in the state....and they have definite terms....lots of terms ending in the next couple years....

PS...the meeting minutes are public information and can be found on the site too...some interesting but dull reading...

[kd4au 1,145]

On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 6:36 PM, keesler said:

We we have an AD making 10% across the board  cuts in his dept while the BOT pays double salary to the Prez to keep him quiet. 

You cant make this stuff up folks.😜

The news said it was three times, but either one is way to much. I guess it's easy when your spending other peoples money.

[AU64 10,122]

7 minutes ago, kd4au said:

The news said it was three times, but either one is way to much. I guess it's easy when your spending other peoples money.

Well, you wouldn't want him talking to the NCAA and telling what he knows about the stuff that went on with the basketball problems would you?   I expect he has some opinions....and knowledge that might be better left unsaid to the public....JMO. 

[keesler 5,924]

48 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Well, you wouldn't want him talking to the NCAA and telling what he knows about the stuff that went on with the basketball problems would you?   I expect he has some opinions....and knowledge that might be better left unsaid to the public....JMO. 

He knows a whole lot more than anyone could imagine.  

He came in when Sunny Golloway's lawsuit was wrapping up, when the softball sex scandal hit the news feed, the track/field discrimination allegations, and then got slapped in the face with the basketball fiasco that made national headlines.  It was never smooth sailing from the moment he stepped on campus. 

[AU64 10,122]

2 hours ago, keesler said:

He knows a whole lot more than anyone could imagine.  

He came in when Sunny Golloway's lawsuit was wrapping up, when the softball sex scandal hit the news feed, the track/field discrimination allegations, and then got slapped in the face with the basketball fiasco that made national headlines.  It was never smooth sailing from the moment he stepped on campus. 

Well put......he probably thought he was coming to be president of a major university but instead found himself spending most of his time trying to manage a dysfunctional athletic program.   JMO but that's gonna affect our success in getting the kind of President we need for the future. 

[kd4au 1,145]

4 hours ago, AU64 said:

Well, you wouldn't want him talking to the NCAA and telling what he knows about the stuff that went on with the basketball problems would you?   I expect he has some opinions....and knowledge that might be better left unsaid to the public....JMO. 

He could have been bought off cheaper than he was IMO. That was some high priced silence buying.

[AU64 10,122]

7 minutes ago, kd4au said:

He could have been bought off cheaper than he was IMO. That was some high priced silence buying.

  depends on the secrets he has....  but at least the bammer media will not be full of his post employment comments.....and he did have a contract which we are not familiar with . 

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

3 hours ago, keesler said:

He knows a whole lot more than anyone could imagine.  

He came in when Sunny Golloway's lawsuit was wrapping up, when the softball sex scandal hit the news feed, the track/field discrimination allegations, and then got slapped in the face with the basketball fiasco that made national headlines.  It was never smooth sailing from the moment he stepped on campus. 

Why are we so bad at vetting coaches before we hire them? 

[Mike4AU 1,739]

4 hours ago, AU64 said:

Well, you wouldn't want him talking to the NCAA and telling what he knows about the stuff that went on with the basketball problems would you?   I expect he has some opinions....and knowledge that might be better left unsaid to the public....JMO. 

You imply that you know something  nefarious and other than what is known about the situation with Person did occur.    How about letting the unwashed public know about the gems only you know about.  Your continued unjustified pot shots on BP borders on slander and is quite old.  Give it a rest.  You are embarrassing yourself. 

Sorry for the rant but I suspect I am not the only one who is weary of your incessant crap as it relates to BP. 

[keesler 5,924]

1 hour ago, WalkingCarpet said:

Why are we so bad at vetting coaches before we hire them? 

I'm not sure how easy it is to vet a coaching candidate?

I don't know that OU would've divulged any information about Sunny a prick.

We were all so elated about getting Persons back in the fold and he was great on the recruiting trail, hell he was Asst HC so who would've known he was running a scheme with an agent and getting paid?  He told those parents (one a former AU athlete) how the system worked, he told them it was against NCAA rules and they all participated anyway.

Clint Myers was a great hire, I don't know how AU could've vetted his son or how they could've known things would get out of hand between his son & the girls?

I think it's all just a crap shoot and you never know how things will turn out.

 

[AU64 10,122]

2 hours ago, Mike4AU said:

You imply that you know something  nefarious and other than what is known about the situation with Person did occur.    How about letting the unwashed public know about the gems only you know about.  Your continued unjustified pot shots on BP borders on slander and is quite old.  Give it a rest.  You are embarrassing yourself. 

