Why did Flipper say those things?

[nelsonmuntz]

Flipper doesn't just give an interview like that without an agenda. There was something he was trying to accomplish by talking to Blaudschon about UConn. Any ideas?

I have a theory, but I am interested in what others think first.

 

[zls44]

UConn to ACC is inevitable, can save face by looking like he tried to stop it.

 

[Chin Diesel]

UConn to ACC is inevitable, can save face by looking like he tried to stop it.

+1

 

[epperson]

Flipper doesn't just give an interview like that without an agenda. There was something he was trying to accomplish by talking to Blaudschon about UConn. Any ideas?

I have a theory, but I am interested in what others think first.

No. With Flip, there is no clandestine plan to coerce a predetermined outcome. He's a loose-canon who has a history of gaffes. Think Biden but much, much shorter and much, much angrier.

The only possible theory floating out there within the BC community is that Flip knows that his days are numbered for many reasons. So the interview was an act of desperation to bolster whatever credibility he has left.

He's toast.

 

[06029]

UConn to ACC is inevitable, can save face by looking like he tried to stop it.

The most likely reason. A lot of BC alums are dead set against Uconn and it is related to the lawsuit that included the AD and president personally and the reported treatment of BC fans at the only BC game at the Rent. That is what some of them have told me. Need to make it look like an all out effort was made to stop it by BC but was eventually outvoted by the other schools.

 

[metsfan2323]

He is getting alot of heat right now over BC's failing football and basketball programs. In his mind the interview tells BC fans that he did something right. (block UCONN)...but I hope zls is right.

 

[businesslawyer]

That's one. Another is he knows he is on thin ice as far as his future at BC for performance reasons, and he thought that sounding like a tough guy publicly may gather him alumni support.

And a third would be that he was just so damned impressed with his own success on this point that he couldn't refrain from trumpeting it to the world, consequences be damned.

 

[RS9999X]

I think Flipper is simple.

He bailed out on Nova during their 1997 deliberations to upgrade. He then sold BC on the ACC move in 2003. Flipper wasn't much of a believer in UConn Football. He banked on BC 's move to the ACC as New England's team and pulled an epic fail.

Do you know how bad it makes him look to have UConn build a football program? And then for Nova to do it without the incompetent Flipper?

BC fans hate him. You get commentary like this

Gene DeFilippo Shrinking the Footprint of Boston College Athletics

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/375315-gene-defilippos-shrinking-footprint

Ahhhh....the memories of Flipper and UConn

Uconn Takes Toll Kittles' Ban Hangs Up 'nova

BY DICK WEISS
Monday, February 26, 1996

PHILADELPHIA Villanova-Connecticut yesterday at the Spectrum was supposed to be the crown jewel in this Big East season.
But most of the drama was drained from this matchup when the NCAA hit Villanova guard Kerry Kittles with a three-game suspension for unauthorized use of a university phone credit card.
For third-ranked UConn, the game became a matter of survival and advancing their quest for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
In what was to have been the last home game of his career, Kittles sat on the bench in street clothes, but he could only offer so much inspiration. The Huskies had just too much Ray Allen and defense for the fourth-ranked Wildcats in grinding out a 70-59 victory before a record-tying crowd of 18,524.
The audience included a small but vocal group of Connecticut fans, and they made their presence known by shouting "1-800" whenever there was a letup in the noise.
BASKETBALL;Kittles Banned For 3 Games

AP
Published: February 23, 1996

Kerry Kittles, the top scorer for fourth-ranked Villanova, has been suspended for the team's final three regular-season games because of the unauthorized use of a university telephone credit card number.
The university, in making the announcement today, did not disclose the size of Kittles's debt, which it said he had repaid with help from his family.
He made a significant number of calls over a period of several months," the athletic director, Gene DeFilippo, said in a statement. "The credit card number did not belong to any member of the basketball staff."

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

I just picture him picking up his phone after having many alchoholic drinks and then just going off.

We have all seen people out at bars who have had way too much to drink and they start bragging about their high school athletic career or about some fight they started and won over 5 other guys.

 

[freescooter]

And a third would be that he was just so damned impressed with his own success on this point that he couldn't refrain from trumpeting it to the world, consequences be damned.

that's my guess. The guy has done some dumb things in the past, too. I think he has been a disaster as AD up there. this is just one in a long line of bizzare public statements...

 

[8893]

I think you are giving him far too much credit if you think he "planted" that story to further some grand plan he was trying to accomplish. He shot his mouth off like the smug fool that he is. Funny thing is, it may be a rare instance in which he actually told the truth (as he see it) and spoke his mind. I think he's been dying to say it for a while, because in his own warped way of thinking, he is proud of it. Think of the classic scene from A Few Good Men where Danny (Cruise) finally gets Jessep (Nicholson) to bury himself. That's pretty close to what happened here with DeFilippo imo. I will be only too happy when they similarly escort DeFilippo out of the room for his own "court-martial."

