Episode Transcription: 

0:00
roxo media house [Music]
0:06
come back to fortitude folks JW Wilson brinton Payne the guy in the middle here you might have seen his face some
0:12
time or two but he’s the big cheese he’s the chancellor Victor bocini welcome Victor to the show thanks for having me
0:18
we have lots to ask you and we go we’ll get right to it we know you’re a very busy fella but I’d like to start with
0:23
have you ever been referred to as the big cheese before I didn’t know if that was supposed to eat like that was
0:29
something yeah we just went right on into the right conversation here if the internet is to
0:36
be believed Victor uh you are you’re a Cleveland native is this true that is true it’s interesting so a Cleveland
0:41
native an NBA an M.A from Bowling Green a doctorate from Indiana made your way
0:47
up through uh DePaul Butler Indiana and Illinois State uh as this president
0:52
before you you hit home here yes sir you’ve now been here for almost 20 years correct this my 20th year in 2003 you
0:59
arrived right in a general sense what was TCU then versus is now is there a way to for you to describe what’s going
1:06
on from then to now it’s it’s quite a change transition but what would it look like in your eyes oh wow
1:13
um physically it’s very different um when I came I thought it was a
1:19
parking lot surrounded by a campus and now I hope it’s a campus surrounded by a parking lot and that that sounds funny
1:25
but that was a huge difference the whole Center of Campus was blacktop it was 953
1:31
spaces and they also were so cheap they had never done it all at the same time so some was black some was great some
1:37
was gravel and it looked like a patchwork quilt certainly it didn’t look bad when all the cars were on it but the
1:44
moment anyone was off of it it looked terrible they didn’t have any trouble to financial just to where it was in a
1:50
financial place no it was just the way it happened yeah I don’t think people a long time ago not a long time but I
1:55
don’t think people thought about the environment as much as we do now but they sure wrote a lot of tickets to us
2:00
students back then yeah yeah to believe yes on that note does that how much does the you beautification of a campus have
2:08
to do with the ability to attract students I mean is it you know if you could break it down into percentages
2:14
what would you say beautiful like the beauty of the campus the quality of the
2:19
education the party life whatever the categories may be what’s the kind of priority you think of as far as that
2:25
goes I would say the beauty of the campus is a hundred percent because you only get one chance to make a first
2:31
impression and kids nowadays they buy on real estate and the only group that buys
2:37
on real estate more than the regular students are athletes okay good to know so when you first arrived
2:43
Victor obviously you told us about the parking lot when you arrived what were some of your goals at that point and
2:49
tell us so far have you accomplished these goals and I assume you’re still having more goals but at that time back
2:55
way back when uh what was going through your your brain when you arrived on campus well I didn’t have any goals
3:01
because I didn’t even know what I was doing it took me like a year to learn the kind of the culture of TCU but when
3:07
I was hired the board only wanted me to they specifically said we have two things you must do your two goals are
3:13
one get us a national reputation and two raise money and so those are my first two things I worked on Fair was that did
3:21
you look at that as I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do that here it was it was that like a daunting task or it was oh yeah and so what kind of plan did
3:28
you put in place to to carry that out to execute that okay first of all you’re making this all sound like I did it you
3:34
guys because you love me I know that and I love you but um I told you yeah you told me you did everything here but um
3:42
it’s a lot of people I would just lucky to be along for the ride but the one I was most worried about leading the
3:48
effort in was the um fundraising the national reputation I
3:54
could tell them right away what we had to do but a lot of people had to do it we were 70 in state 30 percent out of
4:00
state and so I said in to the board in one of my interviews you can’t be a national school off the backs of the
4:06
kids in San Antonio I know the people in Fort Worth think that’s another state because Texas is so big you know and
4:11
they’re not used to that but if you were in Illinois where I was and you lived in San Antonio and you were the same
4:16
distance way it would be called Iowa and so what I said to them is we need to get more out of state kids but that was
4:23
controversial because a lot of the Texans on the board they want Texans you
4:28
know sure but um now we’re 60 out of state 40 percent in state we were 70 in
4:35
state 30 out of state I’ve heard that I’ve heard that the C and TCU stands for California because all these kids are
4:42
