More important than athletics:

[Drew]

From this article: http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...co-middlesex-chamber-0828-20150827-story.html

"He also took the opportunity to talk about academics. He said 31 Huskies are on the academic honor roll, four with 4.0 grade-point averages and zero in academic trouble. "So we're winning," he said."

This is really, really impressive. Look around the country and very few other programs have academic success with their players like this. Wanted to give credit where credit is due, these guys seem to be working their tails off both on and off the field.

 

[J187Money]

From this article: http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...co-middlesex-chamber-0828-20150827-story.html

"He also took the opportunity to talk about academics. He said 31 Huskies are on the academic honor roll, four with 4.0 grade-point averages and zero in academic trouble. "So we're winning," he said."

This is really, really impressive. Look around the country and very few other programs have academic success with their players like this. Wanted to give credit where credit is due, these guys seem to be working their tails off both on and off the field.

I know not everyone cares about this - but I'm much happier with someone like Diaco than someone who is just a FB coach and doesn't care. Doesn't mean that I want to let him off the hook re: winning, but with the amount of time I put into supporting UCONN as a whole (not just sports) I think this is important.

 

[Wildgopher]

I was at the Breakfast. Diaco is a great speaker. He really cares about these kids. I like Diaco and the way he thinks. I really hope he is a great success at UConn. I believe this team will have us rooting very hard for them. I can't wait to see the stadium filled with excitement again!!!!

 

[huskymedic]

Wain getting his kicks on the field and in the classroom at UConn
http://runwayramblings.blogspot.com/2015/08/wain-getting-his-kicks-on-field-and-in.html

>>Twice during Wain's time at UConn he earn a 4.0 grade-point average and more often than not, his GPA has been north of 3.9.<<

>>Wain might be onto something in terms of the correlation between special teams productivity and academic success. A total of 31 football players marched in the parade of UConn student-athletes with at least a 3.0 in either the spring or fall, 2014 semester. Joining Wain on the list was starting kicker Bobby Puyol, long snapper Dom Manco and punt protector Sean Marinan. When UConn recognized its top student-athletes at halftime of a February women's basketball game against South Carolina, Wain, Marinan and reserve kicker Will Rishell were among the 20 athletes in all sports honored for attaining a 4.0 GPA.<<

 

[businesslawyer]

LMAO. Before we fall all over ourselves on this, recognize that the three players named above as the best academically all came to UConn as walk-ons. Good for the young men (great for the young men) but if Rutgers was lauding its student athletes by pointing to walk ons this board would be laughing hysterically.

 

[BNich]

LMAO. Before we fall all over ourselves on this, recognize that the three players named above as the best academically all came to UConn as walk-ons. Good for the young men (great for the young men) but if Rutgers was lauding its student athletes by pointing to walk ons this board would be laughing hysterically.

Way to absolutely shoot down the accomplishments and achievements of these young men. Sure they came in as walk ons. They work out just the same as the scholarship guys. They practice just the same as the others. They watch fill and study just the same as the rest of them. Just look at what Pat Lenehan did on the basketball team. Earned a scholarship and has an incredible mind. Regardless of their status scholarship or otherwise, they put in the same work as everyone else. They're busting their humps to earn that scholarship. And to top it all off they're killing it in the classroom. Sure you said good for them. But there should no negativity at all in this thread regarding the accomplishments of every single one of those athletes. Too many student athletes piss opportunities away because of poor academics. Can we pause a second and actually applaud those that achieve great things. Heck, one of them could turn out be President of the United States one day (i'm sure you'll poke fun at that too). Would you laugh hysterically at them then? I don't think there should be anything negative or even naming them as walk-ons for their academic success. That is so insignificant.

 

[sportsart]

LMAO. Before we fall all over ourselves on this, recognize that the three players named above as the best academically all came to UConn as walk-ons. Good for the young men (great for the young men) but if Rutgers was lauding its student athletes by pointing to walk ons this board would be laughing hysterically.

I think the gist of the article ended up being that kickers and special team players are smart. Nothing more and most likely meant to be read with a smile.

 

[freescooter]

LMAO. Before we fall all over ourselves on this, recognize that the three players named above as the best academically all came to UConn as walk-ons. Good for the young men (great for the young men) but if Rutgers was lauding its student athletes by pointing to walk ons this board would be laughing hysterically.

I was thinking the same thing. I've come around on this. I truly think that we need to just forget about this nonsense. Does anyone care whether Jamis Winston has a 4.0? In a university with 15000 undergrads or so, there is room for 60 football player and 9 basketball players to hide. A mayor one told me he filled jobs 1/3 on merit, 2/3 on political loyalty. But of the 2/3 he estimated 75% were qualified for their jobs. Hence a majority not supported him and were competent. That should be our approach.

 

[sdhusky]

LMAO. Before we fall all over ourselves on this, recognize that the three players named above as the best academically all came to UConn as walk-ons. Good for the young men (great for the young men) but if Rutgers was lauding its student athletes by pointing to walk ons this board would be laughing hysterically.

There is no walkon in team.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

There is no walkon in team.

That's your takeaway from his comment? Good grief.

 

[sportsart]

Freescooter and Bizlaw thinking the same way. Maybe we will go 13-0 after all.

 

[businesslawyer]

Freescooter and Bizlaw thinking the same way. Maybe we will go 13-0 after all.

If Palatine agrees as well I will reconsider.

