Warde unleashes some more rage-inducing quotes

[uconnfan68]

bunch of babies.

I get it ... we are in a crappy conference situation. Manual (who really hasn't been impressive thus far) says what is the reality. And ... you all want him to pronounce that we are working hard to get out AND have a good shot at the ACC/B1G. Part of the reason we have such a crappy TV deal is UConn (and Cincy) etc are publicly pushing to get beyond this conference ... and any bidder has no clue who they are going to get as content.

Time to the next conference earthquake? I dunno. I am just not going to wait around because it might not be next week. However, we are seriously endangering our ability to build a fanbase further with all the negative stuff. (Conference Realignment as one component). Manual has to start focusing on getting some of this with traction.

That's why they would have a renegotiate clause if either side had a brain.

 

[ZooCougar]

Zoo is mad because Warde is not more negative. Got it.

No. People are mad because they are not being spoken to genuinely.

 

[Jerry27]

No. People are mad because they are not being spoken to genuinely.

He is genuinely telling us that we are in the BE for the forseeable future, that may not be what any of us want to hear but with the information he is getting that is our reality. Now, is it crap? Yes. He is attempting to try to make lemonade out of the mountain of lemons he was delivered. And even if he did tell us everything this vocal group would still find cause to complain.

People are mad because they are not being told what exactly is happening and what is being done to rectify the problem, even though to expose that would be as dumb as Cincy sending stadium expansion cards to the ACC, it makes them look weak and needy, which they (and we) are but there is no need to announce to world what everybody is already well aware of. People like to think that just by wanting out that it some how makes it happen, wake up, NO ONE WANTS US, so to sit and whine about it is accomplishing nothing!

So I will live in this situation not because I like it but because there is no other choice, we are not disbanding the FB team, we are not going back to D 1AA, we are not going independant (one of the dumber ideas posted) and we are not going anywhere soon. So I will cheer for my team, I will hope they destroy the competition that we have in our new conference and that someone else will recognize that we will be an asset to their conference so we can get the hell out of dodge.

 

[ZooCougar]

It's hard to be considered genuine when you speak about the Big East as being a great place when it clearly is not.

This is a bad situation. He is acting like it is a good situation. That's not genuine.

How is that 2014 schedule coming?

 

[CL82]

I think posters just need to deal with the reality that this is our league, and it will be for a while. We can buy all the lottery tickets we want, but most likely, no one is coming to rescue us. Either people need to recalibrate their expectations for UConn athletics, or there are going to be some unhappy UConn fans.

We are a mid-major program in a mid-major league. Look what happened to Houston. That may be the future of UConn's athletic program. We need to focus on the hoops programs and figure out some way to make the football program modestly competitive with almost no TV revenue. I don't see any way for the football program to be anything but a catastrophic disaster for the entire athletic program, but I am 110% positive that Warde trashing Memphis and SMU in interviews is not going to help, as cathartic as that would be.

You still here Nelson?

 

[Jerry27]

It's hard to be considered genuine when you speak about the Big East as being a great place when it clearly is not.

This is a bad situation. He is acting like it is a good situation. That's not genuine.

How is that 2014 schedule coming?

He's not going to come out and say what you want him to, he has to sell it good or bad. Diehards here are jumping off the bandwagon because of the situation. How many tweener fans would never step to the plate if he called it what it is? My biggest worry is the OOC schedule at this point because that is all thats left right now to maintain some semblance of relevancy. I wish to hell he would announce something soon, and with all the time it's taking it had better be good!

 

[freescooter]

I think posters just need to deal with the reality that this is our league, and it will be for a while. We can buy all the lottery tickets we want, but most likely, no one is coming to rescue us. Either people need to recalibrate their expectations for UConn athletics, or there are going to be some unhappy UConn fans.

We are a mid-major program in a mid-major league. Look what happened to Houston. That may be the future of UConn's athletic program. We need to focus on the hoops programs and figure out some way to make the football program modestly competitive with almost no TV revenue. I don't see any way for the football program to be anything but a catastrophic disaster for the entire athletic program, but I am 110% positive that Warde trashing Memphis and SMU in interviews is not going to help, as cathartic as that would be.

