Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/368554
fault is that? Should they have predicted the economy? Did their scheme for lux- ury areas look too risky? I don't know, they had 80 percent of the people say- ing they were paid or were committed to doing so. Maybe they should have got- ten a little less carried away with how big a deal they were doing, I don't know. But I also don't think that can happen here. The APR issue – look at our histo- ry and look at our attitude. You sit down and talk with [James] Franklin, and he will say, "What was the record for foot- ball graduation success? I'm going to beat it." You look at our 1nance opera- tions, and this is a 1nancially healthy institution. We are very, very conserva- tive on budgeting and how we do things. We make sure of that. So I have a hard time seeing that that's a repeat, either. The 1nal thing that the chancellor said to me was, "We should have lis- tened to her earlier." Sandy went to the Big Ten meetings with me, and I was astounded by the number of ADs who came up to me and said what a great hire she is. I was as- tounded by the number of people who came up to her because they played against her when she was a coach or they knew her as a student or sat on leadership board meetings within the NCAA. And it was all, "Great hire." Athletics have a way of shaping the perception of a university because they're such a high-pro+le part of campus life. How do you see the role of athletics in higher ed? I have a lot of di2erent thoughts there. I love the idea that an individual's dif- ferent gi3s can be taken to a di2erent level in a university environment. I've always liked the idea that since early Greece, academics and athletics have gone together. I really like the idea that individuals, because of that gi3, can go get an education at an exceptional insti- tution. I absolutely know that it's a front door. People see the university at least partly, and sometimes substantially, through the lens of what's going on with athletics. Alumni care deeply. It's the No. 1 reason why alumni will return to campus – not necessarily care and pay attention to the university, but return to campus. All those things are tremen- dous positives. I resent sometimes that really good news about a university doesn't get out there because somebody A lot of places will emulate the things that we've done. The notion of having an ethics component in athletics, that's very unusual." " Michelle Bixby