Post by elp525 on Jul 1, 2010 5:02:16 GMT -5
Wednesday June 30, 2010
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Behind a provocative comment made by former West Virginia University Interim President C. Peter Magrath in a national publication lies a controversy over the basketball practice facility being built near the Coliseum.
The issue, which apparently has been resolved, involved a major university donor and some strings it sought to attach to a gift for the long-sought facility.
In the Feb. 7, 2010 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Magrath authored an article titled, "The Challenge of an Interim Presidency after a Scandal."
Magrath, who assumed the interim position Aug. 1, 2008, two months after former President Mike Garrison announced his resignation, wrote about the first time a university president faces "the test."
He described it as a "push from a powerful force or person urging the president to take an action that is not only controversial - presidents face that regularly - but something that is unethical or, more bluntly, evil."
Magrath said his test came early in his term and "not surprisingly in the often treacherous area of intercollegiate athletics." He said he was "pushed to allow a major athletics facility to move forward before all the financial support was in place and to agree that its use would not be fully under university control. I refused."
Magrath, who is now serving as Binghamton (N.Y.) University's interim president, declined two interview requests with the Daily Mail made months apart. In a June 18 email, Magrath wrote, "I said all I wanted to in that Chronicle piece, and really do not want to at this time to say anything further."
The issue at hand was just who would have control over the practice facility.
The idea of a practice facility was conceived at WVU not long after Bob Huggins was hired as men's basketball coach in April 2007 - when it had become clear congestion in the WVU Coliseum was becoming a major obstacle for students and athletes.
The school struggled to agree on a financing plan. Ed Pastilong, who begins his first day as athletic director emeritus today after working 21 years as the AD, wanted between 75 and 80 percent of the needed money in hand.
Others, including Huggins, thought a healthy percentage of pledged money was good enough to begin.
Eventually the school's Board of Governors agreed in September to go with bonds if needed and not allow the price to exceed $26 million. The construction process then accelerated with on-site preparatory work beginning not long after. A groundbreaking ceremony came in February.
Confidential conversations with athletic department officials suggested the financing of the practice facility and especially the control of its use were sources of uneasiness.
Those worries more recently have been confirmed by former WVU President Mike Garrison and current Board of Governors Chair Carolyn Long.
Documents obtained from WVU through the Freedom of Information Act revealed an outside donor had come up with a plan to finance a significant portion of the facility while claiming authority over how it was to be used.
Garrison said he was approached by the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust - historically the most generous donor to WVU - some time after he had announced on June 6, 2008 that he would resign effective at the end of July. Trust officials wanted to discuss the practice facility.
Garrison supported the project and was frustrated by a lack of progress. That left him open to suggestions, which he heard in a meeting with the Trust the following month.
In a letter dated July 31, 2008 - Garrison's last day in office; he stayed at WVU through August - the Trust offered $4 million to the WVU Foundation "solely for the purpose of defraying the costs of construction" of the facility. The gift was subject to 10 conditions, three of which became issues.
On the same date, Garrison sent a letter to Magrath, reviewing the letter from the Trust.
"I remember distinctly saying, 'I believe in this project, I think it's a good project, but you and the Board or anybody else who wants to adapt it or change it, go right ahead,'" Garrison said in an interview. "So I don't understand Magrath suggesting it was somehow an evil enterprise.
"I'm not sure who he's suggesting is evil. Me? Coach Huggins? But I completely disagree with his assessment and I suspect the university does, too. They all seemed pretty happy cutting that ribbon in February."
Among the Trust's 10 conditions was the exclusive right to name the facility and the men's and women's basketball courts, which generally bring in appreciable donations.
In his letter to Magrath, Garrison wrote the matter involving naming rights was "subject to final approval of the West Virginia University Board of Governors."
The Trust also agreed to provide its $4 million as long as WVU committed "the entirety of the settlement monies paid by its former coaches, John Beilein and Rich Rodriquez (sic) and the University of Michigan, to the construction of the Basketball Practice Facility (5.5 million dollars)."
WVU settled a buyout dispute with Beilein for $1.5 million and with Rodriguez for $4 million. WVU received $2.5 million from UM and agreed to accept three annual payments of $500,000 from Rodriguez.
Additionally, the Trust said its $4 million "is to be matched by $4 million in future fund raising," the source of which was not specified, but was to be considered as available for construction.
"They said they were going to raise that much on the outside, and I think they had donors in the coal industry," Garrison said. "I was fine with that."
Suddenly, $13.5 million was available for the project.
In January, WVU announced the plan required $18 million and the school was aiming for $22.5 million to cover all possible expenses.
