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UConn donor demands return of $3M donation, then allows them to keep it

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Dryden;1863791; said:
The AD hired Paul Pasqualoni.

Did you watch Pasq run Syracuse into the ground? Did you watch the Dallas Cowboys defense last year?

Every team that has hired Paul Pasqualoni for anything over the past 30 years has rotted from the inside out.

If I were this donor, I'd be [censored]ed too. I'm not saying I expect veto power, but then I also have enough faith that my AD and President are competent enough not to hand the keys to a guy that already totalled three or four sweet rides.
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What you say about Pasq may be true, but that's not my point. Something tells me this guy and his fragile ego would be [censored] even if the UConn AD had hired Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden or Urban Meyer--he's more [censored] because he didn't get to weigh in than he is [censored] that the choice was Pasq.
 
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buckeyesin07;1863811; said:
What you say about Pasq may be true, but that's not my point. Something tells me this guy and his fragile ego would be [censored] even if the UConn AD had hired Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden or Urban Meyer--he's more [censored] because he didn't get to weigh in than he is [censored] that the choice was Pasq.
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The guy has been a major contributor for at least 13 years. The previous AD asked for his input on at least one coaching hire. The current AD completely blows him off and hires someone the main booster, and apparently others (these guys do all know each other after all), didn't want so he writes what he considered a personal 1 on 1 letter to the guy who pissed him off.

No one contributes that kind of money for that long to a school like UConn without having a great deal of love for the school. When you get a guy like that to the point he is bitching about the money and wants his name taken off the damn building, experience tells me you've done a spectacular job of failing to manage a relationship.

The last thing I see here is an out of control, prima donna booster.
 
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Deety;1863801; said:
You haven't fundraised until you've seen a group of elderly women approach fisticuffs over who gets to model a coat at a gala, and had to design shifts based on how much they'd donated. Merely demanding control over a program? Pfft.
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Was that the BP spring fundraiser or last fall?
 
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ORD_Buckeye said:
At the end of the day, we can debate whether this guy is a cancer or loyal supporter acting in the best interests of UCONN. We can all agree, that we're glad it's not happening at Ohio State.
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youre saying you dont think stunts like this get pulled at ohio state? or that in their experience in dealing with these whales theyve learned to negotiate the rapids without coming out looking like a moron and making their funding sources look even more like an imbecile?
 
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jimotis4heisman;1863840; said:
youre saying you dont think stunts like this get pulled at ohio state? or that in their experience in dealing with these whales theyve learned to negotiate the rapids without coming out looking like a moron and making their funding sources look even more like an imbecile?
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That's just it. They may get pulled. The key is that lines are drawn early on, and certain pressures and expectations are exerted from the true whales on the foundation board. Things never reach the point where non-alum, athletic donors get butthurt to this degree. If they did, they clearly wouldn't have been paying proper attention.

The only incident that I can think of is John McConnell canceling an AD donation in the wake of Bruce's firing. It never reached this level of public vitriol and was smoothed over rather quickly. Even if he remained privately butthurt, he never made a public shitstorm of the matter.
 
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To get a perspective... this is not OSU or Princeton.. it's UConn... and The Big East.

Pitt's endowment fund is over 600% of UConn's... We're talking Akron U size... this is not the avg program donor.. this is the #1 donor.. year in and year out.. He and his family have a big emotional stake in this game.. Who pays $50K for a loge to see UConn... nobody... well, the Burton family does

He owns an investment firm.. he sees this as 'an investment'... nowhere did I see him demand to name the new coach... Simple professional courtesy by the AD would have muted all this.. to be arrogant or stupid enuf to not deal with the one(s) who are buttering your bread is not a good trait of someone who heavily relies on much more than ticket revenue... anyone who doesn't think the AD is a monsterously political job, we're never gonna agree...