coming to California a lot of California because the joke the 60 out of state is 90 California it’s not but there’s a lot
4:49
of California kids yeah what is that how do you do that how do you get out there is it just more recruiting from those areas or or going out and participating
4:56
in their kind of college selection in those States it’s all that it’s all that and then it’s getting a kid like we get
5:03
this loser kid from Pleasanton and he works for you guys and but he has a good experience here
5:09
and but he doesn’t even see but he has he has a good experience here and then he goes back and tells a kid on spring
5:15
break that’s a great place yeah because I really think students sell TCU way better than 100 year old guy would I
5:22
think it’s funny I think about I was your age when I came here that is kind of neat yeah so what does that make you now well take a guess
5:30
pursue well when you said a loser from and I thought you were going to refer to Jake well yeah definitely yeah
5:35
definitely your predecessor Chancellor is by the name of Chancellor or was Chancellor Ferrari at the time you know
5:41
this man and when you when you wiped him off what was what I’m kidding kidding did you happen to know Chancellor Ferrari at the time were you guys
5:47
friends do you still communicate what was that like that transition uh sadly he’s dead and he died about 10 years ago
5:54
maybe but it was a weird coincidence okay Dr Ferrari was the um acting president
6:01
of Bowling Green when I was a student there I was a grad student my favorite
6:07
Professor was his best friend and I was the graduate student to my favorite professor and I would take messages they
6:14
would write it was before email you know in the old days and they would write each other notes like meet me for lunch
6:20
at three years you know like give they would joke with each other and I would run it back and forth so when I came
6:25
here and I met Dr Farrer again he and his wife were standing together and I said Dr Ferrari I don’t know you you
6:32
probably won’t remember me but you know I was email I was your email before email and I explained the situation to
6:37
him and he said I left and he said oh oh I definitely remember and his wife said no he doesn’t he’s just saying that you
6:43
know his wife was real funny and nice and but anyway so we got reacquainted he
6:48
didn’t say yeah yeah you were Luby’s when he was supposed to go to right you screwed me over yeah yeah with that note
6:56
but and he was so nice and he and his wife were so nice they before I we moved here they had me come and stay with them
7:02
for three days and I kind of went through TCU 101 with him it was was an
7:07
amazing way to do it to get it firsthand had she been down to this part of the country before oh yeah yeah and so what
7:13
was your impression uh besides the parking lot as far as Fort Worth and just the whole feel of the campus and
7:20
and the city and things like that loved it and when my wife and I came for the three days for the interview we thought
7:26
at first it was kind of fake because everybody was so nice you know and you know I’m a midwesterner and I would say
7:33
like in Chicago they’re not going to spit on in your face on Michigan Avenue but they’re not going to help you either here they walk up to you and they help
7:40
you and so but after we were here a while you kind of loosen up and get used to it and you’re like this is great yeah
7:46
but so yeah we loved we we’ve lived in seven different cities in many different
7:51
states and we’ve loved every place we live but we’ve never liked any place as much as Fort Worth that’s why we’ve
7:57
stayed so long one of the neat rumors that about you that I think many people would say is true not even sure if they
8:03
know it but you you know everybody you seem to know everybody and something about this person well one of the things
8:08
that I’ve always heard about you I’d like to know if you can just confirm it but you you get to know some of the freshman class every year the incoming
8:14
Freshman Class you learn a little bit about this person maybe it’s the face the name a little bit about their background because you’ll you spend time
8:21
going out to the campus and meeting these kids and I remember that happening with me for some reason I we ran into each other not knowing each other and
8:27
this is in later on in life after I graduate but you knew about my background I thought that was very impressive but you take the time to
8:33
learn about your students and you spend time with your students you offer them opportunities to come meet you and come
8:39
to the house and have a little get-togethers I’ve always loved that part about you but what is it about your memory that that makes you want to do
8:44
these things you really remember a lot of details that are important I I think I I’m I have absolutely no skills you
8:51
could ask my wife that accept names and faces and I don’t know why I’ve always just been good at that and that helps a
8:58
lot in this job how many people would you say you could recognize thousands oh no like 40 you know I don’t know yeah 40
9:06
