Warde Manuel to be on WTIC Sportstalk...

[NavinRJohnson]

All is well at The Boneyard I see.

 

[Waquoit]

Warde should have canned P the day after that Cincy debacle at home in December 2012. He choked. He seems to have hit a decent stride since, but if we are not in a real conference by the time he leaves, his tenure must be considered a failure.

 

[freescooter]

I agree, WM was on the job for 6 months before UL got the call from the ACC. He should have done better.

That's your excuse? Please. this guy was brought in for public relations purposes and public relations purposes only. It happens. Sometimes those guys work out. I remember an old Boston politician telling me that Jim Curley used to fill every 3rd job based strictly on merit. That way he knew roughly 2/3 of his staff would be competent and he could count on 2/3 to campaign for him come election time. His view was that just because you got hired for your political connections didn't mean you were incompetent and roughly 50% of the political hires turned out pretty competent. Some became competent over time. Warde was a "political hire" who wasn't up to the job. He was hired to fix the basketball APR problem, or more accurately to give the impression that it was being fixed.

Art, I'm going to use your excuse for Pasqualoni, OK? He was only the Coach for 2 seasons when his team got beat by Towson. He should have done better.

 

[Dooley]

Oh good, more Warde in the Bahamas debate. I suppose we should blame him for the tensions with Russia and Ebola too.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

That's your excuse? Please. this guy was brought in for public relations purposes and public relations purposes only. It happens. Sometimes those guys work out. I remember an old Boston politician telling me that Jim Curley used to fill every 3rd job based strictly on merit. That way he knew roughly 2/3 of his staff would be competent and he could count on 2/3 to campaign for him come election time. His view was that just because you got hired for your political connections didn't mean you were incompetent and roughly 50% of the political hires turned out pretty competent. Some became competent over time. Warde was a "political hire" who wasn't up to the job. He was hired to fix the basketball APR problem, or more accurately to give the impression that it was being fixed.

Art, I'm going to use your excuse for Pasqualoni, OK? He was only the Coach for 2 seasons when his team got beat by Towson. He should have done better.

Seriously. Stop digging. You're embarrassing yourself now.

 

[gioff23]

I have to tell you I agree - I mean since he has been here we have only won a few national championships, hired only 3 up and coming coaches, upgraded program to lowly HE conf., gotten BB facilities done, begun plans for new rink, cleaned up image, jettisoned potentially worst hire an AD ever made, oversaw both men and women finish in top 10 in Capital One Cup. This guy must go. We need an AD who will, well, um, ugh ...

 

[Waquoit]

We need an AD who will, well, um, ugh ...

... get us into a P5 conference. The rest is just whistling past the graveyard.

 

[freescooter]

Seriously. Stop digging. You're embarrassing yourself now.

I'm telling you he was hired to counter the APR problem. UConn hoped that it would be enough to get the NCAA to back off. But even if it wasn't, his supposed "expertise" in this area would be useful to help with the PR on the issue, UConn could say "We take this issue very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that we hired the guy who got an award from the NCAA for his work turning the Buffalo APR problems completely around." It wasn't because he had played football at Michigan, or had whatever modest B-10 connections you might get as an assistant AD at a major program, or because he had hired Turner Gill at UB. Do you seriously think he was hired because of the grand job he did turning Buffalo into a national power? It wasn't because he was a "rock star." It was because of 3 letters, R, P, and A. This from a very good source who had input into the selection. Believe it or don't believe it.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

Warde should have canned P the day after that Cincy debacle at home in December 2012. He choked. He seems to have hit a decent stride since, but if we are not in a real conference by the time he leaves, his tenure must be considerd a failure.

Would the Trustees have allowed that? Forget the fact that many on this board have reported (and been rebutted, by some) that PP was as much a Trustee as a JH hire. Even if not the case, how much "severance" were the Trustees willing to approve? Remember, at the time, they were paying millions to JH and JC. PP, and his minion, would have added another two-plus million to the severance bucket.

Given that he pushed for the demotion of PP's minion and the hire of a real OC, my guess is he wanted to fire PP, but had to "settle." I also believe that he was hoping that PP would resign over the demotion of GDL. According to press reports, WM was visibly, out-of-his-mind, pissed-off with the team's play after at least two games. Some people act like he's a number crunching, paper pusher. But the truth is that he was a very good player on a very high level. He understood the crap PP was producing and fired him as soon as he got the go-ahead. Everybody has a boss; even SH and WM.

 

[sdhusky]

... get us into a P5 conference. The rest is just whistling past the graveyard.

Really? I like watching the teams play, compete and win.

For the last decade, would you rather have been a BCU fan or a UCONN fan?

