UConn administration

[huskiesnyc]

I posted this same thing in the bball forum by mistake. Anyway, this is how I feel as an alum, diehard supporter, and contributor.

I said this before and got criticized, but I knew we were in for trouble when Warde went to the Virgin Islands instead of making an effort to sell. Oh it's higher than his level? Tell that to Louisville AD Tom Jurich. What did he do that same day you ask? He canceled his trip to the Bahamas, and lobbied his ass off with the media, school presidents, and athletic directors. Louisville sold perception that their athletic department is stronger than ours- not reality. This is the first time a school with a stronger market, far superior academics, and a comparable athletic department lost out in realignment. We got outmaneuvered, out hustled, and they wanted it more plan and simple. By a school ranked #160 academically nonetheless. I wish our administration had an ounce of the passion us fans on the BY have. Feel free to disagree with me, but I feel there needs to be accountability from our current administration, instead of blaming everything on Jeff Hathaway. He's long gone and WM and Susan we're the clear frontrunners and got schooled.

 

[ASweet3781]

I posted this same thing in the bball forum by mistake. Anyway, this is how I feel as an alum, diehard supporter, and contributor.

I said this before and got criticized, but I knew we were in for trouble when Warde went to the Virgin Islands instead of making an effort to sell. Oh it's higher than his level? Tell that to Louisville AD Tom Jurich. What did he do that same day you ask? He canceled his trip to the Bahamas, and lobbied his ass off with the media, school presidents, and athletic directors. Louisville sold perception that their athletic department is stronger than ours- not reality. This is the first time a school with a stronger market, far superior academics, and a comparable athletic department lost out in realignment. We got outmaneuvered, out hustled, and they wanted it more plan and simple. By a school ranked #160 academically nonetheless. I wish our administration had an ounce of the passion us fans on the BY have. Feel free to disagree with me, but I feel there needs to be accountability from our current administration, instead of blaming everything on Jeff Hathaway. He's long gone and WM and Susan we're the clear frontrunners and got schooled.

I agree with you. Purely from a symbolic view point, the fact that our athletic director was at a preseason womens basketball tournament instead of the football game at Louisville shows you why we are viewed the way we are nationally. And I like our women's program a lot. But you cannot be down there and not at the big boy sport going on in Louisville. And the fact Jurich cancelled his trip, worked the lines, and got the invite, I am shocked that people are not calling for Manuel's head right now. The CT press is weak. They are afraid to really hold people at UConn accountable because of fear of getting access cut off. For PR 101 failures here it is worth the risk to nail the buffoon.

 

[Husky68]

Not that I disagree with what you've said but I think a big stumbling block to Uconn by the "long time football powers/teams" like Clemson, FSU and even BC and Miami is that Uconn is a football "Johnny come lately" and the whole football "$$$$$$$$" bonanza is built off of their decades of sweat to build college football. Louisville is not seen as a recent guy trying to get in on the "$$$$$$$$$" and maybe success hasn't been there but they have been in the game for a long time.
Louisville was 10-1-1 in 1990 and won the Fiesta bowl; they won the 1957 Sun Bowl - that was the Billy Cannon's 1st year at LSU. This is a football driven decision by those schools (Dukes, UNC types went along to get something done) and has to do with their perception of "earning a place at the table".

 

[huskymedic]

Louisville sold perception that their athletic department is stronger than ours- not reality. This is the first time a school with a stronger market, far superior academics, and a comparable athletic department lost out in realignment.

Disappointed as next guy but the fact is their Athletic Department is stronger and more profitable than our:

"Louisville’s athletic department saw net profits in 2010-11 that ranked behind only 20 other public FBS schools, according to NCAA financial disclosures. With $5.9 million in net profit, the Cardinals were well above the average of $3 million for public schools and behind only one ACC member, the University of Virginia. Much of Louisville’s success is driven by its basketball program. The Cardinals’ basketball team was the 16th most profitable football or men’s basketball program in the country in 2010-11, with $27.6 million in net profit, behind 15 football teams from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Notre Dame. The next most-profitable basketball program? Duke, with $15.1 million."