yeah I’m sure that’s on campus now or Through The Years Through The Years Through The Years 40 total yeah what if
9:12
someone were to ask you about your daily job or your daily life what would you how would you describe what you do on a daily basis if someone is not all
9:18
familiar with a chancellorship what does a Chancellor do for a living okay uh I say it like this I only do three things
9:25
one I look after the health safety and Welfare of everyone involved in TCU Community because even though I don’t
9:32
have control over that parents think you do and so you have to number two I raise
9:38
money for their good ideas and so they I never have any of these ideas but they I
9:44
hear them on campster they talk about them and then I’m meeting someone in California someday and they love that
9:49
area and I’m like hey could you give me a couple million dollars for that and then they buy in and then three I try to
9:55
set a tone for TCU and the tone I’m trying to set is there’s room at the table for everybody absolutely is there
10:01
a lot of pressure being the chancellor oh yeah but just like any other job yeah I’m not a good detail guy and that gets
10:08
me in trouble a lot because people expect you to know I’m also not as smart as a lot of people might be especially
10:14
if you were like in an academic setting and I mean that sincerely that’s not one of my big strengths and so they asked me
10:19
a lot of questions that I never know the answer to and from like what’s the movie in the blue this weekend I’m like yeah I
10:25
definitely know that to like how do you do a quadratic equation sure sure either
10:31
of which I know what would you say Victor are your strengths in this in this occupation
10:36
wow I would say that’s up to you all to decide yeah that I wouldn’t know that or
10:41
if I did it would sound braggy well maybe here’s another question not the same but what what are some of the biggest challenges you face uh is is it
10:48
parents is it money raising probably a little bit of the same but what are some things that you really if you struggle with anything as a translation oh my
10:54
gosh daily okay first of all I’m a warrior and um a big anxiety person so that’s really not because yeah it’s
11:01
really really not a good combo for this job and so yes I do um many things the biggest thing I worry
11:09
about is safety and not even physical safety but that too but mental all that
11:15
because you basically TCU is a city we have everything a city has except a fire
11:20
department and we’re right next to one we have a police department we have hotels we have restaurants we have entertainment places all this is called
11:27
TCU and then put in there 12 000 students and 2800 employees and of those
11:34
12 000 students 6 000 of them are boys who are 18 and you have a recipe for
11:39
disaster right there I can’t imagine yeah I was I was thinking about that as you know I keep thinking as we’re
11:45
sitting in this beautiful office I I keep thinking of the scene from Animal House I’m wondering if there’s any dreaded fraternity you know that exists
11:53
that just as a warrior you’re home or you’re going to your dinner tonight and just thinking oh those I won’t even say
12:00
a brief names yeah yeah those ABCs are just they’ve really got me going yeah you know no and that and that that part
12:07
I don’t worry about because maybe I was in one and I feel it all works out in the end sure yeah sure yeah and I think
12:13
I also think the one thing I’m not is an overreactor and a lot of people are overreactors to a lot of things nowadays
12:20
and I’m like most things work themselves out most people are rational and have common sense it might take them a while
12:26
to get there but they do on that you had to get through the pandemic and so what kind of challenges did that throw your
12:32
way and what was your kind of strategy for that oh that was huge and everybody was very not everybody a lot of people
12:39
were really angry during that especially in the first year of it and I joke I said there were three groups of people
12:45
there was one group of people that ran away from me and they’re the ones I’m really that that still bitter about you
12:51
know and then there was a small group of people who tried to run over me and were really mad and they made me mad too but
12:57
sorry about that at least they were on it yeah but at least you were honest about it and then there was an even
13:02
smaller group of people who stood with me and are like we can do this we can make this happen and that’s the group I
13:07
really cherish nowadays but it again just like everything else you know what it all worked out yeah yeah and back to
13:15
my original question your daily life you explain what your job is but are you an early riser are you a late go to bed guy
13:20
or do you work out in the morning do you go out and play golf what kind of what kind of life is is this for you I am um
13:27
I always say uh charity golfer in that I only go off at charity events because I have to end with charitable men because
13:34
my real friends are good golfers and don’t want to golf with me um but yeah my job is boring meetings
