When former UConn athletic director John Toner passed away on Tuesday, I spoke to Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun, who was hired by Toner. I found several of Calhoun’s comments interesting and enlightening. This one really stuck out because I had so much respect for the late Dave Gavitt, the man who approached Toner and other ADs and pulled together a league known as the Big East Conference in 1979.
“He was a trendsetter,” Calhoun said. “[Big East founder and commissioner] Dave Gavitt always called him his conscience – Dave’s conscience for the Big East.”
Thursday afternoon I spoke with Gavitt’s son, Dan Gavitt, for another article I’m working on. I asked Gavitt, vice president of men’s basketball championships for the NCAA, if he remembered his father viewing Toner in that regard.
“Yeah, I think so,” Dan Gavitt said. “I think he was a mentor to many administrators, including my dad and others of his generation. He was a highly respected, principled, strong leader. I think administrators in particular, and coaches also, looked up to him and took his lead on how he conducted business.”
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