White to step down as chancellor
University of Arkansas chancellor John A. White will step down today after eleven years of overseeing the flagship state’s flagship campus.
Although White’s legacy as a fundraiser and builder of academic programs will be remembered, the decisions he made concerning athletics were questionable. From the committee-selection process he used to hire former Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt and basketball coach Stan Heath to his poor handling of the Mitch Mustain situation and the firing of Nolan Richardson, White damaged his reputation as a leader.
But the final mistake he made was letting Nutt slip away to Ole Miss while taking all of the deferred compensation he had accrued during his time as the Razorbacks’ coach. Bad call. Very bad call. And it most likely spelled the end of White’s tenure at Arkansas.
Nevertheless, it can’t be argued that White accomplished what he set out to do. He was able to bring the once-seemingly independent athletic department under the umbrella of the university system and its hierarchy while also kicking longtime athletic director Frank Broyles to the side. In the process, he merged the men’s and women’s programs into one organization. White won and he lost. After 11 years, maybe he did learn the true meaning of sports.
26 Responses to “White to step down as chancellor”
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Are we seeing the dominos fall here??
Must make all those Springdale few very happy.
Looks like they DID accomplish a lot..Let’s hope all this type junk is put away now so we can ALL move forward…..The U od A has really changed at the main campus since I was in school there…sorta double edged sword.
For many of the reasons cited [by Rainer] above, John White was far more active in the athletics department than he should have been.
The handling of Houston Nutt’s exit was insane in terms of the bag of monies which went along with him - to Ole Miss, of all places.
In my opinion, White was a very decent administrator, though horribly incompetent in his relentless desire to lead the athletics department. Fish outta water.
Hey Rainer, did you see where Michigan’s [and Texarkana native] Ryan Mallett, is considering UA?
Fox Sport News quotes the quarterback’s father as saying the Razorbacks are one of a few schools the kid is considering to transfer. Apparently, he is looking for a pro style offense and is wanting to be somewhere else this semester. GO HOGS!
DWP, thanks for passing the tidbit on Mallett along.
This is a glorious day…and no, I am not one of the Springdale fans…far from it!!! I had heard this may happen and it is long overdue. He was an admistrator with an ego and an agenda and no clue about the athletics department and it is time he is gone.
Hey John….dont let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya pal!!!!!
I agree with you dfwhogfan.
I also am glad White is leaving. I guess I did not make that clear..sorry.
I just meant look what all has happened since all this mess began.
I first said White should be gone several weeks ago when HDN left and got that verrry golden agreement.
Think we have done better with coaching hire now lets do better when White is replaced.
Go Hogs !!
Long time coming
Hope he ends up at Blue Mountain Girls College
Finally, all of the old regime is gone.
Lets move forward Go Hogs!
As long as White didn’t “negotiate” himself a $3.5M exit strategy, very GOOD RIDDANCE.
NOW!!!! IF WE COULD GET MR. NEGATIVITY (WALLY HALL) TO LEAVE, THE CIRCLE WOULD BE COMPLETE!!!!! BE GONE “HALL”, RETIRE OL NEGATIVE ONE!!!!!
I would imagine that the raft of mail sent back to those who manage the Annual Fund, was what really did him in. I as well as others sent my contribution card back to the University with a note which read, “Please forward this fund raising request to Chancellor White and ask him to make a contribution on my behalf since he is so willing to give valuable funds away to people like Houston Nutt.”
With Hootie and Frank’s departure at the end of the year, what a great way to bring in the new one! The Trifecta! Things are looking up for the Hogs!
While I don’t necessarily agree with all the comments about the departures at Arkansas, I definitely agree with Colorad’s comment about Wally Hall. I understand a “reporters” duty is to report the “news” but Mr. Hall clearly has an agenda and it seems to be to run the entire Fayetteville campus - athletics and academics. Todays article is a good example of his “start negative finish negative” approach.
He says he has never met Coach Petrino but points out others (in his profession don’t like him - nice set up), he points out that Chancellor White was over the $1 billion fund raiser and then adds that $300 million came from the Walton’s (I guess that doesn’t count and it must be easy to get someone to give that much. I have no doubt that Mr. Hall wants to be the anti Orville Henry, who was as die hard a Razorack fan as he could be, but how about at least being objective and occasionally positive.
WOW! A total sweep of power. I can’t say that I”m sad, I still can’t believe that White gave HDN the $$$. I just hope the trustee’s get a QUALITY HIRE. Perhaps we don’t need to promote from within?
ColoradoHogFan: I agree with you. I used to love Hall’s wit and candor, but the past few years he seems intent on only spewing negativity - especially at Razorbacks and the U of A - the FLAGSHIP University of Arkansas. He is certainly no Orville Henry, but then again no one ever will be!
