Rumor: Warde Manuel- Virginia Tech AD Finalist

[tcf15]

http://courantblogs.com/uconn-women/virginia-tech-looking-for-an-ad-guess-who-is-on-the-list/

Here's the actual blog post: http://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2014/january/21/according-greg-roberts-ad-finalists-are

 

[whaler11]

I'm all for people climbing the ladder but you've been here 2 seconds can't tell if you've accomplished anything yet and you already want to move on?

Gfy.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I get Manuel wanting to leave. I don't understand why anyone would want him. He screwed up as badly as any AD outside of Happy Valley in the last 10 years.

 

[UConnJim]

If he leaves it's not a big loss. Honestly, he was hired for a different situation at UConn than what it has turned out to be. The UConn AD job looked like a caretaker job and it has ended up being a building job. Manuel seems to be an athletic administrator, but UConn needs a visionary leader with contacts who can raise money and build up UConn athletics. He can be replaced.

 

[Dooley]

Let's play hypothetical and say this happens…who does Herbst go to next? Is there somebody in-house ready to make the leap? I feel like a change at AD would cement a longer AAC sentence than I had hoped.

 

[CTMike]

Why do people think he wants to leave based on some random website?

 

[MattMang23]

And here comes the anti-Warde brigade.

Nelson, has he even been here long enough to screw up? And on your countdown he was second to a child-molester-enabler? Seriously?

Look, what has Warde screwed up? He hired Ollie full-time. Happiness ensued. He fired Pasqualoni. Happiness ensued. He hired Diaco. Everyone creamed their pants. But he's no good.

Don't give me "he went to the USVI to watch a women's bball game and Louisville beat us for a spot in the ACC." Realignment has been on the presidential level, not the AD level.

Sure, Jurich had a lot of pull on the Louisville end of the Louisville-ACC talks, but that doesn't mean that every university allows their AD that amount of autonomy in dealing with conference realignment. Maybe different organizations are run differently?

People need to stop blaming Warde for us not getting into the ACC over Louisville. Blame FSU, Clemson, BCU, etc, and if you need someone internally to blame, it's probably more Herbst than Warde.

We have a good AD in place. It would not be a good thing to lose him.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

And here comes the anti-Warde brigade.

Nelson, has he even been here long enough to screw up? And on your countdown he was second to a child-molester-enabler? Seriously?

Look, what has Warde screwed up? He hired Ollie full-time. Happiness ensued. He fired Pasqualoni. Happiness ensued. He hired Diaco. Everyone creamed their pants. But he's no good.

Don't give me "he went to the USVI to watch a women's bball game and Louisville beat us for a spot in the ACC." Realignment has been on the presidential level, not the AD level.

Sure, Jurich had a lot of pull on the Louisville end of the Louisville-ACC talks, but that doesn't mean that every university allows their AD that amount of autonomy in dealing with conference realignment. Maybe different organizations are run differently?

People need to stop blaming Warde for us not getting into the ACC over Louisville. Blame FSU, Clemson, BCU, etc, and if you need someone internally to blame, it's probably more Herbst than Warde.

We have a good AD in place. It would not be a good thing to lose him.

UConn was the front runner for the ACC bid, and didn't get it.

Warde almost screwed up the Ollie hiring, so I wouldn't give him kudos for that.

Warde kept Pasqualoni on beyond the end of last season when it was clear that Pasqualoni was sleepwalking through the job, costing us basically 2 years.

Warde has sucked. He can't get out of town quickly enough.

 

[Hoophound]

It doesn't matter. Warde is a nice guy but Susan will need to make bigger splash this time if Warde leaves. His potential departure is yet another indication that we aren't days or months from a B1G invite.

In regard to the rumor, it seems convenient that both UConn and Cincy's ADs appear on this list. If you are just making stuff up, those two seem plausible since they would conceivably want to move up to P5. However, both are well compensated and both just made big football hires that may boost their value further if they stick around to gloat in the positive results. Especially, Manuel.

 

[CTMike]

Warde has sucked? You are mind bogglingly insane.

 

[upstater]

Lew Perkins

 

[CAHUSKY]

Warde has sucked? You are mind bogglingly insane.

You just figured this out?

 

[MattMang23]

UConn was the front runner for the ACC bid, and didn't get it.

Warde almost screwed up the Ollie hiring, so I wouldn't give him kudos for that.

Warde kept Pasqualoni on beyond the end of last season when it was clear that Pasqualoni was sleepwalking through the job, costing us basically 2 years.

Warde has sucked. He can't get out of town quickly enough.

UConn didn't get the ACC bid because FSU, Clemson, et al threw a hissy fit and won in committee. It was not because Warde failed. Warde couldn't do anything about his predecessor clowning around for ten years while collecting a sizable paycheck.

