Randy left and Susan came in

[BlueDogs]

Agree. Cronyism is not a good recipe for bold effective change in the thinking of an organization. Bringing outside directors onto a board can result in fresher, more innovative perspectives.

McHugh is the pentultimate crony. I really don't want a regional middlesex county mortgage broker (no offense to any here) whose made a career networking and snuggling up peoples' rearends guiding the process. I agree with the sentiment of others who point out the BOT is very weak. The best they have are two stuffed shirts from insurance companies and I don't see a lot of $$ flowing into the program from them. In fact, they tend to be sucking money from the state rather than helping it.

Athletes representatives do little to address the core problem. The politicians on the BOD are party rubber stamps for a clueless, disengaged Governor. Sandy Cloud is another crony sucking at the teet of government with his hands in a lot pies and bringing no value. A former state senator, he has his kids embedded in the government apparatus and is the moron involved with the Back9 fiasco, which was, in turn, funded and backed by Kathleen Smith, the head of the DECD who also sits on the BOT.

Then we have Shari Cantor, the Dem mayor of West Hartford. Paul
Kruger, lawyer from NY from Paul Hastings, etc.. ???? Who cares. What do they bring to the table.

These people see UConn BOT as a perk. I had the distinct pleasure of having a good friend who sits on Oregon's BOT give me quite a bit of perspective. He sees their primary role as constantly raising money for endowment and projects. The BOT members are expected to lean on their networks of contacts building sustaining corporate support. Obviously, Oregon has distinct advantages with Nike but isn't that the point? We need leadership that will break apart decades of cronyism and get people on the BOT that will make a difference.

I could go on, but I would bore everyone.

 

[Rumrunner]

Cut the nonsense. Susan Herbst is the best "administrator" to ever set foot in Storrs. She's bringing this University to greater prominence than ever. And she'll turn the athletics around too. She's had some bad counsel from several self-interested folks. She'll fix it.
The size of the endowment, shape of the physical campus, number of federal research grants (see AAU) and leadership in important university positions (provost, AD etc) were abysmal when she showed up. Luckily she's a talented juggler.
She and Benedict will fix the athletic issues. The good news (really) is we've got some time before the next conference scramble. Put your money on SH.

Actually, federal research grants have been stagnant under her watch. And with it, AAU status is even further away than when she arrived. UConn's AAU competitors have made greater strides.

Whether we see a huge leap in the next few years from her imprint, I have no idea. But right now we aren't seeing it.

The same goes for the endowment.

As someone has mentioned, having the chair of the BOT whose greatest life achievement is being chair of the BOT is the problem. Combine that with the individual's hubris of football knowledge, we are in the disaster that we are.

McHugh should have no role in football macro decisions. But this is Connecticut. A smalltime state with a smalltime BOT leader leading the smalltime football program to greater depths of smalltime all the while Bobby Smalltime has clauses in his contract like he's Knute Rockne. When's the next pancake breakfast?

 

[cohenzone]

Benedict and his crew were brought in to fix the mess. No one expected Diaco to flame out in year 3, but as I have said in the past, it isn't the record which is disconcerting, it is the abandonement by UCONN nation of the football program which has the admin's attention. Diaco is taking attendance from 30k down to 10 k. That is too big a hit financially for the university and the fact that Diaco has lost credibility with every word that comes out of his mouth, will expedite action from Susan et al.

Exactly why the buy out needs to be calculated not based on what it costs, but what is costs not to buy out. If you are national champs and beat everyone 17 to 3, fans are okay with it. If you are 7-5 and put on a good show by scoring more than once in a while, fans will still show up. When you lose more often than not and watching grass grow is more exciting, people will stay home and watch grass grow.

 

[Husky1964]

Rowland is Fed prison property!

 

[Chief00]

Oh then maybe you should clue him in to let all his cronies in the CT HS coaches Assoc know that their boy P and GDL got fired because they SUCKED! The fact that you like McHugh tells us all that we need to know about you. Thanks for playing now go back to the hoops board and spew your bulls**t.

I said I personally like Larry - I did not say Coach P was a good hire - just the opposite. He was not the driver with Diaco.

 

[sub legacy]

It really does appear that whoever has the President's ear regarding sports matters is dead weight. She could probably be better served reading Twitter or the Boneyard for better advice than some of the decisions that have been made in UConn athletics.

Sad but true.

 

[FDNY99]

I said I personally like Larry - I did not say Coach P was a good hire - just the opposite. He was not the driver with Diaco.

But he seems to be "advising" Herbst on football hires. You still didn't answer me on why that man didn't shed some light on why his buddy's P & GDL were fired to his boys in the CT HS Coaches Association. If you know him and are so "connected" that is an easy one to answer.

