Is it Time For Warde To Go?

[ZooCougar]

I throw out some reality. If there was a choice between funding womans basketball and football (putting aside title IX), there is no choice. Womans basketball is an irrelevancy everywhere except in Patheticut , but the reality is no national sports program can compete long term without a football program thanks to what is happening. For those loving girl hoops, the day will come when cash rich programs burry us and players head for premier conferences. UConn Athletics is living on borrowed time unless football takes off and this only happens by getting into a real conference. The problem with UConn is you have folks from the Fisher Price Bus in charge, and nobody with any serious understanding of college sports dynamics, experience or real relationship networks is in charge. Herbst thinks girls LAX is a great add and girls field hockey matters. It doesn't. We celebrate major Hockey as I great add. The truth is that is an oddball sport that doesn't fit the alignment mode and never will. It is a special case, not the general case. The Warde special project is a study in political correctness instead of correctness. You don't take an AD from a joke school and step him up to lead a major university at a critical point. We are so forward thinking, we are disconnected from the reality - we have positioned ourselves outside the club - like it or not.

Amen.

The wrong people are in charge. Susan may be good on the academic front, but she is undergunned because Warde is in over his head.

He waited too long to fire Pasqualoni, strike one. Diaco is strike two. Why wait for the third strike? Pull him.

 

[uconnell]

I believe that the earliest a change can be made is after the 2016 season so BD has three years to show he's the answer before getting canned (if he fails).

IIRC there were some hickey fans who questioned the hire of Cavanaugh (instead of keeping the interim who did well following Marshall) during Cav's first year (which in their eyes was disappointing).

The reality is that if BD does end up winning, he's eccentric. If not, he's a whack job. Time will tell.

It's always easy to spot hickey fans .

 

[formerlurker]

I throw out some reality. If there was a choice between funding womans basketball and football (putting aside title IX), there is no choice. Womans basketball is an irrelevancy everywhere except in Patheticut , but the reality is no national sports program can compete long term without a football program thanks to what is happening. For those loving girl hoops, the day will come when cash rich programs burry us and players head for premier conferences. UConn Athletics is living on borrowed time unless football takes off and this only happens by getting into a real conference. The problem with UConn is you have folks from the Fisher Price Bus in charge, and nobody with any serious understanding of college sports dynamics, experience or real relationship networks is in charge. Herbst thinks girls LAX is a great add and girls field hockey matters. It doesn't. We celebrate major Hockey as I great add. The truth is that is an oddball sport that doesn't fit the alignment mode and never will. It is a special case, not the general case. The Warde special project is a study in political correctness instead of correctness. You don't take an AD from a joke school and step him up to lead a major university at a critical point. We are so forward thinking, we are disconnected from the reality - we have positioned ourselves outside the club - like it or not.

English major?

 

[BlueDogs]

English major?

Good one. Your comment eviscerates my propositions.

 

[SubbaBub]

A Texas based conference is not inviting a school from New England. Half of the athletic department staffs couldn't find CT on a map. I'm darn sure the travel officer would book flights into JFK because they probably wouldn't fathom that we have an airport in CT. The absolute best thing that could happen is a rumor of us under consideration to entice a move by someone else. Not that it would be that enticing.

 

[BNich]

Whatever the plan was, I assure you that losing to Army, SMU and USF wasn't part of it. Almost losing to Stony Brook wasn't part of it. This guy showed us very little if anything to give us reason to have faith in him.

Enough already. Things don't always go according to "plan". Don't abort the mission immediately. STFU.

 

[RMoore1999]

If Warde wasn't on the phone with BIG XII the second TCU and Baylor got left out of the P4 then yes, he is useless.

Actually, if the first time Warde called the B12 was the second TCU and Baylor got left out, we have little shot at the B12.

If it wasnt already obvious, Tim Pernetti and Tom Jurich long ago proved the necessity of relation-building in realignment.

Warde should have been establishing relationships throughout the B1G, ACC and B12 promoting UConn immediately upon his hire, and refreshing those relationships continuously ever since, and most especially after Rutgers and Louisville got invited.

