New Red Flags On Haden: Prior Savings & Loan Bank Scandal Raise Questions Re: Mr. "Clean"

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Mr. Clean. 

That’s what the southern cal board of trustees was allegedly looking for when they hired Patrick Clapper Haden to replace Mike Garrett, its disgraced athletic director.  And Haden certainly looked that way once the hiring was announced.  A Rhodes scholar who speaks eloquently of the sensible and thoughtful homilies left to him by his beloved mother.  Who better to clean house than Mr. Clean?

Within days though, thoughtful questions were raised about Haden’s background and whether he was qualified to correct the endemic corruption of the southern cal athletic department.  

It turns out he was suspended from the practice of law by the State Bar of California between July 1, 2008 and July 20, 2010 because he failed to pay his bar dues.  

Fair questions were raised about his role as a member of the southern cal Board of Trustees who took no action to stop the corruption once it began and led the effort to hire a new football coach  who was awash in misconduct at Tennessee and now at southern cal.  Earlier this month, disgraced ex-Athletic Director Mike Garrett apologized for untrue allegations of misconduct by other Division I schools. 

But this morning’s Los Angeles Times, in an other otherwise flattering article on Haden, let slip another nugget about his management skills.    

Away from football, Haden suffered another glaring defeat while serving on the board of directors for IndyMac Bank, a Pasadena savings and loan that failed spectacularly in 2008.

Federal regulators have accused former IndyMac executives of acting negligently by granting loans to developers and home builders who were unlikely to repay the debts.  Citing the lawsuit, Haden commented only in general terms.

"I didn't do anything wrong there and I have no regrets," he said. "I'm disappointed that it happened and I was a shareholder too, but it wasn't by the actions of the board members." 

   

No regrets eh?  See why that makes no sense after the jump.

Let’s set the scene. 

• Haden was a member of the Board of Directors of IndyMac Bancorp Inc. which was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on July 11, 2008.  
• The IndyMac Bank takeover was the 3rd largest in U.S. history. 
•  In 2003, Haden was the Chairman of the Nominating and Governance Board of Indy-Mac Bancorp, Inc.  He helped select Mike Perry to run the company who was the CEO when the FDIC moved in.
• As of April 28, 2004, Haden was listed by IndyMac Bancorp Inc. and IndyMac Bank as a General Partner.  He had been at IndyMac Bancorp, Inc. since 2000.  
• On May 7, 2004, Haden chaired a  new IndyMac Bancorp Inc. committee, the Strategic and Financial Planning Committee, which was to designed to:  review the company’s long-term strategy and financial plan; evaluate the allocation of capital and other resources in order to meet the company’s strategic and financial objectives; and hold management accountable for meeting company financial targets.  
• Senator Charles Schumer blamed the FDIC takeover on the failure of the Office of Thrift Supervision to regulate Haden’s company’s "poor and loose lending practices."  
• This bailout, which cost the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund approximately $10.1 billion, was also caused by declining home values and what Bloomberg Financial News described as Haden’s company’s specialization in Alt-A mortgages which did not require a borrower to provide income documentation.  

Now, back to today’s Time’s piece, Haden says he has no regrets.  No regrets I guess for: being a member of a director’s board which has cost you and me billions; for allowing utterly absurd lending practices such as marketing loans which required no income documentation; and for the thousands of Indymac employees who lost their jobs.  Simply put, the last time Haden helped run a bank—it went smack dab into the dumper.  

One suspects Haden would chose his words about no regrets differently.  But that is not the issue.  At issue is whether he is prepared to change the ethical direction of an athletic department which the NCAA ruled lacked institutional control? 

I am being charitable when I say the answer is not at all clear.  Leadership requires accepting responsibility.  I do not see that so far.   

Last note.  In fairness to Haden, he is not personally named in the lawsuit the Times sloppily referred to in the interview.   However, the alleged misconduct occurred in a division supervised by the director board of which he was a member.