President Barchi is owed an apology by me. He used the toxic report we knew he had and he did not blink. Good for him, good for us, and good for RU. At least we now know he cares.
An Apology to President Barchi
- Thread starter RUsilencer
- Start date
I just hope he has learned that this can't be done on the cheap...let's get it right this time.
How about YOU apologizing to the board for all the WRONG calls you made this week?
Barchi has no idea who you are and no interest in an apology or even why you are so eager to try to give one. Let this thread die.
I don't like how he's handled athletics so far. But this was the right move which many would not have believed possible a month ago. So a tip of the hat to you Pres. Barchi. Now get us a good AD and HC.
What other wrong call? I made the call on the report. I made the wrong call on Barchi ignoring it because of lack of funding. So be it
So, again, you owe us an apology. Acting like you knew something when you didn't and cresting an unnecessary stir.
Yup, NUTS is right. Silencer, you were vigorously shouting down anyone who dared say that Flood and possibly Hermann too were out. It was getting to be a bit much at times.
Agreed. Can't stand when people post things as if they know something nobody else does and it turns out they were simply guessing and were wrong. I have no problem when people say, "hey, I'm hearing that there's some bad shite in the report, but that Barchi is unlikely to clean house." But people like this guy and TV have to post stuff as if they know 100% for sure. They don't, which is why I dismissed them in their threads and why I'll pile on a little here - agree, they owe the board an apology for needlessly getting people wound up by misleading folks.
Silencer, Floods record is better than yours. Enough said.
Barchi and Brown deserve props and for everyone on the forum to open up their wallets big time.
Easy on Silencer. I would need to go back and read the posts, but I thought during the twist and turns others who supposedly had inside knowledge were saying similar things. I thought he was prefaced his comments by indicating that this was the current thinking on how the winds were blowing.
Silencer: "The winds have taken a dramatic shift. Multiple good sources have all collaborated that Barchi has or will blink again and will not be making any changes"
...you rolled the dice and acted AS IF you knew something.
...you rolled the dice and acted AS IF you knew something.
I too pray and hope that the donors, President and BOT's do the right thing by hiring a new AD and a qualified HC asap. Let me very clear about the following, promoting N. Wilson to HC or any of the subordinates under Herman will not work. We need a fresh start with a competent AD & HC.
I gotta say, I called this one 180 degrees in the wrong direction. Put this one in the same folder as my Craig Littlepage 1988 call.
Given the timeline in the Barchi letter, it wasn't even a wrong prediction. It was already wrong at the moment it was typed. It was born wrong. And it has now died wrong.
This. Silencer and TV can't even make the "it was true when I wrote it" excuse. Both wrote that Barchi had decided (or was leaning toward deciding) to retain Flood. But at that time Barchi had already decided to replace Flood and Hermann and had already put the wheels in motion.
Do you think he would accept my apology? I mean, I did threaten to stuff my 6 season tickets up his ass if Flood was still our coach next season.
Do you think the image of his behind looking like a turkey's with my tickets fanned out helped him to decide?
Am I the hero in all of this?
Absolutely not. Yet, at least.
Let's see who Hobbs hires and also how he improves fund raising, facilities and public relations.
Let's see who Hobbs hires and also how he improves fund raising, facilities and public relations.
This is what I had to say in a thread on the RT:
Trenton facilitated this, particularly Ray Lesniak, who loves Rutgers sports. It was orchestrated by Barchi. Barchi totally won me over over the past few weeks.
1. Barchi heard the fans. If the fans were complacent, no action would have been taken.
2. Barchi told Hermann to do what she needed, but find the money herself. She could not.
3. Barchi took action himself, making a deal for the money we need.
4. Barchi goes and finds a new AD who is polished enough to handle the media and the Trenton pols so Barchi can go back to focusing on more important university business.
Barchi showed what strong and decisive leadership is all about. No wimpy seach committees this time. Identify the person you want and go get him.
Trenton facilitated this, particularly Ray Lesniak, who loves Rutgers sports. It was orchestrated by Barchi. Barchi totally won me over over the past few weeks.
1. Barchi heard the fans. If the fans were complacent, no action would have been taken.
2. Barchi told Hermann to do what she needed, but find the money herself. She could not.
3. Barchi took action himself, making a deal for the money we need.
4. Barchi goes and finds a new AD who is polished enough to handle the media and the Trenton pols so Barchi can go back to focusing on more important university business.
Barchi showed what strong and decisive leadership is all about. No wimpy seach committees this time. Identify the person you want and go get him.
You are giving way too much credit. In his email, Barchi specifically states he wanted to name an interim AD, and employ a committee to conduct a national search. Standard "wimpy" academia hiring practice, and a typical Barchi email, with CYA language built in. He comes right out and says it wasn't his idea to proceed this way. He says he hired Hobbs, as a permanent hire on a "strong recommendation." That recommendation was from Chris Christie who basically instructed Barchi to hire Hobbs.
