AD Manuel is not the right guy for the job

[ZooCougar]

College football is a fashion show, and last year Louisville looked damn good when it mattered. Nobody was paying attention when they lost to us.

If anything Warde needs to learn how to spin and make us look better than we really are.

I really hope that he uses this season to build up a nice war chest to hire a quality head coach who can recruit and pay his coordinators and assistants handsomely.

 

[J187Money]

They're fine but over the same period they also had 8 seasons where they won 3 games or less, too. They had a great and impressive run under Petrino. Before and since they have been pretty average, where they will return once Bridgewater graduates. But that's part of the issue. Their AD managed to paint a picture of Louisville as Oklahoma 1954-58 when they went 51-2. Our AD monitored the bejeesus out of the situation. Louisville is a nice program, somewhat ahead of where UConn is, but not so far ahead that they outclassed us. I think that is the major point. They aren't friggin' Notre Dame or Alabama. Though to read this place or some of the nonsense written about them during the ACC process, or to hear the stuff being spouted by Jurich at the time, I sometimes thought we were hearing about Michigan or Alabama or maybe USC. They have a longer, though not overly impressive history than UConn. But they are not so far ahead of us that we go into the game thinking we have no chance (well maybe we do this year, but we had no chance against Towson, so I'm not sure this year means much).

Yes. The Kragthorpe years were bad (they still won 6/5/4 games over the 3 years), but they recovered nicely.

They have also spent like $225M on athletic facilities in the last 15 years. UCONN has lots of stuff in the pipeline that hasn't been built or even funded yet.

Wins. LV
Prestigious bowl wins. LV
Rankings. LV
Facilities (committed $ to athletics). LV
Public Perception. LV
Academics. UCONN (but clearly they don't matter).
Non-Football Sports. UCONN (but that clearly doesn't matter - and LV is a top hoops program)

The fact that you think that these facts weren't known and that lobbying made all of the difference still boggles my mind. If in fact we WERE ahead because of Tobacco Road, we shouldn't have been, and if we were it is only because Tobacco Road doesn't care about football. This was a football decision, and the facts weren't in our favor. I think we lose out even if we had hired Urban Meyer instead of PP.

 

[whaler11]

Two things Louisville has:

A clear commitment to football.
Energy in their fan base.

 

[freescooter]

Yes. The Kragthorpe years were bad (they still won 6/5/4 games over the 3 years), but they recovered nicely.

They have also spent like $225M on athletic facilities in the last 15 years. UCONN has lots of stuff in the pipeline that hasn't been built or even funded yet.

Wins. LV
Prestigious bowl wins. LV
Rankings. LV
Facilities (committed $ to athletics). LV
Public Perception. LV
Academics. UCONN (but clearly they don't matter).
Non-Football Sports. UCONN (but that clearly doesn't matter - and LV is a top hoops program)

The fact that you think that these facts weren't known and that lobbying made all of the difference still boggles my mind. If in fact we WERE ahead because of Tobacco Road, we shouldn't have been, and if we were it is only because Tobacco Road doesn't care about football. This was a football decision, and the facts weren't in our favor. I think we lose out even if we had hired Urban Meyer instead of PP.

