Warde Manuel's Incompetence

[huskymagic]

Here is from a CBSsports.com article on UCONN being in purgatory in the new AAC. Here is what Manuel had to say: "I didn't have any thoughts about [realignment] happening," said AD Warde Manuel. "I didn't know it was potentially coming." All we need to know about why UCONN missed the BCS Express because Manuel did not know that realignment was coming, and was too busy worrying about the next dinner buffet menu.

 

[Lefty2one]

Link?

I can't believe he'd publicly admit that.

 

[sdhusky]

Link?

I can't believe he'd publicly admit that.

He was talking about when he took the UConn job.

 

[husky99]

I think this is way out of context

 

[UConnNick]

The title of this thread is my favorite of all time.

Didn't know conference realignment was potentially coming? What kind of moron is this guy? Unless you were living in an underground hole with no access to anything, everyone knew the conference realignment express train was headed straight for the perpetually dysfunctional Big East Conference, especially everyone involved in college athletics administration.

While that express train was passing Warde and UCONN by, his only response was, "Pass the Krispy Kremes, please."

 

[Ellie]

Short memories here. Everyone was blindsided by the realignment ... EVERYONE.
This was orchestrated by the college presidents who kept the lid on tight so teams not invited to the negotiations were knocked out before they even knew a fight was scheduled.

 

[pnow15]

Short memories here. Everyone was blindsided by the realignment ... EVERYONE.
This was orchestrated by the college presidents who kept the lid on tight so teams not invited to the negotiations were knocked out before they even knew a fight was scheduled.

So are everyone you and Warde? I have been hearing about conference realignment since before BC, Miami and VT left.

 

[UConnNick]

Short memories here. Everyone was blindsided by the realignment ... EVERYONE.
This was orchestrated by the college presidents who kept the lid on tight so teams not invited to the negotiations were knocked out before they even knew a fight was scheduled.

That's ridiculous. Realignment was coming to the Big East for many years. The league was doomed to be picked apart because former commish Tranghese had this absurd notion that the football/basketball schools should always be evenly split, so that every vote on a major conference issue ended in a tie. How long was that going to last? The administration of the conference consisted of almost nothing but former Providence College athletics dept. personnel, or as I like to call them the PC Mafia. They were trying to run a major national conference with a bunch of folks who shouldn't have been trusted to run PC's athletic dept. in the first place.

Then Marinatto steps in to replace the cowardly Tranghese, who already knew what was coming and didn't want to hang around for the bloodbath. This jerk decides, in his infinite wisdom, to wait around for over a year begging Villanova to upgrade it's football program to I-A, something that never, ever was going to happen. While he sat on his ass doing nothing, Pitt, Syracuse and WVA all got tired of the Mickey Mouse BS from Providence, plus Marinatto wildly over-estimated the league's value in contract negotiations with the major networks, and turned down a deal hoping to get some kind of bidding war going which never materialized.

This was a train wreck many years in the making. For Susan Herbst, Warde Manuel, or anybody else in the UCONN administration to claim they were blindsided by this train wreck means they're all as stupid and inept as Tranghese, Marrinatto, and all of the PC Mafia who ran the Big East HQ in Providence. That's why we are where we are right now.

 

[CTMike]

More of the usual "I'm the smartest guy in the room" nonsense from the Boneyard. Yeah, sure, you all would have done a bang up job in the same circumstances... Sure.

And come on, if you are going to knock Warde, be better than buffet lines and donuts. You are all a bunch of dopes.

 

[Ellie]

So are everyone you and Warde? I have been hearing about conference realignment since before BC, Miami and VT left.

Point taken. Been married48-years and know it's fruitless trying to argue with a man. Now when Miami and VT joined the Big East was that also "realignment"? Call it whatever you want just make sure you follow the money and you'll find the word we seem to be searching for. Relax ... I'll go back to the women's board with, ah, the guys over there!

 

[CL82]

I love this thread! It is classic post season fair. 1 part trolling, 1 part revisionist history and 1 part sanctimony.

Well played OP, well played indeed.

 

[buddy]

I love this thread! It is classic post season fair. 1 part trolling, 1 part revisionist history and 1 part sanctimony.

Well played OP, well played indeed.

People are frustrated and need to vent. He is a convenient scapegoat.

 

[jibsey]

The UCONN AD job should not be about setting up intramural kayaking schedules. Warde should have been plugged in to CR back then. They never discuss what happened, what could happen in the future. At least the Cincy AD went on record at one point, Warde crickets. Sargent Schultz. He reminds me of Neville Chamberlain all the while Hitler was planning England's funeral. Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Poland and The Sudatenland all disappeared without a fight. He doesn't have to stand in front of a podium but we have no idea whether he's involved now more than he was then.

 

[huskymedic]

He was talking about when he took the UConn job.

Yup... A year old article referencing 2012.

>>So along with the likes of fellow AAC member Cincinnati, UConn is the best athletic program not to be in a power conference. It doesn't hurt to chase a second basketball national championship in four years, but it looks like the Huskies are trapped in that athletic purgatory for the time being.

"I didn't have any thoughts about [realignment] happening," said AD Warde Manuel. "I didn't know it was potentially coming."

