12 Reasons Why UConn Will Regret the New Big East | Page 5 | The Boneyard

12 Reasons Why UConn Will Regret the New Big East

CL82

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Agree 100%, Perkins did have a downside.
I prefer to think he was corrupted in that Sodom and Gomorrah were refer to as Kansas.
 

CL82

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UConn didn't get going as an athletic department until after he was forced out.
Lol, not this again. We've been through this ad nauseum.

Let's just put this bed here. During his tenure as UConn's athletic director Toner:
  1. Joined the Big East
  2. Hired Geno Auriemma
  3. Hired Jim Calhoun
  4. Oversaw the funding and construction of Gampel
  5. Had two teams become national champions during his tenure
  6. Served as president of the NCAA
  7. He is on the wall as a Husky of Honor
  8. The National Football Foundation's award for excellence as an athletic director and "outstanding dedication to college athletics is called the John Toner Award. He was it first recipient.
He had an outstanding career at UConn by any reasonable measure and yet was the most humble decent guy you'd ever want to meet.
 
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Lol, not this again. We've been through this ad nauseum.

Let's just put this bed here. During his tenure as UConn's athletic director Toner:
  1. Joined the Big East
  2. Hired Geno Auriemma
  3. Hired Jim Calhoun
  4. Oversaw the funding and construction of Gampel
  5. Had two teams become national champions during his tenure
  6. Served as president of the NCAA
  7. He is on the wall as a Husky of Honor
  8. The National Football Foundation's award for excellence as an athletic director and "outstanding dedication to college athletics is called the John Toner Award. He was it first recipient.
He had an outstanding career at UConn by any reasonable measure and yet was the most humble decent guy you'd ever want to meet.
He was also a pretty good football player in his own right. I don't think Edsall would have been hired a second time if Toner had been still around. Privately he was pretty hurt when Edsall bolted to Maryland.
 

Waquoit

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Lol, not this again. We've been through this ad nauseum.

Let's just put this bed here. During his tenure as UConn's athletic director Toner:
  1. Joined the Big East
  2. Hired Geno Auriemma
  3. Hired Jim Calhoun
  4. Oversaw the funding and construction of Gampel
  5. Had two teams become national champions during his tenure
  6. Served as president of the NCAA
  7. He is on the wall as a Husky of Honor
  8. The National Football Foundation's award for excellence as an athletic director and "outstanding dedication to college athletics is called the John Toner Award. He was it first recipient.
He had an outstanding career at UConn by any reasonable measure and yet was the most humble decent guy you'd ever want to meet.
No. A guy shouldn't be allowed to moonlight for years while his own athletic department is crumbling around him. He was forced out for poor performance and did not hire Jim Calhoun. You should stop rewriting history.
 
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No. A guy shouldn't be allowed to moonlight for years while his own athletic department is crumbling around him. He was forced out for poor performance and did not hire Jim Calhoun. You should stop rewriting history.
You are saying a lot here, with absolutely no facts to back it up. Who did hire Calhoun then????? Who built Gampel Pavilion?????
 

CL82

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No. A guy shouldn't be allowed to moonlight for years while his own athletic department is crumbling around him. He was forced out for poor performance and did not hire Jim Calhoun. You should stop rewriting history.
Lol that is the history that you will find if you google the guy. The NCAA presidency was a part time job at that time. It was prestigious for UConn to have its AD in the role. Forced out? Lol. The guy retired after 17 years and put his name in the Wall of Honor.

But you know all that because we talked about it before. I’m not sure why you have such a woody for the guy, but you are the only one on the planet who does.
 
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Waquoit

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You are saying a lot here, with absolutely no facts to back it up. Who did hire Calhoun then????? Who built Gampel Pavilion?????
I lived this and I'll go through it again. Calhoun was hired by a search committee of which Toner was a member. He was only on the committee as a face saving measure, there is no way he had the final call. And they didn't even break ground on Gampel until after he was done as AD.
 

