UConn athletic director David Benedict searching for next football coach: "We need some charisma"

[HardFacts]

I am very glad to read this. For those who respond... "I just want wins... everything else takes care of itself".... yes... that's assumed. This is an extra element that is needed right now.

We all knew that the media and fans were a nuisance to Edsall. That's cute at Alabama...but a disaster at UConn. And really not cute when the team sucks. Maybe giving more media access or having a spring game is actually a good thing.

This puts Benedict on the spot...now he needs to deliver on this. Hard to hire a cranky old retread after making these statements.

Welp Warde was asking the right questions... just came up with the wrong answers. Yes it was a show... and unfortunately the style and show is all he had under the hood.

Riley: Oklahoma and Bob Diaco a 'perfect match'​

Still selling himself! Now at Oklahoma!

 

[huskymedic]

Riley: Oklahoma and Bob Diaco a 'perfect match'​

Still selling himself! Now at Oklahoma!

That was from 2018…

 

[HuskyDogArt]

He did learn something, answer the phone when Mr Burton calls. Burton hated the Pasqualoni hire, and he had Hathaway fired for it. Burton and his two sons, one of whom was team captain of the 1999 Huskies could easily come up with major bucks for a new coach. The family business filed for chapter 11 but the personal wealth of the family is still several hundred million.

What business is the Burton in?

 

[CL82]

What business is the Burton in?

Owns car washes.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Agree 100000%!!! The stadium has to be on campus, that just would put the ribbon on the present! Some day I hope, if Big Boy football remains and they want to draw players and fans to the program, put it on campus and stop lugging kids on school buses going to a field trip while in middle school.

I know that Mansfield didn't want a stadium, and unless something changed, I doubt Mansfield wants it. Maybe the Rent, isn't perfect, but Mansfield will never allow a stadium. Rent could be great, if we can get a coach who'll win...

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Agree largely, although I do believe that having an on campus stadium makes it easier for kids to get in the habit of watching UConn football... and turning alumni into fans is the life's blood of a football program.

I agree too, that the Rent is a great place to see a game, and compares favorably to a lot of schools stadiums. Quick question, in your travels, just how many of those stadiums were off campus?

The Rent is a good stadium and I'm happy to have it, but putting it off campus was a dumb reactionary move to losing the Pats.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the town of Mansfield didn't want a big stadium built. They didn't want the traffic.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Owns car washes.

Car washes?? Here in Florida they are building more car washes...

 

[CONN78SEJ]

What business is the Burton in?

The family business is in printing and publishing, his oldest son runs it, son #2 is CFO or something, Burton Sr is technically retired but sits on the board. A tough business to be in these days, opposed to 20 or 30 years ago. Most of the family fortune is tied up in Burton Sr’s hedge fund nowadays.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

The family business is in printing and publishing, his oldest son runs it, son #2 is CFO or something, Burton Sr is technically retired but sits on the board. A tough business to be in these days, opposed to 20 or 30 years ago. Most of the family fortune is tied up in Burton Sr’s hedge fund nowadays.

Thanks...I didn't know what business he was in. Hedge funds is a tricky business...Publishing is another business that is not a growing business. Construction in Florida is booming...

 

[Pudge]

F%kk This posting of locations of a Stadium on-campus is stupid and lacking any institutional knowledge or history. You are just jerking yourself. DOES EVERYONE KNOW ... the University just bought out the BEST Student Housing Developer in the country. They wanted to build State-of-the-Art Student Housing cottages on DISCOVERY DRIVE. Have any of you toured the USA recently to see the incredible student housing development of the last 15 years. YOUR University would rather you have Kingston House or the Jungle. They won't accept a new hugely attractive enhancement to their campus - free of charge actually.

It is a backward thought - quite frankly.

Rentschler Field is a perfectly fine facility for the UCONN Football program. Thinking this State or University is funding something else is ... laugable.

We should shoot laughing emoji's everytime you think about campus locations ever again.

Dave Benedict - imho - is a perfect AD for searching for a NEW coach. IMHO. He has national vision - growing up in West Coast Football and years in SEC - and networks well. I am excited to see his choice. And while I agree with the Edsall comments - some of which the parents of players in 2005 would verbalize - he WAS a stopgap for a point in time that we had a $17m exit bill and uncertainty in Hoop. A conference dilemma and schedule unknowns. TV? This is the Perfect moment to re-energize.

And the Charisma comment. WE ARE a unique fanbase. Yes ... look around and not in the mirror. WE came from virtually nothing comparable: a low energy FCS/D1 UConn in Memorial Stadium. And yes, mention the trailers. Again WE have outstanding facilities and academic institution. The Charisma has to do with YOU. Dave Benedict needs you to buy in again. To 2005. It ain't Diaco stuff. It ain't totally Offense - sorry Palatine. It is taking a very very young roster ... and pasting on talent throughout. And a guy who has done that kind of thing before ... imho. AND if we take a DC ... so be it. My Wetdream of Joe Moorhead is not happening. But maybe Harasimiak as we look at the Minnesota score.

methinks ... Benedict acts before November. NEED every moment possible to get ready for 2022.


PS: you want to have a real estate conversation ... you should have some credibility. stop wasting our time.

 

[Pudge]

I agree too, that the Rent is a great place to see a game, and compares favorably to a lot of schools stadiums. Quick question, in your travels, just how many of those stadiums were off campus?

