The Calhoun Project E:60

[UConnNick]

It's true that Toner deserved criticism for his absentee administration of the athletic program while he was traveling all over the country on NCAA business. He neglected things to a point where there was serious discussion among the boosters and BOT about leaving the Big East for a conference we might have a better chance of being competitive in.

A lot of the blame lies with the school administration at that time, though. They were trying to run the admissions dept. like we were in the Ivy League, and our Big East brethren were all cheating their asses off in recruiting. We couldn't compete unless we could recruit marginal qualifiers, and the school wouldn't allow it. The fact that Toner may not have fought that is on him, but going back to the Homer Babbidge years, and his desire to make UConn a "public ivy", Toner was on board with all of that due to his own background at Columbia.

Toner turned things around in a big way by hiring Auriemma and Calhoun. Auriemma was a complete flyer. Who knew he would transform the women's program into the biggest national power in the game? Toner had the foresight to even go to the team and ask them if they'd have any problem with a male coach. They indicated they just wanted to win...didn't care about gender. He met Calhoun somewhere in Sturbridge to seal the deal with him. A committee was actively involved in both hires, but Toner was the one who finalized the deals. The culture needed to change and the school was aware of that, so they instituted the academic assistance program for athletes after they lost Gamble and Robinson due to the school's academic rules, not the NCAA's, and they finally committed to upgrading the facilities after Calhoun badgered everybody he possibly could. He had to fight for everything, including ditching the shitbox Dodge car from the state motor pool.

Personally, Toner was always very cordial and engaging when you talked with him in person. He invented Division I-AA and served as President of the NCAA. In my view the ADs should still be in charge of the NCAA. Letting the school presidents run it has been an unmitigated disaster.

Toner deserves the credit for turning around the athletic program and saving it from being permanently relegated to A10 or lower status, whether he was on his way out or not.

 

[UConnNick]

It's for those who like Classi-Cal:
View attachment 40822
"You guys understand, you all can only do it, together.
As much as you want to compete against a teammate, compete.
And pick his ass up and beat him again. Make him better. MAKE HIM BETTER!
I know you may find this funny, you don't truly know me yet, I actually take this sh_t really serious, I mean real serious."

I call this the brick wall speech. After this one, you want to run through a brick wall, pick yourself up off the ground, and run through another brick wall.

 

[Waquoit]

Hired three great, not good, coaches.
Joined the Big East.
Two NCAA national championship teams.
Served as NCAA president... among the other things I listed.

Think you are spot on wrong on this Waquoit.

The one great coach that actually worked for him for more than a year was always grousing about AD support.

We joined the Big East and than did nothing to actually compete in the Big East. We were Rutgers, just content the cash the checks.

And how many titles did Hathaway win?

You keep listing NCAA President. Maybe that looks good on his resume, but it was awful for UConn and that's where I'm coming from.

If I am "spot wrong" here, what about the folks that fired him? And then things changed for the better as soon as he was gone. I'm not saying he didn't have a great career.

 

[CL82]

The one great coach that actually worked for him for more than a year was always grousing about AD support.

So which of these NCAA national championship winning coaches (Marrone, Auriemma and Calhoun) do you believe was not a great coach? Weird hill to die on buddy.

We joined the Big East and than did nothing to actually compete in the Big East. We were Rutgers, just content the cash the checks.

Wow you could not be more wrong. We absolutely were not content to just cash checks. That is why we went out found two outstanding coaches who turned out to be future Hall of Famers and among the best in their profession - ever.

And how many titles did Hathaway win?

Quite a few, but they all due to coaches hired by Toner.

You keep listing NCAA President. Maybe that looks good on his resume, but it was awful for UConn and that's where I'm coming from.

It was a statement of his standing in the profession. If your argument is that an otherwise outstanding AD with unbelievable achievements earned during his tenure, sucked because he was so respected that he also served as NCAA president during a portion of his tenure, you don't have an argument.

If I am "spot (on) wrong" here, what about the folks that fired him? And then things changed for the better as soon as he was gone. I'm not saying he didn't have a great career.

Lol, he served for 17 years! Man that's a reach. The best part is he resigned - he was not fired.

 

[Waquoit]

Let me see if I can format this right:

The one great coach that actually worked for him for more than a year was always grousing about AD support.

So which of these NCAA national championship winning coaches (Marrone, Auriemma and Calhoun) do you believe was not a great coach? Weird hill to die on buddy.

They all were/are great coaches of course. But only Morrone worked for him for any length of time and was constantly beating the drum for more support even though he was running the best program in the country. I don't know for sure, but I think the Friends of Soccer came about as a result of this lack of support. JC worked for him for less than a year, Geno was hired the year before.

