Purdue Board of Trustees Chair Mike Berghoff talks future of athletics and more

Purdue Board of Trustees Chairperson Mike Berghoff, who has served the Board since 2009, was a guest on Gold and Black LIVE this past Friday, Sept. 20. Here is an excerpt from that interview.

GoldandBlack.com: From the University perspective, how does the substantive changes in college athletics (transfer portal, NIL, conference realignment) continue to evolve and be dealt with?

Berghoff: We have been chipping away at this process (in one form or another) for close to a decade, when some of the legal parts were put in motion. We believe the House case and settlement are the best possible outcome for Purdue. We view it as finally bringing order to the process. We finally have a pathway that everyone in the conference can follow; if this passes, and there is work to do. it provides an equal amount of gunpowder for every athletic department. Because (at Purdue) we are in the middle, not the lower third, not the upper third when it comes to revenue.

It (remains) critically important that our fan base continues to support our NIL folks at the Boilermaker Alliance because right now, that is the substitute for what we hope is equitable treatment (in the future) through the House Settlement.

GoldandBlack.com: What needs to be done to get to that $22 million in funding necessary as outlined in the House settlement?

Berghoff: We’re pretty close, you know, in terms of revenue generation already, but there are some knobs that we will need to turn in order to meet the the percentage of revenue share, and some of those are athletic expenses that the department has been burdened with for a long time and some of those expenses that they currently pay the university are probably better off and reasonably located in the University’s responsibility to pay. It just hasn’t been that way for 20 years … like there are some overhead charges that the athletic department pays the university that might be out of whack, and so you have a number of items like that. If you relieve that burden, it frees up more revenues for us to to meet the revenue share percentage that will likely come out of House.

I hope that’s simple to understand. But it more straightforward when you’re on the inside than it is on the outside.

GoldandBlack.com: And some debt-service relief on past constuction projects?

Berghoff: Yes.

And an easy one to think of is administrative overhead expense. There it costs something to keep all the lights on and all the athletic offices and pay all the people who work there. So there’s some administrative overhead that gets applied to those departments, just like it gets applied to the College of Engineering and all the other colleges. But there’s room, there’s room to review this and say, ‘hey, are these expenses reflecting the actual cost to have an athletic department, and if not, and there are savings there that help us apply those.

But there’s going to need to be some further definition of policing on what other sources of income do players receive, and that’s not clear yet. We fully expect that something like the marketplace that exists today will still be in place that allows a player on their own to enter into agreements, so let’s say, with a car dealer or a sunglasses company, for example, and generate some income for them by endorsing products. However, that would be an agreement between a player and some business entity, which would need to be policed.

GoldandBlack.com: Despite the lopsided loss to Notre Dame, you know you have to keep things pointed in the right direction. You have sellouts expected for Nebraska, Oregon, and near capacity crowds for Northwestern and Penn State.

Berghoff: I think for the our fan base has demonstrated the level of commitment for the last three to five years. That is astounding to walk into Ross-Ade Stadium and look at a full stadium with14,000 students packed in there. It’s a demonstration of the commitment that Boilermakers have to sports, and it’s phenomenal.

I can’t tell you how many times the Board (of Trustees) has gathered after a football weekend or a basketball game and reflected on the commitment that that our fans have.

This is a big shout-out. Thank you to all of you for showing up the way you do, and I’m confident we’re going to compete at a level that they’re going to be. Their attendance and support are going to be rewarded.

GoldandBlack.com: Board colleague Mike Klipsch is the liaison to the athletics department. Talk about how it works between the Board and athletics department from an administrative viewpoint.

Berghoff: You don’t want five and six board members sharing their advice with with the athletic administration and the coaching ; so that that channel works. But you know what? It’s, it’s, it’s making good hires, trusting the talent and skill that you see all the way from the athletic director down every every athletic team we have in the university, and asking them what they need to win. We know what the obligation and responsibility is academically for a Purdue athlete that’s well understood, and it’s our expectations that are high on the academic side.

So now, what do you need to win? Because if we’re going to do this, we need to be competitive at all the levels, and we are doing a really good job of providing our teams the tools that they need to win. I’ve asked Matt (Painter and coach (Ryan) Walters, almost every time I see him, is there anything you need that you don’t have? And so, you know, like, like this weekend that when we had the bad loss to Notre Dame you know, you dig in. You dig in and say, ‘what can we help you with to win? ‘

And that’s an attitude that’s just been created over the last 10 or so years, and it’s the proper way to approach it.

The Sept. 20 Gold and Black LIVE interview of Purdue BOT chair Berghoff

Pregame: First Look: Nebraska | First and 10: Nebraska at Purdue | Purdue’s Ryan Walters hears outside noise, but he’s not listening | The 3-2-1: Time is now for Purdue | Opponent View: Nebraska | Number Crunching: Purdue-Nebraska week | Purdue’s offensive identity: Hand ball to Devin Mockobee | In the Huddle: Cole Brevard |