The commentary about Chancellor White shows a sophomoric grasp of what a university system is all about and what drives it. One thing Chancellor White ‘managed’ to do while (according to the blogger who posted this) screwing up the athletic department at Arkansas was to dramatically increase the excellence at the university in most departments, and to increase the scholastic standing of the school. It’s inherently hypocritical that the very fans who criticize Chancellor White’s hirings and firings were screaming the loudest for the firings of all the coaches who were named above.
Schools don’t exist to support the athletic departments (I realize the blasphemy I am speaking here in the SEC), but the reverse. It’s wonderful when the athletic departments can add financially and support the schools, but even the most successful among them cannot contribute over their expenses a drop in the bucket when you evaluate all the athletic dept. programs that have to be funded and net that against a university system’s expsenses to provide education. It’s one reason why tuition (even at SEC schools) continues to climb.
If the athletic department calls the shots at any school, don’t look to see much of anything in the way of student accomplishments to list. The priorites are in the wrong bucket. Chancellor White did a good job, and is no doubt going to be missed, while adding to another school’s academic achievements and scholastic ranking. Which may lead some to ask, “How many students really choose a school based upon how good their football team is”?
Let’s hope for the sake of the University of Arkansas and the degrees it awards that it isn’t all that many.
All the criticism he receives is for his involvement in the Athletics Dept, justifiably so, perhaps. How has he done with the rest of the university? You know, those other buildings where students go to get an education. I graduated in 1994 and have been in the Army living all over the world since then, so I’ve lost touch with campus life. I think his first word of advice to the new chancellor will be “Let Jeff run the athletic department.”
I find it hard to believe that some are so classless as to be critical of Coach Broyles and the stamp he left on the program on’The Hill’. We should all be thanking him for 50 years of effort that has made the UofA on the the top all around athletic programs in the country. And, while I think it is time to put all of this to bed and move on and see what Petrino can do , I feel Houston deserved that $3.5 for what he and his family had to endure from a bunch of heathens.
Hogdurnit:
Obviously you didn’t grasp the point of the commentary. No one is arguing that White enhanced the university’s status from an academic standpoint. He did. This, however, is a sports blog. As a result, I am commenting on his decisions concerning athletics. White, in many ways, overstepped his bounds when it came to handling sports-related issues. His lack of experience in this area showed time and time again and no one can argue that.
A good leader is someone who understands his limitations. When it came to the Razorbacks, White didn’t. Instead, he tried to consolidate power, and took a Napoleonic approach — taking over one institution before moving on to the next. He first deemphasized the arts and sciences college in favor of the business and engineering schools. He then tried to assert control over the fraternity system before stripping ASG of any real power. Then he moved on to the athletics department. And just like Napoleon, who marched into Moscow in the dead of winter, White went too far and paid the price.
This wasn’t a commentary on the university’s role in society and its ultimate purpose. We all know that first and foremost it’s an institution of higher education. But the athletic program tied to it is the university’s most visible component. It’s why when you screw up something with the Razorbacks it becomes a bigger issue than something like the early gaffe White made when he tried to close the university press.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive.
Well said, Rainer. I would concur and believe that John White was totally out of his element with his involvement in the athletic department’s affairs. The horrendous results - with his fingerprints all over them - speak for themselves.
ua65 - I totally agree with you! You hit the nail on the head with your last statement! How long is it going to take to run Petrino and his coaches out of town??
It’s about time!!! To bad he didn’t do this 10 years ago.
ua65 and ohiohawg,
Both of you have no idea how wrong it was for White to give Nutt the $3.5 mil. IT WAS A BUYOUT cost supported by legal document which John White circumvented without University legal counsel approval or that of the Board of Directors. Essentially, he could been prosecuted in a court of law. Why do you think West Virginia University is suing Rich Rodriguez??
MANY contributors to the University and in whole representing the endowment, were ready to pull the plug on their pledges had White not agreed to retire.
Wanna hear a giant financial sucking noise coming out of Fayetteville?? It would have happened and brought an abrupt and severe halt to a great many programs including those OUTSIDE of athletics.
Please, spare us your emotional ties to Nutt. White’s actions were his undoing. If you don’t agree, hang your sheepskin somewhere else.
I doubt that UA87 is right in his belief that Chancellor White “could be prosecuted in a court of law” for taking the golden handcuffs off of HDN. If he is as smart as everyone says he is then I’m sure he had his ducks (or Hogs) in a row and either had Board approval or legal advice to do so.
In the litigious world we live in today I am sure someone has already looked into legal action to stop the money. Didn’t someone use the FOI act to get HDN phone records and isn’t someone suing about the investigation of the e-mail to a former player.
