247 Sports - From Darlings to Joke: What Happened to UConn Football?

[AD DB Burner]

From darlings to joke: What happened to UConn football?

UConn joined the FBS and was quickly the darling of college football in the late 2000s and early 2010s but the last decade has been nothing but misery. A look inside the program as it approaches an inflection point while searching for yet another head coach.

247sports.com

Discuss...

 

[UConnJim]

It's a very fair article. I think this is the most important sentence:

The aforementioned football facility is among the best in the northeast and while the budget shortfalls are alarming, Benedict says there is strong financial support to hire a new coach and, potentially, build new facilities to help pull the football program off the mat.

 

[huskymedic]

-> The offer letter will be competitive on the Group of Five level. Edsall's salary of $1.26 million ranked higher than 41 head coaches in Group of Five conferences, according to USA Today's database of coaches' salaries in 2020.

"We're looking for someone that's going to be dynamic," Benedict said. "They're obviously going to have to come in and inject energy and personality into our program. We've lost some of that. And so we need someone that's going to be willing to come in and obviously, build the passion back in our program, both inside and outside. They need to recruit prospects into our program but also recruit our fans back." <-

 

[Fairfield_1st]

"We're looking for someone that's going to be dynamic," Benedict said. "They're obviously going to have to come in and inject energy and personality into our program. We've lost some of that."

I'm not advocating for him, just putting my observation out there. When I read this line my mind went back to Weist. That short sleeve thing in the winter may be gimmicky, and you won't find me doing it, but it set a little tone and gave him or us an identity.

I don't know who the person is, but I want them to be a football version of Khalid El-Amin. Lots-o-moxie.
Otherwise, fair article. The importance of this next hire to football and UConn can't be underestimated.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Hmmm, strong financial support. Butch Jones used to have tough teams at Cinci. They used to manhandle UConn and TJ was his assistant.

 

[CL82]

Sounds like they are going to may a good faith effort with the next hire, but what happens if he doesn't succeed is still up in the air.

 

[gopher2]

-> The offer letter will be competitive on the Group of Five level. Edsall's salary of $1.26 million ranked higher than 41 head coaches in Group of Five conferences, according to USA Today's database of coaches' salaries in 2020.

"We're looking for someone that's going to be dynamic," Benedict said. "They're obviously going to have to come in and inject energy and personality into our program. We've lost some of that. And so we need someone that's going to be willing to come in and obviously, build the passion back in our program, both inside and outside. They need to recruit prospects into our program but also recruit our fans back." <-

I would prefer to see the new coaching staff concentrate entirely on recruiting and player/team development. The fans will return when we start winning again. No need to put fan participation on the new coaching staff, unless DB means getting fans back with an exciting offensive scheme.

 

[ZooCougar]

We were Darlings? I don’t recall that.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

We were Darlings? I don’t recall that.

We were America's team once....in soccer. There are no darlings in CFB unlike the NCAA tournament.

 

[PAGS]

The new coach needs the ability to bring in some talent out of Juco and the portal if they want to see immediate results. We’ve been trying for years to recruit and restart the program. We’re too far in the hole to do that again, you can only be so bad for so long before no one wants to come play in Storrs. Pay the HC and his coordinators decent money. Cut some slack on admissions for some ballers. UConn isn’t Yale! Some exceptions need to be made to revitalize the team. UConn has been crushed by realignment. Scheduling is not terrible as an Indy. Just need a staff to bring guys in to win. Make it exciting again! I’ll be waiting…hope isn’t lost yet!

 

[Adios]

We were Darlings? I don’t recall that.

Well, the football program is a media darling now.

People even coming here for material to publish is nuts.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

Meh.
Yawn.
247 Sports is years late on this breaking news.
We'll get better and be irrelevant again. I'm sure of it.

 

[gopher2]

Good article as far as it goes but to really tell the story of the recent precipitous fall and historic futility under Edsall 2.0 they should have pointed to Edsall's disasterous policy of sitting upperclassmen and fielding large numbers of true freshman and redshirt freshmen on offense and defense against teams like Boise State, UCF, Fresno State, Cincinnati, Syracuse, Memphis, etc.

 

[Waquoit]

... they should have pointed to Edsall's disasterous policy of sitting upperclassmen and fielding large numbers of true freshman and redshirt freshmen on offense and defense against teams like Boise State, UCF, Fresno State, Cincinnati, Syracuse, Memphis, etc.

The only reason to do that was for the payoff down the road. Well, we're down the road and there's been no payoff. What was he doing?

 

[LBird33]

I would prefer to see the new coaching staff concentrate entirely on recruiting and player/team development. The fans will return when we start winning again. No need to put fan participation on the new coaching staff, unless DB means getting fans back with an exciting offensive scheme.

He may simply mean being available to the media and alumni and student body, some open practices etc. unlike the last guy

 

[Chin Diesel]

It's a very fair article. I think this is the most important sentence:

The aforementioned football facility is among the best in the northeast and while the budget shortfalls are alarming, Benedict says there is strong financial support to hire a new coach and, potentially, build new facilities to help pull the football program off the mat.

What new facilities does the program need?

 

[Banta55]

What new facilities does the program need?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[coachcap]

It's a very fair article. I think this is the most important sentence:

The aforementioned football facility is among the best in the northeast and while the budget shortfalls are alarming, Benedict says there is strong financial support to hire a new coach and, potentially, build new facilities to help pull the football program off the mat.

Hmm... we have the Burton & Schenk. Would this inference mean improving the outdoor practice field, the expansion of the RENT to its 55,000 blueprint max, or adding artificial turf to the RENT as that's what the team practices on inside anyway?

 

[Adios]

The only reason to do that was for the payoff down the road. Well, we're down the road and there's been no payoff. What was he doing?

Boosting his ego.

 

[PAGS]

What new facilities does the program need?

A lazy river? Maybe a water slide? Bowling alley?

 

[UCSouth]

A lazy river? Maybe a water slide? Bowling alley?

Maybe a printing press, in order to make the money that will be required to do everything that needs to be done.

 

[Yup!]

Hmmm, strong financial support. Butch Jones used to have tough teams at Cinci. They used to manhandle UConn and TJ was his assistant.

I say bring them both

 

[HuskyDogArt]

What new facilities does the program need?

Not sure if we need anything. The only facilities we need is a coach that has 100% of his facilities when dealing with the press...

 

[scotty0330]

New coach gets wins fans will come back themselves. Not sure a grass roots recruiting effort is needed. They are starved for something other than a tire fire to watch after a fun tailgate

 

[Waquoit]

Maybe they want the kickers room changed back into a repository for health snacks.