McHugh weighs in on Diaco hire (OMG)

[junglehusky]

The weakness in McHugh's argument when mentioning Yale's fans in the 20s, 30s and 40s is that the NFL was perceived as the WWE of football back then.

Ya know, I kinda doubt that was the weakness of McHugh's argument.

 

[Adios]

Ya know, I kinda doubt that was the weakness of McHugh's argument.

When the NFL dominates the market....

Did you know the NFL (or AFL) couldn't even successfully penetrate Boston until 1960 because of Harvard?

 

[junglehusky]

When the NFL dominates the market....

Did you know the NFL (or AFL) couldn't even successfully penetrate Boston until 1960 because of Harvard?

That's nice. Good thing UConn doesn't have to compete the NFL as the most financially successful sports league in the world in our time OH WAIT THEY TOTALLY ARE BECAUSE IT'S NOT 1960 ANYMORE.

 

[Adios]

That's nice. Good thing UConn doesn't have to compete the NFL as the most financially successful sports league in the world in our time OH WAIT THEY TOTALLY ARE BECAUSE IT'S NOT 1960 ANYMORE.

They still compete for fan $, dumb@ss.

 

[junglehusky]

They still compete for fan $, dumb@ss.

that's my point genius.

 

[Fishy]

Bill, your input is appreciated (good to know BY connections run deep). But with all due respect have a hard time believing Larry was that opposed to P, especially since he had to know about Burton's objections and the support of CT coaches. I'd be very interested to know if CT coaches personally lobbied Larry on this one.

You've created your own fan fiction here.

You have McHugh asking high school coaches to write recommendation letters - that didn't happen. For the record, that was not the only high school association that wrote to recommend P - they came from the entire tri-state. Take a minute and think, who would ask three or four states' worth of HS associations to write glowing recommendations about Paul Pasqualoni?

It should take you all of one second to come up with a name.

Unfortunately, Hathaway was operating under an interim president and I don't think Austin gave a crap what he did. JH ran his own search, kept his own counsel and leaned largely on a few people in particular who recommended Pasqualoni - Jake Crouthamel had his ear in a big, big way.

In the end, P got hired because JH put together a s--- list of candidates and P looked good by association. We just had a bad AD - that search helped get him canned.

And McHugh was the guy who went to Burton after the fact and brought him back into the fold.

 

[uconnbill]

Bill, your input is appreciated (good to know BY connections run deep). But with all due respect have a hard time believing Larry was that opposed to P, especially since he had to know about Burton's objections and the support of CT coaches. I'd be very interested to know if CT coaches personally lobbied Larry on this one.

Also understand that BOT head wants to stay above the fray and not micromanage, but with an important position like FB coach he should have had a handle on the Edsall-JH relationship and should have been getting updates on how negotiations were going. At least ask Randy the week of the Fiesta Bowl if he was happy, at a minimum.

Oh well. It's Diaco and upward now.

He wanted Randy to stay and was trying to make that happen alone with others with seeing the removal of Hathaway as AD.

My guess local coaches had more say than they should have, but I didn't hear that from Larry

 

[UConnDan97]

In the end, P got hired because JH put together a s--- list of candidates and P looked good by association.

This can't be overstated, by the way. When choosing between Garrick McGee, Mark Whipple, Norries Wilson, Ken O'Keefe, and Hank Hughes, it made choosing Pasqualoni look like a "no-brainer" (insert joke here ___ ). Contrast that list with what we were tossing around this time. This is a much different hiring process than the previous one, and Warde deserves a lot of credit for that...

http://runwayramblings.blogspot.com/2011/01/post-pp-presser-items.html

 

[Waquoit]

Did you know the NFL (or AFL) couldn't even successfully penetrate Boston until 1960 because of Harvard?

The NFL had successfully penetrated the market during that time. They were all Giants fans.

 

[ZooCougar]

No way everyone was Giants fans. Everyone was a Hofstra fan!

