Pete Thamel: Reed-Francois to Missouri
- Thread starter LocoRebel
- Start date
Her first hire will be to bring TJO over from Iowa State.
Her balancing the budget with the buyout instead of hiring a name coach was very telling
Looks like she never balanced any budgets at UNLV, and all appearances are that her budget people never stayed long to see her apparent financial house of cards tumble, due to the environment she created. More like all indications are UNLV central campus dumped all kinds of money to fill the huge budget holes DRF created at UNLV Athletics, in my opinion.
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Her departure is a great day for UNLV Athletics - in my opinion, after a lengthy period of poor AD’s at UNLV, DRF brought the morale and condition of UNLV Athletics to a new modern day low. 2nd winless season in the entire history of UNLV Football under her tenure, UNLV Men’s Basketball currently as bad as they have ever been, and many reports of actively and directly creating a toxic environment in UNLV Athletics.
Did UNLV get anything extra due to the recent extension? Bigger buyout for is hopefully, similar to Otz?
Ha! She made the horrible decision to bring TJO to UNLV, in a large city with high expectations and many options in a very competitive landscape for sports and entertainment, when his self proclaimed ‘dream job’ (good for TJO) was to go back to largely rural Iowa State to coach. Talk about poor analysis and decision making, to the detriment of UNLV! VERY grateful Mizzou is taking DRF off of UNLV’s hands!
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I can't believe someone that sounds as uncomfortable as she does with the media could land a better(?) AD job. She even looked uncomfortable/awkward schmoozing with donors and I rarely saw her do it. Time for LK's master chess plan to finalize?
It is likely DRF’s departure to Mizzou will in itself save UNLV millions of dollars through discontinuing her ‘management‘ of UNLV Athletics alone, in my opinion.
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Agreed. Between sounding like someone very uncomfortable with the media, and many private reports or indications of DRF alienating major UNLV donors, a surprise that Mizzou hired her, but with DRF becoming Mizzou’s problem instead of UNLV‘s, a great day for UNLV Athletics, all in my opinion!
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This is what I thought, she had the funds(she had about 1.8 mill per year + the buyout money from TJ leaving which put her at about 2.4 mill per year) to hire a name coach! But instead hired a first time head coach for about less than half that number, seemed like she was pocketing that money to make her budget look good! Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for Kevin and hope he's gets it done here at UNLV but I think this was a hire to benefit her not UNLV!
$2.4M at UNLV won't bring in a "name" coach with an adequate staff. To this point, the job has been career suicide. Need it to be an average job for someone good to want it. It cannot be a bottom 10 job in the country for someone who is qualified and experienced and proven as good to want the job.
And before anyone jumps in with a "they have all the stuff they need so the job is good" comment, someone will need to prove it before an established coach will believe it
Lon has stated he won't be taking the job. Per Sam Gordon (RJ).
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The sh*t show at UNLV continues..
I think it’s a bad job in itself. Try making UNLV a football school. Add to that, try making UNLV basketball relevant in 2021.
I think she utterly failed at making UNLV relevant to locals. We have a history of making mediocre hires.
Nobody wants to put money in our pathetic programs and rightfully so.
Its a sinking ship. 1 more bad hire and you can kiss the program goodbye.
I think it’s a bad job in itself. Try making UNLV a football school. Add to that, try making UNLV basketball relevant in 2021.
I think she utterly failed at making UNLV relevant to locals. We have a history of making mediocre hires.
Nobody wants to put money in our pathetic programs and rightfully so.
Its a sinking ship. 1 more bad hire and you can kiss the program goodbye.
UNLV has utterly failed at making UNLV relevant for locals without her. Success is the only way people will care. It has been true for UNLV and Vegas forever. If Tark doesn't succeed at such an insane level, UNLV is irrelevant and we are just happy to have sports still.
She did some very good things internally as far as making the department run like anything other than a total disaster - more business-like than nepotistic (not to say that isn't an issue still). She came in with the Jessup "clear the budget issues" and it has been pointed out elsewhere that the contracts she gave her coaches could leave UNLV in a pretty bad spot.
She is infinitely better than her predecessor, dont think anyone would doubt that. Livengood retiring/push out? was a big bummer for UNLV. Not like Hamrick, or J-Rob were better ADs.
DRF receives (appropriately) very little credit for the FFC and none for Allegiant. She came out on the wrong end of the negotiation with Raiders on the home games in 2020 stadium use. It didn't end up mattering, but still not good.
Her time here brought basically every other sport up at least some. She didn't immediately cave and close programs (see BSU baseball) in the pandemic (perhaps a sign of a forethought to some financial considerations?).
Her first hoops hire was 29-30 and netted a big buyout that is entirely unwarranted except that Iowa St wanted their guy in spite of limited success. Her second hoops hire made some locals happy, but the truth is we have no idea how this will go. Arroyo's team looked absolutely abysmal in 2020. Maybe the worst team UNLV has ever fielded. Pandemic year, no spring ball, strange camp, etc. Basically he's starting now.
