Previous Message

Bob Maxson loved the athletic program and understood its marketing and branding value to the overall reputation of the University. We don't need an Athletics first President, we need someone who understands its role at the University in terms of national reputation, attraction of quality students, faculty and staff and fundraising.

We can't compete in terms of NIL, but we also don't have football, which means we can concentrate any NIL efforts on Basketball and a few chosen marquee Olympic sports (volleyball, baseball and mayby one or two more.

Since we can't buy our athletes, we need to create an environment that makes them want to come here and stay because they feel appreciated, wanted and have room to grow. Bob Maxson understood that, and that was the key element of his leadership.

In order to do that, we need to focus on scholarship fundraising because those go directly to the students to support their athletic and academic careers, are tax deductible to donors and fit in with the Long Beach mentality of working hard, fighting through adversity and showing grit and resiliency.

I cannot tell you how much it irks me that Smitheran puts out the slogan "Long Beach Built" and continually brings in people from San Diego State. We should have that slogan on banners with pictures of Misty May, Jared Weaver, Lucious Harris, etc. etc. etc.