Geno: "We did a lot of dumb things that are still haunting us."

[Kolumbo]

Any particular reason you're stopping at 4?

I like even square numbers. Like 4 pods, one of which includes PSU, MD, RU and UCONN.

 

[kingdobbs]

ACC needs a force in New York (I had said the same of the Big 12 but it looks like they are holding steady at 10), bitterness aside it is a smart move. UCONN-DUKE at least once a year. Imagine Duke at Gampel----talk about an event-----and I know they play this year after they dust off the IZOD Center (why does Duke like that arena so much?) but having them in our division in the same conference, wet dream material. Plus UNC.

It's an arena in NYC Metro without a primary sports tenant. Duke can basically pick the day it wants and very likely get it.

 

[jostar1]

The biggest screwup was brin ging in Hathaway to replace fat Lou. Everything after that was merely incidental.

It was disingenuous of Geno not to mention Hathaway and Pasqualoni. Now, thanks to Geno, the suit will become the narrative.

 

[noeynox]

Geno is a little closer to this situation than anyone on this board. If Geno says the lawsuit has played a role, guess what, it probably has. I kinda wished he didn't say it, but as wrong as it may be, the perception is that UConn spearheaded this thing thanks to Blumenthal.

 

[buddy]

Maybe we should just shut down the Conference Realignment Board for a month. I'd just stop reading myself but I'm addicted and sometimes it's just better to take the booze away from the drunk instead of hoping the drunk will walk away on his own.

I am usually under the influence when I post on this board. That's why I make such asinine comments and regret them in the morning!

 

[Sea Goat]

Oh yea, this guy again...

I hope the fourth estate has the ba!!s to ask Blumenthal about Geno's comments and the adverse impact his BS lawsuit has had on UConn's CR chances. One thing is for sure - he can't lay a glove on Geno. Not only was it a BS lawsuit, but in typical fashion he made it especially personal by suing individuals (Swofford, GDF etc.) when all the relief sought could have been had from the institutions sued.

["The suit names Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo,
ACC Commissioner John Swofford, ACC President Carolyn Callahan, ACC
Vice President Donn Ward and ACC Treasurer Cecil Huey, Blumenthal
said"] From news report in 2003

Prior post above was right, though. BC also didn't want us in the ACC for competitive reasons. But Blumenthal's law suit gave them another compelling reason to blackball us. It allowed them to foment dissent among other ACC members and the individuals that Blumenthal dragged into his legal odyssey. Ultimately, I believe UConn will end up fine - with zero thanks to Blumenthal

 

[SAMCRO]

Geno is a little closer to this situation than anyone on this board. If Geno says the lawsuit has played a role, guess what, it probably has.

I heard it did come up in ACC discussions as well, and probably heard it from either the same person Geno heard it from, or someone who reports to the person Geno heard it from. My person heard it after the fact from an employee of an ACC school who was in the conversations. It did play a role, but was not the sole and only factor (BC doesn't want us in... period, but that alone is not enough; FSU and Clemson were in a measuring contest with Tobacco Road, and LCC was in the midst of a great run in FB and BB while UConn was dealing with APR and in the midst of being "DeLeone'd" in FB. Timing and past actions were stacked against us. So, despite some posters belief that SH and WM shuold have #soldharder, the deck was pretty steeply stacked against them and our vacuum cleaner was not sucking up as much dirt as LCC's vacuum cleaner at the time of the sale.

 

[Sea Goat]

It was disingenuous of Geno not to mention Hathaway and Pasqualoni. Now, thanks to Geno, the suit will become the narrative.

I agree that FHCPP and Hathaway were awful and didn't help, but they were only relevant in the later stages of recent CR. The big move - Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC - happened in September 2011. It's hard to remember Sept. 2011, but UConn was on a roll. We had just gone to a BCS game, won the NCAA BB title, went to a super regional in the CWS and had beaten Syracuse 5 years in a row in football. So FHCPP and Hathaway really could not have impacted that move. Further, I think anything Geno said was vetted regarding general content. Why? Because he essentially is calling out our former Attorney General and current U.S. Senator and you would think that UConn would only do so after much consideration.

I have another take on Geno's comments. Maybe, it was a mea culpa from someone with Geno's stature, nationally and at UConn, that had to be spoken before the ACC would ever relent. I am still hoping for the B1G, but UConn (through Geno) maybe deliberately put this olive branch out there to mollify the ACC. I'm no fan of the ACC. But, it is still a mona lisa compared to the AAC gulag.

