On Herbst and Manuel:

[Husky Dad]

They are presiding over the one of the fastest down turns in our University history. This was a job where they were outsold by their competition. We had a clear case to be made and they couldnt make it. Period end of story.

 

[CTBasketball]

Occupy Storrs.

 

[uconnbill]

They were alseep at the wheel

 

[Palatine]

It's the debris of the Hathaway regime.

 

[jibsey]

I'm having a tough time understanding this as probably many are having. Multiple championships on both sides and a university that is academically tremendous. It's hard to get into UCONN these days. There are many kids who would be going to Ivy League or just below that are choosing UCONN for the academics and the cost savings. I can't imagine that UL is of that academic quality. At this point,I don't see our football being that much different than others currently in our league, so what are we missing here the knuckle slap on our BBall? Is that what it is or is it jealousy over our success. Syracuse has 1 title and Pitt none. Maryland sucks at football and has 1 title and goes to the Big1?

 

[charteroak4life]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Susan Herbst is one of the worst things to happen to the university.

 

[Dove]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Susan Herbst is one of the worst things to happen to the university.

Ain't anonymity great?

 

[Huskies4ever]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Susan Herbst is one of the worst things to happen to the university.

Hope you won't say much from here on out.

 

[willinphilly]

I'm having a tough time understanding this as probably many are having. Multiple championships on both sides and a university that is academically tremendous. It's hard to get into UCONN these days. There are many kids who would be going to Ivy League or just below that are choosing UCONN for the academics and the cost savings. I can't imagine that UL is of that academic quality. At this point,I don't see our football being that much different than others currently in our league, so what are we missing here the knuckle slap on our BBall? Is that what it is or is it jealousy over our success. Syracuse has 1 title and Pitt none. Maryland sucks at football and has 1 title and goes to the Big1?

No Ivy League kids aren't coming to UCONN over Ivy League schools, but yeah, it's better than Lousiville. What a joke...

 

[Huskies4ever]

I'm having a tough time understanding this as probably many are having. Multiple championships on both sides and a university that is academically tremendous. It's hard to get into UCONN these days. There are many kids who would be going to Ivy League or just below that are choosing UCONN for the academics and the cost savings. I can't imagine that UL is of that academic quality. At this point,I don't see our football being that much different than others currently in our league, so what are we missing here the knuckle slap on our BBall? Is that what it is or is it jealousy over our success. Syracuse has 1 title and Pitt none. Maryland sucks at football and has 1 title and goes to the Big1?

Unfortunately, and I hate this, but it is all about football, where currently Pitt, Cuse, Ville, Rutgers, and Cinncy are all much more attractive than us. It's as simple as that! No need to flame SH or WM yet (sans KO extension).

 

[jibsey]

No Ivy League kids aren't coming to UCONN over Ivy League schools, but yeah, it's better than Lousiville. What a joke...

UCONN has an honors program with Ivy caliber students. They can attend for 20 K rather than 60K, and for many families 100+K difference is the driving force. Many middle class people don't qualify for financial aid.

 

[willinphilly]

It's the debris of the Hathaway regime.

Seriously, it's not like Herbst got to office in June and had every opportunity to join the ACC. The previous administration is to blame, but frankly, it comes down to football so what can you do? Goes to show that for all this talk of academics, it really doesn't matter, nor does it come down to basketball. This sucks.

 

[willinphilly]

UCONN has an honors program with Ivy caliber students. They can attend for 20 K rather than 60K, and for many families 100+K difference is the driving force. Many middle class people don't qualify for financial aid.

If your family makes under $200K, Harvard and Yale essentially provide free rides. For the schools with smaller endowments, yes, UCONN makes more financial sense.

 

[jibsey]

I did not know that you could make $200,000 and not pay anything to go to Harvard and Yale. My nephew went to Brown and his parents who made much less got zilch. Same story for for people I know at Amherst and Wesleyan.

 

[FASTEDDY]

Many of the top students that go to UCONN could have gone to IVY League schools or the equivalents. I am talking about the increasingly large number of Valedictorians and Salutatorians that come to UCONN each year. Those kids frequently have their choice of schol to go to but b/c they can get a much better finanacial deal @ UCONN they go there rather than spending an extra $160,000+ to go IVY. They can and do go the IVY route for Grad school. Thi is not at all unfrequent at UCONN. This is why the school (Storrs Campus) is very difficult to get into and the schools ranking continue to rise on a steep upward trajectory. Thank You.

 

[Huskymaniac]

They are presiding over the one of the fastest down turns in our University history. This was a job where they were outsold by their competition. We had a clear case to be made and they couldnt make it. Period end of story.