Warde "almost" screwed up the Ollie hiring. But didn't.

I agree with keeping Pasqualoni four games too long. But that hardly cost us two years. Hiring him to begin with cost us those years.

 

[Dooley]

And here comes the anti-Warde brigade.

Nelson, has he even been here long enough to screw up? And on your countdown he was second to a child-molester-enabler? Seriously?

Look, what has Warde screwed up? He hired Ollie full-time. Happiness ensued. He fired Pasqualoni. Happiness ensued. He hired Diaco. Everyone creamed their pants. But he's no good.

Don't give me "he went to the USVI to watch a women's bball game and Louisville beat us for a spot in the ACC." Realignment has been on the presidential level, not the AD level.

Sure, Jurich had a lot of pull on the Louisville end of the Louisville-ACC talks, but that doesn't mean that every university allows their AD that amount of autonomy in dealing with conference realignment. Maybe different organizations are run differently?

People need to stop blaming Warde for us not getting into the ACC over Louisville. Blame FSU, Clemson, BCU, etc, and if you need someone internally to blame, it's probably more Herbst than Warde.

We have a good AD in place. It would not be a good thing to lose him.

Completely agree. Losing Warde would lengthen our AAC sentence considerably, I feel. In addition to making three great coaching hires (including hockey), he's gotten funds raised to complete the long overdue basketball facility on-campus, soothed relations with our biggest donor that our old AD severed, and has communicated UCONN's position to wanting to pay full cost of scholarship and stipends very well to keep UCONN in the P5 discussion. UCONN wasn't going to get into the ACC if they had Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr and Abraham Lincoln advocating for them. UCONN will NEVER go to the ACC for as long as nervous small revenue nellies like BCU and, now, the Fruitcakes are in. The fact that UCONN was even jostling for acceptance with a Community College proves that.

 

[CTMike]

You just figured this out?

Ha, no. Just further proof. I've gotta step away from the crazy for a while.

 

[ZooCougar]

UConn didn't get the ACC bid because FSU, Clemson, et al threw a hissy fit and won in committee. It was not because Warde failed. Warde couldn't do anything about his predecessor clowning around for ten years while collecting a sizable paycheck.

Warde "almost" screwed up the Ollie hiring. But didn't.

I agree with keeping Pasqualoni four games too long. But that hardly cost us two years. Hiring him to begin with cost us those years.

He should have fired P after his second season. He rendered a death sentence in 2013.

He seems very slow to act, it may be deliberate, but I want a guy who appears to have some more energy.

 

[MattMang23]

He should have fired P after his second season. He rendered a death sentence in 2013.

He seems very slow to act, it may be deliberate, but I want a guy who appears to have some more energy.

I agree with firing P after year two. I just don't think it's going to cost us as much in the long term as some are projecting based on who P's replacement is.

 

[Dooley]

Tom Jurich was quick to act and hired Bobby friggin' Petrino. Bobby Petrino. Let that set in a bit. That hire might be the single worst hire since we hired Paul Pasqualoni/George DeLeone. It was so bad that Jurich had to put in absurdly large buyout clauses because he doesn't trust his new hire.

 

[UConn07]

And here comes the anti-Warde brigade.

Don't give me "he went to the USVI to watch a women's bball game and Louisville beat us for a spot in the ACC." Realignment has been on the presidential level, not the AD level.

Sure, Jurich had a lot of pull on the Louisville end of the Louisville-ACC talks, but that doesn't mean that every university allows their AD that amount of autonomy in dealing with conference realignment. Maybe different organizations are run differently?

You hit the nail on the head here. He screwed up the most important thing that will impact this school over the next decade by going to watch the women's basketball team. Think about that. Football coaches can be replaced. So can basketball coaches. Conferences cannot. Louisville and Jurich worked 10x harder than Warde at that and look at the results. That's not spinning anything. That's fact.

You admit that Louisville's AD had A LOT of pull in the ACC talks, then say most schools that is at a Presidential level. The future of the entire athletic department over the next several years resided solely on the ACC decision and Warde decided to go watch women's basketball instead of fight for a spot. Fact.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

He should have fired P after his second season. He rendered a death sentence in 2013.

He seems very slow to act, it may be deliberate, but I want a guy who appears to have some more energy.

I don't know how you can watch the Weist and Diaco press conferences and not be impressed with WM.

I think his timing was right with the PP firing. UConn wasn't 0-12 in 2012. They were a couple plays from bowling...and beat UL. I think his quick hook in 2013 was spot on. It was a bold move and he followed that up with what we all perceive to be a great hire.

It feels like UConn athletics is headed in the right direction and it also feels like it is not good timing to get new leadership at the school. UConn needs to build on momentum...not have uncertainty of a new AD working with coaches that he didn't hire.