13:41
boring meetings boring meetings lunch with somebody which that’s always good and then boring meetings boring means boring meetings and then dinner with
13:48
somebody probably okay yeah not bad you mentioned just a little while ago the fundraising efforts um I know the number
13:54
one billion dollars is is currently the raise I think we did we’ve already done it once before I believe no never never
14:00
before but what is that what does that sound like or feel like when you say we’re going to raise a billion dollars
14:05
because it sounds unto to imagine unimaginable to be true but it’s actually happening happening so yeah
14:11
it’s daunting we’re trying to raise a billion by May 31st which is the this is
14:18
our 150th year and so we wanted to do that we also want to win a National Championship in our 150th year that’ll
14:24
be fun and we’re at 890 million right now and so we have about Jennifer March
14:29
April May five months to go but we’ll do it so you’re on the road quite a bit in this effort right yeah but a lot of
14:35
people are again it’s not just me do you enjoy being on the road yes I love that what do you travel because you’re
14:40
meeting people because you’re you’re seeing different places what’s what let’s see Allure being on the road for you you really want me to be honest I
14:47
would love to be a shrimp cocktail yeah and there’s a wonderful stereo breakfast that’s right yeah no it’s because you’re
14:53
alone okay yeah I love traveling because you’re alone you’re right yeah you’re alone and it’s the only time I really
15:00
get to think or write something I need to write a lot of stuff like a speech or something I have time to do that on the
15:06
plane I love that okay I also am that’s the only time I give myself permission to be rude is when I travel and I’m not
15:13
like gonna spit in your face or anything but like I get on the plane and I am totally focused on my iPad and I act
15:19
like I’m splitting binomial equations and I give every message out do not speak to this man and I don’t even look
15:26
at the person next to me when I sit down because I’m like no I want to be totally alone you know I’m a fan of yours I hope you
15:32
know that but have you made any mistakes over the years that you that you talk about how long is this podcast
15:40
I made a million mistakes in my personal life too um but yeah you definitely made mistakes
15:46
and I always tell all the people that work with me you’re gonna make mistakes but I I also have this theory that
15:52
everything’s in liquid not in cement and I think most people think everything is a cement not liquid it’s not and you can
15:59
pretty much fix any mistake you make as long as you’re a big enough man woman or child to admit it and move forward I I
16:07
learn a lot from my mistakes back to the exposure thing how much does this last
16:12
football season do for the Nationwide exposure I mean
16:17
you’re talking about kind of some stars aligning with that 150 years they’re trying to get the billion like that I
16:24
mean is it could you have asked for anything more I mean or any what’d you do does he sell your soul to somebody
16:29
totally yeah I mean I would have if I could have yeah uh and that would be one of my mistakes because I shouldn’t do
16:35
that but yeah it’s been incredible you we couldn’t buy the Publix they were getting now I was in New York from last
16:42
Friday to this past Friday for that whole time I came home for one day and went back so I was there six of the
16:48
seven days and every day in Times Square the cover of USA Today had us above the
16:53
fold like you couldn’t buy that kind of um publicity but you were trying to be anonymous right because you were
16:59
traveling it was great and you just had your head in the iPad yeah and I would yeah I did I would just go wow look at
17:04
she’s using that you know pretend like I didn’t know what is this if I had a kid I would send
17:09
them there Richard how many suits would a man like you have to own to do this job I mean do
17:16
you have look again first you have one suit and you’re just uh dry cleaning it repeatedly I have about two suits and a
17:22
lot of shirts and different ties I have a million ties right purple yeah only purple because every friend that’s all
17:28
they give you for the rest of your life are purple ties purple things but Ty’s our big good gift for men it’s actually
17:33
a great topic yeah yes you you have a lot of purple ties do you have a do you have an exorbitant amount of memorabilia
17:39
from this place that you take care of oh yeah I love I I’m a total like um memorabilia junkie so yes I have a lot
17:47
of that kind of stuff so do you get to go to the bookstore and just pick out like oh hello vicker we’ve gotten the
17:53
new here’s the Andy Dalton Jersey yes yes you don’t have that one yeah do you I
17:58
actually do but no no you don’t get to do that yeah that’s not good but what are some of the perks of the being the
18:05
chancellor do you get a golf cart ride around campus what it what is it okay that is a perk like if I call the police
18:11