Really? What clear case is that exactly? Tell me what is important to both the Big10 and ACC and explain to me how we make a case for being the better option? It sucks but it is what it is at this point and blaming the current president or AD is just ignorant.

1. We aren't in the AAU. The Big 10 apparently has this as a criterion. The organization is a joke and the Big 10 is foolish for making it a requirement but it is what it is. How is our lack of research expenditures and lack of inclusion in the AAU the fault of Herbst? Blame past presidents and governors for THAT one. Blame the Big 10 for having it as a requirement. There is NO case to be sold here. The Big 10 requires membership in the AAU and we don't have it.
2. We are not viewed as a big TV market. Maybe a case can be made here by Herbst and Manuel. Do you know for a fact that they didn't try? Maybe neither the ACC or Big 10 is buying that we will deliver the NYC TV market more than say, Rutgers, can. And then there is the reality that the conference would have to sell UConn as a NYC market team. Even if they believe it, the networks may not. It is a tough sell.
3. We are on probation for too many phone calls. How is that Herbst's or Manuel's fault. Blame Calhoun and Hathaway for that mess. What do you expect Herbst and Manuel to do about it? Try to argue that it isn't a big deal and should be ignored? Doesn't that send the wrong message? There is only so much one can do to polish this turd.
4. We are not allowed to play in the NCAAs due to failing to meet APR requirements. Again, this is on Calhoun and, mostly, Hathaway. Again, Herbst and Manuel have to tread lightly here because you don't want to look like you don't think it is a big deal. Maybe they showed the ACC and Big 10 the progress made on the APR scores. Do you know they didn't? Beyond that, there is little they can do to polish this turd.
5. Calhoun retired. How is that the fault of Manuel and Herbst? What are you going to sell here? An unproven coach who lots of people like? Maybe they did that.
6. We have a crappy football team that is NOT at the same level as teams that are leaving ahead of us. And, AGAIN, how is the fault of Herbst or Manuel? They didn't hire the current coach and maybe they are not even able to buy him out because of the financial situation the state and university are in. And, even then, when would they have needed to fire him in order for our football team to look better today? Before he was hired? Hell, I didn't think Edsel was much better. And who is responsible for building a sub-par stadium? Manuel? Herbst? What clear case is there to sell here? "We will fire our coach as soon as possible and the state of CT will give us money to expand our stadium...really...trust us."

So how does this clear case sound when selling it to the ACC or Big10?

"We are not in the AAU but we are a really good school and you should stop using membership in the AAU as a requirement for membership in your conference. Our incoming students have a better average SAT score than some of the schools already in your conference. See, we really are a good school. On the TV market, trust us, we think we own the NYC market more than Rutgers does. We have lots of alumni working there. We are just as close to NYC as Rutgers is. On the probation, we think the NCAA was out to get us and they punished us for something that isn't even illegal anymore. So, no worries there. And we know we aren't eligible to play in the NCAA tournament this year but our APR scores are better now and, again, the NCAA was out to get us. While we know you would have liked Calhoun, our former Hall of Fame coach, to still be here, he personally endorses our current coach. We know you are concerned he has no experience but Larry Brown says he will be good. And we know our football program isn't very good and getting worse but we promise to fire the coach as soon as possible and we believe the state of CT will give us money soon to upgrade our stadium."

Damn, that's a rock solid case right there! Manuel and Herbst have really failed in not using that case to get us in!

 

[ctchamps]

There were a lot of circumstances that played into Louisville getting accepted and UConn not getting accepted. WM and SH certainly have some role in the process and the result, but it probably is minimal.

 

[Catsailor]

If your family makes under $200K, Harvard and Yale essentially provide free rides. For the schools with smaller endowments, yes, UCONN makes more financial sense.

It's not quite that simple. So don't generalize since your are not accurate and not as knowledgeable as you think you are.

Some of us are working families, live in good upper middle class towns, make well under $200 K even under $100 K, not a minority or otherwise a desirable demographic.

Our kids qualify yet do not get aid from Ivy and we can not afford to send them otherwise. Kid gets a free ride at UConn for BS and MS in Engineering then on to doctoral program in biomedical Engineering at MIT and doctoral in Robotics (Artificial Intelligence) IDSIA in Lugano Switzerland. True stories, one my son the other his best bud and roommate.

 

[Catsailor]

I did not know that you could make $200,000 and not pay anything to go to Harvard and Yale. My nephew went to Brown and his parents who made much less got zilch. Same story for for people I know at Amherst and Wesleyan.

