Bobby Valentine to be named SHU AD

[blackbeard]

This is going to be interesting.....

http://www.ctpost.com/sports/article/Source-SHU-expected-to-name-Bobby-V-new-AD-4298969.php#photo-3541674

[Laker]

Well, Bobby V was a baseball manager who seemed to have difficulty in dealing with people. I hope that he does better as an athletic director.

[CFBfan]

wow! that's a strange one

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Just hard to picture a guy with such an obvious passion for baseball managing 29 different sports at SHU. He literally has no experience outside of baseball his entire professional life, right?

I think the last time he may have thought about another sport was when he was at USC, where he played football and baseball as an undergrad.

[dgreco]

Super bizarre, but I loved Bobby V. I do not think he was at fault in the Red Sox debacle. Also, from the interviews I heard and the games I watched Bobby V. worked best with the younger players and building them up. I think he will be a great mentor to the college kids, if he gets out there and interacts and encourages them.

Also, it gives the school a big name to hopefully help the program. Hopefully it doesn't end up like the Isiah/FIU situation, but is a success.

[Pard4Life]

I'd like to see Bobby V and Frank Tavani go at it in game one on the sideline.

[blackbeard]

Press Conference held today: http://www.sacredheartpioneers.com/general/2012-13/bobbyvannounce

[aceinthehole]

He's the AD in name only. In fact, his official title is "Executive Director for Intercollegite Athletics" They will hire a "deputy AD" to manage day-to-day operations.

This is just a PR stunt, and a bad one. No different than when Bobby V. was basically named the Police and Fire Chief in his hometown of Stamford. He took $10k for a position that paid $100k and donated his salary to chairity. He's a great guy and loves his hometown, but was 100% unqualified to hold that job. He was friends with a Mayor who had awful approval ratings, and he thought this was a good move.

I'm from his hometown and my dad played LL with him as a kid. He was possibly the greatest CT high school athlete ever, and despite that bad fit in Boston, he's a good baseball manager. He's a charming guy for many, and an arrogant *****hole for others. He got a smile that lights up a room, yet he can come off as a blow hard. Simply put, he's Bobby V.


The energy was felt the moment Valentine was introduced and clarified his role as the AD. Barquinero said the school will also hire a "deputy athletics director" to work with Valentine, but that former major league ballplayer and skipper was fully committed to the university.
...
The agreement between Valentine and SHU does not have a set time, and the former skipper did not rule out a return to baseball.

"It's a term that will last until its no longer beneficial to each other," Valentine said about his agreement with the school, which will take effect July 1 when Cook retires.

Regardless of his length of stay, Valentine's arrive has created a buzz at the school.


Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Valentine-hiring-creates-buzz-at-SHU-4309731.php#ixzz2M3CZjJ8O

[aceinthehole]

This is an even better article - http://www.ctpost.com/sports/article/Chris-Elsberry-Valentine-will-bring-energy-but-4310473.php#ixzz2M372Ctzg


Valentine will bring great energy to the job -- just not in the way that many expected. His strengths and passions are legendary, so when it comes to giving Sacred Heart more of a national presence. Valentine will be perfect. When it comes to giving his time and raising money, Valentine will be even better.

But forget Bobby V doing the day-to- day athletic department grind. That's not happening.

Which begs the question, why hire Valentine as athletic director at all? Why not give him the title of "special assistant to the president" or something? Toss a couple of honorary doctorates into his lap and let him glad-hand his way across the fund-raising room, shaking hands with his right and pocketing all the donations with his left. Because the one thing that Valentine does better than anyone is work a room.

Let him do that and let someone else do the heavy lifting.

Which is, in fact, exactly what the Pioneers are going to do. A national search will soon start for a deputy athletic director to do all the dirty work, as it were, the scheduling, the daily interaction with the coaches and the student-athletes, all that. Meanwhile, Valentine will be handling "other duties" according to Barquinero, unless he's doing his baseball radio show for ESPN or whatever other interest he's got simmering on the front burner.

"I'm here just to facilitate." Valentine said, during his introduction. "Don has done a wonderful job of moving this program along, getting students in an environment where they can succeed and I'm hoping that I can fill those needs and fill those voids that will be gone after Don leaves. I'm learning what it is that needs to be done here and I'm going to learn as quickly as I can and for as long as I can how to maneuver and accomplished the things that need to be accomplished."

[aceinthehole]

Or this from the New Haven Register:


Bobby Valentine surely knew he’d be asked to explain why, as a man with no experience as a college administrator, he thought he was qualified to run the 31 Division I athletic programs at Sacred Heart University.
...
“Some people think this is a joke,” said Bill Paxton, who broke the news of Valentine’s hiring for the Connecticut Post last week. “What can you say about people not taking you seriously as the athletic director here?”

Valentine, obviously perturbed, shook his head in disbelief.

“If it’s a joke, it’s an inside joke. I’m very serious about everything I do in my life. I deal with passion and commitment and I deal with excellence,” Valentine said before a brief pause. “I really didn’t think I’d be insulted with the first question, but what the hell. That’s the way it goes.”
...
He will inherit the title of executive athletic director, yet won’t handle many of the traditional duties that come with the job description. At the same time Sacred Heart administrators acknowledge there’s innate value in name recognition and fame. It played at least some role in the hiring of Valentine, a Stamford native who has spent most of the past 44 years as a major league player or manager.
...
Mainly, Valentine was brought on to elevate the school’s regional and national profile and solicit funds. He’s replacing executive athletic director C. Don Cook, retiring after two decades at the end of June. But really, the school is creating a new position exclusively for Valentine.

A deputy athletic director will be hired shortly to handle the traditional budgetary, scheduling and other day-to-day operations of the department. http://nhregister.com/articles/2013/02/26/sports/doc512d5391aab49235814692.txt?viewmode=fullstory

[DSUrocks07]

Now I REALLY hope that we don't play Sacred Heart to open the season this year...

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk 2

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Isn't he, um, supposed to be working?

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/valentine-will-be-an-analyst-on-sny/?ref=sports


Bobby Valentine, the former Mets manager, is returning to the Mets as a pre- and post-game analyst on SNY.

Valentine will be a part-timer, appearing in the SNY studio about 12 to 15 times, with Bob Ojeda, the regular analyst, and Chris Carlin, the host.

He will make his debut—presumably not in his famous mustachioed disguise–on opening day, Monday, at 11:30 a.m. on SNY’s new program, “Mets First Pitch,” which precedes the pre-game show.

Valentine, a former analyst on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball”, is rebuilding his public profile. He was fired after last year as manager of the Boston Red Sox after their 69-83 record landed them in last place in the A.L. East. In addition to working as an analyst for NBC Sports Radio, he has also taken a job as the athletic director of Sacred Heart University.

I know he's not really a "formal" AD and a lot of his job responsibilities will be outsourced, but, geez. This is looking more and more to me like a bad idea by SHU.