RE: Frustration and Communication

[Adam Weigand]

If we are waiting for a new AD then we will be sitting here and
wondering for another year since Goin retires next year I beleive.  I
wonder if anyone checked into that statement regarding the contract
status of all the coaches...was Dantonio extended?  Or how much longer
is his deal for?  What about the volleyball and soccer coaches?  Are
they all sitting around with 8 year deals?  It just seems odd to me that
Huggs would be the only coach affected by the "freeze" on
contracts...anyone got any insight???
 
ps - worst part about that trip to chicago - seeing ucoon beat
arizona...second best part, i talked to Jay Bilas for about 20 minutes
after the UC game...he is by far the best analyst out there right now.
 
adam
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: address@hidden [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 3:24 PM
To: address@hidden
Subject: [UC Basketball] Frustration and Communication



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 ????)