I'm inclined to agree with much of this. We have been relegated to a mid-major status, oddly enough hockey being the exception. Though I see the basketball and the football situations as a little bit reversed form how you see it. If the recent situation has taught us anything it should be that basketball doesn't matter. One single bit. So if we have any hope of going someplace in the conference re-alignment Round 3 we need to just accept that and move on. Put as good a product on the floor as we can. Compete for Big East 3.0 titles, rankings if possible(though we're mostly talking 15-25 not 1-10) but just accept the fact that A. competing for national championships is a thing of the past. And B. It doesn't matter anyway. We can win the next 4 NCAA titles, and we'll still be locked out of the majors and we'll still be playing for peanuts.

On the other hand, we need to focus on the football program and doing whatever it needs to make it successful. Bring in 10 JUCOs a year? If that's what it takes, just do it. Lower admission standards for football players? If necessary, bite the bullet and accept a used dump truck if it can block. Accept transfers from other programs? Y'all Come. TCU, Boise, those are the models. We need to go 10-2, 11-1, 12-0 and get ranked every single year until UConn is a regular feature of the pre-season polls. The goal needs to be that in 2016 folks are arguing about whether UConn deserves to be in the Final 4 over the 2nd SEC members. And we don't even need to actually be selected. Just need sportswriters to start the argument. And we need to be the "football school" everyone wants when the B-12 finally gives in to the other leagues and goes to 12. that will open a space somewhere and we need to be the one to take that space. Something might happen before that, and we need to be on the move then too, but the B-12 expansion will happen eventually if only because the others will demand it.

 

[ZooCougar]

He's not going to come out and say what you want him to, he has to sell it good or bad. Diehards here are jumping off the bandwagon because of the situation. How many tweener fans would never step to the plate if he called it what it is? My biggest worry is the OOC schedule at this point because that is all thats left right now to maintain some semblance of relevancy. I wish to hell he would announce something soon, and with all the time it's taking it had better be good!

Diehards don't ride bandwagons by definition.

As much as I bash The Monitor, I just reinvested in failure and bought three season tickets along with the 400 ducat donation for each seat.

It isn't too much to ask The Monitor to infuse a little reality into his message. It's time to get tough, it's not time to pretend this situation is something that it isn't.

What you people want is more of the same failed strategy, you'll probably apologize for tardy tailgaters too.

 

[Jerry27]

Diehards don't ride bandwagons by definition.

As much as I bash The Monitor, I just reinvested in failure and bought three season tickets along with the 400 ducat donation for each seat.

It isn't too much to ask The Monitor to infuse a little reality into his message. It's time to get tough, it's not time to pretend this situation is something that it isn't.

What you people want is more of the same failed strategy, you'll probably apologize for tardy tailgaters too.

Yeah I should have put "diehards" in quotes, the point being with all the whining about selling tickets, not re-upping, not doing this and not doing that going on on these boards I question the loyalty of quite a few here.

I'm not making excuses for WM, quite the opposite, I simply understand why he has to do what he is doing in regard to the new members. He has to do the selling, he can't say what you already know and you know why. The perception of the conference already is near bottom it makes perfect sense to rip it and further devalue the conference and by association UConn. So yeah it makes sense, he should call it what it is to appease a few of us.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Warde has to sell tickets for as long as we're in the NNNNBE or our program won't be where we need it to be when more CR occurs. How the duck* do you sell tickets for games if you're bashing the level of opposition publicly?

It's great that you'd all feel better if he was trashing the NNBE, but forgive me for worrying more about preserving the program until something happens then wanting to feel good that someone recognizes your anger.

actually, it would help if wm could schedule some games first. then worry about selling tickets.

 

[ZooCougar]

It would help if he would stop monitoring and start acting.

Yeah I should have put "diehards" in quotes, the point being with all the whining about selling tickets, not re-upping, not doing this and not doing that going on on these boards I question the loyalty of quite a few here.

I'm not making excuses for WM, quite the opposite, I simply understand why he has to do what he is doing in regard to the new members. He has to do the selling, he can't say what you already know and you know why. The perception of the conference already is near bottom it makes perfect sense to rip it and further devalue the conference and by association UConn. So yeah it makes sense, he should call it what it is to appease a few of us.