My other degree is UCLA. The Rose Bowl is a LONG way from Westwood - but they made it work. You could make Rentschler work and Hartford be more vibrant. Of course, that means UCONN Football is attractive winning and fun. But whomever the State/Region had think about the mixed use nature - the Cabela etc - is a duck up. Rentschler is not the issue. It is still modern and beautiful

Stop wasting our time with your stadium location nonsense.

WE are a small state. Connecticut. When I was at UCONN, most CT kids would have jobs at home. Practically made the weekend dorms empty. You travel anywhere in less than 2 hours. This is the STATE Team ... and drawing firefighters from East Haven for inexpensive fun games and beer is just as important as students from Brock Hall.

 

[JMick]

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the town of Mansfield didn't want a big stadium built. They didn't want the traffic.

Why we continue to consider the town of Mansfield when making any decisions is beyond me. They suck and we should just start ignoring them.

 

[CL82]

My other degree is UCLA. The Rose Bowl is a LONG way from Westwood - but they made it work. You could make Rentschler work and Hartford be more vibrant. Of course, that means UCONN Football is attractive winning and fun. But whomever the State/Region had think about the mixed use nature - the Cabela etc - is a duck up. Rentschler is not the issue. It is still modern and beautiful

Stop wasting our time with your stadium location nonsense.

WE are a small state. Connecticut. When I was at UCONN, most CT kids would have jobs at home. Practically made the weekend dorms empty. You travel anywhere in less than 2 hours. This is the STATE Team ... and drawing firefighters from East Haven for inexpensive fun games and beer is just as important as students from Brock Hall.

No it is the University of Connecticut's team, and it belongs it's stadium belongs on campus. I'm not sure how a stadium in East Hartford helps makes Hartford more vibrant, but I'll leave that to you to explain.

Oh and and as nice as the Rent is, it sure as heck ain't the Rose Bowl...

 

[hank970]

Um…………….no, I said they filed a chapter 11. Chapter 11 is not really a bankruptcy, it’s more a reorganization of assets, the business still functions, and can borrow money against its assets. Chapter 7 or 13 are where you lose everything and your assets are sold off. Ok boys and girls, schools over.

No, school's not over until you learn to put an apostrophe in school's, a contraction of school is...

 

[CONN78SEJ]

No, school's not over until you learn to put an apostrophe in school's, a contraction of school is...

You got me, I’m guilty of being lazy. The suggestions on my keyboard didn’t have an apostrophe. Lol

 

[BigTenFan]

Rentschler is a sterile college football experience. Needs some serious marketing to improve the image

 

[CL82]

Rentschler is a sterile college football experience. Needs some serious marketing to improve the image

Have you been there? If so when?

 

[Hoophound]

Rentschler is a sterile college football experience. Needs some serious marketing to improve the image

It’s great. When we were winning it was downright raucous. Awesome atmosphere.

Now, I wouldn’t call it sterile given all the drinking and solid tailgating. It’s a fun environment and sometimes too boozy for many, but that is definitely not sterile.

 

[BigTenFan]

Have you been there? If so when?

Last week- and a number of times in previous years.
Granted, winning will help enhance the experience but it needs something more to keep the fanbase engaged

Looking last week - the student section was almost non- existent and looking at the boxes below the press box were almost entirely empty. There does not seem to be much corporate support.

 

[CL82]

Last week- and a number of times in previous years.
Granted, winning will help enhance the experience but it needs something more to keep the fanbase engaged

Looking last week - the student section was almost non- existent and looking at the boxes below the press box were almost entirely empty. There does not seem to be much corporate support.

A decade of suck will do that. That’s not a “image issue”, that’s a coaching issue.

Seems pointless to mention it now, but Robert Griffin III famously called the Rent the loudrst place he ever played in college. Fix the team, in the stadium will be fine.

 

[gampelcrazies]

Rentschler is a sterile college football experience. Needs some serious marketing to improve the image

People will argue with you but it’s true

 

[UConnDan97]

Last week- and a number of times in previous years.
Granted, winning will help enhance the experience but it needs something more to keep the fanbase engaged

Looking last week - the student section was almost non- existent and looking at the boxes below the press box were almost entirely empty. There does not seem to be much corporate support.

"Granted, winning will help enhance the experience but..."

You could have stopped there. Even when we were losing under Pasqualoni, I was there when we added bleachers to that place to boost attendance for the Michigan game. It was loud as f$%&. We ended up losing 24-21 if I recall correctly, but it did not suffer for "experience".

I've been there when The Rent was a magical place. The difference? A decade of losing. Change that, and the rest will follow...

 

[DoctorWho85]

I love going to The Rent for games. It's a great venue you for football. I was there opening day in UCMB so it's always going to have a special place in my heart. I would absolutely love an on campus stadium as well. Gives me a reason to go back to walk around campus enjoy the sites and catch a game.

 

[BlueandOG]

1. The Rent is fine. It was mobbed with students when we were good, it will be mobbed if we become good again.
2. See point 1

 

[Blades]

UCLA. The Rose Bowl is a LONG way from Westwood - but they made it work.

True, 26 miles off campus. This is not some new thing in CFB, another one is Miami, that I mentioned above, around the same distance as Uconn. Then you have schools like USF , Pitt, etc, off campus too, just not as far.