 

[Rumrunner]

In the end, this is more of an indictment of McHugh then, isn't it? Did he take a laissez faire attitude to the hire, knowing as head of the pres search, the proclivities of those his job was to review, and the flux of the school and the department? Did McHugh not know what everyone knew, that JH was a lame duck walking? I venture that the truth, as always, lies somewhere in between. It's enough for me that McHugh failed to provide resistance to the amateur hour candidate pool and hire, not that he actively enabled it. The safe choice, the decision to stay provincial and insulate the program from further change by hiring a lifer was the theme of the day, a theme carried forth with no opposition from anyone in influence at the school- BoT on down- except for the one guy that they kept hanging up on, whose influence was far less, unfortunately, than the short timers above him.

Again, hindsight is 20/20. Mistakes in process, review, judgment and hire were made. Those doing it this time around learned from it. A lot of good has been done by McHugh, so whether his lack of oversight or his invisible hand contributed to Pasqualoni's hire, it's ameliorated by his success in other, deeper areas, and by the hire under his review of Herbst, Manuel, and now, finally Diaco.

You've created your own fan fiction here.

Unfortunately, Hathaway was operating under an interim president and I don't think Austin gave a crap what he did. JH ran his own search, kept his own counsel and leaned largely on a few people in particular who recommended Pasqualoni

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

In the end, this is more of an indictment of McHugh then, isn't it? Did he take a laissez faire attitude to the hire, knowing as head of the pres search, the proclivities of those his job was to review, and the flux of the school and the department? Did McHugh not know what everyone knew, that JH was a lame duck walking? I venture that the truth, as always, lies somewhere in between. It's enough for me that McHugh failed to provide resistance to the amateur hour candidate pool and hire, not that he actively enabled it. The safe choice, the decision to stay provincial and insulate the program from further change by hiring a lifer was the theme of the day, a theme carried forth with no opposition from anyone in influence at the school- BoT on down- except for the one guy that they kept hanging up on, whose influence was far less, unfortunately, than the short timers above him.

Again, hindsight is 20/20. Mistakes in process, review, judgment and hire were made. Those doing it this time around learned from it. A lot of good has been done by McHugh, so whether his lack of oversight or his invisible hand contributed to Pasqualoni's hire, it's ameliorated by his success in other, deeper areas, and by the hire under his review of Herbst, Manuel, and now, finally Diaco.

Nobody is defending anyone's role in the clusterduck of the hiring process 3 years ago. But what you just posted here is a long way from ruskin's opinion that McHugh pushed for the P hire by coercing HS coaches to write letters of recommendation. That did not happen. No matter how often he repeats it.

 

[Adios]

The NFL had successfully penetrated the market during that time. They were all Giants fans.

Don't you wish...

 

[ruskin]

You've created your own fan fiction here.

You have McHugh asking high school coaches to write recommendation letters - that didn't happen. For the record, that was not the only high school association that wrote to recommend P - they came from the entire tri-state. Take a minute and think, who would ask three or four states' worth of HS associations to write glowing recommendations about Paul Pasqualoni?

Let me ask you this, Fish. Forget about the other states. Just focus on the CT guys. The Fillippone-Marinelli crowd have such a high enough opinion of themselves that they thought their letter would carry some weight. Looks like it did. If they have high enough opinion of themselves to write that letter, it seems extremely plausible they would "reach out" and personally lobby for P to McHugh , who is a member emeritus of their esteemed organization.

Whatever. The point of the OP was the guy who thinks Diaco is such a great hire is trying to disassociate himself from his role in the P hire, which he enabled to some degree (I happen to believe it was a lot). He also enabled the retention of P after last season, a decision which also set back the program. For McHugh or other folks to pretend he was an innocent bystander in both decisions is a little too cute by half.

 

[J187Money]

There is a huge difference between being an innocent bystander and being guilty of a conspiracy to enrich one's friends while bringing a university to its knees on purpose (even though it would reflect poorly on him also). Which seems to be the case you are trying to make. If you have ever had a conversation with the man...I'm certain you wouldn't find him the center of the axis of evil.

 

[ruskin]

There is a huge difference between being an innocent bystander and being guilty of a conspiracy to enrich one's friends while bringing a university to its knees on purpose (even though it would reflect poorly on him also). Which seems to be the case you are trying to make. If you have ever had a conversation with the man...I'm certain you wouldn't find him the center of the axis of evil.

