So I'm driving to a job site and hear the Suze on the radio...

[Waquoit]

The rest of it is noise. To me, the single most important thing he can do is hire the right coach this December. And if he does he will have set us up to be successful. So to me it is an incomplete.

I think you could have added the dead-in-the-water "rebranding". But I agree overall, he gets an incomplete. The situation still needs to be monitored.

 

[J187Money]

I think you could have added the dead-in-the-water "rebranding". But I agree overall, he gets an incomplete. The situation still needs to be monitored.

That's fair. Although the rebranding wasn't solely his - that's on Herbst as well. I think she owns that one.

 

[RMoore1999]

Nitpicking aside, those who want Warde fired mostly cite 3 things:

1) CR - and most people would agree if he had been here long enough. But this can't be laid at his feet and made a firing offense because he didn't get it done.

2) How he handled Ollie - tough situation. We ended up in the right spot (unless you think we should have gone outside which is what he wanted to do anyway) so hard to fire him for that.

3) Not firing PP last year - I think the case was there to fire PP but most coaches get 3 years.

The rest of it is noise. To me, the single most important thing he can do is hire the right coach this December. And if he does he will have set us up to be successful. So to me it is an incomplete.

Defending Warde against things that he couldn't necessarily control (1 and 2) and a choice that was reasonable (if unpopular in 3) isn't blind loyalty. I, along with many others here, would have preferred a different candidate in retrospect. But I'm not ready to fire him. He is a football guy and I expect that he will hire the right coach and we can move forward.

Mostly fair enough. Where I disagree with you, upstarter, ctmike, jungle, bill and seemingly the majority of the fanbase is your last sentence. Im terrified at the proposition of Warde selecting the next coach. Only time will tell, but I pray your confidence in him is well placed and my instincts are wrong.

 

[uconnbill]

Mostly fair enough. Where I disagree with you, upstarter, ctmike, jungle, bill and seemingly the majority of the fanbase is your last sentence. Im terrified at the proposition of Warde selecting the next coach. Only time will tell, but I pray your confidence in him is well placed and my instincts are wrong.

I have more faith in Manuel than I did when Hathaway decided who would lead UCONN football.

 

[AfgHusky15]

and she's being interviewed about UConn football...on NPR of all places. Kind of confirmed my view that when it comes to athletics, she is either clueless or doesn't much care. Highlights of her comments: 1. We're not Alabama, nor are we LSU (did youknow Towson almost beat LSU last year? Not really but that what she was told to say if Town came up I imagine...NPR listeners and all). We're also not Michigan. freescooter interpretation: We're going to be in the American Athletic Conference for a good long while.
2. She was caught off guard by how important football was to conference re-alignment. Yes she actually said that. freescooter interpretation: Suze doesn't read the Boneyard. In fact it is doubtful that she has ever read the sports page of any newspaper or even some pieces in the Journal of Higher Education...
3. Don't worry about football. Warde Manuel knows football. He played football at Michigan. freescooter interpretation: A. Warde ain't going anywhere. B. The fact that a team with 5 NFL players on it finished 5-7 didn't lead Warde to see that the Coach might be lacking in some regard makes one wonder whether we might be better off with an AD who actually knows results and to hell with his knowledge of football...
But #2 is the thing that is of the greatest concern. In her defense, she said she and other college presidents. I think she muct have been talking about the presidents of Connecticut College, Trinity and Wesleyan...football isn't a factor in re-alignment of the NESCAC as far as I know.

I actually was in my car at the same time and listening to the interview. What you said is a distorted version of how the interview went. I thought she handled the sports questions fairly well. People can have their own opinion on what she said but I would advise not basing it on freescooters version. Instead try listening to what she actually did say. The link below has the recorded interview, and they talk about uconn football starting around the 41/42 minute.

http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/node/27121

After listening to a large part of the interview it made me like Herbst even more. She called out the NPR guy several times for asking stupid questions. As someone who listens to NPR daily and has a lot of respect for the overall program, some of the NPR interviewers come off as though they are the best thing since peanut butter, but in fact they do ask stupid questions and make stupid remarks on a regular basis...just like the rest of us. Its nice to hear some of the interviewees bring the NPR people down to earth every once in a while.

 

[J187Money]

Mostly fair enough. Where I disagree with you, upstarter, ctmike, jungle, bill and seemingly the majority of the fanbase is your last sentence. Im terrified at the proposition of Warde selecting the next coach. Only time will tell, but I pray your confidence in him is well placed and my instincts are wrong.