Sorry for the rant but I suspect I am not the only one who is weary of your incessant crap as it relates to BP. 

Sure are sensitive......let's see where all of this goes.

Hoping nothing comes back on AU but when coach will not talk with the school president there is reason to be suspicious.   Embarrassing myself.?   ..what a joke......I have an opinion based on many years of watching how this stuff happens.....could be wrong but other than the kool aid drinkers from AU who think it reasonable that a coach does not know what goes in the lives of assistants or players families.  

There are lots of people wondering what went on at AU ….and why two coaches were suspended for example....and the possibility that the penalties levied by Auburn on our players seems well beyond reasonable for what we know they were accused of.     Sexton getting a game or two and our guys getting half a season?    That's more than just bama favoritism...... that's just my opinion by the way. .   

Could be that  another definition of JABA is... "put your head in the sand and blame others when it hits the fan"

. 

[gr82be 14,423]

3 hours ago, WalkingCarpet said:

Why are we so bad at vetting coaches before we hire them? 

Try checking with a previous employer these days. Not sure about Auburn but the company I work for has and outside source that you refer anyone to who calls about an ex employee. I assume it's a fear of lawsuits that drives this. We are even coached on what to use as a reason for a termination. So basically the outside source only knows what we tell them and that won't be everything so the next employer is just rolling the dice. Everyone is scared of something coming back on them being called slander even if it is the truth. You simply can't get the whole truth be even if there was a problem. You used to be able to ask " is this person eligible for rehire?". Yes or no would tell you what you needed to know. That's not even true any longer. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,666]

10 hours ago, keesler said:

He knows a whole lot more than anyone could imagine.  

He came in when Sunny Golloway's lawsuit was wrapping up, when the softball sex scandal hit the news feed, the track/field discrimination allegations, and then got slapped in the face with the basketball fiasco that made national headlines.  It was never smooth sailing from the moment he stepped on campus. 

That’s why you make a hire you believe you won’t need to pay hush money to...

[auburn4ever 1,266]

First Jacobs leaves, then Leath leaves. Who self might be next to jump off the Auburn ship. There's gotta be others.

[bigbird 60,522]

1 hour ago, auburn4ever said:

First Jacobs leaves, then Leath leaves. Who self might be next to jump off the Auburn ship. There's gotta be others.

Are you volunteering?

[augolf1716 21,123]

2 hours ago, bigbird said:

Are you volunteering?

Maybe you could volunteer instead

[bigbird 60,522]

9 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Maybe you could volunteer instead

[Auburn Kev 1,653]

Quote

Before His Ouster, Trustees Cautioned Auburn U.’s High-Flying President

By Jack Stripling JULY 30, 2019  PREMIUM

Not long after Steven Leath was hired as president of Auburn University, in 2017, some on the campus took to calling him “Crash.”

The nickname was a nod to Leath’s notorious hard landing of a university-owned airplane at Iowa State University, where he had previously been president, as well as a commentary on a swaggering style that rubbed some people in Auburn the wrong way.

The airplane incident at Iowa State raised questions about whether he had casually mixed business and pleasure on the university’s dime. But it also helped to flesh out the portrait of a loveable rogue — an aviating, bow-hunting, dog-loving, gray-bearded outdoorsman who relished squashing the competition. Leath was the sort of guy who, at least on paper, seemed a natural fit for a football-crazed public university in the Deep South, looking to raise its national profile.

Alas, it was not to be. After just two years, Leath is out of a job, and Auburn is out $4.5 million — using revenues from tuition and fees to pay off a president for a less-than-historic tenure. The separation agreement, which was reached in June, is designed to ensure that the public never knows exactly why this brief marriage ended so poorly.

But documents and interviews suggest that Auburn’s trustees and some faculty members had misgivings early on about Leath’s approach to the job, and his brimming self-confidence was seen as a mixed bag.