they will take me some wearing a golf cart and I actually do that once in a while but not a lot because I’m a big
18:16
Walker okay and I don’t work out because that’s my only exercise I get then is walking so I always I never do the
18:22
elevator I always do the steps and I always try to walk around campus I I hardly ever have a day when I don’t get
18:28
to 10 000 steps on my clicker um so I don’t do that a lot but what are
18:33
the perks the main perk is you get to be surrounded by 12 000 people who have these incredible ideas like I can’t
18:39
imagine if I worked at IBM or Xerox or something it could possibly be like this I work in a park I work with 12 000
18:46
people have amazing ideas that are crazy and fun and serious and then you have
18:51
these faculty members who are all brilliant and you know have these speeches and things I love going to and
18:57
I love learning and I like be a lifelong Learner in this perfect environment for me do people recognize you as you walk
19:03
around campus fair question oh no but some do sure yeah somebody white yeah do they approach you they stop you are they
19:09
afraid of you when they see you coming you you’d have to ask them but I don’t think so but yeah and also I teach one
19:16
class every year and one of the reasons I do this because I love it but you also know those kids and then you know for
19:22
four years everybody who dumps them everybody they date then when their brother and sister come TC they bring them in and introduce them and so you
19:28
build this group of people you know what is the class you teach this semester I
19:33
taught educ 10533 and that is a seminar in education and we study the topic is
19:40
higher ed a force for negative or positive change in America wow how many students uh I had that was a mistake I
19:48
only want 16 in that class and so I only open up two slots and a lot of professors do this in every orientation
19:54
so the last kids and the eighth one they don’t get punished and one time my two
20:00
slots got filled and then the brother of a kid I had two years ago the older kid called me and said oh you know can you
20:07
let little Jimmy in I’m like sure and so I call down to the registrar’s office and I said double my spaces well I meant
20:13
for that session so I ended up with 32 kids but it was great nice so do you what is the biggest
20:21
you talk about being really in touch with the students what in your tenure have you seen as being some of the
20:27
biggest changes I mean you’ve clearly done it since the devices have come around and all the social media and do
20:33
you see things maybe give us a like a good and a bad you know with what’s going on with the kids just in general
20:39
you know the bad is I think that kids are suffering mental health-wise more and I
20:46
think all people are even adults but the kid’s really bad right now I mean okay example and I don’t know these numbers
20:53
for sure but these are pretty close when I came we had three counselors in the Counseling Center no psychiatrist and
21:00
three psychologists now we have three psychiatrists and 24 or something
21:05
psychologists you know and that’s normal for colleges and the kids especially
21:11
after covet everybody is really still suffering a lot and I think a lot of that is is uh fostered by social media
21:19
okay in high school like you guys were the I know he definitely was we’re the popular kid you know that was in sports
21:25
and everybody liked yeah it was just big he didn’t go along yeah he was the kid
21:30
that beat me up and I hated that kid but I was cheers I was the total nerd and I
21:36
had these three nerd friends and we thought we were popular yeah yeah and we had tons is a part I was a twin too and
21:42
I had a twin sister and she was like the cheerleader the popular kid and so I kind of glommed off for her girlfriends
21:48
too but these four guys and I we didn’t know parties we weren’t invited to we
21:53
didn’t know things we were missing sure now on social media you know that and I
21:58
always tell my own kids and any kid will listen to me nobody puts the real life on social media they put the high life
22:04
on social media right and so you look at that and you think oh my gosh another thing I didn’t get invited to well I was
22:11
in my ignorance I was like hey I’m popular you know yeah yeah okay what about the good side because you’re listening these kids in the class and
22:17
stuff maybe some different kinds of thinking or something I don’t know um I love I think they’re way more informed
22:23
than we were I’m a hundred you know they’re way more informed than I was as a kid they’re way more sophisticated
22:30
that’s good and bad though um they grow up quicker and I think that could be good and bad
22:36
um and they also have access to so much more information than I did and if they
22:42
use that wisely which most of them do like I’m saying it’s really a good thing yeah yeah I have no fear about the
22:48
future I hate those people who are like oh everything’s going to hell oh can I say that on this oh yeah absolutely
22:54
