Future of UConn football

[storrsbred1]

After reading all the machinations regarding the UConn football team, including the coaching staff, it seems to me the answer is for the university AD and Pres to articulate their vision for football at the university going forward.

All this hand wringing may be for naught if neither of the above see UConn football as any more than a fall sport similar to what might be found at Indiana or Wake Forest, for example, which IMO, is decidedly middle of the road or less.

 

[uconndogs]

lol

Mr. Manuel message to season ticket holders:
"Just so you know, I'm really not too concerned about the recent performance of our football team. President Herbst has assured me that our goal is to simply field a team and become the Indiana of the Big East. Have a nice day."

Honestly, the posting on this board can't possibly get more inane......

 

[FfldCntyFan]

After reading all the machinations regarding the UConn football team, including the coaching staff, it seems to me the answer is for the university AD and Pres to articulate their vision for football at the university going forward.

All this hand wringing may be for naught if neither of the above see UConn football as any more than a fall sport similar to what might be found at Indiana or Wake Forest, for example, which IMO, is decidedly middle of the road or less.

While I would be far from pleased to have an Indiana or Wake level football program as our destiny, in our case this would be a much worse fate as they both have permanent homes in legitimate conferences (unless somehow the ACC gets carved up the way the BE has, at which point Wake will be left out).

 

[ktuck911]

After reading all the machinations regarding the UConn football team, including the coaching staff, it seems to me the answer is for the university AD and Pres to articulate their vision for football at the university going forward.

All this hand wringing may be for naught if neither of the above see UConn football as any more than a fall sport similar to what might be found at Indiana or Wake Forest, for example, which IMO, is decidedly middle of the road or less.

At least WF has occassional success.. Indiana? Forget it... Vandy and Indiana are more comparable... and we're working extremely hard on being that same type of team... Not good...

 

[BlueDogs]

What's inane is the current state of affairs. The point I think being made is that a little leadership from the top goes a long way . There is a bunker mentality in Storrs. No communication, just pablum. Set the vision and the standards of excellence and then hold people to them. They need to say whether they seek a national, high level program, or just a mid level program. If the former, you start scheduling accordingly, hiring staff accordingly and work overtime to get us off the BE titanic. The first step is making a statement by firing PP and GDL on Monday and installing Brown as interim HC.

 

[Adios]

We might as well stay in this "new" Big East for a bit until someone rights the boat and gets us at least one more conference championship.

 

[FDNY99]

Manuel has stated his expectations before...he expects ALL UConn programs to win and compete for conference and national championships. I really don't think P is helping himself out with these weekly performances!! At the least I can see Manuel forcing changes to the offensive staff...the more these performances continue the more I can't see P surviving this.

 

[huskymedic]

Manuel has stated his expectations before...he expects ALL UConn programs to win and compete for conference and national championships. I really don't think P is helping himself out with these weekly performances!! At the least I can see Manuel forcing changes to the offensive staff...the more these performances continue the more I can't see P surviving this.

It's not if - it's when but we can't control it.

 

[gars44]

What's inane is the current state of affairs. The point I think being made is that a little leadership from the top goes a long way . There is a bunker mentality in Storrs. No communication, just pablum. Set the vision and the standards of excellence and then hold people to them. They need to say whether they seek a national, high level program, or just a mid level program. If the former, you start scheduling accordingly, hiring staff accordingly and work overtime to get us off the BE titanic. The first step is making a statement by firing PP and GDL on Monday and installing Brown as interim HC.

The irony is, even on the BE Titanic, you can go undefeated and win a NC. Boise is betting the farm on that. It's true. Go 12-0 and your're in the game. We could be that program. We just need a JC or a Gino on the football side. It can happen. We have to spend the money and get the guy. Put JC in charge of the hiring committee. That would satisfy me.

 

[ruskin]

I've seen the future, and it's this
http://boston.craigslist.org/search/tix?query=Notre+Dame&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=

If no serious changes made to offensive coaching staff, change boston to hartford and Notre Dame to Michigan in the url and you will see a similar ticket dump next September. . . .and remember dynamic pricing is probably on the way, so Michigan tix will be a few $$ more than tix to other games.