then you're totally nuts. We allowed the narrative to be Louisville Louisville Louisville. If two or more people got together Jurich was there pleading his case. And if he couldn't make it, he sent his basketball coach. Louisville had a solid record but you're opinion was exactly the problem. Instead of being out there saying "Whoa! UConn's been at this only a decade and we've already won multiple Conference Championships, multiple bowl games, sent multiple players to the NFL, and are .500 head to head with Louisville." Warde sat under an umbrella monitoring. How many times did he appear on Sportscenter extolling UConn's virtues? Zero. How many USA today profiles? Zilch. You can make all the excuses for him that you want. And maybe he would have been unsuccessful anyway, but the fact that he did not a thing to counter the narrative that Louisville is some football giant just shows how badly outclassed he was. As far as facilities are concerned, ours are comparable or superior to a bunch of current ACC members, including both BC and Syracuse. With the Calhoun Center under construction, it isn't even close. You make it sound like UConn is still workingout of trailers. People with your outlook are actually part of the problem. We have a football training center that is probably one of the top 10-15 in the country. Basketball will be in a year or two. Gampel is no worse than good. Not he YUM but we're not sending Mansfield into bankruptcy in order to keep a sweetheart deal either. Rentschler is a terrific facility which could be expanded in a heartbeat if necessary. he has not been responsible for a single advance on the part of any UConn program since his arrival, and for the most part he has seen them take steps back. Even the thing that I gave him credit for, men's hockey, turns out that the feasibility study began under Hathaway...When you look up unmitigated disaster in the dictionary, there are several definitions. 1. Paul Pasqualoni's tenure as UConn football coach; 2. Warde Manuel's tenure as Athletic Director.

 

[whaler11]

In my opinion the ACC would have been better off with both Louisville and UConn and skipping the ND deal. Cincinnati would make a fine 16th. That would have been a fun league. Oh well.

 

[upstater]

Yes. The Kragthorpe years were bad (they still won 6/5/4 games over the 3 years), but they recovered nicely.

They have also spent like $225M on athletic facilities in the last 15 years. UCONN has lots of stuff in the pipeline that hasn't been built or even funded yet.

Wins. LV
Prestigious bowl wins. LV
Rankings. LV
Facilities (committed $ to athletics). LV
Public Perception. LV
Academics. UCONN (but clearly they don't matter).
Non-Football Sports. UCONN (but that clearly doesn't matter - and LV is a top hoops program)

The fact that you think that these facts weren't known and that lobbying made all of the difference still boggles my mind. If in fact we WERE ahead because of Tobacco Road, we shouldn't have been, and if we were it is only because Tobacco Road doesn't care about football. This was a football decision, and the facts weren't in our favor. I think we lose out even if we had hired Urban Meyer instead of PP.

How much has UConn spent on facilities the last 15 years? You'd be surprised.

 

[FDNY99]

How much has UConn spent on facilities the last 15 years? You'd be surprised.

Upstater that was one of Hathaway's biggest failures...not upgrading the athletic facilities. Blows my mind that in the same town obly a few miles away a D-3 school has a baseball stadium and softball facility that BLOWS away what is on campus at UCONN!

 

[jrazz12]

I'm all for ripping on Louisville, and the ACC selling out academics and whatnot, but the fact is they've got a football program right now that we would kill for, and here's what we've got going for us...

.

 

[J187Money]

then you're totally nuts. We allowed the narrative to be Louisville Louisville Louisville. If two or more people got together Jurich was there pleading his case. And if he couldn't make it, he sent his basketball coach. Louisville had a solid record but you're opinion was exactly the problem. Instead of being out there saying "Whoa! UConn's been at this only a decade and we've already won multiple Conference Championships, multiple bowl games, sent multiple players to the NFL, and are .500 head to head with Louisville." Warde sat under an umbrella monitoring. How many times did he appear on Sportscenter extolling UConn's virtues? Zero. How many USA today profiles? Zilch. You can make all the excuses for him that you want. And maybe he would have been unsuccessful anyway, but the fact that he did not a thing to counter the narrative that Louisville is some football giant just shows how badly outclassed he was. As far as facilities are concerned, ours are comparable or superior to a bunch of current ACC members, including both BC and Syracuse. With the Calhoun Center under construction, it isn't even close. You make it sound like UConn is still workingout of trailers. People with your outlook are actually part of the problem. We have a football training center that is probably one of the top 10-15 in the country. Basketball will be in a year or two. Gampel is no worse than good. Not he YUM but we're not sending Mansfield into bankruptcy in order to keep a sweetheart deal either. Rentschler is a terrific facility which could be expanded in a heartbeat if necessary. he has not been responsible for a single advance on the part of any UConn program since his arrival, and for the most part he has seen them take steps back. Even the thing that I gave him credit for, men's hockey, turns out that the feasibility study began under Hathaway...When you look up unmitigated disaster in the dictionary, there are several definitions. 1. Paul Pasqualoni's tenure as UConn football coach; 2. Warde Manuel's tenure as Athletic Director.

