Literally 95% of this bored bought into the narrative that Petersen was a cancer to recruiting and didnt understand it despite the fact that our classes were getting better and better every year.
Ironically, the class we are likely to end up with this year (with an AA head coach, who was supposedly the recruiting juggernaut that Pete's stubbornness was holding back) is the absolute dictionary definition of what everyone thought "the Pete class" was
This is a classic bananasnblondes hindsight/straw man post.
Nobody thought CP was a cancer to recruiting. He was an unreal closer and brought us to a level of recruiting vis a vis UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, etc that most of us had never seen at UW. And after his initial staff of loyalists every subsequent position coach hire was clearly made with recruiting in mind.
At the same time his stubbornness about his process led to some specific critiques about things like taking part of the spring off, not going after more questionable grades/character kids, and retaining a couple coaches that couldn’t or didn’t recruit to the level of the rest of the program.
The framing for that criticism was never that CP couldn’t recruit but always that if two or three things could be changed we could get to even the next level.
Of course CP’s stubbornness about his process is also what brought him a lot of success. Nobody is perfect.
Only thing I blame Pete for is shitty offensive plan, Pease, KB, Gregory. Everything else was great.
I would add he failed to get the team motivated. Most noticable in big games.
I kinda wonder if the players knew Pete was on his way out. I was at the Utah game and the sideline body language was really bad, even when we were winning.
She played the cards she was dealt. With Pete’s blessing every AD in the country (and every one of us in our dads’ basements) snap hires Jimmy.
The real test is whether she can make the tough call and fire him promptly as soon as it is clear things aren’t working out.
Terrible take
There was a lot of reason to be skeptical when she was hired as the AD ... but when her initial actions were to get out of the way and let Pete be Pete and give him whatever he needed ... it's hard to completely bitch about her job.
However, since then, she's hired Jody Wynn (disaster), Mike Hopkins (jury is still out), and Jimmy Lake (the start isn't off to a good start). On top of that, she's seen a pretty bad scandal going on within the cheer/spirit squad and essentially been devoid of leadership throughout COVID in terms of what the future budget of the Athletic Department looks like (particularly compared to peer schools). That's just hitting at the low hanging fruit.
Jen's slowly proving that her best skill is keeping her mouth shut and doing the bare minimum. When it comes to actually displaying forward-thinking leadership, she's a questionable commodity at this point. And that's being kind.
She fired that ass in two shakes of a dog's tail after it became known. That is decisve leadership: it is not easy to dismiss state employee's (remember, RN won his wrongful termination suit for his firing). I think many ADs would have suspended him pending an investigation to cover their ass.
What could she have done differently? Micromanage every decision in the department? How do you think that would affect employee morale?
No credit for adidas? No credit for fixing the budget shortfall she inherited from Woodward without compromising coaching payroll?
1) It's hard to fire state employees ... unless they do something pretty atrocious like discrimination ... given the current environment around our nation right now it's a no brainer decision. She shouldn't be given credit for that ... that's doing the bare minimum.
2) To follow-up on the first point, there have been more than a few allegations regarding mistreatment within Jody Wynn's program including from former players. On the surface, Jen's done nothing to remedy that. So let's not give Jen a full blown #ProfileInCourage award.
3) The Athletic Department turned the corner when Pete was hired and the program went to the CFP. Jen deserves credit for letting Pete do what he wanted to be successful because football feeds the rest of the Athletic Department. BTW, I gave Jen credit for that. If you want to go further I'll give some credit for some fundraising efforts that are relatively new ... but in fairness far from visionary as everything that UW has done recently are items that I've had come from TCU for years prior to UW. To be frank, TCU's Athletic Department is far more open, transparent, and friendly in all aspects than the UW Athletic Department.
4) If you want to go down the path of Jen's successes as an AD, let's hit a couple of areas that I think go a little further. You called out the switch from Adidas to Nike. Kudos to getting a better financial package out of it. The jury is out for long term impact in that regard in terms of branding and impact on recruiting. Pretty sure @jecornel will gladly give you his opinion on the job Adidas has done to date. On top of that, I don't know if there has been any material capital project that Jen has really spearheaded since being the AD ... the only one on top of my mind is the planned indoor facility for basketball that is currently stalled. Further, the season ticket base for football is at best basically flat throughout the balance of the tenure. The fact that we weren't seeing significant increases in season ticket numbers coming off of 3 straight NY6 games, 2 conference titles in 3 years, and a CFP appearance really illustrates how inept the Athletic Department is at growing its share of the pie. Those are conditions as an AD that you dream about to "strike while the iron is hot" ... instead we've largely taken the approach of "cool, we don't have to work that hard."