everything’s going to happen we prefer we prefer it actually yes everything’s going to he double hockey sticks and you
23:01
know nothing’s gonna work out and no one will take care of me when I’m old that’s baloney these kids are brilliant they’re
23:06
going to solve all these problems sure and then they’ll create some of their own too like we did have you ever made a tick tock before
23:14
um no those kids anyway well you’ve had many uh accomplishments no doubt one of the most recent that I like to talk about a little bit with you tissue
23:20
School medicine and specifically the Dorman Scholars this is a huge deal for the school for you for everybody in fact
23:26
which I know you’ll say but tell us a little about that how that process went down because what’s happening over there is something extraordinary for the city
23:32
of Fort Worth in the school fair oh yeah I think the medical school will be the most impo in 100 years from now when
23:38
people look back the medical school will be the most important thing of many things that TCU does and gives to the
23:45
city of Fort Worth and the and the region but yeah it was a lot of people did it not not just me I didn’t do it
23:51
but um we had this idea that we wanted to start a medical school and so we took
23:56
a small group of people and we went to the last three Medicals this was six years ago the last three medical schools
24:01
started in America one was in New York City one was in Austin and I forget the third one now and we talked to their
24:07
Deans and we talked to the staffs at the schools and the professors and we learned you know like how to do it and
24:13
and then the trick is to hire a dean and a good Dean and we did that and let that
24:20
man woman or child run very nice I also still think there are men and women so sorry if I say those words and you don’t
24:25
that’s okay but Paul Dorman we were big fans of this man he’s he endowed the first group of uh first class with the
24:32
full scholarship right 19 so several years ago they’re accepted to graduate they’ve already graduated or they had will graduate they’ll graduate this year
24:38
and we’ve been really fortunate JW we’ve not had one year yet where we didn’t have a whole class paid for by somebody
24:44
that’s incredible yeah it’s been really blessing well and I think a lot of the impetus that was from this gme or this
24:50
when they they need to stay in the places where they’re educated or that’s what they typically do yes and Fort
24:56
Worth never had a place like that where they could they could be residents and do these things like that something like
25:01
the economy sure no I’m sorry something like 68 I think is the figure of medical
25:07
school students stay within 40 miles of where they got their medical education I think a lot of that is due to the
25:14
chancellor and the love that they’ve had to a lot of the chancellors on the on the camp various campuses yeah I think
25:19
that’s probably it they stay for me yeah they say for me um a lot of people say that but um no
25:26
you know because it just makes sense you do your residency in a hospital here and
25:31
then you get to know the other doctors you you get to be a part of the medical community and your husband or wife says
25:37
why would we leave you know we’re part of this already let’s stay how do you keep the jocks from picking on the
25:43
medical school school students oh because it’s different nowadays because the Jacks aren’t the jocks like they
25:48
used to be oh okay yeah yeah not like JW’s no no they yeah like us are they’re gone yeah they’re gone for sure there’s
25:55
a dying read yeah those who know you Victor we’re a man of lots of energy you’re always at the events you’re doing
26:01
things you’re traveling you’re always going it seems like uh salary aside what what that’s a joke but salary aside what
26:07
drives you what gives you all this energy to do all these things I my dad was very energetic I grew up
26:15
poor and my dad was very energetic and a very hard worker and he uh he just
26:21
always felt like that’s what you did and so I guess I just did that and along the way I worked for an amazing Chancellor
26:28
and he would always say two things when I was 20 and he was 40 I thought he was
26:33
nuts because he was old you know to me he always said you create the world you live in and I always thought oh that’s
26:39
so like 60s and hokey but it’s so true and but the other thing he said which I think is so true he always said you seek
26:45
what you find and you find what you seek and so if you think everybody’s on your side and wants to help you that’s what
26:51
you’ll find if you think everybody’s really political and a Cutthroat trying to cut you down that’s what you’ll find excellent excellent yeah you know I
26:58
think um I have long days so do you guys and so I could choose to live those days in
27:05
joy and glass half full or in misery and glass half empty but why would I do that
27:12
right I never get that kind of that Eeyore person you know I never get that EO person why they want to be like that
27:18
I can’t cheers you there I’m sorry nice so you mentioned golf Victor what