If he wasn't, he was essentially useless the month he arrived in Storrs and UConn truly is ducked.

 

[sdhusky]

No games mean nothing. You or Diaco don't get to be the decider of that.

When I'm celebrating championships, you can tell me that.

If I recall, you were pretty unhappy when Randy was winning championships too. Non stop whining. Suggestions that nobody could be worse and all that.

 

[UCFBfan]

If they decide to expand they will do exactly what the ACC did and contact their TV partners & ask who they should add. FOX & ESPN will tell them who & how many schools to add.

Its really that simple. Bowlsby can talk whatever BS he wants but the bottom line is expansion, if it happens, will continue to be controlled by money

This is an interesting thought and while I don't disagree that networks play a role, I don't know how this would really play out. I'll start by saying there's about a 0.01% chance the Big 12 even thinks about UConn if it were to expand this offseason. I wonder if ESPN would really tell the Big 12 to take Cinci and UCF/Memphis seeing how they have those schools at a super discount in the AAC. Why suggest they move to the Big 12 and then have the Big 12 come back and ask for more money. Also not sure how Fox and ESPN would give even opinions. I believe that those two networks are in open competition for viewers and the Big 12 is a major product for FOX. I'd imagine they'd want to take whatever they can from ESPN but ESPN might feel otherwise.

Just an interesting and sad thought. I really need to take a break from college sports!

 

[Colt house75]

I'm about to say something extremely controversial that I know full well I am going to be lambasted over by several Yarders, but here goes anyways...

If we want out of the AAC and into a Power conference, then football needs to improve ASAP. To improve ASAP, we need to throw more money at it (not less). With the limited revenue stream we have in the next few years, we need to figure out a way to cut funding for some other programs and pour into football. In my opinion, we are throwing way too much money at WBB. Yes, it's nice that they consistently win. But let's be honest, in the CR world, WBB is a novelty item that is neither necessary to have or be good at. As we continue to throw more money at WBB than football, this season is a perfect example of what we can all expect.

Kevin Ollie makes $3M/yr. Geno makes around $2M/yr. Diaco makes $1.5M/yr. This is exactly why I said last season, during our coach search, that we need to be willing to go into the $2-$3M/yr range on our next football coach. SMU just agreed to pay Chad Morris $2M/yr. Now, I understand that a coaches salary is no guarantee on results. But you can bet your bottom dollar that SMU is going to throw more money at football than women's basketball next season and in every single season afterward. And watch, SMU will probably win more games than UCONN next season.

I know that most WBB don't understand that football drives the CR bus. Most WBB fans are fans because we win every game by 50+ points and, for the most part, women's basketball isn't associated with the slime that comes from other school's men's hoops and football programs around the country. But to get out of the AAC, we must be willing to cut a little funding on WBB to pour more into football OR we must be willing to cap WBB funding where it is right now for the next several years while significantly upping the football budget.

So go ahead, take your shots at me. I'm tough, I can take it. I'm not saying that we should drop women's basketball nor am I rooting for our women to lose. I know that the state just all went ga-ga over the dual championships last spring. But we've now done that twice and we're no closer to a P5 invite than we were since the first time we won both the MBB and WBB championships . The only sport that matters to get us out of the AAC is football. Until we're willing to pour much more money into football that women's basketball, we are going to be a bottom-feeder school in a crappy conference arguing whether or not to go Independent or drop the sport altogether. I'm not ready to pull the plug on football for at least 10 years and neither should anyone else. In fact, I'd want just the opposite. We need to invest MORE money into football...even if it comes at a cost of other programs.

We just invested $1.5B into expanding research facilities in large part to enhance our AAU profile. That's GREAT. But we could be the Emory University of the northeast and be no closer to a B1G invite unless UCONN football can beat CFB dregs like Army, SMU, USF, Tulane, etc and get to bowl games. Jim Delany won't be able to justify adding UCONN to the football docket to his millions of B1G fans who are already concerned about the strength of the football conference, especially after yesterday's absolute embarrassment.