When a member of the Foundation sits me down and tells me that LV has kicked our ass with regards to funding athletic facilities over the past 15 years, I tend to regard those things as facts.

I'm not a Warde defender. I just don't believe the narrative that magic words would have changed the outcome. The story that UCONN was ahead is a nice one, except that NOBODY EVER SEEMED TO ASK Clemson or FSU what they thought, and they run the show for football. And regardless of what I've heard about what other people thought, I've never heard that FSU, Miami or Clemson were the least bit interested in UCONN to the ACC.

And when you look up unmitigated disaster, there are about 10 million things in front of an 8-4 team that turned into a 5-7 team. Not that I'm happy. I just have perspective.

 

[J187Money]

How much has UConn spent on facilities the last 15 years? You'd be surprised.

No, I wouldn't. But about a year ago when I had the discussion with the Foundation guy we had about $150 million of projects that they were trying to raise money for. Things that LV already built.

 

[BlueMAB]

Louisville clearly has the better football image. Stats don't matter (see Rutgers).

Don't underestimate the importance of Louisville's location in the south. You think Florida State wanted another Yankee basketball program in their conference? Hardly.

I've been to Louisville, it is without a doubt a southern school with a football program that has a decidedly better image than UConn. No matter how much we pump our image, Louisville's is better. Go to a couple more BCS games, win at least one, spend some time in the top 10-15, end a few years ranked in the top 25, and we can expect our image to improve.

The talk about "we've only been at it for 12+/- years" isn't a resume booster, it's actually more negative than positive. They want established programs. Even coming out of CUSA, Louisville was more established, look at their history.

 

[J187Money]

Actually people like me aren't part of the problem. I'd have lobbied my ass off, because I would have realized I was behind. I'm not silly enough to think that UCONN has enough tradition and history in football that being in a power conference is some kind of birthright. We have an off-campus stadium of barely adequate size for big time college football, we can't fill it on a regular basis, and when you go around the country and talk about UCONN football people seem surprised like they never even heard we played D1 football. The people that are the problem are the people that thought we could just go D1 and the world would fall at our feet because we won 11 NCs in hoops. And are amazed that it didn't happen. I advocate for the school and the program everywhere I go. I put my money where my mouth is. I always have.

 

[junglehusky]

Man, a bunch of people in this thread are letting relevant facts get in the way of scooter's pseudohistory. Can't you let him cling to the one thing that gives him a warm fuzzy feeling?

 

[Waquoit]

No, I wouldn't. But about a year ago when I had the discussion with the Foundation guy we had about $150 million of projects that they were trying to raise money for.

Are we talking the same Foundation that has 2 presidents, both making hundreds of thousands of dollars?

 

[upstater]

No, I wouldn't. But about a year ago when I had the discussion with the Foundation guy we had about $150 million of projects that they were trying to raise money for. Things that LV already built.

UConn built the Rent and the Burton and the Shenk and now the bball facility. Just those 2 sports = $200 million.

I saw someone say Cincy is putting their money behind their sports. Well, Cincy is spending $35 million. He was lauding them compared to UConn.

In the deranged CR game, somehow $35 million > $200 million.

 

[upstater]

Upstater that was one of Hathaway's biggest failures...not upgrading the athletic facilities. Blows my mind that in the same town obly a few miles away a D-3 school has a baseball stadium and softball facility that BLOWS away what is on campus at UCONN!

Am I dreaming? Or did Uconn not build the Burton, the Shenk and the Rent over the last decade or so?

 

[upstater]

When a member of the Foundation sits me down and tells me that LV has kicked our ass with regards to funding athletic facilities over the past 15 years, I tend to regard those things as facts.