 

[Jerry27]

It would help if he would stop monitoring and start acting.

So beyond the monitoring statement that everyone seems to love so much, how do know anything that he is doing? He hasn't revealed anything. I get it, by not telling you what he is doing, you assume he is doing nothing!? By the way monitoring the situation doesn't neccessarily mean he is sitting by waiting for the phone to ring or watching the ESPN ticker. I choose to believe that he didn't get to the position he is in at two large public universities by being the dumba$$ many here like to portray him as. As I said before he knows the word that is out there, he has told us what to prepare for, you can complain until you are blue in the face (national flag blue of course) but it's not going to change a damn thing because the people in the position to do anything about it do not want us at this time. No matter how many unnamed sources claim to have insider information.

 

[noeynox]

Jerry, I'll settle for some announced football opponents. Hearing about Cincinnati becoming some great rival while they're basically saying they want out of the big east is naive. There is no,need to try and spin the big east positively to UCONN fans. No one is buying it and patronizing fans is a sure way to turn them off.

Those that,continue to come will,do so because they're great fans. map because they are looking forward to new rivalries developing with new teams.

 

[Huskyfan990411]

This hatred and bashing of Warde Manuel is so confusing to me. Everyone loves to jump on the "monitoring" statement and then say he needs to act. So Warde is supposed to call up B1G or ACC and say "The Boneyard crew is ready for a new conference and we are going to move over there next year". Has everyone forgot that you need an invite to a new conference? If everyone thinks that Louisville got into the ACC because of what the AD did alone then give me a call because I have some ocean front property in Kansas for sale. Cincy has marketed the hell out of themselves but I dont see them in a new conference.

 

[Husky25]

This hatred and bashing of Warde Manuel is so confusing to me. Everyone loves to jump on the "monitoring" statement and then say he needs to act. So Warde is supposed to call up B1G or ACC and say "The Boneyard crew is ready for a new conference and we are going to move over there next year". Has everyone forgot that you need an invite to a new conference? If everyone thinks that Louisville got into the ACC because of what the AD did alone then give me a call because I have some ocean front property in Kansas for sale. Cincy has marketed the hell out of themselves but I dont see them in a new conference.

No. They think that Louisville got in last time around because of what UConn's AD didn't do (Fallacy-alert). Yes, Warde Manuel was in the Virgin Islands with the Men's basketball team. However the decision was not his to make and UConn made (and continue make) their desires known and had put their best foot forward. The decision was made (or blocked, however you want to look at it) by the Presidents and decision makers of the ACC. It was not a RFP, first come/first serve, or whoever screams louder is accepted situation. There are a number of self-serving-cut-off-nose-to-spite-face administrations in the ACC. And to that end, I am personally far more interested in any action, even if its just rumor, to better prepare UConn for a Big 10 birth.

 

[Waquoit]

This hatred and bashing of Warde Manuel is so confusing to me. Everyone loves to jump on the "monitoring" statement and then say he needs to act. So Warde is supposed to call up B1G or ACC and say "The Boneyard crew is ready for a new conference and we are going to move over there next year". Has everyone forgot that you need an invite to a new conference? If everyone thinks that Louisville got into the ACC because of what the AD did alone then give me a call because I have some ocean front property in Kansas for sale. Cincy has marketed the hell out of themselves but I dont see them in a new conference.

Maybe it's not realistic to expect he come up with all the answers, but how about some of them? What has improved under his watch? It's still the same ol', same ol' coming from the athletic department with some added emails.

 

[Pudge]

I am of mixed opinion.

It is simply crazy to ding the Man because he was in the Virgin Islands. Or because of the "monitoring" comment. Or because a bunch of waqcko Boneyard fans can't patiently watch this play out. I am resigned to the fact that UConn has not had a great chance at advancement (YET) because our Football Program is too new ... we are NOT in hot Demo for Cable/great recruiting (Rutgers) ... OR some other thing. The whole Academic miss is interesting. But, the ACC taking Louisville shows you a lot. In retrospect, I actually admire the way he handled the Kevin Ollie hiring; showed some spine in the face of (probably) heated pressure from a few.