 

[Marty Jackson]

McHugh is the pentultimate crony. I really don't want a regional middlesex county mortgage broker (no offense to any here) whose made a career networking and snuggling up peoples' rearends guiding the process. I agree with the sentiment of others who point out the BOT is very weak. The best they have are two stuffed shirts from insurance companies and I don't see a lot of $$ flowing into the program from them. In fact, they tend to be sucking money from the state rather than helping it.

Athletes representatives do little to address the core problem. The politicians on the BOD are party rubber stamps for a clueless, disengaged Governor. Sandy Cloud is another crony sucking at the teet of government with his hands in a lot pies and bringing no value. A former state senator, he has his kids embedded in the government apparatus and is the moron involved with the Back9 fiasco, which was, in turn, funded and backed by Kathleen Smith, the head of the DECD who also sits on the BOT.

Then we have Shari Cantor, the Dem mayor of West Hartford. Paul
Kruger, lawyer from NY from Paul Hastings, etc.. ???? Who cares. What do they bring to the table.

These people see UConn BOT as a perk. I had the distinct pleasure of having a good friend who sits on Oregon's BOT give me quite a bit of perspective. He sees their primary role as constantly raising money for endowment and projects. The BOT members are expected to lean on their networks of contacts building sustaining corporate support. Obviously, Oregon has distinct advantages with Nike but isn't that the point? We need leadership that will break apart decades of cronyism and get people on the BOT that will make a difference.

I could go on, but I would bore everyone.

Second to best crony?

 

[BlueDogs]

Second to best crony?

Ha! Ritter.

 

[Nostical]

When you lose, people will stay home and watch grass grow.

Especially in Colorado.

 

[noeynox]

The only thing I would lay on Herbst's feet is Diaco renegotiated buyout. Hiring him, on paper was a solid move. Broyles award winner, solid pedigree, off of a recent national title game appearance and a guy that said the right things.

That one sided buyout off of 6-7, season defies logic and shows a lack of effective negotiating on UConn's side. We'd be better off letting a successful Coach leave for peanuts, than tying an anchor around our necks to a real life Forrest Gump like we have now.

If a P5 school is coming for our coach we likely can't retain him anyway so why commit to paying a guy a ransom for sucking.

 

[freescooter]

Our problem isn't Herbst or McHugh. It is a succession of weak small minded ADs. Hathaway hired Pasaualoni and made limited effort to find a replacement for Edsall if you look at his options. Warde was a rather large placeholder looking for his next gig before people caught on to his ineptitude. He hired Diaco. And renegotiated his contract. And bought into all his clap trap about rebuilding and tearing down.

We will see how Benedict does.

 

[Alum86]

Watch it scoot, Folks here love the Michelin, excuse me, Michigan man.
They think he single handedly built the BB facility brick by brick and was basically the sh#t.

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

McHugh wanted Edsall to stay and thought he would have if Hathaway left earlier. He doesn't believe he would have left if that happened.

I put the blame on the lousy list of coaches were brought before by the firm UConn hired

That's interesting to think about... If Hathaway wasn't AD then- and let's say Warde was here, would Randy have stayed another season if UConn ponied up some more money?

 

[freescooter]

Watch it scoot, Folks here love the Michelin, excuse me, Michigan man.
They think he single handedly built the BB facility brick by brick and was basically the sh#t.

Oh I know they do. Hard to image an AD doing as much damage to the overall brand than that guy but he seems to have escaped scrutiny. Though I imagine most Michigan fans live in fear that Harbaugh leaves and Warde is in charge of finding the replacement.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

That's interesting to think about... If Hathaway wasn't AD then- and let's say Warde was here, would Randy have stayed another season if UConn ponied up some more money?

If Warde/Herbst were here in 2010, my guess is that:

- HCRE would not have left for Maryland in 2011. He would have returned to UConn in 2011 and had another good (but not great) season at UConn -- probably 9-4 or 8-5 type season or so. Then he would have gotten the Penn St job to take over after the Paterno scandal, given his success at building UConn and his reputation for academics and doing things on the "right way" (ironically Penn St being his ACTUAL dream job).

- Given the continued growth of UConn in football in 2011 (instead of the immediate nose dive from PP), my guess is that the ACC expansion would have included Syracuse and UConn (instead of Syracuse and Pittsburgh). Then, the subsequent B12 expansion that included WVU and TCU, would have included Pitt and Louisville as well (or would have just been WVU and Pitt).


F-you Hathaway!