I'm not a Warde defender. I just don't believe the narrative that magic words would have changed the outcome. The story that UCONN was ahead is a nice one, except that NOBODY EVER SEEMED TO ASK Clemson or FSU what they thought, and they run the show for football. And regardless of what I've heard about what other people thought, I've never heard that FSU, Miami or Clemson were the least bit interested in UCONN to the ACC.

And when you look up unmitigated disaster, there are about 10 million things in front of an 8-4 team that turned into a 5-7 team. Not that I'm happy. I just have perspective.

This is the second time today someone has cited a trustee or a foundation person in this thread. First it was freescooter, now you. Freescooter's trustee had bad information, now yours is scoffing at the $200 million raised on sports facilities for TWO sports at Uconn over the last decade or so.

It really boggles the mind.

 

[upstater]

No, I wouldn't. But about a year ago when I had the discussion with the Foundation guy we had about $150 million of projects that they were trying to raise money for. Things that LV already built.

Look it up. Rent, Burton, Shenkman, Basketball facility.

 

[ZooCougar]

Louisville clearly has the better football image. Stats don't matter (see Rutgers).

Don't underestimate the importance of Louisville's location in the south. You think Florida State wanted another Yankee basketball program in their conference? Hardly.

I've been to Louisville, it is without a doubt a southern school with a football program that has a decidedly better image than UConn. No matter how much we pump our image, Louisville's is better. Go to a couple more BCS games, win at least one, spend some time in the top 10-15, end a few years ranked in the top 25, and we can expect our image to improve.

The talk about "we've only been at it for 12+/- years" isn't a resume booster, it's actually more negative than positive. They want established programs. Even coming out of CUSA, Louisville was more established, look at their history.

I like your post, I agree with your post. But one of my old college roommates was from Louisville and was a die hard fan.

This is a school that in the early 90s was still giving away tickets, no... couldn't give away tickets at gas stations.

Then Schnellenburger came in and worked his magic and they boom, they went to the Fiesta Bowl. Schnellenburger was gone to Oklahoma shortly thereafter.

Believe me, they have come a loooooooong way. But somebody saw the hidden value and tapped into it. I think UConn is in a similar position. Not as a hidden southern superpower, but as something different. I don't believe in Rutgers, Syracuse or BC at all. If they were going to become northeeasterm powerhouses then they would have done it. We are one transformative coach away from making some noise.

This is why Pasqualoni was such a BAD hire.

Hathaway completely and utterly misread the state of the program post Fiesta Bowl. We were not on an upswing and merely needed a guy to come in and sustain success.

College Football is all about hustle. And Edsall for all his flaws was a hustler and seemed to figure out how to get to a bowl even when he wasn't dealt the best hand.

If you read the book "Meat Market" by Bruce Feldman, then you may recall a paragraph on Ed Orgeron's time on Pasqualoni's staff. To sum it up, Team Pasqualoni wasn't willing to devote the time and energy to recruiting that other places he worked were willing to. It was all rinse, wash and repeat with him. We don't need that.

 

[jackl]

Kansas has Big 12 TV contract money. We have.....something else. They can afford to pay a fired coach the multiple years remaining on his contract and pay the new guy. And hiring Weis isn't what I would call a good thing.

I have seen somewhere in this forum that in December there is a 1 million dollar buyout payment for coach PP if he is bounced out of his office. I thought that he had a 3 year deal and that was it. What is correct?

 

[BlueDogs]

It would seem to me if we follow the money, a #28 media market is a real factor that somehow was discounted. Given that we also sit in between the NY and Boston markets and BC is covers Boston, Syracuse covers upstate NY market, and Pitt covers the western PA and some eastern PA market, bringing in Rutgers and UConn would have made a whole lot of sense for the ACC in terms of valuable media market coverage. So, something went very wrong in the process. Perhaps Rutgers going Big10 broke up a contiguous market footprint, but nonetheless one would think from a competitive standpoint grabbing the CT market would be smart just to stop market dilution by another major conference. On the other side of the street, getting NY Metro market penetration by the Big 10 is a huge plus in terms of media revenue and adding in CT would be compelling. Even bringing over UMass (yes, weak and pathetic but has potential) would give the BiG 10 major media market coverage.