Agree with you Dooley in putting more resources into football. I view the athletic department as a marketing arm of the University. If possible, the budget for Wbb can remain the same as it is self sufficient. Would like to see admissions and the AD insure that in 2016 and 2017, we have the bodies to produce better results on the field.

 

[ZooCougar]

When I'm celebrating championships, you can tell me that.

If I recall, you were pretty unhappy when Randy was winning championships too. Non stop whining. Suggestions that nobody could be worse and all that.

Yes when you are celebrating basketball and hockey championships, I will remind you.

 

[UCweCONN]

Warde has done jackshizz here. Is there anything more to say about this man?

 

[UConnNick]

Amen.

The wrong people are in charge. Susan may be good on the academic front, but she is undergunned because Warde is in over his head.

He waited too long to fire Pasqualoni, strike one. Diaco is strike two. Why wait for the third strike? Pull him.

I agree, and I've been of that opinion ever since the Louisville to the ACC debacle. While Louisville was actively politicking for it, we sat back like a Cheshire cat acting like we were about to be crowned.

I'm not sure, but I think we may have that dynamic in place where the CEO doesn't want to admit she made a mistake by hiring him, so we will have to endure the rest of his tenure. I have some experience with this dynamic in our own business organization. Our management are very nice people to work with, in fact, they're way too nice. It takes us a year or longer to cut deadwood off the tree. We don't want to admit we made a mistake, so we perpetuate it, to the detriment of the rest of the organization. We are also embarrassed by our original lack of judgment when we hired the deadwood, because we think it reflects negatively on us.

 

[ZOOCONN]

I'm about to say something extremely controversial that I know full well I am going to be lambasted over by several Yarders, but here goes anyways...

If we want out of the AAC and into a Power conference, then football needs to improve ASAP. To improve ASAP, we need to throw more money at it (not less). With the limited revenue stream we have in the next few years, we need to figure out a way to cut funding for some other programs and pour into football. In my opinion, we are throwing way too much money at WBB. Yes, it's nice that they consistently win. But let's be honest, in the CR world, WBB is a novelty item that is neither necessary to have or be good at. As we continue to throw more money at WBB than football, this season is a perfect example of what we can all expect.

Kevin Ollie makes $3M/yr. Geno makes around $2M/yr. Diaco makes $1.5M/yr. This is exactly why I said last season, during our coach search, that we need to be willing to go into the $2-$3M/yr range on our next football coach. SMU just agreed to pay Chad Morris $2M/yr. Now, I understand that a coaches salary is no guarantee on results. But you can bet your bottom dollar that SMU is going to throw more money at football than women's basketball next season and in every single season afterward. And watch, SMU will probably win more games than UCONN next season.

I know that most WBB don't understand that football drives the CR bus. Most WBB fans are fans because we win every game by 50+ points and, for the most part, women's basketball isn't associated with the slime that comes from other school's men's hoops and football programs around the country. But to get out of the AAC, we must be willing to cut a little funding on WBB to pour more into football OR we must be willing to cap WBB funding where it is right now for the next several years while significantly upping the football budget.

So go ahead, take your shots at me. I'm tough, I can take it. I'm not saying that we should drop women's basketball nor am I rooting for our women to lose. I know that the state just all went ga-ga over the dual championships last spring. But we've now done that twice and we're no closer to a P5 invite than we were since the first time we won both the MBB and WBB championships . The only sport that matters to get us out of the AAC is football. Until we're willing to pour much more money into football that women's basketball, we are going to be a bottom-feeder school in a crappy conference arguing whether or not to go Independent or drop the sport altogether. I'm not ready to pull the plug on football for at least 10 years and neither should anyone else. In fact, I'd want just the opposite. We need to invest MORE money into football...even if it comes at a cost of other programs.

We just invested $1.5B into expanding research facilities in large part to enhance our AAU profile. That's GREAT. But we could be the Emory University of the northeast and be no closer to a B1G invite unless UCONN football can beat CFB dregs like Army, SMU, USF, Tulane, etc and get to bowl games. Jim Delany won't be able to justify adding UCONN to the football docket to his millions of B1G fans who are already concerned about the strength of the football conference, especially after yesterday's absolute embarrassment.

