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It's All Up To Benedict

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Jimmy Serrano said:
The stupid on this board is getting painful.
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whaler11 said:
No no - college administrators are the greatest negotiators on the planet. That's why Bob Diaco is trying to get fired to collect his full 5 million dollars.
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Here we go again ...

The other thing I will throw on you: This is not just a Diaco/Football issue. We are sucking wind on attendance in Hoop. We have championship programs in multiple sports ... and I think this is ON Benedict now. I do think he had the background and an elite new staff he's pulled in. But ... we are at a crossraods. I agree with Nostical: this has everything to do with how good Benedict is on selling his vision to our top donors or creating new pockets in Fairfield County. It is not about Connecticut residents shoveling their streets ... it might be about buying 5 suits at Ed Mitchell's or something akin to that.
 
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Hoophound said:
I think we can put to bed the idea that the extension was Benedict's fault. A story in the Courant clearly stated the extension was all but done when DB arrived. That wasn't his decision.
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Nope. He should have given it the once over once he got here and done HIS due dilgence. His name's on the contract too, right?
 
politics said:
Nope. He should have given it the once over once he got here and done HIS due dilgence. His name's on the contract too, right?
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I don't think it would be a good career move to veto your boss on the first day of work. He wasn't in a position to know the nuances of Bob Diaco at that point.
 
Hoophound said:
I don't think it would be a good career move to veto your boss on the first day of work. He wasn't in a position to know the nuances of Bob Diaco at that point.
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I've never heard this until now. If this is true it significantly increases the chances of Diaco getting canned after this year.
 
Jimmy Serrano said:
That the extension was forced on Benedict?
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Not sure "forced" is the right word but...

>>"The conversations started on Dec. 3" That's when UConn President Susan Herbst and then-athletic director Warde Manuel broached the topic. At that point, the Huskies were preparing for the program's first bowl game in five years. In the months to follow, Manuel left for Michigan and David Benedict took over as UConn athletic director.

Diaco, Benedict and Herbst signed Diaco's new contract on May 6.

"There were a few things that still needed to be worked through, but most of the major stuff had been agreed to," Benedict said. "I did have, call it six weeks, to get to know Coach Diaco and his staff a little bit. From everything I can evaluate in a short period of time, which is not a lot, I'm very excited about everything I see. I think he's done a great job and I think he's going to do great things at UConn, and I just hope he's going to be with us for a long time."<<
 
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I don't think it was forced. More of an extension that was orchestrated/initiated by Warde and/or Herbst before he got here. Big mistake.
 
Pudge said:
Here we go again ...

The other thing I will throw on you: This is not just a Diaco/Football issue. We are sucking wind on attendance in Hoop. We have championship programs in multiple sports ... and I think this is ON Benedict now. I do think he had the background and an elite new staff he's pulled in. But ... we are at a crossraods. I agree with Nostical: this has everything to do with how good Benedict is on selling his vision to our top donors or creating new pockets in Fairfield County. It is not about Connecticut residents shoveling their streets ... it might be about buying 5 suits at Ed Mitchell's or something akin to that.
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Sad to say but the attendance is going to fall across the board from football to basketball.
We are going to be a "show me " program.
Only the diehards will attend until every game.

Others will only show when/if a big opponent comes in.
The ACC offers no compelling must see games.

It's very sad what is happening.
 
Hoophound said:
I don't think it would be a good career move to veto your boss on the first day of work. He wasn't in a position to know the nuances of Bob Diaco at that point.
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No one can question what a great job Herbst has done at UConn in upgrading the academics and perception of the school but her want to have her hands on every decision caused this situation. It is VERY likely that the Diaco extension was pushed on Benedict by her.

One of the qualities of a strong leader is making proper hires beneath them and then allowing those people to perform.

Going back to the emails we saw when Cuse & Pitt left she made it very clear that she was in control of CR. Granted she had a buffoon in Hathaway running the show but she was always an outsider in the process.

If you watch the press conference from when RU went to the B1G it was said by both Delany & the RU President that Pernetti had remained in constant communication with the B1G and both of them credited him in being the key person making that happen.

At this point that we can only hope that Benedict has been empowered to actually run the AD and make these types of decisions. Or, was someone who had never been an actual athletic director hired for the very reason that it allows her to maintain control?
 
huskymedic said:
Not sure "forced" is the right word but...

>>"The conversations started on Dec. 3" That's when UConn President Susan Herbst and then-athletic director Warde Manuel broached the topic. At that point, the Huskies were preparing for the program's first bowl game in five years. In the months to follow, Manuel left for Michigan and David Benedict took over as UConn athletic director.

Diaco, Benedict and Herbst signed Diaco's new contract on May 6.

"There were a few things that still needed to be worked through, but most of the major stuff had been agreed to," Benedict said. "I did have, call it six weeks, to get to know Coach Diaco and his staff a little bit. From everything I can evaluate in a short period of time, which is not a lot, I'm very excited about everything I see. I think he's done a great job and I think he's going to do great things at UConn, and I just hope he's going to be with us for a long time."<<
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Ok so Benedict owns that extension.
 
