DU Official Admits To $100,000 Mascot Blunder

(above) The Mascot Debacle's official cost was $100,000 ... the long-term costs are unknown
The April 5th meeting of the Faculty Senate Minutes contained an interesting nugget when University of Denver Kevin Carroll, Vice Chancellor of Marketing & Communications, presented an update on the Mascot Development Project

Carroll admitted under questioning that DU would spend $100,000 on proposed mascot. He added that the money would be paid back to the university through "royalty payments." 

Now that the project has been mothballed, the "royalty payments" won't be happening.

DU has flushed $100,000 down the drain; money that could of been used for scholarships, faculty pay raises or lowering tuition increase.

Six months later, one wonders if the actual cost of the "Mascot Debacle" won't be far greater. How much damage to alumni donations, lost ticket sales and of course the damaging publicity to the university in local, state and national media?

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think we all need to contribute to help defray costs for the kid that wears the Boone costume. Maybe if we all kick in we can get him to actually show up at the hockey games this year.

http://www.crowdrise.com/

Anonymous said...

Kevin Carroll should resign.

Transparency? Poor

Misleading? Yes.

Financially responsible? No.

Coercive? Likely.

Integrity in All We Do? No

Embarrass the University? Yes.

Honor Code Violation? Likely.

dggoddard said...

Kevin Carroll is going to say that he met with Coombe about every decision and approved every expenditure.

5BWest said...

The true cost is incalculable. Public good will, attendance, alumni donations, school spirit, academic reputation, new student recruitment, ticket sales, volunteerism, etc...

A case study in non-inclusion. It will take a long time to get back on solid footing with many alumni. Also, DU has given itself little margin for future error...so future decisions and errors will be magnified.

vizoroo said...

Maybe Kevin Carroll should be DU's entry in the Bad Boyz Club.

miller said...

Conversation overheard between Coombe Daddy and Ken Carroll:

"It's so simple a three year old could do it"

"Quick run out and get me a three year old, I can' make sense of any of this."

ayoungerdu said...

Even if this mascot fiasco had been "successful" and DU did pick a mascot there's no way they would have made $100,000 back on just royalties. That's a horrible business decision to rely on income that's not even guaranteed.

achsdu17 said...

If this was a business... the people responsible would be fired. The fact they wasted $100,000 *probably more* on this whole mascot fiasco, with no consequences right now is just mind boggling. DU is a private school that relies on the donations... and they wasted that money that could of gone to a much greater cause for the good. What the hell is wrong with these people... they need to be fired. Then to add you have this whole DU vs. CC donation thing going on... I hope CC wins. DU doesn't deserve anything, they just showed they don't know how to handle money and they showed they can't be trusted with money.

Anonymous said...

Fire the DOPpES!

miller said...

I have said this before but it bears repeating. A friend I graduated from DU with had some Boone clothing made a couple of years ago. I wear it to each hockey game and at least five or six people stop me during each game and ask where they can buy the clothing.

The gentleman that run the clothing stand at the north end of Magness tells me he would make a killing if he could sell Boone paraphernalia.

achsdu17 you are absolutely correct. If these people lived and worked in the "real world" they would have been shown the door. Their egos are so massive they could never admit they made a mistake. Instead, they shift the blame to the students, the committee.

One word...PATHETIC




Anonymous said...

Peg would not even take on the mascot process. She wanted nothing to do with it when she was asked to take on the project by DU.

She knew it would not end well, and she warned Kevin Carroll that it would not end well. Kevin thought it would be easy...

Don't blame Peg for this.

dggoddard said...

Boone costume has been professionally dry cleaned, repaired and rebuilt for the 2013-14 school year.

As we speak the costume is being shipped back to Colorado.

Let the shenanigans begin.

Will DU threaten to fire TV cameramen who focus on Boone during the games at Magness? Will DU professors intimidate students wearing Boone shirts to class?

Anonymous said...

So Peg cowered in her office while “those in charge” fired Gwoz. And then Peg cowered in her office when “those in charge” tried to dump Boone and pick a new mascot. Peg is clearly not one of “those in charge”. Peg is just dead weight.


