Re: Frustration and Communication

[juckerrules]

I'm thinking it's a "nobody blinked" kind of thing. 
Huggins can't seriously want to just finish out his
contract - he'll only succeed in assuring the program
is down for some time to come - he's already losing
out on quality recruits because of his two years and
out contract (see Jason Bennett).  Do you think he'll
attract quality recruits during his last season?

I still think Huggins' position is untenable - if he
really cares about the team, he'll leave.  Nancy
Zimpher cares about the University as a whole - she's
willing to let the B-ball program suffer for a while
to  establish a new order that meshes with the image
she wants the University to project as a whole.  She
is not going to cave and extend Huggins' contract.  If
nobody blinks, the team suffers more than if Huggins
leaves sooner - he'll lose potential players and he'll
still be gone anyway in two years - I've always
preferred that my pain and suffering be short; I'd
rather cut my hand off with a sharp cleaver than have
it gnawed off by rats - Huggins will be gnawed to the
bone before this is over.

--- address@hidden wrote:

> 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 ????)


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com