Waquoit

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Lol that is the history that you will find if you google the guy.....I’m not sure why you have such a woody for the guy, but you are the only one on the planet who does.
Maybe I'm pissed becuase I don't have to Google the guy, I know what he did real time without the whitewash. UConn willingly joined the world of big-time college basketball yet had an AD that still ran the place like a regional program. He still took pride in returning money to the school from the Athletic Dept. What kind of competent AD does that? After Corny Thompson graduated (the true father of UConn big-time basketball), the BB program turned to crap and UConn did nothing.

Actually, he did worse than nothing, he took a 2nd job a 1,000 miles away without quitting the UConn job. And that's where he spent most of his time! How was that OK? And you think that's a feather in his cap! They had to do the same thing to Toner that they did to Hathaway to force him out. And only after he was out did UConn BB take off, to bring us back to my original, accurate comment.
 

CL82

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I lived this and I'll go through it again. Calhoun was hired by a search committee of which Toner was a member. He was only on the committee as a face saving measure, there is no way he had the final call. And they didn't even break ground on Gampel until after he was done as AD.
Lol, don't you get tired of being wrong on this? The guy retired after working 17 years as AD. They broke ground on his last day. Who do you thinking got the commitment to build it?

BIG-TIME THANKS TO COACH TONER
And the Toner mark is all over Gampel Pavilion. The day he left the university in August 1987 was the day they broke ground for the building. That was his baby, too.
 

CL82

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Maybe I'm pissed becuase I don't have to Google the guy, I know what he did real time without the whitewash. UConn willingly joined the world of big-time college basketball yet had an AD that still ran the place like a regional program. He still took pride in returning money to the school from the Athletic Dept. What kind of competent AD does that? After Corny Thompson graduated (the true father of UConn big-time basketball), the BB program turned to crap and UConn did nothing.

Actually, he did worse than nothing, he took a 2nd job a 1,000 miles away without quitting the UConn job. And that's where he spent most of his time! How was that OK? And you think that's a feather in his cap! They had to do the same thing to Toner that they did to Hathaway to force him out. And only after he was out did UConn BB take off, to bring us back to my original, accurate comment.
You clearly are pissed, irrationally so. I love how you now are doubling down on the "he took another job" line of drivel. You know that NCAA president position was a part-time gig back then right? Every NCAA president did it part-time while working there full time university gig. But you know that right?

Are you seriously trying to argue the fact that Athletic Department was turning a profit under him is somehow a negative? Lol, it shows how hard you trying to find something in the guys stellar record.

I guess that we agree that when Corny left the program was at a low point. Thank god we had John Toner there since his hiring Jim Calhoun is what put us on the path to being a basketball blue blood.

The last time you had this little snit, I posted quotes from Geno and Calhoun talking about what an outstanding man he Toner was, how much they owed him and how much they liked him. Do you really think that you know better than they do?

Geesh what did the guy do you, pull your scholly? Not offer you at all? Just wondering, because your weird obsession with trashing him is really odd.
 

Waquoit

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Thank god we had John Toner there since his hiring Jim Calhoun is what put us on the path to being a basketball blue blood.

This is just plain nonsense. UConn BB would never have gone anywhere if Toner had stayed in control. He never wanted to fire Perno. He had the have to reins of power yanked from him for the school to move forward. He gets credit for hiring Geno. But Geno would have been gone the first chance he got if Toner is still there. Geno gets laughs now telling how he was forced to recruit using those crappy little State cars with the logo on both side doors. I bet he wasn't laughing then.

You've taken a lot of personal shots at me during our Toner discussions. I'm going to accuse you of bad faith. When have you ever honestly addressed Toner's departure? Have you ever acknowledged that committee report that eventually led to his "resignation"? The one that uncovered all his poor management? Is it really a "resignation" if keeping the job was not an option?