 

[amory]

BCU doesn't want us in the ACC, but it has little to do with the lawsuit, and everything to do with their desire to be the only major conference school in New England. It is an obstacle, but one that Herbst should have been able to sell through.

People run into sales obstacles all the time, but good salespeople sell through them, especially if they have the better product. Having BCU as a sales obstacle is like a software salesmen pitching a company where the HR Director hates him. You never want someone to hate you at a potential client, but you should be able to sell through a hostile HR Director. Same with the ACC and BCU.

Until 24 hours before the announcement that Louisville was joining the ACC, EVERYONE thought UConn was going to be invited. Louisville has a nice athletic department, but it is the #2 school for fan interest in freaking KENTUCKY! Louisville is a freaking commuter school. There is no one to blame for that except Herbst and Manual.

I didn't. I was positive we'd get snubbed.

 

[FDNY99]

The biggest screwup was bringing in Hathaway to replace fat Lou. Everything after that was merely incidental.

WINNER!!! This post PERFECTLY sums up why we are where we are now!!!

 

[Carl Spackler]

The biggest screwup was bringing in Hathaway to replace fat Lou. Everything after that was merely incidental.

That's about it in a nutshell. We've had 5 athletic directors since 1969.

John Toner 1969-1987
Todd Turner 1987-1990
Lew Perkins 1990-2003
Jeff Hathaway 2003-2012
Warde Manuel 2012-current

The three years Turner spent at UCONN as AD, were the only 3 years he has ever worked at an institution that did not play 1-A football, and he took over from Toner - who was a big part of creating the 1-AA football experiment. An experiment that has failed. Lew Perkins came from Maryland in 1990, and from literally day 1, began planting the seeds of upgrading from 1-AA football - 2 years before Big East football would be created and ever play a conference game. Lew had many faults, but he accomplished his goal for UCONN. And did it well, by 2003, REntschler was built and we beat a Big 10 program in our first game there.

Hathaway........let everything fall apart slowly for our future, as he counted his pennies on his pay stubs, and the egos and personalities in charge of the basketball programs, men's and women's nationally were enjoying incredible success and feeling pretty immune to the risks to their programs in the intercollegiate landscape, that Lew Perkins talked about since day 1 in 1990.

Nothing represents that more than the entire university structure allowing Tricky Dick to take his publicity stunt to Rockville Superior Court, and actually name the leadership of the ACC and the names of university presidents and athletic directors personally in a lawsuit - when UCONN, should have kept our mouths shut tight around the silver spoon that the Big East conference had handed us.

Manuel - inherited an athletic program, and a university leadership structure that was trying to bail out a sinking ship in the Big East with a spaghetti strainer, while every other division 1A football program that was part of the BCS prior to 2002 in the Big East had been working for 10 years or more - to get out.

University presidents, BOT's, etc. - I don't believe they really know that much about athletics other than that it's extremely important for public image and fund raising. It's the athletic directors that got to steer the ship, and that involves keeping the university presidents and BOT's heading in the right direction as well as the rest of the crew down the chain.

It's all history. We are in the American Athletic Conference now, and we have our work cut out, to maintain our current position in the intercollegiate landscape, and be in the right position to get the votes, if and when, television contracts come up for renewal again.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I heard it did come up in ACC discussions as well, and probably heard it from either the same person Geno heard it from, or someone who reports to the person Geno heard it from. My person heard it after the fact from an employee of an ACC school who was in the conversations. It did play a role, but was not the sole and only factor (BC doesn't want us in... period, but that alone is not enough; FSU and Clemson were in a measuring contest with Tobacco Road, and LCC was in the midst of a great run in FB and BB while UConn was dealing with APR and in the midst of being "DeLeone'd" in FB. Timing and past actions were stacked against us. So, despite some posters belief that SH and WM shuold have #soldharder, the deck was pretty steeply stacked against them and our vacuum cleaner was not sucking up as much dirt as LCC's vacuum cleaner at the time of the sale.

I don't have any inside knowledge, but my guess is that as long as the people that were personally named by Blumenthal in the lawsuit, continue to be in charge of universities and the conference leadership of the ACC, they will not support UCONN in any way. To my knowledge, in all the lawsuits that have ever been filed regarding all this intercollegiate athletics mess that is related, that lawsuit is the only one to actually name individuals, instead of institutions. Blumenthal - I personally am embarrassed that he represents my state. That lawsuit, is just one of the reasons. As long as he sits in the senator's seat in Washington, a person like Shalala and all of her connections, won't support anything having to do with UCONN. That's what I think. No evidence - just my opinion.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Geno is a little closer to this situation than anyone on this board. If Geno says the lawsuit has played a role, guess what, it probably has. I kinda wished he didn't say it, but as wrong as it may be, the perception is that UConn spearheaded this thing thanks to Blumenthal.