I don't think most people think he will choose a bad replacement. They are just mad he hasn't done it yet.

 

[Dooley]

I am not scared of Manuel making a hire. I am scared to death of Larry McHugh & BOT limiting his candidate list. I think if you give Manuel a reasonable budget and no limitations, he will find good candidates.

 

[J187Money]

I am not scared of Manuel making a hire. I am scared to death of Larry McHugh & BOT limiting his candidate list. I think if you give Manuel a reasonable budget and no limitations, he will find good candidates.

Right.

 

[huskymedic]

I am not scared of Manuel making a hire. I am scared to death of Larry McHugh & BOT limiting his candidate list. I think if you give Manuel a reasonable budget and no limitations, he will find good candidates.

McHugh can be neutered by a booster. He's stubborn but by far not dumb.

 

[ruskin]

McHugh can be neutered by a booster. He's stubborn but by far not dumb.

Burton couldn't neuter him the last time around -- although when he wrote The Letter he hadn't figured out Larry/CTHSFB coaches foisted P on Hathaway. Wonder what the Burton/McHugh relationship is like now?

Burton's chest-thumping in that letter is tough to swallow, but it's still an entertaining read.

 

[huskymedic]

Burton couldn't neuter him the last time around -- although when he wrote The Letter he hadn't figured out Larry/CTHSFB coaches foisted P on Hathaway. Wonder what the Burton/McHugh relationship is like now?

Burton's chest-thumping in that letter is tough to swallow, but it's still an entertaining read.

Doesn't have to be Burton...

McHugh is very politically connected and is a survivor. At this point in his career/life, he's no different than other BOT Chairs across the country. They begin to think about their legacy and PP won't be his legacy. Loyalty only goes so far.

 

[ruskin]

They begin to think about their legacy and PP won't be his legacy.

Hopefully in five-10 years PP is a Dom Perno-like blip and LMcH's legacy is off the hook. But it's resting very comfortably there right now.

Going back to the The Letter: classic line "You hired a coach who only knows CT coaches and players. CT players alone will not put UConn's program where we want it to be".

 

[junglehusky]

Help us Donny Marshall, you're our only hope.

 

[upstater]

Burton couldn't neuter him the last time around -- although when he wrote The Letter he hadn't figured out Larry/CTHSFB coaches foisted P on Hathaway. Wonder what the Burton/McHugh relationship is like now?

Burton's chest-thumping in that letter is tough to swallow, but it's still an entertaining read.

And how does anyone even know whether that was a football assessment by Burton, when it could have been about PP's treatment of Burton's son?

 

[ruskin]

And how does anyone even know whether that was a football assessment by Burton, when it could have been about PP's treatment of Burton's son?

Oh, undoubtedly he was still bitter about that and a major factor in his diatribe. Bob Burton is no angel. But UConn/LMcH/JH forgot the Golden Rule - he who has the gold makes the rules. Not saying that's right, but in this case wish it had been followed.

 

[upstater]

Oh, undoubtedly he was still bitter about that and a major factor in his diatribe. Bob Burton is no angel. But UConn/LMcH/JH forgot the Golden Rule - he who has the gold makes the rules. Not saying that's right, but in this case wish it had been followed.

T. Boone Pickens he ain't. No one is handing over the keys for $3 m.

 

[J187Money]

And the recruiting hasn't been the issue. It has been the actual coaching.

 

[Drew]

Burton couldn't neuter him the last time around -- although when he wrote The Letter he hadn't figured out Larry/CTHSFB coaches foisted P on Hathaway. Wonder what the Burton/McHugh relationship is like now?

Burton's chest-thumping in that letter is tough to swallow, but it's still an entertaining read.

i actually had never read that letter but burton sounds like an absolute boss

 

[Jarhead_1775]

Help us Donny Marshall, you're our only hope.

That's why I cast my vote for him.

 

[CTMike]

Burton couldn't neuter him the last time around -- although when he wrote The Letter he hadn't figured out Larry/CTHSFB coaches foisted P on Hathaway. Wonder what the Burton/McHugh relationship is like now?

Burton's chest-thumping in that letter is tough to swallow, but it's still an entertaining read.

Haven't read that in a while. He comes across as an arrogant ... Who happens to be 100% correct.

 

[junglehusky]

Haven't read that in a while. He comes across as an arrogant ... Who happens to be 100% correct.

Yeah, reading that again, I'm nodding my head, nodding my head, then wincing at lines like "... my personal friend Dr. Billy Graham...", then nodding my head again.