ESPN exposes financial troubles, Jurich's lies, and fraud at the University of Louisville

When the original $160 million partnership between UofL and Adidas was announced, Louisville said the deal would "write the next chapter for college athletics."
One of the largest all-school sponsorship agreements in Adidas' history, it was much more than a shoe deal. In internal strategy documents, Louisville vowed to "write the next chapter for college athletics, for streetwear and fashion."What a chapter it has been. It is well-known the athletic department was given favorable treatment compared to the academic departments. A UofL professor talked about how that feels, along with a donor's perspective of the whole ordeal.
Jurich was so successful generating money that "I wished I could turn them upside down and shake out their pocket change for the academic side," says Thomas B. Byers, a professor emeritus in the English department. The strategy required prodigious cash; by this year, Louisville's athletics budget was up to $104.5 million. "He treated his donors like investors," says Jurich's friend Larry Benz, a member of the Louisville Athletic Association, which oversees the department. Jurich built $280 million in arenas, playing fields and athletic offices by convincing rich people of the facilities' vital importance. "I can give $5 million to stem cell research and it's gonna help stem cell research," says Dr. Mark Lynn, an optometry-chain owner whose name adorns the soccer complex. "I give $5 million to a soccer stadium and it's gonna help everything." Lynn says sports bring the school visibility.State Rep. Jim Wayne said Jurich and Jim Ramsey just didn't "get it," and that they saw UofL and the city of Louisville as their "kingdom."
"I don't think Tom Jurich gets this, and I don't think Jim Ramsey got it," says state Rep. Jim Wayne, whose district includes parts of Louisville. "The University of Louisville is a state facility ... and it is not their kingdom. They are not the kings, and the princes, and the nobility in the kingdom. They're temporary stewards of these programs. And instead of seeing this as something that they should be responsible for and hold high ethical standards as they execute their jobs, they're doing just the opposite."According to state auditors and local businessmen, the Yum! Center deal "blew (their) mind" and is the "biggest taxpayer scandal" in the city's history.
Under the terms, taxpayer contributions make up 75 percent of the arena's operating income while Louisville gets to keep most of the revenue -- an arrangement that "blew our mind," says state auditor Mike Harmon, whose office examined the arena's finances. "It was like, 'This is ridiculous.' It's like co-signing the loan for a friend's home and then having to pay three-fourths of the mortgage." Denis Frankenberger, a local businessman who has dissected the lease in minute detail, calls it "the biggest taxpayer scandal in the history of Louisville."Outside the Lines reported the arena is currently $300 million in debt, and by the end, it will cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.
By early this year, the arena required a bailout to keep it from defaulting on more than $300 million in bond debt. Jurich's athletic department agreed to pay an additional $2.4 million a year. The public, meanwhile, was saddled with another 25 years of arena-related taxes totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. In the end, the arena will cost more than $1 billion, with taxpayers funding most of it.The Courier-Journal discovered Jurich earned $5.3 million in 2016, which was more than the budgets of the biology, English, history and math departments at UofL. Jurich's response?
"They couldn't have gone out and raised money?" he says. "Why is it I'm accountable for everything and all we've done is been successful? But these other people get a free pass?It has been reported and discussed in-depth about Jurich's act
They described consistent and aggressive efforts to influence coverage, including abusive calls to radio talk-show hosts and executives by Jurich and his surrogates; threats to get advertising pulled from stations; and attempts to influence hiring and firing.In the end of it all, through all the lies and fraud, Jurich said he has given the school "20 years of dignity" and deserves "a little bit in return."
Jurich, in the aftermath, seems like a man who feels bewildered and betrayed, as if he were fired for doing his job too well. "I've given this school 20 years of dignity," Jurich says. "I would hope I would get a little bit in return, and I certainly haven't yet."To read the entire ESPN article, head on over here. I promise it'll be worth your time.
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