I hope this is just a bad rumor...and I hope WM stays on...but....I also think SH understands the importance of this position in the university's future and will do what she can to keep the momentum going no matter what happens.

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't know how you can watch the Weist and Diaco press conferences and not be impressed with WM.

I think his timing was right with the PP firing. UConn wasn't 0-12 in 2012. They were a couple plays from bowling...and beat UL. I think his quick hook in 2013 was spot on. It was a bold move and he followed that up with what we all perceive to be a great hire.

It feels like UConn athletics is headed in the right direction and it also feels like it is not good timing to get new leadership at the school. UConn needs to build on momentum...not have uncertainty of a new AD working with coaches that he didn't hire.

I hope this is just a bad rumor...and I hope WM stays on...but....I also think SH understands the importance of this position in the university's future and will do what she can to keep the momentum going no matter what happens.

Pressers don't shape the basis of my opinion on anyone. We need a guy who is the total package.

 

[CTMike]

You hit the nail on the head here. He screwed up the most important thing that will impact this school over the next decade by going to watch the women's basketball team. Think about that. Football coaches can be replaced. So can basketball coaches. Conferences cannot. Louisville and Jurich worked 10x harder than Warde at that and look at the results. That's not spinning anything. That's fact.

You admit that Louisville's AD had A LOT of pull in the ACC talks, then say most schools that is at a Presidential level. The future of the entire athletic department over the next several years resided solely on the ACC decision and Warde decided to go watch women's basketball instead of fight for a spot. Fact.

You have no idea how hard he was working behind the scenes. Neither do I, neither does anyone. Assuming he was sunning himself on the beach instead of working on our behalf is so full of stupid. Typical BY know-it-all "facts", when really, they are your opinions, and based on wholly incomplete information at that.

 

[MattMang23]

You hit the nail on the head here. He screwed up the most important thing that will impact this school over the next decade by going to watch the women's basketball team. Think about that. Football coaches can be replaced. So can basketball coaches. Conferences cannot. Louisville and Jurich worked 10x harder than Warde at that and look at the results. That's not spinning anything. That's fact.

You admit that Louisville's AD had A LOT of pull in the ACC talks, then say most schools that is at a Presidential level. The future of the entire athletic department over the next several years resided solely on the ACC decision and Warde decided to go watch women's basketball instead of fight for a spot. Fact.

Maybe Herbst told Warde that he doesn't need to be involved- that she and her staff are handling realignment. You don't know that. And I am not saying this is at the presidential level; Susan Herbst was quoted as saying that. I am only saying it is possible that at UConn, Susan has opted to be the point person on realignment and at Louisville, for whatever reason, Jurich is the point person and has more discretion regarding realignment. None of us know how Susan is handling this issue.

You're just speculating that he chose the women's bball game in the USVI over working on realignment.

 

[UConn07]

You have no idea how hard he was working behind the scenes. Neither do I, neither does anyone. Assuming he was sunning himself on the beach instead of working on our behalf is so full of stupid. Typical BY know-it-all "facts", when really, they are your opinions, and based on wholly incomplete information at that.

You don't need to know if Warde was sunning himself on the beach. You only need to know he wasn't in front of each and every Athletic Director in the ACC making his pitch and PRESENTING UCONN. Hearing FSU administrators say things about UCONN that aren't true and not hearing a response from your school is idiotic and suicidal. Bob Diaco was the first person to PRESENT UCONN ever. As he said, UCONN doesn't need to sell itself, it just needs to present itself. Instead of doing that, Warde decided to go elsewhere. He should have been meeting one on one, face to face with the actual people who would be voting. Conference calls are one thing. In person visits are another.

Hindsight is always 20-20, but saying Warde did everything he could is factually untrue.

 

[Dooley]

Everybody please stop. UCONN is NEVER going to the ACC. They were never going to go to the ACC. The ACC has had ample amount of times to add them and, each time, the set of criteria for selecting a new school has been conveniently changed to better fit whoever they invited over UCONN. UCONN has way too many enemies within that conference, whether it is from Blumenthal's lawsuit (BCU, Miami, VT) or southern schools that don't want to add another northeast BCU (FSU, Clemson, GT). Warde could have camped out at John Swofford's home and sent everybody at the U their own personal boat and ho and it wouldn't have mattered. If the ACC expands again, UCONN will not be added. The criteria and smear campaign will change so that Cincinnati, UCF, USF, Temple, whoever will seem like a better fit over UCONN.

UCONN's only two ways out of the AAC are: improve profile for a B1G invite OR the P5 blowup that sends everything into chaos and smaller grandfathered schools like Wake are exposed.