Some of these concerns are alluded to in the trustees’ first and only full evaluation of Leath, concluded in 2018, which has heretofore escaped public scrutiny. A report of the three-page evaluation, which the university provided to The Chronicle in response to a public-records request, urges Leath to “focus on urgency … but also on collegiality,” underscores the importance of balancing his “bold confidence” with Auburn’s “trademark humility,” and cautions Leath that the swift changes he made within the administration had the potential to create “unrest.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The evaluation, submitted by a five-member assessment committee of the board, provides a peek into the value that trustees place on a president’s cultural fit and the subtle ways that boards encourage course corrections. The evaluation is a diplomatic document that spares Leath any overt criticism. It is peppered, however, with what in hindsight read as oblique references to a president who did not yet understand the university’s culture or instinctively appreciate the importance of “focusing on positive morale and collaboration.”

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Leath’s first year was one of sweeping personnel changes, as several key administrators retired or took other jobs. This carried risks, the board said.

“As you continue to remove bureaucratic barriers, we further suggest that you approach the inevitable changes with clear communication and attention to morale,” the report states. “Retirements, new hires, and organizational alterations are capable of causing unrest among faculty and staff. We remain hopeful that through clear communication and careful planning, Auburn personnel will welcome and aid in your efforts.”

What has not spawned unrest is Leath’s ouster. No emergency meetings of the University Senate, no public demand for answers. That may have a lot to do with the academic calendar, as many students and professors have left campus for the summer. But no one seems particularly upset that Leath is gone.

“You can infer a lot by the faculty response to this,” said John Carvalho, a professor and associate director for journalism.

On Monday the Senate’s executive committee sent a note to faculty members. “It is unlikely that further information will be made public” about Leath’s resignation, the note said, because of confidentiality provisions in the separation agreement.

Efforts to reach Leath were unsuccessful. Auburn’s trustees have declined or not responded to interview requests.

Promises, Promises

Leath came to Auburn as an outsider, and questions emerged early on about whether he understood the university’s ethos. A plant scientist with degrees from Pennsylvania State University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he was the first Auburn president in a long time with no clear connection to “the Plains,” as the campus is known.

Since the 1980s, all but one of Auburn’s presidents have either held degrees from the university or ascended from its ranks. The lone exception was William V. Muse, and that didn’t work out well, either. Muse butted heads with the university’s governing board, which fired him in 2001, escalating concerns about trustee micromanagement, particularly in athletics. Citing those concerns, Auburn’s accrediting agency put the university on probation nearly three years later.

But under Jay Gogue, who preceded Leath, Auburn’s fierce governance battles died down. Even firebrand faculty members describe Gogue’s 10-year run with fondness. The board has now turned to Gogue — who holds two degrees from Auburn — yet again to stabilize the university, pulling him out of retirement this month to serve as interim president.

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Gogue was known for opening the president’s residence to trustees and faculty members. He revived a tradition of having former University Senate leaders over for dinner, and he extended the invitation to leaders of Auburn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, an organization that had long been at odds with the administration. Leath did not have the same reputation for openness.

In the trustees’ evaluation of Leath, they encouraged him to focus on Auburn’s reputation as a place that “hospitably welcomes” people. He should tap into the university’s old guard, trustees advised, to learn more about “Auburn’s culture and history.”

Leath’s deviations from tradition weren’t always welcome. He created a chief-of-staff position, for example, which some professors saw as a way of walling off the president. He filled that slot with Miles Lackey, who had served in the same role under Leath at Iowa State.

Lackey stayed at Auburn for only three months before taking a job in North Carolina. Short as his tenure was, it proved long enough for the joke to stick that Leath had literally brought his own “lackey” with him to Auburn. (Lackey did not respond to interview requests).

One of Gogue’s first moves upon his return to Auburn was to eliminate the new position.

“The chief of staff position was created by Dr. Leath,” Brian Keeter, a university spokesman, said in an email to The Chronicle. “It’s a role Auburn didn’t have previously, and the need for the position no longer existed after his departure.”

John M. Mason Jr., who resigned as Auburn’s vice president for research and economic development to become chancellor of Penn State at Harrisburg, was another key administrator to depart during Leath’s first year. Mason, who described Leath as a person with ambitious goals for the university, said he left Auburn for the opportunity to return to his alma mater. He offered no direct criticism of Leath, a person with whom he said he had “reasonably pleasant conversations.”

“The things we were trying to do would be for the long-term benefit,” Mason said, “so I would have expected that he would have been successful for a longer period of time.”

Some people were skeptical, however, about Leath’s grand plans.

He was applauded for setting a goal to hire 500 tenure-track faculty members by 2022, but the fine print showed that Auburn’s professorial ranks would grow by only about 100 once attrition and retirements were factored in.

