C
Chief00
Quite frankly, Warde has been a good AD with the coaches and student athletes but a poor one with finances and conference realignment vision.
The Good:
- The top coaches like him and he gives them what they need to succeed. Geno, KO and Diaco have all said positive things about Warde's management style.
- Student athletes meet with him and feel he listens from the ones I talked to.
- He has hired young coaches with potential (Diaco, KO & Cavanaugh) - to some extent that means learning on the job and WTF moments in games. But they seem to be able to connect with their players.
Mixed Bag:
- The large donors like him - medium to small donors tell me they are not on his radar screen.
- There has been various creative marketing attempts to halt the overall slide in attendance - while not a victory at least it's an attempt to respond to elasticity in the marketplace.
The Bad
Now two serious issues that are in part linked:
- While the conference realignment gets the ink - the immediate iceberg in UConn athletics path is a financial avalanche of deep red ink. The Daily Campus article nailed it - Warde has been spending money like a school with a P5 TV contract and we have a modest revenue stream. There has been no effort to cut back as operating budgets as we become less and less self sufficient. Student fees are unfortunately being relied on to fund athletics - a department that has a high travel budget due to the geography of the conference and there has been no serious effort to cut back on teams.
- Yes, up to this point Warde has been living partly on house money from the Big East team exit fees and conference naming rights that are running off- so the reality for his replacement is that it's an even bigger financial mess than it appears at first glance. There seems to be no downsizing plan in place if we don't soon make a P5.
- While Warde and Susan accept generous pay checks they have both said numerous times they have no control over CR. If that's true - why do they get paid so much? And why do we hire a consultant to if you can't control, influence or take advantage of opportunities? It makes no logical sense and it's like anything else - good people with the right connections and skills don't guarantee successful outcomes - but they improve your chances of achieving success.
- CR is at the President's level - so I agree Susan owns that but Warde has been her assistant and they have not succeeded. During his tenure schools with weaker resumes have made it in - so it's not a good story.
The Good:
- The top coaches like him and he gives them what they need to succeed. Geno, KO and Diaco have all said positive things about Warde's management style.
- Student athletes meet with him and feel he listens from the ones I talked to.
- He has hired young coaches with potential (Diaco, KO & Cavanaugh) - to some extent that means learning on the job and WTF moments in games. But they seem to be able to connect with their players.
Mixed Bag:
- The large donors like him - medium to small donors tell me they are not on his radar screen.
- There has been various creative marketing attempts to halt the overall slide in attendance - while not a victory at least it's an attempt to respond to elasticity in the marketplace.
The Bad
Now two serious issues that are in part linked:
- While the conference realignment gets the ink - the immediate iceberg in UConn athletics path is a financial avalanche of deep red ink. The Daily Campus article nailed it - Warde has been spending money like a school with a P5 TV contract and we have a modest revenue stream. There has been no effort to cut back as operating budgets as we become less and less self sufficient. Student fees are unfortunately being relied on to fund athletics - a department that has a high travel budget due to the geography of the conference and there has been no serious effort to cut back on teams.
- Yes, up to this point Warde has been living partly on house money from the Big East team exit fees and conference naming rights that are running off- so the reality for his replacement is that it's an even bigger financial mess than it appears at first glance. There seems to be no downsizing plan in place if we don't soon make a P5.
- While Warde and Susan accept generous pay checks they have both said numerous times they have no control over CR. If that's true - why do they get paid so much? And why do we hire a consultant to if you can't control, influence or take advantage of opportunities? It makes no logical sense and it's like anything else - good people with the right connections and skills don't guarantee successful outcomes - but they improve your chances of achieving success.
- CR is at the President's level - so I agree Susan owns that but Warde has been her assistant and they have not succeeded. During his tenure schools with weaker resumes have made it in - so it's not a good story.