The Burton's donation more than pays the entire coaches' salaries.. The football building he paid for houses the coaches offices, team meeting rooms, team video facility, team dining hall and student athlete lounge.. not the campus library... Most likely, Burton was betting on, helping and rewarding Randy Edsall (the all time UConn winningest coach)... Sounds like Burton knows why Edsall left... they probably talked... and this was just the straw that broke it... If Burton is right and Edsall left because of this AD, then your #1 donor is already hostile... and you just threw gas all over the fire by ignoring him....

And don't think all other donors aren't watching... heavy donors like to be smoozed... they don't deal well with being snubbed


Last minute add... before Burton paid for the new football building, the coaches' offices were in trailers... and the money for this facility was donated right after UConn made it to their FIRST EVER bowl game.. which they won (beat Toledo).. startin to feel the emotional stake Burton felt?
 
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ORD_Buckeye said:
That's just it. They may get pulled. The key is that lines are drawn early on, and certain pressures and expectations are exerted from the true whales on the foundation board. Things never reach the point where non-alum, athletic donors get butthurt to this degree. If they did, they clearly wouldn't have been paying proper attention.

The only incident that I can think of is John McConnell canceling an AD donation in the wake of Bruce's firing. It never reached this level of public vitriol and was smoothed over rather quickly. Even if he remained privately butthurt, he never made a public shitstorm of the matter.
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comparing a country bumpkin of a wv country boy to this clown is laughable, but decent analogy...
 
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NJ-Buckeye;1863852; said:
To get a perspective... this is not OSU or Princeton.. it's UConn... and The Big East.

Pitt's endowment fund is over 600% of UConn's... We're talking Akron U size... this is not the avg program donor.. this is the #1 donor.. year in and year out.. He and his family have a big emotional stake in this game.. Who pays $50K for a loge to see UConn... nobody... well, the Burton family does

He owns an investment firm.. he sees this as 'an investment'... nowhere did I see him demand to name the new coach... Simple professional courtesy by the AD would have muted all this.. to be arrogant or stupid enuf to not deal with the one(s) who are buttering your bread is not a good trait of someone who heavily relies on much more than ticket revenue... anyone who doesn't think the AD is a monsterously political job, we're never gonna agree...

The Burton's donation more than pays the entire coaches' salaries.. The football building he paid for houses the coaches offices, team meeting rooms, team video facility, team dining hall and student athlete lounge.. not the campus library... Most likely, Burton was betting on, helping and rewarding Randy Edsall (the all time UConn winningest coach)... Sounds like Burton knows why Edsall left... they probably talked... and this was just the straw that broke it... If Burton is right and Edsall left because of this AD, then your #1 donor is already hostile... and you just threw gas all over the fire by ignoring him....

And don't think all other donors aren't watching... heavy donors like to be smoozed... they don't deal well with being snubbed
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The other thing is, when Pasqualoni runs the program into the ground, his peers/rivals/frenemies in the financial jet set are going to be breaking his balls all the time. You know he plans to not look forward to that.
 
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cincibuck;1863864; said:
3 M is a piss in the Auburn Ocean, just as it would be in Columbus.
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That's 16 Cam Newton's (allegedly).

You pay Cam say 200K and 22 other guys say 50K each and your team payroll is about 1.3MM. This guy could have had given UConn an SEC level payroll for about 2 years.
 
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Jaxbuck;1863868; said:
That's 16 Cam Newton's (allegedly).

You pay Cam say 200K and 22 other guys say 50K each and your team payroll is about 1.3MM. This guy could have had given UConn an SEC level payroll for about 2 years.
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angostura-bitters.jpg
 
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Jaxbuck;1863868; said:
That's 16 Cam Newton's (allegedly).

You pay Cam say 200K and 22 other guys say 50K each and your team payroll is about 1.3MM. This guy could have had given UConn an SEC level payroll for about 2 years.
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Pfffft...You didn't account for inflation. Some college football fan you are! :sad: :shake:
 
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