Barnett says NU remains like home

[leftybuff]

That one is easy. You hire a PR firm and you get in front of the story. CU rolled over because Bitsy was not going to do anything to help athletics. She immediately went full liberal retard and prostrated herself at the feet of the special interest groups. Byyny, apparently lacking any kind of spine at all, immediately followed suit. The infotainment hacks saw a pigeon that would not fight back and went full National Enquirer, whoring themselves out for ratings.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

That one is easy. You hire a PR firm and you get in front of the story. CU rolled over because Bitsy was not going to do anything to help athletics. She immediately went full liberal retard and prostrated herself at the feet of the special interest groups. Byyny, apparently lacking any kind of spine at all, immediately followed suit. The infotainment hacks saw a pigeon that would not fight back and went full National Enquirer, whoring themselves out for ratings.

More than a decade down the road, we continue to pay the price.

 

[sackman]

A lot of mistakes have been made over the last 12 years. I like to think that we're getting smarter, but I can't quite bring myself to that conclusion. The best I can come up with is that we've finally realized how incredibly stupid we were. I suppose the first step is realizing you need to get better.

 

[TDbuff]

Would have never been anything near what it turned into if he had an administration that backed him up, instead of throwing him under the bus. You must be a pretty crappy friend if your willing to bail over accusations and hearsay.

Wat? It's college football, coaches get thrown under the bus all the time. When your coach is a PR liability, it's perfectly acceptable for them to be fired.

 

[SuperiorBuff]

Wat? It's college football, coaches get thrown under the bus all the time. When your coach is a PR liability, it's perfectly acceptable for them to be fired.

:rolling_eyes:

 

[Chromeburn]

Not sure if anyone else noticed during the Ohio State broadcast last week, Brent referred to Barnett as the former Northwestern coach, no mention of that other BCS school he coached. That 1995 year for Northwestern was one of the most memorable, hard to top, a team with little history, beating Notre Dame in week 1 then nearly running the tables until the Rose Bowl, when playing in USC backyard had about 80% of the fan support. But what about 2001?

Barnett had a longer history at CU. I think it's probably relevant that he's broadcasting the game there and how his CU tenure ended. Things still haven't been quite the same since the Hugh Charles fumble. I know some older fans are going to cite higher moments than that, but I'd love to get back to playing in bowl games right now.

Oh I noticed. CU seems short on good memories lately. I definitely miss the winning days as well. I hope things are finally trending up for the program.

 

[cubuffs85]

That one is easy. You hire a PR firm and you get in front of the story. CU rolled over because Bitsy was not going to do anything to help athletics. She immediately went full liberal retard and prostrated herself at the feet of the special interest groups. Byyny, apparently lacking any kind of spine at all, immediately followed suit. The infotainment hacks saw a pigeon that would not fight back and went full National Enquirer, whoring themselves out for ratings.

Classy comment, if I recall she was a Republican as has been every recent CU Prez.

 

[cubuffs85]

Wat? It's college football, coaches get thrown under the bus all the time. When your coach is a PR liability, it's perfectly acceptable for them to be fired.

If he's unable to do the job effectively. It's harder to fire a good coach unless he does something really stupid.

 

[cubuffs85]

Oh I noticed. CU seems short on good memories lately. I definitely miss the winning days as well. I hope things are finally trending up for the program.

The funny thing is at the time, how many were calling for Barnett dismissal which had nothing to do with the scandal. The whole are we "ok" with winning a weak Big 12 North and going to a not-so-great bowl game

Let me see... that's a lot better than we've had since Barnett left, not a single winning season and only one season you could even call decent.

 

[SuperiorBuff]

The funny thing is at the time, how many were calling for Barnett dismissal which had nothing to do with the scandal. The whole are we "ok" with winning a weak Big 12 North and going to a not-so-great bowl game

Let me see... that's a lot better than we've had since Barnett left, not a single winning season and only one season you could even call decent.

