"UConn president Thomas Katsouleas is resigning" | The Boneyard

"UConn president Thomas Katsouleas is resigning"

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Ummm... what the heck is going on?????


 
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I don't know why UConn can't get their act together and hire competent leadership. Herbst was overpaid and ineffective.
Katsouleas should be shown the door. In the real world where most of us live- you can't step down from a management position and take a 'lower' position. The guy is milk toast and not cut out to lead a University. Let him go somewhere else to teach.

Connecticut taxpayers are getting shortchanged by a state University that can't deliver. Our sports teams are well funded and successful but the academic return on investment for UConn students and taxpayers is low.
 
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I don't know why UConn can't get their act together and hire competent leadership. Herbst was overpaid and ineffective.
Katsouleas should be shown the door.
@BigTenFan Unclear on your sources, but how sure are you Pres K had not seen enough and proactively ran for the exits versus being "shown the door"? Different words, yet how confident are you pre-existing financial/ budgetary, legislative, and BoT obstacles did not prompt K's departure? Quite frankly, I have no direct insight yet will be shocked to learn the BoT with gubernatorial and legislative support jettisoned the guy after only 2 years.

EDIT 7:24 pm ET: Upon further review ... Reading someone's later posted CT Mirror article appears to suggest the BoT may not have much effort to prevent Pres K's resignation letter, and perhaps Toscano and Co held a door open to ease his departure.
 
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You could be right- but either way the optics are bad. My frustration as a taxpayer and parent of 2 college age students is .....we are not getting a good ROI
 
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You could be right- but either way the optics are bad. My frustration as a taxpayer and parent of 2 college age students is .....we are not getting a good ROI
Didn’t we just drop $1M for a new house because his wife didn’t like the old one? Then we allow this guy to make 300k to go back to teach? Holy cow. They just waste $$ hand over fist.
 
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Didn’t we just drop $1M for a new house because his wife didn’t like the old one? Then we allow this guy to make 300k to go back to teach? Holy cow. They just waste $$ hand over fist.
He is the Bobby Bonilla of UConn
 

CL82

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Didn’t we just drop $1M for a new house because his wife didn’t like the old one? Then we allow this guy to make 300k to go back to teach? Holy cow. They just waste $$ hand over fist.
Bad contracts make for bad outcomes. The time to have this debate is before the contract is signed.
 
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Who are the likely interim UConn presidential candidates (they plan to appoint one next week)

Susan Herbst (ex-president)
Carl W. Lejuez (the relatively new provost)
Dr. Andrew Agwunobi (CEO at health center)
And for fun --- Geno Auriemma
 

CL82

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Who are the likely interim UConn presidential candidates (they plan to appoint one next week)
1620945585685.png

"So if we can just count on each of us to go out and execute, we'll be just fine."
 
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UConn needs to figure out how to operate without relying on Connecticut tax payers footing the bill. Maybe D1 athletics is not financially viable unless you are a member of the P5. Someone needs to figure that out.
 
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You could be right- but either way the optics are bad. My frustration as a taxpayer and parent of 2 college age students is .....we are not getting a good ROI
Based on the CT Mirror article someone lated posted, it appears the BoT was not disappointed to receive Pres K's resignation letter. Independent decisions to offer free tuition for all low income students and to cut prior agreed faculty pay increases sounds questionable. However, it's less clear whether K alone is responsible for perceptions of inadequate ROI for CT taxpayers. Doubt it given long-term reports of pre-existed underfunded state employee pensions, UConn budgeting challenges, etc.
 
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I received a UCONN mailer about leaving money to them when I die in the mail last week. Letting the University President resign and collect $330,000.00 per year to teach after being on the job for less than 2 years makes me think UCONN will be burning the dollars they want me to leave them.
 

CL82

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UConn needs to figure out how to operate without relying on Connecticut tax payers footing the bill. Maybe D1 athletics is not financially viable unless you are a member of the P5. Someone needs to figure that out.

Charging in-state students the full tuition would probably go along way toward being self-sufficient. It wouldn’t be a particularly popular move though.
 
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What is clear is that this was merely a power struggle. The BoT wanted to make all meaningful decisions and to micromanage the President. He was never their guy in the first place. He was Lamont's guy and he was brought in to shake things up. The BoT seems to have been at war with him from the get-go and he just got fed up. Lamont is gonna have to change the BoT if he wants UConn to improve. Katseolas was most likely the most competent guy they ever had. That was his problem.
 
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I received a UCONN mailer about leaving money to them when I die in the mail last week. Letting the University President resign and collect $330,000.00 per year to teach after being on the job for less than 2 years makes me think UCONN will be burning the dollars they want me to leave them.
You're better off giving it to the poor.
 
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What is clear is that this was merely a power struggle. The BoT wanted to make all meaningful decisions and to micromanage the President. He was never their guy in the first place. He was Lamont's guy and he was brought in to shake things up. The BoT seems to have been at war with him from the get-go and he just got fed up. Lamont is gonna have to change the BoT if he wants UConn to improve. Katseolas was most likely the most competent guy they ever had. That was his problem.

Sounds like Lamont had second thoughts/buyers remorse from the beginning...

“Lamont played a direct role in hiring Katsouleas, though he initially was less than enthusiastic, as were members of the UConn search committee. The UConn trustees formally selected him in February 2019, and he assumed the presidency that August. Lamont invited Katsouleas back for an unusual vetting session with prominent business leaders to talk about the new governor’s desire for UConn to take a stronger role in driving economic growth in Connecticut.

The Democratic governor thanked Katsouleas for his time at UConn.

“I had the pleasure of working with President Katsouleas since he started leading Husky Nation in 2019. His energy and enthusiasm for UConn is infectious, and I always enjoyed spending time with him, hearing about his ideas for the university. He and members of the Board of Trustees agreed that it was time for a change in leadership, and I look forward to working with the Board of Trustees to find a suitable replacement who shares their vision of growth, and building on its reputation as one of the top public institutions of higher learning in the country,” Lamont said.”

I believe BOT Chair Toscano was selected by Lamont as well.
 

Fairfield_1st

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Letting the University President resign and collect $330,000.00 per year to teach after being on the job for less than 2 years makes me think UCONN will be burning the dollars they want me to leave them.
I wonder if it has pension implications and that's why he's staying on. Wasn't that the case with Herbst? So we overpay a teacher and then possibly pay more on the back end. If they're out, they're out. No more of this teaching nonsense. Waste of $, regardless if there are pension implications or not.
Buh Bye!
 
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Who are the likely interim UConn presidential candidates (they plan to appoint one next week)

Susan Herbst (ex-president)
Carl W. Lejuez (the relatively new provost)
Dr. Andrew Agwunobi (CEO at health center)
And for fun --- Geno Auriemma

Is Diaco out of a job - again - and looking?
 
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