"Louisville’s real strength is in fund raising. In 2010-11, the basketball program took in $20.2 million in contributions, more than any other public FBS institution. The average for all public FBS schools was just $977,456. The highest for any public ACC school was just $2.1 million, at Virginia."

"The Cardinals’ football team isn’t doing too shabby, either. The football program was the 41st most-profitable in the country in 2010-11, even with a 7-6 record."

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/dollars/post/_/id/2438/rich-louisville-going-to-get-richer-in-acc

 

[ASweet3781]

This obsession from the ole boy network with what teams did in the 1950's or 70's or they won the 1990 Fiesta Bowl is as creepy as can be. I can't remember who played in last years BCS bowls let alone before I was born. I agree with you they hold it against us. And I find it creepy that they are so obsessed with the past.

 

[ASweet3781]

Disappointed as next guy but the fact is their Athletic Department is stronger and more profitable than our:

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/dollars/post/_/id/2438/rich-louisville-going-to-get-richer-in-acc

Doesn't matter. This is what drives me crazy.

THE CRITERIA ALWAYS CHANGES WHEN IT COMES TO UCONN.

If athletic department profitability mattered, Maryland and Rutgers wouldn't even be on the Big 10's radar. There it was TV and academics and stuff. Now it's athletic department profitability that is the key factor? Will there ever be a time where the factors favor UConn because it sure does seem like it changes every time it should favor us.

 

[huskymedic]

Doesn't matter. This is what drives me crazy.

THE CRITERIA ALWAYS CHANGES WHEN IT COMES TO UCONN.

If athletic department profitability mattered, Maryland and Rutgers wouldn't even be on the Big 10's radar. There it was TV and academics and stuff. Now it's athletic department profitability that is the key factor? Will there ever be a time where the factors favor UConn because it sure does seem like it changes every time it should favor us.

I didn't say that athletic profitability was a key factor (although I think for the ACC it was) - the statement was made "their athletic department is stronger than ours- not reality". The article points to the contrary.

Yea, it appears to be a moving target. Close the gaps and be better positioned the next time.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I agree that there was a confluence of events that occurred here all pushing against us, with the southern ACC football schools threatening leaving unless they took a supposed "better football program" despite junk academics, and the fact that UL theoretically themselves could threaten moving to the Big 12 if the ACC didn't take them, all making it a unique situation that went against all previous ACC expansion - characterized by in the dark dealings, selections based on academics and TV markets, not necessarily perceived or actual success.

That said, from a strict appearance standpoint, the fact that Manuel was down in the USVI when this all was happening does not look good. I don't care if he did or didn't go to the football game in Louisville, if he was back in Storrs with his entire staff on 24/7 PR pitch to the ACC mode, that would've been just as good. But there's really only so much one can do from a remote location. Sure, he can still make phone calls, but coordination among staff, active monitoring of phone calls, internet, etc. is far more difficult. When it became clear mid week that the southern football school's pushing for UL was gaining steam, his trip should've been immediately called off and him go into full blown stop the UL momentum mode. This was far more important than attendance at a women's basketball tournament, or even the football game. Whether Herbst went or not, I'm less inclined to believe that made a difference, UL's president went to the Bahamas too. But Manuel being out of the country and not immediately changing plans to address this vitally important issue was a colossal failure on his part, even if the end result would've been the same - which may likely be the case. It very well could be that nothing anyone at UConn could do would stop the southern football schools from getting their way or bolting elsewhere, especially with an expansion candidate who had another viable option, or at least the perception of a viable option, which is clearly not the case with us. But it leads to an appearance of a lackadaisical attitude, lack of understanding of the current situation, lack of an ear to the ground of how the winds are blowing, etc. In that sense, Manuel completely failed.

 

[HobokenHusky]

Disappointed as next guy but the fact is their Athletic Department is stronger and more profitable than our:

"Louisville’s athletic department saw net profits in 2010-11 that ranked behind only 20 other public FBS schools, according to NCAA financial disclosures. With $5.9 million in net profit, the Cardinals were well above the average of $3 million for public schools and behind only one ACC member, the University of Virginia. Much of Louisville’s success is driven by its basketball program. The Cardinals’ basketball team was the 16th most profitable football or men’s basketball program in the country in 2010-11, with $27.6 million in net profit, behind 15 football teams from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Notre Dame. The next most-profitable basketball program? Duke, with $15.1 million."

