My brother, a Lobbyist
and UCONN fan living in northern Virginia, could not believe it when I told him that some in CT were blaming WM for getting his "butt kicked" by Jurich. I told him that the perception is/was that Jurich was "burning the phone lines" in his efforts to sell UL to ACC institutions. Little Brother's exact words were:
"Jurich may have made some calls, but the first one he made was to UL Distinguished Alumni, Honors Graduate, fan and booster, Mitch McConnell;" at the time the Senate Minority (now Majority) Leader .
Ole Mitch, if he so chose (my brother feels he played more than a minor part) was in position to smooth the way with any Pols who's State U was "on the fence." Who was Warde going to call? Blumenthal? Seriously? Does Bloomy even know UCONN plays sports? To battle over something so trivial would have been beneath Bloomy's patrician dignity. The combo of Flipper, the diminutive Miami bridge troll, FSU, Clemson plus influence provided by a powerful red-state Minority Leader in a red-state Conference? Come on guys. We never had a prayer.
Susan/Warde had an air rifle. UL had an armored Division.