Niles Eggleston, executive director of the Mountaineer Athletic Club, said Tuesday that $19.2 million has been raised for the construction of what is now a $20 million project.
"I was comfortable with that after I heard (the Trust's) plan," Garrison said. "I knew of no other plan for the buyout money and, frankly, I wanted to get it done before I left. That was one thing I wanted to finalize.
"I'd talked to Coach Huggins about it previously and we'd asked folks in the athletic department to work on it. There was no concrete plan for it. I saw this as a good opportunity."
It was not unanimous and there was concern over another condition in the letter. Garrison said he was contacted by Long that August to discuss its legality.
"She didn't think it was a valid agreement," Garrison said.
Long confirmed that, and said the board was concerned about items in the agreement with the Trust "that might not comport to state law when it came to what we were allowed to do as a state institution and what we were not allowed to do."
Long said one issue was the matter of WVU and/or the WVU Foundation providing indemnification. That was resolved in a letter from the Trust to Long dated Nov. 5, 2008, and it was agreed the Foundation could indemnify the Trust and defend and hold it harmless against claims and liabilities.
The second and larger matter, though, was control of the facility.
In the July letter from the Trust to Garrison the Trust stated the facility would be used "solely for basketball purposes ... and for no other purposes without the written consent of the Trustees of the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust."
Concern grew over what precedent might be set. Allowing a major donor to claim control of a facility could conceivably affect future fundraising.
"We have buildings named after people who have said they'd like to give so much money and maybe we can work something out," Long said. "There have not been agreements made where power was taken away from the University."
In the November letter, the paragraph establishing the Trust's control of the university was replaced by a paragraph saying the facility was to be used for men's and women's basketball, but also that it was "understood that the basketball practice facility can also be used by the University to accommodate a campus emergency and can be used for ceremonial purposes by the University (i.e. graduation) so long as such use does not interfere with or frustrate its intended use."
Long said the specific use of the facility will be controlled by the athletic department and there is no "sole control" set aside for any party.
In an e-mail Wednesday, WVU President James Clements confirmed that the "department of athletics will run and control the facility." Clements, who officially took office a year ago, was not at WVU when all of the aforementioned letters on the practice facility were exchanged.
"We didn't want there to be any misunderstandings," Long said. "We have to first of all do what best for WVU and I feel like the Board did just that."
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Behind a provocative comment made by former West Virginia University Interim President C. Peter Magrath in a national publication lies a controversy over the basketball practice facility being built near the Coliseum.
The issue, which apparently has been resolved, involved a major university donor and some strings it sought to attach to a gift for the long-sought facility.
In the Feb. 7, 2010 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Magrath authored an article titled, "The Challenge of an Interim Presidency after a Scandal."
Magrath, who assumed the interim position Aug. 1, 2008, two months after former President Mike Garrison announced his resignation, wrote about the first time a university president faces "the test."
He described it as a "push from a powerful force or person urging the president to take an action that is not only controversial - presidents face that regularly - but something that is unethical or, more bluntly, evil."
Magrath said his test came early in his term and "not surprisingly in the often treacherous area of intercollegiate athletics." He said he was "pushed to allow a major athletics facility to move forward before all the financial support was in place and to agree that its use would not be fully under university control. I refused."
Magrath, who is now serving as Binghamton (N.Y.) University's interim president, declined two interview requests with the Daily Mail made months apart. In a June 18 email, Magrath wrote, "I said all I wanted to in that Chronicle piece, and really do not want to at this time to say anything further."
The issue at hand was just who would have control over the practice facility.
The idea of a practice facility was conceived at WVU not long after Bob Huggins was hired as men's basketball coach in April 2007 - when it had become clear congestion in the WVU Coliseum was becoming a major obstacle for students and athletes.
The school struggled to agree on a financing plan. Ed Pastilong, who begins his first day as athletic director emeritus today after working 21 years as the AD, wanted between 75 and 80 percent of the needed money in hand.
Others, including Huggins, thought a healthy percentage of pledged money was good enough to begin.
Eventually the school's Board of Governors agreed in September to go with bonds if needed and not allow the price to exceed $26 million. The construction process then accelerated with on-site preparatory work beginning not long after. A groundbreaking ceremony came in February.
Confidential conversations with athletic department officials suggested the financing of the practice facility and especially the control of its use were sources of uneasiness.
Those worries more recently have been confirmed by former WVU President Mike Garrison and current Board of Governors Chair Carolyn Long.
Documents obtained from WVU through the Freedom of Information Act revealed an outside donor had come up with a plan to finance a significant portion of the facility while claiming authority over how it was to be used.
