Rachael Blount on Uconn football donor

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Station 19: Rachel hit it right on the nuts....er, um, well you get my drift!!!
 

I'm sure I will be alone in saying this but I'm on the donor's side. Is the guy a jerk? Sure sounds like it but so what. People in business deal with big ego jerks all the time either as bosses or as customers. If half of what the guy says is true about himself he knows a little bit about football. Why not get his opinion or at least keep him in the loop. I think it is inexcusable that Burton wasn't kept informed of what was going on. How hard is it to make one or two phone calls per day? Athletic directors are a dime a dozen, multimillion dollar donors are rare. Good coaches are also rare - get all the input you can before you hire even if one of the people providing input is a big ego jerk.

Another thought, if you can't stand dealing with the guy tell him ahead of time that you want his input up front and then tell him the entire search is going to be "top secret" and you won't be able to contact him again until after the hire. All I am saying is there are ways to handle these situations and this AD did a p@ss poor job of it.
 

Rachel opinion pieces are the best ones at the StarTrib these days (not because I agree with her more often than not) and I agree with her 100% here. If this guy wants input and/or control, he should go buy a minor league baseball team or something like that.
 

He claims "you did not listen to your No. 1 football donor," though a UConn statement said Hathaway did "receive and acknowledge" Burton's opinions.
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So, he did in fact have a voice in the hiring process. It seems clear that he wanted to be able to make the hire.

He also wants his name taken off the Burton Family Football Complex after his $3 million contribution is returned
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Perhaps UConn should find another donor who would like his name on the football complex. I think it would be very satisfying to rip that name off the walls. I would then apply his name to all of the urinals, and ban him from campus for life. As a businessman, he should know that you only get what's in your contract.
 


What an a**hat. He talks about being "hurt and embarrassed." Sheesh. The only embarrassment here is caused by his letter. He went to school at Tennessee and Alabama. That makes him qualified to select a coach. I should call my fraternity brother (football player) who did his grad work at Alabama and let him know he is now more qualified to select a head coach then the majority of AD's in the US.

Seriously, this guy is an egotistical punter with money.
 

Why does every one think he wanted to make the hire. He says in the letter he just wanted to be kept in the loop just like he was when Randy Edsall was hired. Burton wasn't called between the 3ed and the 13th during the search process! Inexcusable! The previous AD could work with Burton, what is wrong with the current AD? He also says Randy Edsall left because he couldn't work with the AD. I'll say it again, ADs are a dime a dozen and part of their job is to work with big ego jerks like Burton.
 

Sounds reminiscent of the jackwagons at savegopherfootball.com. The only difference is the checks most of those chumps wrote out to the U didn't have as many zero's at the end.
 

Those millionaire donors aren't going to step up and say "my bad" if they pressure they pressure the AD into hiring a coach, and that coach turns out to be a bust. This donor is no expert on football coaches, and he clearly wanted a lot more than input.
 



diefirma said:
Why does every one think he wanted to make the hire. He says in the letter he just wanted to be kept in the loop just like he was when Randy Edsall was hired. Burton wasn't called between the 3ed and the 13th during the search process! Inexcusable! The previous AD could work with Burton, what is wrong with the current AD? He also says Randy Edsall left because he couldn't work with the AD. I'll say it again, ADs are a dime a dozen and part of their job is to work with big ego jerks like Burton.
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Because he had input, and that wasn't good enough for him. Part of an ADs job is not to be walked all over by donors. Why should I believe his opinion on why Edsall left?
 

Bottom line for me is that he thought his money was buying him influence. Well it did, but only to a point. It didn't allow him to run the place like he thought it would. Good for the AD, keep the check and lose the fair weather booster.
 

"You have embarrassed me for the last time. From now on I'm going to embarrass myself!"
 

I love how he thinks he has legal grounds for the return of his donation. No judge is going to find in his favor, simply for the precedent it would set in the world of philanthropy.
 



