Winners and Losers, UConn edition

[freescooter]

there has been a lot of talk about winners and losers in this debacle, but it seems to me there were winners and losers in the UConn community too.
Among the Losers:
Susan Herbst. For the second time she has been shut out of the ACC despite her Dukie connections and this time she was the leader in the clubhouse only to be beaten by a glorified community college that actually has a worse athletic department than UConn does...plus she was embarrassed in front of her Big East collegues by jumping the gun on informing them UConn was leaving. Between this and her earlier snub of the league after the SyraPitt move, I doubt there is much sympathy among the old line Big East. She has had a pretty easy time getting her way on some controversial subjects. But I suspect that ended Monday at 7AM. Watch for more negative press, and more pushback from faculty, staff, Board of Trustees, Legislature going forward.
Warde Manuel. Dead man walking. though my sense is that Herbst lead this parade, it was his department and his counterpart, Jurich, is getting all the credit for Louisville's success. He was monitoring the situation from the Virgin Islands...no chance he survives. He won't be fired, but look for him to move on within the next 12-18 months, maybe sooner. Wouldn't be shocked if they bring in an Associate AD in the near future to actually take over.
Paul Pasqualoni. He has taken lots of criticism for the failure of those way above his pay grade in this. Took his team to Louisville Saturday and made a mockery of the whole "louisville is better"nonsense. But I think he may need to win Saturday to keep his job now. But if not he will be under incredible pressure to win next year. Given the perception of the new Big East, 7-5 won't cut it. Manuel may be dead man walking but he may still try to salvage his reputation and his job by replacing coach P if we fail to make a bowl. He absolutley will next year, if he's still here.
But there were also some Winners to come out of this fiasco.
Jim Calhoun, or more properly his legacy. In the new A-10 version 2.0, AKA the Big East basketball league, Final Fours will be awfully hard to come by, national championships almost impossible. 10 years out, people will attribute UConn's fall to Calhoun's retirement more than the conference shuffle. this isn't a knock on Calhoun, but rather a commentary on the reality of where UConn finds itself.
UConn Hockey. This isn't so much a win, but an opportunity. Beginning in two years they will be the one UConn program that is part of a major national conference. While they won't ever overtake basketball, with a better than anticipated performance they could become a bit of a darling of the media and the casual sports fan.
Kevin Ollie. Warde Manuel needs to do something to rebuild at least a modicum of good will with the UConn fan base. How better than to give Ollie an extension. And since this year really won't matter then, how lucky can you get when instead of playing Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Louisville, some maybe twice, you're looking at Tulane, Houston and SMU in your first year of officially competing for the Big East title.

 

[caw]

there has been a lot of talk about winners and losers in this debacle, but it seems to me there were winners and losers in the UConn community too.
Among the Losers:
Susan Herbst. For the second time she has been shut out of the ACC despite her Dukie connections and this time she was the leader in the clubhouse only to be beaten by a glorified community college that actually has a worse athletic department than UConn does...plus she was embarrassed in front of her Big East collegues by jumping the gun on informing them UConn was leaving. Between this and her earlier snub of the league after the SyraPitt move, I doubt there is much sympathy among the old line Big East. She has had a pretty easy time getting her way on some controversial subjects. But I suspect that ended Monday at 7AM. Watch for more negative press, and more pushback from faculty, staff, Board of Trustees, Legislature going forward.
Warde Manuel. Dead man walking. though my sense is that Herbst lead this parade, it was his department and his counterpart, Jurich, is getting all the credit for Louisville's success. He was monitoring the situation from the Virgin Islands...no chance he survives. He won't be fired, but look for him to move on within the next 12-18 months, maybe sooner. Wouldn't be shocked if they bring in an Associate AD in the near future to actually take over.
Paul Pasqualoni. He has taken lots of criticism for the failure of those way above his pay grade in this. Took his team to Louisville Saturday and made a mockery of the whole "louisville is better"nonsense. But I think he may need to win Saturday to keep his job now. But if not he will be under incredible pressure to win next year. Given the perception of the new Big East, 7-5 won't cut it. Manuel may be dead man walking but he may still try to salvage his reputation and his job by replacing coach P if we fail to make a bowl. He absolutley will next year, if he's still here.
But there were also some Winners to come out of this fiasco.
Jim Calhoun, or more properly his legacy. In the new A-10 version 2.0, AKA the Big East basketball league, Final Fours will be awfully hard to come by, national championships almost impossible. 10 years out, people will attribute UConn's fall to Calhoun's retirement more than the conference shuffle. this isn't a knock on Calhoun, but rather a commentary on the reality of where UConn finds itself.
UConn Hockey. This isn't so much a win, but an opportunity. Beginning in two years they will be the one UConn program that is part of a major national conference. While they won't ever overtake basketball, with a better than anticipated performance they could become a bit of a darling of the media and the casual sports fan.
Kevin Ollie. Warde Manuel needs to do something to rebuild at least a modicum of good will with the UConn fan base. How better than to give Ollie an extension. And since this year really won't matter then, how lucky can you get when instead of playing Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Louisville, some maybe twice, you're looking at Tulane, Houston and SMU in your first year of officially competing for the Big East title.

Pasqualoni is in trouble because his team plays uninspired offense. The win at UL was great but the play calling has been a huge failure this year and wasn't exactly great last year.

Calhoun is not a winner in this at all. Only someone who truly despises Calhoun would think that way.

Ollie will likely prove to deserve an extension. I view your statement as a way of devaluing any accomplishments Ollie makes this year, likely based solely in your dislike of Calhoun.

I don't believe Herbst is a loser in this, she has done a great job with everything regarding UConn, aside from sports. She shouldn't be severely dinged for this.

Manuel, well I don't think he has done enough, but I also don't completely blame him. This whole conference realignment stuff has a long way to go.

Just for fun, Rutgers and WVU were both bypassed by the ACC and now find themselves in much more stable positions, IMO. I don't know what will happen with UConn, but there are plenty of moves left before checkmate. The latest was simple losing a bishop or possibly a rook.

 

[VAHuskyFan]

Winners & Losers, UConn edition [FIXED]:

Losers: Everyone.
Winners: No one.

It really is that simple.

 

[freescooter]

Herbst absolutely is a loser. She got out hustled by Louisville and she managed to embarrass herself with the Big East, too. And Ollie is a huge beneficiary. Manuel almost has to extend him even if he loses every remaining game. The new big East is going to be far far weaker than the current one. Thus NCAA bids, seeding and everything that goes with it will be tougher so deep runs will be far more difficult. Making a run from the 6 seed is far more difficult than from the 2. Just to give it some perspective, Syracuse ended last season with an RPI of 2, Louisville was 10, and Pitt had a bad year and was 88. DePaul, with the lowest RPI in the Big East was 198. Now we're addin g3 teams who are WORSE THAN DEPAUL! Houston on the other hand was 211, SMu 216 and Tulane 251. For some perspective, Central Connecticut was 230, Sacred Heart 238. That is the level of program we're adding. That will have a huge impact on conference RPI, which will lead to lower seeds, fewer "battle-tested" teams, less chance of getting in as a bubble team. So yeah, Calhoun's legacy will be very safe as long as we're stuck in this mess. And Ollie won't have to worry about playing Syracuse and Pitt and Louisville, and he gets at least 3 games with teams that are worse than DePaul. This isn't about "hating Calhoun" as you say. It is about facts on the ground.