Garrison said he was approached by the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust - historically the most generous donor to WVU - some time after he had announced on June 6, 2008 that he would resign effective at the end of July. Trust officials wanted to discuss the practice facility.
Garrison supported the project and was frustrated by a lack of progress. That left him open to suggestions, which he heard in a meeting with the Trust the following month.
In a letter dated July 31, 2008 - Garrison's last day in office; he stayed at WVU through August - the Trust offered $4 million to the WVU Foundation "solely for the purpose of defraying the costs of construction" of the facility. The gift was subject to 10 conditions, three of which became issues.
On the same date, Garrison sent a letter to Magrath, reviewing the letter from the Trust.
"I remember distinctly saying, 'I believe in this project, I think it's a good project, but you and the Board or anybody else who wants to adapt it or change it, go right ahead,'" Garrison said in an interview. "So I don't understand Magrath suggesting it was somehow an evil enterprise.
"I'm not sure who he's suggesting is evil. Me? Coach Huggins? But I completely disagree with his assessment and I suspect the university does, too. They all seemed pretty happy cutting that ribbon in February."
Among the Trust's 10 conditions was the exclusive right to name the facility and the men's and women's basketball courts, which generally bring in appreciable donations.
In his letter to Magrath, Garrison wrote the matter involving naming rights was "subject to final approval of the West Virginia University Board of Governors."
The Trust also agreed to provide its $4 million as long as WVU committed "the entirety of the settlement monies paid by its former coaches, John Beilein and Rich Rodriquez (sic) and the University of Michigan, to the construction of the Basketball Practice Facility (5.5 million dollars)."
WVU settled a buyout dispute with Beilein for $1.5 million and with Rodriguez for $4 million. WVU received $2.5 million from UM and agreed to accept three annual payments of $500,000 from Rodriguez.
Additionally, the Trust said its $4 million "is to be matched by $4 million in future fund raising," the source of which was not specified, but was to be considered as available for construction.
"They said they were going to raise that much on the outside, and I think they had donors in the coal industry," Garrison said. "I was fine with that."
Suddenly, $13.5 million was available for the project.
In January, WVU announced the plan required $18 million and the school was aiming for $22.5 million to cover all possible expenses.
Niles Eggleston, executive director of the Mountaineer Athletic Club, said Tuesday that $19.2 million has been raised for the construction of what is now a $20 million project.
"I was comfortable with that after I heard (the Trust's) plan," Garrison said. "I knew of no other plan for the buyout money and, frankly, I wanted to get it done before I left. That was one thing I wanted to finalize.
"I'd talked to Coach Huggins about it previously and we'd asked folks in the athletic department to work on it. There was no concrete plan for it. I saw this as a good opportunity."
It was not unanimous and there was concern over another condition in the letter. Garrison said he was contacted by Long that August to discuss its legality.
"She didn't think it was a valid agreement," Garrison said.
Long confirmed that, and said the board was concerned about items in the agreement with the Trust "that might not comport to state law when it came to what we were allowed to do as a state institution and what we were not allowed to do."
Long said one issue was the matter of WVU and/or the WVU Foundation providing indemnification. That was resolved in a letter from the Trust to Long dated Nov. 5, 2008, and it was agreed the Foundation could indemnify the Trust and defend and hold it harmless against claims and liabilities.
The second and larger matter, though, was control of the facility.
In the July letter from the Trust to Garrison the Trust stated the facility would be used "solely for basketball purposes ... and for no other purposes without the written consent of the Trustees of the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust."
Concern grew over what precedent might be set. Allowing a major donor to claim control of a facility could conceivably affect future fundraising.
"We have buildings named after people who have said they'd like to give so much money and maybe we can work something out," Long said. "There have not been agreements made where power was taken away from the University."
In the November letter, the paragraph establishing the Trust's control of the university was replaced by a paragraph saying the facility was to be used for men's and women's basketball, but also that it was "understood that the basketball practice facility can also be used by the University to accommodate a campus emergency and can be used for ceremonial purposes by the University (i.e. graduation) so long as such use does not interfere with or frustrate its intended use."
Long said the specific use of the facility will be controlled by the athletic department and there is no "sole control" set aside for any party.
In an e-mail Wednesday, WVU President James Clements confirmed that the "department of athletics will run and control the facility." Clements, who officially took office a year ago, was not at WVU when all of the aforementioned letters on the practice facility were exchanged.
"We didn't want there to be any misunderstandings," Long said. "We have to first of all do what best for WVU and I feel like the Board did just that."