The best and most poignant comments I have seen (recently) is the one Hogdurnit had about what the job of the Chancellor is!
As rabid a Hog fan as I am - I still still think athletics is and must be secondary to the academics and if we lose that perspective then we need to just find us a pro team to support and/or let Arkansas become one of the many outlaw schools that recruit thugs, condone their unacceptable behavior on and off the field and make winning more important than anything else.
It will take us years to live down the image of a plane flying over a stadium pulling a banner. That one act says more about us as fans than anything else — and I am embarrassed by it and hope we stop the tail from wagging the dog and idiots from flying planes.
Lets win the SEC and the BCS and do it with CLASS!
Go Hogs!
Ranier, perhaps you can explain to me what you meant by the sarcastic tone of your commentary, whereby you mentioned, “seemingly independent athletic department” and “kicking longtime ahtletic director Frank Broyles to the side”. Frank Broyles as an octongenarian had telegraphed his plans to retire long in advance of 2007. He couldn’t stay AD forever, but I guess it’s all too easy to blame somebody.
Is your suggestion really that John White drove the school in the direction of more control over athletics by the administration? First of all, I think that is a totally debatable point, since the athletic department’s budget and size have grown throughout Chancellor White’s term, as did the influence and leadership of Frank Broyles, and which department does impact revenues for the entire school’s budget. But, if that’s your contention, I don’t see it as a criticism. A Chancellor’s position at a university is that of basically a CEO. How and in what manner are you suggesting Chancellor White overstepped his bounds in that regard, other than in a capacity to facilitate what the athletic department and the Razorback Foundation wanted in form of staff and salaries, etc.? While it is not in his job description to tell the athletic department who to want and for what amount and when to want them, it is in his job to accomodate and manage what is occuring within his various departments. The athletic department should never operate in autonomy. It’s a recipe for disaster.
I’m also interested in your attribution of the firings of Nolan Richardson and Houston Nutt to Chancellor White, since it is my belief that (again) those situations were in one case backing up the athletic director’s firing of Coach Richardson (which means he was backing up his own staff in form of Frank Broyles) and then is somehow responsible for Houston Nutt’s resignation. Where the money accrued in form of deferred comp is concerned, I don’t believe that decision rested in the hands of the Chancellor, since I believe it is reasonable to conclude in a court of law if so challenged that Houston Nutt did leave the University of Arkansas with agreement from both parties that it was “for the best”. In which case he was due the deferred comp. Perhaps we should bill the many fans who harrassed the coach and his family personally and disrupted the players on the field.
John White did his job, and it was a good one. He’s gone now. If you are happy about that, so be it, and you are entitled to the opinion that it’s for the best.
But don’t try to spin the situation that he’s responsible for the current problems with the athletic department and especially the football program. Lay that one at the feet of those to whom it belongs — the nutcase and unrealistic fans who brought us unwelcome and disastrous national attention and notoriety of the worst kind. Oh yeah. And the media that kept it going and kept the criticism of the coaches always on the front page below the fold, i.e. Wally Hall.
There was nothing sarcastic about my commentary. White did try to remove Broyles in 2003. That episode has been chronicled.
And to say Broyles’ power increased during White’s tenure is absolutely ridiculous. It declined substantially — to the point that he was forced to retire.
To address your point about actions taken with Richardson and Nutt, White was not solely responsible for what took place in the days leading up to their departures. But he played a significant role and didn’t handle either of them too deftly.
And as far as the increased budget for the athletic department, White can’t take any credit for that. Athletic department budgets across the country are increasing every year and so is inflation. When Broyles took over the athletic department in 1973, the budget was $900,000. It’s now more than $45 million.
I don’t know why it’s wrong to criticize White handling of the athletics program. He was not solely responsible for everything that went wrong. But he shares some of the blame. The man had his strengths. He also had his weaknesses. It’s not like he was perfect.
Uh, excuse me ua87, but I thought we still lived in a free country and that ‘ohiohawg’ and myself were still entitled to our opinions. Obviously, you don’t feel that way.
There was a story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal this morning about Arkansas Recruiting. Petriono told the Whitehaven High linebacker that he (Petrino) will be at Arkansas at least 10 years. From what I hear about the linebacker, he probably will be also. I don’t think Petrino will be there five years.
On another note, It looks like Houston Nutt and his staff kept the “wheels on Darren McFadden” and now that he has no guidance he is free lancing again.
I’m sure, however, that now football season is over and he does not see a classroom any longer. No reason for him to something as meaningless as that.
He’s going to make more money than the entire graduating class.
hey rainer, anything to the rumor that ryan mallett is on UA’s campus this weekend?