UM President Stepping down

[wbtfg]

Godspeed, President McDreamy.

https://www.umt.edu/news/2026/01/012126seth.php

[ClowderUp]

Man that place is a mess.

[HelenaCat95]

There is speculation that he may be running for the US Senate.

[Prodigal Cat]

Gotta think it means an extension for Bobby. The school won't want the instability of going through a hiring process of the school Pres AND the football coach this close together. Which is good for the Cats.

[wbtfg]

I wonder if there's anyone at MSU from the Cruzado leadership tree who would throw their hat in the ring for the UM job.

[Rich K]

I wonder if there's anyone at MSU from the Cruzado leadership tree who would throw their hat in the ring for the UM job.

UM would be wise to give that a serious consideration. It would be over the moon hilarious if they find someone who’s first official acts would be canning the AD and Head Football coach.

[PapaG]

There is speculation that he may be running for the US Senate.

Whichever party he belongs to as a potential candidate needs to distance themselves from this guy after the dumpster fire he started and increased in Missoula.

Edit - looks like he’s running as an “Independent” with Tester’s support.

[wbtfg]

There is speculation that he may be running for the US Senate.

Whichever party he belongs to as a potential candidate needs to distance themselves from this guy after the dumpster fire he started and increased in Missoula.

Edit - looks like he’s running as an “Independent” with Tester’s support.

I actually thought he did a decent job of steadying the ship after Royce Engstrom tried to sink it. He's no Waded Cruzado....

Edit: This was a comment on Egriz that seemed pretty well informed on Bodner's successes and shortcomings.

Low bar. Royce was awful. A crisis happened and his leadership inability lead to disaster. Maybe the worst president in UM history.

So we then had declining enrollment. Cuts are hard at UM due to tenure, the faculty union and senate, and Montana not being an at-will state. This means terminating faculty is almost impossible.

But you can make cuts due to fiscal decisions. We had programs with one or two students.

Enter Stearns for a year. She does the heavy lifting, organizes the departments by need, and sets it up for the next president to make program cuts as needed to grow a healthy University with the potential to thrive. She was a leader!

Enter Bodnar. His leadership is putting out fires, not moving us forward. He flushes Stearns University-wide report because he can't do the hard but right thing, and instead cuts nearly all support staff and office supplies. This watered down the good programs (future) to save the dying ones (past). If you've dealt with the U during his tenure, you may have had bad service (delays in acceptance, etc etc). Not the staff's fault - they are overwhelmed.

We eventually had to stabilize and show some signs of not declining. We have. The reality is we are drifting.

Bodnar is meant for politics. He is good at glad-handing and speeches. He also makes sure to take public credit for ANYTHING positive - if you've ever had the pleasure of working with him on something.

Thank you, but I look forward to finding a new president.

[CalgaryCat]

There is speculation that he may be running for the US Senate.

Whichever party he belongs to as a potential candidate needs to distance themselves from this guy after the dumpster fire he started and increased in Missoula.

Edit - looks like he’s running as an “Independent” with Tester’s support.

I actually thought he did a decent job of steadying the ship after Royce Engstrom tried to sink it. He's no Waded Cruzado....

Edit: This was a comment on Egriz that seemed pretty well informed on Bodner's successes and shortcomings.

Low bar. Royce was awful. A crisis happened and his leadership inability lead to disaster. Maybe the worst president in UM history.

So we then had declining enrollment. Cuts are hard at UM due to tenure, the faculty union and senate, and Montana not being an at-will state. This means terminating faculty is almost impossible.

But you can make cuts due to fiscal decisions. We had programs with one or two students.

Enter Stearns for a year. She does the heavy lifting, organizes the departments by need, and sets it up for the next president to make program cuts as needed to grow a healthy University with the potential to thrive. She was a leader!

Enter Bodnar. His leadership is putting out fires, not moving us forward. He flushes Stearns University-wide report because he can't do the hard but right thing, and instead cuts nearly all support staff and office supplies. This watered down the good programs (future) to save the dying ones (past). If you've dealt with the U during his tenure, you may have had bad service (delays in acceptance, etc etc). Not the staff's fault - they are overwhelmed.

We eventually had to stabilize and show some signs of not declining. We have. The reality is we are drifting.

Bodnar is meant for politics. He is good at glad-handing and speeches. He also makes sure to take public credit for ANYTHING positive - if you've ever had the pleasure of working with him on something.

Thank you, but I look forward to finding a new president.

I don’t have any um inside knowledge, but outside looking in he always seemed more like a politician than someone who was actually interested in properly fixing a higher ed institution.

That said, careful what you wish for gris. Sometimes it’s best to deal with the devil you know. They are just more likely to get another Engstrom as they are to get the next Cruzado.

[PapaG]

Zero chance and the BOR were looking to replace him after numerous missteps.

[CalgaryCat]

Zero chance and the BOR were looking to replace him after numerous missteps.

Missteps worse than the last guy?

[RICO CAT]

State’s flagship institution ?

[PapaG]

Zero chance and the BOR were looking to replace him after numerous missteps.

Missteps worse than the last guy?

His main “accomplishment” at UM was getting steamrolled by Kent Haslam and Bobby Hauck IMO. Football is the primary focus there for revenue and it’s just weird to me.

MSU is excelling in academics and the accomplishments of the sports’ programs seems more organic and less stressful looking at it. Might be totally wrong about the latter.

[CalgaryCat]

Zero chance and the BOR were looking to replace him after numerous missteps.

Missteps worse than the last guy?

His main “accomplishment” at UM was getting steamrolled by Kent Haslam and Bobby Hauck IMO. Football is the primary focus there for revenue and it’s just weird to me.

MSU is excelling in academics and the accomplishments of the sports’ programs seems more organic and less stressful looking at it. Might be totally wrong about the latter.

I mean, I agree that he was a doormat for Hauck and Haslam but I don’t think that’s a fireable offense. I will say the fainted enrollment increases seem to have plateaued though. With the staffing cuts Bodnar did I’ll be interested to see how the next president fixes that.

[MrGoodKat]

The GFP guys were very concerned about the ramifications of having an interim/new president during a really key era for football in the state of Montana.

I guess we will see what happens.

[Bobcat4Ever]

Zero chance and the BOR were looking to replace him after numerous missteps.

Running for Senate as an Independent is just a very convenient side-step to avoid a public termination.

[John K]

State’s flagship institution ?

I picked up on that too. It's delusional/hysterical/pathetic that UM grads (I assume the person who wrote this piece is a UM journalism grad) still insist on referring to UM as the "flagship institution" even though MSU has surpassed UM in every conceivable way, and has been the true flagship university in Montana for many years now.

[Bobcatsinmso]

Zero chance and the BOR were looking to replace him after numerous missteps.

Running for Senate as an Independent is just a very convenient side-step to avoid a public termination.

The BOR were not pleased with mistake prone tenure at missoula, he was on the hot seat.

[Montanabob]

Zero chance and the BOR were looking to replace him after numerous missteps.

Running for Senate as an Independent is just a very convenient side-step to avoid a public termination.

The BOR were not pleased with mistake prone tenure at missoula, he was on the hot seat.

Then please don't elect this mistake prone idiot to the US Senate.

[RickRund]

Zero chance and the BOR were looking to replace him after numerous missteps.

Running for Senate as an Independent is just a very convenient side-step to avoid a public termination.

The BOR were not pleased with mistake prone tenure at missoula, he was on the hot seat.

Then please don't elect this mistake prone idiot to the US Senate.

Yes, if you can’t successfully run a small university…