However ... I NEED to see some concrete plan forward. The Football is underachieving ... on the Field and (in my opinion) virtually every category I'd consider. We can (IMHO) be a 55-60,000 Fanbase and grow to gain more in this State & New England. Neither Hathaway or Manual has shown me the initiative to take action. Basketball (MBB & WBB) are gradually fading despite some really exciting 2012-2013 change. I can't give Warde Manual much of a grade today.

 

[Huskyfan990411]

Maybe it's not realistic to expect he come up with all the answers, but how about some of them? What has improved under his watch? It's still the same ol', same ol' coming from the athletic department with some added emails.

When WM was hired he had to deal with a HOF coach retire unexpectedly at a very bad time right before the season started. He gave Ollie(a coach with zero prior head coaching experience) a chance and eventually gave him the long term contract. I know there is a lot of criticism for the 7 month contract to start but in WM's defense when JC stepped down he left the program in a tough spot with APR issues. WM had to ensure that Ollie would be able to handle the basketball job while also getting his kids to stay eligible. Its no coincidence that the extension came out after seeing Ollie coach and after the 1st semester was done and grades were out. In the end WM locked up Ollie for 5 years and basketball program is in great shape imo.

On the football front he inherited PP with 4 years left on a 5 year deal. After 1 year he forced PP to fire his buddy GDL and bring in a top up and coming OC in place of him. If people think that PP willingly got rid of his longtime friend and that WM had nothing to do with it then you are not paying attention.

Also during his tenure the basketball facility has gotten enough funding that its going to start building and yes this started before him but it was on his watch that it ground was broken. Hockey is upgrading to Hockey East, Lacrosse is upgrading to D-1.

However he doesn't stand on top of Gampel and announce all this plans for the Boneyard to know so we should fire him.

 

[freescooter]

I am of mixed opinion.

It is simply crazy to ding the Man because he was in the Virgin Islands. Or because of the "monitoring" comment. Or because a bunch of waqcko Boneyard fans can't patiently watch this play out. I am resigned to the fact that UConn has not had a great chance at advancement (YET) because our Football Program is too new ... we are NOT in hot Demo for Cable/great recruiting (Rutgers) ... OR some other thing. The whole Academic miss is interesting. But, the ACC taking Louisville shows you a lot. In retrospect, I actually admire the way he handled the Kevin Ollie hiring; showed some spine in the face of (probably) heated pressure from a few.

However ... I NEED to see some concrete plan forward. The Football is underachieving ... on the Field and (in my opinion) virtually every category I'd consider. We can (IMHO) be a 55-60,000 Fanbase and grow to gain more in this State & New England. Neither Hathaway or Manual has shown me the initiative to take action. Basketball (MBB & WBB) are gradually fading despite some really exciting 2012-2013 change. I can't give Warde Manual much of a grade today.

scary as it sounds, I tend to agree with Pudge. I give Manuel at best an incomplete. I had really high hopes for the guy when he arrived. But I also suspect that some of the problems he's had haven't been his own but have come from the "front office." Unlike some ADs, he isn't given the freedom to act on his own. On the other hand, the whole optics of the Virgin Island thing was awful. Comparable to a governor staying there when the last snowstorm hit. Or Tom Meskill staying in Vermont skiiing during the famous ice storm. Might not have made a difference, but just as Meskill wasn't going to string power lines, it matters to folks. Manuel being out of town while Louisville's AD cancelled his trip and managed a pr campaign to get the ACC bid made him look weak, ineffective and out of his league. The other thing he's not seemed to handle well is football scheduling. We have almost zero games lined up for the next 2 seasons. Still. That can't be.

On the other hand he's done some things quite well. Progress on the practice space is going forward. I agree on how he handled Ollie. He nailed down Hockey East. He forced changes in the football staff. he hasn't panicked but has made it clear that 5-7 isn't acceptable and won't be tolerated. He also refused ot back down when Michigan began making noise about moving the game from the Rent to New Jersey or Boston. Have to give him kudos for that .

Overall, though I think he lacks a certain touch that you'd ideally want in an AD. Perkins had it. When you met him, he seemed like he was looking forward to meeting you, even as he blew you off. Hathaway on the other hand came off about as friendly as an IRS agent. Manuel is closer to Hathaway than Pekins.

 

[specialisthusky]

However he doesn't stand on top of Gampel and announce all this plans for the Boneyard to know so we should fire him.

