Herbst and Manuel blew it

[brasssbonanzaa]

Except for uconn athletics as a major national power. To me, that's a significant loss.

yep, basically. it is no longer worthwhile to be a uconn fan. may as well root for quinnipiac.

 

[TRest]

First off, I can guarantee that Herbst (not Manual) will be judged by the metrics of financial endowment, academic ranking, and fiscal solvency. You are kidding yourself if you think the State of Connecticut is going to judge her on anything else.

Secondly, sometimes in life you can do everything right and not get the "vote". What the hell do you think that Tulane "did right" to get into the Big East???

(sorry for the tone, I'm not trying to go after you...I'm just losing my mind over everyone losing their minds)

We just lost 25 years of progress as a national program. I'm a graduate of the school and a fan of the teams, but the heights we have reached may never be seen again. Who were the two football programs in the BE that inexplicably expanded their stadiums? (And I've never been a proponent of expanding until necessary). Both found greener pastures. Ours turned out to be more than enough.

 

[Jimdish255]

Nice try... spout off and then go in a hole.

What kills me is the people who pretend to know how to do other people's job whether it's the bagger in the grocery store, the police officer in your town or the President and AD of a Top 75 academice institution and then publicly judge them based on some misguided opinion of what they should be doing. In life, one needs to control the things that they can control - I have no control over conference affiliation, hiring or firing a head coach, or anything else that revolves around UConn. I'm a college sports fan and UConn is my choice of programs. My living doesn't depend on what conference UConn ends up in nor does it for the overwhelming vast majority of posters on this board. It's not life or death for anyone!

They had the ability to make a case based on objectively stronger criteria than their competitors. If they were not able to make that case most people would consider that a failure. I usually try not to look myopically at situations but there aren't many shades of grey visible here. Is it the end of the world? Of course not. It's just my school and my favorite team to follow. And CUSA level football doesn't excite me much. I already lived through that and while those days are nostalgic most of us have moved on or we'd be going to the Yale games. Time to see what tomorrow brings, there's always tomorrow.

 

[noeynox]

First off, I can guarantee that Herbst (not Manual) will be judged by the metrics of financial endowment, academic ranking, and fiscal solvency. You are kidding yourself if you think the State of Connecticut is going to judge her on anything else.

Secondly, sometimes in life you can do everything right and not get the "vote". What the hell do you think that Tulane "did right" to get into the Big East???

Up till now I was with you. You have to be invited I get it, but there is no reason for uconn to lose out to ville. Our silence while they screamed from the rooftops always worried me.

(sorry for the tone, I'm not trying to go after you...I'm just losing my mind over everyone losing their minds)

 

[UConnDan97]

We just lost 25 years of progress as a national program. I'm a graduate of the school and a fan of the teams, but the heights we have reached may never be seen again. Who were the two football programs in the BE that inexplicably expanded their stadiums? (And I've never been a proponent of expanding until necessary). Both found greener pastures. Ours turned out to be more than enough.

How about the programs that DIDN'T expand and still found green pastures, even after having inferior products in many of the years (SyraPitt)??? Do they count towards your calculations?

 

[The Viking]

You know what, kick ESPN out. Kick them out.

And no I don't care if people I don't know lose their jobs. People lose jobs in this country and especially in this state every day.

ESPN could have secured a place for us financially in the ACC if they wanted. It would be a drop in the bucket for them. Like the fraction of a penny in office space for atm withdrawals.

How ironic that the "worldwide leader in sports" is housed in a state that will now have no sports worthy of watching as a result of this final dagger in the heart.

Kick them out now.

 

[upstater]

So, the ACC decided to give up or lost Connecticut, NYC, NJ, and Maryland. Talk about a stupid strategy.

They do well in Boston though. They are just second to rodeo up there.

 

[UConnDan97]

Up till now I was with you. You have to be invited I get it, but there is no reason for uconn to lose out to ville. Our silence while they screamed from the rooftops always worried me.

But you do realize what you're saying, right? You're suggesting that if someone begs hard enough to get something, that they will automatically get it. Although that might work in some households, it most often does not work in the business world. And unfortunately, the whore that is called the NCAA has turned college sports into a pure business.

These conferences are making MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS DECISIONS, and I can assure you that it isn't being done on the basis of how nicely Warde Manual asks to get into somewhere...