Not quite, the party happened in 2001. The university's reaction effectively killed recruiting.

 

[Alfred91]

The funny thing is at the time, how many were calling for Barnett dismissal which had nothing to do with the scandal. The whole are we "ok" with winning a weak Big 12 North and going to a not-so-great bowl game

Let me see... that's a lot better than we've had since Barnett left, not a single winning season and only one season you could even call decent.

That is true to an extent. I'd say that's what 7 years of complete and total incompetence will give you in terms of hindsight.

Barnett made mistakes that had nothing to do with the 'scandal'. He had a history of putting his foot in his mouth, not just about girl kickers. His biggest mistake, imo, was deciding after Houston and Ochs burned him that he would never go after highly regarded recruits again. Houston and Ochs were head cases (literally with Ochs), but not all big-time recruits were.

I'm not on board with the 'buddy assistants' accusation though - his 'buddies' have done just fine since leaving Boulder. You can only do so much with so little. Just ask our current staff.

 

[leftybuff]

Classy comment, if I recall she was a Republican as has been every recent CU Prez.

Perhaps you don't recall the "The days of the old boys club are over" comment, very enlightened on her part. The special interest groups to which I refer had an agenda. Using athletics as an example of misogyny run amok fit their agenda, whether it was true or not. Betsy's incompetence, see above remark, played right into their hands. Everything flowed from the framing of the issue and Betsy was right in the middle of it. Although I have my suspicions she literally had no idea what to do and she was simply a tool in the hands of those far more savvy. When I say "full liberal retard" I mean the tendency to accept any allegation of racism, sexism or any other PC cause at face value without facts to back up the charge. Do those societal ills exist? Of course, but the knee jerk race to grab the pitchfork is a hallmark of the unthinking members of the left. Yes, there are unthinking members of the right too, but the fact remains, Betsy immediately assumed the guilt of the FB team and worked hand in glove with the interests who had an agenda to serve. A clinic on how not to lead a large organization in a moment of crisis...

 

[Alfred91]

I agree with lefty.

Party affiliation or not, she aligned herself fully with the PC freaks on campus.

What I've never understood though about that whole experience is this: with all of the bull**** that was heaped on the football program, the student-athletes, and recruits, why did none of these PC ****sticks ever realize the latent racism that they were promoting?

 

[cubuffs85]

That is true to an extent. I'd say that's what 7 years of complete and total incompetence will give you in terms of hindsight.

Barnett made mistakes that had nothing to do with the 'scandal'. He had a history of putting his foot in his mouth, not just about girl kickers. His biggest mistake, imo, was deciding after Houston and Ochs burned him that he would never go after highly regarded recruits again. Houston and Ochs were head cases (literally with Ochs), but not all big-time recruits were.

I'm not on board with the 'buddy assistants' accusation though - his 'buddies' have done just fine since leaving Boulder. You can only do so much with so little. Just ask our current staff.

I'm saying looking back it's just funny considering we'd give anything right now to be bowl eligible. I'm sure once we get bowl eligible, that won't be enough here. Expectations are always relative.

Like I said earlier, I wouldn't have fired him but I understood the reasons and it wasn't only scandal related. Look at those last three games especially the past two, it was hard to be optimistic.

 

[Alfred91]

I'm saying looking back it's just funny considering we'd give anything right now to be bowl eligible. I'm sure once we get bowl eligible, that won't be enough here. Expectations are always relative.

Like I said earlier, I wouldn't have fired him but I understood the reasons and it wasn't only scandal related. Look at those last three games especially the past two, it was hard to be optimistic.

Nor should it be. The goal should always be to improve. We're not ever going to be Alabama, but that shouldn't be a reason to not strive to reach that height.

I think what most people realize anymore is that Barnett, for all his warts, was not the problem so much as the reaction to the 'scandal' was and the team's struggles were the fruit of the university's lack of support for the program. I fully believe that things would have gotten worse before they would have gotten better with Barnett, but they never would have reached the depths that we're now at, and as things have turned around administratively, the program would be better off now had Barnett handed the program off to MM instead of going through Hawkins and Embree.