 

[Excalibur]

UConn to ACC is inevitable, can save face by looking like he tried to stop it.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this is not nelson's theory.

 

[SubbaBub]

There was a time when men such as this could hold positions of power while being complete drunkards. Not saying this is the case, but when asked why people say and do stupid things, my standard answer is "entropy."

 

[businesslawyer]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this is not nelson's theory.

LMFAO. Three people just came into my office to see why I was rolling on the floor laughing.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

UConn to ACC is inevitable, can save face by looking like he tried to stop it.

I may actually agree with you directionally on this. First off, Flipper is a big boy, running a major athletic department. He doesn't give interviews like this just to brag. I don't buy that.

The only conclusion I can reach is that Flipper was seeing continued support for UConn among ACC members, and he wanted to end it once and for all, so he decided to give an interview in which he would go scorched earth on UConn publicly to the point where there was no going back. In effect, like Cortez, burn the boats. Put the rest of the ACC schools in the position of having to publicly steamroll a member institution to add UConn, which he figured was not going to happen.

If he thought UConn to the ACC was inevitable, going public would just serve to publicly humiliate him, so I don't think he thought that UConn was inevitable. Ironically, the fact that Flipper did this probably means that "Beg Harder" was effective enough that he perceived it to be a threat, and decided to quash it.

I think the ESPN remark, which became the bigger story than his UConn rant, was just collateral damage. It should be a cautionary tale to anyone trying to settle scores through the press. There are always unintended consequences of opening your mouth to a reporter.

 

[businesslawyer]

I may actually agree with you directionally on this. First off, Flipper is a big boy, running a major athletic department. He doesn't give interviews like this just to brag. I don't buy that.

The only conclusion I can reach is that Flipper was seeing continued support for UConn among ACC members, and he wanted to end it once and for all, so he decided to give an interview in which he would go scorched earth on UConn publicly to the point where there was no going back. In effect, like Cortez, burn the boats. Put the rest of the ACC schools in the position of having to publicly steamroll a member institution to add UConn, which he figured was not going to happen.

If he thought UConn to the ACC was inevitable, going public would just serve to publicly humiliate him, so I don't think he thought that UConn was inevitable. Ironically, the fact that Flipper did this probably means that "Beg Harder" was effective enough that he perceived it to be a threat, and decided to quash it.

I think the ESPN remark, which became the bigger story than his UConn rant, was just collateral damage. It should be a cautionary tale to anyone trying to settle scores through the press. There are always unintended consequences of opening your mouth to a reporter.

Nan: did a troll take Waylon's screen name and write that? Because I don't want to comment on that post and have the joke be on me.

 

[businesslawyer]

I may actually agree with you directionally on this. First off, Flipper is a big boy, running a major athletic department. He doesn't give interviews like this just to brag. I don't buy that.

The only conclusion I can reach is that Flipper was seeing continued support for UConn among ACC members, and he wanted to end it once and for all, so he decided to give an interview in which he would go scorched earth on UConn publicly to the point where there was no going back. In effect, like Cortez, burn the boats. Put the rest of the ACC schools in the position of having to publicly steamroll a member institution to add UConn, which he figured was not going to happen.

If he thought UConn to the ACC was inevitable, going public would just serve to publicly humiliate him, so I don't think he thought that UConn was inevitable. Ironically, the fact that Flipper did this probably means that "Beg Harder" was effective enough that he perceived it to be a threat, and decided to quash it.

I think the ESPN remark, which became the bigger story than his UConn rant, was just collateral damage. It should be a cautionary tale to anyone trying to settle scores through the press. There are always unintended consequences of opening your mouth to a reporter.

Here's the thing Waylon: college athletics is a big business. But when guys like Gene were coming up through the ranks, it really wasn't. It was a less important and undersupervised part of big universities. The fact that, today, you want successful businessmen to be your ADs doesn't mean that there still aren't some "old school" guys around who really grew up as glorified coaches. (Not that there is anything wrong with being a coach -- just that those skills are very different from those that you would want an AD to have).

My poing being you should not assume Flipper is going to speak and act like a lawyer/MBA just because today, decades after he broke into the business, that is the type of person you'd want to hold his job.

 

[TRest]

I believe he reflects the school and much of the alumni's belief that it is a "football" school, and the expansion was about "football", not basketball. And that BC is still relevant as a "football"despite all evidence to the contrary.

 

[uconndogs]

And a third would be that he was just so damned impressed with his own success on this point that he couldn't refrain from trumpeting it to the world, consequences be damned.

I really don't think it's any more complicated than that. This guy is that light. There is no reason an experienced executive with maturity and a strategic focus would say and do what he did.