"Louisville’s real strength is in fund raising. In 2010-11, the basketball program took in $20.2 million in contributions, more than any other public FBS institution. The average for all public FBS schools was just $977,456. The highest for any public ACC school was just $2.1 million, at Virginia."

"The Cardinals’ football team isn’t doing too shabby, either. The football program was the 41st most-profitable in the country in 2010-11, even with a 7-6 record."

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/dollars/post/_/id/2438/rich-louisville-going-to-get-richer-in-acc

Their athletic department is stronger than ours, but it's not so much stronger that it outweighs the drastic academic and location benefits that UConn had going for it. The Athletic departments are comparable enough, and I would bet we have more overall national titles in the past 20 years.

The ACC was sold by Ville, and created the perception that their athletic department was so far and above ours that the conference should throw their academic reputation and footprint out the window to get it. This same conference PASSED ON WEST VIRGINIA last year, yet this time around were convinced to take Ville, who is just as bad if not worse academically.

This is unforgivable. Warde is a fat slob who reeks of being in over his head. He's "friends" with the BC AD? well i guess it wasn't enough to put them in our corner. The guy has done nothing positive since being hired. Nothing. He's done more harm than good to the basketball program by not giving Ollie a 3 year low ball contract out of the gate because his ego got in the way. The fact that he felt it was OK to go on a vacation to a basketball tournament during the most important week in UConn's history instead of staying home and forcing us into the ACC speaks volumes of how clueless this guy is. He had ppl here thinking he was "playing dumb" because we had a B1G invite, and if that proves true I will be happy to take back my words. But it looks like the guy is just dumb.

Being from NJ, I really don't enjoy Rutgers fans, but I will set that aside in saying that that crap-hole of a school (and it really is, not sure if anyone has actually been to the "campus") had/has one thing going for it - location, and their AD sold the hell out of it. We have a freaking Mickey Mouse DJ at our football games that is played on a video screen that is the quality of a Texas high schools. We have about 8 different logos across all of our sports. our football team is brand new and we have a freaking 65 year old coach.

I can only hope this is a wake up call to the AD at UConn that good teams and programs are not going to sell themselves.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I kinda agree with BL on this general issue. I think somewhere along the line Herbst and Manuel were led to believe that we were definitely getting into the ACC. That goes along with Jurich's comments that we were "penned in".

After last year's "beg harder" debacle, Herbst and Manuel probably thought that they should lay low thinking that they were going to be invited. However they failed to account for Louisville making such a push.

It definitely makes you question these conference leaders if they were so easily persuaded to go in a completely different direction by only one man.

 

[huskymedic]

It definitely makes you question these conference leaders if they were so easily persuaded to go in a completely different direction by only one man.

You're not insinuating that there may have been a brown paper bag of cash involved are you?

 

[HobokenHusky]

I kinda agree with BL on this general issue. I think somewhere along the line Herbst and Manuel were led to believe that we were definitely getting into the ACC. That goes along with Jurich's comments that we were "penned in".

After last year's "beg harder" debacle, Herbst and Manuel probably thought that they should lay low thinking that they were going to be invited. However they failed to account for Louisville making such a push.

It definitely makes you question these conference leaders if they were so easily persuaded to go in a completely different direction by only one man.

With MILLIONS of dollars on the line, you don't lay low and go on a vacation based on what an obviously untrustworthy and manipulative person like Swofford tells you. Great leaders MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. I am sure when Calhoun was recruiting he didn't say "oh well if johnny wants to come here he will come here, if not then it's really out of our hands". He made sure he sold kids on what UConn Basketball was. UConn athletic's life was on the line and these idiots were making calls from the beach in St. Thomas thinking they had an invite in the bag. It's embarrassing.

I think the ACC is a horribly run operation, but it's 100x better than where we are today. If they were swayed so easily by 1 AD then it makes what UConn did even worse to not realize that.

