ISUr AD taken down by ISUr campus radio station over allegations of improper spending

[Libertine]

Illinois State University Athletics Director Kyle Brennan has resigned following questions raised by WGLT about spending on a donor trip to Indianapolis on one of Aaron Rossi’s private planes.

There's a ton of detail in the story (https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-04-13/isu-athletics-director-resigns-after-questions-about-spending-for-big-ten-trip-on-aaron-rossis-plane) but, essentially, it boils down to Brennan throwing together a last-minute -- and, in retrospect -- ill-advised trip to the 2021 Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis in order to woo a potential donor. The last-minute nature of the trip resulted in exorbitant costs and, to make matters worse, at least some of the ISUr travel party ended their evening in an Indianapolis gentlemen's club, charges from whence ended up on the athletic department's expense report. Brennan did manage to secure from the donor a $3,000,000 pledge toward an indoor practice facility for the Redbirds football team but that pledge is unlikely to be honored as, mere days after this particular trip, the donor -- Aaron Rossi, CEO of Reditus Labs -- was indicted on federal tax fraud charges. Rossi is also under investigation for accusations of looting his company to pay for his personal lifestyle.

Like I said, there's a ton of detail in the story and a lot of investigative work that obviously went into it from a student reporter with WGLT, Illinois State's campus radio station. This may not be the happiest moment for ISUr athletics but, at least their journalism school should be proud.

[Bisonoline]

There's a ton of detail in the story (https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-04-13/isu-athletics-director-resigns-after-questions-about-spending-for-big-ten-trip-on-aaron-rossis-plane) but, essentially, it boils down to Brennan throwing together a last-minute -- and, in retrospect -- ill-advised trip to the 2021 Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis in order to woo a potential donor. The last-minute nature of the trip resulted in exorbitant costs and, to make matters worse, at least some of the ISUr travel party ended their evening in an Indianapolis gentlemen's club, charges from whence ended up on the athletic department's expense report. Brennan did manage to secure from the donor a $3,000,000 pledge toward an indoor practice facility for the Redbirds football team but that pledge is unlikely to be honored as, mere days after this particular trip, the donor -- Aaron Rossi, CEO of Reditus Labs -- was indicted on federal tax fraud charges. Rossi is also under investigation for accusations of looting his company to pay for his personal lifestyle.

Like I said, there's a ton of detail in the story and a lot of investigative work that obviously went into it from a student reporter with WGLT, Illinois State's campus radio station. This may not be the happiest moment for ISUr athletics but, at least their journalism school should be proud.

Cant make this stuff up.xlolx

[Redbird 4th & short]

The Rossi tax fraud scandal emerged many months ago and before this current story. He was one of the early lead donors ($3m) for our IPF coming next winter. This was a trip to woo/court/thank Rossi for his financial support .. this is/was Brennan's job, and it is very common to woo big donors .. heck, even not so big donors get some wooing.

The main issue was how much they spent and the level of disclosure, also not uncommon for people in charge to spend too much at times. Either because they honestly think it will help with donations, or because they are taking advantage of situation, or both.

So aside from spending too much under ISU's own guidelines, it was the investigation into the single Lyft receipt at 2:30am. This was later determined to be for a smaller group of people who stayed near the stadium after the game, and wound up at a strip club. So there were 8-9 people/rooms at a Hampton Inn, with very nice seats to the game .. all to impress Rossi who we later found out was being investigated for tax fraud. And less than handful who stayed downtown after the game and wound up at a strip club. No clue yet, who from the group went to the strip club and if that was also expensed beyond the Lyft ride back.

ISUr as a college institution, campus, and our overall sports programs has a lot to proud of. But yes, shi-t happens, and this scandal is a stain on our reputation. AD Brennan was certainly responsible for this, either directly or indirectly. But if it turns out 2-3 younger admin people went off on their own and wound up at a strip club, and only expensed the Lyft ride home .. this aspect to the scandal is far less than if Brennan was aware, tacitly approved, or even worse, attended as well. For perspective, they stayed at a Hampton Inn .. 8 or 9 rooms for 4,500 .. thats $500 per room .. not a lot of money, nor very lavish by itself. The Level 1 seats at the Bowl Game were probably very expensive, but again ... Brennan was wooing a large donor. he was hired to do this very thing. The biggest knock on our prior AD Larry Lyons was his inability to attract/retain donors.

Back to Rossi and the tax fraud .. not sure how well he and his company were vetted before he committed the 3m to our IPF .. so that should be looked at more closely too. As for this outing, it is just 2 things .. they spend more than they should have per ISU guidelines, and a few from the group wound up at a strip club.- .. this is what caused this story to escalate. Someone in accounting asked simple question .. who all was in the Lyft care at 2:30am with the $144 fare and where was it from/to ? Normal expense reimbursement questions.

Bottom line, it happened on Brennan's watch and he organized the trip. Though not sure if it yet rises to level of major personal scandal, unless he approved of the strip club trip, or worse was with the smaller group who did this. More may come out on this from here .. especially on Rossi, and whether he was properly vetted or if there is more the strip club thing.

[Redbird 4th & short]

There's always more to the story as time passes .. sometimes it reveals it wasn't as bad as it looks, like I previously suggested above. And sometimes it reveals there was more going on than was initially reported, as people become freer to speak once the person in charge is gone. This one is looking like the latter ... AD Brennan was a problem. This article came out yesterday .. more signs of problems internally.

https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-04-21/isu-athletics-reckoning-with-the-past-to-move-forward