Has Desmond Conner Left the Courant? | The Boneyard

Has Desmond Conner Left the Courant?

RSTuthill

RSTuthill

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I haven't seen anything by him since early March. If so, anyone know where he went?

His fall from grace was stunning.
 
RSTuthill said:
I haven't seen anything by him since early March. If so, anyone know where he went?

His fall from grace was stunning.
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There's this amazing new invention called the Internet. It's like LexusNexus, but way better.

Just kidding (LexusNexus was key back in the day :cool:), but to answer your question: Apparently. According to his LinkedIn profile. The Courant is listed under "Previous."
 
Exit 4 said:
I think Tutty was looking for the confirm and the inside story.

Dez was a microcasim of what bad media can be and that is to be agenda driven.
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Yup, and this Tutty guy (whoever that is) is rumored to have around 3200 contacts on LinkeIn. ;)

I wasn't at all that critical of Des. He, in many ways, was much like all the other sports writers covering UConn teams. UConn has ways of ensuring that the Courant and JI articles are perhaps a bit overly favorable. Des was guilty of that a bit. Jeff was the only guy who had the gravitas to be openly critical and his run-ins with Calhoun were legendary. Randy Smith of the JI back in the day was the only other guy who could go that far. I miss Randy a lot.
 
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RSTuthill said:
You are trying to mock someone with about 3200 contacts on LinkedIn.

Yup, and this Tutty guy (whoever that is) is rumored to have around 3200 contacts on LinkeIn. ;)

I wasn't at all that critical of Des. He, in many ways, was much like all the other sports writers covering UConn teams. UConn has ways of ensuring that the Courant and JI articles are perhaps a bit overly favorable. Des was guilty of that a bit. Jeff was the only guy who had the gravitas to be openly critical and his run-ins with Calhoun were legendary. Randy Smith of the JI back in the day was the only other guy who could go that far. I miss Randy a lot.
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I enjoyed Conner's offerings far more than Shawn Corchesne (who admittedly did not set a very high bar as he seemed to treat his beat as more of a nuisance), but make no mistake that Conner was a Pasqualoni apologist, with thin skin. I thoroughly enjoyed his Monday Morning Chats and it is understandable why he stopped doing them, but it was also a big to those of us who tried to act respectfully.
 
.-.
Ugh, looking back "microcosm" wasn't really the right word choice.... ehh, oh well.
 
Exit 4 said:
Ugh, looking back "microcosm" wasn't really the right word choice.... ehh, oh well.
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You meant "prime example" I believe. Not to worry, we all understood although not all of us quite agreed.
 
gioff23 said:
I guess we all know the answer to a puzzling Q

If Dez fell from the courant, would he make a sound? Um, no would be the correct answer.
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We may never know.
 
I was never a fan of Desmond Conner. To be fair he didn't have a lot to work with as the UConn football beat reporter. He was either a decade too late or a decade too early depending on how you look at it. Here's to hoping he was a decade too early.
 
Perspective - he was twice as good as his predecessor. That is freakin scary.
 
.-.
dbmill said:
Desmond Conner did precious little at the Hartford Courant after he lost the UConn football beat. That says plenty to me.
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What you meant to say is that little of his stuff got into the Courant. You do not know what he was actually doing. But that kind of treatment is what happens if someone is being pushed out. He got shifted to HS sports at the end and a lot of his stuff suddenly appeared and then just as suddenly stopped. That tells you something.
 
RSTuthill said:
What you meant to say is that little of his stuff got into the Courant. You do not know what he was actually doing. But that kind of treatment is what happens if someone is being pushed out. He got shifted to HS sports at the end and a lot of his stuff suddenly appeared and then just as suddenly stopped. That tells you something.
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After he was moved off the UConn football beat, I recall that Desmond Conner was shifted over to share in the beat that Mike Anthony had been doing, the Connecticut college sports beat (basically, college sports other than UConn football and basketball). Mike Anthony really made something of that beat. Desmond Conner did not have the same effect.
 