 

[CL82]

It's interesting that people are split as to whether emotion or calculation drove that statement. Put me in the emotion group.

He can't stand us. He's made that clear. He wants the BCU to be the big dogs in NE instead of the also rans that they've become. We've been a thorn in side from dominating BC in basketball head to head, to the lawsuit, to 3 national championships in MBB and 7 in WBB to a BCS Bowl. He went to ACC to kill the BE and us with them. Instead, his programs are on the decline and fan interest is waning. He is largely ignored in the ACC and his job is in jeopardy. But... he successfully kept us out the ACC and he's going to let everyone know about it.

A mentor of mine once told me to never admit to a victory in business. Enjoy the win in private but publicly play it cool. It never makes sense to give someone motivation for the next round. Mean Gene would have been wise to have adopted this approach.

 

[Danzz]

No. With Flip, there is no clandestine plan to coerce a predetermined outcome. He's a loose-canon who has a history of gaffes. Think Biden but much, much shorter and much, much angrier.

The only possible theory floating out there within the BC community is that Flip knows that his days are numbered for many reasons. So the interview was an act of desperation to bolster whatever credibility he has left.

He's toast.

You are on target. He a blustery type of person who does always think of consequences. BC alumni have to be putting a lot of pressure on Father Leahy to make a change.

 

[RS9999X]

Flippers graduate degree is a one year Master's Degree in Education from Tennessee in 1973.

What do we know about Education Degrees? They aren't legal tender in half the US states.

If you look at Pitino's and Calipari's latest spit fight in the press, do they strike you as over-educated?

Hint: they aren't. Exceptional at what they do, Yes. Public arguments are conducted with all the finesse of an athletic coach who was never in line to be a Rhodes Scholar. Someone like Calipari was hired for $68,000 at UMass in 1988 ($131,000 today) before the salary explosion. He now makes $4 million. Kellogg was signed for $450,000 at UMass with all the new goodies like radio shows, speaking fees, etc.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I have no clue what was motivating Flip but that interview reeked of boasting. I personally can not see it as anything else.

 

[uconnbaseball]

I may actually agree with you directionally on this. First off, Flipper is a big boy, running a major athletic department. He doesn't give interviews like this just to brag. I don't buy that.

The only conclusion I can reach is that Flipper was seeing continued support for UConn among ACC members, and he wanted to end it once and for all, so he decided to give an interview in which he would go scorched earth on UConn publicly to the point where there was no going back. In effect, like Cortez, burn the boats. Put the rest of the ACC schools in the position of having to publicly steamroll a member institution to add UConn, which he figured was not going to happen.

If anything, I feel these idiotic statements will help UConn. Gene lost any credibility he once had by letting those comments out of the barn and into Blaudschun's hands. No one within that conference will take him seriously from now on. To get into the ACC, there is still the issue of Shalala. And about your last statement, it seems that Duke (or at least coach K) still desires us.

If he thought UConn to the ACC was inevitable, going public would just serve to publicly humiliate him, so I don't think he thought that UConn was inevitable. Ironically, the fact that Flipper did this probably means that "Beg Harder" was effective enough that he perceived it to be a threat, and decided to quash it.

I guess you think the ACC won't bother courting us anymore because his temper tantrum will be enough to not make it worth the conference's effort. I completely disagree here and don't think the ACC will have any trouble at all ignoring the wills of a psychopath. If the ACC doesn't add UConn, it'll be because we don't add enough value to make it worth their while, because Notre Dame doesn't wind up joining a conference, AND because the SEC doesn't raid the ACC for 1 or 3 teams. All of those possibilities coming into fruition are possible, but I remain as cautiously optimistic as I was a few weeks ago.

I think the ESPN remark, which became the bigger story than his UConn rant, was just collateral damage. It should be a cautionary tale to anyone trying to settle scores through the press. There are always unintended consequences of opening your mouth to a reporter. Agreed. All he accomplished with that interview was tarnish his name nationally.

 

[MidTown Husky]

It's interesting that people are split as to whether emotion or calculation drove that statement. Put me in the emotion group.

He can't stand us. He's made that clear. He wants the BCU to be the big dogs in NE instead of the also rans that they've become. We've been a thorn in side from dominating BC in basketball head to head, to the law suit, to two national championships in MBB and 7 in WBB. He went to ACC to kill the BE and us with them. Instead, his programs are on the decline and fan interest is waning. He is largely ignored in the ACC and his job is in jeopardy. But... he successfully kept us out the ACC and he's going to let everyone know about it.

A mentor of mine once told me to never admit to a victory in business. Enjoy the win in private but publicly play it cool. It never makes sense to give someone motivation for the next round. Mean Gene would have been wise to have adopted this approach.

Three national championships. Not trying to be picky I'm just encouraging you to please jab that thorn in BC's side even harder