Dooley said:
I don't think it was forced. More of an extension that was orchestrated/initiated by Warde and/or Herbst before he got here. Big mistake.
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It wasn't forced. Benedict owns the extension. Doubtful that he'll get sign off to fire him anyway. Program is on life support.
 
Jimmy Serrano said:
Ok so Benedict owns that extension.
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He could still have been told by SH "I got this - it's a done deal". Not sure anything he saw in 6 weeks would be out of the off-season norm. His next move is what will be telling. Not writing DB off yet.
 
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huskymedic said:
He could still have been told by SH "I got this - it's a done deal". His next move is what will be telling. Not writing DB off yet.
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If he's able to navigate those political waters and get sign off from Herbst to can red pants I will feel much more confident in Benedict to lead.
 
With a 800K buyout, there is no way Diaco is our 2017 head coach. With a $5M buyout, it muddies up the waters for sure. My hope is that DB will address the program in other ways, such as green lighting a significant bump to our assistant coaches pool. Let's bring in an OC who has, I don't know, actually called an offensive gameplan before.
 
Hoophound said:
I don't think it would be a good career move to veto your boss on the first day of work. He wasn't in a position to know the nuances of Bob Diaco at that point.
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Wasn't his first day. He had six weeks from hiring to contract extension. Herbst would have respected him if he said "Uh, maybe we should revisit this"
 
Dooley said:
With a 800K buyout, there is no way Diaco is our 2017 head coach. With a $5M buyout, it muddies up the waters for sure. My hope is that DB will address the program in other ways, such as green lighting a significant bump to our assistant coaches pool. Let's bring in an OC who has, I don't know, actually called an offensive gameplan before.
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As much as I'm favor of giving assistant raises, maybe part of UConn (Herbst) problem is throwing money at things.Let's get the HC thing straightened out first.
 
Let's talk about how bad this extension is.

If they thought he was a threat to leave: WHY WOULD THERE BE A HUGE BUYOUT TO CAN HIM BUT ALMOST NO BUYOUT IF HE LEAVES.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Who extends an 8-17 coach who did nothing in recruiting.
 
In Benedict's defense I'm sure Bob seems fine in the dead of winter.
 
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politics said:
Wasn't his first day. He had six weeks from hiring to contract extension. Herbst would have respected him if he said "Uh, maybe we should revisit this"
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Again, much easier not to question your new boss right away. What could he have learned about Diaco in the offseason to warrant disagreeing with the extension?

Warde and Susan did this. If anything, Benedict's opinion should have more sway after this disaster. They made a bad decision and now he should have the capital to use his expertise to fix the problem.
 
Hoophound said:
Again, much easier not to question your new boss right away. What could he have learned about Diaco in the offseason to warrant disagreeing with the extension?

Warde and Susan did this. If anything, Benedict's opinion should have more sway after this disaster. They made a bad decision and now he should have the capital to use his expertise to fix the problem.
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Benedict came to UConn from Auburn. Auburn fired a guy who won a freaking national title. Since Benedict obviously sold UConn on his Auburn cred, don't you think he should have gone to his former boss (Jay Jacobs) and asked him what he thought about the deal before he signed off on it?
 
Hoophound said:
Again, much easier not to question your new boss right away. What could he have learned about Diaco in the offseason to warrant disagreeing with the extension?

Warde and Susan did this. If anything, Benedict's opinion should have more sway after this disaster. They made a bad decision and now he should have the capital to use his expertise to fix the problem.
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The only think I think you can call DB out on is the terms of the deal. Not that it got signed but that it's so one-sided.

We don't know if he raged against the machine and was overruled though.

Either way he'll be judged on how he fixes it - can't change that deal now.
 
Tough call without knowing much more about the internal working of the University but I'm inclined to give Benedict the benefit of a he doubt. He walks in and gets handed a deal that originated with Warde and Herbst. He isn't going to be able to cancel it most of the time without causing a huge number of problems with his coach and his boss.

But I agree it isn't the deal it is how he fixes it that will be his legacy.
 
I don't have a problem with giving him an extension, it looked like we were moving in the right direction, and with our situation if we get a good coach we have to be aggressive in keeping him. The terms of the deal were terrible though, little protection against him jumping to a better job, but huge job security for him if he fails.
 
Pudge said:
Here we go again ...

The other thing I will throw on you: This is not just a Diaco/Football issue. We are sucking wind on attendance in Hoop. We have championship programs in multiple sports ... and I think this is ON Benedict now. I do think he had the background and an elite new staff he's pulled in. But ... we are at a crossraods. I agree with Nostical: this has everything to do with how good Benedict is on selling his vision to our top donors or creating new pockets in Fairfield County. It is not about Connecticut residents shoveling their streets ... it might be about buying 5 suits at Ed Mitchell's or something akin to that.
Expand ...
Hoops? Want to go to a Syracuse, Georgetown or Villanova home game or a ECU, Tulane or Tulsa game? Football has the same issue. Would Michigan fill the Big House with our football schedule? Maybe year one but over time there would be a loytof empty seats.
 
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