ACC Donors

[Saboteur]

The major difference with Syracuse is that they have an amazing cash cow with hoops (sort of like Louisville).

Darryl Gross, aside from his flubbed football hire, has proven himself to have been quite an AD as well. SU has come out of nowhere to be a top 10 school in Director Cup standings. The success across their sports programs has been amazing the last couple years.

It's a Pittsburgh thing.
The tendency is to hope/wait/pray that some giant sugar daddy will come along and pay up. Carnegie set the tone.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

I understand that "donating hard earned money to a schools athletic department isn't high on most people's list of philanthropic activities" .... I don't expect a large % of alumni to donate to athletics, but why is donating to athletics at Pitt significantly less then most of our peers to whom the same principles apply ? ..... why are donations at Duke, UNC, etc. higher then Pitt ?

I agree that student loan debt and the commuter school excuse are contributing factors although we are less of a commuter school now and that factor should be diminishing..... and student debt is pretty much universal to students at all colleges.

I agree with CrazyPaco and also don't buy that because you were an out of state student at Pitt you are less likely to donate and I also don't buy that academically oriented students aren't interested in athletics or don't donate for the reason CrazyPaco stated and from my personal experience.

Also, I think winning would probably be a big help in increasing donations.

I've recently become friends with several Duke alumni ,now this isn't a statistically significant number but their passion for Duke bb and their university is far beyond that of any group of Pitt grads I know. I'm sure it goes back to their college experience. I attended Pitts game at Miami last year and the on campus facilities for students was incredible ,outdoor spinning classes ,swimming pools ,restaurants ,djs and the overall beauty of the campus. When I attended Pitt I went to class, tried to avoid parking tickets and survive the Oakland environment . Other than Pitt bb and to a lesser degree Fb my interest in the university is minimal and I don't think this is an isolated experience . I'm 100% sure this has a lot to do why Pitt lags behind in donations.

 

[goalieman]

I've recently become friends with several Duke alumni ,now this isn't a statistically significant number but their passion for Duke bb and their university is far beyond that of any group of Pitt grads I know. I'm sure it goes back to their college experience. I attended Pitts game at Miami last year and the on campus facilities for students was incredible ,outdoor spinning classes ,swimming pools ,restaurants ,djs and the overall beauty of the campus. When I attended Pitt I went to class, tried to avoid parking tickets and survive the Oakland environment . Other than Pitt bb and to a lesser degree Fb my interest in the university is minimal and I don't think this is an isolated experience . I'm 100% sure this has a lot to do why Pitt lags behind in donations.

I agree that what you say is likely a factor in lack of donations, I'm just not sure how big of a factor ....... my impression is that the vast majority of Pitt graduates are proud of their university and have more then a minimal interest despite any effect of the campus and Oakland.

Now, if you want to argue that the student experience at athletic events is poor and that has lead to poor donation levels to athletic funds then that is a different argument..... however, you would have to explain why student attendance now is as good or better then it was when we were at Pitt Stadium and Fitzgerald Field House..... IMO, what you allude to is correct though, we have to make the student experience at athletic events fun for them which may lead to more athletic donations in the future ..... winning more games is one thing that would help make that experience better.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

I agree that what you say is likely a factor in lack of donations, I'm just not sure how big of a factor ....... my impression is that the vast majority of Pitt graduates are proud of their university and have more then a minimal interest despite any effect of the campus and Oakland.

Now, if you want to argue that the student experience at athletic events is poor and that has lead to poor donation levels to athletic funds then that is a different argument..... however, you would have to explain why student attendance now is as good or better then it was when we were at Pitt Stadium and Fitzgerald Field House..... IMO, what you allude to is correct though, we have to make the student experience at athletic events fun for them which may lead to more athletic donations in the future ..... winning more games is one thing that would help make that experience better.

