Hypocrite Patrick Reusse, Calls for Financial Cuts to Gopher Football

I’m not one of those Gopher football fans that hates Patrick Reusse, the HOF Star Tribune columnist. We all know, he hates PJ Fleck, though.

PJ came in with his big personality and was rowing boats around campus. Many old-schoolers, especially Reusse, immediately wrote him off (literally). That’s ok, it’s just how old people are. Stubbornness from a world you remember more fondly, blurs your vision of what’s in the present.

The latest piece he just posted tonight, however, is just old-person stupidity.

The entire world is suffering, as coronavirus makes it’s rounds, and the University of Minnesota won’t avoid its wrath either. The best projections have them losing $10M in athletic revenue and the more dyer projections, which include losing a football season, have them topping $70M in lost revenue. Last year, they reported a profit of $130.5M total.

Universities like Minnesota, won’t just take that loss on the chin. They will try to recoup as much of it as possible. We just don’t know how much they will lose OR how they will try to recover.

Let’s hear Mr. Reusse’s grand idea…

The first $10 million cut in expenses should not come in low-revenue sports; it should come from football.

This is a university that exists through the residents of Minnesota. Those residents are men and women, football families and gymnastics families. There’s an obligation to continue to present valid sports opportunities for a wide spectrum of students.

It’s absurd FBS teams can offer 85 scholarships — with another 25 walk-ons for Power Five programs. That scholarship number should be 70 (or fewer), and with 90 bodies total.

It’s absurd P.J. Fleck came here making $1 million (with incentives) and, in his fourth season, he will be kicking off a new contract at $4.6 million.

Also absurd: The ever-growing football support staff; a $170 million athletic facility devoted largely to football, and a drain to the university’s more vital fundraising; and colleges footing the bill as the developmental arm of the NFL, the most profitable sports league in U.S. history.

Patrick Reusse – Star Tribune

I hate everything about what is written in these paragraphs above. The stupidity and socialism built into every sentence makes Karl Marx sick to his stomach.

“This is a University that exists through the residents of Minnesota.” 

I love how he’s willing to call out our football program and athletic department as these maniacal giants who want to eat up every dollar available and then shit on everyone while doing it…. 

But then, the University as a whole is some blessed idea that is “here for the people”. If you want to play martyr, it sure is easier when you get to pick your battles.

Also, the “residents of Minnesota” want a good football team. Think about how many lives are affected by Gopher football and then think about the same for other sports. Who’s affected in smaller sports?

The players? Their families? Maybe close friends?

If PJ Fleck leaves because he and his staff will be more supported at another school, how many people lose out then, while we return to the disgusting floor of the Big Ten? 

via GIPHY

The most hypocritical and stupid part of this whole piece, is Patrick Reusse’s fame. This is a man who has made his living, covering sports, especially football.

Without the sensational appetite of fans, to continue feeding college football (and other major sports) into a financial juggernaut, nobody would know who Patrick Reusse is and he certainly wouldn’t be paid to write about teams and coaches that he hates covering so much.

Here’s a little reality check for Reusse:

Nobody talks about, nor cares about, universities that are void of massive basketball and/or football programs. Thus, your athletic department can’t make money without success in those sports. 

What people want to throw their money at, is a FREE WORLD DECISION. If I throw my money at football, I don’t want you to turn around and spend that money on everything else, other than football. It’s also a terrible business decision, by whoever receives the money.

It took 60 years for the Gophers to re-establish successful on the football field. We now have beautiful facilities and one of the best coaches in the country… and that success is knocking on the door. Yet, Reusse (who has press passes to football games) wants to burn it all down, along with millions of future dollars for the University, not to mention the hearts and souls of our fanbase…

Why? Because Susie might not be able to leap in gymnastics again or because Billy might not get to kick a soccer ball into a net while nobody watches. Because, being an old-school social justice warrior is now more important than making sense? 

But hey, if that happened… at least Reusse could write a sarcastic article about how stupid fans are for caring so much and paying his salary. Totally worth it. I can’t wait for his Sunday morning column! I’ll bet it’s about U of M Men’s Swimming… and I bet the STrib will get billions of clicks on it.

via GIPHY

Eric Strack | Minnesota Free Market Fan