New Prez Supports Big-Time Football!
The Story: The future of UConn athletics, and even its football program, has been a point of obsession over the last several months. UConn introduced a new president, Thomas C. Katsouleas, yesterday afternoon and his take is simple: He supports big-time football at the university.
WHAT HE SAID: “Yes, I’m committed to football. I think it’s part of the identity of who we are as a major, broad-context university and I don’t think the savings from cutting it are as great as people think. In fact, it has ancillary value for the other sports and for fundraising overall.”
WHAT HE MEANS: UConn’s athletic budget relies on about $40 million worth of subsidies from the university. That number is the largest in all of college athletics. The football program lost $8.5 million last year and there is a loud contingent of fans and media who would like to see UConn give up major football and return its basketball teams to the Big East.
Katsouleas is now on record saying he does not want that to happen. Tough decisions will have to be made by the UConn president and athletic department, but UConn is an institution that should strive to play major college football.
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT: The football program, and the athletic department, could not survive if they did not get support from the university president. This is good news for the football program, and it doesn’t look like the Board of Trustees and Gov. Ned Lamont brought in a president who was going to deemphasize football or athletics. We are strongly in favor of major football and don’t take the “dropping football” crowd or “return to Big East” thoughts as credible. The athletic department will remain an important part of Katsouleas’ job as it is the most visible department in the state. He has more important responsibilities, but it is important to tend to the most high-profile department at the university.
REMAIN IN AAC FOR NOW: His proclamation also keeps UConn in the AAC for the time being — really, it’s not like there are realignment rumors swirling anyway — and there isn’t some grand plan to park the football program somewhere else and return to the Big East. The school remains committed to the conference. Now, if the ACC comes calling…
WHO IS KATSOULEAS? Katsouleas, 60, is the provost and executive vice president at the University of Virginia. He was the dean of Duke’s engineering school, has a Ph.D. in physics from UCLA and taught engineering at USC. He will replace Susan Herbst, who is stepping down after taking over in 2011.
Ollie Loses In Court, Long Road Ahead
The Story: Kevin Ollie was dealt a setback in his fight against the university as his case to stop the school from ending arbitration if he files a discrimination complaint was thrown out on procedural grounds.
WHAT HAPPENED? The headlines may say Ollie has lost his court battle, but this was just a bunch of legal wrangling and nothing was ultimately decided, so nothing really changed on Tuesday.
The case did not determine anything of value or the merit of Ollie’s firing, nor did it make any determination about his pending discrimination complaint. These are all legalities and why we hate every part of this suit from UConn’s perspective.
According to UConn’s collective bargaining rules, if Ollie sued the university over his dismissal, the school could summarily withdraw from the arbitration case. Ollie alleges racial discrimination in his firing and sued to prevent UConn from pulling out of the arbitration case if he files that discrimination suit. He is concerned that the arbitration case won’t be done by the time the statute of limitations is up on filing a discrimination complaint and wants UConn to waive its right to withdraw from arbitration if Ollie files it.
UConn has refused that request, Ollie sued, and the court sided with UConn — for now.
Two Games Tonight, Too
The story: Both basketball teams will be in action tonight as the men are in Philadelphia to face Temple (6 p.m., CBS Sports) and the women host East Carolina at the XL Center (7 p.m., SNY).
DOUBLE TROUBLE: We’re combining tonight’s previews in the interest of brevity, but also decided that it must be the hip thing to do because the AAC wants both basketball teams to play at the same time and divide the audience. This will be the second of three times this season the teams will share the same time slot — and oddly, the last will be on Feb. 24, a Sunday afternoon. (It happened twice last season and once in each of the previous two seasons, though one of those conflicts was because of a November exempt tournament.)
It’s a problem unique to UConn because, let’s face it, there’s no uproar if Tulsa’s basketball teams were to play at the same time. There’s just not a similar level of interest. When UConn was part of the Big East, the school’s administration, the conference and the television partners ensured there were no overlaps in scheduling. We presume the athletic department has expressed its displeasure with this arrangement, but if not, it would behoove Dave Benedict and those involved in preparing the AAC schedule to have conversations to make sure it doesn’t happen next year.
QUESTIONS FOR MEN: The Huskies (13-9, 4-5) are coming off a victory over ECU in which they were largely without the injured Alterique Gilbert and the benched Jalen Adams, who sat for the final 18 minutes after a spat with Dan Hurley. Gilbert seems likely to miss his third consecutive game because he has yet to resume practicing, and as for Adams, Hurley cryptically said he doesn’t know if he’ll start. It’s a big game for Adams: Will he answer his coach’s public challenge and come out fighting, or will he crawl into a hole and back down? His scoring and decision-making weren’t needed late against the Pirates, but Temple (16-6, 6-3), which has lost three of its last five games, is a different challenge. Josh Carlton emerged with his best game on Saturday; can he become a consistent force inside? And will Christian Vital and Sidney Wilson also take the lessons from Saturday to step up in their development?
QUESTIONS FOR WOMEN: A lethargic win at Cincinnati on Sunday followed the loss at Louisville last week, and the Huskies, down to No. 5 in the AP poll, get to recharge their batteries with three consecutive home games. ECU (11-10, 2-6) should provide Geno Auriemma with a chance to give Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson, each of whom played all 40 minutes in the last two games, with a bit of relaxation — perhaps enough to help Samuelson rediscover her shot. That is, of course, assuming Geno can trust his bench, which he has had a love-hate relationship with over the past month (and, indeed, season).
Morning Read
MOORE TAKING YEAR OFF: Maya Moore, who already chose not to play internationally this winter, will skip the upcoming WNBA season in order to spend more time with her family and to devote herself to her ministry. (Associated Press)
A SIGNIFICANT VOID: The Minnesota Lynx, who have reached the WNBA Finals in six of the last eight seasons, have been preparing for Moore’s absence but will now need to address it directly. (ESPN)
DOWN TO TWO: The latest Bracketology projections have the women’s basketball team as a No. 2 seed, though they’ll still be placed in the Albany Region. (ESPN)
MAKING AN IMPRESSION: Former UConn quarterback Tim Boyle believes he showed enough last season with the Green Bay Packers to carve out a solid NFL career. (Packers.com)
MAZOTTI TURNS DOWN UCONN: Tight end Dominick Mazotti, from the Bay Area, committed to San Jose State last night over offers from UConn, Cal and UNLV. (Dominick Mazotti on Twitter)
