Terrible Job by UCONN Leadership

[FASTEDDY]

I have been a fan of Sussan Herbst (and still am) but Susan and Warde Manuel (absolutely not a fan of his) did a very poor job of SELLING all that UCONN has to offer the ACC. The high qulaity academics, Northeast footprint, NYC visibility and p resence, sport success (Women's BBall, Football success, Soccer etc.), ownership of the entire Connecticut market etc.

You have to state your case strong and SELL SELL SELL the merits of the school. I think that they thought that UCONN was the obvious choice and didn't go as aggressively 100% as they could have. Louisville showed more passion, better sales job, and got it done.

It was easy to find articles where Louisville was strongly selling the merits of all of its programs, Pitino was very vocal and out front, Jurich is a GREAT AD and has been super aggressive. Even Cincy was out there SELLING its merits and what it brings to the table. What did you hear from UCONN? Fu_ _ing crickets. All i heard from Warde was "We are MONITORING the situation". He was doing so while flying to and from the USVI. Nobody needs your big ass at those games when there is IMPORTANT BUSINESS at hand. It should have been viewed as a CODE RED / STAT situation with all hands on deck and a full blown campaign to seel EVERYTHING that UCONN brings. Instead they were monitoring the sitaiton. Terrible Terrible Terrible.

I still really like Susan but think that she dropped the ball here to some extent. Warde completely fumbled this one. Think and compare for a second how visible and aggressive Louisville AD Tom Jurich has been over the past week or so and compare that with our boy Warde. Night and Day difference. Warde is no Jurich that for sure.

While I would much prefer to be in the Big10 to any other conference, we can COMPLETELY FORGET about the BIG10. Ain't gonna happen, EVER! If Big10 expands, it will be by poaching somone from on eof the power conferences with most likely candidates coming from ACC. That is the one hope that UCONN has of getting into the ACC. BIG10 is going after only big-time programs or school with a highly compelling business case (ala Rutgers). Even with ACC further expansion, Cincy has been SELLING SELLING their case and may even bump us for next in line in the ACC.

A sad day for UCONN. Could have been avoided by better planning and EXECUTION by UCONN Leadership.

 

[UConn990411]

Yeah, I'd like to apologize to nelson - UConn's leadership failed big time.

Quiet confidence is one thing, but standing around and expecting things will turn out for the best is unacceptable. If that's how things really went down, then wow. Just wow.

 

[noeynox]

Your title may be the understatement of the year. You know the situation is bad when I've learned how to add videos and pictures to posts within the last hour. On my own.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Meh. I disagree.

How do you SELL a men's basketball team which can't play in the tournament?
How do you SELL a head coach who has no experience or an unknown long-term history of success?
How do you SELL an extremely young FBS program which is known best for being a terrible BCS team?
How do you SELL mediocre attendance and a small stadium?

The facts are the facts.

Having good academics and a potentially good TV market aren't going to win every battle.

 

[J187Money]

Meh. I disagree.

How do you SELL a men's basketball team which can't play in the tournament?
How do you SELL a head coach who has no experience or an unknown long-term history of success?
How do you SELL an extremely young FBS program which is known best for being a terrible BCS team?
How do you SELL mediocre attendance and a small stadium?

The facts are the facts.

Having good academics and a potentially good TV market aren't going to win every battle.

I don't think it is quite that bad. But I've often felt that the fanbase has overemphasized the quality and importance of UCONN in football. We are a nice story, and we are a rising program. But it is still all potential. Notwithstanding Carl Spackler's recitations of history, UCONN just doesn't matter as a program, yet. Not when you are talking to FSU/Clemson/BC etc...

 

[FASTEDDY]

Meh. I disagree.

How do you SELL a men's basketball team which can't play in the tournament?
How do you SELL a head coach who has no experience or an unknown long-term history of success?
How do you SELL an extremely young FBS program which is known best for being a terrible BCS team?
How do you SELL mediocre attendance and a small stadium?

The facts are the facts.

Having good academics and a potentially good TV market aren't going to win every battle.

You SELL everything that UCONN does have to offer. One year NCAA ban? Who gives a sh_t? Look @ all the Titles and success. NY media market, ownership of entire CT market, get in with ESPN and make a case. Use every weapon in your arsenal. UCONN didn;t do that. They acted like they were far int he lead for the next ACC spot and got shown up BIG-TIME by 'Ville. Lack of urgency, appropriate amount of desperation, plan, strategy, etc.. They should have been courting the ACC ever since the last failure. Should have been building bridges and oversoming obstacles with the schools that were likely UCONN opponents such as Clemson, FSU etc. Find a way to show them that UCONN is obviolus choice and brings a lot to the table.

therible errible terrible job Warde and Suzy.

 

[UConnJim]

One of the first rules of business: Things are sold, not bought. Louisville sold. UConn waited for buyers. Major fail by UConn leadership.

 

[Gurleyman]

How does this meme about us having a terrible performance in the Fiesta Bowl consistently get hold on this board? It was 34-20 in the fourth quarter and we had the ball, driving in Oklahoma territory. There have been many, many worse bowl collapses than that. I guarantee Sooner fans weren't doing a victory lap yet - not after they lost to Boise State.

I've never understood why we've mocked ourselves over a game that was still in doubt with six minutes to play. If people outside who didn't watch the game see a 48-20 final and want to call it embarrassing, so be it, but at least give ourselves some credit here.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

 

[FASTEDDY]

One of the first rules of business: Things are sold, not bought. Louisville sold. UConn waited for buyers. Major fail by UConn leadership.