I have nothing personal against Toner except for the fact he ran my favorite team into the ground at a time when I was most attuned to it. It's more like Frank Grimes and Homer Simpson. Grimes just couldn't get over how people would cover for do-nothing like Homer. You just ignore how damaging he was and steps were needed to make things better. Bad faith.
 

CL82

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This is just plain nonsense. UConn BB would never have gone anywhere if Toner had stayed in control. He never wanted to fire Perno. He had the have to reins of power yanked from him for the school to move forward. He gets credit for hiring Geno. But Geno would have been gone the first chance he got if Toner is still there. Geno gets laughs now telling how he was forced to recruit using those crappy little State cars with the logo on both side doors. I bet he wasn't laughing then.

You've taken a lot of personal shots at me during our Toner discussions. I'm going to accuse you of bad faith. When have you ever honestly addressed Toner's departure? Have you ever acknowledged that committee report that eventually led to his "resignation"? The one that uncovered all his poor management? Is it really a "resignation" if keeping the job was not an option?

I have nothing personal against Toner except for the fact he ran my favorite team into the ground at a time when I was most attuned to it. It's more like Frank Grimes and Homer Simpson. Grimes just couldn't get over how people would cover for do-nothing like Homer. You just ignore how damaging he was and steps were needed to make things better. Bad faith.
During his tenure as UConn's athletic director Toner:
  1. Joined the Big East
  2. Hired Geno Auriemma
  3. Hired Jim Calhoun
  4. Oversaw the funding and construction of Gampel
  5. Had two teams become national champions during his tenure
  6. Served as president of the NCAA
  7. He is on the wall as a Husky of Honor
  8. The National Football Foundation's award for excellence as an athletic director and "outstanding dedication to college athletics is called the John Toner Award. He was it first recipient.
He had an outstanding career at UConn by any reasonable measure and yet was the most humble decent guy you'd ever want to meet.

Those are all facts. Your rebuttal? "I don't need facts I remember." Who's acting in bad faith?

(At least you've abandoned your claim that he was fired that you threw out the last time you launched into one of these rants.)
 
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This is just plain nonsense. UConn BB would never have gone anywhere if Toner had stayed in control. He never wanted to fire Perno. He had the have to reins of power yanked from him for the school to move forward. He gets credit for hiring Geno. But Geno would have been gone the first chance he got if Toner is still there. Geno gets laughs now telling how he was forced to recruit using those crappy little State cars with the logo on both side doors. I bet he wasn't laughing then.

You've taken a lot of personal shots at me during our Toner discussions. I'm going to accuse you of bad faith. When have you ever honestly addressed Toner's departure? Have you ever acknowledged that committee report that eventually led to his "resignation"? The one that uncovered all his poor management? Is it really a "resignation" if keeping the job was not an option?

I have nothing personal against Toner except for the fact he ran my favorite team into the ground at a time when I was most attuned to it. It's more like Frank Grimes and Homer Simpson. Grimes just couldn't get over how people would cover for do-nothing like Homer. You just ignore how damaging he was and steps were needed to make things better. Bad faith.

Was Perno all that bad a coach? He did recruit Corny, McKay, Chuck Alexinas, Norman Bailey, Earl Kelley. You keep blaming only Toner, what about Dee Rowe or Howie? What were their feelings on Perno? My feeling on Perno is he just couldn't compete recruiting wise as the Big East was beginning to take off, so they canned him in 1986. Wasn't Toner the guy that fired him? Calhoun was definitely a more inventive recruiter and a better teacher and game coach, Perno was just sitting around waiting for the next Corny to walk through the door, which wasn't happening. I was told years ago that Toner retired in 1987 because he was about to turn 65.
 
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Waquoit

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Those are all facts. Your rebuttal? "I don't need facts I remember." Who's acting in bad faith?
All you did is repost your previous post when I asked you to address the elephant in the room. That's bad faith. He's another fact, if there was a Boneyard in 1985 everyone would have been calling for Toner's head.

