Your thoughts? UConn donor wants his $3 million back

[Pakistanzi]

This. I'll never understand why a donor such as him would get in SUCH a tizzy over this if he didn't expect to have veto power. Why else would your input matter? You're either going to get what you want, or your input was disregarded.

It's one thing to expect to get inside info. That's fine. But input on who the coach is going to be? I'm sorry, what's the AD for?

I usually agree with you TM, both on here and CF, but I strongly disagree with your assertion here. This isn't an all or nothing proposition. He wanted them to listen to his input, which they did not. Listening to his input would be to sit down with him and hear him out on who he thought should be coach. Also, when they decided to hire someone else they could have at least done him the courtesy of sitting down and explaining their reasoning. Again, $7MM should buy you some discourse with the AD. You don't bite the hand that feeds you, plain and simple.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

I just finished reading his letter to the AD. And while I understand, to a certain extent, Mr. Burton's frustration, his letter was an adult version of saying I am taking my ball and going home.

Telling the AD he would have fired him and that the coach left because he could not work with the AD ... and how his kids were all state or all conference, or whatever they were, and going on and on about how big of a donor he is ... blah, blah, blah ... tells you a lot about this guy ... what an ahole. There is a way to go about sharing your concern but don't make threats and repeat over and over everything you have done for the school, etc. After reading the letter I think this guy fully thinks he should had been able to hire the next coach.

 

[ColoradoHAWKEYE]

The thing is, that while he is unofficially entitled to be in the "loop" of such discussions, it is not absolute that he has to be, or should be. He appears to be someone who likes to be known for his contributions and the University should recognize that ahead of any potential misgivings. The large donors need to not only be recognized, but continually coddled in one form or another, the University should know each of them and follow that. Think of how entitled most people feel to donating or supporting any program or event at any level. You want to be rewarded in some way commensurate with your donor level.

He, however, appears to be a bit insecure and trite, to beat his own drum, and looks maybe unsure of why he makes such large donations. Sounds to me like he may have set himself up for this sort of thing in the past or not fully communicated his expectations ahead of time. Hopefully, for the University's sake, they smooth this over and keep the money (and keep the donor happy going forward).