For some reason people seem to love her or hate her. Not sure if its performance based or preconceived notions. In my opinion, she did better than mostof ADs UNLV has had and didn't have any truly embarrassing "oopsies"
A joke from my favorite comedian Mitch Hedberg summarizes how I thought she did:
"I played in a death-metal band. People either loved us or hated us. Or they thought we were okay."
Edit. Would this turned out much longer than I expected when I started replying!
I will give Arroyo something that a lot of people ignored. A lot of the new players had limited play last season so they didn't burn a year of eligibility. Since only seniors received an extra year, he took the hit and sat out a lot of players that would have made a big difference for UNLV. The first game of the season will show how the rest of the season is expected to go!
I'll co-sign that. Not losing a bunch of time with some of the guys is definitely big. The one thing that frustrated me was him calling it their spring ball and just learning guys abilities and tendencies while basically ONLY playing max Gilliam at QB. I would think he would have given Brumfield a huge amount of time given he was the young guy with a lot of years left. Instead we saw Max who is gone now. I dont think lowly of Max or anything, but that either indicates that Justin and Doug were so far behind that they couldn't run the offense at all, or that he was lying through his teeth about testing everything out.
I really think they will be markedly better in 2021 than they were in 2020. Just not sure if they are capable right now of being a middle of the pack mwc team
I really think they will be markedly better in 2021 than they were in 2020. Just not sure if they are capable right now of being a middle of the pack mwc team
In my opinion, DRF was a total train wreck, and thanks goodness that train wreck is heading east and out of UNLV. Treated coaches and staff poorly, and alienated donors to the point that they had to grit their teeth to support UNLV Athletics in spite of DRF and how much the donors disliked her. Respect to Mizzou, but they can have her, and I anticipate her true colors will show through and she will be shown the door relatively quickly, hopefully to never work with, disrespect or abuse donors, staff or students ever again. All my opinions, and anyone can research any of this for themselves.
My opinions are that DRF not only deserves no credit for fundraising for the Fertitta Complex and other items, and she actually made it harder for coaches and staff to raise funds due to how she disrespected donors, and how much this led to donors disliking her. For Allegiant, UNLV would have been much better served if she had nothing to do with the negotiations - her participation was toxic and led to far worse results for UNLV. Nothing but respect to Mizzou, but my opinion is that you will be worse off having DRF as a part of your team, and you will regret it and suffer bad consequences for many years to repair the damage to your organization she will cause.
If I had to guess, I would say Mizzou will be able to reign (wrong spelling?) her in because they are not a weak university in the same way the UNLV is, and has generations of alumni who will probably be reinvigorated. Although if you check the subreddit r/mizzou it seems that some people have taken it upon themselves to write a letter about DRF as being a hire for whom they are afraid for the department.
As far UNLV goes, Desiree being gone might be a good thing. But it also might be a disaster. Dont forget that UNLV doesn't have a great track record for... well almost anything.
Great comments, and I have always found it beneficial when people who are abusive, toxic and universally disrespectful, as I believe DRF to be, leave an organization. No matter the issues with an organization, people of this nature are destructive and never worth the problems and dysfunction they cause, as they guarantee a bleak future and squelch any promise of something better. People typically see through them, and these people are commonly miserable, dead and empty inside - and tend to self-destruct, so no need to reign them in on this basis. All of this in my opinion, and thank you.
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I would agree regarding the benefit of her leaving, except UNLV is just as likely to bring someone in who just as toxic or even worse!
Great thought and comment, and a distinct possibility. Nonetheless - glad that, in my opinion, the current abuse and toxicity that DRF appears to practice and implement will end at UNLV, and Mizzou will have to live with it and find a way to address it.
Agreed. The community in Las Vegas responds very well if you treat them respectfully, are honest with them and treat your staff and others with dignity. When that is not done, you lose all credibility and consideration, as you should. My opinion is that DRF did not act honorably at UNLV or in Las Vegas, lost all confidence and credibility in the community, and is leaving as a failure and an unsuccessful con artist. My opinion is also that she will do the same at Mizzou, and will rightfully suffer the consequences for it.
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Just imagine what she could have done at unlv if she used that same drive and passion focusing on relationships
Except someone who, in my opinion, is so selfish, self-serving, toxic and self-centered would never focus any of her efforts on anything but her own outcomes, and is disinterested in anything other than things that benefit herself. My opinion is that she cares about nothing other than those items that line her pockets, serve her self interests and satisfy her oversized ego and feed her sadly low self esteem, as DRF is not capable of anything else! Remember- this is an individual who cut the hours and pay of the staff who does very hard and dedicated work for the UNLV Athletics department she ’led’, hurting them and their families, without telling them to their face, and then squeezed UNLV for a 4 year, $70k per year raise, taking money and food from the mouths of her staff and their families, all with one foot out the door and not a care or concern for UNLV. This is pure evil in my opinion! Watch out for a repeat poor performance Mizzou! Again - all in my opinion!
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