Obviously this is all hindsight, and most of us did think at the time that a change had to be made, but what I see as common throughout this whole thread is a recognition that Barnett deserved better than what he got here at the end.

 

[cubuffs85]

Nor should it be. The goal should always be to improve. We're not ever going to be Alabama, but that shouldn't be a reason to not strive to reach that height.

I think what most people realize anymore is that Barnett, for all his warts, was not the problem so much as the reaction to the 'scandal' was and the team's struggles were the fruit of the university's lack of support for the program. I fully believe that things would have gotten worse before they would have gotten better with Barnett, but they never would have reached the depths that we're now at, and as things have turned around administratively, the program would be better off now had Barnett handed the program off to MM instead of going through Hawkins and Embree.

Obviously this is all hindsight, and most of us did think at the time that a change had to be made, but what I see as common throughout this whole thread is a recognition that Barnett deserved better than what he got here at the end.

I agree it's easy to say in hindsight that we should've kept Barnett. Really who knows though. He might not have done much better than Hawk. And if got off to a bad start, the calls to fire him would've grown. It's not really hindsight on my part since I didn't like the decision to remove him at the time.

 

[cubuffs85]

In terms of deserving better, I'm not sure what you would've wanted? A statement of appreciation from Bohn? He got ~$4 million to not coach(and not sue). Like I said earlier, he ultimately overplayed his hand, no other school wanted to touch him.

 

[Alfred91]

I agree it's easy to say in hindsight that we should've kept Barnett. Really who knows though. He might not have done much better than Hawk. And if got off to a bad start, the calls to fire him would've grown. It's not really hindsight on my part since I didn't like the decision to remove him at the time.

See, I hated the idea of parting with him, but I thought after the 3 losses he ended his tenure with, it had to happen. Of course, I thought Juice Box was a great hire, so wtf did I know. Apparently as much as Mike Bohn and Chuck Neinas, I guess.

 

[cubuffs85]

See, I hated the idea of parting with him, but I thought after the 3 losses he ended his tenure with, it had to happen. Of course, I thought Juice Box was a great hire, so wtf did I know. Apparently as much as Mike Bohn and Chuck Neinas, I guess.

I was never a fan of Hawk (more of a personality thing, hard not to like the Boise success), although I thought he could be just as successful or slightly less than Barnett. I liked Embree, didn't see him being such a disaster. I don't think it's fair he only got two years, but I think it would've been tough to bring him back and this was a classic case of cutting your losses.

 

[Scotch]

Perhaps you don't recall the "The days of the old boys club are over" comment, very enlightened on her part. The special interest groups to which I refer had an agenda. Using athletics as an example of misogyny run amok fit their agenda, whether it was true or not. Betsy's incompetence, see above remark, played right into their hands. Everything flowed from the framing of the issue and Betsy was right in the middle of it. Although I have my suspicions she literally had no idea what to do and she was simply a tool in the hands of those far more savvy. When I say "full liberal retard" I mean the tendency to accept any allegation of racism, sexism or any other PC cause at face value without facts to back up the charge. Do those societal ills exist? Of course, but the knee jerk race to grab the pitchfork is a hallmark of the unthinking members of the left. Yes, there are unthinking members of the right too, but the fact remains, Betsy immediately assumed the guilt of the FB team and worked hand in glove with the interests who had an agenda to serve. A clinic on how not to lead a large organization in a moment of crisis...

Agree with this. The only thing I'll point out is Bisty didn't fire Barnett, and did re-instate him a few months later. She had a little backbone, although the admin leave she placed him on was just her version of kicking the can down the road.

And yes Barnett should have been fired when he was. Our problems now don't stem from the non-scandal or him being fired, we need to let that go. Not firing Hawkins after the '09 season, and then hiring a coach a year later who had never sniffed a coordinator job is the reason we're in this boat now.