State Ethics Office Rules Corey Edsall Can Coach Only This Year At UConn; Ethics Laws Broken

[Chief00]

Pack the meeting. Push the key points stated here that there is no opportunity of abuse and that the State has to re-characterize the the plain language of the parties in the contract and regarding direct supervision to create a violation.

LOL - packing a meeting in some tiny obscure conference room on Trinity Street won't be hard to do.

 

[UCFBfan]

So a few things.

First, how will this effect recruiting? I know Corey was in on a lot of the kids we have verbals from? Would him leaving after a year persuade them to back out? I know that Corey isn't the HC or the whole staff but recruits usually go where their recruiter goes if they leave. We have been doing a great job on the recruiting trail, I'd hate to see that reversed because of this ridiculous decision.

Second, this is exactly why we'll never be a P5 school. You look at the crap schools like Louisville and others do to be successful and attractive to P5 conferences and then you look at the crap we do and it's no wonder we have been left behind. I'm not saying I'd be proud of my school if they did things like fake classes or all the crap Louisville did, but in the end, it got those schools to the promised land. We need a successful program and Corey was helping us turn it around.

Finally, I can't believe that in a state that even come up with a freaking state budget, they have magically been able to find time to deal with this meaningless issue. It really just makes me shake my head......I'm embarrassed that I live in this state and will likely not leave, even when all the lights are turned off......

 

[Chin Diesel]

Amazingly enough UConn moved forward on negotiating Corey's contract after seeking advice from the same board.

You ask an oversight agency for preliminary guidance, you proceed based off their decision and then the same board says, you are in violation.

 

[huskymedic]

Amazingly enough UConn moved forward on negotiating Corey's contract after seeking advice from the same board.

You ask an oversight agency for preliminary guidance, you proceed based off their decision and then the same board says, you are in violation.

Yeah but UConn's Ethics and Compliance person was a little "loose" with the facts/circumstances in December and then failed to ask for a formal ruling when told to do so by the OSE though...

UConn has some culpability here - just sucks it has become the issue it has. Can they navigate a mutually agreeable solution before it becomes a formal ruling remains to be seen.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Chief00]

Big picture - are we going to act like a P5 winner or a bunch of losers. This is really a defining time and issue. I don't care about the ethic rules weeds - make it work - - and as JC would say - come back and see me.

 

[BlueDogs]

Simply infuriating...proving once again beyond any doubt that the folks running this state are incompetent, small time, petty, idiots.

Interestingly, it probably breaches RE's contract since it was specifically negotiated as part of the consideration for his contract and him agreeing to come back. Since the Cory hire was part of the inducement for RE, its not nepotism because RE didn't use his position or authority to hire Cory or extend special privileges to him. Moreover, Cory doesn't work for his father.

This should just be appealed to a court. It's really stupid. Or, as an alternative, have the legislature write in an exemption by special act.

It reminds me of the huge crumbling foundation problem where our illustrious leaders help hide the problem for 17 years with the insurance industry, and allowed them to get away with rewriting their policies to exclude coverage so thousands of homeowners are now victimized.

As long as they can tax and regulate the hell out of you to cover their state pensions, they could care less about anything else.

The swamp in CT is alive and well. The whole rotten bunch running the state for the last 20 years need to go.

 

[Waquoit]

If there is a state in the country with worse politicians than Connecticut I'd be hard pressed to find it.

Any state with an SEC school has worse politicians than Connecticut.

 

[CL82]

LOL - packing a meeting in some tiny obscure conference room on Trinity Street won't be hard to do.

Don't underestimate the benefit of having the hallways filled and having to rotate people in and out.

This ain't my first rodeo, Chief.

 

[NavinRJohnson]

After thinking about it, this is WORSE than "Jesus in the Huddle".

 

[HartfordHank]

If there is a state in the country with worse politicians than Connecticut I'd be hard pressed to find it.

MASSACHUSETTS! Their main piece of legislation this year was a pay raise!

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Do you have something against good honest lawyers making a living?

I wouldn't if I could find one.

Have you ever met a good lawyer who was also honest? An honest lawyer who was also a good attorney? The two traits seem to be mutually exclusive.

 

[sportsart]

I wouldn't if I could find one.

Have you ever met a good lawyer who was also honest? An honest lawyer who was also a good attorney? The two traits seem to be mutually exclusive.

You trying to bait @businesslawyer ?

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

But the new opinion also rejects UConn's contention that Randy Edsall would not be directly supervising his son or his son's immediate supervisor, the offensive coordinator. Such direct supervision of a family member would be a conflict of interest, according to state law.

In addition to Corey Edsall sort of reporting to Beth Goetz, Athletic Department COO, apparently Rhett Lashlee also reports in name to someone else, e.g., Goetz or maybe Athletic Director Benedict. Silly games; just wait for the anti all that is UConn crowd chiming in on the Courant comments board.

Extending Jeff Jacobs' comment regarding a newly hired business school dean, imagine CT's potential issues with a prospective big-hanging fundraiser of a business, engineering, medical, etc. dean's reasonable expectations his/her spouse in academia also be hired. Nope, that never happens in the academic world ...

