Norwood Virus

I've been watching the Norwood Teague saga unfold but haven't spent any time on it here yet. If you aren't aware of the particulars, Teague was, until recently, the athletic director at the University of Minnesota. He resigned his position nearly two weeks ago after it came to light that he is a creep who sexually harassed various people, including two colleagues and a Star Tribune sports reporter.

The harassment part is pretty straightforward and his actions were certainly grounds for dismissal. You aren't allowed to cop feels and send X-rated text messages to people who have rejected your come-ons.

Still, I think there's a conflation of issues involved here. Teague initially came to Minnesota in 2012 with a clear agenda, which included two things: to raise money for new facilities and to raise the profile of the Gophers in major sports, particularly football and men's basketball. The Star Tribune's report today shows a little of that conflation:

The University of Minnesota said Monday that former athletic director Norwood Teague failed to disclose that he was facing a gender discrimination complaint at the time he was being recruited and then after he was hired.

The school paid the Atlanta-based firm Parker Executive Search $112,539 in 2012 to find an athletic director and do background checks on leading candidates. Working with Parker on behalf of the U was a four-person search committee and a 23-member search advisory committee.

Teague emerged as the only finalist for the job, and took the position in April 2012.

That search failed to discover that former Virginia Commonwealth University women’s basketball coach Beth Cunningham filed a complaint against Teague when he was the athletic director there.

Did Teague sexually harass Cunningham? From what it appears, Cunningham's complaint concerned the way Teague was administering the office, not his personal conduct. Note that Cunningham is the former women's basketball coach.

Pat Reusse's recent column gives the game away:

It should be hoped that this will go beyond an attempt to dig up more dirt on the now-resigned Teague and put all the problems with women’s athletics and men’s nonrevenue sports at his feet.

The investigation also should direct the regents to reach some type of conclusion as to whether it is really necessary for the football and men’s basketball programs to be such hogs when it comes to devouring the revenue generated by TV and ticket sales for those sports.

The question of revenue at D-1 schools always comes up and it's a challenge. In order to fund the nonrevenue sports, most colleges, including the U, end up relying on the football program to generate the lion's share of the revenue. If the Gophers want to compete at the highest levels, this is how the game is played. Teague understood that and ran the athletic department accordingly. Pat Reusse and a lot of other people around town reject that view. We're likely to find out if Reusse is correct.