Can't like this post enough. It's time to take a real long hard look at what it is we want to be in terms of athletics. A REAL honest look, people are gonna have to start making some hard and most likely unpopular decisions if this program is going to succeed and ever make it to a P5 conference.

 

[uconnbill]

Warde needs to clean up this mess, or at least go down with ship until it's sunk.

He is supposed to be a football guy, but he couldn't have missed in a worse way. He was so set on winning the press conference and that was his undoing.

Really you are saying this after one year but gave FHCPP more time as did others complaining. He needs his players and what was left wasn't very good to say the least. This season goes on FHCPP for these are his players, not the current coaches players.

 

[junglehusky]

Just want to point out that the OP proposed firing the athletic director so that the football coach would "get the message" and replace some of his assistants. One of the funnier things I've seen on the boneyard (including HFD rants and right wing nutters).

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Really you are saying this after one year but gave FHCPP more time as did others complaining. He needs his players and what was left wasn't very good to say the least. This season goes on FHCPP for these are his players, not the current coaches players.

You can't say stuff like this, because you were a Pasqualoni supporter right up to the end, long after I and many others had given up on him.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

You would be in hotter water if you said KML looks fat. I'm pretty sure women's basketball is self-funded, so it isn't taking money that would otherwise be available to football. I agree that women's basketball has less relevance to conference realignment than men's lacrosse.

WBB is essentially self-funded. Is there any proof to the claim that UConn funds WBB more than FB? That seems almost impossible.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Warde has done jackshizz here. Is there anything more to say about this man?

Athletic directors don't "do" things outwardly, really, other than hire coaches. Cavanaugh was a home run, Ollie was a different kind of situation, though the one-year deal was crap, but he did end up getting it right, and did so again this offseason. Diaco, right now looks bad, but to judge a FB HC after one season with the dumpster fire P left is really difficult. And we absolutely cannot have a reputation for firing HCs after their first season, NO ONE will want to come here if that's the case.

 

[zls44]

I love when people who have absolutely no idea what went on with UConn during the last AC expansion talk like they just know. Like they know for a fact that Warde and Susan did nothing.

Oh, they have no evidence. But they know.

 

[Stainmaster]

I love when people who have absolutely no idea what went on with UConn during the last AC expansion talk like they just know. Like they know for a fact that Warde and Susan did nothing.

Oh, they have no evidence. But they know.

A committee of BY members would have definitely done a better job. In fact, we would probably already be in the B1G by now if that were the case.

 

[zls44]

A committee of BY members would have definitely done a better job. In fact, we would probably already be in the B1G by now if that were the case.

LOL sure thing hoss

 

[uconn34]

You folks can't be for real! WM is not the problem.

 

[HuskyBarker]

Warde needs to clean up this mess, or at least go down with ship until it's sunk.

He is supposed to be a football guy, but he couldn't have missed in a worse way. He was so set on winning the press conference and that was his undoing.

Too bad there's no official "Press Conference" Conference! Press Conference Bob would totally kick a## in that, why then we'd be undefeated!
"Whoa did you hear HCBD explain his 'anti-game plan' plan? He wiped the floor with the HORDE, their jaws hit the floor bro!!!

 

[RedStickHusky]

let's just hire a new coach every year until we find one to magically get us to 9 wins, since many of you seem to think that guy is out there somewhere. It'll really help recruiting when we're turning the staff over every year.

The obvious plan this year was to get as many reps as possible for players coming back -- unfortunately, you can't say that to paying customers so what we hear is aggravating gibberish about exhibition games and process partners. BD learned the game from Hayden Fry - do you really think he doesn't care about winning? Once CC went down, the level of QB play was such that we were afraid to run a real offense so our reasonably decent defense was hung out to dry every week. When you're not in a position to be competitive, the way you keep players engaged is by telling them that they're building a foundation and that we won't measure ourselves by short term wins and losses. I don't know that BD's plan is going to work but to me the grade remains an incomplete.

Next year we'll be better just about everywhere; maybe a slight drop off at WR and, of course, a huge unknown at QB. I have no doubt that figuring out how to get better QB play is job one this off season.