 

[Mr Blueskin]

The ACC was sold by Ville, and created the perception that their athletic department was so far and above ours that the conference should throw their academic reputation and footprint out the window to get it. This same conference PASSED ON WEST VIRGINIA last year, yet this time around were convinced to take Ville, who is just as bad if not worse academically.
We have a freaking Mickey Mouse DJ at our football games that is played on a video screen that is the quality of a Texas high schools. We have about 8 different logos across all of our sports. our football team is brand new and we have a freaking 65 year old coach.

I can only hope this is a wake up call to the AD at UConn that good teams and programs are not going to sell themselves.[/quote]

As superficial as it sounds, you are exactly right. Perception is a huge deal and it is clear to see that nobody, outside of our fans, gives UConn Football any respect. Image is number one and I don't know why but the 8 different logos and red/no red across all of our sports really pisses me off. This needed wake up call maybe the best thing for us as long as UConn starts making some significant changes. The fan660 was talking about the Rutgers/Louisville game and they were joking about how Louisville lost to UConn of all teams, like we were such a bad team...Joe Boningo obviously doesn't know much about college football, but that perception is a direct result of our coaching staff (mainly PP and GDL)the last 2 years along with some awful timing. If all this Reallignment went down 2 years ago, it would have been a different story.

 

[johnhuskies95]

With MILLIONS of dollars on the line, you don't lay low and go on a vacation based on what an obviously untrustworthy and manipulative person like Swofford tells you. Great leaders MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. I am sure when Calhoun was recruiting he didn't say "oh well if johnny wants to come here he will come here, if not then it's really out of our hands". He made sure he sold kids on what UConn Basketball was. UConn athletic's life was on the line and these idiots were making calls from the beach in St. Thomas thinking they had an invite in the bag. It's embarrassing.

I think the ACC is a horribly run operation, but it's 100x better than where we are today. If they were swayed so easily by 1 AD then it makes what UConn did even worse to not realize that.

If they were told that they were getting in, what did you want them to do, badger the ACC every 10 minutes to remind them?

And btw, I'm sure that there were instances where Calhoun laid off if a kid was close to making a decision.

 

[HobokenHusky]

The ACC was sold by Ville, and created the perception that their athletic department was so far and above ours that the conference should throw their academic reputation and footprint out the window to get it. This same conference PASSED ON WEST VIRGINIA last year, yet this time around were convinced to take Ville, who is just as bad if not worse academically.
We have a freaking Mickey Mouse DJ at our football games that is played on a video screen that is the quality of a Texas high schools. We have about 8 different logos across all of our sports. our football team is brand new and we have a freaking 65 year old coach.

I can only hope this is a wake up call to the AD at UConn that good teams and programs are not going to sell themselves.

As superficial as it sounds, you are exactly right. Perception is a huge deal and it is clear to see that nobody, outside of our fans, gives UConn Football any respect. Image is number one and I don't know why but the 8 different logos and red/no red across all of our sports really pisses me off. This needed wake up call maybe the best thing for us as long as UConn starts making some significant changes. The fan660 was talking about the Rutgers/Louisville game and they were joking about how Louisville lost to UConn of all teams, like we were such a bad team...Joe Boningo obviously doesn't know much about college football, but that perception is a direct result of our coaching staff (mainly PP and GDL)the last 2 years along with some awful timing. If all this Reallignment went down 2 years ago, it would have been a different story.[/quote]

It's all superficial. That is branding and perception. Look at Apple. It is in the fabric of american culture and shows how far you can go when you combine great branding with a great product. I love UConn and UConn Sports, but they have done a terrible job branding, creating an identity, and selling the product of UConn athletics. We start playing D-1 football in 2003 or whatever and we create a completely different logo from our established brand, UConn basketball, and make our uniforms as plain jane as uniforms can possibly be, trying to push a traditional look. Are you kidding me!? Boise is an example of the right way to start a new program with branding. Boise State is cool. It's basically a junior college in Idaho and now it's a National name. As I said before, the DJ and the Scoreboard in the rent are seriously embarrassing. You think any schools in the B1G have a dopey DJ talking to the crowd at their games? We can't invest in a video screen that looks like it was made in the past 10 years? The UConn football game day experience feels like a minor league baseball game. Part of that is due to location, but the AD also contributes. I am sure a lot more went into us getting left out, but this stuff all adds up. Our AD is a mess when you combine the branding stuff with the coaching stuff. It's just frustrating for such a good product and university to be held back by very fixable things.

