HOLY CROSS 990 FOR FY ENDING 6/30/22

It's hard to believe that Bob Chesney's compensation was (is?) that low. I would have thought he made twice that or more. I would have guessed much much higher for VR as well.

Because he won “a” game?!😂

Our former AD now at Creighton was the “responsible” party. An initial mistake in hiring FHCBN, compounded by hiring him at that elevated salary, compounded further by adding an extra year to his contract after he had gone 8-40…and now we learn for the first time a bonus. He should be sending us a portion of his salary as recompense for his poor judgment.

And, as I’ve said several times, as problematic as FHCBN’s performance was, he didn’t hire himself. His hiring may go down as one of the worst hirings in HC sports history (if not sports history in general). Please explain the Blue Jays rationale for hiring MB as their new AD.

Why? It shows you how small time FCS football is and why Chesney will leave for a better gig very soon. 

The rumor of that extra year had been reported here.  Was that rumor ever confirmed as fact?  I suppose we'll find out down the road if Coach Nelson is on the school's financial statement (also recently reported here) in future years

IIRC....never.

Perhaps Creighton was  looking for a guy who could do this: (from his bio on Creighton site)

“Marcus Blossom is in his third year as McCormick Endowed Athletic Director at Creighton.
Creighton has enjoyed historic levels of success in Blossom’s first two years on the job, as Bluejay teams have made 11 postseason appearances.
Creighton men’s soccer featured MAC Hermann Trophy Award winner Duncan McGuire and advanced to the College Cup (2022). Creighton’s men’s basketball (2023) and women’s basketball (2022) teams both reached the Elite Eight. Creighton’s Volleyball team won its eighth and ninth consecutive regular-season BIG EAST titles, earning a national seed and hosting NCAA Tournament action in both seasons.
The accomplishments didn’t end there. Women’s golfer Katherine Lemke became CU’s first BIG EAST individual champion and postseason qualifier (2022 and 2023), and Tommy Ward represented the Creighton Men’s Track program in the NCAA Regionals (2023).
On the coaching side rowing’s Dan Chipps (2022) and women’s golf’s Debbie Conry (2022), in addition to men’s and women’s tennis’ Tom Lilly (2023) all were named Conference Coach of the Year for the first time after more than 20 years on the job.
The work performed by Bluejay student-athletes in the classroom also featured excellence across the board. The men’s cross country program owned the nation’s best GPA in 2021-22. CU had four CU programs recognized by the BIG EAST with 2021-22 Team Academic Excellence Awards, then three more teams earned the accolade in 2022-23. CU student-athletes owned a 3.48 GPA in the spring of 2023.”

Looks like he is doing fine although that certainly doesn’t change the fact that BN was a swing and a miss.

Carrying the metaphor on, Brett Nelson was not a swing and a miss, he was more like a weak grounder for a triple play

A rookie AD hired a rookie head coach. It continued a mindset that the PL/HC is a great place for a D-1 Assistant to take his/her first command. Our two winning coaches got their head coaching skills down pat before taking over an HC revenue sport.

I hope Coach Riga is the exception who proves the rule as he has men's hockey headed in the right direction in his first head coaching gig.

It's been awhile since I had any involvement in this form but from memory, it has to include all officers (regardless of how highly/lowly compensated) and then something like the top 10 paid employees. A quick glance would seem for those making under $150K are officers. Also from memory of past 990's, Margaret Freije was one of the most highly compensated even before becoming provost/dean and simply a professor.  

Vince would appear to be underpaid for direct compensation but don't recall exactly when his start date was relative to the fiscal year and perhaps only a partial year? And, remember, the BoT, might have compared his salary to Phil Boroughs, Mike McFarland, et. al. They may think they are overpaying him! 

As for the former basketball coach, IMHO he "stole" his salary making about twice as much as a successful football coach who has 5-6 times as many athletes and 3 times as many assistants to oversee.  

I think you are right as to why MM is not listed.  I am confident she earned more than $150,000.  This is what the form asks for:


1a Complete this table for all persons required to be listed. Report compensation for the calendar year ending with or within the organization’s tax year.


 List all of the organization’s current officers, directors, trustees (whether individuals or organizations), regardless of amount

of compensation. Enter -0- in columns (D), (E), and (F) if no compensation was paid.
List all of the organization’s current key employees, if any. See the instructions for definition of "key employee."
List the organization’s five current highest compensated employees (other than an officer, director, trustee or key employee)

who received reportable compensation (box 5 of Form W-2, Form 1099-MISC, and/or box 1 of Form 1099-NEC) of more than $100,000 from the

organization and any related organizations.

List all of the organization’s former officers, key employees, or highest compensated employees who received more than $100,000

of reportable compensation from the organization and any related organizations.

List all of the organization’s former directors or trustees that received, in the capacity as a former director or trustee of the

organization, more than $10,000 of reportable compensation from the organization and any related organizations.


VR appears to have started on 7/1/21 so that was a complete year. 

If you go back through these forms, HC has always paid the men's basketball coach more (often a lot more) than the football coach. 

All of these accomplishments happen at Creighton with or without Blossom.

What important hire has he had to make in his tenure at Creighton?