If Warde Manuel Leaves

[whaler11]

This will be the last thing I say about this, because there's clearly no changing people's stances on this one. Your analogy is ridiculous for the following reason; you are setting up a scenario where a person is hired for a position. Conference realignment is not hiring a person; they are acquiring a UNIVERSITY! Furthermore, the individual that you are referring to is not a part of the university, outside of the fact that he casts votes on the behalf of the state of Connecticut.

A multi-million dollar acquisition of a large entity, for the long-term, is not done based on what an individual (who is no longer attorney general) said and did 11 years ago. If you choose to believe in that fantasy, be my guest...

I think in the real world that is true. An earlier comment mentioned this being a business? It might be a business but it's not run by business people.

The Big East was run by people so clueless they needed Jaime Dixon to point out adding TCU may have been the single most obvious move in history.

The idiots at North Carolina were publicly shocked when they saw how much higher the revenue is for the Big 10. The CFO for the Ad was completely clueless about the gap.

Honestly the average poster here has a better handle on the business aspects of conference realignment than many of the decision makers. That a few of these clowns would hold a lawsuit that caused no harm a decade ago against their best interests would not surprise me.

 

[ZooCougar]

This will be the last thing I say about this, because there's clearly no changing people's stances on this one. Your analogy is ridiculous for the following reason; you are setting up a scenario where a person is hired for a position. Conference realignment is not hiring a person; they are acquiring a UNIVERSITY! Furthermore, the individual that you are referring to is not a part of the university, outside of the fact that he casts votes on the behalf of the state of Connecticut.

A multi-million dollar acquisition of a large entity, for the long-term, is not done based on what an individual (who is no longer attorney general) said and did 11 years ago. If you choose to believe in that fantasy, be my guest...

In our case. A couple of schools harboring a lingering amount of ill will over the lawsuit and several influential schools concerned about football was a figurative death sentence. Couple that with the fear of the conference breaking apart and yeah we're on the outside looking in.

The bottom line is that the lawsuit was definitely a liability for us. It wasn't the only one or the biggest one, but if it gave some voting institutions a reason to not support us then it most definitely had an impact. To say otherwise is completely naive.

 

[ZooCougar]

I think in the real world that is true. An earlier comment mentioned this being a business? It might be a business but it's not run by business people.

The Big East was run by people so clueless they needed Jaime Dixon to point out adding TCU may have been the single most obvious move in history.

The idiots at North Carolina were publicly shocked when they saw how much higher the revenue is for the Big 10. The CFO for the Ad was completely clueless about the gap.

Honestly the average poster here has a better handle on the business aspects of conference realignment than many of the decision makers. That a few of these clowns would hold a lawsuit that caused no harm a decade ago against their best interests would not surprise me.

BC and Syracuse are stupid. They are so worried about local competition. There are three FBS programs within minutes of eachother in RDU. Competition makes everyone better, or it has the potential to if you capitalize on it. College football in the northeast could really benefit from some consolidation.

This is why I don't hate the idea of UMASS getting better. If we can have another good program to play locally then that's better for us, and better for the sport in the region.

The idea of suppressing potential competition is small time thinking.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Call me cuckoo, but I think that if Dick Blumenthal were to be voted out of office, it would go a long way toward changing the minds/opinions about Connecticut, and UCONN - that a lot of folks south of Mason - Dixon, that have climbed up, or are on the way up the ladders and in places of decision making.

I'm not going to elaborate on that, but I will just say that I have no idea what the thread discussion topic is or what was being discussed as a I type this, but once again, the single reason why UCONN is in the American Athletic Conference, and not the ACC, is that when it was time to vote.....among the dozen or so people that actually vote - we didn't get enough votes.

UCONN, if we want to be another conference, needs to do the work, such that when decision makers are inclined to vote again, or decision making processes of any effect are put into action regarding such subject matters.......that we have done the work to make sure that UCONN gets the votes we need, or is at the front of whatever other decision making processes are involved.

We most certainly, over the years from 1997-2010 were NOT doing the work it takes to get the votes.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The problem with media whore Blumenthal's taking point and firing away on that lawsuit, was the decision he made, to actually name specific individuals, from the AD and Presidents, to the administrators in the ACC offices. To my knowledge, no lawsuit regarding college football, conferences etc...(and there were ones before - some that actually made it to the supreme court...and there were more later, and in suit right now.but alll other similar suits named institutions, not individuals.) but Blumenthal named specific individuals, and went head to head with the likes of Shalala - who had worked in the White House..and tricky II, got taken to the shed, and UConn was still back there for a whipping years later. It boggles my mind how much support Blumenthal has in this state. I've never voted for him.


