Dan Orlovsky has some strong words for AD/UConn | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Dan Orlovsky has some strong words for AD/UConn

Let's go through everything said in the article

Bad Take #1 - the comment about the UConn/Cuse game -- that was an ugly game by all standards but they only lost by 9 so to say they looked like a low level team feels like a bit of an exaggeration based on that account. We obviously have seen since that this team is capable of far worse and so based on that I would agree but that game was far from the worst

Bad Take #2 - talking about Calhoun could tout going to MSG every 2-3 times a year -- they play at least once every year in that building and are slated to play twice next year. This is a poor excuse for current performance in conference. I'm going to beat this over the head again but recruiting isn't the problem, it's the coaching, player development, and player retention. So I'm not buying this conference excuse since we don't play in the BE tournament anymore.

Bad Take #3 - The AD is a "schmuck" -- bad look, real sour grapes for someone who is not qualified to be the offensive coordinator. QB Coach would have made a ton of sense but we don't have time to risk a novice at playcalling duties. We have already witness 7 consecutive years of bad football.

There was not one single thing in the whole article I considered an accurate representation of the current state of affairs:
  • Diaco was fired by Benedict & brought in his coach who is bringing respectability back
  • He will now need to fire Ollie and bring in [Insert Coach of your choosing here] to do the same for basketball
  • Made a great hire for WSOC recently
  • WBB & WFH are killing it as always
If you want to talk about Ollie being really bad at his job, I'm here for it. If you want to talk about high ticket prices or inadequate marketing of the program, I'm here as well. I'm not above criticizing the Athletic Department but nothing in this article makes any sense.
 
CL82 said:
Depends on the nature of violations right? Secondary, not so much. Failure to monitor? Maybe.
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Yes it would depend on the level, but he was really adamant that he was meeting with all the coaches regularly and there was nothing to see here.
 
The AD is not in great shape, but it's hard to see how Benedict is responsible. The demise has really been on an individual program level, and so far Benedict has done what he was reasonably able to do in each case:
- fired Diaco
- put KO on notice (as an ardent Ollie critic, even I acknowledge that firing him last offseason wasn't practical)
 
Careful... this board does NOT like when you critique the almighty AD Dave - even after he signed the worst contract extension in the history of our state

Attendance is great, status quo is great, fantastic coaches under reasonable contracts, no investigations at the moment... nothing to see here
 
nyhuskies13 said:
Careful... this board does NOT like when you critique the almighty AD Dave - even after he signed the worst contract extension in the history of our state

Attendance is great, status quo is great, fantastic coaches under reasonable contracts, no investigations at the moment... nothing to see here
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Fine. Would you hire the baseball coach to replace him?
 
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Hope this isn’t the case but this sounds like someone who is angry he didn’t get more consideration for the OC job.

Also, find it funny how a football guy is asking out of the American? The only way out is to go is the big east and that would mean MAC football or Indy or none at all which he has to know is not good for the football program in general. No matter who the AD is he can’t snap his fingers and be in a P5.
 
Danpisco12 said:
This is the same periodical and author (Matt Burke) that published the piece about UConn no longer being big-time. I believe in the thread about that article people ripped his credibility and the credibility of The Metro as a whole. That said, I'm not implying that he would make up quotes, so it's definitely still troubling.

Edit: link to previous thread that I referenced

Column: Matt Burke: UConn men's basketball is no longer 'big-time'
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He's right. We are a joke right now.
 
It's pretty funny people on here really think Dan O really said that. And then pretend to know he said it because he's upset he didn't get the OC job which he said before he wasn't qualified for...
 