(At least you've abandoned your claim that he was fired that you threw out the last time you launched into one of these rants.)
Is a one liner a rant? The rant came from you in response to my 100% accurate one-liner. And my claim never changed. I know he "retired" but let's be serious. If your only two choices are leave or get fired, you were fired.
 
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I lived this and I'll go through it again. Calhoun was hired by a search committee of which Toner was a member. He was only on the committee as a face saving measure, there is no way he had the final call. And they didn't even break ground on Gampel until after he was done as AD.
But wait, didn’t Toner hire Perno?
 

CL82

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All you did is repost your previous post when I asked you to address the elephant in the room. That's bad faith. He's another fact, if there was a Boneyard in 1985 everyone would have been calling for Toner's head.


Is a one liner a rant? The rant came from you in response to my 100% accurate one-liner. And my claim never changed. I know he "retired" but let's be serious. If your only two choices are leave or get fired, you were fired.

No, in response to your unsubstantiated assertion that he was a bad athletic director, I re-posted his most noteworthy accomplishments. Those are facts. You’re posting “oh, I remember him. He was bad” Isn’t. Do you understand the difference?

So in your world, John Toner was a bad athletic director who was fired. In the real world he worked for 17 years and retired at retirement age. His employers thought so highly of them they put a memorial to him on the “wall of honor.” Does that sound like someone who was fired? Does that sound like someone who did a bad job?

Further, he was considered such a good athletic director outside of UConn that there actually is an award for excellence in that position that’s named after him.

All those things are facts. You have yet to find anything, other than your assertion, that he didn’t do a good job.

How about you stop your unilateral character assassination on a guy who was a good man and an excellent athletic director? It is just very odd.
 
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I was a student at UConn during the late 70's into the 80's. I clearly recall this piece of graffiti that was scattered around campus during that period. "Where's Toner?". It had to be one of the more popular written messages on walls and such around campus.
 
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But wait, didn’t Toner hire Perno?
No he didn't!!! Only gave it his rubber stamp. Perno played for Dee Rowe back in the mid 60's, and became Rowe's top assistant after Jim Valvano recommended Perno for the job. When Rowe retired, the job was passed on to Perno.
 
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Ah, rob...nevermind.
"Perno was a Guard for the Huskies from 1960-64 when the university participated in the Yankee Conference, which Connecticut won multiple times. In 1964 Perno led his team to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament where he stole the ball from Princeton’s Bill Bradley in the final seconds of the game to advance the Huskies to the Tournament’s Final Eight.

Following graduation, Perno coached at South Catholic High School, Hartford, Connecticut and then at St. Paul Catholic High School in Bristol Connecticut where in addition to coaching boys basketball he was also the athletic director, dean of boys and baseball coach. The late Jim Valvano convinced him to interview for the top assistant position at UConn that was becoming available due to Valvano’s new head coaching job at Bucknell University. Perno took over for Valvano as top assistant to Donald ‘Dee’ Rowe, and after five years, took over as the head coach. Perno was instrumental in elevating the Husky program with the inception of the Big East Conference."
 
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Toner was a good guy...but had a losing record at UConn
(20-24-3).

The fact that, after UConn, that he was NCAA President, and the Toner award was created two years after his NCAA retirement, lends me to believe that it was more about his NCAA status.
 
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How about you stop your unilateral character assassination on a guy who was a good man and an excellent athletic director? It is just very odd.

Not just odd, seems like Waqcko has an axe to grind for some reason. Lol
 
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Toner was a good guy...but had a losing record at UConn
(20-24-3).

The fact that, after UConn, that he was NCAA President, and the Toner award was created two years after his NCAA retirement, lends me to believe that it was more about his NCAA status.
Toner was a pretty good football coach, in his five short years as football coach his teams won the Yankee Conference Championship twice. The 2nd time they won it, Toner also doubled as Athletic Director.
 

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