 

[HobokenHusky]

If they were told that they were getting in, what did you want them to do, badger the ACC every 10 minutes to remind them?

And btw, I'm sure that there were instances where Calhoun laid off if a kid was close to making a decision.

YES!, at least monitor the situation. Did you not see Warde Quote? "I think UConn is the best option but I am biased" That is where you are at a night before the ACC votes? Giving that quote? Are you kidding me? They were completely caught off guard. I am not an AD, but it looks pretty obvious to me that this was a constantly evolving situation and Jurich willed Ville into the ACC and our "big dogs" were at the beach. I obviously don't know exactly what happened, but this is how it unfolded based on public information.

 

[SaeHusky]

I couldnt agree more with the original post. Biggest week in Uconn History and our AD is in the virgin islands. What a joke. I have no confidence with this guy at the helm I sit here and wonder if he is as angry of the situation as I am. I would have been making calls and sending reports all day and all night. Im just sick over this

 

[ctchamps]

The ACC was sold by Ville, and created the perception that their athletic department was so far and above ours that the conference should throw their academic reputation and footprint out the window to get it. This same conference PASSED ON WEST VIRGINIA last year, yet this time around were convinced to take Ville, who is just as bad if not worse academically.
We have a freaking Mickey Mouse DJ at our football games that is played on a video screen that is the quality of a Texas high schools. We have about 8 different logos across all of our sports. our football team is brand new and we have a freaking 65 year old coach.

I can only hope this is a wake up call to the AD at UConn that good teams and programs are not going to sell themselves.

As superficial as it sounds, you are exactly right. Perception is a huge deal and it is clear to see that nobody, outside of our fans, gives UConn Football any respect. Image is number one and I don't know why but the 8 different logos and red/no red across all of our sports really pisses me off. This needed wake up call maybe the best thing for us as long as UConn starts making some significant changes. The fan660 was talking about the Rutgers/Louisville game and they were joking about how Louisville lost to UConn of all teams, like we were such a bad team...Joe Boningo obviously doesn't know much about college football, but that perception is a direct result of our coaching staff (mainly PP and GDL)the last 2 years along with some awful timing. If all this Reallignment went down 2 years ago, it would have been a different story.[/quote]
If image was number one then why did the B!G take Maryland or Rutgers?

 

[HobokenHusky]

As superficial as it sounds, you are exactly right. Perception is a huge deal and it is clear to see that nobody, outside of our fans, gives UConn Football any respect. Image is number one and I don't know why but the 8 different logos and red/no red across all of our sports really pisses me off. This needed wake up call maybe the best thing for us as long as UConn starts making some significant changes. The fan660 was talking about the Rutgers/Louisville game and they were joking about how Louisville lost to UConn of all teams, like we were such a bad team...Joe Boningo obviously doesn't know much about college football, but that perception is a direct result of our coaching staff (mainly PP and GDL)the last 2 years along with some awful timing. If all this Reallignment went down 2 years ago, it would have been a different story.

If image was number one then why did the B!G take Maryland or Rutgers?[/quote]

Besides both being in AAU and in huge markets, both have football images far and away better than UConn nationally. You have to have UConn blinders on not to see that. Rutgers has pimped their 2006 season out like there is no tomorrow. Rutgers is cool for NJ athletes now. It's a crap-hole, but the kids see it this way now. All of our NJ players wanted to go there and admitted this. They both have on campus stadiums. Maryland is viewed as superior to UConn based on conference affiliation and also helped by under Armour. You ask a survey of sports fans around the country the order of program prestige and we come in last 75% of the time. This is just the way it is, and our administration is at least partly to blame. Do I think we are the worst all things equal? No way. But that is the national perception.