We joined the Big East and than did nothing to actually compete in the Big East. We were Rutgers, just content the cash the checks.

Wow you could not be more wrong. We absolutely were not content to just cash checks. That is why we went out found two outstanding coaches who turned out to be future Hall of Famers and among the best in their profession - ever.

This is where I start to wonder if you know what you are talking about. In 1982, UConn beat G'Town on they road in their bandbox. They beat up on that Ewing-Fred Brown Finals team on national television. They were on their way to the dance. They ended up losing 7 out of their last 8, including the 1st round of the BET when it was held in the Civic Center. It was a pathetic collapse. Add to that, all of the best players on the team were graduating. Any decent AD would have recognized that Perno was not the guy. Toner gave him another four years and would have been more if he wasn't finally forced to sack him. Don't tell me Toner wasn't content with status quo. He would say as much when asked.

Example of what a joke the BB program had become on Toner's watch. We were at the first game of the 1984 BET against Cuse. Cuse was a huge favorite but we weren't getting blown out. During the 8 minute time out The PA announcer says, "There will be reception for UConn fans at the Hotel Penta following the game. The Syracuse reception will be after tomorrow's game...'

And how many titles did Hathaway win?

Quite a few, but they all due to coaches hired by Toner.

Not all, he didn't hire Calhoun. By that I mean he didn't have the power to make the call himself by that time. And though we'll never know. I'm pretty sure that if Toner was still around, Geno wouldn't have been. He wouldn't have put up with that nonsense.

It was a statement of his standing in the profession. If your argument is that an otherwise outstanding AD with unbelievable achievements earned during his tenure, sucked because he was so respected that he also served as NCAA president during a portion of his tenure, you don't have an argument.

If he wanted to be NCAA president he should have resigned. Instead, he was an absentee AD for years while the basketball program cratered. He took UConn paychecks for years while failing to do his primary job. And "absentee AD" aren't my words, that's what it said in the AD review (similar to what they did to Hathaway) that was performed after situation became too dire too ignore. I lived through this. Every UConn fan I knew wanted Toner gone yesterday back then. He was the Hathaway of the 80's.

If I am "spot wrong" here, what about the folks that fired him? And then things changed for the better as soon as he was gone. I'm not saying he didn't have a great career.

Lol, he served for 17 years! Man that's a reach. The best part is he resigned - he was not fired.

Not a reach, it's literally true. Toner was gone in 1987, the very next year UConn wins the NIT and they are off! Resigned/fired, isn't it just semantics when you don't leave on your own accord? That would be called retiring. Hathaway resigned after all.

 

[Giscombe12]

I forgot about episode 2, but it's up on the site.

WatchESPN: Live Sports, Game Replays, Video Highlights

More excellence.

 

[Palatine]

When I was with WHUS we were caravaning to Holy Cross for a football game. Our car was behind Toner's. A couple of hundred yards from the 44/195 intersection a dog ran across the road and in front of Toner's car.

Suddenly, there was the screeching of brakes and a lot of smoke. We all got out and walked to the front of Toner's car. The dog was gone. Apparently he ran off into the woods. But there was a little mess in the road. Toner sort of bent over a bit, got back up and announced. "It's just excrement."

We got back into our cars and continued to Worcester. A beautiful story I will never forget.

 

[CL82]

They all were/are great coaches of course. But only Morrone worked for him for any length of time and was constantly beating the drum for more support even though he was running the best program in the country. I don't know for sure, but I think the Friends of Soccer came about as a result of this lack of support. JC worked for him for less than a year, Geno was hired the year before.

Lol, so he doesn't get credit for hiring three future hall of fame coaches because "they didn't work for him "any length of time." Lol, but he still hired them right? Man you are struggling to make an argument rather than admitting you are off base with your irrational dislike of the man.

all of the best players on the team were graduating. Any decent AD would have recognized that Perno was not the guy. Toner gave him another four years and would have been more if he wasn't finally forced to sack him.

Lol, he recruited those "best guys" and brought him the to Connecticut. Corney Thomson, Mike McKay, Chuck Aleksinas were the graduating seniors. That was some big time talent he brought to Storrs. You can't see the logic in extending the guys contract so he could continue to recruit? It's a pretty common thing for an AD to do.

Not all, he didn't hire Calhoun.

Lol, well Jim Calhoun thinks he did, but I'm sure you are right and he's wrong.

I'm pretty sure that if Toner was still around, Geno wouldn't have been.