FIRE THE DOPpES!

Anonymous said...

Anybody know where I can get a Boone window sticker for my car?

Anonymous said...

Hey 6:05

We are bored with you

dggoddard said...

Very easy to make Boone window decals or stickers. Buy the sticker paper at any Office Depot type store.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/212881/Office-Depot-Brand-Inkjet-Window-Decals/

Grab a high resolution Boone image online and print out as many as you need. Make extras for your friends.

http://letsgodu.blogspot.com/2013/02/create-your-own-boone-products-clothing.html

achsdu17 said...

This would be a good season to implement a Boone mask. Like have his face attached to a Popsicle stick and everyone could be Boone at a game.

Anonymous said...

Chancellor Coombe needs to return to his chemistry lab, and let a real administrator do his job. Then we will finally get some results.

Anonymous said...

this pales in the shadow of the obama show costs. Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

To have done all of this in the name of diversity, only to pick three white guys to come up with mascot ideas is an indication of the hypocrisy of the DU administration. If you're going to stand on principle you follow through with that to the very end.

5BWest said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
5BWest said...

DG-
Glad to hear the great news. It is a good time to bring Boone back home. Go Boone!

(Maybe we should think about changing his vest to red?)

Anonymous said...

@dggoddard -

Ironically, I was intimidated by my management professor this past spring quarter for wearing one of my Boone shirts. As I walked up to turn in my final, she whispered "I don't like your t-shirt," and gave me a smirk. I was in such shock I thought maybe I had misheard her as I walked away.

I received that shirt when I was a freshman. I got it for free and now it's one of my most-worn DU shirts.

At this point the whole debacle is just sad.

Kuchler said...

Jedi Boone once again slays the Imperial Senate and the Sith Chancellor. 2013-14 needs to be the year of the Revenge of Boone.

Dunker said...


To ACHSDU17: It should be called a Boonesicle. Rutgers had Bobsicles when Bob Wenzel was coach 20 years ago and they still show up at games every now and then.

Anonymous said...


BOONE IS BACK. TALK SOME SMACK.
FROM THE ICE, TO THE COURTS TO THE FIELDS
FROM ALBANY, TO GEORGIA, TO TEXAS, TO ALASKA
LOTS OF WINS, LOTS OF LAUGHS, AND SOME TEARS
ALL IS WELL, BOONE PREVAILED!!

Anonymous said...

Narcissism alert........

All fans attending home du home hockey games be on the lookout for a fan wearing a xxxxl Boone jersey. He'll be the one following around his life-size doll friend.

He claims to be a fan, but his is really just looking for attention..

Don't feed the bear..... You've been warned!

Anonymous said...

I find your "I wear the shield" campaign insulting. It's nothing more than an transparent distraction from your erroneous decision to ban Boone as our school mascot. A Pioneer is not a Shield (nor is it a Bird for that matter). Boone Is the Embodiment of the American Dream that immigrants of all nations found along the Great Frontier.

For you to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on such a waste and then ask alumni to donate is pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Denver Boone looks like a deranged bearded toddler. And the mascot costume looks like Hamid Karzai (that's the current president of Afghanistan and not today's special at Little India).

Aspen said...

Thanks for the narcissism alert. Get out of here.

The committee and administrators put in a lot of time and work. The intentions were good. They didn't do it to waste money. We all knew it wouldn't work. We tried it anyway. Whatever. Move on. DU spends plenty of money on more ridiculous things like that heinous flower thing in front of the law school. Furthermore, the project wasn't the brainchild of one person. A lot of people came together to try to make it work so lay off of Kevin Carroll and Peg.

Don't get me wrong. I'm frustrated too. I don't want a new mascot. I don't believe that we need one. I can assure you that I am more angry about all of this than most of you but instead of whining why not help create a new Boone culture for the freshmen? Boone pins, flags and car stickers would be awesome. I'm excited to see Boone back at games and so happy DG is still running this blog. Go Pios! Long live Boone!

Aspen said...

Also, to the person whining about how Boone looks... You come up with a different mascot k? Let us know how it goes.