AD David Benedict candidate at ASU for Athletic Director Job

[Viet Vet]

That’s one way to preside over a new 5,000 seat hockey arena.

 

[Greedo]

I truly believe if DB was our AD in 2012 we'd be in the ACC now instead of Pitt or Louisville. People on the football board seem to dislike him because we're not in a power conference for football, but I don't really know what else they expect him to do.

I think he's been good - hired Hurley, recognized the crapfest that was the AAC and brought us to the Big East.

 

[JMick]

This would suck. Benedict hasn't been perfect but he's done a lot of good and the Athletic Department is in a better place than it was when he got here. That's really all you can ask for with the hand he has been dealt. The BoT is a much bigger problem than Dave. Those people have always been absolutely clueless when it comes to sports.

 

[Blue Blood]

As a basketball centric fan I think he's done a hell of a job. With the deficit where it is I think the increased season ticket pricing was essentially a guarantee with the team's performance, that is really the only "misstep" I can even think of from a basketball perspective

 

[CL82]

Is ASU that much of a step up?

Yes

ASU's athletic department has a budget of about $100 million per year. UConn has an annual budget of about $93 million a year.

 

[superjohn]

ASU's athletic department has a budget of about $100 million per year. UConn has an annual budget of about $93 million a year.

And they're still never anything more than mediocre in the two big sports.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Thoughts:

• Benedict has overall been good and it would be better if he stayed
• I'm sure that given the profile of our AD we'll no trouble getting a good candidate
• The much, much, much bigger issue than either of these is the optics of a nothing school like Arizona State being perceived as a step up from UConn

 

[CL82]

The KO situation was woefully mishandled, but to be fair to Benedict he was following the advice of outside counsel.

I don't know if it's fair to say that the KO situation was woefully mishandled particularly because Benedict was following the advice of outside counsel. Firing a guy who cheated, got caught, lied to the A.D., and lied to the NCAA is pretty much a given unless you're Kansas. It ended up becoming a sheetshow because Ollie's counsel decided that making it a sheetshow played to his benefit. In the end, Connecticut lost because the arbiter decided to write out the section of KO's contract that the university relied upon to fire him. I don't think that was reasonably foreseeable to outside counsel and especially not to Benedict.

Benedict pulled the trigger, when he had to, and hired an excellent replacement in Dan Hurley. There's a lot of decisions that Dave has made that we could be critical of, But his handling of that situation probably isn't one of them, the unfavorable result notwithstanding.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The positive is that he has brought in talented coaches.

The negatives:

• he cost the university an extra $3 million in the way he handled Ollie's firing.
• He screwed over a lot of long time season ticket holders by changing the season ticket model and then changing price tiers 2-3 years after implementing the new model.

I think we'll survive if he leaves as long as the new AD gets Hurley's seal of approval.

He wouldn't have cost us an extra penny if the BOT had been willing to accept reality.

There are a number of issues at play with ticket pricing here including basic economics. For the most part he's doing what he has to do to try to run a woefully underfunded athletic department.

 

[Stew Crew]

I truly believe if DB was our AD in 2012 we'd be in the ACC now instead of Pitt or Louisville. People on the football board seem to dislike him because we're not in a power conference for football, but I don't really know what else they expect him to do.

I think he's been good - hired Hurley, recognized the crapfest that was the AAC and brought us to the Big East.

UConn would not be in the ACC in 2012 if God was our AD. BC was never going to be in favor of it, especially with DeFilippo as their AD. BC was defending their turf and there was too much bad blood as a result of BC's defection to the ACC.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

I like DB as a person but do not think he has been a particularly good AD for us. Would be fine with seeing him move on to greener pastures.

He has been SIGNIFICANTLY better than his two previous predecessor's

 

[willie99]

ASU has more money because of conference affiliation but no recognizable titles in the modern era

Many many many schools have more money, but far less prestige

I'm OK with that. I like who we are

 

[John]

He has been SIGNIFICANTLY better than his two previous predecessor's

That's not saying much

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Dave's been super visible and seems open to suggestions and approachable, which is a departure from prior ADs, so he scores points for that.