Based on what? Because Geno sure thinks differently:
Auriemma on Toner: I owe a debt of gratitude to John that can never be repaid. We became friends. I looked up to him and admired him and he'll always have a special place in my heart and in my family's heart. Everyone in the University of Connecticut, in the state of Connecticut and every single person in amateur sports owes him a debt of gratitude.

If he wanted to be NCAA president he should have resigned. Instead, he was an absentee AD for years while the basketball program cratered.

The basketball program didn't crater. UConn hired a storied former point guard as coach and didn't work out. As you point out we won the NIT the year 1988 hard to that from a cratered program. In any event at that time the NCAA presidency was a part time job given to national prominent ADs. You realize that right?

Resigned/fired, isn't it just semantics

Translation: "I was wrong on the firing, I better waffle." He resigned after serving 17 years as AD with extraordinary accomplishments I noted above.

Man you are so irrational and stunningly wrong on this. What did he do pull your scholly?

 

[UConnNick]

Lol, so he doesn't get credit for hiring three future hall of fame coaches because "they didn't work for him "any length of time." Lol, but he still hired them right? Man you are struggling to make an argument rather than admitting you are off base with your irrational dislike of the man.

Lol, he recruited those "best guys" and brought him the to Connecticut. Corney Thomson, Mike McKay, Chuck Aleksinas were the graduating seniors. That was some big time talent he brought to Storrs. You can't see the logic in extending the guys contract so he could continue to recruit? It's a pretty common thing for an AD to do.

Lol, well Jim Calhoun thinks he did, but I'm sure you are right and he's wrong.

Based on what? Because Geno sure thinks differently:
Auriemma on Toner: I owe a debt of gratitude to John that can never be repaid. We became friends. I looked up to him and admired him and he'll always have a special place in my heart and in my family's heart. Everyone in the University of Connecticut, in the state of Connecticut and every single person in amateur sports owes him a debt of gratitude.

The basketball program didn't crater. UConn hired a storied former point guard as coach and didn't work out. As you point out we won the NIT the year 1988 hard to that from a cratered program. In any event at that time the NCAA presidency was a part time job given to national prominent ADs. You realize that right?
Translation: "I was wrong on the firing, I better waffle." He resigned after serving 17 years as AD with extraordinary accomplishments I noted above.

Man you are so irrational and stunningly wrong on this. What did he do pull your scholly?

At least having Toner so actively involved with the NCAA meant we weren't getting continually singled out and blindsided by made up rules, from an NCAA administration led by Emmert, a disgruntled former UCONN employee with an axe to grind against the school.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Just so people know, ESPN does not film, commission or produce 30 for 30 videos. They are created by independent filmmakers are offered to ESPN. If you want a UConn/Calhoun/Geno 30 for 30 you can make one.

 

[Waquoit]

Translation: "I was wrong on the firing, I better waffle." He resigned after serving 17 years as AD with extraordinary accomplishments I noted above.
Man you are so irrational and stunningly wrong on this. What did he do pull your scholly?

It was a resign or get fired situation. In every other sports situation like this the media says "basically the guy got fired" There was no waffle. This and the rest of your rebuttal is bad faith. Just to pick part:
"Lol, he recruited those "best guys" and brought him the to Connecticut. Corney Thomson, Mike McKay, Chuck Aleksinas were the graduating seniors. That was some big time talent he brought to Storrs. You can't see the logic in extending the guys contract so he could continue to recruit? It's a pretty common thing for an AD to do."
This is mind-numbingly inane. That "big-time" talent lost 7 out of their 8 last games. Not only did he the coach that talent so poorly, he wasn't bringing in new guys with that "big-time" talent still on the team. Why would that change with them gone? He coached for 4 losing years in a row. And the only reason he was let go is because one of his players got involved in a big scandal. The AD would have brought him back if it was left up to him.

If you aren't willing to accept that as AD ineptitude I'm calling shenanigans.

 

[CL82]

It was a resign or get fired situation.

There's just zero logic here. He had a 17 year career at UConn. The fact that it eventually ended means that all the incredible accomplishments don't count? Sorry, that just stupid. But the fact still stands, he resigned, he wasn't fired.

Regarding Perno, your argument seems to be Perno was a bad coach, therefor the AD who fired and replaced him with Jim Calhoun was a bad AD? Lol, sorry it just doesn't work like that.

Through this thread you've gotten one thing wrong after another. I've been patient and corrected every, uh, let's call them misstatements, but none of that is going to change your mind. Like I said, don't what you think he did to you to give you such a woody for the guy, but his record stands on it's own. So I'll end where I began and list it here.