I don't think ADs (at least good ones) are dime-a-dozen. Big ego jerks are dime-a-dozen. I don't know if Hathaway is a good AD or not. Burton doesn't seem to think that he is and I'm sure that a number of Connecticutters (Connecticutites? Connecticutans?) agree with him. But that's not the point here. Hathaway is put where he is to do a job and while schmoozing boosters is part of that job, Burton appears to want the equivalent of an athletic lap dance. You've got to draw a line somewhere and Hathaway did.

If Burton is actually delusional enough to believe that his contribution allowed him some status in the hiring of a new football coach, the fate of the nation may hang in the balance. I suppose Hathaway could have called him and said "We've decided to hire Pasqualoni" at which point it sounds like Burton would have made the same threat. So what's the point of Hathaway even bothering to call him or keep him in the loop? Burton makes it sounds like all he wanted is input, but it appears he wanted something more. I don't know that for fact, but it certainly looks that way from his absurd overreaction.
 

50Lb, I think he did call to tell him. There's a point in the letter when Burton says "You attempted to reach me" to tell me who you had decided to hire and then later in the same paragraph (I think) complains that he didn't hear from Hathaway who was being hired.

There are so many stupid things about this letter that would be fun to make fun of.
 

everybody knows my name said:
50Lb, I think he did call to tell him. There's a point in the letter when Burton says "You attempted to reach me" to tell me who you had decided to hire and then later in the same paragraph (I think) complains that he didn't hear from Hathaway who was being hired.

There are so many stupid things about this letter that would be fun to make fun of.
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I have nothing against rich people, but I am often puzzled as to how some rich people actually became rich. Burton now joins that list.
 

50PoundHead said:
I don't think ADs (at least good ones) are dime-a-dozen. Big ego jerks are dime-a-dozen. I don't know if Hathaway is a good AD or not. Burton doesn't seem to think that he is and I'm sure that a number of Connecticutters (Connecticutites? Connecticutans?) agree with him. But that's not the point here. Hathaway is put where he is to do a job and while schmoozing boosters is part of that job, Burton appears to want the equivalent of an athletic lap dance. You've got to draw a line somewhere and Hathaway did.

If Burton is actually delusional enough to believe that his contribution allowed him some status in the hiring of a new football coach, the fate of the nation may hang in the balance. I suppose Hathaway could have called him and said "We've decided to hire Pasqualoni" at which point it sounds like Burton would have made the same threat. So what's the point of Hathaway even bothering to call him or keep him in the loop? Burton makes it sounds like all he wanted is input, but it appears he wanted something more. I don't know that for fact, but it certainly looks that way from his absurd overreaction.
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I would say that it is more like Burton wanted to have sex in the champagne room, to use your analogy.
 

diefirma said:
I'm sure I will be alone in saying this but I'm on the donor's side. Is the guy a jerk? Sure sounds like it but so what. People in business deal with big ego jerks all the time either as bosses or as customers. If half of what the guy says is true about himself he knows a little bit about football. Why not get his opinion or at least keep him in the loop. I think it is inexcusable that Burton wasn't kept informed of what was going on. How hard is it to make one or two phone calls per day? Athletic directors are a dime a dozen, multimillion dollar donors are rare. Good coaches are also rare - get all the input you can before you hire even if one of the people providing input is a big ego jerk.

Another thought, if you can't stand dealing with the guy tell him ahead of time that you want his input up front and then tell him the entire search is going to be "top secret" and you won't be able to contact him again until after the hire. All I am saying is there are ways to handle these situations and this AD did a p@ss poor job of it.
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It's even more inexcusable for him to make a donation and want to take it back. To me, that shows that he didn't make the donation to help the program, he did it more for himself.
 


We've heard Burton's opinion of the AD(Hathaway) through his letter, which he intended to be public. It would be interesting to hear Hathaway's opinion of Burton and his dealings with him, though we probably won't.

My guess would be that the AD knew Burton's opinion yet decided to hire the new coach anyway. The AD may have known Burton would pee in his pants whether he contacted him or not.
 