No, no, no, don't think in any way "evil" or he was "conspiring" to enrich P. Just think a lot of old-timer football people in this state, including McHugh, had a blind spot when it came to P, which combined with a weak and football-ignorant AD and an interim president who could not have cared less abut the hire created a perfect storm of failure, which in this case is most definitely an orphan. And a lot of what this program has gone through could have been prevented if he had stepped in last December.

 

[J187Money]

No, no, no, don't think in any way "evil" or he was "conspiring" to enrich P. Just think a lot of old-timer football people in this state, including McHugh, had a blind spot when it came to P, which combined with a weak and football-ignorant AD and an interim president who could not have cared less abut the hire created a perfect storm of failure, which in this case is most definitely an orphan. And a lot of what this program has gone through could have been prevented if he had stepped in last December.

I think that you are right that the circumstances led to coach P being hired. And yes, in retrospect, P should have been fired in December. And YES, I know that a lot of you called for it here.

BUT - in both 2011 and 2012, we were 1 win away from a bowl (including games that were choked away in Vandy in 2011 and Temple in 2012), AND we were not out of bowl contention until our final game of the season. And SH and WM were fully on board at that point, WM had just gone through the Ollie situation, and while I know we were all unhappy about how the season ended, and were concerned (rightly so) about P's ability to do anything this year, I don't think the evidence was there for the BOT chair to come in over the top and force a decision on his people. If you go out and hire SH and WM, you have to let them do their jobs. If JH were still here with an interim president, then by all means he should have taken the ball. But not firing P last year is on WM/SH - not on McHugh.

 

[Waquoit]

Don't you wish...

It's true. You're the history guy, The Boston area used to be Giant country.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I think that you are right that the circumstances led to coach P being hired. And yes, in retrospect, P should have been fired in December. And YES, I know that a lot of you called for it here.

BUT - in both 2011 and 2012, we were 1 win away from a bowl (including games that were choked away in Vandy in 2011 and Temple in 2012), AND we were not out of bowl contention until our final game of the season. And SH and WM were fully on board at that point, WM had just gone through the Ollie situation, and while I know we were all unhappy about how the season ended, and were concerned (rightly so) about P's ability to do anything this year, I don't think the evidence was there for the BOT chair to come in over the top and force a decision on his people. If you go out and hire SH and WM, you have to let them do their jobs. If JH were still here with an interim president, then by all means he should have taken the ball. But not firing P last year is on WM/SH - not on McHugh.

One thought that occurred to me over this past weekend is that one unintended consequence of our loss to Temple last year was that it could have been what put Daz over the top (ahead of Diaco) as a candidate for BC.

 

[ruskin]

But not firing P last year is on WM/SH - not on McHugh.

I'll respectfully disagree with that. He bears some responsibility. I'll assume he was at the Rent for the Cincy game last year and like the rest of us saw how dead the crowd and team was -- with a bowl berth on the line a week after beating a ranked team on the road! I get the fact he doesn't want to micro-manage but P was not a micro issue. At a minimum there should have been a meeting of the three minds (indeed, there may have been one). Somebody decided it was worth not paying the P $1 million buyout last year and crossed their fingers and hoped things got better. Sure there's a good story in there as exactly how that went down.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I'll respectfully disagree with that. He bears some responsibility. I'll assume he was at the Rent for the Cincy game last year and like the rest of us saw how dead the crowd and team was -- with a bowl berth on the line a week after beating a ranked team on the road! I get the fact he doesn't want to micro-manage but P was not a micro issue. At a minimum there should have been a meeting of the three minds (indeed, there may have been one). Somebody decided it was worth not paying the P $1 million buyout last year and crossed their fingers and hoped things got better. Sure there's a good story in there as exactly how that went down.

That somebody was Warde Manuel. A guy who figured he had a free year because P was not his hire. I understand the reasons why P was not fired last December. I don't agree with them, and by not canning him, I blame last year on WM.

 

[J187Money]

I'm not suggesting he bears no responsibility, and I'm sure it was discussed. But it is much different if WM comes to him to fire PP and McHugh says no, v. if McHugh suggests it to WM (because he has the $ from Burton) and WM says no and McHugh doesn't want to overrule him. I'm sure we'd all like to know exactly what happened. But in my mind it doesn't really matter, because we are in the AAC no matter what and I love our new HC (so far). I'm not certain we get a better one if this happens last year.