Blumenthal named individuals, and guess, what it's vote of a very few handful of individuals, that have put us out of the upper level of revenue streams in college football.

All we can do is a University community, alumni, friends, fans...is move forward, and learn from mistakes and not repeat them.

Taking it a step further, the residents of Connecticut then voted the guy in to a US Senator.

They're looking at Connecticut and saying "the whole state is just like him". You're known by the company you keep.

 

[Nostical]

Your analogy is ridiculous. If you choose to believe in that fantasy, be my guest...

The analogy wasn't meant to be on point, merely to indicate that personal issues can and often do influence positions and votes on big decisions. These university and conference honchos weren't business moguls, they were heads of fiefdoms within a fraternity atmosphere. They didn't want to let in the school from the state who's AG had sued them personally. I could give you better analogies but why bother. And about that fantasy? It isn't.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Call me cuckoo, but I think that if Blumenthal were to be voted out of office, it would go a long way toward changing the minds/opinions about Connecticut, and UCONN - that a lot of folks south of Mason - Dixon, that have climbed up, or are on the way up the ladders and in places of decision making.

I'm not going to elaborate on that, but I will just say that I have no idea what the thread discussion topic is or what was being discussed as a I type this, but once again, the single reason why UCONN is in the American Athletic Conference, and not the ACC, is that when it was time to vote.....among the dozen or so people that actually vote - we didn't get enough votes.

UCONN, if we want to be another conference, needs to do the work, such that when decision makers are inclined to vote again, or decision making processes of any effect are put into action regarding such subject matters..that we have done the work to make sure that UCONN gets the votes we need, or is at the front of whatever other decision making processes are involved.

We most certainly, over the years from 1997-2010 were NOT doing the work it takes to get the votes.

I wouldn't state this if this thread hadn't already come off the rails......but Blumenthal could be found guilty of treason and CT would still elect him.

 

[Carl Spackler]

The analogy wasn't meant to be on point, merely to indicate that personal issues can and often do influence positions and votes on big decisions. These university and conference honchos weren't business moguls, they were heads of fiefdoms within a fraternity atmosphere. They didn't want to let in the school from the state who's AG had sued them personally. I could give you better analogies but why bother. And about that fantasy? It isn't.

I agree. It's a complete fallacy to assume that because people are in a position of great influence over a large number of people, like university presidents, and athletic directors, etc......that they don't behave in decision making and recommendations about other people and what they represent, regarding something like conference shifting.......as if they were considering who from the town to invite to their party at their house after their kid's little league game. You'd like to think that it's different, and for the people that are really good people, they do work hard to get things right.......but in reality, it's not that much different, human beings are human beings....... the same petty politics and he/said she/said, I like him or her, or I don't like him or her because of this or that - all apply. Blumenthal is just one player, and I'll go ahead and say that Calhoun didn't do that many favors or earn many favors with anyone outside of CT in positions of authority either.

How much you win and what sports, have nothing to do with all of this. It's all about being included and hanging out with the "in" crowd. Lew Perkins knew it in 1990 when college football changed dramatically for the first time around TV money. We went ahead with the upgrade in 1997 with the invite from the Big East - which was a no-brainer decision, really.....but took a lot of work to get done anyway, and we went past point of no return on upgrade in 2000 finally. In the meantime, right up through 2011, the Big East, and UCONN was regularly on top of the world in basketball, and failed to recognize that the rug could get pulled out on b-ball, at any time, just as easily as it could have been in 1990.

You learn from your mistakes and you move forward.

What we do now, is win our current conference championships in football, as much as we can, work to improve our own conference as much as we can in football, so that if we are still here in the next 6 years, that when the TV dollars are re-done, the programs in the conference are competiting and generating interest, up to market, and we can continue to thrive, and at the same time, maintain leadership in place at the school that understands the priorities and is working to keep every bridge out there open and ready to be crossed at any time. That means build relationships with people, that make decisions, and maintain those relationships throughout any and all changes.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I wouldn't state this if this thread hadn't already come off the rails.but Blumenthal could be found guilty of treason and CT would still elect him.

That's probably not far from the truth, and it reflects badly on CT around the country, among people that actually pay attention to such things. This guy actually lied blatantly, and then perpetuated the lie for years, about his military service in Vietnam for his own gain, and barely got a hiccup out of the welfare state voting population. Ugg. I only have one vote, and can brainwash my children until they're old enough and life experienced enough to make their own choices. It's not enough. We need more.

 

[Waquoit]

We care what the Confederacy thinks about our senators?