5) The fact that you suggest that she should "micromanage" decisions is comical. She's the boss of the Athletic Department. She's the CEO. All of the coaches report to her. It's not about micromanaging. It's about holding her coaches accountable for their performance both on AND off their respective fields of play. For example, it's her job to know how things are going on the recruiting trail for football. It's her job to know whether the performance of Coach A isn't up to standards. It's her job to make it clear to the head coach that if their desire is to hire substandard staff under them that if the results aren't up to standards it will be the head coach that is held accountable. That's the job of a lead executive. Set goals and hold people accountable. If you don't, it flows through all levels of the organization. It's not hard. Have standards. Expect results. Hold people accountable.
She played the cards she was dealt. With Pete’s blessing every AD in the country (and every one of us in our dads’ basements) snap hires Jimmy.
The real test is whether she can make the tough call and fire him promptly as soon as it is clear things aren’t working out.
Terrible take
There was a lot of reason to be skeptical when she was hired as the AD ... but when her initial actions were to get out of the way and let Pete be Pete and give him whatever he needed ... it's hard to completely bitch about her job.
However, since then, she's hired Jody Wynn (disaster), Mike Hopkins (jury is still out), and Jimmy Lake (the start isn't off to a good start). On top of that, she's seen a pretty bad scandal going on within the cheer/spirit squad and essentially been devoid of leadership throughout COVID in terms of what the future budget of the Athletic Department looks like (particularly compared to peer schools). That's just hitting at the low hanging fruit.
Jen's slowly proving that her best skill is keeping her mouth shut and doing the bare minimum. When it comes to actually displaying forward-thinking leadership, she's a questionable commodity at this point. And that's being kind.
Women’s basketball and cheer? NOGAF. Athletic directors are judged by their money sports.
You have to judge the hiring and firings by the information that was available at the time not how the tenures ended. Hopkins was a creative and widely lauded hire and Jimmy Lake was the hire that was going to be made by any AD, great, good or terrible.
She played the cards she was dealt. With Pete’s blessing every AD in the country (and every one of us in our dads’ basements) snap hires Jimmy.
The real test is whether she can make the tough call and fire him promptly as soon as it is clear things aren’t working out.
Terrible take
There was a lot of reason to be skeptical when she was hired as the AD ... but when her initial actions were to get out of the way and let Pete be Pete and give him whatever he needed ... it's hard to completely bitch about her job.
However, since then, she's hired Jody Wynn (disaster), Mike Hopkins (jury is still out), and Jimmy Lake (the start isn't off to a good start). On top of that, she's seen a pretty bad scandal going on within the cheer/spirit squad and essentially been devoid of leadership throughout COVID in terms of what the future budget of the Athletic Department looks like (particularly compared to peer schools). That's just hitting at the low hanging fruit.
Jen's slowly proving that her best skill is keeping her mouth shut and doing the bare minimum. When it comes to actually displaying forward-thinking leadership, she's a questionable commodity at this point. And that's being kind.
She fired that ass in two shakes of a dog's tail after it became known. That is decisve leadership: it is not easy to dismiss state employee's (remember, RN won his wrongful termination suit for his firing). I think many ADs would have suspended him pending an investigation to cover their ass.
What could she have done differently? Micromanage every decision in the department? How do you think that would affect employee morale?
No credit for adidas? No credit for fixing the budget shortfall she inherited from Woodward without compromising coaching payroll?
1) It's hard to fire state employees ... unless they do something pretty atrocious like discrimination ... given the current environment around our nation right now it's a no brainer decision. She shouldn't be given credit for that ... that's doing the bare minimum.
2) To follow-up on the first point, there have been more than a few allegations regarding mistreatment within Jody Wynn's program including from former players. On the surface, Jen's done nothing to remedy that. So let's not give Jen a full blown #ProfileInCourage award.
