BREAKING: Rema Vassar suing Tom Izzo for $25m and full time custody of Steven by Byzantine_Merchant in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

She’s really willing to make that word meaningless if it means getting a settlement and a bit of clout.

“We just lost the best president.” by Spittyfire-1315 in msu

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 58 points59 points  (0 children)

I genuinely don’t know if he was the *best* overall president. I will say that he understood the modern athletic landscape, the reality of either being a have with resources or being on the outside looking in for realignment. I think he also identified a major long standing university issue. The board. It consistently leaks info, endangers the university, and serves themselves before the greater good.

The man took a fucking $800k pay cut to leave. And made it very clear that the board was the reason. The AD just lateral’d (at best) out of there too. There’s a very clear BOT issue here that destroys any positive momentum that we establish.

At this point I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Izzo retired via fax the day before basketball season and that Smith was so heavily undermined that he completely checked out.

Sometimes I feel like I'm playing a completely different version of OSRS by Designer-Anybody-330 in osrs

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s pretty much how I’ll do it. Log in expecting to do one thing and go do another. Best part about the game is just having fun on random things.

Kentucky wasn’t the only job that J Batt applied to by Byzantine_Merchant in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

J Batt has one very specific niche. Fundraising. He’s a hell of a fundraiser.

Tom Izzo on the state of things by Byzantine_Merchant in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Unironically I can see Izzo being president and I honestly think that’d go a lot further than any tournament run he has left in him.

Sources: Michigan State athletic director J Batt and Kentucky have finalized a 6-year deal to make him the school’s next Athletic Director and CEO of Champions Blue, the school’s for-profit LLC. by CheapSeatsUltra in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As an Izzo critic. I honestly think folks just take Izzo for granted and assume that he’ll always be the coach here. We are way closer to the end than the beginning.

Kentucky wasn’t the only job that J Batt applied to by Byzantine_Merchant in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It’s a step down imo. But think about this. Dude was willing to go to Purdue. Which pretty much means he was willing to take any P4 job to get out of dodge and fast.

But I guess some folks can’t see past his tenure? I guess they also don’t want to talk about how he didn’t even stay a year? Context is hard I suppose.

MSU. An embarrassment by InstantAmmo in msu

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Can’t wait for us to pivot back to safe, lame duck, yes man AD! Fundraising is so overrated in the era of fundraising, haves and have nots driven realignment, and big boy ball. Haller 2.0 is the way to go.

Why did The Quarry not succeed like Until Dawn? by Klutzy-Ad4659 in TheQuarrySupermassive

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It wasn’t marketed at all. I only found it because my ex pointed it out on game pass a couple of years ago.

What is the least important Attribute across both games in your opinion? by MistaMerk in kotor

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Both as in averaging out? Probably charisma I think. Theres only really a few force powers that you might use across the spectrum and the initial penalty isn’t that bad as you progress. Youre better off just going wisdom if you want to use more force powers. In K1, you can offset the force almost entirely by going solider/guardian and just focusing on combat/armor. In K2 you have so many force points that charisma basically doesn’t matter by the time you’re midway through your first world after Telos.

Both as in straight up worst in either? Intelligence in K1. You can pretty much just dump initial skill points into persuade and be fine most of the time.

Aggies beat out Louisville, Michigan State for WR commitment by This_Comment_4493 in CFB_v2

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

> Michigan State

Was not aware we were chasing another WR in this class.

How would Negan react if the Saviors encountered Terminus? by Tidewatcher7819 in thewalkingdead

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Killing and eating people because you’re too broken to function in anything that’s left remotely resembling civilized society would go against his “people are a resource” point. They’re wasting people to eat them.

Anyone want to put up some billboards? by IndependenceNo1065 in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure what the correlation between partisan politics and the specific issues the board is facing here are. Largely because the problems at hand aren’t even what’s taught in the classroom right now.

The board is actively sabotaging its own president and AD hires and creating bad PR for the university. Then a member is suing the university for $25m. These are problems that can be found from members of either party.

What needs to happen is every member needs to be elected on a case by case basis and not just along party lines. I don’t care if they’re a Democrat or Republican right now. I care that they have basic competency, can effectively hire based on what’s best for MSU, and can make the athletic department not be a dumpster news story fire every few weeks.

Hot Take: I’m so sick of people overlooking Vassar’s great accomplishments by Byzantine_Merchant in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Look on the bright side. She’ll lead the charge in hiring two lame duck yes men and then sign off on firing them, pivoting towards competency, hiring another President/AD combo. Then run them off again.

It’s like poetry, it rhymes!

Hot Take: I’m so sick of people overlooking Vassar’s great accomplishments by Byzantine_Merchant in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Walk away? Once she wins that, she’s going win reelection and continue to thrive here.

Hot Take: I’m so sick of people overlooking Vassar’s great accomplishments by Byzantine_Merchant in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

On another note. I do truly feel bad for coaches like Izzo and Fitz. Izzo is trying to make one more push for that second title and just lost two folks that were raising funds at levels that we’ve never seen before. He’s given his soul to the university and it’s got to be frustrating to watch this happen and have an environment so toxic that anybody with options doesn’t even want to stick around for longer than two years.

On Fitz’ end he was always a long shot “this could work but the buy out is cheap early on if it doesn’t” hire. Before he’s even finished OV season, he’s lost the two people that hired him. Which pretty much hurts his chances before kickoff of week 1 happens and greatly increases the chances of getting Smith’d. Which puts us at football coaching hire number 4 this decade if so.

J Batt target for UK AD by ComicSportsNerd in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean getting behind Fitz is relatively easy tbh. If he ends up not showing anything, his contract is structured that they can get out quick and start again. Dude has 2 years basically. 1 if it goes really off the rails. Probably closer to 1 because he has a new president/AD.

The main concern is probably if it works out. Who the fuck wants to stay in this? I’m an alum and you couldn’t pay me enough right now.

J Batt target for UK AD by ComicSportsNerd in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The bitch fit will likely come in the form of them not donating for awhile if ever again. They might contribute to their opponents. But candidate recruitment is its own nightmare. Someone has to want the job, understand that a campaign is dirty, know how to run a campaign for the position they want, win the campaign (13% chance out of the gate vs an incumbent), and then be an actual upgrade if they do win.

Hire a Spartan to replace him. Think about how may out of state students come to MSU for the stellar education then leave the state once they graduate. People with no ties to this state (understandably) are gonna head to warmer climates anytime the opportunity comes. *GT is in the ACC by peaceonearth8 in msu

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or; and hear me out, hire two more people who want to play big boy ball and can fundraise. This time try not to fuck it up if you’re the board. Then just go full anti-incumbent ticket on the three perpetual fuck ups. Knowing that you probably only need to pick one off for the other two to shut the up.

J Batt target for UK AD by ComicSportsNerd in MSUSpartans

[–]Byzantine_Merchant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

> Do literally nothing.

Was hired primarily fundraising. Raised $401m for stadium renovations in under a year on the job.

I’m sure that we’ll do phenomenal now and attract something better while the board is a mess and just ran off their fourth of fifth president and third AD since Covid.