Trustees and Presidents: A Podcast for University Leaders On College Athletics

This week, we'll talk with Lucie Lapovsky, financial consultant and owner of Lapovsky Consulting. She'll talk the nuts and bolts of adding sports, and why sometimes your first thought to drop a sport might need rethinking -- that sport could actually be a differentiator between you and your competitors.

You'll also hear my thoughts about athlete medical debt- you'll hear why one top basketball player is faced with $22,000 in medical bills, all from playing the sport she loved, and was recruited to the campus to play. Here is the link to the full article in Forbes.com.

Leading off with a semi-annual report from Moody's on the health of the higher education industry, Dr. Karen Weaver is joined by Dr. Mark Reed, President at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia to discuss the revenue outlook for private institutions that play NCAA Division I basketball. Topics covered include presidential leadership at the Atlantic 10 Conference level, and life in a "basketball centric" conference. Finally, don't forget to join us each Thursday morning for fresh content. And check out my companion article about finances on Forbes.com

This week, we'll visit with Scott Pattison. With decades of experience in the public policy arena, Scott is a sought-after expert in public finance, higher education and workforce policy. Having served as the CEO of the National Governors Association (NGA), the head of the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and as the State Budget Director of Virginia, Pattison has a unique perspective on the politics, structures and actors that inform decision-making on these critical issues. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy and a Senior Advisor with the public affairs firm Wellington Dupont.

We'll also look at the movement surrounding names, images and likenesses for college athletes, and why biometric data should be included in the discussion. Find out more in my article on Forbes.com

An Interview with Dr. Scott Flanagan. This week, we’ll focus on the role of the President at a Division III institution. Division III is understood to be the Non-scholarship opposite of Division I, but most think of athletics there as nothing more. Yet, for colleges and universities, athletes play an important role in the success or failure of an institution and or a presidency. How do you run a successful DIII program? How does it complement campus life? Enrollment? Finances? How do the President and the Board work together to ensure the athletics program fits the goals and aspirations of the school?

To answer some of those questions, I very happy to have Dr. Scott Flanagan, recently retired President at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin.

Wayne State is a public mid sized school with a board of trustees elected by the voters of Michigan. The Detroit Free Press’ David Jesse has been covering Wayne State for many years, and has been front and center in the very public battles involving 50% of the trustees trying to publicly oust President Roy Wilson. The trustees have been accused of meddling in other campus wide issues, including NCAA athletic financial aid reports. Follow David on Twitter @reporterdavidj.

Coupled with supplementary content written exclusively for Forbes, this podcast will address a perspective of intercollegiate athletics that few discuss--the view from the President's Office, the Board of Trustees, and other stakeholder groups in higher education. We won't focus just on NCAA Division I- instead, we'll look at the bigger picture, and how athletics (big time and small time) are relevant to state government officials, local economies, higher ed policy experts (and scholars), small college finances, and national educational organizations. 

This material is designed to give you a deeper understanding of the looming challenges that higher education faces, and why athletics is being counted on by so many schools to solve those problems. Will it work? 

Demographic changes are impacting nearly all college campuses; add to that an economic downturn, and you'll soon see why college athletics will play a significant role. It's all about the money..

The podcast is hosted by Karen Weaver, EdD. You can learn more about Karen here.