3) The Athletic Department turned the corner when Pete was hired and the program went to the CFP. Jen deserves credit for letting Pete do what he wanted to be successful because football feeds the rest of the Athletic Department. BTW, I gave Jen credit for that. If you want to go further I'll give some credit for some fundraising efforts that are relatively new ... but in fairness far from visionary as everything that UW has done recently are items that I've had come from TCU for years prior to UW. To be frank, TCU's Athletic Department is far more open, transparent, and friendly in all aspects than the UW Athletic Department.
4) If you want to go down the path of Jen's successes as an AD, let's hit a couple of areas that I think go a little further. You called out the switch from Adidas to Nike. Kudos to getting a better financial package out of it. The jury is out for long term impact in that regard in terms of branding and impact on recruiting. Pretty sure @jecornel will gladly give you his opinion on the job Adidas has done to date. On top of that, I don't know if there has been any material capital project that Jen has really spearheaded since being the AD ... the only one on top of my mind is the planned indoor facility for basketball that is currently stalled. Further, the season ticket base for football is at best basically flat throughout the balance of the tenure. The fact that we weren't seeing significant increases in season ticket numbers coming off of 3 straight NY6 games, 2 conference titles in 3 years, and a CFP appearance really illustrates how inept the Athletic Department is at growing its share of the pie. Those are conditions as an AD that you dream about to "strike while the iron is hot" ... instead we've largely taken the approach of "cool, we don't have to work that hard."
5) The fact that you suggest that she should "micromanage" decisions is comical. She's the boss of the Athletic Department. She's the CEO. All of the coaches report to her. It's not about micromanaging. It's about holding her coaches accountable for their performance both on AND off their respective fields of play. For example, it's her job to know how things are going on the recruiting trail for football. It's her job to know whether the performance of Coach A isn't up to standards. It's her job to make it clear to the head coach that if their desire is to hire substandard staff under them that if the results aren't up to standards it will be the head coach that is held accountable. That's the job of a lead executive. Set goals and hold people accountable. If you don't, it flows through all levels of the organization. It's not hard. Have standards. Expect results. Hold people accountable.
1) I dont practice employment law but I would have advised her to put him on probation. Court of public opinion and the actual courts are two different things. Can the State prove discrimination by a preponderance? I'm not so sure. I imagine the guy will be too embarrassed to date sue but dont bet against him if he does.
2) So, two categories of "problems " equate "more than a few". Might want to look up the definition of a few.
"All lives matter" while tone deaf is not in the same continent of cause for termination. Coaches say much worse than that publicly elsewhere regularly. And the body shaming? Are you that big a fucking puss? Since when is a coach calling athletes "fatasses" as tough love a fireable offense (and a poor reflection for an AD). That would have been sweet pillow talk from my coaches. Stop being a fag.
3) this lack of transparency is horseshit. Give me example of this vague remark. I have worked with her and I not big shit at all. I know dudes that have worked with her. Woodward big timed me. Cohen returns my email. You are making shit up. Put up examples of shut up.
4) some of these are your better points. I see this as demographic trends in town with our changing culture and skyrocketing traffic. The M's and Seahawks have been declining too. NCAA attendance has been declining. The tyees are getting older and not being replaced. New folks in town (80% of the city was not born in WA) have no connection to the school. I wouldnt personalize it to her but I could see how a reasonable person could.
5) this is nonsense as well. ADs are there to support the coaches not dictate with the heavy handedness you suggest mr. Tcu MBA. This is higher ed not a for profit.
"HC, how can I support you" plus the acumen and guts to pull the plug once it's clear the HC isnt working out is the hallmark of a good AD. Not "why the fuck are resigning Bob?" Resigning Bob is 100% on Jimmy.
So, the coaches are supposed to run their cuts by her? That is what happened. That Klansman motherfucker made two cuts. It even took a day for the cut dance squad members to put it together they were they only veteran cuts and the only AA members. Running cuts by the AD is a silly position and putting it out there undermines your passable points.
If the department were in shambles, I'd agree the captain goes down with the ship regardless of fault. I dont see the same bleak picture you do.
If Jimmy keeps hiring and retaining dead weight buddies and doesn't learn from his mistakes and quickly, I would expect her to kick him before his 4th year or I might join you in your regard for her.