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TouchdownHusky said:
Everybody keeps touting the AD for bringing back Randy Edsall. Reminder: UConn was 3-9 last season, not much of a turn around. And RE was mediocre at best when he was here the first time. So let's not make to much of him coming back. He has instilled some hope in the program, he did seem to understand that an offense can be a wonderful thing (and thus let Lashee do his thing) and his press conferences made more sense that Bobby-Boy D's ever did. But lets not get carried away with RE. Remember, we got him because he was cheap.
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If mediocre is a trip to the Fiesta Bowl, I'll take mediocrity
 
He saw the program he helped build get flushed into the toilet for eternity and the front porch of the university currently swirling in the bowl. He's mad and honestly just probably airing out frustrations whether correct or not. Other than this board most would probably agree with him because from the outside our athletic department has been one train wreck after another and the people at the top will usually be the target.
 
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UCDaveD said:
Ah, the old on record/off record bait and switch. An age-old ruse.
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Everything is always on the record. As some have learned, your private iPhone photos might as well be put on Instagram. If you don't want it spread far and wide, don't do it or say it.

His comments reflect a surprising level of ignorance and I lost a little respect for him.
 
As I prepare for my first visit to Gampel Pavillion tomorrow, and reflect on the men's group my father was in with Harry Gampel, I can't help but wonder about the "kind of a schmuck" quote.

At a literal level, "schmuck" & "putz" mean the same thing. I don't know how this Comment will play appear after the filter has its say, but the former word is usually used to convey a negative impression of someone's personality, pretty much calling that person a dick. The latter is used more to convey a person's ineffectiveness. Neither is a compliment, but I think the Toppers would vote strongly for "putz" as the correct word in the context of the article.

They'd also be sad that the great Jewish delis are disappearing, and that most bagels bear a relationship to the real thing that most pizza outside of the known hallowed locales does.

If DB is kind of a db (convenient huh?), that's one thing, but if he’s not very good at his job, that's a different thing altogether.

Per usual, I don't know.
 
TBH, I have been underwhelmed by Benedict. I think Edsall for football will at least make the program solid, if unspectacular. But the Ollie extension was premature, regardless of whether the deal was negotiated by his predecessor. He needed a year to evaluate, should have put it on hold. It often puzzles me when contracts are re-negotiated and/or extended when they don’t have to be.
 
Guapo said:
Jim Penders is incredible baseball coach.
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... with about the same experience actually operating a multi-million $ athletic department as someone else has actually coaching. Just sayin'?
 
Da_Aisijimo_Gou said:
... with about the same experience actually operating a multi-million $ athletic department as someone else has actually coaching. Just sayin'?
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I really do not want him to be AD, as my subsequent posts show.
 
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Someone remind me what Benedict has actually done? He doesn't get credit for firing Diaco, DB pet goldfish knew that had to be done.
 
Orlovsky says conversation with reporter not on record, denies calling UConn AD “schmuck”
As frustrated as he may be about UConn athletics, Dan Orlovsky denies saying David Benedict is a schmuck, the entire athletic department is headed in the wrong direction and something needs to be done soon.

“No, I didn’t say it on the record,” Orlovsky said Friday from Minnesota. “No, it is not accurate. It’s not true. I don’t want to continue to feed this. People who know me know it’s not like me.

“Everybody knows how much I love UConn. I can see it. You can see it. Everybody can see where the athletic program stands and go, geez, what happened?”

Matt Burke, who wrote the story for Metro Boston, said he recognized Orlovsky on Super Bowl Radio Row at Mall of America, approached him and spoke with the former UConn star and former NFL quarterback. Burke, who attended UConn, said he clearly identified himself as a reporter. He said he did not tape the one-on-one conversation.
 
So I take no great pleasure in reporting this, given I have been wrongly arguing the opposite for quite some time...

A contact of mine who has some very personal connections to people in and around the athletic department just reached out to me. Upon speaking with someone who was a higher-up under both of our most recent ADs, it's now apparent that the 2016 Ollie extension wasn't a holdover from Warde's tenure. Benedict was apparently far more involved in moving it forward than the narrative has been.

As someone who's been singing Dave's praises a lot on here, this is disappointing to say the least.
 
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