Frustration and Communication

[bearheel]

My second day on the forum and I'm back again, encouraged by the responses from Adam and Myles and Bearcat Tom and Dan and Brent.  And, yes, I do remember that UC-UNC game, Adam, and I was rooting for the Bearcats all the way!

I totally agree with the frustration and understand that booing is a response to it.  And certainly I wish someone would tell us what's going on (although I'm not sure I agree that we have a right to know -- just a strong desire).  I don't know whether we would agree or disagree, but at least we'd be making our points based on information, not rumors and stereotypes.

When I got to thinking about my impression that almost no information has been shared, I went back to previous postings and also did a Google News search to find out what has been reported publicly either from President Zimpher or Coach Huggins.  And I didn't find much except speculation.  The university has said almost nothing, and all we know publicly from Coach Huggins is what he said at his press conference.

To summarize:  Coach H had a 4-year contract with a rollover clause that he lost as a result of his DUI last year.  That made the length of his contract 3 years in '04-05.  President Z said she wouldn't discuss H's contract until after the recruiting season was over (which seems like bad timing, but maybe that's something they agreed to when H came back from his suspension?)  When they did talk, at least according to the press, Z chose not to extend the contract beyond the two years left on it.  She also chose not to hold a press conference about it.  At the same time, H chose not to take the buyout in his contract, decided to stay, and decided to announce it in a press conference.

I can make all kinds of assumptions about the reasons Z and H made the decisions they did, but the only published statements I can find suggest that Z didn't extend the contract because (a) she wasn't satisfied that there was enough improvement in behavior/image this year to justify doing so and/or (b) she didn't want to tie the hands of a new AD and wasn't extending any coach's contracts.  And H announced that he intended to stay because he felt a strong sense of loyalty to his players, coaches, the university, and the city.

Have I missed something that one of them said?  Have others on the board heard what he's telling recruits about his expectations?  Has either one spoken in interviews with the press or in meetings with alumni or UCATS or someone else about what's going on?

The next question:  If President Zimpher, the Trustees, the Athletic Director, Coach Huggins, and his agent aren't talking, why might that be?  (I assume that the correct answer isn't that they all enjoy frustrating us!)  All of them are pretty smart people and politically savvy or they wouldn't have gotten where they are; so I assume that they think the frustration this has caused is preferable to speaking out - even though we know the situation has to be a distraction for President Z in her focus on improving the university and its image and we know the situation deosn't help Coach Huggins with his recruiting.

So I'm stumped.  What do other Forum members know or think are the possible reasons that no one is talking?  (I'm not looking for a David Letterman list here, although that might be fun, but instead I wonder if they're still negotiating, or if it's a matter of personnel law, or if it's wait for a new Ad, or ????)