The lawsuits- plural - were filed in CT, and named individuals personally as responsible for damaging UCONN. It's pretty shocking to me, still, even now - that it was allowed to happen. People hold grudges, especially if they are sued personally for millions of dollars.

Lew Perkins, never stayed to see his baby succeed - he knew exactly what was happening - his baby was spitting the silver spoon out and he wasn't staying around to try to clean up the mess.

What we do - is acknowledge it happened, learn from it, recognize the importance of the sport of football in the national landscape of intercollegiate athletics, and move forward accordingly demonstrating that we've learned from it, and hopefully voters in CT won't re-elect the liar in the senator's seat.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I think Geno believes ACC probably is a little better league, especially with Louisville and ND. I also believes Geno has UVA ties. The realization of us not being in the ACC bothers him more than most.
Geno could have easily said ,bad football hires, or years negative press surrounding the men's team. The litigation was a safer alternative.
My take on the law suit as a Connecticut resident and taxpayer, was it was absolutely necessary. The taxpayers of Connecticut just spent 100's of millions to upgrade from FCS to FSB status. With future games with Miami,VT,and regional rival BC. The future status of the league was unknown.,and it possibly could have completly disintegrated. Some attribute the suit or fear of future litigation ,enabled the Big East to maintain BCS status which attracted Louisville ,Cinn, and USF.
The alternative would be a quasi independent status or a return to FCS.
Hindsight may be 20/20 but without a fair accessment of the alternate outcomes all your doing is speculating.
In my mind the real problem was the mindset of the University leadership who learned nothing from the brush with near death. Especially when Perkins was warning everyone about the future roll of football in determining conference stature.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I think Geno is favors ACC probably a little better league, especially with Louisville and ND. I also believes Geno has UVA ties.
Geno could have easily said bad football hires, years or negative press surrounding the men's team. The litigation was a safer alternative.
My take on the law suit as a Connecticut resident and taxpayer, at the was it was absolutely necessary. The taxpayers of Connecticut just spent 100's of millions to upgrade from FCS to FSB status. With future games with Miami,VT,and regional rival BC. The future status of the league was unknown.,and it possibly could have completly disintegrated. Some attribute the suit or fear of future litigation ,enabled the Big East to maintain BCS status which attracted Louisville ,Cinn, and USF.
The alternative would be a quasi independent status or a return to FCS.
Hindsight may be 20/20 but without a fair accessment of the alternate outcomes all your doing is speculating.
In my mind the real problem was the mindset of the University leadership who learned nothing from the brush with near death. Especially when Perkins was warning everyone about the future roll of football in determining conference stature.

I completely disagree that the lawsuit was necessary. The concept that CT taxpayers had been harmed by the construction of Rentschler field and the investment in the upgrade to 1-A football with facilities and infrastructure on campus - is foolish.

I'm no lawyer, but I ask myself - what was the purpose of filing those lawsuits? The lawsuits had zero effect on keeping the Big East conference together - it was the uncertainty around maintaining BCS status, that kept the conference together - if the remaing football schools in 2002-2003 after Miami, VT left had been given a guarantee that they would maintain BCS status - they would have split the conference then. UCONN would have had a choice - go with and stay with the BCS - or stop the upgrade.

edit: just re-read this - yeah, I re-read my posts - admit it - you do too. but this isn't correct, by the time the lawsuits were in place - everything about the upgrade was already complete. We had the stadium, we had donors in place and money to build on campus facilities. The only danger UCONN faced - was losing out on BCS money - that we had not even tasted yet - and wouldn't until 2005!!!

We were suing, for damages, when the only real danger we faced - was losing out on football revenue from the BCS - that we had not yet even collected.

Very few people, and Lew Perkins (and a few others, inicluding me, and I have no influence over anything, understood this - while very powerful personalities at UCONN, were all for the lawsuit)

That was the real damage and risk - we were in no man's land with regards to BCS status - we weren't supposed to join the BCS until 2005. Had the Big East split then and maintained the BCS status, we would have had to convince the football schools to maintain their promise to include us. When the leadership of Syracuse, Pitt, BC, Rutgers, WVU et.al - realized that they could not get a promise to maintain BCS status if they separated from the BIg EAst - there was no danger of a split....but what happened, is every single one of the schools - started then - to look elsewhere for a conference home as TV contracts evolved - other than UCONN under new AD - Hathaway.

