UConn’s top football booster, Robert G. Burton wants his more than $3 million back and is planning to cut ties with the school after he was not consulted in the hiring of the Huskies’ football coach NFL defensive coordinator and Syracuse head football coach Paul Pasqualoni. Burton is the top contributor to UConn athletics, even the football complex is named after him. In an open later to UConn AD Jeff Hathawy, Burton writes:
“The primary reason (former coach) Randy (Edsall) took another job is because he couldn’t work with you… You are not qualified to be a Division I AD and I would have fired you a long time ago. You do not have the skills to manage and cultivate new donors…. I was not looking for veto power, your lack of response on either of these requests tells me that you do not respect my point of view or value my opinion…. After we get our money back, you can take our name off the complex.”
The Huskies finished 8-5 in 2011 and lost to Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
