ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Illinois State AD Kyle Brennan resigns amid report of excess spending on trip to watch Big Ten Championship
Illinois State University Athletics Director Kyle Brennan resigned after being pressed by a public radio station on spending during a December 2021 donor trip to Indianapolis for the Big Ten football championship game. WGLT.org 89.1 FM reports "ISU preemptively announced Brennan's resignation" as the outlet was planning to report that Brennan and another top ISU Athletics official spent more than $23,000 total on the one-day trip to Indianapolis. Interim President Aondover Tarhule will oversee the school's athletics until a full-time replacement for Brennan is announced.
WGLT.org reports the trip, which was centered around the 2021 Big Ten Championship Football Game between Michigan and Iowa and also included a stop at a strip club, was at least partially paid for with money held by the university's fundraising foundation. Guidelines surrounding those funds prohibit "lavish” or “extravagant” spending, including for donor events.
Records obtained by WGLT showed Brennan purchased nine 100-level club Big Ten Championship game tickets on StubHub within a day of kickoff, in three separate transactions at a total cost of $18,754. A voucher Brennan submitted to the ISU Foundation listed “donor stewardship” as the purpose of the trip, per the station. A portion of the group was reported to have concluded the evening at a gentlemen's club in downtown Indianapolis after the game. Those on the trip flew to Indianapolis in a private Falcon 900 jet owned by former Reditus Labs CEO Aaron Rossi, who was indicted in March 2022 on federal tax-fraud charges.
Just sayin': What a jerk!!!...
