UConn’s Hogan Hoped to See Hathaway in the Big Ten.
My column in the Sunday edition of The Hartford Courant was about University of Connecticut former President Michael Hogan’s determined attempts to get raises for several of high-ranking UConn officials as he departed for the University of Illinois at the end of May. Mr. Hogan and Board of Trustees Chairman Larry McHugh went many rounds in emails over the changes the exiting president wanted in place before he left.
Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway’s bonus arrangements, never committed to writing, were the subject of considerable to-ing and fro-ing. Negotiations between the administration and Mr. Hathaway had gone on for months with no resolution. Mr. Hathaway sounds particularly persistent in making his case for a 50% increase in his bonus as Mr. Hogan was packing his bags.
Mr. Hathaway wanted to extend the post-season bonus provision beyond basketball and football. Mr. Hogan wanted the Board to authorize a three-month payment and then work out the language later. Failing to win over Mr. McHugh, the outgoing Mr. Hogan tells Mr. Hathaway he’s done all he can and leaves him with a wish that you can see here: ”Hope to see you in the Big Ten.”
Mr. Hogan see his high hopes realized in part when UConn faces Big Ten favorite Michigan, where Gerald Ford starred in the 1930s, in Ann Arbor’s big house this weekend.
7 comments
Disgusting. What the hell are we doing paying an Athletic Director over 300K??? No wonder the state is going bankrupt. On top of that, the University just raised tuition…
We are paying an Athletic Director over 300K because unlike the Executive Branch or even the Judicial Branch, there are no checks and balances for the academic side of life. They do what they want, when they want and how they want, simply because 1) they can and 2) nobody really cares until someone raises a stink.
UCONN needs to to back to being a university, not a sports factory.
For the record, Jeff Hathaway runs one of the five best athletic departments in America, yet he isn’t even close to one of the five highest-paid athletic directors in America:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Division_I_athletic_directors#Highest_paid
He has earned every penny.
So,
The next guy we get, and ALL the guys we get for that oh-so-special skill of moving UCONN (or ANY school) up the gold$$-standard US News and World Report college rankings, will likely be just as slimy. Goes with the “learning-as-corporate-football-with-scores” territory.
The problem with public higher education in this state, as was mentioned above, is that they are basically unaccountable to anyone.
If true, Hathaway’s greedy little bonus grab qualifies as both shameless and disgusting at a time when the state was struggling just to balance the current budget.
And ex-President Hogan comes off as no better, especially after the half million dollars spent by the university to upgrade the leased home he was residing in during his tenure there.
Plus we have the unaccountable-to-anyone chancellor of the state university system conniving to give himself and his fellow hacks 10% pay raises at a time when the rest of us are lucky to just have a job.
All this at a time when the community colleges are bursting at the seams with new students. The paper last night reported that Manchester Community College is in danger of running out of room because of all of the new arrivals for the Fall semester.
It’s time to redirect the education budget from the “If you build it they will come” grand palaces of UConn to the “They’re already here and we have no room” community college system. And don’t forget the local school budgets which are also taking big hits in this economy.
Kevin, please keep turning over the rocks and reporting what wriggles out from underneath. This is everyone’s tax money going to build these altars of greed and incompetence.
We need a good stiff broom to clean out state government come November!
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