Is AD Dave Alive? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Is AD Dave Alive?

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

fwiw i agree suzielax was worse than benedict
 
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!!
 
Marbles90 said:
He gets a pass on the extension because nobody could have foreseen what happened with Ollie after the NC.
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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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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CTMike said:
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.
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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.
 
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Hoophound said:
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).
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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.
 
huskyrob1 said:
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.
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Does that mean some think UConn will soon be in ACC. I sure hope so.
 
Marbles90 said:
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!!
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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??????
 
junglehusky said:
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??????
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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.
 
huskyrob1 said:
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.
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Hopefully in 2 years.....
 
huskyrob1 said:
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.
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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.
 
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Exit 4 said:
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.
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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.
 
huskyrob1 said:
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.
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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.
 
Exit 4 said:
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.
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Like what for example? Go post on their forum if you like them so much.
 
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Exit 4 said:
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.
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So you are saying Jackson to UConn?
 
People know how I feel about him, but if you wanted a guy who was going to do whatever it took to get UConn into a P5 conference, you certainly can't fault him for a lack of hustle. He created an impossible situation with the Ollie buyout but yet has managed to come up roses on the other side. You can't tell me he didn't play a big role in clearing the airways for something like this to take place, first with Herbst and then later with the national media. People can stick their heads in the ground but these things don't get done without a lot of networking and greasy handshakes. He was extremely meticulous in his plotting of the Ollie firing, which isn't even to mention all the feelers he put out on Hurley well before anything was finalized.

Long story short, while the Ollie/Diaco extensions may still ultimately be his undoing, they're still separate from a lot of the things we said we wanted. He's a slick politician/negotiator who knows how to cover his tracks and will bury any and every body if it means getting UConn a seat at the table. In that sense, he's the perfect foil against the sort of complacency that some have argued plagued previous administrations. UConn fans want someone who's going to advocate for them; not on the jumbotron or at pep rallies, but in the testosterone-infused meeting rooms that direct the future of a cut-throat business. He seems to be that guy. He is that guy who single-handedly flipped a dying program - anchored by Calhoun's decision to hand-pick an unqualified successor, which of course predated his tenure - into an enterprise that is now beaming with gifted recruits and as open for business as they've ever been.

I might not like him, but then again my opinion represents only a small faction of first generation fans who have no real connection to the school or state itself. I'm surprised that others who have more on the line don't better appreciate the stake he's claimed in your name.
 
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My only point is somebody needs to get a sack and start setting expectations and drawing lines in the sand. Money is one thing, but money isn’t leadership. AD Dave needs to lead until he’s told to shut up, and if told to shut up then he should pack his bags because the school simply isn’t serious. If I’m the AD, I’m telling fans this past season is the last losing season in my tenure, and I expect our coach in year 3 to be winning more than losing. The 3 priorities of the university are FB, MBB, and WBB. As these sports go, so goes the school’s national reputation. MBB will be dominate the AAC and be a perennial NCAA March contender. Football will be a top 25 team within five years. Woman’s BB will remain the unquestioned best program in the country. Those are goals. Those are objectives which form the basis for actions and decision making.

The problem we have is learned helplessness and a willingness to except excuses year over year. PP needs five years, Disco needs 5 years, Randy needs five years. Total unadulterated crap. Buffalo proves the point. Buffalo would annihilate UConn. Buffalo is s third world program in an biting wasteland. Yet, we can’t recruit because it’s too cold. There isn’t enough talent. The conference sucks. The stadium is too far away. The people The price of hot dugs are too high.
 
Turning the worst program in FBS around is harder than stomping your feet. Honestly, I don't think your assessment of Dave could be more off the mark. He pulled the plug on Diaco at the first possible moment it would have been reasonable to do so, swallowing a buyout that was relatively crippling to the school in the process. If anything, he's proven to be too ambitious, yet you're looking for more rah-rah at a time when all anyone can really do is hope? This idea that UConn is somehow cheaping out on revenue sports is one of the wildest I've seen conceived on here. They have an FCS roster that operates like they're in the SEC. Delusional is the word that comes to mind, when I think of Benedict, more so than passive. He's going full throttle for a program that's basically already dead and people here want him to crank it up another couple noches. Can't make this stuff up.
 
champs99and04 said:
Turning the worst program in FBS around is harder than stomping your feet. Honestly, I don't think your assessment of Dave could be more off the mark. He pulled the plug on Diaco at the first possible moment it would have been reasonable to do so, swallowing a buyout that was relatively crippling to the school in the process. If anything, he's proven to be too ambitious, yet you're looking for more rah-rah at a time when all anyone can really do is hope? This idea that UConn is somehow cheaping out on revenue sports is one of the wildest I've seen conceived on here. They have an FCS roster that operates like they're in the SEC. Delusional is the word that comes to mind, when I think of Benedict, more so than passive. He's going full throttle for a program that's basically already dead and people here want him to crank it up another couple noches. Can't make this stuff up.
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the first time it was reasonable to pull the plug on diaco was the byu post game for the cause of being the worst coach in cfb history

as for the rest what in the ever loving hell are you talking about. the coach was paying the oc out of his own pocket. what a super aggressive play from mr ambitious
 
whaler11 said:
. the coach was paying the oc out of his own pocket. what a super aggressive play from mr ambitious
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Yeah because the school is broke. Not really sure how that contradicts my point but you seem to like inventing new ways to disagree with me.
 
champs99and04 said:
Yeah because the school is broke. Not really sure how that contradicts my point but you seem to like inventing new ways to disagree with me.
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how is he going ‘full throttle’. he is a ghost who has his coach paying the coordinators.

you are inventing new ways to say ridiculous things that make zero sense.
 
whaler11 said:
how is he going ‘full throttle’. he is a ghost who has his coach paying the coordinators.

you are inventing new ways to say ridiculous things that make zero sense.
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Having your coach pay the coordinators is exactly the type of thing an unstable person does when they're trying to amend for a prior mistake. The OP is painting him as someone who lacks urgency and I'm saying just the opposite. His decision making has been compulsive and irresponsible, if anything.
 
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