27:24
do you have any hobbies outside of this do you like to do in your spare time I really don’t no yeah walk around the
27:31
campus yeah I walk yeah play memory games everybody yeah yeah TV I mean what
27:36
you got to do when you get away from all this I read oh my favorite thing to do would
27:42
be to be on a chair on a beach and I have a specific Beach I like to go which one uh it’s in Florida in Alice Beach
27:50
yeah and to be alone and just sit there in a chair and have nobody talk to you
27:56
for like three or four hours and just have people bring me food and drink that’s that’s all we need do you read
28:01
during that time or just simply gaze at the ocean yeah yeah well I’m a big sleeper too like I’ve always been able
28:07
to sleep yeah I could sleep on a dime anywhere what time do you go to bed uh around 11 o’clock at night and I usually
28:13
get up around 6 10. why 16. my body just does that I can just be specific I can also tell you the
28:19
exact time I go to the bathroom every night and limit all that it’s about 3 12. but okay yeah so who’s keeping calm
28:25
at 609 that’s yeah sure so for sure um speaking of being alone uh at some
28:31
point in your career hopefully it’s many years we know we know for a fact it’s not gonna be the next for the next four years but there’s a transition
28:37
undergoing right now for the next presidentship of this University I think uh you you told us you said we’re able
28:44
to talk about that today on the show but who is the next president going to be we just today hired a new president and his
28:50
name is Daniel Pullin and he was our great Dean of Business is our great Dean of Business until now for now and um
28:57
he’ll be the president and he will be based basically not basically but he’ll be the Chief Operating Officer of the
29:03
University as the president and then I’ll do the external things I’ll fundraise friend raise how long until he
29:11
becomes the next Chancellor that’s up to the Board of Trustees okay but it’s a period of time it’s probably like 2026
29:16
more or less well that’s when I’m supposed to retire so I would hope by then okay very good will this
29:22
apprenticeship uh be kind of strict and entail 11 o’clock bedtime 6 10 a.m wake
29:29
up 10 000 steps per day how do you how do you perceive Oh you mean well I make him do all that yes no because he’s his
29:36
own person and I already know him we’re friends colleagues I think we’re going to have a great team I I hope we’ll make
29:43
a great team perfect I don’t think you’re picking up his laundry or anything like that yes but he’s very different and that’s good yep they don’t
29:50
need another me right and then the future for TCU you mentioned that it you know 100 years
29:55
from now do you have a vision of this place in the next say 5 10 20 years or anything like that go on in your brain
30:01
oh absolutely I I think about that all the time are we are we out of Campus on the moon or anything like that going on
30:07
not a Town campus though no yeah we’re gonna have a downtown camps and that’ll open up next year and that’s the
30:13
beginning in that medical school and the space we have there actually have space for four buildings we’re only building one but it’s a big building and that’ll
30:21
be the start of something really cool I also think the TCU needs to get a little bigger because we want a lot we being
30:28
the TCU people we want a lot and one of the main things we want are big time Athletics whether we would admit that or
30:35
not but we do want that uh almost everyone even the kids that don’t participate in athletics want big time
30:41
Athletics and we’re trying to do that off the backs of 12 000 people the next
30:47
biggest person in our conference has 16 000 that’s Baylor people don’t realize that so much bigger and you know we we
30:55
need to have a few more students here but I don’t want to lose is that I would know you and that and and that you know
31:02
but I always say this we have a rule on our board that we can have more than a 14 to 1 student to faculty ratio right
31:08
now we’re actually at 13 to one so we’re even better so I say as long as we guarantee that I think we’ll be fine now
31:15
can you have this environment at twenty five thousand no because I’ve been at schools of that but I think you could
31:22
have it at uh uh 16 000 because when I go to Baylor those kids love Baylor the
31:27
way love Baylor the way our kids love cheeses so we’re at 12 000 or roughly right now so there’s definitely growth
31:33
for you guys in the future plans uh you know definitely and the board decided at their Last Retreat this past uh fall
31:40
that they were gonna uh grow slowly and moderately where are the biggest needs
31:46
for the campus right now as far as you know growth but where do you see the next big push because this billion
31:51
dollar raise is going to go go to all sort and play certain places Athletics has gone a huge Rejuvenation where’s the
31:57
biggest need at TCU right now uh the biggest thing at TCU is scholarships I would like to have enough money right
32:03