I would actually drive to Storrs right now if he would finally announce our OOC schedule for next year on top of Gampel.

Other than that he has done some good things and some frustrating things, like every AD we've ever and most every other school has.

 

[ruskin]

On the football front he inherited PP with 4 years left on a 5 year deal. After 1 year he forced PP to fire his buddy GDL and bring in a top up and coming OC in place of him. If people think that PP willingly got rid of his longtime friend and that WM had nothing to do with it then you are not paying attention.

While the Weist hire is a step forward, I'd feel a lot better if Warde had stepped forward and taken public ownership of it (Holgorsen-Luck situation at WVU). It's answered question but opens up others: it it walks like a coach in waiting and talks like a coach in waiting. . . . .

The worst part is GDL isn't "fired". He's still in an important position with the program -- doing a job Mike Foley should be doing. By his mere presence I'm worried he will do more harm than good. If GDL and PP aren't all-in with Weist and give him the tools he needs to be successful (like the authority to call time outs) , there is a real possibility of an unhappy ending. I do think Warde would have pulled the trigger on PP if it was solely up to him, but think Susan/BOT pressure prevented that.

The problem is that this CR effort needs an aggressive, PR-savvy leader with an identifiable chain of command and a leader who is amassing resources publicly and behind-the-scenes. So far, he and Susan have fallen well short in this role.

 

[CL82]

So beyond the monitoring statement that everyone seems to love so much, how do know anything that he is doing? He hasn't revealed anything. I get it, by not telling you what he is doing, you assume he is doing nothing!? By the way monitoring the situation doesn't neccessarily mean he is sitting by waiting for the phone to ring or watching the ESPN ticker. I choose to believe that he didn't get to the position he is in at two large public universities by being the dumba$$ many here like to portray him as. As I said before he knows the word that is out there, he has told us what to prepare for, you can complain until you are blue in the face (national flag blue of course) but it's not going to change a damn thing because the people in the position to do anything about it do not want us at this time. No matter how many unnamed sources claim to have insider information.

Well I suppose some people may be using the fact that they are unaware of his actions means that he doing nothing, however, I suspect that most people base their concerns about his performance on the lack of any tangible results. His awkward comments in the media certainly don't help.

 

[arch]

I'm wondering how our AD bashing (being "more direct", "telling it like it is") his current conference would make us more attractive to a different conference.
Might being positive be the best way out of this black hole of a conference?

 

[WestHartHusk]

Short answer, no. When people are trying to associate your university with inferior athletic programs the last thing our AD should be doing is validity that opinion. As many of us had said, we would accept total silence over such comments.

 

[Huskyfan990411]

While the Weist hire is a step forward, I'd feel a lot better if Warde had stepped forward and taken public ownership of it (Holgorsen-Luck situation at WVU). It's answered question but opens up others: it it walks like a coach in waiting and talks like a coach in waiting. . . . .

The worst part is GDL isn't "fired". He's still in an important position with the program -- doing a job Mike Foley should be doing. By his mere presence I'm worried he will do more harm than good. If GDL and PP aren't all-in with Weist and give him the tools he needs to be successful (like the authority to call time outs) , there is a real possibility of an unhappy ending. I do think Warde would have pulled the trigger on PP if it was solely up to him, but think Susan/BOT pressure prevented that.

The problem is that this CR effort needs an aggressive, PR-savvy leader with an identifiable chain of command and a leader who is amassing resources publicly and behind-the-scenes. So far, he and Susan have fallen well short in this role.

I agree that its not ideal that GDL is still in the program but I highly doubt Weist agrees to come here if he thinks there is a chance GDL will undercut him. This leads me to the last part of your comment "The problem is that this CR effort needs an aggressive, PR-savvy leader with an identifiable chain of command and a leader who is amassing resources publicly and behind-the-scenes. So far, he and Susan have fallen well short in this role."

I agree that maybe WM could do a little better with the public part of it but to say SH and WM are failing when you yourself mention behind-the-scenes dealings. How can you judge these 2 based off behind the scenes items when clearly that would be unknown to anyone not behind the scenes?

What if SH told WM to chill out with courting the ACC because she has B1G ideas. wink wink.