That is often the case. If you need financial aid to attend you may not get any if you don't have the "something desirable" for the institution. In those cases, for families not comfortable in accruing massive debt, UConn is very attractive.

 

[Catsailor]

Many of the top students that go to UCONN could have gone to IVY League schools or the equivalents. I am talking about the increasingly large number of Valedictorians and Salutatorians that come to UCONN each year. Those kids frequently have their choice of schol to go to but b/c they can get a much better finanacial deal @ UCONN they go there rather than spending an extra $160,000+ to go IVY. They can and do go the IVY route for Grad school. Thi is not at all unfrequent at UCONN. This is why the school (Storrs Campus) is very difficult to get into and the schools ranking continue to rise on a steep upward trajectory. Thank You.

+1 Thank you.

 

[freescooter]

Really? What clear case is that exactly? Tell me what is important to both the Big10 and ACC and explain to me how we make a case for being the better option? It sucks but it is what it is at this point and blaming the current president or AD is just ignorant.

1. We aren't in the AAU. The Big 10 apparently has this as a criterion. The organization is a joke and the Big 10 is foolish for making it a requirement but it is what it is. How is our lack of research expenditures and lack of inclusion in the AAU the fault of Herbst? Blame past presidents and governors for THAT one. Blame the Big 10 for having it as a requirement. There is NO case to be sold here. The Big 10 requires membership in the AAU and we don't have it.
2. We are not viewed as a big TV market. Maybe a case can be made here by Herbst and Manuel. Do you know for a fact that they didn't try? Maybe neither the ACC or Big 10 is buying that we will deliver the NYC TV market more than say, Rutgers, can. And then there is the reality that the conference would have to sell UConn as a NYC market team. Even if they believe it, the networks may not. It is a tough sell.
3. We are on probation for too many phone calls. How is that Herbst's or Manuel's fault. Blame Calhoun and Hathaway for that mess. What do you expect Herbst and Manuel to do about it? Try to argue that it isn't a big deal and should be ignored? Doesn't that send the wrong message? There is only so much one can do to polish this turd.
4. We are not allowed to play in the NCAAs due to failing to meet APR requirements. Again, this is on Calhoun and, mostly, Hathaway. Again, Herbst and Manuel have to tread lightly here because you don't want to look like you don't think it is a big deal. Maybe they showed the ACC and Big 10 the progress made on the APR scores. Do you know they didn't? Beyond that, there is little they can do to polish this turd.
5. Calhoun retired. How is that the fault of Manuel and Herbst? What are you going to sell here? An unproven coach who lots of people like? Maybe they did that.
6. We have a crappy football team that is NOT at the same level as teams that are leaving ahead of us. And, AGAIN, how is the fault of Herbst or Manuel? They didn't hire the current coach and maybe they are not even able to buy him out because of the financial situation the state and university are in. And, even then, when would they have needed to fire him in order for our football team to look better today? Before he was hired? Hell, I didn't think Edsel was much better. And who is responsible for building a sub-par stadium? Manuel? Herbst? What clear case is there to sell here? "We will fire our coach as soon as possible and the state of CT will give us money to expand our stadium...really...trust us."

So how does this clear case sound when selling it to the ACC or Big10?

"We are not in the AAU but we are a really good school and you should stop using membership in the AAU as a requirement for membership in your conference. Our incoming students have a better average SAT score than some of the schools already in your conference. See, we really are a good school. On the TV market, trust us, we think we own the NYC market more than Rutgers does. We have lots of alumni working there. We are just as close to NYC as Rutgers is. On the probation, we think the NCAA was out to get us and they punished us for something that isn't even illegal anymore. So, no worries there. And we know we aren't eligible to play in the NCAA tournament this year but our APR scores are better now and, again, the NCAA was out to get us. While we know you would have liked Calhoun, our former Hall of Fame coach, to still be here, he personally endorses our current coach. We know you are concerned he has no experience but Larry Brown says he will be good. And we know our football program isn't very good and getting worse but we promise to fire the coach as soon as possible and we believe the state of CT will give us money soon to upgrade our stadium."

Damn, that's a rock solid case right there! Manuel and Herbst have really failed in not using that case to get us in!

You are totally out of touch. AAU wasn't a consideration for the ACC. And the tv market, even without Fairfield county, which is part of the NYC market, is 30th, almost twice the size of Louisville at #50. Our basketball program is in transition righ tnow, but UNC and some others get that. Football, were 15-11 aginst the teams the Big East already accepted, 4-4 against football super-power Louisville including a win at Louisville last Saturday. Academically UConn is so far ahead of Louisville that its a joke. We were the leader going into the stretch and got out worked by Louisville, who wasn't even in consideration in the beginning of the process. Herbst and Manuel, I think mostly Herbst did a horrible horrible job and will likely preside over the decline of UConn as a national sports power. Well Herbst will. Manuel will be the scapegoat and will ultimately walk the plank. His position is essensially untenable at this point.

