Warde unleashes some more rage-inducing quotes

[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.

 

[The Funster]

Is there any truth to the rumors that WM is being held back by Herbst?

 

[Huskyfan990411]

Not that I am aware of. I was mainly pointing out another side of the WM is not doing anything he must be a genius argument.

 

[Jerry27]

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.

I would take that announcement as well. I said before I think it's the most important item that he has real control of.

He isn't selling us, we will be there, he's selling the tweeners. That's not patronizing us, that's trying to find a spec of light in the sewer in which we will reside for the foreseeable future

 

[The Viking]

Clearly Delany has told WM not to release the 2014 schedule until the exit fee issue is ironed out in the next few months.

 

[freescooter]

Is there any truth to the rumors that WM is being held back by Herbst?

I have heard it. I have no idea if it is true or not. I am inclined to think it is at least a strong possibility. My impression, and it is based on some information but quite honestly not a lot, is that Susan Herbst doesn't rank athletics as a high priority overall. And to the extent that she does consider it, her top priorities for athletics are academic performance and conformance with NCAA rules. Winning titles and Conference affiliation is there somewhere but closer to #10 than #1(well maybe I'm exaggerating there but only to make a point. I doubt she actually has 10 priorities). Her ideal conference for UConn is and continues to be the ACC, though she'd prefer that they get rid of the riff-raff first. I also freely admit that this is my interpretation on some comments I've had with a variety of people, some of whom are knowledgeable about goings on at UConn and some of whom claim to be knowledgeable. Bu tis is the sense I consistently get.

 

[UConn Dan]

Clearly Delany has told WM not to release the 2014 schedule until the exit fee issue is ironed out in the next few months.

Doubtful. The lawsuit could potentially be dragged out until then. It's not like the WVU lawsuit that was time sensitive regarding not sticking around the requisite 27 months. MD is leaving no matter what it pays or when it pays it. I'm sure the ACC is willing to prolong the suit as well.

 

[UConn Dan]

Clearly Delany has told WM not to release the 2014 schedule until the exit fee issue is ironed out in the next few months.

But god I hope you are right that Delany told him to hold back till our invite is finalized.

 

[Waquoit]

Is there any truth to the rumors that WM is being held back by Herbst?

Not trying to be a wise-ass (this time), but held back from doing what?

 

[specialisthusky]

I have heard it. I have no idea if it is true or not. I am inclined to think it is at least a strong possibility. My impression, and it is based on some information but quite honestly not a lot, is that Susan Herbst doesn't rank athletics as a high priority overall. And to the extent that she does consider it, her top priorities for athletics are academic performance and conformance with NCAA rules. Winning titles and Conference affiliation is there somewhere but closer to #10 than #1(well maybe I'm exaggerating there but only to make a point. I doubt she actually has 10 priorities). Her ideal conference for UConn is and continues to be the ACC, though she'd prefer that they get rid of the riff-raff first. I also freely admit that this is my interpretation on some comments I've had with a variety of people, some of whom are knowledgeable about goings on at UConn and some of whom claim to be knowledgeable. Bu tis is the sense I consistently get.

I have heard the opposite from an academic director at uconn. I was told that SH knows the value of big time athletics and is confident in WM's abilities to get UConn back to a conference that would provide the financial backing necessary.

 

[Jerry27]

I have heard the opposite from an academic director at uconn. I was told that SH knows the value of big time athletics and is confident in WM's abilities to get UConn back to a conference that would provide the financial backing necessary.

Other than him lobbying and selling the merits of UConn athletics, conference affiliation is out of his control so how he will "get UConn back to a conference..." is beyond me. That job falls squarely on SH and the BOT shoulders. That just seems like an odd thing for someone in the know to say, unless they really...don't know!?

 

[CTMike]

If SH wants UConn to grow research/endowment/overall/etc... Then it doesn't take a PhD to realize that being in an ACC or B1G puts us in a whole other financial stratosphere. Athletics are important for her to achieve her broader goals.

 

[Husky25]

If SH wants UConn to grow research/endowment/overall/etc... Then it doesn't take a PhD to realize that being in an ACC or B1G puts us in a whole other financial stratosphere. Athletics are important for her to achieve her broader goals.

Catch 22. An invite helps grow academics/endowments/overall/etc., but organic growth would put UConn on par with current Big Ten memebers and make UConn that much more attractive for an invite.

 

[CTMike]

I guess I think all those approaches are important. But letting the chips fall where they may regarding Athletics (and our effective demotion from a "have" to a "have not") will cost the school much more than just the numbers tossed around in the TV deals. It will directly impact donations and endowment efforts. I have to believe SH is aware of this enough to make Athletics, and positioning for ACC or B1G, a top priority.

 

[Husky25]

I guess I think all those approaches are important. But letting the chips fall where they may regarding Athletics (and our effective demotion from a "have" to a "have not") will cost the school much more than just the numbers tossed around in the TV deals. It will directly impact donations and endowment efforts. I have to believe SH is aware of this enough to make Athletics, and positioning for ACC or B1G, a top priority.

Hopefully that is the case. She is an SEC girl. She know how the Athletics game is played.

 

[jostar1]

Other than him lobbying and selling the merits of UConn athletics, conference affiliation is out of his control so how he will "get UConn back to a conference..." is beyond me. That job falls squarely on SH and the BOT shoulders. That just seems like an odd thing for someone in the know to say, unless they really...don't know!?

He needs to lobby and sell the merits of UConn athletics like Oliver Luck does for WVU and Jurich does for Louisville. Is he capable of doing that? Not seeing it so far.