OT: Draymond Green gives $3.1 Million to MSU athletics
The title says it all. Dude got paid, and there are way worse things he could do with his money. But whatever, my sense of rivalry stands and I blindly refuse all things Spartan!
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Discuss! Oh, and mods, delete if this is too OT.
Edit: fixed spelling, though I like the the idea that someone could get "Dray'mom'ed"
September 11th, 2015 at 12:59 AM ^
Isn't it interesting how Michigan State has piles of alums from the past 25 years piling money into facilities and their Athletic Department, and Michigan, well, doesn't. Seems like every year, Sparty has one of these guys do something like this--and it's awesome. You have to respect it.
September 11th, 2015 at 1:06 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 1:15 AM ^
so they weren't likely to help him out. You may see more donations from former athletes with him gone.
September 11th, 2015 at 3:22 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 4:15 AM ^
So let's not act like we're broke.
It'll take a LOT of Draymond Green's to equal that one Ross donation. I'm sure Hackett is rebuilding those relationships that were severed...but Brandon did raise money. Not in the traditional or "correct" way. But money be green - and Michigan athletics has way more of it than MSU does.
Let's not flip every thread on Brandon...just acknowledge that an MSU alum did something cool for his University. Or don't, cause it's MSU, and move on. It has no impact on Michigan.
September 11th, 2015 at 7:10 AM ^
In fairness, while the $100m is amazing, it was for the buildings project. Those mega-huge donations are usually earmarked for something like that.
You need a lot of smaller donations on a regular basis to help maintain a program. Many organizations run annual donation funds to help meet basic operating expenses. Those yearly funds are met by building an environment of many people willing to donate relatively smaller amounts on a yearly basis.
September 11th, 2015 at 9:06 AM ^
MSU athletes and not Ross who, the book says, continued to support Brandon because he loved Michigan and had no idea what was really going on. Donations were likely to plummet if Brandon stayed in power. No one can dispute that.
There are several charitable events and letterman events which disappeared rather than giving control to Brandon. Yes I'm a Michigan fan and I'm going to support Michigan letterman who were screwed by Brandon and may not have been willing to support him. Someone also asked if our athletes donated before. I know there were events held and many do work at Mott. Also salaries have escalated dramatically were athletes can afford to do larger donations but Michigan hasn't had as many successful athletes in the pros to be able to do this. You also don't know how many athletes donate anonymously. Also we have Vincent Smith here who works tirelessly on his Food project. If Green wanted to do this it's great. I'm addressing the two previous posts and primarily the question of why Michigan athletes don't do this and I'm going to defend our athletes because there may be reasons for no donations or for donations we know nothing about.
Regardless, I'll be sure to check with you for appropriate board topics and responses in the future.September 11th, 2015 at 1:21 AM ^
Don't be obtuse. Of course that's what I meant.
Sure, you expect a billionaire or two to fund major projects like that, but I wasn't talking about Ross. What we've seen at Michigan State is young athletes straight out of school, a lot of them in first or second pro contracts, writing large checks to the university. Unlike Dave Brandon, and even his predecessors, Mark Hollis has built a seriously positive atmosphere around his department when it comes to letterwinners. They feel a strong connection to the department's success. It's enviable.
September 11th, 2015 at 1:48 AM ^
Man how much cooler would it sound to have "The Tom Brady and Gisele Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh" at press conferences.
I think guys like Green realize that MSU doesn't have the alumni that will drop 10 mil like it's nothing.
September 11th, 2015 at 10:36 AM ^
...they do have that Eli Broad guy.
September 11th, 2015 at 5:27 AM ^
How many recent alums do we have who have been as successful as Green though? McGary, Hagelin, and...?
September 11th, 2015 at 7:06 AM ^
That's what I was thinking... Not many 2010s Wolverines have done well in the pros so far... nor are they on their second contracts yet.... football or basketball.
Well big, long term second contracts that is.