 

[sdhusky]

I'm telling you he was hired to counter the APR problem. UConn hoped that it would be enough to get the NCAA to back off. But even if it wasn't, his supposed "expertise" in this area would be useful to help with the PR on the issue, UConn could say "We take this issue very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that we hired the guy who got an award from the NCAA for his work turning the Buffalo APR problems completely around." It wasn't because he had played football at Michigan, or had whatever modest B-10 connections you might get as an assistant AD at a major program, or because he had hired Turner Gill at UB. Do you seriously think he was hired because of the grand job he did turning Buffalo into a national power? It wasn't because he was a "rock star." It was because of 3 letters, R, P, and A. This from a very good source who had input into the selection. Believe it or don't believe it.

I am most pissed off at Warde for the lack of TV sets in CT.

I honestly believe, if he could have gotten even just a million more TV sets in the Hartford TV market, we would be in a Big 5 right now.

But instead of moving massive numbers of people from NJ to CT, he went and ate donuts.

Of course, by not giving Ollie the contract right away, he set the BB program back 5 years (not counting the NC, the NBA players and the recruiting bonanza)

 

[freescooter]

I have to tell you I agree - I mean since he has been here we have only won a few national championships,

Uh, as I said before, Geno will win championships whether Warde is here, in Buffalo, in Ann Arbor, selling ice cream in Bayonne New Jersey, sitting under an umbrella in the Bahamas. Doesn't matter. And its not like UConn field hockey is some slouch program. You might not be aware of it, but they are a national power. They have 2 previous national championships. They have been to the NCAA tournament 24 times in the past 25 years, been to 11 final fours, most recently in 2011 and the championship game 5 times. They won more Big East titles than any team in the history of that league. The head coach is the all-time leader in career victories in NCAA field hockey. and the all time leader among active coaches in number of games coached. In other words, they are pretty good and have a pretty good coach as well. So I'd be a little hesitant to give Warde lots of credit for the job he did in getting that national championship. I guess maybe he gets credit for not screwing it up. That's about all, though.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I'm telling you he was hired to counter the APR problem. UConn hoped that it would be enough to get the NCAA to back off. But even if it wasn't, his supposed "expertise" in this area would be useful to help with the PR on the issue, UConn could say "We take this issue very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that we hired the guy who got an award from the NCAA for his work turning the Buffalo APR problems completely around." It wasn't because he had played football at Michigan, or had whatever modest B-10 connections you might get as an assistant AD at a major program, or because he had hired Turner Gill at UB. Do you seriously think he was hired because of the grand job he did turning Buffalo into a national power? It wasn't because he was a "rock star." It was because of 3 letters, R, P, and A. This from a very good source who had input into the selection. Believe it or don't believe it.

I think it's time to get new sources. Because that's the most idiotic reason for hiring someone I've ever heard. Either your source was a part of it or was too stupid to stop it from happening.

That of course assumes your fantasy is in fact real life.

 

[freescooter]

I am most pissed off at Warde for the lack of TV sets in CT.

I honestly believe, if he could have gotten even just a million more TV sets in the Hartford TV market, we would be in a Big 5 right now.

But instead of moving massive numbers of people from NJ to CT, he went and ate donuts.

Of course, by not giving Ollie the contract right away, he set the BB program back 5 years (not counting the NC, the NBA players and the recruiting bonanza)

Here's the thing, though. There are more tv sets in Connecticut than Louisville, KY. And by quite a lot.#30 market vs #50. And we're only measuring Hartford-New Haven. And that, not NJ, was our competition. But that's ok. Let's pretend it was us or Rutgers for the Big, not us vs. Louisville for the ACC slot.
I never said not giving Ollie a contract would cost us. You and lots of other posters said it would set us back years in recruiting. It didn't. But let's pretend it did.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Warde has not accomplished anything yet. He jerked Kevin Ollie around for a whole season, in what was the stupidest handling of a hire I have ever seen. He is lucky that Ollie is so loyal to UConn, because 90% of coaches would have told Warde to f himself after that mess. In the process of having a pissing match with Calhoun over Ollie, he sent a signal to the rest of the country that he didn't have confidence in the head coach, which couldn't have helped us with the ACC when they were picking Louisville over us. He waited too long to fire Pasqualoni, when 90% of this board saw that P had to go at the end of 2012. Finally, he got outsold by Jurich, pure and simple, in the most important sale in the history of our athletic program.

We all like Diaco. Good for us. He has to win some games before Warde gets any credit for that hire.

 

[sportsart]

That's your excuse? Please. this guy was brought in for public relations purposes and public relations purposes only. It happens. Sometimes those guys work out. I remember an old Boston politician telling me that Jim Curley used to fill every 3rd job based strictly on merit. That way he knew roughly 2/3 of his staff would be competent and he could count on 2/3 to campaign for him come election time. His view was that just because you got hired for your political connections didn't mean you were incompetent and roughly 50% of the political hires turned out pretty competent. Some became competent over time. Warde was a "political hire" who wasn't up to the job. He was hired to fix the basketball APR problem, or more accurately to give the impression that it was being fixed.

Art, I'm going to use your excuse for Pasqualoni, OK? He was only the Coach for 2 seasons when his team got beat by Towson. He should have done better.