To his credit, Barchi wanted to make this bullshit go away, and realized we need to bite the bullet and get new people to move forward and stop the football program and AD from being a continuous source of embarassment. We couldn't continue waiting for Hermann to find a way to do this that was budget neutral. She had failed in her charge to raise sufficient funds, and more problematically hadn't been able to resurrect her image after the early stumbles.
Knowing what I know about Hobbs (going all the way back to his days at Hanoch), and his conduct at SHU, I am highly skeptical he will wind up being the right person for this role. That said, a good football hire will go a long way to convincing me. Schiano would be a punt - safe play that won't require any tough decisions. If they interview other top candidates - Richt, Meacham, Scott Frost and Dino Babers if they are not already hired, I will be thrilled. If they hire someone at a lower level, get ready for more of the same, because that will mean that Hobbs was hired with marching orders to continue to run this program on the cheap and the rest is just lip service.
What are you referencing? With the post I was responding to, it is not a matter of believing or not believing.
I was just pointing out that by Barchi's own admission, he wanted to form a committee to conduct a national search. Also, I know for a fact that Christie told Barchi to hire Hobbs. You don't have to believe that obviously, but if you look at what happened, I think it is pretty obvious. It's also alluded to in the NY Times article today.
To the Rutgers Community:
Today is a day of change for our Department of Athletics.
This afternoon, I spoke with Head Football Coach Kyle Flood and met with Director of Athletics Julie Hermann and informed them that I was exercising the university's right to terminate their contracts without cause and that I am relieving them of their duties effective immediately.
Kyle Flood has been a loyal and dedicated member of our community for more than a decade and our head football coach for four seasons, during which his teams won 26 games and played in three bowl games.
However, our continued struggles on the field combined with several off the field issues have convinced me that we need new leadership of our football program. I want to thank Kyle for his service to Rutgers and I also wish him and his family well in his next endeavor.
Norries Wilson will serve as the Interim Head Coach leading our off-season program until a new head ....... Is this the letter you are referring to?
Today is a day of change for our Department of Athletics.
This afternoon, I spoke with Head Football Coach Kyle Flood and met with Director of Athletics Julie Hermann and informed them that I was exercising the university's right to terminate their contracts without cause and that I am relieving them of their duties effective immediately.
Kyle Flood has been a loyal and dedicated member of our community for more than a decade and our head football coach for four seasons, during which his teams won 26 games and played in three bowl games.
However, our continued struggles on the field combined with several off the field issues have convinced me that we need new leadership of our football program. I want to thank Kyle for his service to Rutgers and I also wish him and his family well in his next endeavor.
Norries Wilson will serve as the Interim Head Coach leading our off-season program until a new head ....... Is this the letter you are referring to?
That's not what Barchi said at all. He said that he interviewed Hobbs based on the recommendation. He said the decision to offer Hobbs a permanent position was based on Hobbs' interviews with Barchi, Brown, and Schmidt.
"When I made the decision last week that we needed a change in leadership, I set out to find an interim Director of Athletics who could stabilize the Department before launching a national search. On a strong referral, I met with Patrick Hobbs, Dean Emeritus of the Seton Hall University School of Law, who previously led the athletics program at Seton Hall University during a period of major change. In addition to these assignments, Pat has served [...]. In my meetings and conversations with Pat, and also with Board Members Greg Brown and Ken Schmidt, it was clear to all of us that Pat had the attributes required for our next Director of Athletics. We offered Pat the permanent job on Friday and we are proud to welcome him as our new Director of Athletics.
Let's just clear the whole thing up so my point is clear and then you guys can have at it. The relevant quote was:
"When I made the decision last week that we needed a change in leadership, I set out to find an interim Director of Athletics who could stabilize the Department before launching a national search. On a strong referral, I met with Patrick Hobbs, Dean Emeritus of the Seton Hall University School of Law"
So he said "strong referral" and not "strong recommendation."
As to the hiring process, everyone can and will believe what they want to when they consider whether this hire was a political move or not. I don't expect anyone to take my word for it, although I do think it is pretty obvious if you pay attention to what happened, what the connections were, and what was said. What I will say is that based on what I know personally and have been told, absolutely nothing could be said, by anyone, that would convince me otherwise. For whatever that is worth.
What we do know is that Barchi intended to launch a national search, which indicates SOP for high level academia/univeristy hiring. Committee is formed, universe of candidates are distilled to 2 or 3 recommendations, and decision maker selects one of those candidates. Instead, he received a "strong referral, " after which the national search was called off, and Hobbs was promptly hired as a permanent replacement.