 

[RS9999X]

There's no reason for Warde to do anything mid-season this year. It's not the time. It's over-reaction.

Let them do their post-mortem when the season is over. FSU and Texas haven't killed anyone yet.

 

[ZooCougar]

My hope is that Warde and Co. are just giving these guys plenty of rope to hang themselves. The worse it gets, the easier the case is.

The thought of another season with Coach P is just depressing.

 

[SAMCRO]

Bet the farm that DeLeone and most if not all the O coaches will not be back next year.
Bet your season ticket money that P will not be back next year (b/c if he is back, do you really want to keep your season tickets?).

I really hope Manuel cleans house. Given how quickly Herbst assessed and acted on the AD situation tells me she will support her AD in a quick hook with P.

 

[Adios]

$750K buyout after January 1st, 2013 > $600K buyout after January 1st 2014. It doesn't take much to realize that.

 

[ZooCougar]

If we have to wait after 1 Jan., we miss out on some of the best talent.

 

[Adios]

Then we'll probably have to wait until December of 2013.

 

[ZooCougar]

What's the buyout before 1 Jan, 2013?

 

[Adios]

$1 million.

 

[ZooCougar]

$1 million.

That's not enough of a savings to make it worthwhile. We'll lose more than that in ticket revenue with Coach P haunting our sidelines next season.

 

[coachcap]

If we have to wait after 1 Jan., we miss out on some of the best talent.

Not necessarily. Warde's job at the moment is to identify up & coming assistants (o.c's & D.c.'s) that he feels would make dynamic future head coaches. Face it. UConn won't have the cachet to steal a known quantity, such as Notre Dame grabbing Kelly from Cinci.
The other route to go is to grab a highly successful head coach from the 1-AA level. Oregon went this route with their current coach, grabbing him from New Hampshire. (although they had him on staff as an assistant until the former h.c. retired)
Either way, there's enough talent to choose from if Warde does his due diligence.

 

[Adios]

We can also (hopefully) aim for an extremely successful MAC or Sunbelt coach.

 

[coachcap]

Here's an off the wall thought. Warde forces Coach P. to terminate GDL & hire Danny O. as offensive coordinator. When P.'s contract is done, make Dan O. head coach. And please, return our tight ends coach to his rightful position as o-line coach. Just my early Christmas wish list.

 

[willie99]

I think we would be a lot more competitive in the ACC then the next new Big East

that conference is pretty pathetic, despite their efforts and a lot more hype

although they do have better TV packages and game day atmospheres

just sayin

 

[mattp]

If we have to wait after 1 Jan., we miss out on some of the best talent.

We can probably hire another coach before officially firing this one, and even if we can't the difference saved isn't worth losing a hire over. I have to imagine if Warde has decided he probably wants to see P gone that he's already got a list of candidates in mind and he can spend the next month or two vetting them. If nothing else we're in a much better position than last time when we had to scramble after the Fiesta Bowl. I still think looking back that a safe choice made a lot of sense at the time, but I'm sure Warde will want the next guy to be someone we can get excited about.

 

[ZooCougar]

Kelly wasn't even a HC when Oregon hired him to be their OC. He was promoted after Belotti retired.

We need to be on the market early. You don't think we would have talked to Addazio if we knew Edsall was on his out earlier? We probably missed out on a couple of good candidates because of that.

Not necessarily. Warde's job at the moment is to identify up & coming assistants (o.c's & D.c.'s) that he feels would make dynamic future head coaches. Face it. UConn won't have the cachet to steal a known quantity, such as Notre Dame grabbing Kelly from Cinci.
The other route to go is to grab a highly successful head coach from the 1-AA level. Oregon went this route with their current coach, grabbing him from New Hampshire. (although they had him on staff as an assistant until the former h.c. retired)
Either way, there's enough talent to choose from if Warde does his due diligence.