By 2012 - every single one of those schools, had found a new home. Blumenthal made himself a lot of publicity, made a few million dollars in a lawsuit, and got eaten for lunch eventually by Shalala. The leadership of the other schools were happy to let it happen and ride in the background - for simple spite and ego, I think - no way would the leadership of Syracuse, Pitt, WVU allowed those suits to happen in their own states, naming all the people that were named.

That's it - won't write any more about it. IT's all there in the history to read.

What we do now, is make sure that everybody knows what happened, learns from it, and when the next time a vote happens that would affect change in the intercollegiate world - that we have accumulated the votes that would help us.

 

[Kolumbo]

How many BCS bowls have Miami, VaTech, BC, WVU, SU, and Pitt been to since Miami first left? How many would this group have been to had the Miami stayed and the Big East was still alive? Just curious. What a shame.

 

[noeynox]

I think Geno believes ACC probably is a little better league, especially with Louisville and ND. I also believes Geno has UVA ties. The realization of us not being in the ACC bothers him more than most.
Geno could have easily said ,bad football hires, or years negative press surrounding the men's team. The litigation was a safer alternative.
My take on the law suit as a Connecticut resident and taxpayer, was it was absolutely necessary. The taxpayers of Connecticut just spent 100's of millions to upgrade from FCS to FSB status. With future games with Miami,VT,and regional rival BC. The future status of the league was unknown.,and it possibly could have completly disintegrated. Some attribute the suit or fear of future litigation ,enabled the Big East to maintain BCS status which attracted Louisville ,Cinn, and USF.
The alternative would be a quasi independent status or a return to FCS.
Hindsight may be 20/20 but without a fair accessment of the alternate outcomes all your doing is speculating.
In my mind the real problem was the mindset of the University leadership who learned nothing from the brush with near death. Especially when Perkins was warning everyone about the future roll of football in determining conference stature.

Where exactly were the schools not picked during the first raid going to go? That lawsuit accomplished one thing, it put others in better positions than us to get scooped up in further expansions. As UConn's "leadership" continued to try and hold the Big East together with duct tape and rubber bands, the head of the conference "expansion" comittee was looking to .

 

[John]

I have family members that worked in the Blumenthal AG office. It’s common knowledge of course, but the guy is a glory & publicity hound of the first order, so I think the chance to get all over a suit of the ACC was right up his alley, just another ball to toss into the air among all the other ones his office was juggling. I’ve been told that his staff had a significant problem seeing projects to completion because of all the different things that were heaped on the staff attorney’s plates. Lots of things started, few actually finished.

 

[Kolumbo]

If memory serves, VaTech was even behind the lawsuit at first, along with Rutgers and WVU. It was a mess.

 

[CTMike]

It probably wouldn't hurt for ol Dickie to fall on his sword, say what an egotistical jerk he was for his role, apologize to all in the lawsuit, and make a nice donation to BC.

 

[Sea Goat]

It probably wouldn't hurt for ol Dickie to fall on his sword, say what an egotistical jerk he was for his role, apologize to all in the lawsuit, and make a nice donation to BC.

Yes! But there is more of a chance you'll see a snowball in hell first.

 

[CTMike]

Yes! But there is more of a chance you'll see a snowball in hell first.

You are probably right, but why? UConn's fate is hanging in the wind and like hell someone's personal ego should get in the way of trying to diffuse the situation- real, imagined, or otherwise. If it would help UConn's situation in any way, the ends would justify the means... Regardless of any temporary embarrassment for Dickie.

 

[CL82]

I think Geno is referring to the fact that the Rent was built on an Indian graveyard. Well that and hiring Pasqualoni seen here thinking about what adjustments to make during the Buffalo game.

 

[Pudge]

I love when posts start: "I'm not a lawyer ...", then 8 paragraph of legalese opining.

I'm not going to sweat the lawsuit. I agree with the characterization of Blumenthal; but, I think I'd label the ACC scum & put it in a Times Square billboard. My biggest most significant push - and I blame Hathaway too - is just ratcheting up our Teams FanBase throughout the region. And I mean MA, RI, NYC, LI, NH. Our reach should be regional as we have a fabulous product - excellence in college sports. Reasonable priced sports entertainment.

