March 28, 2008

You’re Not the Biggest Loser. Or Maybe You Are.

As a contestant on the reality-television show The Biggest Loser, Roger Shultz is still going strong—as of last week he had shed 127 pounds in the weight-loss competition. Unfortunately reality is far different at home in Alabama, where he has lost his job as an associate athletics director at Jacksonville State University.

Mr. Shultz was hired last May to help beef up the fund-raising and marketing efforts of the athletics department, but because he was gone for several months to tape the show, officials decided to fire him, according to The Birmingham News.

“In this day and time, fund raising and marketing are critical in athletics and we just felt it was time to move forward since we had lost almost one-half of a year in this area,” said Jim Fuller, athletics director.

Mr. Shultz, who was a member of the University of Alabama’s football team 20 years ago, said he has no hard feelings about the decision. Although he was not allowed to comment on the outcome of the competition, he told the newspaper that he appears on the episode airing on April 8. The finale is scheduled for April 15, when the “biggest loser” will win $250,000.

There’s no word on whether Mr. Shultz’s replacement will ask him to donate any potential winnings to Jacksonville State. —Erin Strout

Comments

1. It’ll be a lot easier for him to get that next job a C-note lighter, whatever it might be. Probably not academia, now that he’s a famous TV personality.

   — Jr. Biologist    Mar 28, 01:45 PM    #

2. you would think his TV time will ultimately help the fund raising…

   — ROM    Mar 28, 02:57 PM    #

3. I hate this computer but I love teh music on iot

   — Stephanie Maffeo    Mar 28, 03:20 PM    #

4. If they knew ahead of time he was doing this, and had any sort of vision, they would have realized he could probably raise MORE money for them now that he is famous. Their loss. Roger WILL be the winner in this deal.

   — EK    Mar 28, 03:51 PM    #

5. It has long peeved me that long-term administrators and other staff at universities and colleges never have the chance to take even a short paid sabbatical for professional and/or personal growth and refreshment. Not as often as faculty, of course, who need sabbaticals for research; but perhaps a 2- or 3-month leave on full or partial pay once every 10 years, with job security. As nonprofits, we are not in the business of producing more widgets. Human capital is our strength, and I wish administrators like Roger were valued as investments by their institutions, the way faculty are.

   Way to go, Roger, on the weight loss!

   — Elizabeth    Mar 28, 04:20 PM    #

6. “It has long peeved me that long-term administrators and other staff at universities and colleges never have the chance to take even a short paid sabbatical for professional and/or personal growth and refreshment. Not as often as faculty, of course, who need sabbaticals for research; but perhaps a 2- or 3-month leave on full or partial pay once every 10 years, with job security.”

   I have been on both sides of this fence. Long-term administrators also need time off for research, etc.. We too have to present at conferences, publish, et al. At some point in time, we’re expected (often) to have a Ph.D. Also, might I say, no offense to my former faculty colleagues, but I have to add that I’ve worked much harder as an administrator than I ever did as a faculty person, and it’s year-round deal, on-the-campus-every-day deal. (I realize that some administrators may have a more flexible schedule, to say the least.) Many of us are in administration because we have been asked to be or, a biggie here, we finally came over to the dark side for cash because faculty often are not paid what they are worth. All IMNSHO, of course.

   — bearclaw    Mar 28, 04:34 PM    #

7. Try a full-time (12-13 credits every semester) teaching load, advising duties, administrative obligations, several committees to serve on, AND scholarly activitiy. Do you hear BURN OUT? If we do the kind of things that Roger did that are not directly related to the job, even if they enhance the public’s view of the instituion, we get no credit and may even get “dinged” for doing public service instead of focusing solely on the job. I requested a sabbatical simply because I was so exhausted.

   — Sophie    Mar 28, 04:53 PM    #

8. No doubt there is more to this story. I can hardly imagine that the University allowed Roger to take “sick leave”, knowing that he could be away for 15 weeks and then fire him.

   The man is an inspiration and should be at SOME university if he is good at funding-raising and understands athletics. He LOST 127 death-dealing pounds. He has an incredible work(out) ethic AND he is pursuing a doctorate. It seems to me that this is exactly the kind of person a university would want on its staff to be a leader and role model for the students

   — DrFunZ    Mar 28, 05:35 PM    #

9. Are you kidding me! This guy is not Jared Fogle. He’ll be back out on the entertainment circuit in some fund-raising job soon. The weight will back on in two years. Reality shows are a crock. Who watches this junk.

   He’s pursuing a doctorate? Likely a D.Ed., another crock. DED is an appropriate acronym for that degree.

   — Jason    Mar 28, 07:48 PM    #

10. Hope none of the University of Jacksonville alum that the institution plans to ask for funds are or have ever been weight-challenged. Certainly make the demographic think twice about cranking open the wallet.

    If that is all there is to the story, they are a pretty clueless institution.

    — lyn    Mar 29, 03:25 PM    #

11. What this article doesn’t say is that he just took the job in May, then left in October to start taping the show. Had he been a “long-term” employee as some have suggested, the University might have been more inclined to give him more flexibility.

    — Mary Lynn    Apr 10, 04:02 PM    #

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