Somewhere along the line, we screwed up in a bad way. It may have been in negotiations or perhaps there are a bunch of folks with some real adverse feelings against UConn (BE lawsuits, BB program threats). Whatever the case, getting roped in as an anchor of the AAC and now being a perceived faltering program under PP is just driving us off a cliff. I suspect things need t still get a lot worse for folks to realize definitive and bold action is needed.

 

[jackl]

Look it up. Rent, Burton, Shenkman, Basketball facility.

Just wait for 2017 when the money comes rolling in for the naming rights to the RENT. "Waste Management Field".

 

[ZooCougar]

Just wait for 2017 when the money comes rolling in for the naming rights to the RENT. "Waste Management Field".

It already is given the Dumpster Fire Pasqualoni has ignited.

 

[freescooter]

You guys are nuts...well except upstater, and you don't know how much it pains me to say that. Louisville has at best a modest football history. Is it better than ours right now? Sure. But it is as far away from this supposed southern football power school as Towson is. this decison was based on an incredibly effective and aggressive pr campaign that made Louisville Football into the next Notre Dame, Alabama, USC, and Texas all rolled into one, when in fact they are at best a 2nd tier power along not even on the same level as VaTech and West Virginia. Jurich ran an aggressive campaign, found his allies, built his relationships. All the while, our rock star sipped nice cool drinks with little umbrellas in them and monitored the situation. I've seen this type of thing before in politics. You ignore the opposition until suddenly you realize that he is having an IMPACT you didn't expect, but you really didn't have a plan and you get beat. When I was younger I ran a guy's campaign for 1st selectman. Late comer to the race as a replacement for the nominee who became too ill to run, against a popular incumbent. We kept swinging away. At the dump on Saturday morning, the high school football came on Friday night, the local diner on Sunday morning, visited every house in town at least once. He barely bothered campaigning, even went on a vacation in October, until he suddenly realized he was losing a race he was penned in to win, and then it was too late. Been through it a few times on both sides. I saw this developing along exactly that model when I saw Jurich on some ESPN show and read an interview with Pitino the same day...in 2 different national papers. I was looking for a UConn response, maybe an interview with Warde or maybe Calhoun the next day, but bupkus. By the Louisville-UConn game it was over, even though the announcement hadn't been made. everything I've read since then has been an excuse..oh they have better football, they have better facilities, they spend more on facilities, they have been to the womens final four twice in a row, they have a national championship in basketball...as I said, but most objective measures, every important measure actually, UConn should have been the choice, but we let them set the narrative while Warde monitored the situation.

 

[FDNY99]

Am I dreaming? Or did Uconn not build the Burton, the Shenk and the Rent over the last decade or so?

Both projects were finalized under Perkins. Hathaway had nothing to do with those projects. His "project" was the basketball practice facility...which he managed to raise $5 million for during his tenure from 2003-2011. Between Pendergast and Manuel they raised $25 million in 18 months to get it done. You can't even consider that project his either.

 

[BlueDogs]

You guys are nuts...well except upstater, and you don't know how much it pains me to say that. Louisville has at best a modest football history. Is it better than ours right now? Sure. But it is as far away from this supposed southern football power school as Towson is. this decison was based on an incredibly effective and aggressive pr campaign that made Louisville Football into the next Notre Dame, Alabama, USC, and Texas all rolled into one, when in fact they are at best a 2nd tier power along not even on the same level as VaTech and West Virginia. Jurich ran an aggressive campaign, found his allies, built his relationships. All the while, our rock star sipped nice cool drinks with little umbrellas in them and monitored the situation. I've seen this type of thing before in politics. You ignore the opposition until suddenly you realize that he is having an IMPACT you didn't expect, but you really didn't have a plan and you get beat. When I was younger I ran a guy's campaign for 1st selectman. Late comer to the race as a replacement for the nominee who became too ill to run, against a popular incumbent. We kept swinging away. At the dump on Saturday morning, the high school football came on Friday night, the local diner on Sunday morning, visited every house in town at least once. He barely bothered campaigning, even went on a vacation in October, until he suddenly realized he was losing a race he was penned in to win, and then it was too late. Been through it a few times on both sides. I saw this developing along exactly that model when I saw Jurich on some ESPN show and read an interview with Pitino the same day...in 2 different national papers. I was looking for a UConn response, maybe an interview with Warde or maybe Calhoun the next day, but bupkus. By the Louisville-UConn game it was over, even though the announcement hadn't been made. everything I've read since then has been an excuse..oh they have better football, they have better facilities, they spend more on facilities, they have been to the womens final four twice in a row, they have a national championship in basketball...as I said, but most objective measures, every important measure actually, UConn should have been the choice, but we let them set the narrative while Warde monitored the situation.