I should have ignored a long time ago. I suggest others do the same. With the season approaching this clown adds nothing to the conversation worth reading. You'll be wearing number 3 on the team.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Here's the thing, though. There are more tv sets in Connecticut than Louisville, KY. And by quite a lot.#30 market vs #50. And we're only measuring Hartford-New Haven. And that, not NJ, was our competition. But that's ok. Let's pretend it was us or Rutgers for the Big, not us vs. Louisville for the ACC slot.
I never said not giving Ollie a contract would cost us. You and lots of other posters said it would set us back years in recruiting. It didn't. But let's pretend it did.

Ollie pulled two rabbits out of hats with Brimah and Samuel. Those two play like Top 100 recruits, but Brimah was essentially unrecruited if I recall. Samuel had some decent offers, but I don't think he was not a Top 100 recruit. Ollie did a great job finding two diamonds in the rough in a sport where it is hard to find underrated players, but I am not about to let Warde off the hook for putting Ollie in the position where he had to pluck those two out of a hat because he couldn't credibly chase higher ranked players with the non-contract Ollie had at the time.

 

[BlueMAB]

Yeah, a new AD should allow a retiring coach to name his successor, a guy who didn't have a single day of head coaching experience, when the AD is the one who will be held accountable if it doesn't work out. Manuel handled it perfectly, he let Calhoun get his way, but on Manuel's terms, meaning he retained his onions as AD.

Ollie got an extension in December of his first season as head coach, before conference play even started. But don't let the facts get in the way of your rant.

90% of (actually nearly all) coaches aren't Kevin Ollie, and don't get offered one of the top 10 jobs in college basketball without ever being a head coach at any level. 90% (actually more) wouldn't have had the 1 year try out, because they've got experience and a proven history. You think the ACC reacted negatively because our new AD wasn't bowing to a retiring head coach? Amazingly stupid. It was a football decision, pure and simple.

It's seriously funny to watch you complain that he was outsold by Jurich, after you complained we were trying too hard to get into the ACC.

You can argue he waited too long to hire P, you can also argue that he had to wait that long because he inherited the man the trustees (who can have him replaced tomorrow) obviously wanted in the job. There are still people in the loop that think P was the right man and just needed more time.

 

[CTMike]

Mods... Burn this thread with fire.

 

[gioff23]

Uh, as I said before, Geno will win championships whether Warde is here, in Buffalo, in Ann Arbor, selling ice cream in Bayonne New Jersey, sitting under an umbrella in the Bahamas. Doesn't matter. And its not like UConn field hockey is some slouch program. You might not be aware of it, but they are a national power. They have 2 previous national championships. They have been to the NCAA tournament 24 times in the past 25 years, been to 11 final fours, most recently in 2011 and the championship game 5 times. They won more Big East titles than any team in the history of that league. The head coach is the all-time leader in career victories in NCAA field hockey. and the all time leader among active coaches in number of games coached. In other words, they are pretty good and have a pretty good coach as well. So I'd be a little hesitant to give Warde lots of credit for the job he did in getting that national championship. I guess maybe he gets credit for not screwing it up. That's about all, though.

you'd probably say Mike Slive is just darn lucky he presides over the SEC. In fact, any of us could do that in a lick.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Thanks to all of you from CT for this informative thread. I got a nice summary of what Warde had to say on WTIC. Really enlightening. Too bad we couldn't have rehashed some old grudges and idiocy about Warde's performance and instead focused with such laser like precision on the radio show.

 

[dsturdy5]

Who is going to be monitoring the heck out of stuff while he's on the radio? Oh yeah, he's a rock star so can monitor and do radio at the same time, just like he can monitor and swirl little umbrellas in drinks at the same time. Gosh we are sure lucky to have such a talent.

I know there is a lot more to this thread after this post but I had to stop reading here. I'm sure WM won't miss out on anything earth shattering while spending 20 minutes (if that) on air with Joe D this evening. Do we have proof that P5 spots open up and are filled in such a manner? If a 20 minute radio spot costs UConn a spot in a power 5 conference, I'll become a BCU fan. IOTW, bi t ch ing for the sake of it gets you nowhere.

 

[Husky25]

No one here is obligated to be UConn fan. Even if you're an alum. That's the beauty of sports in this country. You make your own obligations.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I truly feel if Warde and Susan were in place instead of Hathaway and the revolving door of presidents the past decade we would be in the ACC.

I'm glad they're both here and hopefully they can continue to make up for lost ground.

 

[RMoore1999]

Hogwash! He planned on announcing his retirement the week before the season started so he could pick his replacement without any search. he said as much on a number of occasions, spoke a number of times about how he wanted to do what Dean did. I heard him say it twice myself. If he had come back for 2012-13, he'd have pulled exactly the same thing before the 2013-14 season. In either case, Manual would have been monitoring I'm sure.

Thank God JC picked his successor. Not a better qualified person in the world to make that pick, certainly not Warde or any other administrator/politician.