Hurley is a home run, and I think Mora (if he has the stomach for it) will continue bringing football in the right direction.

The conference stuff by and large is out of his hands.

He's done well, but we'd find someone else.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

That's not saying much

Its certainly a low bar. Warde Manuel failed upwards to Michigan. With how successful he's been there thus far you can tell he was just biding his time until that job opened. I don't think he ever took this job as seriously as we needed at the craziest time in our AD's history.

 

[John]

Its certainly a low bar. Warde Manuel failed upwards to Michigan. With how successful he's been there thus far you can tell he was just biding his time until that job opened. I don't think he ever took this job as seriously as we needed at the craziest time in our AD's history.

and before that we had Jeff "Status Quo" Hathaway

 

[Greedo]

UConn would not be in the ACC in 2012 if God was our AD. BC was never going to be in favor of it, especially with DeFilippo as their AD. BC was defending their turf and there was too much bad blood as a result of BC's defection to the ACC.

Maybe, I don't really think BC has ever had that much sway. I think AD DB would have done more to really get Tobacco Road on board to convince everyone else because their opinions mean a lot more than lowly BC.

 

[RichCTBB]

I'm forever thankful that he got us out of the AAC and into our rightful spot in the Big East. I look at the list of schools in the current AAC and I'm not even sure what I'm looking at. Makes me want to take a shower.

 

[superjohn]

He has been SIGNIFICANTLY better than his two previous predecessor's

I wouldn't trust Hathaway with knowing how to turn a stove on and off.

 

[dvegas]

If AD DB gets hired at ASU, the Sun Devil hockey fans should be very worried, because he runs the UConn men's program without a clue

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Is ASU that much of a step up?

Weather wise. Yes.

(Tempe had 30 consecutive days over 110 last year, 54 total.)

Would be fine with seeing him move on to greener pastures.

"We'll take 2 or 3 more answers on the weather question before voting."

 

[Jaydumo20]

And they're still never anything more than mediocre in the two big sports.

I agree. So much more goes into the argument of which is a better job. The amount of money is always seen as the only thing that matters on this board. You could be the CEO of a giant fast food Corp and make millions, but consequently contribute to the health woes of an entire continent. You could be the AD of a P5 school and never sniff a meaningful title.
If some people don't understand this concept they'll never understand it.

 

[TheShot1990]

Would you rather be a Arizona State, Rutgers, BC fan with lots of revenue but consistently finish at the bottom of the barrel or...
A UConn fan with 11 Women's and 5 Men's NCAA basketball championships?

Yes, if we get a power 5 bid we go, but until then I'm loving being a Husky fan. We can do far worse than DB.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Every good university president and a portion of the BoT should have a continuously updated list of AD candidates at the ready.
If AD Dave leaves, this shouldn't have the UConn admin flat footed looking for a replacement.

 

[businesslawyer]

I don't know if it's fair to say that the KO situation was woefully mishandled particularly because Benedict was following the advice of outside counsel. Firing a guy who cheated, got caught, lied to the A.D., and lied to the NCAA is pretty much a given unless you're Kansas. It ended up becoming a sheetshow because Ollie's counsel decided that making it a sheetshow played to his benefit. In the end, Connecticut lost because the arbiter decided to write out the section of KO's contract that the university relied upon to fire him. I don't think that was reasonably foreseeable to outside counsel and especially not to Benedict.

Benedict pulled the trigger, when he had to, and hired an excellent replacement in Dan Hurley. There's a lot of decisions that Dave has made that we could be critical of, But his handling of that situation probably isn't one of them, the unfavorable result notwithstanding.

I know a number of lawyers who were involved in the decision making process. There were some who thought outside counsel was leading the Athletic Dept. down the wrong road. I stand by what I said without being able to say more.