“He made promises that it was clear to me he couldn’t keep,” said Barry R. Burkhart, a professor emeritus of psychology and a former chairman of the University Senate, who retired in late 2018 after 44 years at Auburn. “We’re going to get 500 new faculty — well, that’s not going to happen. It was those intemperate, self-aggrandizing things that put me off. I was just waiting for him to go.”

Leath made promises to the board, too. In his written self-assessment, Leath said Auburn would expand its presence in Birmingham, Ala., ending the dominance of “another institution” that for too long had bested Auburn in competition for students, corporate partnerships, and reputational stature. This is surely a reference to the University of Alabama, Auburn’s chief football rival. Leath sounded more like a cocksure quarterback than an administrator as he laid out his plans.

“We aim to end their reign in Birmingham,” he wrote.

As much as Leath seemed to relish Auburn’s big-time sports culture, he managed to get crosswise with the Tiger fan base on several occasions. There were complaints that he appeared insufficiently supportive of Bruce Pearl, the men’s basketball coach, when the program became embroiled in a bribery scandal that involved numerous universities. Contrarily, some thought Leath was overly generous to Gus Malzahn, the football coach, who secured a seven-year, $49 million contract with the university.

The Mansion

Expensive upgrades to a college president’s home are a reliable source of controversy, but Leath was particularly vulnerable to criticism in this regard. He arrived at Auburn trailed by complaints about his spending at Iowa State, where auditors questioned whether the purchase of an aircraft, which was primarily used by Leath for flight training, served any legitimate purpose.

A degree of skepticism, therefore, was a given when Auburn started pumping millions into upgrading Leath’s home.

The board approved the renovations, which included the construction of new living quarters and an events space, before Leath arrived. But the project, which had an original budget of $11 million, grew on Leath’s watch, eventually reaching a cost of $16.9 million.

The house features a sprawling atrium with stone floors and a glass ceiling. A reporter from The Auburn Plainsman, who toured the renovated home, noted that the ceiling was constructed with material similar to transition eyeglasses, adjusting indoor light for comfort.

Leath added some personal touches, too, to the décor. “An East African impala, shot by the university president on a trip to Uganda, watches over the well-lit room,” the student newspaper reported.

Keeter, Auburn’s spokesman, said the 80-year-old home required repairs to its foundation, as well as improvements to its electrical, plumbing, and air-conditioning systems.

Cameron Brasher, The Auburn Plainsman

Renovations to the Auburn president’s residence, which included an atrium with a glass ceiling, were originally budgeted at $11 million. The project grew on Steven Leath’s watch, eventually reaching a cost of $16.9 million.

“The board approved the project with the understanding that the home’s overall poor condition would likely result in discovery of additional needed repairs during the renovation process,” Keeter said.

In their assessment of Leath, Auburn’s trustees emphasized the need for him to keep them apprised of “major expenditures" or anything else that could affect the “reputation and/or good standing of the university.”

The Price of Silence

One of the mysteries of Leath’s short tenure is how, after a falling-out with the board, he negotiated such a favorable parting package. The $4.5-million payout far exceeds what would have been owed to Leath under a strict reading of his contract, had he been fired without cause. In that case, Auburn owed him only the remaining three years of his base salary, which would amount to about $2 million, plus retirement and other benefits.

Auburn, however, says Leath wasn’t fired. He and an assessment committee of trustees, who were conducting a second evaluation of his performance, “mutually decided to part ways after extensive discussions about the university’s leadership,” said a news release that was issued on a Friday night in June.

In addition to forfeiting a tenured position at the university, Leath has promised not to disclose “certain confidential information” that he learned as president about internal and external investigations, legal strategy, and personnel matters, the agreement states. In the document, the university describes this pledge of confidentiality as so vital to its interests that Auburn “would not have agreed” to the payout without it.

Auburn’s insistence on confidentiality from Leath comes as the university braces for an NCAA investigation tied to the national basketball bribery scandal.

Chuck Person, a former assistant coach, recently pleaded guilty to accepting nearly $100,000 in bribe money to steer players toward favored agents and advisers. In legal documents, recently made public, Auburn said that it expects “in the coming months” to receive a formal notice of allegations from the NCAA in connection with the bribery case, and that the university could face “significant sanctions” down the line.

Conner Bailey, an emeritus professor of rural sociology, said he worried that the level of secrecy surrounding Leath’s departure could hamper the next presidential search, creating confusion about what the board found so wanting in Leath and stirring anxiety about prospective problems.

