The monkey never left earth orbit :grin: I think I told ya'll in another post that I told O'Keefe about the monkey thing here and he got a laugh from it. I wouldn't be surprised if he used that little story in a speech somewhere along the way.
You've got a point Jetstorm, but it's right on top of your head. The "pointy-headed brainiacs" and "stuffed-shirt nerds" at LSU are some of the best minds in the country. I don't really expect you to get it, if you've never worked in an academic environment, but it's like this. If you work at a General Motors plant, you don't drive to work in a Toyota. If you work at a place that sells diplomas, they expect you to own a pile of parchment. The academic types worry that he will lack understanding of the complex issues at a major research and PhD-granting university. It's not that he won't be respected. Two things will get you automatic respect at LSU -- a PhD . . . or bringing in research dollars. There are a couple of researchers in my building that don't even have a Masters degree, but they bring in half a million in grants every year and LSU treats them like full professors. O'Keefe has the potential to bring in major research funding and that will make him popular with the research departments for sure. The academic departments may be more circumspect. Many feel that he may not be committed to a career in academia and this job is just a stepping stone to a cabinet-level political appointment in few years. He may not even stick around as long as Emmert, and they worry that he will make short-term, high-visibility issues as his priorities rather than those in the long-term best interests of the University.
She'll also chase the Saints out of town, too. Should be a breeze beating her next time around, as long as the candidate is halfway decent.
This is a quote from one of the current ESPN articles on the Saban stuff: ....Look Nick, we want you to stay here! We've gone out and hired the head of Nasa to work with you! The sky is no longer the limit for you here! Stay!.......
Sorry if I hurt your feelings, Red. But that very defensive reaction to what I posted is what has got me worried; that the entrenched academia at LSU will greet him with a frosty reception (which, by the way, will do nothing but hurt LSU). It's human nature to believe that a guy you might think of as "one of your own" will be more receptive to your concerns and push things more in the direction that YOU want to see them go. The braniacs at LSU probably would rather the new chancellor be a hard-core academic with a little bit of administrative experience. The Board of Supervisors disagreed, however, and decided to hire an experienced high-level administrator with a small bit of an academic background. Now, I must admit, I myself, am a little uncomfortable with the fact that he does not have a PhD. Which probably means that quite a few of the tenured faculty and department heads at LSU must be VERY uncomfortable with that fact. But his other experience makes me more than confident in his abilities to run LSU as a tight ship. As far as O'Keefe not sticking around and angling for a Cabinet position or him having greater political ambitions, well, I would believe that, except for two things. #1, he's walking away from a government job. If he wanted to continue to climb the ladder in Washington, why is he totally getting out of Washington? #2, he's coming back home, or at least, very close to home. Now, maybe he'll run for Governor in 12 years or so. But as long as he gives LSU at least three years (hopefully, seven or eight) and leaves us a lot better off than when he came to us, I'm all right. I expect he'll do at LSU what he did at NASA; just make sure we stay in the black, stay on the front page for good (not bad) reasons, and let the really, really smart people handle the stuff that needs heavy-duty brainpower while making sure they have everything they need to get it done. I do hope that the hard-core academics (yes, even the ones that have pointy heads) will give him a chance and welcome him. He just might exceed their expectations.
