The University of Connecticut says the guy who "demanded" the return of his US$3 million because he was not consulted in the hiring of new UConn football coach Paul Pasqualoni has agreed to let the school keep the money.
UConn Board of Trustees Chairman Larry McHugh says in a news release that the university and Robert Burton agreed to move past their differences after senior university officials met with the donor and his family.
WTNH-TV's Bob Wilson has a look at the original furor...
But Burton is now quoted in a university release as saying he decided not to let one experience change his longstanding relationship with the university.
Makes you wonder what the deal behind the door was...
Burton swears he just wanted to be in the loop, that he didn't want "Veto Power" over the decision. Hathaway told him about it, but not until the hire had been made.
Burton says he's also canceling his luxury suite at the football stadium and other contributions he makes to the schools teams as well.
While this is pretty funny on one level. It's kind of scary on the other. Are there really that many strings attached to donations these days. If boosters want a say on a coaching hire, something done already in many places, then why have an Athletic Director?
No, I'm not stupid and fully realize the "Big Business" that NCAA sports are require lots of donations and fundraising. And no, I'm not naive enough to think there aren't strings attached. It is just disappointing that whiny bitches like Robert Burton can decide that if he's not treated as the all knowing, he'll just grab his pail and move on to another sandbox.
For those who didn't see it, here's the Paul Pasqualoni Presser from January 14th. Sorry the audio ain't great:
And the carousel begins coming to a halt. The last three significant coaching jobs available all were filled in short order Thursday. That brings this years carousel to a crawl as there aren't anything other than coordinator jobs sitting out there. And while those jobs may be interesting to some, we won't delve into that minutiae.
Your wrapup:
Stanford: Stanford has found there man. He is David Shaw, the teams offensive coordinator for the past 4 seasons. Shaw will replace Jim Harbaugh who moved on to the San Francisco 49ers.
Shaw is a Stanford grad and the 1st alum to take over the program since 1980.
Here is the official release from Stanford's website RIGHT HERE
And here is Mr. Shaw meeting the local press: (Thanks GoStanford.com)
Pasqualoni/Courtesy: syracuse.com
UConn: This may be the most baffling of all the hires this carousel season. Paul Pasqualoni is your new head coach in Storrs. While certainly a coaching veteran who had a reasonable run of success in the Big East at Syracuse, he was not someone that was immediately thought of as the perfect guy to grow the program.
Pasqualoni comes from the Dallas Cowboys and has bounced between them and the Miami Dolphins as a defensive assistant the past 5 years. He replaces Randy Edsall, who is now at Maryland.
Your official release from Connecticut's website is RIGHT HERE
John Fox/Courtesy: carolina panthers
Denver Broncos: And the final rider to get off the carousel is John Fox, your new head coach in Denver. Fox has been on the carousel for only a month after being released by the Carolina Panthers.
While in Carolina, Fox had a ton of early success and really, up until the past two seasons, the Panthers were a tough, competitive team. The weren't so much the past two years, which begs the question...why?
We aren't sure, though the national media certainly pushed Fox very hard as "The" candidate. We wonder if it's because they like him or if it is just because they didn't watch the Panthers this past season or they blame the teams utter failure on upper management? Who knows.
Either way, he's the man and honestly, is a decent choice for Denver, coming off of the Josh McDaniels experiment. We'll see how well it play out. Fox will be introduced to the Denver viewing public Friday afternoon.
And that brings this years Carousel to an end. Much like the movie Logan's Run, it's a time of re-birth. It's a time where some coaches lose their coaching lives in one place only to be re-born somewhere else. It's also a time where new coaches are born and others climb the ladder of success.
**Ed Note** We forgot about our friends in Oakland, though it's easy to do. They are going to be promoting assistant Hue Jackson to the top job, we just don't know when they'll make it official.
For those wondering about the movie reference, watch it below. In a strange way it all just kind of makes sense.