I think we have greater potential than RU ... Cuse ... Pitt.... BC ... And Louisville. But it's filling stands & yanking TV eyeballs that matter.

 

[John Greene]

I am always amazed at how many people think UConn can become a "regional team". Everyone I have ever known from NYC, & LI will say something nice about MBB (WBB) and then change the subject to the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, etc. In MA the same thing only substitute Sox, Pats, Bruins. I don't know about NH & RI but my guess is outside of the southern suburbs of Springfield there would not be a lot of interest. We are the University of Connecticut. When we "took over MSG"is because a lot of fans took the train down to see the game, not because many New Yorkers really care about UConn.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I love when posts start: "I'm not a lawyer ...", then 8 paragraph of legalese opining.

I'm not going to sweat the lawsuit. I agree with the characterization of Blumenthal; but, I think I'd label the ACC scum & put it in a Times Square billboard. My biggest most significant push - and I blame Hathaway too - is just ratcheting up our Teams FanBase throughout the region. And I mean MA, RI, NYC, LI, NH. Our reach should be regional as we have a fabulous product - excellence in college sports. Reasonable priced sports entertainment.

I think we have greater potential than RU ... Cuse ... Pitt.... BC ... And Louisville. But it's filling stands & yanking TV eyeballs that matter.

I agree, none of that was done for football under Hathaway's watch from 2003-2012 - when we should have been doing it big time. We actually were winning for a good chunk there too- 39-12 at home under Edsall. Pasqualoni doesn't exist to me.

We're doing it now, full speed, promoting with the head coach, and the athletic department, but we don't have the winning to go with it. It will be really nice - to see the two things together - the all out promoting and reaching to the fan base in the entire footprint, as well as the winning. Hopefully sooner than later.

But make no mistake about it, when it comes to conference membership, the single reason that we are not in a P5 conference right now, is because we didn't have enough votes to be included, when the votes were had - and the number of people that voted you can count on your fingers, and people that are in position to vote on such things that have such wide ranging effect on entire university communities don't operate any differently than people voting on who's going to be invited to the neighborhood poker game, or parents post game party for their kids soccer team.

 

[IMind]

I am always amazed at how many people think UConn can become a "regional team". ... ..... not because many New Yorkers really care about UConn.

How many New Yorkers have Connecticut ties? How many kids from the NYC area go to UConn? How many top recruits out of NYC go to UConn? Even getting a small percentage of the NYC market to tune in is worth more than getting the entire state of Kentucky to watch. We don't have to approach the kind of popularity that the pro teams get to consider ourselves a factor in the NYC market. We already had a better deal from SNY than any other NYC area team. You also have to think about this in terms of potential markets... CT is a done deal... there's room for growth in NYC.

 

[SubbaBub]

Geno is a little closer to this situation than anyone on this board. If Geno says the lawsuit has played a role, guess what, it probably has. I kinda wished he didn't say it, but as wrong as it may be, the perception is that UConn spearheaded this thing thanks to Blumenthal.

More likely answer is Geno is pals with people at other schools who bought into the same dumb narrative. Being close doesn't necessarily mean his info is accurate. I'll take the publish quotes from BC until someone proves differently.

 

[Dooley]

I am always amazed at how many people think UConn can become a "regional team". Everyone I have ever known from NYC, & LI will say something nice about MBB (WBB) and then change the subject to the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, etc. In MA the same thing only substitute Sox, Pats, Bruins. I don't know about NH & RI but my guess is outside of the southern suburbs of Springfield there would not be a lot of interest. We are the University of Connecticut. When we "took over MSG"is because a lot of fans took the train down to see the game, not because many New Yorkers really care about UConn.

Poppycock. Then what you're saying is that every game we have ever played at MSG felt like a home game because CT based fans trained in to NYC? Do Syracuse fans train in too? Or is NYC just gaga for Syracuse and UCONN has to train in our fans from Connecticut only?

Aside: most of the CT based fans training in live in the NYC DMA. Syracuse is not in the NYC DMA.

 

[Kolumbo]

Bob Diaco is going to be the best thing to happen to this program. I don't know if the B1G is taking this into account, but games against RU and possibly MD would sell out because of proximity. Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, etc. are all automatic sell-outs. Whether UCONN fans are filling the stadium or B1G fans from NYC or Boston, they will sell out. Expand the stadium to 50k and it will sell out. There is just so much upside to inviting UCONN.....