It seems to me that if the AD really thought that the guy he hired would be the best person for the job he would not be doing his job if he let a donor impact his decision. Fortunately college athletics isn't only about money.
 

diefirma said:
Why does every one think he wanted to make the hire. He says in the letter he just wanted to be kept in the loop just like he was when Randy Edsall was hired. Burton wasn't called between the 3ed and the 13th during the search process! Inexcusable! The previous AD could work with Burton, what is wrong with the current AD? He also says Randy Edsall left because he couldn't work with the AD. I'll say it again, ADs are a dime a dozen and part of their job is to work with big ego jerks like Burton.
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This doesn't make him less of an a**hat. Either the AD screwed up or the AD drew a line in the sand. Either way, Burton is a selfish little 4 year old. Even if I were to agree that the AD's behavior was inexcusable (I don't...I just think he misread how much Burton wanted his ego stroked) it doesn't change the fact that Burton had a variety of ways to approach his displeasure. He chose the route that shows him to be a selfish, arrogant blowhard.
 

GoAUpher said:
This doesn't make him less of an a**hat. Either the AD screwed up or the AD drew a line in the sand. Either way, Burton is a selfish little 4 year old. Even if I were to agree that the AD's behavior was inexcusable (I don't...I just think he misread how much Burton wanted his ego stroked) it doesn't change the fact that Burton had a variety of ways to approach his displeasure. He chose the route that shows him to be a selfish, arrogant blowhard.
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I guess you could add Phil Knight and Ralph Engelstad among many other wealthy donors across the country to the list of "selfish, arrogant blowhards.". The AD screwed up by not having the common sense or courtesy to return the guys phone calls in a timely manner.
 

GopherGod said:
I guess you could add Phil Knight and Ralph Engelstad among many other wealthy donors across the country to the list of "selfish, arrogant blowhards.". The AD screwed up by not having the common sense or courtesy to return the guys phone calls in a timely manner.
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And that's an excuse to act like a 5 year old who didn't get his pudding at snack time? What your saying may be true, but this just shows that he really doesn't care that much about the program, he just wants to be important and be able to control everything.
 

GopherGod said:
I guess you could add Phil Knight and Ralph Engelstad among many other wealthy donors across the country to the list of "selfish, arrogant blowhards.". The AD screwed up by not having the common sense or courtesy to return the guys phone calls in a timely manner.
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Oh lord. You're putting Burton on the same tier as Knight? The 7 million Burton donated over the years wouldn't pay for the sound system in the Oregon locker room (and yes I'm exaggerating for effect). Obviously I don't need to list all the money he's donated. It's clearly 10's of times as much as what Burton gave. Note for Burton. If you want power, do what Knight does and put all your conditions in on the front end. Or give a hell of a lot more money. Knight was also a donation jerk back when Oregon criticized Nike's labor practices. He stopped giving money. Oregon backed off. But the economy of scale at work in their giving levels is insane. They just aren't in the same league. And, I'd note that Knight didn't try to take back his previous donations. He just stopped giving which was his right and prerogative. And it was over something that directly impacted his business. Not hurt feelings or ego.

As for Englestad, he built them a $110 million dollar hockey palace. But yes, that is the same as $7 million dollars in terms of influence. And if you'll note, all of Engelstad's influence still didn't save the Fighting Sioux name.

The AD is an idiot and Burton is an a**hat. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
 

If the guy wants the right to hire a coach, the solution is to go buy an arena league team. If he wants to see UConn football become a powerhouse, he should keep donating to improve the facilities and pay to keep good coaches.
 

year of the gopher said:
If the guy wants the right to hire a coach, the solution is to go buy an arena league team. If he wants to see UConn football become a powerhouse, he should keep donating to improve the facilities and pay to keep good coaches.
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Or apply for the AD job.

I don't understand why some people are discounting the possibility that the AD did indeed call him or talk to him, given the fact that the AD's office is saying that they did. He likely wouldn't been satisfied with any amount of consultation in the process as long as they hired the guy that he had a personal vendetta against.
 

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