YUP.

 

[upstater]

Both projects were finalized under Perkins. Hathaway had nothing to do with those projects.

Totally irrelevant. This is a discussion of how much the school has spent on facilities in the last 15 years. When you spend $200 million, you have spent a lot and shouldn't be knocked for it. It doesn't matter which AD did it. The school did it. It wasn't the ADs money.

 

[FDNY99]

Totally irrelevant. This is a discussion of how much the school has spent on facilities in the last 15 years. When you spend $200 million, you have spent a lot and shouldn't be knocked for it. It doesn't matter which AD did it. The school did it. It wasn't the ADs money.

They would have spent 2x that if Perkins had not left for Kansas. All e had to do was follow the blue print he was left by his role model. I'm not arguing they haven't spent money...trust me I vividly remember what things were like on that campus..I spent a LOT of time there as a kid. I'm just saying Hathaway's in ability to follow Big Lew's lead facility wise hasn't helped.

 

[uconnric]

You guys are nuts...well except upstater, and you don't know how much it pains me to say that. Louisville has at best a modest football history. Is it better than ours right now? Sure. But it is as far away from this supposed southern football power school as Towson is. this decison was based on an incredibly effective and aggressive pr campaign that made Louisville Football into the next Notre Dame, Alabama, USC, and Texas all rolled into one, when in fact they are at best a 2nd tier power along not even on the same level as VaTech and West Virginia. Jurich ran an aggressive campaign, found his allies, built his relationships. All the while, our rock star sipped nice cool drinks with little umbrellas in them and monitored the situation. I've seen this type of thing before in politics. You ignore the opposition until suddenly you realize that he is having an IMPACT you didn't expect, but you really didn't have a plan and you get beat. When I was younger I ran a guy's campaign for 1st selectman. Late comer to the race as a replacement for the nominee who became too ill to run, against a popular incumbent. We kept swinging away. At the dump on Saturday morning, the high school football came on Friday night, the local diner on Sunday morning, visited every house in town at least once. He barely bothered campaigning, even went on a vacation in October, until he suddenly realized he was losing a race he was penned in to win, and then it was too late. Been through it a few times on both sides. I saw this developing along exactly that model when I saw Jurich on some ESPN show and read an interview with Pitino the same day...in 2 different national papers. I was looking for a UConn response, maybe an interview with Warde or maybe Calhoun the next day, but bupkus. By the Louisville-UConn game it was over, even though the announcement hadn't been made. everything I've read since then has been an excuse..oh they have better football, they have better facilities, they spend more on facilities, they have been to the womens final four twice in a row, they have a national championship in basketball...as I said, but most objective measures, every important measure actually, UConn should have been the choice, but we let them set the narrative while Warde monitored the situation.

baloney

 

[upstater]

They would have spent 2x that if Perkins had not left for Kansas. All e had to do was follow the blue print he was left by his role model. I'm not arguing they haven't spent money...trust me I vividly remember what things were like on that campus..I spent a LOT of time there as a kid. I'm just saying Hathaway's in ability to follow Big Lew's lead facility wise hasn't helped.

Hathaway was bad, agreed. But you can count the number of schools that spent $200 million on 2 hands.