12 Reasons Why UConn Will Regret the New Big East

[billybud]

I am curious since I don't follow them...

Who are UMass's heated football rivals?

And who do think will become UConn's heated football rivals?


I could see BC and Cuse as naturals...but I don't see an annual OOC set up like the four ACC teams have with their SEC in-state rivals.

BYU has their in-state games with Utah and Utah State as a core with Boise State added.

 

[huskyrob1]

What happened to the UConn of my youth? When did we start giving up?

Scores of bad hires after they hired Geno and JC. Jeff Hathaway, Susan Herbst, RE2.0, Disco, PP, Warde. Toner was the one man who had vision for the school, and could have saved the situation had he been 20 years younger.

 

[CL82]

Scores of bad hires after they hired Geno and JC. Jeff Hathaway, Susan Herbst, RE2.0, Disco, PP, Warde. Toner was the one man who had vision for the school, and could have saved the situation had he been 20 years younger.

John Toner was an outstanding guy but Lew Perkins probably gets the credit for seeing the writing on the wall and pushing for the move to 1A.

 

[buddy]

I am curious since I don't follow them...

Who are UMass's heated football rivals?

And who do think will become UConn's heated football rivals?


I could see BC and Cuse as naturals...but I don't see an annual OOC set up like the four ACC teams have with their SEC in-state rivals.

BYU has their in-state games with Utah and Utah State as a core with Boise State added.

When FSU and BC decided to not allow UConn to the ACC (along with ESPN, of course) it basically killed UConn athletics. I don't think there will be any heated rivals for UConn football, as it has been killed. The move to the Big East has basically confirmed it.

 

[Vowelguy]

If "geographic rivals" are needed for football for a school with a large bball presence nationally then it was an error to go the fball route to begin with. Given the northeast location, it's likely always going to be an issue.

Uhh, when UConn announced plans to go FBS, it was in a conference with BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Pitt.

 

[huskyrob1]

John Toner was an outstanding guy but Lew Perkins probably gets the credit for seeing the writing on the wall and pushing for the move to 1A.

Perkins did a lot of great things for the school, I knew him, sat next to him at several basketball games, always carried a big bag of nuts with him. Lol
He hired Edsall then a few years later left UConn for Kansas, left a void that was filled by Jeff Hathaway.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Don't underestimate how impactful Chancellor Mark Emmert was, too.

He grossly mismanaged UConn 2000, which cost the university millions of dollars and delayed several key initiatives. Then, he seemed to be insulted when UConn accused him of such when the issues finally saw the light of day in in 2005 (he left in 1999) even with though his own memos from 1998 showed that he was fully aware of what was going on.

Looking back how UConn was treated for it;s NCAA violations in comparison to other schools, one has the impression that as head of NCAA (he rose to the role in 2010), he had a personal grudge with UConn. He went after UConn's icon (Calhoun) less than a year later in 2011. When that did not work with the Huskies winning it all the same year, he tried again by retroactively applying a new rule resulting in UConn's 2013 post-season ban right in the middle of conference realignment.

Without Mark Emmert, one could argue that UConn would be in the ACC today and things would be a lot different.

 

[ZooCougar]

Perkins did a lot of great things for the school, I knew him, sat next to him at several basketball games, always carried a big bag of nuts with him. Lol
He hired Edsall then a few years later left UConn for Kansas, left a void that was filled by Jeff Hathaway.

Left Kansas in disgrace too. Fired Mangino after making a BCS game and the football program took a nosedive afterwards.

Not saying he didn’t do great things at UConn but he also had a downside.

 

[Waquoit]

Toner was the one man who had vision for the school, and could have saved the situation had he been 20 years younger.

UConn didn't get going as an athletic department until after he was forced out.

 

[huskyrob1]

Left Kansas in disgrace too. Fired Mangino after making a BCS game and the football program took a nosedive afterwards.

Not saying he didn’t do great things at UConn but he also had a downside.

Agree 100%, Perkins did have a downside.

 

[huskyrob1]

UConn didn't get going as an athletic department until after he was forced out.

Was that before or after Toner built Gampel Pavilion?

 

[CL82]

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]

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.

 

[huskyrob1]

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.

 

[huskyrob1]

I prefer to think he was corrupted in that Sodom and Gomorrah were refer to as Kansas.

He was seduced by the "dark side" and Darth Self.

 

[Waquoit]

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.

 

[huskyrob1]

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]

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.

 

[Waquoit]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.)

 

[huskyrob1]

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.

 

[Waquoit]

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.

 

[Waquoit]

Was Perno all that bad a coach...

Ah, rob...nevermind.

 

[Ha Who]

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]

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.

 

[dbmill]

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.