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

If Warde/Herbst were here in 2010, my guess is that:

- HCRE would not have left for Maryland in 2011. He would have returned to UConn in 2011 and had another good (but not great) season at UConn -- probably 9-4 or 8-5 type season or so. Then he would have gotten the Penn St job to take over after the Paterno scandal, given his success at building UConn and his reputation for academics and doing things on the "right way" (ironically his Penn St being his ACTUAL dream job).

- Given the continued growth of UConn in football in 2011 (instead of the immediate nose dive from PP), my guess is that the ACC expansion would have included Syracuse and UConn (instead of Syracuse and Pittsburgh). Then, the subsequent B12 expansion that included WVU and TCU, would have included Pitt and Louisville as well (or would have just been WVU and Pitt).


F-you Hathaway!

That all makes total sense, and probably would have been the case. We could have been in the ACC and ended up with a much better HC than PP or Diaco. Ahh.... love playing the "what if" game sometimes.

 

[Chief00]

But he seems to be "advising" Herbst on football hires. You still didn't answer me on why that man didn't shed some light on why his buddy's P & GDL were fired to his boys in the CT HS Coaches Association. If you know him and are so "connected" that is an easy one to answer.

Sorry that was intentional - not going there on a message board. People of course did know the W/L record - the issue was how long do you give someone? But, I totally agree the trajectory wasn't a good one.
Warde's best Football hire was TJ - it would have been best just to give TJ the job but Susan wanted to make a big splash. Hence, Diaco.

 

[willie99]

She didn't hire PP, and she promptly fired JH

BD was hired on her watch, but he was young, enthusiastic, defensive coach of the year coming in from ND. He seemed like a good hire, didn't pan out

The next hire should be a successful man with HEAD coaching experience. No more on the job training

 

[John Greene]

Suzy's key hires (other than academic hires on which I have no information) have not been all that impressive.

Wadre: Out flanked by Louisville on CR, Dragged feet on KO until forced by JC, Hired Diaco & started his contract extension.

Diaco: Enough said.

Newton( UConn Foundation): Total assets when he arrived in 2013 $459 million, Total assets as of last report $476 million.

Benedict: Too early to tell.

She may not fully understand the meaning of the phrase "Rock Star"

 

[J187Money]

Oh then maybe you should clue him in to let all his cronies in the CT HS coaches Assoc know that their boy P and GDL got fired because they SUCKED! The fact that you like McHugh tells us all that we need to know about you. Thanks for playing now go back to the hoops board and spew your bulls**t.

I personally like McHugh and think he is a good guy. Maybe he was a little too close to Coach P - but if loyalty is your biggest fault - it is what it is. I don't blame him for Diaco - that was on Warde, the CYA firm Warde hired and Susan.
I do however think overall we have a weak BOT - we need less ex UConn players and political types and more top notch professionals.

I said I personally like Larry - I did not say Coach P was a good hire - just the opposite. He was not the driver with Diaco.

I have to defend Chief on this one. I know Larry as well. He is a good guy, and big on loyalty - to a fault it appears. Not saying we couldn't / shouldn't upgrade (IMHO he is past his prime) - but he has always been a good guy.

 

[uconnric]

I don't believe that Warde was out-flanked in the Louisville to the ACC saga. Louisville lobbied FSU and probably Clemson, who the ACC had to keep happy. It's all about football (and sometimes TV markets) when it comes to conference membership. His hire of Diaco has not worked out, but his extension was done after we went to a bowl game last year. This year the wheels fell off.

 

[EJHarrington]

Herbst has to go; all she has done is spend recklessly and oversee the destruction of our once proud football program.

 

[J187Money]

Newton( UConn Foundation): Total assets when he arrived in 2013 $459 million, Total assets as of last report $476 million.

Newton hired - July, 2013 - endowment: $338.7M
2014: $376.3M
2015: $383.1M
2016: $377.2M

Total contributions:
2013: $44.4M
2014: $34.6M
2015: $32.5M
2016: $40.7M

Cash gifts to increase permanent endowments:
2013: $16.2M
2014: $11.1M
2015: $7.0
2016: $18.5M

So hard for me to say that he is killing it.

 

[John Greene]

Newton hired - July, 2013 - endowment: $338.7M
2014: $376.3M
2015: $383.1M
2016: $377.2M

Total contributions:
2013: $44.4M
2014: $34.6M
2015: $32.5M
2016: $40.7M

Cash gifts to increase permanent endowments:
2013: $16.2M
2014: $11.1M
2015: $7.0
2016: $18.5M

So hard for me to say that he is killing it.

Thanks for the added info. When Newton was hired I expressed doubts based on my exposure to him at one of my children's alma mater, Emory. Your figures would seem to indicate that he has, so far, been well below average if not incompetent.