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Message: [QUOTE="CL82, post: 3085049, member: 44"] 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. [INDENT][B]John Toner's Legacy[/B]:[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B]UConn Hires Joe Marrone[/B][/INDENT] [INDENT]Hires soccer coaching legend and future Hall of Famer in 1969.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B]UConn Joins the Big East[/B][/INDENT] [INDENT]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.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]"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.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B]UConn wins NCAA National Championship in Soccer.[/B][/INDENT] [INDENT]1981, if I recall correctly.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B]UConn wins NCAA National Championship in Field Hockey.[/B][/INDENT] [INDENT]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.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B]UConn Hires Auriemma [/B][/INDENT] [INDENT]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.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Said[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)] [/COLOR][B][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Auriemma,[/COLOR][/B] "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. [B][I]Everyone in the University of Connecticut, in the state of Connecticut and every single person in amateur sports owes him a debt of gratitude[/I][/B]."[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B]UConn Hires Calhoun [/B][/INDENT] [INDENT]The Huskies struggled in the early years of the conference, but [I]when Toner looked for a new coach to replace Dom Perno, he chose Future Hall of Famer Calhoun, who was very successful at Northeastern.[/I] "Personally, John gave me a great start as head basketball coach at Connecticut," [B][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Calhoun said[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]. [/COLOR]"And through the years he was always available to me for wise counsel and friendship."[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B]NCAA President/Title IX[/B][/INDENT] [INDENT]"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."[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT][B]Awards and Honors[/B][/INDENT] [INDENT]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.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]He is the only school administrator included in the Huskies of Honor at Gampel Pavilion[/INDENT] 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. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach