Hartwell Interview

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Hartwell Interview

Post by Aggie84025 » August 21st, 2020, 9:42 am

If you have a chance go listen to the latest aggies all the way podcast with John Hartwell. Really good interview that goes into the finances of this COVID-19 situation. We are blessed to have him managing our athletic department. We know we have funding limitations at USU, but we could not ask for a better money manager of our athletic department. Losing football is about 10MM in lost revenue. He is expecting expenses for fall sports to decrease by ~6.6MM which leaves us at a deficit for of 3.2 for fall sports. They are going to take a loan from the university to make up that difference. He mentioned we only have about ~1mm in normal debt payments annually which is a lot better situation than some of our mountain west peers and quite frankly a lot of P5 programs.
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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by thegreendalegelf » August 21st, 2020, 9:47 am

I was very reassured listening to it. He is doing a great job.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by ususports » August 21st, 2020, 10:06 am

Remember when people on this board judged his ability to be a good AD based on whether or not they saw him in public enough? Good times. Who cares if he can make us financially stable as a program or schedule appealing football games? I want to see him X number of times per week to determine if he meets my expectations.
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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Madmartigan » August 21st, 2020, 10:14 am

ususports wrote:
August 21st, 2020, 10:06 am
Remember when people on this board judged his ability to be a good AD based on whether or not they saw him in public enough? Good times. Who cares if he can make us financially stable as a program or schedule appealing football games? I want to see him X number of times per week to determine if he meets my expectations.
He certainly is not as charismatic as Barnes was, but behind the scenes good things are happening. USU is a very challenging job and I think he's doing good work.
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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by BLUERUFiO » August 21st, 2020, 11:02 am

This makes me feel better. But, I’m still very sour that there’s no football this year. Santa really isn’t real :-(


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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » August 21st, 2020, 12:48 pm

Hartwell is great. We definitely made a great hire with him.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by rAggie » August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am

Madmartigan wrote:
August 21st, 2020, 10:14 am


He certainly is not as charismatic as Barnes was, but behind the scenes good things are happening. USU is a very challenging job and I think he's doing good work.
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Aggie19 » August 25th, 2020, 11:22 am

rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
Madmartigan wrote:
August 21st, 2020, 10:14 am


He certainly is not as charismatic as Barnes was, but behind the scenes good things are happening. USU is a very challenging job and I think he's doing good work.
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
Did you just call coach Smith sexy? :oops:

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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Intermeddler » August 25th, 2020, 11:43 am

Aggie19 wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 11:22 am
rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
Madmartigan wrote:
August 21st, 2020, 10:14 am


He certainly is not as charismatic as Barnes was, but behind the scenes good things are happening. USU is a very challenging job and I think he's doing good work.
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
Did you just call coach Smith sexy? :oops:

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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » August 25th, 2020, 3:47 pm

rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
Madmartigan wrote:
August 21st, 2020, 10:14 am


He certainly is not as charismatic as Barnes was, but behind the scenes good things are happening. USU is a very challenging job and I think he's doing good work.
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
Pretty much. If Hartwell was leading the Aggie brigade into battle I would be on the frontlines. If Barnes was, I would have deserted long before the battle took place.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by cdaAg » August 25th, 2020, 9:05 pm

Aggie19 wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 11:22 am
rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
Madmartigan wrote:
August 21st, 2020, 10:14 am

It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith)
Did you just call coach Smith sexy? :oops:

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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by 70sgrad » August 26th, 2020, 9:38 am

I only had limited interaction with Barnes and have had none with Hartwell. I do think it is fair to state that Barnes did a lot of good for USU.
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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » August 26th, 2020, 12:22 pm

70sgrad wrote:
August 26th, 2020, 9:38 am
I only had limited interaction with Barnes and have had none with Hartwell. I do think it is fair to state that Barnes did a lot of good for USU.
He certainly did some good things. His 2015 basketball coaching search always rubbed me the wrong way. Not just because Duryea wasn't a good coach, but it felt like Barnes didn't really care to go out and find the right hire. The 2018 experience just felt there was far more interest to do it right on behalf of the AD. It seemed like we were actually going for it. That feeling just wasn't there in 2015. I fully acknowledge I am not in the know at all and there might be someone like Aggie22 contradict that sentiment.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by rAggie » August 27th, 2020, 12:05 am

70sgrad wrote:
August 26th, 2020, 9:38 am
I only had limited interaction with Barnes and have had none with Hartwell. I do think it is fair to state that Barnes did a lot of good for USU.
He did, but did so at the expense of letting a lot of the insides rot. Since people like to compare athletics to the front porch of the university, I like to say that Barnes did a great job making our front porch something we could be proud of from the street, but if you got into the foundation and the electricals, it would be declared a hazard. Unfortunately the name of the game for athletic directors is they need to get some big ticket items on their resume to catapult them to their next gig. Barnes did that very well.

When Hartwell finds his next job, he might not have the big ticket item like a remodeled stadium on his resume, but boy his accounting prowess and ability to lead the department through COVID will sure be viewed as a positive.
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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by AggiesForever » August 27th, 2020, 11:58 am

rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
I won't say that Barnes nearly "destroyed" the program, but he was certainly not about the let any "details" get in the way of what he wanted to do. That left us with some pretty big "matzo balls" out there that needed to be figured out after he left.

Barnes also had a big curve ball thrown at him at the last minute in the 2015 basketball coach search. We were all set to hire Tommy Connor from Utah, and then Utah came in at the last minute and bascially made a "scortched earth" offer to Conner that we simply COULD NOT MATCH (money and you'll be the next coach). So at that point, since Barnes knew he was leaving, he HAD TO HIRE SOMEONE. So he hired Tim Duryea, and the rest is history.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by USU78 » August 27th, 2020, 12:17 pm

Two words: Rance friggin Pugmire


You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » August 27th, 2020, 1:02 pm

USU78 wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 12:17 pm
Two words: Rance friggin Pugmire
Two words or three letters.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by flying_scotsman2.0 » August 27th, 2020, 1:32 pm

AggiesForever wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 11:58 am
rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
I won't say that Barnes nearly "destroyed" the program, but he was certainly not about the let any "details" get in the way of what he wanted to do. That left us with some pretty big "matzo balls" out there that needed to be figured out after he left.

Barnes also had a big curve ball thrown at him at the last minute in the 2015 basketball coach search. We were all set to hire Tommy Connor from Utah, and then Utah came in at the last minute and bascially made a "scortched earth" offer to Conner that we simply COULD NOT MATCH (money and you'll be the next coach). So at that point, since Barnes knew he was leaving, he HAD TO HIRE SOMEONE. So he hired Tim Duryea, and the rest is history.
I wonder if that offer to Connor is still valid. It's not like Big K is burning it down these days, why would they want to hire his assistant after they fire him?



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » August 27th, 2020, 2:39 pm

flying_scotsman2.0 wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 1:32 pm
AggiesForever wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 11:58 am
rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
I won't say that Barnes nearly "destroyed" the program, but he was certainly not about the let any "details" get in the way of what he wanted to do. That left us with some pretty big "matzo balls" out there that needed to be figured out after he left.

Barnes also had a big curve ball thrown at him at the last minute in the 2015 basketball coach search. We were all set to hire Tommy Connor from Utah, and then Utah came in at the last minute and bascially made a "scortched earth" offer to Conner that we simply COULD NOT MATCH (money and you'll be the next coach). So at that point, since Barnes knew he was leaving, he HAD TO HIRE SOMEONE. So he hired Tim Duryea, and the rest is history.
I wonder if that offer to Connor is still valid. It's not like Big K is burning it down these days, why would they want to hire his assistant after they fire him?
Duryea should not have been his backup plan. It shouldn't have been "Connor or Duryea." That only further shows it was a botched search. If worse comes to worse offer Duryea a 1 year interim deal and spend the next season searching for Stew's replacement.

As for Connor, there is no way he is the next Utah coach. Krysto is probably going to be fired after this upcoming season and they aren't going to replace him with an assistant on his staff. They are smarter than Barnes was. (Although Stew was a great coach for most of his time at USU)



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by GeorgiaAggie » August 28th, 2020, 4:01 am

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 2:39 pm
flying_scotsman2.0 wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 1:32 pm
AggiesForever wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 11:58 am
rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
I won't say that Barnes nearly "destroyed" the program, but he was certainly not about the let any "details" get in the way of what he wanted to do. That left us with some pretty big "matzo balls" out there that needed to be figured out after he left.

Barnes also had a big curve ball thrown at him at the last minute in the 2015 basketball coach search. We were all set to hire Tommy Connor from Utah, and then Utah came in at the last minute and bascially made a "scortched earth" offer to Conner that we simply COULD NOT MATCH (money and you'll be the next coach). So at that point, since Barnes knew he was leaving, he HAD TO HIRE SOMEONE. So he hired Tim Duryea, and the rest is history.
I wonder if that offer to Connor is still valid. It's not like Big K is burning it down these days, why would they want to hire his assistant after they fire him?
Duryea should not have been his backup plan. It shouldn't have been "Connor or Duryea." That only further shows it was a botched search. If worse comes to worse offer Duryea a 1 year interim deal and spend the next season searching for Stew's replacement.

As for Connor, there is no way he is the next Utah coach. Krysto is probably going to be fired after this upcoming season and they aren't going to replace him with an assistant on his staff. They are smarter than Barnes was. (Although Stew was a great coach for most of his time at USU)
I’m glad we hired Duryea because if we hadn’t there would be no Craig Smith. Tell me you would rather have any other coach right now and I mean any other coach we could afford.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by KissMyAg » August 28th, 2020, 4:32 am

USU78 wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 12:17 pm
Two words: Rance friggin Pugmire
Rancid was the worst AD in the history of ADs. That guy and his strip clubs, booze and rolling his Durango. He even had a deputy AD sleeping with a volleyball player. I think he was only 34 when he took over as AD?

Spetman was the best thing that ever happened to the program at the time.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Aggie formerly in Hawaii » August 28th, 2020, 9:20 am

GeorgiaAggie wrote:
August 28th, 2020, 4:01 am
Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 2:39 pm
flying_scotsman2.0 wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 1:32 pm
AggiesForever wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 11:58 am
rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
I won't say that Barnes nearly "destroyed" the program, but he was certainly not about the let any "details" get in the way of what he wanted to do. That left us with some pretty big "matzo balls" out there that needed to be figured out after he left.

Barnes also had a big curve ball thrown at him at the last minute in the 2015 basketball coach search. We were all set to hire Tommy Connor from Utah, and then Utah came in at the last minute and bascially made a "scortched earth" offer to Conner that we simply COULD NOT MATCH (money and you'll be the next coach). So at that point, since Barnes knew he was leaving, he HAD TO HIRE SOMEONE. So he hired Tim Duryea, and the rest is history.
I wonder if that offer to Connor is still valid. It's not like Big K is burning it down these days, why would they want to hire his assistant after they fire him?
Duryea should not have been his backup plan. It shouldn't have been "Connor or Duryea." That only further shows it was a botched search. If worse comes to worse offer Duryea a 1 year interim deal and spend the next season searching for Stew's replacement.

As for Connor, there is no way he is the next Utah coach. Krysto is probably going to be fired after this upcoming season and they aren't going to replace him with an assistant on his staff. They are smarter than Barnes was. (Although Stew was a great coach for most of his time at USU)
I’m glad we hired Duryea because if we hadn’t there would be no Craig Smith. Tell me you would rather have any other coach right now and I mean any other coach we could afford.
Would I rather have another coach than Smith? No. Would I rather have another coach than Duryea? Yes, there would have been many options we could have gotten. And I don't buy the notion that it is a great thing to have a bad coach just because the next hire was done properly. By that logic it was a good thing to hire Brent Guy because Gary Andersen did a great job his first stint at USU. Nah, we could have hired a coach that would have been better than 9-38 from 2005-2008 just as we could have got a better basketball coach than Duryea from 2015-2018.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Intermeddler » August 28th, 2020, 9:33 am

KissMyAg wrote:
August 28th, 2020, 4:32 am
USU78 wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 12:17 pm
Two words: Rance friggin Pugmire
Rancid was the worst AD in the history of ADs. That guy and his strip clubs, booze and rolling his Durango. He even had a deputy AD sleeping with a volleyball player. I think he was only 34 when he took over as AD?

Spetman was the best thing that ever happened to the program at the time.
I think each of Spetman, Barnes, and Hartwell have been just what we need at the time they were here. Spetman brought some professionalism and credibility, but lacked maybe a big vision and fundraising prowess. Barnes had the latter qualities but at the expense of financial security and a bit of personal aggrandizement. Hartwell has done a good job fixing those issues and is probably the best steward we could ask for at the moment.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Aglicious » August 28th, 2020, 10:39 am

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 2:39 pm
flying_scotsman2.0 wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 1:32 pm
AggiesForever wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 11:58 am
rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
I won't say that Barnes nearly "destroyed" the program, but he was certainly not about the let any "details" get in the way of what he wanted to do. That left us with some pretty big "matzo balls" out there that needed to be figured out after he left.

Barnes also had a big curve ball thrown at him at the last minute in the 2015 basketball coach search. We were all set to hire Tommy Connor from Utah, and then Utah came in at the last minute and bascially made a "scortched earth" offer to Conner that we simply COULD NOT MATCH (money and you'll be the next coach). So at that point, since Barnes knew he was leaving, he HAD TO HIRE SOMEONE. So he hired Tim Duryea, and the rest is history.
I wonder if that offer to Connor is still valid. It's not like Big K is burning it down these days, why would they want to hire his assistant after they fire him?
Duryea should not have been his backup plan. It shouldn't have been "Connor or Duryea." That only further shows it was a botched search. If worse comes to worse offer Duryea a 1 year interim deal and spend the next season searching for Stew's replacement.

As for Connor, there is no way he is the next Utah coach. Krysto is probably going to be fired after this upcoming season and they aren't going to replace him with an assistant on his staff. They are smarter than Barnes was. (Although Stew was a great coach for most of his time at USU)
Duryea was never the backup plan. He wasn't even in the plans at all if it were up to Barnes and that is why he refused to even invite him for an interview for the job when it became available. Duryea's hire was a result of relentless public pressure put on Barnes by namely Stew, local media (Al Lewis), fans, and former players. They all openly complained for months and became increasing vocal in public about their displeasure by stating how unfair it was that Tim was not given the opportunity after so many years of loyalty.

Yes, Barnes was leaving and was probably mentally checked out of his job at that point. He should have pursued as many options as possible instead of putting all his eggs in 1 or 2 baskets but in the end he simply gave everyone surrounding the program what they wanted and then left town. I saw it more as a "fine, I'll give you what you want" so that later he could have his "I told you so" moment.
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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by NavyBlueAggie » August 28th, 2020, 2:25 pm

Aglicious wrote:
August 28th, 2020, 10:39 am
Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 2:39 pm
flying_scotsman2.0 wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 1:32 pm
AggiesForever wrote:
August 27th, 2020, 11:58 am
rAggie wrote:
August 25th, 2020, 10:30 am
He's not the liar and self-promoter that Barnes was. Barnes left a lot of internal rot in this program, Hartwell has rebuilt the insides. It's not all the most sexy stuff (other than hiring Craig Smith) but it was desperately needed after Barnes nearly destroyed the program.
I won't say that Barnes nearly "destroyed" the program, but he was certainly not about the let any "details" get in the way of what he wanted to do. That left us with some pretty big "matzo balls" out there that needed to be figured out after he left.

Barnes also had a big curve ball thrown at him at the last minute in the 2015 basketball coach search. We were all set to hire Tommy Connor from Utah, and then Utah came in at the last minute and bascially made a "scortched earth" offer to Conner that we simply COULD NOT MATCH (money and you'll be the next coach). So at that point, since Barnes knew he was leaving, he HAD TO HIRE SOMEONE. So he hired Tim Duryea, and the rest is history.
I wonder if that offer to Connor is still valid. It's not like Big K is burning it down these days, why would they want to hire his assistant after they fire him?
Duryea should not have been his backup plan. It shouldn't have been "Connor or Duryea." That only further shows it was a botched search. If worse comes to worse offer Duryea a 1 year interim deal and spend the next season searching for Stew's replacement.

As for Connor, there is no way he is the next Utah coach. Krysto is probably going to be fired after this upcoming season and they aren't going to replace him with an assistant on his staff. They are smarter than Barnes was. (Although Stew was a great coach for most of his time at USU)
Duryea was never the backup plan. He wasn't even in the plans at all if it were up to Barnes and that is why he refused to even invite him for an interview for the job when it became available. Duryea's hire was a result of relentless public pressure put on Barnes by namely Stew, local media (Al Lewis), fans, and former players. They all openly complained for months and became increasing vocal in public about their displeasure by stating how unfair it was that Tim was not given the opportunity after so many years of loyalty.

Yes, Barnes was leaving and was probably mentally checked out of his job at that point. He should have pursued as many options as possible instead of putting all his eggs in 1 or 2 baskets but in the end he simply gave everyone surrounding the program what they wanted and then left town. I saw it more as a "fine, I'll give you what you want" so that later he could have his "I told you so" moment.

Aglicous probably hit as close to the center of this target as I have read. I understand Barnes early on met with Duryea and advised him he wouldn't be considered for the H C job. I believe Barnes was distracted and also failed to secure a contract with Conner via a binding letter of employment understanding. This left Utah much room to move when they realized how close to losing Coach Connor, and they moved accordingly. There were other interested coaches, but history is what it is.

Barnes did leave USU in some financial deep water as it seems he wasn't dialed in to making things work with the assets at hand. Much like his predecessors, he failed to cultivate the financial potential along the Wasatch Front. Thank you for your post Aglicious.



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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Cheecho6 » September 4th, 2020, 4:25 pm

Has Hartwell said what was behind the MW decision to not play? Why is it safe for athletes in the SEC, Big12, SunBelt etc but not safe for athletes in the MW?


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Re: Hartwell Interview

Post by Cheecho6 » September 4th, 2020, 5:25 pm

Cheecho6 wrote:Has Hartwell said what was behind the MW decision to not play? Why is it safe for athletes in the SEC, Big12, SunBelt etc but not safe for athletes in the MW?


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I called the conference and left voicemail and asked why it’s safe for others but not the MW.
Urge you to do the same.
719-488-4047


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