Why was Donati hired/chosen?
- Thread starter Chongo94
- Start date
hometown frog
Active Member
He was CDCs understudy and then CDC helped get him into the AD gig when Chris left for Austin (as best I heard that’s how it went anyways.)
Chongo94
Active Member
Ahhh ok, now that does seem vaguely familiar now that you mention it. Thanks.
FroggleRock
Active Member
Yep. Donati was CDC’s “understudy”, so people thought he would basically be just as good. But what we really got was a nothingburger that inherited the throne of one of the best AD’s in the country and three legendary coaches to prop him up. Since then, he’s lost two of the three in epic fashion and hired a football HC who has either had no or temporary success at every stop he’s been at. Jury is still out on Saarloos. I think he’s an outstanding person, but his record as HC is heavily mixed.
FrogBall09
Active Member
We never even looked outside
He is CDCs godson….got the job because it was expected he would not rock the status quo since at the time we had 3 guys running the big sports that we expected to all have statues of eventually
“Just say how can I help coach”
He fired one
He got into a “I’m the boss not you” relationship with another that decided to leave
And the third is only here because UCLA is governed by a bankrupt state
His previous experience was collecting checks from the people CDC sold on the vision
And he never had good judgement before he was AD…so nothing really changed
He is CDCs godson….got the job because it was expected he would not rock the status quo since at the time we had 3 guys running the big sports that we expected to all have statues of eventually
“Just say how can I help coach”
He fired one
He got into a “I’m the boss not you” relationship with another that decided to leave
And the third is only here because UCLA is governed by a bankrupt state
His previous experience was collecting checks from the people CDC sold on the vision
And he never had good judgement before he was AD…so nothing really changed
The Artist Formerly Known as PhormerPhrog
Full Member
So dumb...he fired 1 that had pretty much given up and wouldn't have pulled the trigger without concent of the BoTs, school administration and any other BMD with their name on a building on campus.
The other was looking to leave for a couple years and would have been a fool not to take the job in CS. Much like the other, he quit on the program he had built.
I'm not defending JD but there's no way you can pin those 2 on him.
JugbandFrog
Full Member
Boschini is just a figurehead. The President is calling all the shots and word on the street is that he’s a nothing burger as well.
FloridaFrog76129
Active Member
Pure Purple
KMA
While this Staff's coaching deficiencies are glaringly obvious....
there is also the matter of their questionable evaluation of talent.
there is also the matter of their questionable evaluation of talent.
I heard Donati father had something to do with cdc getting hired Tcu. So that is why cdc wanted to keep Donati at Tcu after he left if my story is true.
FrogBall09
Active Member
He fired GP without a plan and hired this loser we have now and empowers him to hire Baylor rejects and a series of crappy DCs - the hell I can’t hold him accountable because he is charge and we are free falling
i am friends with Schloss - a lot more than Moose ever was - Schloss wanted out before when he chased Miss St but had worked it out personally to stay, even looking to move to Eagle Mtn - it wasn’t until JD didn’t renew his contract before the season after lying to him that we would finish the upgrades he had been asking for - that he decided again to get the hell out
He would have eventually left us for Texas but he didn’t want the Aggy job - however it was better than what we offered by a long shot
Jeremiah was never qualified to be our AD - hell he has had the job for several years and is still the least qualified AD in the B12
Boomhauer
Active Member
TCUdirtbag
Active Member
Donati was CDC’s deputy. We were in the midst of a huge fundraising effort and he had the relationships with donors (who were getting tired of CDC’s schtick), and he had the most trust with key coaches as compared to a random outsider—Patterson, Dixon, and Schloss. He was rightly seen as the right move when UT scooped up our AD and we wanted to do everything we could to keep the fundraising on track and key coaches employed here. Lots of revisionist history lately. And lol at the idea Boschini couldn’t figure out how to do a national search—he hired both Danny Morrison (SoCon Commissioner) and Chris Del Conte (Rice) before promoting Donati.
And let’s not forget Donati’s (many) successes in raising the money for the east side of AGCS, all the new football facilities under construction, and securing record revenues. He staved off CJS’ inevitable departure as long as possible, held on to the best chance basketball coach we’ve had in our history, made good Olympic sports moves, and did the seemingly impossible in moving on from Patterson when it was time.
He didn’t nail the Patterson replacement, but 2022 was still a helluva run that we wouldn’t have made with Patterson (who’d lost the players and program). It was probably an impossible task for any AD. At least we got one big run out of it, I guess.
Right to criticize his maturity and style and ethics. But objectively he’s had more Ws than Ls here and earned his keep to date. Should he continue in the role going forward? That’s for him or the Chancellor, Board, and BMDs to decide. And it’s a tough call, I bet. But know the Chancellor cares about his legacy, would like to retire, and has hung around at the insistence of the Board to work on stabilizing athletics in the midst of these monumental industry changes and preserving/slowly handing off key donor relationships while they test out Pullin with training wheels. I think that tends to suggest Boschini will be inclined to make a quick move at AD and head football coach if needed to preserve his own legacy. Its an uncertain time, though, and nothing is cheap or easy.
And let’s not forget Donati’s (many) successes in raising the money for the east side of AGCS, all the new football facilities under construction, and securing record revenues. He staved off CJS’ inevitable departure as long as possible, held on to the best chance basketball coach we’ve had in our history, made good Olympic sports moves, and did the seemingly impossible in moving on from Patterson when it was time.
He didn’t nail the Patterson replacement, but 2022 was still a helluva run that we wouldn’t have made with Patterson (who’d lost the players and program). It was probably an impossible task for any AD. At least we got one big run out of it, I guess.
Right to criticize his maturity and style and ethics. But objectively he’s had more Ws than Ls here and earned his keep to date. Should he continue in the role going forward? That’s for him or the Chancellor, Board, and BMDs to decide. And it’s a tough call, I bet. But know the Chancellor cares about his legacy, would like to retire, and has hung around at the insistence of the Board to work on stabilizing athletics in the midst of these monumental industry changes and preserving/slowly handing off key donor relationships while they test out Pullin with training wheels. I think that tends to suggest Boschini will be inclined to make a quick move at AD and head football coach if needed to preserve his own legacy. Its an uncertain time, though, and nothing is cheap or easy.
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82 Frog Fever
Active Member
I kind of agree.
I think the reason we have Donati is because Boschini and other TCU brass had no knowledge of how to pursue a national AD search for a position that they also had little knowledge of.
He didn’t really want to admit that by using consulting firms, so he took the least complicated path. He even got an attaboy for promoting from within.
TCUdirtbag
Active Member
This is just entirely untrue. Is it time to have a conversation about whether Boschini is too far past his prime to keep leading? Maybe. But that doesn’t make any of this correct.
Boschini retained direct supervision of the Board relationship, development/fundraising, and athletics. Not a figurehead at all—still the CEO. Pullin is the CEO in training and stuck with making all the hard choices right now, honestly.
The question is if Boschini cashes in his goodwill on the way out to make some hard but needed choices, or if he tries to preserve his legacy and shoves/delays all the unpopular choices on/for Pullin. It’s a clunky transition. Not sure it’s going to work out as smoothly as hoped—and a lot of that has to do with the uncertainty in the sports landscape relative to our level of investment.
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Bruce Berry
Active Member
Clown.