 

[businesslawyer]

Way to absolutely shoot down the accomplishments and achievements of these young men. Sure they came in as walk ons. They work out just the same as the scholarship guys. They practice just the same as the others. They watch fill and study just the same as the rest of them. Just look at what Pat Lenehan did on the basketball team. Earned a scholarship and has an incredible mind. Regardless of their status scholarship or otherwise, they put in the same work as everyone else. They're busting their humps to earn that scholarship. And to top it all off they're killing it in the classroom. Sure you said good for them. But there should no negativity at all in this thread regarding the accomplishments of every single one of those athletes. Too many student athletes piss opportunities away because of poor academics. Can we pause a second and actually applaud those that achieve great things. Heck, one of them could turn out be President of the United States one day (i'm sure you'll poke fun at that too). Would you laugh hysterically at them then? I don't think there should be anything negative or even naming them as walk-ons for their academic success. That is so insignificant.

Intentional or not, that is a totally incorrect interpretation of what I said. It is a major, major accomplishment for a real student athlete to walk onto a diviision 1 team, keep that schedule and make outstanding grades. I specifically said it spoke highly of those young men. And as someone who lettered at a division 3 school, I know how hard it is even with a much lesser commitment to a team.

My point, which everyone else seemed to get, was that using the achievement of walk ons as if it reflects on the program and the players being recruited and given scholarships is very misleading. And that if BC's coach made a similar statetment, we'd have a four page thread criticizing him for it.

 

[J187Money]

I was thinking the same thing. I've come around on this. I truly think that we need to just forget about this nonsense. Does anyone care whether Jamis Winston has a 4.0? In a university with 15000 undergrads or so, there is room for 60 football player and 9 basketball players to hide. A mayor one told me he filled jobs 1/3 on merit, 2/3 on political loyalty. But of the 2/3 he estimated 75% were qualified for their jobs. Hence a majority not supported him and were competent. That should be our approach.

Great. Using local government as a model for success. We better hope that Diaco runs a team better than political hacks run my local tax office.

And you want 4/5 star athletes? Great. I will take them with lower expectations. I've never once worried about the BB team other than that they stay eligible. But for now we can't get that level of talent for football and there are a million 3 star kids. We might as well pick great students and citizens and coach them up.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If Palatine agrees as well I will reconsider.

The way I see it, if Palatine & Nelson Muntz agree on something posted in the Cesspool it will be pretty safe to assume Armageddon is on its way.

 

[businesslawyer]

The way I see it, if Palatine & Nelson Muntz agree on something posted in the Cesspool it will be pretty safe to assume Armageddon is on its way.

It's not that I'd be ready for the world to end if that happened. But I'd certainly make sure I drank all the good, old red wines in the cellar. In the next 48 hours.

 

[freescooter]

We need to become good. The Boise of be East let's call it. Which means we need to accept that we will be taking some guys who they euphimisticly refer to as academic risks. There are lots of Academic starsplayers. at UConn. They don't need to be football players.

 

[blue93]

We need to become good. The Boise of be East let's call it. Which means we need to accept that we will be taking some guys who they euphimisticly refer to as academic risks. There are lots of Academic starsplayers. at UConn. They don't need to be football players.

They don't need to be academic stars. They simply need to meet the academic standards. But when some of them excel in the classroom, they should be commended for it, not belittled by their "fans" on a message board.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Players aren't being belittled. I think that businesslawyer is just pointing out something that is obvious amongst D1 football programs...often times, walk-ons function to bolster team GPAs rather than make on-field contributions. That's no secret.

 

[J187Money]

And btw we should care about the kids. Since maybe only one or two of them a year will make real money in the pros, we should be really happy that they are getting an education. Most of them will need it.

 

[blue93]

Players aren't being belittled. I think that businesslawyer is just pointing out something that is obvious amongst D1 football programs...often times, walk-ons function to bolster team GPAs rather than make on-field contributions. That's no secret.

First of all, I'm not arguing with businesslawyer, I responded to what freescooter said. The point of the article/quotes were to show that guys (and not only walkons - 31 players made the honor roll) are succeeding in the classroom. That's something to be proud of. Yet, freescooter literally just said that we need to take risks on guys with possible academic issues to turn into "Boise State of the East". I view that as belittling the accomplishments of the guys we have who are busting their tails off in the classroom as well as on the field. We should be happy for them, not arguing that we should be bringing in different types of student-athletes.

I'm not saying that our guys need to be geniuses, but at the same time, being a good football player and a good student are not mutually exclusive. We don't need to take on academic risks to be a good football team. I like the way that Diaco is targeting RKGs to represent our University.

 

[Waquoit]

We don't need to take on academic risks to be a good football team.

Duke takes academic risks fer criss sakes. Woofing about the GPA is what programs do when they aren't winning. All I want is for players to do their own work and stay off academic probation, more than that I really don't care. Deans list players are gravy, a nice to have.

 

[blue93]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure we have our fair share of academic risks on our team now. It's just the way things are. I just don't agree with the mindset of taking on more academic risk for the sake of better football. I like the balance we have now and I think the guys we have/are bringing in have the right make up to be successful on and off the field.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

We need to become good. The Boise of be East let's call it. Which means we need to accept that we will be taking some guys who they euphimisticly refer to as academic risks. There are lots of Academic starsplayers. at UConn. They don't need to be football players.

The worst thing we can do is build the program on a foundation that would need to be abandoned the second we land in a P-5 conference. This is not a concern however as the school's president and athletic director are in lock-step on how the program should be built and a major reason the current head coach was hired was because he is in full agreement.