What he did have was basketball in his hip pocket. Manuel played for Bo Schembechler at Michigan. He took the job in February 2012, not having a clue about the coming turbulence. Manuel did have the sense to listen to Calhoun about the great coach's replacement.<<

 

[UConnDad]

Yup... A year old article referencing 2012.

>>So along with the likes of fellow AAC member Cincinnati, UConn is the best athletic program not to be in a power conference. It doesn't hurt to chase a second basketball national championship in four years, but it looks like the Huskies are trapped in that athletic purgatory for the time being.

"I didn't have any thoughts about [realignment] happening," said AD Warde Manuel. "I didn't know it was potentially coming."

What he did have was basketball in his hip pocket. Manuel played for Bo Schembechler at Michigan. He took the job in February 2012, not having a clue about the coming turbulence. Manuel did have the sense to listen to Calhoun about the great coach's replacement.<<

Eventually!

 

[UCweCONN]

 

[UCweCONN]

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Warde sucks.

 

[buddy]

The UCONN AD job should not be about setting up intramural kayaking schedules. Warde should have been plugged in to CR back then. They never discuss what happened, what could happen in the future. At least the Cincy AD went on record at one point, Warde crickets. Sargent Schultz. He reminds me of Neville Chamberlain all the while Hitler was planning England's funeral. Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Poland and The Sudatenland all disappeared without a fight. He doesn't have to stand in front of a podium but we have no idea whether he's involved now more than he was then.

,
I was of similar persuasion back in time, but I have come around to agree that he stepped into this mess after the damage had been done. I don't believe that public speaking will be the answer at this time. Everyone is aware of of the consequences of being left behind don't kid yourself. Cuse and ND were always on the radar for the P5. Louisville was in the right place at the right time. Pitt stole UConn's place thanks to BC. Remember it was supposed to be Cuse and UConn to the ACC, not Pitt. The UConn AD had nothing to do with that.

 

[buddy]

PS: I left out the role of FSU in getting Louisville to the ACC over UConn. FSU and BC are the real villains, not Warde.

 

[Woof 101]

Here is from a CBSsports.com article on UCONN being in purgatory in the new AAC. Here is what Manuel had to say: "I didn't have any thoughts about [realignment] happening," said AD Warde Manuel. "I didn't know it was potentially coming." All we need to know about why UCONN missed the BCS Express because Manuel did not know that realignment was coming, and was too busy worrying about the next dinner buffet menu.
You slander Warde and have no link? One can only hope you have a mouth big enough to insert both feet. Timing in life is everything and Warde and Susie got thrown to the lions on this one. Remember Jeff Hathaway by any chance?
Refresh and look back at just how many friends in other conferences JC made over the years. While we love him he is not revered in other locals. We had all the cred to go other places but not the back room / inside swag.
All the con realign was backroom deals until done, it is not fair to blame those that were not here yet when the decisions were made.

More of the usual "I'm the smartest guy in the room" nonsense from the Boneyard. Yeah, sure, you all would have done a bang up job in the same circumstances... Sure.
And come on, if you are going to knock Warde, be better than buffet lines and donuts. You are all a bunch of dopes.

I thought dope was a banned word here, or does making it plural have it become legal? Either way I agree...

 

[MattMang23]

What no one has said, unless I missed it, is that Warde wasn't even hired till February 2012, seven months after Pitt and Cuse announced they were leaving. So when he says he didn't know it was coming, why would he? It hadn't made ripples all the way to Buffalo yet.

 

[Stainmaster]

What no one has said, unless I missed it, is that Warde wasn't even hired till February 2012, seven months after Pitt and Cuse announced they were leaving. So when he says he didn't know it was coming, why would he? It hadn't made ripples all the way to Buffalo yet.

Who cares? It's painfully obvious that all Warde has to do is pick up the phone and ask the B1G for an invite. And he hasn't done it yet, so why is he still around?

</sarcasm>

 

[Brandon86]

Why would the ACC want BC??? We own the New England Area!!!

 

[UConnNick]

What no one has said, unless I missed it, is that Warde wasn't even hired till February 2012, seven months after Pitt and Cuse announced they were leaving. So when he says he didn't know it was coming, why would he? It hadn't made ripples all the way to Buffalo yet.

So, let me get this straight. Since Warde was in Buffalo, he was blissfully unaware that the Big East had lost Miami, BC, VA Tech, and came close to losing neighboring Syracuse as far back as 2003, had to add a bunch of C-USA teams, and was under siege annually as the worst BCS football conference by a wide margin? He would have had to be on the tropical island with Tom Hanks for the entire 10 year period preceding his hiring at UCONN to have no clue what was going on.

I don't know about anybody else, but I find it extremely troubling that our new hire AD could have been that clueless, and even worse yet, doesn't appear capable of keeping his mouth shut about how clueless he was. And, even if you swallow his BS, how does he justify not seeing it as a potentially devastating problem that the Big East was already splintering at the same time he took the job at UCONN? Frankly, it could be argued that any AD worth anything would have run like hell in the opposite direction rather than take the UCONN job under the circumstances that existed at that time. He was voluntarily signing up for a wild roller coaster ride after Hathaway's tempestuous tenure and departure, even without the added drama of conference musical chairs. If he was hired as some sort of expert who could navigate these troubled waters of CR and guide UCONN into port and onto dry land, how well has that worked out so far for the UCONN administration and athletic program?