 

[Huskymaniac]

You totally need to work on your reading comprehension.

 

[ctchamps]

You are totally out of touch. AAU wasn't a consideration for the ACC. And the tv market, even without Fairfield county, which is part of the NYC market, is 30th, almost twice the size of Louisville at #50. Our basketball program is in transition righ tnow, but UNC and some others get that. Football, were 15-11 aginst the teams the Big East already accepted, 4-4 against football super-power Louisville including a win at Louisville last Saturday. Academically UConn is so far ahead of Louisville that its a joke. We were the leader going into the stretch and got out worked by Louisville, who wasn't even in consideration in the beginning of the process. Herbst and Manuel, I think mostly Herbst did a horrible horrible job and will likely preside over the decline of UConn as a national sports power. Well Herbst will. Manuel will be the scapegoat and will ultimately walk the plank. His position is essensially untenable at this point.

Agree with the first part! Disagree with the second part! There were a lot of reasons the ACC took Ville over UConn but it had very little with Ville begging harder publicly than UConn. I would put three things well ahead of your assertion about President Herbst.

First: Strategic choice. Swofford convinced the schools UConn would be available in the future because its options were limited. Ville on the other hand could be off the table if the B12 were going to act following the B!G's moves with Maryland and Rutgers. I believe ESPN conferred with them on this matter. ESPN is afraid of activity by Fox!

Second: Geographic make up of the conference. The ACC is a southern conference primarily and some of its members were becoming uncomfortable with the increase in the footprint of northeastern schools. Md and Kentucky have similar geographical footprints relative to the civil war. I moved to South Carolina from CT and it blows my mind how much people in the south are still fighting that war!

Third: The perception of UConn's football program is nowhere's near the perception of Louisville's success. As you point out it is an inaccurate perception, but it is the one perceived in ACC country by both school administrations and common folk alike. And no amount of pr blitz by the current UConn administration was going to change this misperception. So if there is blame to be placed it would fall on Hathaway and his choice of a non sexy football coach and that coaches current record as well as the on field performance of that team. The performance is just plain ugly. People in the south are not stupid - just misguided. This performance of the current football teams is what people in the ACC conference saw and not the Louisville media blitz.

 

[freescooter]

fluedslipcon, that is a reasonable argument and I actually do get the southern thing. I actually heard the same thing over the weekend from a couple of guys who have good contacts in ACC athletic departments. But he fact remains that by all accounts, UConn was the choice, Louisville wasn't even under consideration a week ago. And Herbst thought UConn was the choice so much so that she informed the Big East we would be leaving. Then she and Manuel went off to the Carribbean and let the other guys put up a publicity blitz that enabled the anti-UConn faction to have someone to back.

 

[ctchamps]

fluedslipcon, that is a reasonable argument and I actually do get the southern thing. I actually heard the same thing over the weekend from a couple of guys who have good contacts in ACC athletic departments. But he fact remains that by all accounts, UConn was the choice, Louisville wasn't even under consideration a week ago. And Herbst thought UConn was the choice so much so that she informed the Big East we would be leaving. Then she and Manuel went off to the Carribbean and let the other guys put up a publicity blitz that enabled the anti-UConn faction to have someone to back.

Only Manuel went to the Carribbean. President Herbst didn't.
In the prior rounds of expansion with Cuse and Pitt going to the ACC, Herbst was vocal about wanting to leave the BE. She was active in going public and stating UConn wanted to leave the BE. We all know how that turned out. There were many people who blamed her public activity as reasons for the failure.
This round she doesn't go public. No one knows what she did privately. Things didn't work out and she still gets blamed.

In addition to things I posted two things happened this round. JC retired, Rick Pitino is still coaching. Louisville is fighting for a BCS birth in football. UConn has a football team that has more trouble scoring than its coach has standing.

You can be certain ESPN convinced the ACC members to change their stance with UConn because it was the smarter move. If only one school was going to be taken the odds were greater that UConn would be available later as opposed to Ville if another ACC team bolted. It was the correct evaluation by ESPN imo. My hope is the B!G bites both ESPN and the ACC and takes UConn to strengthen the exposure in the northeast market.

It is just as crazy an idea as many of the recent moves by conference realignment.