 

[uconNYC]

We just lost 25 years of progress as a national program. I'm a graduate of the school and a fan of the teams, but the heights we have reached may never be seen again. Who were the two football programs in the BE that inexplicably expanded their stadiums? (And I've never been a proponent of expanding until necessary). Both found greener pastures. Ours turned out to be more than enough.

Football will feel the punch. Think the other sports will be fine. Big East basketball in the 90s was weak as hell, but that is probably when we were at our strongest.

 

[uconNYC]

You know what, kick ESPN out. Kick them out.

And no I don't care if people I don't know lose their jobs. People lose jobs in this country and especially in this state every day.

ESPN could have secured a place for us financially in the ACC if they wanted. It would be a drop in the bucket for them. Like the fraction of a penny in office space for atm withdrawals.

How ironic that the "worldwide leader in sports" is housed in a state that will now have no sports worthy of watching as a result of this final dagger in the heart.

Kick them out now.

You should be blaming the politicians that failed to influence them despite giving them millions of dollars in tax breaks.

 

[4UConn]

As was stated, I think it an appropriate question to ask Herbst and Manuel how a Kentucky commuter school, with little academic pedigree, and no recent national championships, and in a much smaller market, could beat out our great university. This is not just a defeat it's a humiliation. Like many of you, I am absolutely disgusted.

 

[gwhuskyfan]

Well now that Manuel has done nothing with this, maybe he can finally give KO a proper contract...

 

[TRest]

How about the programs that DIDN'T expand and still found green pastures, even after having inferior products in many of the years (SyraPitt)??? Do they count towards your calculations?

This time around, who were we up against and who was able to leave? We had a lot of crap go against us off the field and court lately, and our fanbase in the stands has eroded based on a variety of factors. Hathaway was a disaster, but what has Warde done since arriving regarding marketing, ticket sales, etc? I'm not making any sense I know, but we truly are facked by this. Adding Tulane today was just a harsh reminder of what our future holds.

 

[Ts5034]

Wow, this thread!

Alright, let's say for the sake of argument (because it could happen) that the Ville gets the ACC nod over UConn. You are all yelling at Herbst and Manual for not getting voted into someone else's conference. Do you understand what that sounds like??? That sounds like someone yelling at a hot pageant girl for not getting picked Miss Universe. She's still hot! She kept herself in shape and got her teeth whitened...what #$k can you do if the "judges" didn't vote you in?!?

Im no expert on this whole realignment issue but i believe this is what it really boiled down to as far as UConn to the ACC. For some reason the ACC simply does not want UConn. A lot of media/writers said it was close to a guarantee that UConn would be the school to replace MD but I had a funny feeling last week when nothing happened. Looking ahead, doesnt it seem logical that the only way we will ever get the majority support from the ACC Presidents is the schools that dont want us have to leave the conference???

 

[TRest]

But you do realize what you're saying, right? You're suggesting that if someone begs hard enough to get something, that they will automatically get it. Although that might work in some households, it most often does not work in the business world. And unfortunately, the whore that is called the NCAA has turned college sports into a pure business.

These conferences are making MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS DECISIONS, and I can assure you that it isn't being done on the basis of how nicely Warde Manual asks to get into somewhere...

There is no try, just do or not do. They didn't get it done, after Herbst alerted everyone last year how critical it was for us to get in the ACC.

 

[ASweet3781]

As was stated, I think it an appropriate question to ask Herbst and Manuel how a Kentucky commuter school, with little academic pedigree, and no recent national championships, and in a much smaller market, could beat out our great university. This is not just a defeat it's a humiliation. Like many of you, I am absolutely disgusted.

Exactly, it is a public humiliation.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Think Krusty the Clown has kidnapped NelsonMuntz

This is a good case study in the dangers of Internet discussion forum anonymity.

Tell me more.

 

[UConnDan97]

This time around, who were we up against and who was able to leave? We had a lot of crap go against us off the field and court lately, and our fanbase in the stands has eroded based on a variety of factors. Hathaway was a disaster, but what has Warde done since arriving regarding marketing, ticket sales, etc? I'm not making any sense I know, but we truly are facked by this. Adding Tulane today was just a harsh reminder of what our future holds.

The Tulane decision is truly mesmerizing, no doubt about it. I almost thought it was an April Fool's joke. And today was truly the first day that I felt that the Big East was dead. Sure, it had been in the ICU on life support for a while now, but today, I saw a flat-line. A truly truly sad day for me.