Completely agree! That was my point exactly. Louisville SOLD and UCONN MONITORED.

complete lack of planning, strategy, aggression etc. Warde particularly is way over his head. Suzy, while this is a black mark against her, is still doing a fine job in o ther aspects.

Warde and PP need to go. We need a new, aggressive, smart, passionate regime .

 

[FASTEDDY]

How does this meme about us having a terrible performance in the Fiesta Bowl consistently get hold on this board? It was 34-20 in the fourth quarter and we had the ball, driving in Oklahoma territory. There have been many, many worse bowl collapses than that. I guarantee Sooner fans weren't doing a victory lap yet - not after they lost to Boise State.

I've never understood why we've mocked ourselves over a game that was still in doubt with six minutes to play. If people outside who didn't watch the game see a 48-20 final and want to call it embarrassing, so be it, but at least give ourselves some credit here.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

I have fel the same way. We seem to not promote and high-light all the positives that we have achieved.

 

[ZooCougar]

Meh. I disagree.

How do you SELL a men's basketball team which can't play in the tournament?
How do you SELL a head coach who has no experience or an unknown long-term history of success?
How do you SELL an extremely young FBS program which is known best for being a terrible BCS team?
How do you SELL mediocre attendance and a small stadium?

The facts are the facts.

Having good academics and a potentially good TV market aren't going to win every battle.

This is too easy.

Will be able to play in the tournament in 2014- No issue there

You don't sell a head coach- Head Coaches are rarely an enduring aspect of a school, besides he graduated from UConn, played in NBA and you can't prove that he won't be successful.

By laying out the facts of its accomplishments in a short period, show big dollar amounts of investments
Attendance has been good throughout the life of the stadium, it went down just recently, because of a bad coach whose days are numbered.

What other selling points would you like me to spin for you?

 

[Danzz]

I have been a fan of Sussan Herbst (and still am) but Susan and Warde Manuel (absolutely not a fan of his) did a very poor job of SELLING all that UCONN has to offer the ACC. The high qulaity academics, Northeast footprint, NYC visibility and p resence, sport success (Women's BBall, Football success, Soccer etc.), ownership of the entire Connecticut market etc.

You have to state your case strong and SELL SELL SELL the merits of the school. I think that they thought that UCONN was the obvious choice and didn't go as aggressively 100% as they could have. Louisville showed more passion, better sales job, and got it done.

It was easy to find articles where Louisville was strongly selling the merits of all of its programs, Pitino was very vocal and out front, Jurich is a GREAT AD and has been super aggressive. Even Cincy was out there SELLING its merits and what it brings to the table. What did you hear from UCONN? Fu_ _ing crickets. All i heard from Warde was "We are MONITORING the situation". He was doing so while flying to and from the USVI. Nobody needs your big ass at those games when there is IMPORTANT BUSINESS at hand. It should have been viewed as a CODE RED / STAT situation with all hands on deck and a full blown campaign to seel EVERYTHING that UCONN brings. Instead they were monitoring the sitaiton. Terrible Terrible Terrible.

I still really like Susan but think that she dropped the ball here to some extent. Warde completely fumbled this one. Think and compare for a second how visible and aggressive Louisville AD Tom Jurich has been over the past week or so and compare that with our boy Warde. Night and Day difference. Warde is no Jurich that for sure.

While I would much prefer to be in the Big10 to any other conference, we can COMPLETELY FORGET about the BIG10. Ain't gonna happen, EVER! If Big10 expands, it will be by poaching somone from on eof the power conferences with most likely candidates coming from ACC. That is the one hope that UCONN has of getting into the ACC. BIG10 is going after only big-time programs or school with a highly compelling business case (ala Rutgers). Even with ACC further expansion, Cincy has been SELLING SELLING their case and may even bump us for next in line in the ACC.

A sad day for UCONN. Could have been avoided by better planning and EXECUTION by UCONN Leadership.

You have no idea how Herbst and Manual sold the program; what they did or didn't do. IMO, the ACC knew they could have Uconn any time they wanted us while Louisville could have been part of the Big 12 expansion. How would you suggest that Uconn have battled that? If it came down to a choice between Uconn and Louisville and reallignment ended, the ACC would go with Uconn but realignment is not set in stone. Other schools may leave the ACC and if Louisville went to the Big 12 they would have to add 2 schools. We would be one of them but who would be the second? Cincinnati? I don't think that there is any way the ACC wants them.
The ACC didn't take Uconn because they didn't have to. We have no other options and this may not have been the case with Louisville. There was no way Herbst and Manual could change those circumstances by doing a better selling job. Instead of looking at it from a Uconn fan perspective try looking at it from the ACC perspective.

 

[CTJunkies]

Problem with leadership goes farther back. Seems like the Athletic Promotional Dept. (if we have one) did not know how to Promote a D-1 program. Living in Fairfield County, we hardly ever saw any Uconn promotional efforts. For the past 9 years that we have been D-1 in football, have had to search to find: NO Radio coverage for football or basketball games in Fairfield county, have to search thru pages of the CT Post to find any pertinent UConn info or try to locate thru other boneyard members, ways to view or get game coverage at local sports bars or online links. And we wonder why we lack fan support! Now with SNY coverage, seems to be too little too late.

 

[FASTEDDY]

They should hire some new AD marketing people or bring in a firm to properly promote the school into Fairfield County, NY etc. We clearly have to grow the footprint and expand the marketplace.