It's probably not Dez; it's probably the Courant. John Altavilla, who covered women's hoops before the Texas cheerleader kerfuffle, was let go a few months ago. Jeff Jacobs and Paul Doyle left in January. I'm not 100% sure of the politics in that situation although I heard rumors that the Courant was doing some house cleaning.
 
HuskyNan said:
It's probably not Dez; it's probably the Courant. John Altavilla, who covered women's hoops before the Texas cheerleader kerfuffle, was let go a few months ago. Jeff Jacobs and Paul Doyle left in January. I'm not 100% sure of the politics in that situation although I heard rumors that the Courant was doing some house cleaning.
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Wow. Had no clue that Altavilla was gone. From the looks of the search results he left the same time as Des. Who's gonna write UConn hockey now? Or perhaps no one, they will just print the UConn press releases.
 
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RSTuthill said:
Who's gonna write UConn hockey now? Or perhaps no one, they will just print the UConn press releases.
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That's what the Connecticut Post does. It's mostly AP stories and press releases.
 
He was good on UConn MBB. He had the potential to be good on football but never hit his groove, perhaps because the team was bad.
 
RSTuthill said:
Yup, and this Tutty guy (whoever that is) is rumored to have around 3200 contacts on LinkeIn. ;)

I wasn't at all that critical of Des. He, in many ways, was much like all the other sports writers covering UConn teams. UConn has ways of ensuring that the Courant and JI articles are perhaps a bit overly favorable. Des was guilty of that a bit. Jeff was the only guy who had the gravitas to be openly critical and his run-ins with Calhoun were legendary. Randy Smith of the JI back in the day was the only other guy who could go that far. I miss Randy a lot.
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D Conner couldn't hold a drop of water compared to Randy Smith
Randy was extremely opinionated but was a great writer and knew his stuff. New him personally and he would always say that UConn could never win a NC with T Brown at the point. I bet him $50 that they could and he paid me off at the British American Club in Manchester - I bought drinks for the house that March
I knew D Connor as he was a customer of one of my branches - he was a jerk as a customer and a so/so writer
 
Agree that Randy Smith was the gold standard for CT sports writing. Loved his pieces on Saratoga, a place that I love even though I am not a gambler. There is a reason that track meet in Manchester (that was run today) was named after him.
 
Good riddance. The guy didn't even know the player's positions or names. So many mistakes when I read his articles. It was an embarrassment.
 
TheDoggPound said:
Good riddance. The guy didn't even know the player's positions or names. So many mistakes when I read his articles. It was an embarrassment.
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"Good riddance" may be a little harsh. He hadn't been the football beat writer for a few years and with the Courant cutting back, I'm not sure this was 100% his decision. I don't like to see anyone lose their job on someone else's terms, but the relationship that had developed over the last few seasons on the football beat with his readers probably made him low hanging fruit to not have his contract renewed.
 
.-.
dbmill said:
After he was moved off the UConn football beat, I recall that Desmond Conner was shifted over to share in the beat that Mike Anthony had been doing, the Connecticut college sports beat (basically, college sports other than UConn football and basketball). Mike Anthony really made something of that beat. Desmond Conner did not have the same effect.
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Mike Anthony was fantastic at CT college sports beat - DC was the worst.
 
The bottom line is, the Courant is shedding experienced reporters while the Hearst papers has added them. I'm inclined to think this will mean a cutback in sports coverage as well for the Courant. Getting rid of reporters in bunches never really helps a paper.
 
uconnbill said:
While I didn't agree with Desmond on many issues, as a person I liked him and he was involved locally in his community and church.
I wish him well
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Agreed, anytime he was working tailgates at away games he would find our crew and was always very gracious in person.
 
Wasn't a big fan of Des professionally and didn't know him personally.

I'm not doing the leg work to research it but I thought Des requested off the UConn beat to reduce travel and have a better work/life balance. Covering the state sports let him do that.
 
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