If Diaco had come in directly after FUCHRE....

[CL82]

... would we be better off than we are right now? Would we have avoided the three losing seasons we had under PP? Would there be less "culture" issues for Bob to be (always) talking about?

I'd like to think so, but last season has left me wondering.

 

[kcc1442]

If if's came in fifth's, we'd all be drunk by now.

 

[Jerry1714]

If my aunt had a d;ck she would be my uncle

 

[RedSoloCup]

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride...

 

[BlueMAB]

If "ifs" were spliffs, we'd all be stoned.

 

[HuskyFan16]

Hey hey, don't jump on the guy. CL82, I'll bite:

Maybe.

 

[Bonehead]

I dont think we avoid ALL losing seasons - hard to tell - not sure of the type of coach he is yet, but there was some talent.

 

[junglehusky]

If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkerers hands.

 

[Bonehead]

From the man with the 'metal' avatar...

 

[freescooter]

If it's and buts were candied nuts we'd all have a heck of a Christmas

 

[whaler11]

To answer your question seriously 100% absolutely totally and completely better off. Far far far better off.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

PGDL was literally the worst thing that could've happened to UConn football when it did. So yes, of course we'd better off.

 

[SubbaBub]

... would we be better off than we are right now? Would we have avoided the three losing seasons we had under PP? Would there be less "culture" issues for Bob to be (always) talking about?

I'd like to think so, but last season has left me wondering.

I don't see any doubt about it. I think BD's style plus all the talent on D and a solid running game would have led to at least two straight bowl games. Recruiting would have determined these last two.

 

[formerlurker]

I'm drunk, high, plan on having a great Christmas and have a step Aunt who used to be my step Uncle.

So, yes.

 

[rich1122]

Record a little better. 5 more wins.

Edsall's 2010 recruiting class was a disaster (real bad) and he had no scholly QB going into PP's first season. We lost 75% of those kids - The Byron Jones class (2010) was a mess and so was the one before it with Aiken Difton and Lang. Just bad recruiting on Edsall's part to lose that many kids in 2009 and 2010.

We had to play Johnny Football. It was Endre's to lose and he was not there.

Edsall would have had a hard time but he would have done better than PP and GDL.

The spiral started with Edsall 's recruiting classes. PP made it worse.

 

[whaler11]

Couple of things.

Even if Diaco hadn't won games replacing Edsall - he wouldn't have burned the program to the ground. So to try and measure by win differential is hilarious.

Secondly - Edsall's last recruiting classes may have been fine if Edsall stayed. You may not have noticed this yet - but he was putting together relatively successful teams in a much different fashion than anyone else.

You can't judge an Edsall class when they aren't coached by Edsall.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The way I see it, Diaco is in many ways a better (at least from what we can see at the moment) version of Edsall. Both place a premium on academics and character in their student athletes, Diaco has far more personality and in an immensely better public speaker who appears to have more vision and imagination for what this program can become.

There would have been zero need for a culture change in Diaco's first year at the helm (if he immediately followed Edsall) and there would not have been wholesale changes to the blocking schemes or defensive philosophy that helped limit our win total in P's first year here.

 

[RedStickHusky]

1. Alternative history can be fun but IIRC Diaco wasn't on anybodies radar in 2010 so does this what if include a scenario where we transition from Edall to Diaco in 2013?
2. Otherwise, even if HCBD is not the guy, we'd be three years closer to finding the guy and would've avoided the ppgdl years, so yes to the question asked in that regard.
3. Thing about RE is that he was great as an underdog but couldn't manage the transition to playing like he had the better team. We could stay close when we sucked but, using the same philosophies, we kept it close when we could've been throat stomping...
4. One thing I've never seen since we made the move and the thing I hope for the most, is a UConn team that plays with swagger; that knows it's going to win and attacks to bury opponents. I'm so tired of the strategy that calls for keeping it close enough for a 4th qtr pick six to give us a chance.

 

[UConnDan97]

There would have been zero need for a culture change in Diaco's first year at the helm (if he immediately followed Edsall) and there would not have been wholesale changes to the blocking schemes or defensive philosophy that helped limit our win total in P's first year here.

The only thing that I'll say against this is the fact that we had a pretty good defense in 2011 (2012 was even better defensively, but 2011 was good). Would a transition to the 3-4 have been as successful as the Don Brown blitzfest with our defense? I don't know. We certainly didn't play a "bend but don't break D".

So the problem was on offense that year. But keep in mind, McCombs actually ran for over 1,200 yards that year as a freshman; the same amount as all of our running backs and QBs combined this year!

So that leaves the QB. That's what it comes down to. So if you believe that Diaco would have done a better job with McEntee and Nebrich than PP, then you can conclude he likely would have had a better record in 2011. If you don't, then you probably can't. The way he handled the QBs this year is not an indication that it would have been better.

Of course, if we focus on the original question of whether or not we would be better off today after 4 years of Diaco, then it's hard to conclude that we would be worse off. Not sure yet how much better we would be, but hard to be worse...

 

[BlueMAB]

The way I see it, Diaco is in many ways a better (at least from what we can see at the moment) version of Edsall. Both place a premium on academics and character in their student athletes, Diaco has far more personality and in an immensely better public speaker who appears to have more vision and imagination for what this program can become.

There would have been zero need for a culture change in Diaco's first year at the helm (if he immediately followed Edsall) and there would not have been wholesale changes to the blocking schemes or defensive philosophy that helped limit our win total in P's first year here.

Other than the win-loss record this makes a lot of sense.

 

[jdb50]

I say no, GDL was putting in 25 hour days drawing up our offense and even though Diaco is younger there is no way he could have kept that pace.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I believe that our defense was better in 2010 than it was in 2011 (the Western Michigan, West Virginia, Pitt and Louisville games were far from solid efforts on defense in 2011) and that it was more suited for what Diaco runs than what Brown ran. Additionally, our defense is not a straight 3-4, we play a hybrid DE who can give us a 3-4 or 4-3 front seven. I don't believe we've had anyone on our roster at any time who would have been better suited for that position than Trevardo Williams.

 

[whaler11]

The way I see it, Diaco is in many ways a better (at least from what we can see at the moment) version of Edsall. Both place a premium on academics and character in their student athletes, Diaco has far more personality and in an immensely better public speaker who appears to have more vision and imagination for what this program can become.

There would have been zero need for a culture change in Diaco's first year at the helm (if he immediately followed Edsall) and there would not have been wholesale changes to the blocking schemes or defensive philosophy that helped limit our win total in P's first year here.

Yeah if he wins as much as Edsall he's a more likeable version.

The bar isn't exactly sky high and the competition is worse - so just go win 8 games a year.

 

[uconnbill]

The energy would have been much higher and something many of the players are buying into. I say yes without a doubt.

 

[Excalibur]

I believe that our defense was better in 2010 than it was in 2011 (the Western Michigan, West Virginia, Pitt and Louisville games were far from solid efforts on defense in 2011) and that it was more suited for what Diaco runs than what Brown ran. Additionally, our defense is not a straight 3-4, we play a hybrid DE who can give us a 3-4 or 4-3 front seven. I don't believe we've had anyone on our roster at any time who would have been better suited for that position than Trevardo Williams.

I think the better comparison is the 2012 defense, which I believe was better than 2010.