“You want to know,” Bailey said, “that the board operates with transparency, that the university operates with transparency, that decisions are being made in a rational manner.

“None of this feels good. If I’m the next president, I want to go into a situation of peace on the Plains, everything working smoothly, everybody pulling together like the Budweiser horses.”

Auburn initially refused to answer questions about the source of the $4.5-million payout. Only after repeated questioning did officials tell The Chronicle that the money will come from general funds. Those funds include taxpayer dollars and revenue from tuition and fees, though Keeter, the spokesman, said in an email, “Taxpayer (or state) funds will not be used as part of the separation agreement."

Auburn spent more than $365,000 on the presidential search that led to Leath’s hiring, records show.

Burkhart, the retired psychology professor, said the trustees deserve credit for recognizing that they made a “bad hire” and taking corrective action.

“You won’t find me giving the board undue credit,” he said, “but for this one I do. They made a hard decision that didn’t make them look very good.”

Correction (7/31/2019, 9:58 a.m.): This article originally misstated Conner Bailey’s title. He is an emeritus professor of rural sociology, not an alumni professor of rural sociology. The article has been updated to reflect this correction.

 

[keesler 5,924]

Don't you just get a comfort feeling knowing we can all trust the same BOT members to make the next hire?

“You want to know,” Bailey said, “that the board operates with transparency, that the university operates with transparency, that decisions are being made in a rational manner.

“None of this feels good. If I’m the next president, I want to go into a situation of peace on the Plains, everything working smoothly, everybody pulling together like the Budweiser horses.”

Every candidate that interviews will be asking some pretty hard questions from this BOT,  I wonder if they'll sugarcoat the situation or be truthful?  

 

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

On 7/16/2019 at 8:21 AM, kd4au said:

The news said it was three times, but either one is way to much. I guess it's easy when your spending other peoples money.

It was a buy out . They are paying him his salary for the next three years. Not sure if he had a contract like Gus or not but there was some type of contractual agreement. Their decision to honor it instead of airing things out in public are typical in these type situations.

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

50 minutes ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

It was a buy out . They are paying him his salary for the next three years. Not sure if he had a contract like Gus or not but there was some type of contractual agreement. Their decision to honor it instead of airing things out in public are typical in these type situations.

They are paying him between 2 and 3 times what his salary would've been over the next 3 years.  That's not a buyout, that's hush money.

[ToraGirl 5,498]

Y'all.  I am mad about the impala. #twomissiontrips2Kenya #bornfree

P.S.  But seriously...add the cost of shipping that HOME?

[twilli13 600]

On 7/16/2019 at 2:21 PM, Mike4AU said:

You imply that you know something  nefarious and other than what is known about the situation with Person did occur.    How about letting the unwashed public know about the gems only you know about.  Your continued unjustified pot shots on BP borders on slander and is quite old.  Give it a rest.  You are embarrassing yourself. 

Sorry for the rant but I suspect I am not the only one who is weary of your incessant crap as it relates to BP. 

I agree. What could this clown possibly know/say that an FBI and NCAA investigation wouldnt uncover? And would Auburn have not put something into these presidents and coaches contracts BEFORE they sign them stating they cant badmouth the university in exchange for the ridiculousky exorbitant salaries and perks especially a slim ball like Leath was getting. This pos was already using university paid trips to build his personal flight hours. 

[keesler 5,924]

17 hours ago, Eagle Eye 7 said:

It was a buy out . They are paying him his salary for the next three years. Not sure if he had a contract like Gus or not but there was some type of contractual agreement. Their decision to honor it instead of airing things out in public are typical in these type situations.

He's getting paid more than double what his salary would've been for the next three years.  And it was not in his contract, they executed a Separation Agreement because his confidentiality came with a steep price - the BOT made sure he keep those lips sealed.  

Honestly, I was 100% all for Leath getting hired because he had no connection to AU.  I wanted new blood who could stand up to the BOT and move Auburn forward without the good ole boy network pulling strings like they've always done in the past.  Turns out the BOT didn't like Leath's bold confidence because he didn't exhibit the "trademark humility" that Auburn takes such pride in.

Leath was cocky, brash, and forceful with his actions and public remarks about his intentions to take AU to another level.  The BOT didn't appreciate that ballsy type leading the school, they'd much rather have a meek, mild mannered leader at the helm I guess.