We’re all well aware of the financial difficulties facing may college athletic programs. Schools are constantly looking for ways to help trim budgets, whether it’s halting the practice of hosting football players in hotel rooms before home games, or convincing basketball coaches to turn down raises so their team can afford trips to Australia.
Stanford is one such school not immune to budgetary shortfalls. 20 Cardinal athletics employees have already lost their jobs, and some of the less revenue-generating sports could be headed for the chopping block. So it seems like just as good a time as any to build football coach Jim Harbaugh a $70,000 private bathroom.
Jon Wilner of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS reports that Stanford billionaire booster John Arrillaga built a new bathroom & shower for Harbaugh inside the Cardinal’s athletics offices, and the new coach-cleansing facilities reportedly cost between $50,000 & $70,000.
Was such a pricey porcelain-based project really necessary? Of course!
Until now, the nearest bathroom was about 20 steps down the hall from the football office. The nearest shower was two floors below Harbaugh’s desk.
Oh, the indignity of it all! No wonder Stanford football has struggled all these years - how can a coach properly prepare his team for battle when he has to take two flights of stairs to loofah up?
Luckily, Harbaugh no longer has to put up with such hardships. And Jim sounds pleased with John’s handiwork, saying the donor did a nice job, while adding, “It was something I’d asked for. It cuts down on drag.’’
I, for one, really don’t care to know what kind of drag Jim is doing in the bathroom. But now that he has his own private place to do his business, we don’t have to worry about it anymore.
So, sorry, Stanford fencing team, we’ll have to dump your sport - but at least Harbaugh’s dumps won’t have to take as long now.
12:04 pm on August 26th, 2009
This just isn’t a story. A commerical real estate developer built it out of pocket. No money was diverted from other athletic programs. Poor reporting by Jon Wilner of the Mercury News…
12:19 pm on August 26th, 2009
How is that not a story? Harbaugh has something lavish installed while the athletic dept. is struggling financially?
The source of the installation is immaterial. It’s a BAD MOVE by Harbaugh. Poor form.
12:54 pm on August 26th, 2009
John Arrillaga (and family) has the family name on nearly every athletic and recreational facility on campus. Bottom line is that John Arrillaga is the one who calls all the shots within Stanford’s athletic department.
1:05 pm on August 26th, 2009
Sorry Brooks, the source of the money is very material. This money was clearly earmarked for a specific purpose by the donor. It’s not like the school made the decision to build the bathroom and not fund the fencing team. The donor made that decision. If they didn’t use the money for the purpose intended by the donor, the donation would not exist.
1:55 pm on August 26th, 2009
Hmmm, sounds like MannyFanNot is reading a line right out the Stanford Development (fundraising) handbook…….
The Arrillaga family’s done a lot of good for Stanford, but this one does look kinda’ bad.
4:25 pm on August 26th, 2009
Who the hell earmarks money for a sh*thouse? Turn down the money, “Sorry, Jack, can’t use your 70,000 dollar bathroom, maybe you’d like to help us out in these areas.”
5:53 pm on August 26th, 2009
the source of the money is completely material. If the booster paid %100 out of pocket its a non story. Not like the thing has gold fixtures and marble floors anyway, 70k is a nice bathroom but its not that crazy. The booster is a billionare, this is a drop in the bucket for him. Building fancy facilities for the kids is fine and nobody woulda said anything if this was a 70k additional bathroom for the players. But isnt getting/ keeping a good coach important? If and when Harbaugh leaves, stanford will still have a fancy bathroom and a nice perk for the recruitment of a new coach. (Is this even a perk? Pete Carrol and Urban Meyer prolly have Roman baths next to their offices)
10:05 pm on August 26th, 2009
Yo Mooseman, doesn’t sound like you have seen the Stanford Athletics facilities??? My jaw hit the floor when I saw the aquatics facility, and somehow Stanford was able to tear the old football stadium and rebuild an entire new one in the off-season. I drive by it almost every day, and it’s wack nice……
$$$ to donuts that this crapper isn’t studded with gold fixtures and marble floors, but I’d bet on polished Connecticut Bluestone and brushed nickel fixtures at the minimum….. and it costs just as much in the Bay Area…
Anyway, the money’s not the problem, ’cause there’s lots of rich alumni everywhere - but the approach sucks air big time in this downturn…
Bill’s 100% right, why wouldn’t this be earmarked to save some athletics jobs in less mainstream sports?
11:47 am on August 27th, 2009
The coach could have deflected the entire controversey by taking the high ground, and telling the booster :
“Hey, I really appreciate the offer, but in today’s economy things are really tight and a lot of very deserving athletes in other sports are having their programs axed. What could I do to convince you to donate that money to keep our track program going for another year?
12:45 pm on August 27th, 2009
I agree with “R” above. Asking for the money to go to keeping another program running would be a much better story to be circulating about Stanford right now My vote: thumbs down to a new bathroom!
2:51 pm on August 27th, 2009
$70,000 could purch. a lot of things. Perhaps cost overruns due to gov’t controls/bldg. codes/restrictions/firecodes/ADA codes, local codes, city codes, state codes, inspections, bids/permits, instant gratificaiton for a quick startup,,,etc.
AND tying into pipes 2 stories below….. remodeling has surprises!!! Let’s see some pix.
10:34 pm on August 27th, 2009
The construction of this high price bathroom nauseates me; what makes this coach so special. There are people who wish they only had to walk 2 flights to use the facilities. There are a lot of ways this money could be put to better use; John Arrillaga look around!