In a way, it's good that we are so heavily in debt. If the BoT had any interest in ending sports, the GTAA would have to declare bankruptcy. The only way to pay the debt off is to maintain athletics as a going concern.
I have a relationship with a small-ish college with a religious affiliation. In the old days, many of the faculty representatives on say, the athletic committee, had not only played sports themselves, but also coached them. It was not uncommon to take Physics and then go to batting practice where the professor is coaching the baseball team.
That is long gone.
They installed a more recent BoT who went down the path of expanding their social justice initiatives, climate change initiatives, etc etc. This left less money for academics so the business office began raising tuition ... to really absurd levels. Incoming freshman plummeted and they had to cut expenses in facilities, faculty, etc.
I asked them, "Hey, you are supposed to be teaching kids. Why not use your cash flow for that?" No. They had a new community mission. Creating social justice warriors was more important.
Today, that school (150 years old) is in dire straights and will likely close. Several board members resigned and said, "Don't call me. You guys cannot run a school. You've run this one into the ground."
That's how I feel about the GTAA and it's oversight of the GT athletics. They want to use $$$ to create "future service leaders" instead of creating winning and financially responsible sports programs.
I'm looking ahead and pessimistic. We are in an age where the lack of subject matter expertise is going to seriously weigh on Tech. Replacing Collins isn't going to fix much of anything. We need a massive restructuring.
