Sunday, January 10, 2010

Football Q&A with Chancellor Dubois


I caught up with UNC Charlotte chancellor Philip Dubois at halftime of Saturday night's men's basketball victory over St. Bonaventure and asked how he thought last Thursday's UNC Board of Governors meeting went, during which the Charlotte 49ers' plans to add football were presented.
 
 
Your take from the meeting?
Dubois:
I was very pleased. I think there was overwhelming support. Having talked individually to several members of the board, I think there is tremendous support for what we are proposing.

There were questions raised regarding the student athletic fee increase. Is that something that needs to be addressed before the Feb. 12 meeting?
Dubois:
The board used this meeting to discuss all tuition and fee increases and our proposal for a football-related fee increase was in that larger context. In February, the board will approve all tuition and fees for all campuses and that’s when the final decision will be made. I will be checking back with individual board members to see if they have any additional questions or need additional information but they’ve already received a lot.

Given your take on the meeting are you very confident going into the next vote?
Dubois:
I don’t want to take anything for granted. The board members have their own job to carry out and they have a month to reflect on it and I’ll provide any additional information they need. I was generally very pleased with the reaction and of course the support from president (Erskine) Bowles, which was quite vocal during the meeting.

What would be the first order of football business if the plan is approved at the next meeting?
Dubois:
We have to get the capital project through the legislature and that would take place in the session late in the spring. Usually those things are not particularly controversial if you have a revenue source. We still have to keep moving forward on the design of our facilities. We are under a very tight timeframe to get all of the facilities built in time for 2012, which is when the coaches and the first group of redshirts would arrive. We’ll spend some time between now and their session making sure legislators are informed of what is being proposed.

Note: A story about Dubois' take on the meeting will appear in Monday's Charlotte Observer.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

USF recently fired their head coach. He built that program from ground zero. He should be hired by Charlotte College immediately. If nothoing else he could be a consultant.

Anonymous said...

Charlotte College??? HUH? You are a ruh tard.

Anonymous said...

Charlotte College??? You are literally too stupid to insult.

Anonymous said...

6:16 anon is trying to give a back-handed compliment but I'd take the Charlotte College name over the UNC Charlotte slave name our institution has.

49R said...

Focus people!

Football! GOOD!

49E said...

Maybe he was confusing our 1960's name Charlotte College with our future name University of Charlotte.

Lets make the switch in 2012 when football arrives.

Anonymous said...

Dubois is a moron. He has repeated lied to students about the amount they'll be burdened with through increased fees. He has changed the 'plan' as needed... originally there were a set number of FSLs that *had* to be sold before football would even be considered. When that failed, the plan changed again. Ultimately the fees that students will have to pay to support football will exceed the $350 fee... because no corporate sponsors want to get behind a program that is doomed to fail.

Dubois has sold us out in his pursuit to become the 'Chancellor that brought football to UNC Charlotte'. There was a time when fiscal responisiblity was part of the job of the Chancellor. This clearly no longer exists.

I for one will be sending letters to the Board of Governors urging them to kill this proposal before it has a negative impact on students. We need to invest in making the university a great university that educates its students... not a mediocre university sabotaged by entertainment debt.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure your letter with be given the consideration its due - NONE. You probably aren't affiliated with the school in any way, thus have no stake in the issue whatsoever.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait until Mike Persinger and the editorial department of the Charlotte Observer have to eat every one of their pathetic words.

Anonymous said...

Jim Leavitt at USF was fired for grabbing a player by the throat and slapping him. Something tells me "Charlotte College" would like a coach who doesn't assault his players.

Unknown said...

It's so easy to criticize, it's a lot harder to have a solution. If the university wants a football team, than let it have one. I graduated from UNC Charlotte - it hasn't been Charlotte College for a long, long time - and we headed the push for the football team. If you want to turn it into a political thing, then go to the political blog and rant about it. The students, staff, faculty, administration and alumni have spoken, and the majority wants football, so what's the beef? The beef on these forums seems to be primarily from people that are being political and have nothing to do with the university. It's OK to have an opinion, but have it grounded in something relevant. If you don't bring substance to the debate, than what's the point? If you don't like it, then don't attend the school. It's plain and simple. If football will make UNC Charlotte a "second-rate school" like has been said on these forums before, then don't go to the school, and don't come to the football games!

Tim Collie said...

oh no....Darkferi is back on the prowl again! He has hated Niner football since day one. Anonymous people like him make me sick. Can't wait to see us take the field and UNC Charlotte WILL STILL BE MODERATELY PRICED FOR THE UNC SYSTEM!!