Having said that, I'm not sad at all about UConn. Arguably our most frustrating football season in a decade, and yet we have a chance to get to a bowl game in a BCS conference, albeit the weakest one. We have a "rebuilding" men's basketball team that is 5-1 and already has hardware on the shelf this year (inches away from having two trophies) with a brand new coach and already has a victory over a top 20 team. We have women's basketball team that hasn't seen the wrong end of the Top5 since FDR was president. Men's soccer is marching through the tournament right now. Women's soccer always wins more than it loses, too, with the second winningest coach in the history of women's collegiate soccer (Tsantiris). Field hockey was top25 yet again. Baseball's last four years under Penders has been the strongest it's ever been, battling in the tourney with legit teams from the south. And now hockey is stepping up to a top notch conference. Facilities are being built for multiple sports.

Why did I go off on that tirade? Because the bottom line is this: I truly believe in my heart of hearts that UConn is too good a sports entity to not be included at "The Big Table." This angst that we are all going through is because we cannot process why a university this strong in athletics is being looked over time and again by the "Big Table." I get it. I feel the pain with you all. But let's not make it out to be that we didn't invest enough, or try enough, or WIN enough....that's just not the case, my friends. Hang tight, because we still have a very bright future ahead of us...

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Dan, sorry but it's just not possible.

When Rutgers is pulling in $30M a year and Syracuse, BC and Pitt are pulling in $17M a year and UConn is getting $1M-$2M if we're lucky, it's not going to be ok.

There is no future. There's no money to invest into facilities. There will be no money to invest into coaches. Recruiting? Forget about it.

This is the worst I've felt about UConn ever. What's funny/sad is that aside from two down years with P, we've done absolutely nothing at all to deserve this fate.

 

[CTMike]

We haven't played a game yet in the NNNBE. It sucks that we are still hanging around like the last kid picked for kickball but the game ain't over yet.

 

[uconNYC]

Tell me more.

I apologize. I sincerely do.

 

[UConnDan97]

Dan, sorry but it's just not possible.

When Rutgers is pulling in $30M a year and Syracuse, BC and Pitt are pulling in $17M a year and UConn is getting $1M-$2M if we're lucky, it's not going to be ok.

There is no future. There's no money to invest into facilities. There will be no money to invest into coaches. Recruiting? Forget about it.

This is the worst I've felt about UConn ever. What's funny/sad is that aside from two down years with P, we've done absolutely nothing at all to deserve this fate.

How long had Notre Dame or South Carolina been earning double-digit amounts to our 4 million per year, only to get beat by us away from our own home? "Not possible" is not the correct term here. Difficult, yes indeed. But you know the love affair that the state of Connecticut has with the Huskies, and there is no way that we are going to allow the flagship to fall. No way on earth.

I do agree with you on one thing, though; we really have done absolutely nothing at all to deserve this fate....but we WILL survive it!

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Board of Trustees has no real choice but to fire Herbst and Manuel. Their failure will cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 10 years. It wasn't like we were competing with the University of Texas. We were competing with a Kentucky commuter college. This level of failure has to be punished.

 

[huskymedic]

The Board of Trustees has no real choice but to fire Herbst and Manuel. Their failure will cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 10 years. It wasn't like we were competing with the University of Texas. We were competing with a Kentucky commuter college. This level of failure has to be punished.

Ummm... doesn't the BOT have a hand in this (if the fate true)?

 

[zls44]

Well now that Manuel has done nothing with this, maybe he can finally give KO a proper contract...

I'm going to give Warde Manuel a free dollar's worth of brilliant PR.

Louisville gets the ACC invite tomorrow.

On Thursday, at halftime of the UNH-UConn MBB game, in front of a subdued crowd, full of folks who love the university but really fear for it's future, you walk to center court at halftime. You face those people. And you inform them that the rumors are true, that the athletic department has been in intense negotiations for the past several weeks on a move that is essential to the future success of the athletic department at the University of Connecticut, having reached an agreement on such a move.

That Kevin Ollie has signed a three-year contract to be the permanent head coach of men's basketball at the University of Connecticut.

You get cover for yourself, you get good PR and good press, everyone's happy (I disagree with the principle of the move, but the PR value is undeniable).

There you go, Warde. Free of charge. Don't thank me.