now I would I would like to have enough money for any kid that we accept that we could pay for them to go here we don’t
32:09
have quite enough to do that now we we have a lot 71 percent of our students get some kind of a scholarship and so
32:15
that’s pretty big chunk I would like for a hundred percent of them to stop that I would like for a hundred percent of them
32:21
to be able to be able to do that that’s incredibly rude trained professionals I
32:26
will take the programs stepping on your mind I’m the most least
32:32
germ worried person in the world so don’t want to be coming back into your yeah but I would hope I think that’s the
32:37
biggest need for our school is even more scholarship money and so like when I’m working with donors
32:43
um my wife always reminds me she’s like remember it’s their money because I’m like hey they want to do this but I want them to do that and so we’re going to do
32:50
that as long as it’s legal ethical moral but if I can convince them to do something that’s this it would always be
32:56
scholarships Josh is very nice because you ever bump up against that though I mean that sounds like probably a big
33:01
challenge of your job is that you’ve got a feeling of what’s going on on a daily basis of the campus you’ve got a board
33:06
that wants something but then you have the actual contributor right and you’re trying to manage all of that and I would
33:12
imagine that at times it’s hard to say no to some of those groups yeah oh I
33:17
would never say no to um money as long as this for something legal ethical and moral which it always
33:23
is I’ve never had that problem here uh and then when we turn the ABC needs to
33:28
take a big notice yeah never but um yeah but it is most of our donors
33:34
though are really good if they sell like oh I want to give 10 million dollars for a program in I’m trying to make
33:39
something up that we don’t have um I don’t know like uh quantum physics
33:45
actually we have that but whatever it is and I’m like no oh space Stellar physics we don’t do space and I’m like but we
33:51
really could do engineering and that’s really close let me explain to you why and then come with me on campus come
33:56
back from Nevada someday with me and let’s look at and most of the time you can get them to see the because the
34:03
people that really have the tons of money they want to help yeah I think most people with a lot of money feel
34:09
they have a responsibility to give it away I really do I’ve in fact I have met
34:14
relatively few uber wealthy people who are greedy and don’t want to help people and you know like have The Stereotype
34:21
that some people have that’s not like it at all I don’t think yeah of all the things you’ve done
34:26
Chancellor what is there something you’ve done in your career that you’re most proud of do you have a number one oh yeah my four kids and that’s fun and
34:35
that’s great and now I have two grandkids which that’s even better way better than kids uh and uh that’d be it
34:41
purse personally professionally I don’t know again I think that’s
34:47
something you have to decide whoever you are Well you certainly have a lovely first first chance lordy call first lady
34:53
of TCU bam she’s a lovely lady married well it takes her College correct takes two to do this we met at a college where
35:00
we were both working very nice yeah how did it how did you connect if you mind me asking is that too personal a question very but I’ll answer it anyway
35:06
that’s none of your damn business but I will answer it please continue to talk to him I love it we both uh worked at
35:13
the same school she was in Admissions and I was in student life okay and we had the same boss and our boss had a
35:20
dinner party one on us this first Saturday night we were there and invited of course both of us and jokingly our
35:26
boss said you ought to get married but at least be best friends because you’re
35:32
the only two young people we hired here this year it was a small school okay and we were the only two new staff members
35:37
and we were both pretty young and so we hit it off at the dinner and then that was on Saturday on Sunday I went to
35:43
church and we were at the same church I’m like oh maybe this summer it was done it was done well I had it took a
35:49
little convincing but for her um well this concludes part one of four of this interview so okay we like to we
35:56
appreciate the time for anything else anything we’re not asking you Chancellor I don’t think so no thanks let’s get the names of those fraternities yeah just
36:03
yes we always we really appreciate your time we know your your time is valuable to you and to a lot of people but we
36:09
always ask our guests a family aside so the marriage the kids the grandkids all that stuff aside okay what’s the best
36:15
day of your entire life well so far now it’s been the Rose Bowl but it’s going to be when we win the
36:21
national championship there you go so predicting a win there we go we’re only four quarters away from being there do
36:26
you realize that that’s amazing yeah think about it absolutely Chancellor boshini thank you very much
36:37
[Music] the house