Is AD Dave Alive?

[whaler11]

people passionately defending benedict is the single craziest thing about this fanbase.

that guy should be shot to the sun

hiring randy edsall is a win? what do you have to do for a loss?

 

[metsfan2323]

That KO extension with the $10 mil buyout was not in place when he arrived.

and your point is?

 

[kemba]

I call BS. The foundations for the "bad performances" were put into place prior to his arrival. He changed both coaches, what else is he supposed to do.?

Poor babies need your but kissed by the AD? He's an Athletic Director not your Grandmother. When you buy a ticket you buy the opportunity to watch a sporting event, not a personalized encounter with Santa Claus. Politicians are accused of being the biggest phonies on earth when they do the things you are asking AD Dave to do.

Agreed.

I don't know what people want, or expect him to be saying now. When the story about the budget deficit came out, he addressed it. When we've needed to hire new head coaches, he's spoke. Those are the times we need to hear from him. I don't need constant public comments about the state of each program. The coaches are better able to address that.

 

[metsfan2323]

hiring randy edsall is a win?

TBD, he got off to a slow start last time and turned it around.

 

[Hoophound]

people passionately defending benedict is the single craziest thing about this fanbase.

that guy should be shot to the sun

hiring randy edsall is a win? what do you have to do for a loss?

I don’t think there is much passionate defense here. Regardless, I’m not sure what you expect right now. He needs a president that understands sports to do much more. A total overhaul of our AD is something he can’t do with lame duck Herbst around. Most of your issues with the AD require a president that cares about athletics and wants to win as desperately as we do.

I pretty much agree with you on everything regarding the moves of the athletic department. I just don’t know what people expect from Benedict. He got the best basketball coach available. He fired Crazy Bob to hire Edsall on the cheap as a desperation move to make sure Diaco was gone. Extending KO was logical. You seem to think KO would have stuck around without a rich extension, but we’ll just never know. Again, nobody knew KO was about to fall apart. At that time, he was a huge asset and universally respected. To make like that was a mistake is too much of a hindsight is 20/20 type thing to take seriously.

I’d love a Tom Jurich or an Oliver Luck type AD to lead us forward but those guys had the backing of their institution to make things happen. Until we empower our AD and take football seriously as an institution, we can’t expect much more than Dave is giving us.

 

[gampelcrazies]

He's alive and well. Loves his view from section 114 at XL for basketball games.

 

[whaler11]

I don’t think there is much passionate defense here. Regardless, I’m not sure what you expect right now. He needs a president that understands sports to do much more. A total overhaul of our AD is something he can’t do with lame duck Herbst around. Most of your issues with the AD require a president that cares about athletics and wants to win as desperately as we do.

I pretty much agree with you on everything regarding the moves of the athletic department. I just don’t know what people expect from Benedict. He got the best basketball coach available. He fired Crazy Bob to hire Edsall on the cheap as a desperation move to make sure Diaco was gone. Extending KO was logical. You seem to think KO would have stuck around without a rich extension, but we’ll just never know. Again, nobody knew KO was about to fall apart. At that time, he was a huge asset and universally respected. To make like that was a mistake is too much of a hindsight is 20/20 type thing to take seriously.

I’d love a Tom Jurich or an Oliver Luck type AD to lead us forward but those guys had the backing of their institution to make things happen. Until we empower our AD and take football seriously as an institution, we can’t expect much more than Dave is giving us.

huh so its herbst’s fault. her defenders are even more staunch than benedicts.

fwiw i agree suzielax was worse than benedict

 

[Marbles90]

AD David Benedict UConn career summary:

Positives:

Getting rid of Diaco.

Getting out from under the Ollie contract. He gets a pass on the extension because nobody could have foreseen what happened with Ollie after the NC.

Hiring Hurley

Negatives:

Going cheap on football. Not putting every dollar possible to do anything we can to be competitive in football. Spending significant $$ on any other sport that is not basketball - new baseball, soccer, hockey facilities when those dollars should go to do anything possible to bring back football. It really boils down to that. Football drives the bus for all the other sports. The AD should know that.

I don’t care if I ever see his face again publicly. Just please turn around this football program!!

 

[Stainmaster]

He gets a pass on the extension because nobody could have foreseen what happened with Ollie after the NC.

Extension aside, no pass should be given for agreeing to a buyout that large. Diaco's was only three million, and the salary pool for FB assistants isn't even close to recovering.

 

[CTMike]

Lol at “shooting in to the sun” being a literal call for death. Own it jackass!! Are we all now complicit if we don’t report this totally serious threat to authorities?? Lmaoooo

 

[CTMike]

It would be one thing if AD Dave wasn’t the public sort of guy, but he came in the door with some swagger and fan engagement being a calling card. People ate it up. Then he stopped cold turkey when things got tough. So the contrast right there makes people rightfully ask “why”. Meanwhile we are a dumpster fire of AD... how are we fixing it? Where are we going? The longer he’s silent the more it confirms that UConn Athletics is fubar.