Winning is what really matters in both revenue sports and will sell more tickets than any amount of promotion will ever do.
The zoo is without a doubt a lot more fun for the students ,but the university hasn't been able to use that enthusiasm to grow its season ticket base.
The question is what's more important the number of donors/boosters or the number of high rollers . My quess it's more important to have a few deep pocketed guys bankrolling the whole chi bang. A million here a million there really adds up much faster than $100 at a time !
I'm proud of my degrees and hope for the best for the university ,but my undergrad and graduate degree years while they were ok we're not the best years of my life ( don't feel bad for me I had some fun ) .My eyes don't sparkle when I think about those years like my buddies who went to Duke or God forbid PSU ,OSU ,WVU. How you fix that I don't know ,but an urban campus doesn't help.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Well--I think the urban campus thought overlaps with the commuter U thought regarding fondly remembering undergrad years. On the other hand, Pitt probably has the least Urban appearing campus among the nation's urban schools. We aren't downtown and we do have plenty of grass and nearby greenery (i.e., Schenley Park). It is actually a pretty site if you get off the parkway at Squirrel Hill exit and come to the campus through Schenley Park vs the eye sore journey up Bates into South Oakland.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Well--I think the urban campus thought overlaps with the commuter U thought regarding fondly remembering undergrad years. On the other hand, Pitt probably has the least Urban appearing campus among the nation's urban schools. We aren't downtown and we do have plenty of grass and nearby greenery (i.e., Schenley Park). It is actually a pretty site if you get off the parkway at Squirrel Hill exit and come to the campus through Schenley Park vs the eye sore journey up Bates into South Oakland.

What do you mean by urban? If you mean being located in a city, Pitt isn't even close to having the least urban campus among urban universities. For your neck of the woods, I can name four schools in the District that are significantly less urban than Pitt: Georgetown, American, Howard, and Catholic. Compared to GW and maybe UDC, yeah, Pitt is less urban. Pitt is also less urban that schools like NYU, Columbia, Temple, Drexel, and DePaul. But Pitt is not less urban compared to UChicago, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Miami, Cincinnati, UWashington, WashU, Harvard, MIT, BC, Rice, etc. Pitt's major problem is that the heart of the campus is transected by major and minor thoroughfares and it has been entirely ineffective at closing needless transects like Bigelow unlike almost every other school named above.

When I bring someone to Pitt the first time, even if I am approaching from the West, I ALWAYS drive them out of the way to Squirrel Hill and then through Schenley Park by Phipps so they emerge by Frick Fine Arts with Schenley Plaza and the Cathedral in front of them. First impressions are important.

In any case, I believe urban schools are much more appealing to students these days for the same reasons people are moving back into urban cores. Pitt's campus has also been significantly upgraded, in both major and minor ways, over the last 15 years and students these days have a much closer affinity to it as well. That why it is a good thing to hear students call the Cathedral of Learning "Cathy," because that is a term of endearment for it that prior generations of student never approached. What Pitt doesn't have is a homogenous, walled campus. What it does have are some of the best collection of individual academic buildings in the world...and that is not hyperbole. That needs to be continuously emphasized. It's like a collection of disparate jewels without a proper setting, which is why I've always been so keen on closing Bigelow.

 

[Atch]

Short term thinking has always ruined and often destroyed Pitt athletics. Over 75 years of non-sense.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

What do you mean by urban? If you mean being located in a city, Pitt isn't even close to having the least urban campus among urban universities. For your neck of the woods, I can name four schools in the District that are significantly less urban than Pitt: Georgetown, American, Howard, and Catholic. Compared to GW and maybe UDC, yeah, Pitt is less urban. Pitt is also less urban that schools like NYU, Columbia, Temple, Drexel, and DePaul. But Pitt is not less urban compared to UChicago, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Miami, Cincinnati, UWashington, WashU, Harvard, MIT, BC, Rice, etc. Pitt's major problem is that the heart of the campus is transected by major and minor thoroughfares and it has been entirely ineffective at closing needless transects like Bigelow unlike almost every other school named above.

It was the aesthetics i was referring in terms of an Urban campus--that is the overall look and feel of it. I have been on campus at Georgetown, American, Catholic and Maryland numerous times and I would take the aesthetic appeal of Pitt's campus environs over any one of them anytime.

When I bring someone to Pitt the first time, even if I am approaching from the West, I ALWAYS drive them out of the way to Squirrel Hill and then through Schenley Park by Phipps so they emerge by Frick Fine Arts with Schenley Plaza and the Cathedral in front of them. First impressions are important.

Absolutely agree!

In any case, I believe urban schools are much more appealing to students these days for the same reasons people are moving back into urban cores. Pitt's campus has also been significantly upgraded, in both major and minor ways, over the last 15 years and students these days have a much closer affinity to it as well. That why it is a good thing to hear students call the Cathedral of Learning "Cathy," because that is a term of endearment for it that prior generations of student never approached. What Pitt doesn't have is a homogenous, walled campus. What it does have are some of the best collection of individual academic buildings in the world...and that is not hyperbole. That needs to be continuously emphasized. It's like a collection of disparate jewels without a proper setting, which is why I've always been so keen on closing Bigelow.

Yep! Closing Bigelow would be great.