John Toner's Legacy:​

​

UConn Hires Joe Marrone​

Hires soccer coaching legend and future Hall of Famer in 1969.​

​

UConn Joins the Big East​

In 1979, when former Providence coach Dave Gavitt conceived of the Big East, he invited schools up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Toner was given three days to accept or decline, and on May 26 he accepted, changing the course of UConn and college basketball.​

​

"John Toner's decision in May of 1979 to leave his New England neighbors and move Connecticut into what would become the Big East Conference changed UConn athletics forever," Calhoun said. "John's vision 35 years ago paved the path for the University of Connecticut to win 18 NCAA championships in four sports during the past four decades.​

​

UConn wins NCAA National Championship in Soccer.​

1981, if I recall correctly.​

​

UConn wins NCAA National Championship in Field Hockey.​

It is a bit of history as it the first woman's NCAA championship in any sport ever. The championship game was actually played at Storrs in 1982.​

​

UConn Hires Auriemma ​

Toner, who added women's sports to the athletic calendar in the 1970s, in 1985 identified future Hall of Famer Auriemma, then an assistant at Virginia, as the man to make UConn competitive in women's basketball. Within a few years, the Huskies were on the doorstep of the Final Four and have become the premier program in America, winning nine championships.​

​

Said Auriemma, "I owe a debt of gratitude to John that can never be repaid. We became friends. I looked up to him and admired him and he'll always have a special place in my heart and in my family's heart. Everyone in the University of Connecticut, in the state of Connecticut and every single person in amateur sports owes him a debt of gratitude."​

​

UConn Hires Calhoun ​

The Huskies struggled in the early years of the conference, but when Toner looked for a new coach to replace Dom Perno, he chose Future Hall of Famer Calhoun, who was very successful at Northeastern. "Personally, John gave me a great start as head basketball coach at Connecticut," Calhoun said. "And through the years he was always available to me for wise counsel and friendship."​

​

NCAA President/Title IX​

"John Toner was a transformational figure on the national collegiate stage, including being a driving force in the late 1970s and early 1980s to add women's athletics under the NCAA umbrella." The growth of women's sports in this country can be directly related to the work that John Toner did to help push forward the Title IX bill. So, I just can't put into words … words at some point lose their factor, their meaning when you're describing someone who was a giant in the world of amateur sports."​

​

Awards and Honors​

Distinguished American Award from the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame, the James Corbett Award from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, a Gold Key from the Connecticut Sports' Writers Alliance and Honorary Alumnus from UConn. In 1997, the National Football Foundation inaugurated its John L. Toner Award (given to an athletic director who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football), with Toner as the first recipient.​

​

He is the only school administrator included in the Huskies of Honor at Gampel Pavilion​

Auriemma and Calhoun both seem to have thought the world of the guy but you don't. I'll give more credence to their opinions than your. Feel free to have the last word though.

 

[Vuce]

Just watched the third episode of this. Can we just make this a regular weekly series?! Each episode I remember how much I miss the guy. They sprinkle in enough old UConn highlights to keep me satisfied. Next week is the last episode....sad to see it end

 

[storrsroars]

Just so people know, ESPN does not film, commission or produce 30 for 30 videos. They are created by independent filmmakers are offered to ESPN. If you want a UConn/Calhoun/Geno 30 for 30 you can make one.

I have $25 set aside for a GoFundMe for this. Who's taking the lead?

 

[CL82]

Just watched the third episode of this. Can we just make this a regular weekly series?! Each episode I remember how much I miss the guy. They sprinkle in enough old UConn highlights to keep me satisfied. Next week is the last episode....sad to see it end

@tcf15 has to take the 10 minute segments, stitch them in a single 40 show and post @uconngames.com

 

[AllAbout5]

Just watched the third episode of this. Can we just make this a regular weekly series?! Each episode I remember how much I miss the guy. They sprinkle in enough old UConn highlights to keep me satisfied. Next week is the last episode....sad to see it end

The extended version on the ESPN app is so much better. The cliffhanger at the end was great, Calhoun’s grandson asks him if USJ will make the tournament and he says 100%. Does anyone know if that happened?

 

[crazyUCfan23]

The extended version on the ESPN app is so much better. The cliffhanger at the end was great, Calhoun’s grandson asks him if USJ will make the tournament and he says 100%. Does anyone know if that happened?

They make the GNAC finals.

 

[AllAbout5]

They make the GNAC finals.

oh thanks. his grandson looks so old now!

 

[sledog]

Anyone got the #3 replay url?