So you can believe one of two things. Possibly Hobbs blew Barchi, Greg Brown and Ken Schmidt away with how he was a home run hire as a Big Ten level Athletics Director. His "attributes" given his background at SHU were such that he was clearly the best candidate to be an AD for a huge P5 university. He came across so well, in fact, that no other candidates even needed to be identified, let alone interviewed.
Or you can believe, as I suggest, that Hobbs' primary "attribute" was that Christie told Barchi he was the guy. Hobbs is very closely connected politically, is generally well liked by both sides, and most importantly, is currently working for Christie, who essentially appointed Barchi to the RU presidency. Its one or the other, and given Hobbs' background, I would say the nearly immediate hiring suggests the move was political, and not because Hobbs was somehow the best available candidate for the position. In no way does his background suggest he is a "hire this guy immediately" type of candidate.
"When I made the decision last week that we needed a change in leadership, I set out to find an interim Director of Athletics who could stabilize the Department before launching a national search. On a strong referral, I met with Patrick Hobbs, Dean Emeritus of the Seton Hall University School of Law"
So he said "strong referral" and not "strong recommendation."
As to the hiring process, everyone can and will believe what they want to when they consider whether this hire was a political move or not. I don't expect anyone to take my word for it, although I do think it is pretty obvious if you pay attention to what happened, what the connections were, and what was said. What I will say is that based on what I know personally and have been told, absolutely nothing could be said, by anyone, that would convince me otherwise. For whatever that is worth.
What we do know is that Barchi intended to launch a national search, which indicates SOP for high level academia/univeristy hiring. Committee is formed, universe of candidates are distilled to 2 or 3 recommendations, and decision maker selects one of those candidates. Instead, he received a "strong referral, " after which the national search was called off, and Hobbs was promptly hired as a permanent replacement.
So you can believe one of two things. Possibly Hobbs blew Barchi, Greg Brown and Ken Schmidt away with how he was a home run hire as a Big Ten level Athletics Director. His "attributes" given his background at SHU were such that he was clearly the best candidate to be an AD for a huge P5 university. He came across so well, in fact, that no other candidates even needed to be identified, let alone interviewed.
Or you can believe, as I suggest, that Hobbs' primary "attribute" was that Christie told Barchi he was the guy. Hobbs is very closely connected politically, is generally well liked by both sides, and most importantly, is currently working for Christie, who essentially appointed Barchi to the RU presidency. Its one or the other, and given Hobbs' background, I would say the nearly immediate hiring suggests the move was political, and not because Hobbs was somehow the best available candidate for the position. In no way does his background suggest he is a "hire this guy immediately" type of candidate.
You are dwelling on that word choice as though he intended the distinction you have drawn. I suppose you can presume that a university president would choose his words very deliberately. Until you notice he said "me" where he should have said "myself" and other odd/imprecise word choices. I don't mean to be pedantic, but it goes straight to undermining your point.
Ole cabbagehead is spot on. This hire was made by Christie who seeks to improve his political image in the short term. His state university wasn't bringing home the glory so he stepped on Barchi's toes.
No doubt the scrotum sucking scribblers at the NSL will soon be kissing up to Christie. I wouldn't be surprised if Christie's major donors don't throw some money into the pot so Hobbs can hire a flash bang football coach.
No doubt the scrotum sucking scribblers at the NSL will soon be kissing up to Christie. I wouldn't be surprised if Christie's major donors don't throw some money into the pot so Hobbs can hire a flash bang football coach.
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I was just highlighting that I misquoted Barchi, which was my error. I don't think it matters whether he said it was a "recommendation" or a "referral". In my view, the simple fact of what happened and how it happened, makes it clear this was Christie putting his guy in place, regardless of the fact that he is in no way qualified to be our athletic director.
Well, you can call Barchi a liar if you want, but it looks to me like somebody said, "You ought to look at this guy for your interim, or permanent spot." The interim had to be hired quickly. Barchi interviewed Hobbs along with Brown and Schmidt and said, "Hell, this guy looks terrific, let's hire him."
Now, the somebody may have been Christie, and maybe he put something of a lean on Barchi, but that is all speculation. Drawing the conclusion that this is a political hire requires a lot of dot-connecting. Occam's razor, folks. Recommendation, interview, sold on the candidate, hired.
Now, the somebody may have been Christie, and maybe he put something of a lean on Barchi, but that is all speculation. Drawing the conclusion that this is a political hire requires a lot of dot-connecting. Occam's razor, folks. Recommendation, interview, sold on the candidate, hired.
It's not like he's the first person to do that here. He's not even the 100th person to do it in the past few years. Seems to me, it's the people that believe all the unsubstantiated rumors that should apologize for being so gullible.
Wait a minute. What could possibly be more important university business than the football program?
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