I’m not sure why it’s important, but the soccer parents are Ian and Isabelle Loring. Not alumni as far as I can tell. But you hardly have to be an alum to call up and give gobs of money.
http://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/w-soccer/2014-15/bios/loring_eliza_w0fw?view=bio
https://www.baincapitalprivateequity.com/people/ian-loring
It looks gross but no one is going to have their diploma pulled or go to jail over this, of course.
I guess the so called “party culture” we hear about so often at Trinity on CC and it being a non target school, non top 20 LAC and mba not that valuable anymore can be ignored.
Yes you can get to work at Bain and make so much money your kids team gets 2mm bucks from dad.
More than one lesson here.
The Boston globe article does give names. And amounts given. Another, cheaper (and legal)backdoor for the only modestly wealthy and insufficiently athletic. It seems Yale is ethically challenged, to say the least.
Tax law on this needs to change. Alums and parents or prospective parents can still give, just less effectively.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/13/us/felicity-huffman-monday-plea/index.html
Prosecutors will recommend sentence of 4 to 10 months, plus probation and fine of 20k.
New reality show concept: The real housewives of San Quentin… 
@emilybee Those who did not plead guilty are probably wishing they could wind the clock back and get that deal.
^^^ I’d watch that!!
Honestly, before OVB I had never thought about nor had any opinion one way or the other on either Felicity Huffman (whom I had heard of) or Lori Laughlin (not sure that I had ever heard of). Now that Huffman has “womaned up” and pleaded guilty (and issued that well-crafted statement several weeks ago), I have a net positive impression of her and will be happy for her when she’s finished with her sentence and makes her comeback.
Conversely, I hope Lori Laughlin gets exactly what she deserves and I will definitely NOT be rooting for her to make a comeback, nor will I feel any sympathy for her when she does make her attempt.
And Massimo can forget about me ever buying his socks again at Target, should he try to ink a new deal with them.
She will get probation and a fine I suspect. The ones who plead not guilty hard to say.
Some of the people involved will be punished, but does it matter?
So long as these universities (USC, Yale, …) keep denying any responsibility in this affair, other people will continue monetizing “the school prestige”.
“Donations to fund FA, or a building, or endow a professorship may serve some public interest, but donations to endow a coaching position? What public interest do they serve? Should they be tax-deductible, especially with donors receiving valuable benefits in return?”
Agreed. Time for these schools to separate athletic donations from legitimate charitable purposes.
Except all cash is fungible. The $1M I donate to sponsors Hanna’s Varsity Handball team is $1M less than H has to spend out of general funds to support the Handball team, so they can spend $1M elsewhere.
However, if the handball team is over funded with donations restricted to it, the excess money cannot be used for other purposes.
Are you are suggesting that the Handball team is funded in perpetuity…in which case, why would someone donate to it? (hint: they’d just go find another sport to support and obtain recognition.)
“the excess money cannot be used for other purposes”
Yes, it can, if so defined in the contract. And the development rep would know how funded the pool already is.
Yes, these donations are generally funded in perpetuity. Some small % is lopped off annually, for the primary purpose. Percentage of growth, that is.
@bluebayou Once in a while, I have to search a word definition online. Today it is fungible, I don’t think I’ve heard it before. Thanks Internet, I look up so many things I’m not familiar with. I don’t miss the encyclopedia days of my youth!
“Time for these schools to separate athletic donations from legitimate charitable purposes.”
Endowing a sports head coaching position is just as legit as endowing a university professorship. It helps the department (whether the English Department or the Ice Hockey Department) be better and more successful by having more resources.
Yale, for example, recently has won NCAA championships in lacrosse and ice hockey. Both of those head coaching positions are endowed chairs. Since donors have taken on the funding of the HC position, there’s more available team budget that can be used for travel, team development, equipment, asst coaches, facilities, recruiting activities, etc. The donors usually are wealthy team alumni who want their old squad to be successful.
An issue only arises if it turns out that the coach is selling roster spots in exchange for the team funding. And that, frankly, is really between the school and the coach. Assume that Yale gives the lax coach 5 admission tips.
Does Yale understand that those tips will SOLELY be used for getting the best players on the team? If so, then the coach breaches the understanding by swapping those tips for funding.
Or does Yale understand that the coach may use them in his discretion to overall benefit the lax program? And does Yale expect its head coaches to do fund-raising and provide some amount of self-support to their teams? If so, Yale might be OK if the coach uses his tips to increase fund-raising as well as increase the playing talent on the roster.
The most likely iffy scenario is not completely fake athletes a la USC rowing and Lori Loghlin. More likely would be a rich Yale lacrosse or hockey alum whose kid is a real player but not a stellar one. Where maybe the coach gets a big program donation and uses a tip for the non-stellar player.
Which is pretty much exactly what academic Yale itself does with its developmental program – OK but not the greatest kids get admitted because of the parent donations.
It would depend legally if the donation was restricted or not. If the donation was given with the intent that is be used at the discretion of the university then the money can be allocated wherever needed but if the donation was directed for a specific purpose the organization cannot use it for something that was not intended.
Yale one once in Men’s Hockey 6 or 7 years ago.
Coaches are the highest paid employees of many universities. I do think if a booster endows a coaching slot and those general fund dollars can then be used for profs labs libraries or dorm improvements -awesome.