September 11th, 2015 at 9:54 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 2:04 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 3:34 AM ^
Michigan State doesn't have "piles of alums" donating money; they just have a few high profile ones donating large amounts. Michigan, on the other hand, does have "piles of alums" donating money. It's usually people who actually "made it" with their education instead of winning the genetic lottery and making it to the NBA or NFL.
That being said, I will subjugate my blatant and abject kayfabe hatred for Sparty and say congrats to Green for being one of the "good guys" in sports.
September 11th, 2015 at 1:00 AM ^
Green was my most hated Spartan athlete ever but I've softened on him. His relationship with Woodley is genuine and his twitter stuff with Stauskas was kinda funny.
September 11th, 2015 at 1:02 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 1:21 AM ^
Not to take anything away from Green, but he has a badass agent. All $85 million of his new contract is fully guaranteed money. I think you would probably see this more if other athletes had that insurance
September 11th, 2015 at 1:29 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 1:44 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^
At least the ones making max money. The contracts are standard. Green's agent had the easiest job in the world.
September 11th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^
the moment he started at "center" in the NBA finals.
He could have acted as his own damn agent and still cashed in.
September 11th, 2015 at 3:55 AM ^
Not to mention he actually treated Michigan with some dignity while at MSU even when we sucked, like really sucked.
September 11th, 2015 at 11:38 AM ^
Green is the most likeable Spartan of the last 20 years at least. In the midst of a heated rivalry he was always complementary of UofM, always has thoughtful things to say in general, appreciates where he is from, and is an unselfish player on the court.
I love a good rivalry and it's rare I watch MSU and think "wish we had that guy" - but Green seems above reproach to me.
September 11th, 2015 at 1:08 AM ^
If the title says it all, why did you continue typing?
September 11th, 2015 at 1:08 AM ^
This is about when I came around on him.
September 11th, 2015 at 1:05 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 1:23 AM ^
I know OP meant $3.1 million, but I choose to believe that Draymond Green only gave 3 dollars and 10 cents to MSU athletics.
September 11th, 2015 at 1:43 AM ^
Dang, you guys want to read a draft of this paper I am working on? Sadly it would be WAY OT. [edit: for real, this is seriously no fun]
September 11th, 2015 at 1:58 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 2:34 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 4:19 AM ^
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September 11th, 2015 at 6:08 AM ^
Oh wait, he was not an athelete while in Ann Arbor.
September 11th, 2015 at 6:20 AM ^
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September 11th, 2015 at 7:23 AM ^
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September 11th, 2015 at 7:33 AM ^
Michigan State is far more dependent on state funding and tuition than the University of Michigan to make up its budget (both capital as well as operating). Consequently, when the state's economy began to tank in the mid-2000s, MSU was forced to cut back on entire schools and colleges as well as academic and research programs, professorships and the like.
The size of the endowment is a big reason why. LouAnna Simon has certainly tried to address that gap, but it's pretty clear that MSU is far behind where they need to be for long term stability and growth.
September 11th, 2015 at 8:37 AM ^
September 11th, 2015 at 9:46 AM ^
This x1000. It's always confused me why their development staff didn't take an approach that capitalizes the sheer size of their annual enrollment.
(my post isn't intended to take anything away from this significant and well-intended donation)
September 11th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^
John Hannah, the former long-time MSU president, thought it was counter to the land grant philosophy to ask private citizens, including alumni, to donate to the university. A public university, especially one educating students from all walks of life, should be publicly supported.
MSU was way behind other B1G universities and has had to make a strong push moving forward.
MSU's endowment is now above that of many flagship universities, including Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. That's not an easy achievement.
That Michigan has so many more resources than MSU -- not to mention the first-mover advantage -- is a major reason why U-M should, in the long run, be better than MSU at everything. It would take serious mismanagement not to make that true.
September 11th, 2015 at 4:12 PM ^