I found it interesting the release from new UConn President Susan Herbst about the evaluation of the UConn athletic department. It’s obvious Herbst was responding to a column in the Hartford Courant by Jeff Jacobs who intimated that the evaluation could cost athletic director Jeff Hathaway his job.
Here’s the president’s response.
“Athletics is a vital part of UConn and there are many ways to evaluate the success of a collegiate athletic department – academic performance of student-athletes, NCAA compliance, fundraising and overall athletic success.
“We will be excellent stewards of public and private funds in all areas of the University. As a result, I will be reviewing all divisions of the University over time, but with great urgency, to make sure that we are serving this state in the best possible way. Accountability and excellence are our themes, going forward.
“The Division of Athletics is one of those areas of the university in which we have already begun this evaluation process.”
What’s interesting to me is the order in which she lists what’s important in the university’s evaluation. First and foremost, academic performance of student athletes. The men’s basketball program just got slapped with penalties for failing to meet certain NCAA academic minimums.
Next. NCAA compliance. Again, the men’s basketball program has just been hit with penalties for failing to be compliant.
Third in importance, according to the way the response is written, is fund-raising. UConn’s been moving ahead with plans to build a new practice facility for basketball. The football complex built on donations, is one of the best in the country.
And finally, at the bottom of Herbst’s list of what’s important in evaluating a program’s success, is athletic performance. UConn has just completed one of the greatest on the field school’s years in NCAA history. You may recall UConn is the first school ever to have its mens and women’s basketball programs in the final four, and it’s football team in a BCS bowl in the same school year. And the baseball team also made it to the NCAA tournament.
Maybe all of the items on Herbst’s list are of equal importance, but the way she has listed them in her response makes me think she’s not very happy with her athletic department, or her athletic director.