 

[Waquoit]

That somebody was Warde Manuel. A guy who figured he had a free year because P was not his hire. I understand the reasons why P was not fired last December. I don't agree with them, and by not canning him, I blame last year on WM.

Totally agree. I also think WM thought the ticket sales based on the UM game would give him some wiggle room. He was 100% wrong. The program lost a year. But it's a moot point now. The Diaco hire resets the mojo. Ten toes in.

 

[IMind]

Totally agree. I also think WM thought the ticket sales based on the UM game would give him some wiggle room. He was 100% wrong. The program lost a year. But it's a moot point now. The Diaco hire resets the mojo. Ten toes in.

I don't even know about that. It's reasonable to think that with a new OC... and a good defense PP could have turned things around. It's reasonable to think that PP could have learned from his earlier mistakes at Syracuse and realized that GDL just didn't have it anymore (if he ever did) and kept his impact on the offense to a minimum. Especially after PP basically got handed a new OC because GDL was a travesty. Of course we know none of those things really happened. Especially coming after a win at the end of the year against Louisville. I think one of the knocks on WM might be that he's too prudent.

Hell, on the other hand, if I want to give WM the benefit of the doubt, maybe he wanted Bob Diaco the whole time, knew he couldn't get him on a year he was going to a national championship game, and rolled the dice that PP would have a crap year and he could fire him at the end. His mistake might have been that he didn't foresee the 0-12 year we were headed for not the 5-6 win year he thought it would be.

Either way the end result is leaves me very optimistic.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I don't even know about that. It's reasonable to think that with a new OC... and a good defense PP could have turned things around. It's reasonable to think that PP could have learned from his earlier mistakes at Syracuse and realized that GDL just didn't have it anymore (if he ever did) and kept his impact on the offense to a minimum. Especially after PP basically got handed a new OC because GDL was a travesty. Of course we know none of those things really happened. Especially coming after a win at the end of the year against Louisville. I think one of the knocks on WM might be that he's too prudent.

Hell, on the other hand, if I want to give WM the benefit of the doubt, maybe he wanted Bob Diaco the whole time, knew he couldn't get him on a year he was going to a national championship game, and rolled the dice that PP would have a crap year and he could fire him at the end. His mistake might have been that he didn't foresee the 0-12 year we were headed for not the 5-6 win year he thought it would be.

Either way the end result is leaves me very optimistic.

The writing on the 2013 wall was when GDL was allowed to stay on the staff. That spoke volumes.

 

[Adios]

It's true. You're the history guy, The Boston area used to be Giant country.

Boston-based Giants fans still exist!

 

[IMind]

The writing on the 2013 wall was when GDL was allowed to stay on the staff. That spoke volumes.

I agree...there was a week about this time last year where it looked like GDL was gone, when he didn't leave, in retrospect that probably told us everything we needed to know about PP and our upcoming year.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

McHugh was far from being opposed to P but from what I have heard (which others on this forum have heard from different sources) P was Hathaway's idea, mainly to get in McHugh's good graces.

McHugh viewed Hathaway as being worthless (which he was), JH thought that if he gave the football job to someone McHugh knew very well and liked very much it would improve his standing in McHugh's eyes.

Why would he agree to an automatic, self-perpetuating, one-year Contract extension/rollover for a "worthless" JH? I don't think Jack Welch could have sold that to the GE Compensation Committee.

 

[Waquoit]

I agree...there was a week about this time last year where it looked like GDL was gone, when he didn't leave, in retrospect that probably told us everything we needed to know about PP and our upcoming year.

Then P let GDL take over the OL job. Sheer idiocy. The clown couldn't handle one job, so P let him have two.

 

[J187Money]

Why would he agree to an automatic, self-perpetuating, one-year Contract extension/rollover for a "worthless" JH? I don't think Jack Welch could have sold that to the GE Compensation Committee.

McHugh became chair of the BOT in 2009. I couldn't find it via google, but that contract pre-dated McHugh's chairmanship, didn't it?