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AEast Commissioner - Amy Huchthausen

3K views 37 replies 18 participants last post by  mainejeff 
#1 ·
Has anybody ever met her or seen her out anywhere? I'm sure she has been at events (or I would sure hope so) and was just wondering what the perception is of her. I know Monasch was at events, usually reading a newspaper at the scorer's table of whatever hoops game he was at...I know Nero was pretty active. I was just wondering about our current leader.

She really has her job cut out for her and has had a ton of stuff thrown at her since she arrived in September. I know we have joked about her being so excited about getting to 500 followers on twitter but I really wanna know what is going on.

I guess I'm kind of surprised that we haven't seen any sort of release or official statement from the conference about anything. Again, they would HAVE to know what is going on in the world of collegiate athletics right?
 
#2 ·
I've asked around...I know I crack on her and honestly I'm not seeing much leadership out of her personally. The people that know her and have worked with her say that she is extremely smart and they have no doubt she has a plan...

Again, personally I'll believe it when I see it but that's what I've heard from people that have a working relationship with her.
 
#4 ·
Well that is good to hear...but yeah, I just haven't heard nor seen much from her at all so I was curious.
 
#5 ·
She was at the AE tournament. If I remember correctly, I also saw her at the NCAA tournament first round game in Dayton. I didn't see her at the second round game in Greensboro, but there were like 25,000 people there so just because I didn't see her, doesn't mean she wasn't there. I suspect she was.

On Chris Villani's radio show last week, she spoke of attending the SBU baseball games where ever they were.

I know many fans are up in arms to do something, do anything to save the conference. I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for now. I am not in the camp (yet) that our sky is falling and we should be running around trying to do things. If we can take Fiore at his word, it sounds like SBU is sticking around. I have no idea why he would make a public statement like he did and lie through his teeth, so I take him at his word. I am a very big fan of not rushing into decisions that you may regret later. Good decisions - decisions for the long term good of the conference take time to consider and evaluate.

In our culture of minute to minute news cycles, I think people have become accustomed to that pace and expect to see new news on things constantly. Just because we haven't seen or heard much from the league office, doesn't mean there aren't things happening. Many on this forum are painting a picture of pending implosion of our conference. That may or may not be the case. I choose not to overreact when one school - one that should be no surprise to anyone, has chosen to leave our conference. I believe Fiore when he says he's committed to the conference. We'll probably scoop up another good fitting program in the next year or two, so, I just don't see the crisis that so many seem to be concerned about.
 
#9 ·
Virtually all of Huchthausen's experience has been in compliance, governance, and academic services. Important as all that is in the day-to-day running of a conference with integrity, I never thought it had much to do with capital-L Leadership in athletic performance, intercollegiate- and interconference-relationships.
 
#12 ·
THIS (pointing to UA's post).

It's like putting a salesman into a CEO post. May work out, but likely not. Totally different skill set.
Yeah, +2 to UA72 and Dane96's posts.

I don't know directly about the athletics administration business because I've never worked in it, but I know in my business (Financial Services) the people that work in compliance and administration stay in compliance and administration, and would certainly not move into a leadership position unless that position was, of course, Head of Compliance.

Pretty interested to see what the conference does as a response- if it does anything.

Exactly what I was thinking & afraid of...going to be a very interesting few months that's for sure.
 
#11 ·
Yeah, +2 to UA72 and Dane96's posts.

I don't know directly about the athletics administration business because I've never worked in it, but I know in my business (Financial Services) the people that work in compliance and administration stay in compliance and administration, and would certainly not move into a leadership position unless that position was, of course, Head of Compliance.

Pretty interested to see what the conference does as a response- if it does anything.
 
#15 ·
What I would like to see right now (actually right after BU announced their plans) and MUCH more so in the future is to address the AE's plans and goals. The public absence of leadership just makes us seem so weak as a conference. Even if all is status quo and we will wait to see what happens,etc.....there are ways to say this that make us look united and strong (unless we truly aren't). Sadly even if there is a public statement I imagine it will all be regurgitated cliches. Quality Leaders rarely make themselves scarce and leave everyone with questions/concerns. Leaders try to inspire.....this involves frequent words and actions.

The only conclusion I can come up with for our lack of any statement that inspires, is our schools must be so distant from each other rather than banding together.
 
#18 ·
I'm not sure if this was said in jest or if you were serious...but interacting with fans on a message board like this would not be a good idea.
 
#30 ·
In case you didn't notice from the annual meetings notes...I do like the following quote from the Commish:

“While some may wish to see membership issues debated in a public forum, that is simply not how it is done. Speculation will continue, no doubt, about us, our schools, other conferences and other schools, but we will have no comment regarding any specific institution or scenario presented. If and when we have news to report, we will certainly do so.”


AKA - SUCK IT, Message board posters. She is listening she doesn't owe you anything it seems. We'll find when something happens it seems. Things are going to be pretty tight lipped.
 
#26 ·
There is now an official statement on this weeks meetings,recommendations etc on americaeast.com. While there is expectantly no earth shattering info I am pleased to see some recommendations and the appearance of some solidity in the ranks. I think it is increasingly important now to continue to publicly build on this , if in fact it is true that the 8 schools are in sync.
 
#27 ·
Tom Yeager said in April he didn't think any schools would be leaving the Colonial.

It's all just posturing. Unfortunately most commissioners now are pretty much helpless when it comes to the missions of their member institutions.

Let's be honest, if the right conference called for any school in the conference, they're gone.
 
#31 ·
I was kind of surprised when she was hired, admittedly. What this conference really could have used was someone who was either a) an energetic, forward-thinking leader who was ready to make the conference a proactive force in realignment or b) someone who really has a deep emotional investment with the conference. A lot of people on the board seemed to think Matt Borque should have been hired and it seems like he at least fit the latter part of those requirements. Can't exactly say that someone from NCAA compliance is progressively-minded, not typically where affable leaders are churned out from.

I've only met her once -- at America East Media Day back in October -- where she constantly made mention in her speech of wanting to make the conference better. Afterwards, I asked her what exactly she meant by what she would want to do to make the conference better, to which she basically just gave a generic, politician-like response that didn't really mention anything. When I asked her for anything specific, I got more of the same. Granted, she just had gotten the job, so maybe she was still feeling her way around the new job or she figured she could easily blow off a student reporter (honestly a pretty smart/easy move), but just figured I'd provide my small level of insight on the matter.
 
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