A kind of never understood the annoyance with Petersen. Yeah he was stubborn, but the way he put Fetters on blast in a news conference had to at least buy him 10 years of house money.
A kind of never understood the annoyance with Petersen. Yeah he was stubborn, but the way he put Fetters on blast in a news conference had to at least buy him 10 years of house money.
I think it was just the stubbornness, really it prevented him from going to that next level of truly elite IMO. He was loyal to bad coaches to a fault.
A kind of never understood the annoyance with Petersen. Yeah he was stubborn, but the way he put Fetters on blast in a news conference had to at least buy him 10 years of house money.
I think it was just the stubbornness, really it prevented him from going to that next level of truly elite IMO. He was loyal to bad coaches to a fault.
A kind of never understood the annoyance with Petersen. Yeah he was stubborn, but the way he put Fetters on blast in a news conference had to at least buy him 10 years of house money.
I think it was just the stubbornness, really it prevented him from going to that next level of truly elite IMO. He was loyal to bad coaches to a fault.
He was going to fire Bob...Jimmy didn't.
I'm hearing Bob was coming back under Pete. Just what I'm hearing, don't twist.
A kind of never understood the annoyance with Petersen. Yeah he was stubborn, but the way he put Fetters on blast in a news conference had to at least buy him 10 years of house money.
I think it was just the stubbornness, really it prevented him from going to that next level of truly elite IMO. He was loyal to bad coaches to a fault.
He was going to fire Bob...Jimmy didn't.
I'm hearing Bob was coming back under Pete. Just what I'm hearing, don't twist.
Lots of conflicting reports on this. We may never know.
Eklund has a higher batting average than this staff. And if they don’t turn it around ASAP we fucked. Not just for a cycle. For years. One bad cycle fucks it all up. That’s how people like Manu end up playing.
I am hearing that other Pac-12 coaches are planning on flipping a few of uw’s recruits. They just need to get them on campus. Cal and ASU just need to have a decent season to be on the upswing.
I am hearing that other Pac-12 coaches are planning on flipping a few of uw’s recruits. They just need to get them on campus. Cal and ASU just need to have a decent season to be on the upswing.
I am hearing that other Pac-12 coaches are planning on flipping a few of uw’s recruits. They just need to get them on campus. Cal and ASU just need to have a decent season to be on the upswing.
You gotta have recruits other teams want. So....not going to happen.
I am hearing that other Pac-12 coaches are planning on flipping a few of uw’s recruits. They just need to get them on campus. Cal and ASU just need to have a decent season to be on the upswing.
It's funny that this motherfucker still doesn't get that this is the home of the nega-dawgz.
I am hearing that other Pac-12 coaches are planning on flipping a few of uw’s recruits. They just need to get them on campus. Cal and ASU just need to have a decent season to be on the upswing.
It's funny that this motherfucker still doesn't get that this is the home of the nega-dawgz.
I just wanted to chime in with the gayest fashion opinion that almost everything adidas has offered sucks. They took the shitty nike gold and made it even shittier and combined it with, I'll admit, a better looking purple.
I just wanted to chime in with the gayest fashion opinion that almost everything adidas has offered sucks. They took the shitty nike gold and made it even shittier and combined it with, I'll admit, a better looking purple.
Tell me that isn't Purple with Peanut Butter?
Arent the kids these days calling that vegas gold? I think it's more popular, but agree it isn't a UW color.
I just wanted to chime in with the gayest fashion opinion that almost everything adidas has offered sucks. They took the shitty nike gold and made it even shittier and combined it with, I'll admit, a better looking purple.
Tell me that isn't Purple with Peanut Butter?
Arent the kids these days calling that vegas gold? I think it's more popular, but agree it isn't a UW color.
Comments
2) To follow-up on the first point, there have been more than a few allegations regarding mistreatment within Jody Wynn's program including from former players. On the surface, Jen's done nothing to remedy that. So let's not give Jen a full blown #ProfileInCourage award.
3) The Athletic Department turned the corner when Pete was hired and the program went to the CFP. Jen deserves credit for letting Pete do what he wanted to be successful because football feeds the rest of the Athletic Department. BTW, I gave Jen credit for that. If you want to go further I'll give some credit for some fundraising efforts that are relatively new ... but in fairness far from visionary as everything that UW has done recently are items that I've had come from TCU for years prior to UW. To be frank, TCU's Athletic Department is far more open, transparent, and friendly in all aspects than the UW Athletic Department.