 

[Hoophound]

It would be one thing if AD Dave wasn’t the public sort of guy, but he came in the door with some swagger and fan engagement being a calling card. People ate it up. Then he stopped cold turkey when things got tough. So the contrast right there makes people rightfully ask “why”. Meanwhile we are a dumpster fire of AD... how are we fixing it? Where are we going? The longer he’s silent the more it confirms that UConn Athletics is fubar.

I agree with this, we are a mess. However, AD Dave can’t allocate money to football without the involvement of the president. His hands are tied until the new guy is in place. Then we’ll see if there is any change in mindset. There is literally nothing he can do at the moment and frankly, he isn’t even tooting his horn about the good things happening. I’d say he knows it is a dead period and he can’t tell us anything we’d be excited to hear. We have huge institutional decisions to make and they are all on hold. If you want to get a new AD in here moving forward, that’s fine, but if he arrives next week he’ll be powerless to change anything until the new president arrives.

 

[Purple Stein]

Watched him at a the SMU game at Gampel from about 2 rows away. Totally disengaged. Not interacting with folks.

Too busy tweeting.

 

[Stainmaster]

Too busy tweeting.

He hasn't tweeted since March.

 

[Purple Stein]

He just retweeted somebody in July! The gestation period is nearly complete!

 

[whaler11]

He hasn't tweeted since March.

thats the joke

 

[CL82]

people passionately defending benedict is the single craziest thing about this fanbase.

that guy should be shot to the sun

hiring randy edsall is a win? what do you have to do for a loss?

Keep Diaco.

 

[huskyrob1]

AD Dave is just fine. Time for people to accept he’s doing his best to clean up a mess he inherited. Hurley was a great get and Edsall was a solid attempt at solving a problem with no readily available solution. He thinks outside the box and he has passed two big tests imo (I’ll count Edsall as a win, had to do something).

It's not just Benedict who is making the right moves, the BOT choosing a highly respected guy out of the ACC for it's new president is very telling.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

It's not just Benedict who is making the right moves, the BOT choosing a highly respected guy out of the ACC for it's new president is very telling.

Does that mean some think UConn will soon be in ACC. I sure hope so.

 

[junglehusky]

AD David Benedict UConn career summary:

Positives:

Getting rid of Diaco.

Getting out from under the Ollie contract. He gets a pass on the extension because nobody could have foreseen what happened with Ollie after the NC.

Hiring Hurley

Negatives:

Going cheap on football. Not putting every dollar possible to do anything we can to be competitive in football. Spending significant $$ on any other sport that is not basketball - new baseball, soccer, hockey facilities when those dollars should go to do anything possible to bring back football. It really boils down to that. Football drives the bus for all the other sports. The AD should know that.

I don’t care if I ever see his face again publicly. Just please turn around this football program!!

LOL "not putting every dollar possible"

So we have a savings account with millions of dollars just lying around?

The Big East exit money dries up in the same time frame as Lashlee and Dunn leaving and you guys don't see the connection??????

 

[huskyrob1]

LOL "not putting every dollar possible"

So we have a savings account with millions of dollars just lying around?

The Big East exit money dries up in the same time frame as Lashlee and Dunn leaving and you guys don't see the connection??????

It's going to take two more years to bring the football program back to 500 ball. Edsall just brought in some top jucos, and graduate transfers, and signed ten three star freshman. He did that despite negative publicity about the AD's finances.

 

[Jaybird65]

It's going to take two more years to bring the football program back to 500 ball. Edsall just brought in some top jucos, and graduate transfers, and signed ten three star freshman. He did that despite negative publicity about the AD's finances.

Hopefully in 2 years.....

 

[Exit 4]

It's going to take two more years to bring the football program back to 500 ball. Edsall just brought in some top jucos, and graduate transfers, and signed ten three star freshman. He did that despite negative publicity about the AD's finances.

Right, because nobody else did that either in the AAC.

I’m all in until the bitter end, but sometimes the silver linings cited here are just too thin.

The turn around is much more likely to come from capturing lightning in a bottle in the form of a QB than a methodical 5 year build. You need to get lucky and land a Orlovsky, Milton, etc to rise above 4 wins.

 

[huskyrob1]

Right, because nobody else did that either in the AAC.

I’m all in until the bitter end, but sometimes the silver linings cited here are just too thin.

The turn around is much more likely to come from capturing lightning in a bottle in the form of a QB than a methodical 5 year build. You need to get lucky and land a Orlovsky, Milton to rise above 4 wins.

Not saying other AAC programs didn't, but Uconn's top freshman recruit chose us over Illinois, Cincinnati, and Virginia Tech. I like that. Edsall signing a top Juco and graduate transfers wasn't too shabby either.

 

[Exit 4]

Not saying other AAC programs didn't, but Uconn's top freshman recruit chose us over Illinois, Cincinnati, and Virginia Tech. I like that. Edsall signing a top Juco and graduate transfers wasn't too shabby either.

OMG Rob, do you pay any attention to what the other schools are doing? It’s all that and much more.

Now, let’s find some sturdier silver linings.