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What We Can Do As Griz Fans

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Arizona’s Reed-Francois marks two years as she continues to stabilize department

Univ. of Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois celebrated her second anniversary in her role after inheriting a stripped-bare football program and a massive budget deficit close to $50M.
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Univ. of Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois celebrated her second anniversary in her role after inheriting a “stripped-bare football program” and a “massive budget deficit of close to” $50M, according to Greg Hansen of the ARIZONA DAILY STAR. Reed-Francois also came into the role needing to “rebuild the front office staff and create a new radio/TV broadcast and marketing enterprise.” Reed-Francois labels her first two years as “stabilizing.” But she has “proved her worth by making a series of tough choices, each that affects the school’s budget and on-field success.” Reed-Francois raised roughly $5M a year combined for naming rights to McKale Center and Arizona Stadium, and her “next act will be to sell advertising patches for game-day uniforms for all Arizona sports, a transaction that could mean as much as” $2M more per year. However, “not everyone on campus and in the UA sports community is a Reed-Francois advocate,” as she “hasn’t been afraid to make sometimes unpopular decisions.” Yet she put UA in a “much better position than it was in five, 10, 15 and 20 years ago”
 
“

The Short Answer​

The vast majority of the University of Montana's endowment portfolio—well over 90%—is designated with donor restrictions.

True "unrestricted" endowments (where a donor gives a permanent gift but allows the university to use the earnings for any pressing, general purpose) represent a tiny sliver of the overall pool.

The Financial Context​

  • Donor Intent is Rigidly Protected: In its annual endowment reporting, the UM Foundation explicitly notes that it is legally bound to honor donor intent. Because the foundation manages well over a thousand individual endowed funds, nearly all of them are permanently assigned to specific categories: academics, specific departmental support, or student scholarships.
  • Foundation Net Assets vs. Endowment: In the Foundation's overall asset mix, a small portion of net assets is categorized as "without donor restriction." However, these funds are primarily held to cover internal Foundation operations and general university advancement rather than sitting as a flexible, multi-million-dollar general endowment fund.
  • University Operating Budget Contrast: It's easy to mix up endowment funds with the university’s annual operating budget. When looking at the university’s overall yearly expenditures, Current Unrestricted Funds(which are fueled by state appropriations, student tuition, and general investment earnings) usually make up roughly 35% to 40% of the school's total operational cash flow. But this is active operational revenue, not the permanent endowment pool.” Gemini.
 
Somebody was asking about how much MSU's endowment was compared to UM's and some google-fu I was able to find the 2025 numbers - our google overlords thinks UM was 324 million while MSU was 319 million. So - not a big endowment discrepancy between the two institutions.
 
Silenoz said:
Update. In the last month we did a team celebration with our Bobcat player coach, have been doing QB camp with Grant Vigen, just wrapped up baseball with our former Cat QB coach, have football tonight with another former Cat QB, start both football camps with Bobcat players next week, followed by the Bobcat NFL combine camp and then the Justin Lamson camp, and summer-long camp with Titan Fleischman. No Taco Dowler and Adam Jones camp this year because they're doing it in Missoula to steal all your kids' fandom. Then we start Next Level basketball with those MSU players. And then back to travel basketball where guys like Kash Embry, Zac Crews, and Grant Vigen are reffing all of the Bozeman games.

One community has made this a deeply ingrained and key piece of their youth culture. One needs to catch-up. It kills me that they are so good at this.
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Geez man, you need a break!

I have to say, the flag football league is some of the most fun I’ve had as a parent. There were a couple of parents on my kids team that came in wearing Griz gear and the players gave them some crap in a fun way, but they all had a great time. For my kids, getting to wear and keep a Bobcat jersey with their last name on the back is about the coolest thing ever. And it’s so, so, easy to do. One of the other camps a player remembered my son and made sure to wish him a happy birthday unprompted, another player saw my other son and recognized him from the camp and talked to him for about 5 minutes or so. Both of the players were starters.

Long story short, with stuff like that going on, there absolutely will be converts in 10 or so years. This stuff matters.
 
Bobcat99 said:
I have to say, the flag football league is some of the most fun I’ve had as a parent. There were a couple of parents on my kids team that came in wearing Griz gear and the players gave them some crap in a fun way,
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Plus this gave the kids an opportunity to learn y'all's favorite song😁.
 
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