 

[minidarren]

Simply infuriating...proving once again beyond any doubt that the folks running this state are incompetent, small time, petty, idiots.

Interestingly, it probably breaches RE's contract since it was specifically negotiated as part of the consideration for his contract and him agreeing to come back. Since the Cory hire was part of the inducement for RE, its not nepotism because RE didn't use his position or authority to hire Cory or extend special privileges to him. Moreover, Cory doesn't work for his father.

This should just be appealed to a court. It's really stupid. Or, as an alternative, have the legislature write in an exemption by special act.

It reminds me of the huge crumbling foundation problem where our illustrious leaders help hide the problem for 17 years with the insurance industry, and allowed them to get away with rewriting their policies to exclude coverage so thousands of homeowners are now victimized.

As long as they can tax and regulate the hell out of you to cover their state pensions, they could care less about anything else.

The swamp in CT is alive and well. The whole rotten bunch running the state for the last 20 years need to go.

My father has not only one, but two of these beautiful basements.

 

[SubZero]

I know we like to claim that the entire state of CT supports UCONN but it is obvious from the comments on the story that is not the case. These people need to get on board because we are the only game in town.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Any state with an SEC school has worse politicians than Connecticut.

True, but they know enough to support their state school.

 

[freescooter]

How a snarky draft opinion got out without some supervisor saying knock it off is a question. Beyond that, the commission can though rarely does over rule it's staff. Like a lot of state boards they genuflect when a lawyer speaks. But they can. The really bizzare thing about this decision is that the lawyer who wrote the draft opinion basically ignores the law in recommending that Corey be allowed to stay for this year. There is nothing about "disruption of a program " as allowing it to be ignored. Finally this is an example of unintended consequences big time. This law goes back to the Nixon-Watergate era and has probably never intended to apply to the. Football coach. It probably needs updating but nobody has the time or inclination to do it nor do they relish being in favor of unethical behavior if the try to modify it. And all this while the governors chief of staff's wife gets a job at the department of housing. If the commission is any good it will admonish its staff and send this one back to the drawing board.

 

[Dizzy21]

By the ethics board's logic, Warde was an employee of Michigan the entire February and part of March that he was working for UConn because he had signed the contract to start March 14 at Michigan in January.

 

[freescooter]

And these guys are state lawyers. Basically guys who have 3 goals. 1. Get home by 4:30 every day.
2. Don't take any even position that could be considered even vaguely offensive. 3. Get home by 4:30 every day.

 

[Padutch5]

Randy Edsall's son will coach tight ends for his father for one football season at UConn, despite new findings by the state's ethics office that the arrangement violates bans against nepotism and a father helping to negotiate a contract for his son.

Ethics lawyers are recommending that the state ethics board take no action against Randy Edsall or UConn, and that Corey Edsall be kept in the $95,000-per-year job for this coming season — as long as the one-year pact is not renewed.

The ethics board recognizes the "potential disruption" to UConn's football program if Corey Edsall were prohibited from coaching this year, the draft opinion states. It will be presented to the state's citizen ethics advisory board at its July 20 meeting.

The opinion notes that it isn't unusual across the county for sons to coach in their father's major-college football programs, but states that Connecticut isn't willing to overlook the nepotism clause in the state ethics code to allow that to happen in this instance.

The draft opinion rejects UConn's assertions that it was proper for Randy Edsall to negotiate details of the job for his son, concluding that Edsall was a state employee on Dec. 28, the date he and UConn executed his contract. Edsall's renewed relationship with UConn began when he received and accepted the offer, the ethics lawyers found.

http://www.courant.com/news/connect...sall-son-ethics-violation-20170714-story.html

I'm surprised in all the comments about this ridiculous decision that no one has mentioned the most obvious conflict in Connecticut,politics today. We have the majority leader of our House of Reps who will shortly be voting on a state employee contract give back and extension is also a municipal union rep. I believe that this has been ruled to be not a conflict.
I'd love to say " only in Ct.", but having lived in Ct this is standard operating procedure there as well.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Two thoughts come to mind. Sorry if they've already been asked

1) This is involves a state employee. Did no legal checking process occur in his hiring? UConn football is fairly high-profile within the state; how did the hiring initially go through?

2) The link mentioned "as long has his one-year contract isn't renewed." Can UConn just negotiate some new contract that complies with state laws?

 

[huskymedic]

Two thoughts come to mind. Sorry if they've already been asked

1) This is involves a state employee. Did no legal checking process occur in his hiring? UConn football is fairly high-profile within the state; how did the hiring initially go through?

2) The link mentioned "as long has his one-year contract isn't renewed." Can UConn just negotiate some new contract that complies with state laws?

Actual draft Advisory Opinion w/ answers/facts here: http://www.ct.gov/ethics/lib/ethics/advisory_opinions/2017/draft_advisory_opinion_no._2017-2.pdf

 

[lavuuk153]

You trying to bait @businesslawyer ?

Nah he's trying to get @ here.

 

[BlueDogs]

My father has not only one, but two of these beautiful basements.

Very sorry to hear that. Lot of lives being destroyed by this and nobody stepping up. Its disgraceful.