 

[ruskin]

There's no question there's much improvement needed in the game day experience at Rentschler (get rid of the DJ, put in more scoreboards, better screen, etc). I do expect Warde to fix a lot of the above next year. I don't think the different logos thing is as bad as it's made out to be. Do what Oregon does . . . get everyone to use the same block C (this means you, Geno) and do whatever else you want to the rest of your uni.

 

[ctchamps]

If image was number one then why did the B!G take Maryland or Rutgers?

The problem is ignorance and pr won't change ignorance. Ever hear of a guy name Jimmy Swaggert! He has several million followers in his church. He started the church with the fire and brimstone crap describing everything as sinful including movies and dancing. People bought his line. And what happened when he got caught with a hooker in his back seat of his car or when millions of dollars were found in his bank accounts along with thousands of acres of prime land ? Worse than nothing. His church grew in spite of a campaign blitz to discredit him. Face it, we are a nation of educated morons who believe what we want to believe. And things are worse than ever because of the ease in our ability to put out junk and direct it at people. We are a nation of entertainment but not necessarily a nation of discernment.

 

[HobokenHusky]

There's no question there's much improvement needed in the game day experience at Rentschler (get rid of the DJ, put in more scoreboards, better screen, etc). I do expect Warde to fix a lot of the above next year. I don't think the different logos thing is as bad as it's made out to be. Do what Oregon does . . . get everyone to use the same block C (this means you, Geno) and do whatever else you want to the rest of your uni.

Can you name another division 1 athletic program that has three different logos, and even color schemes, for their 3 most visible sports (football, BBall mens, BBall womens)? There may be, but I can't. And that is not because we are ahead of the curve or something. It's the exact opposite.

It's not rocket science: You take the logo and color scheme that has built the most brand equity and is the most visibly striking and appealing (my vote would be the interlocking UC, but at this point would take any of them), and you run with it. That is branding 101, it's not rocket science.

This may sound ridiculous, but this stuff really, really matters. We are dealing with teenagers. This stuff has been statistically proven to influence purchases and fan preference. The fact that an AD with a $64M budget has not yet done this is mind-boggling.

 

[ruskin]

hoboken I see where you're going but other than the O what's the same across the universe of Oregon jerseys

 

[Mr Blueskin]

Can you name another division 1 athletic program that has three different logos, and even color schemes, for their 3 most visible sports (football, BBall mens, BBall womens)? There may be, but I can't. And that is not because we are ahead of the curve or something. It's the exact opposite.

It's not rocket science: You take the logo and color scheme that has built the most brand equity and is the most visibly striking and appealing (my vote would be the interlocking UC, but at this point would take any of them), and you run with it. That is branding 101, it's not rocket science.

This may sound ridiculous, but this stuff really, really matters. We are dealing with teenagers. This stuff has been statistically proven to influence purchases and fan preference. The fact that an AD with a $64M budget has not yet done this is mind-boggling.

Yes, if there was ever a time to do it,it would be now...make it obvious that we are making changes, younger coaches and in the uniforms are usually most obvious to TV...put a little red outline in the block C and football unis or go all blue and white in the men's and women's hoops without the red...do one or the other... Release schematics of the Rent expansion details like someone else said even if we can't afford it yet. Do something to show change is coming for the better...it's clearly not wins doing it ex Maryland and Rutgers.

 

[HobokenHusky]

hoboken I see where you're going but other than the O what's the same across the universe of Oregon jerseys

No I agree with you. The thing with Oregon and to a lesser extent Maryland is that they are now and category in themselves because of their respective donors - their consistent is that they always have cutting edge informs, and they are sometimes very different. But when it comes down to it, they are the O. Maryland is that ugly ass Maryland state flag. Texas is the Longhorn. Kansas it the Cartoon Jayhawk and old school lettering. Rutgers (ugh) us the R. The branded the hell out of that thing over the past 10 years. It's all over cars here.

What is UConn? a block C, a interlocking UC, a husky head, a C with a basketball going through it, and an old english C for baseball even. Sometimes Red, sometimes no Red, sometimes gray. We have no brand identity.

I went off on a tangent here. Long story short, Warde is a fat loser and I think we need to bring someone in with more "want". This guy is just happy to be at the ballgame.