Looking at the vague possibility of administrative cost savings in the UMn system, Whelan was cheif author of HF 2241, 89th Legislature; see here and here. Profligate spending on things distant from the core purpose of a research university suggests the time has come for her bill authorship to not, this time, die an inauspicious death.
Separate and apart from Whelan, but not meriting a separate post; a Strib item on Thibodeau analogizing Kris Dunn's defensive instincts to Latrell Sprewell's when Thibs coached in New York, brought to mind Sprewell's defining moment with another coach P.J. (see here and here) to where the thought experiment came to mind, Sprewell in an encounter with P.J. Rah-Rah, make that Fleck, and would it be deja vu, all over again?
Stow the boat. Monitor the fisc. Hope the program improves to justify the investment; but keep tabs on things because too much free money can be counterproductive. One hopes the Fleck contract has incentive clauses because winning IS everything, but with a $3.5 million base rate, it's rich already.