4) If you want to go down the path of Jen's successes as an AD, let's hit a couple of areas that I think go a little further. You called out the switch from Adidas to Nike. Kudos to getting a better financial package out of it. The jury is out for long term impact in that regard in terms of branding and impact on recruiting. Pretty sure @jecornel will gladly give you his opinion on the job Adidas has done to date. On top of that, I don't know if there has been any material capital project that Jen has really spearheaded since being the AD ... the only one on top of my mind is the planned indoor facility for basketball that is currently stalled. Further, the season ticket base for football is at best basically flat throughout the balance of the tenure. The fact that we weren't seeing significant increases in season ticket numbers coming off of 3 straight NY6 games, 2 conference titles in 3 years, and a CFP appearance really illustrates how inept the Athletic Department is at growing its share of the pie. Those are conditions as an AD that you dream about to "strike while the iron is hot" ... instead we've largely taken the approach of "cool, we don't have to work that hard."
5) The fact that you suggest that she should "micromanage" decisions is comical. She's the boss of the Athletic Department. She's the CEO. All of the coaches report to her. It's not about micromanaging. It's about holding her coaches accountable for their performance both on AND off their respective fields of play. For example, it's her job to know how things are going on the recruiting trail for football. It's her job to know whether the performance of Coach A isn't up to standards. It's her job to make it clear to the head coach that if their desire is to hire substandard staff under them that if the results aren't up to standards it will be the head coach that is held accountable. That's the job of a lead executive. Set goals and hold people accountable. If you don't, it flows through all levels of the organization. It's not hard. Have standards. Expect results. Hold people accountable.
You have to judge the hiring and firings by the information that was available at the time not how the tenures ended. Hopkins was a creative and widely lauded hire and Jimmy Lake was the hire that was going to be made by any AD, great, good or terrible.
2) So, two categories of "problems " equate "more than a few". Might want to look up the definition of a few.
"All lives matter" while tone deaf is not in the same continent of cause for termination. Coaches say much worse than that publicly elsewhere regularly. And the body shaming? Are you that big a fucking puss? Since when is a coach calling athletes "fatasses" as tough love a fireable offense (and a poor reflection for an AD). That would have been sweet pillow talk from my coaches. Stop being a fag.
3) this lack of transparency is horseshit. Give me example of this vague remark. I have worked with her and I not big shit at all. I know dudes that have worked with her. Woodward big timed me. Cohen returns my email. You are making shit up. Put up examples of shut up.
4) some of these are your better points. I see this as demographic trends in town with our changing culture and skyrocketing traffic. The M's and Seahawks have been declining too. NCAA attendance has been declining. The tyees are getting older and not being replaced. New folks in town (80% of the city was not born in WA) have no connection to the school. I wouldnt personalize it to her but I could see how a reasonable person could.
5) this is nonsense as well. ADs are there to support the coaches not dictate with the heavy handedness you suggest mr. Tcu MBA. This is higher ed not a for profit.
"HC, how can I support you" plus the acumen and guts to pull the plug once it's clear the HC isnt working out is the hallmark of a good AD. Not "why the fuck are resigning Bob?" Resigning Bob is 100% on Jimmy.
So, the coaches are supposed to run their cuts by her? That is what happened. That Klansman motherfucker made two cuts. It even took a day for the cut dance squad members to put it together they were they only veteran cuts and the only AA members. Running cuts by the AD is a silly position and putting it out there undermines your passable points.
If the department were in shambles, I'd agree the captain goes down with the ship regardless of fault. I dont see the same bleak picture you do.
If Jimmy keeps hiring and retaining dead weight buddies and doesn't learn from his mistakes and quickly, I would expect her to kick him before his 4th year or I might join you in your regard for her.
I'm hearing Bob was coming back under Pete. Just what I'm hearing, don't twist.
Eklund has a higher batting average than this staff. And if they don’t turn it around ASAP we fucked. Not just for a cycle. For years. One bad cycle fucks it all up. That’s how people like Manu end up playing.
Hell yeah....oh wait...this isn't a basketball thread? Fuck.
What a depressing fucking mess this staff is.
Tell me that isn't Purple with Peanut Butter?