UConn football 2012

Williams Head Case

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RedOctober3829

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Doug Beerabelli said:
Sadly, that's not a surprise they'd do this half assed.   I hope it's because there's another equally viable candidate that will take whatever deal is offerred.
It's a state school.  Like other state schools, they have restrictions placed upon salaries and also the amount of multi-year contracts they can give out.  It sucks, but that's the way it is.
 
Of course, there's ways to get around it but I wouldn't kill UConn over it.  They don't want to be good in football anyways.
 

Williams Head Case

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Any chance this is just cover for holding out for a better job to open up? Narduzzi might think he is the next HC at Michigan State if a top program were to hire away Dantonio - the assistant's pay might just be cover. It's probably more upsetting to me that this got leaked by someone within UConn or their search firm. Makes UConn look exceptionally second rate to be turned down like that and, as Kevin Duffy from the CT Post mentioned, might hurt our standing with other candidates who don't want to be Plan B's.
 

Captaincoop

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Any chance this is just cover for holding out for a better job to open up? Narduzzi might think he is the next HC at Michigan State if a top program were to hire away Dantonio - the assistant's pay might just be cover. It's probably more upsetting to me that this got leaked by someone within UConn or their search firm. Makes UConn look exceptionally second rate to be turned down like that and, as Kevin Duffy from the CT Post mentioned, might hurt our standing with other candidates who don't want to be Plan B's.


What makes you think it wasn't Narduzzi himself or someone on his end who leaked it? He's the one who stands to benefit from this story going public.
 

BigMike

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RedOctober3829 said:
@McMurphyESPN: Notre Dame DC Bob Diaco in "serious negotiations" to become UConn coach, source told @ESPN
 
Interesting.  I liked Diaco last year.  Obviously a tough year for the Irish this year.  I am surprised to see him get attention this year.   Rumors last year were he had 4 different jobs, and managed to lose all of them.   I don't really believe it, for example I think Addazio had the BC job and the whole interview cycle was a farce,  so I don't think Diaco lost that.  
 
One of the knocks on him was he is bad with the press.  Honestly I looked at some of the clips other complained about and didn't see problems
 
He id definitely more of a smartest guy in the room type coach like a Harbaugh type.  Versus the fire and brimstome, all passion and effort type (Addazio)
 
I do know he is a smart guy and a dogged recruiter.  I would probably hire Lembo if I were them, as I think he is a safer choice and a good coach who would do well,  but Diaco is certainly more of a swing for the fences type
 

StuckOnYouk

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I was all for Narduzzi and I don't buy one bit that there was an issue on coaches salary, but what do I know. I just think once the Saban rumors got out there he wanted to wait and UConn didn't. Plus he's in a damn good spot as is.
 
But to me once you lost him Diaco was on that second level of guys, which I'm still thrilled about.
 
Either is a hell of an improvement on the Pasquoloni/DeLeone disaster that set this school back a decade and at least temporarily cost it a spot in a big conference.
 
All in all a very good day for UConn sports. I'd love to seem them keep Weist as the OC, but that will be up to Diaco.
 

StuckOnYouk

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Funny, the 2013 Broyles winner as top assistant passed us today, so we get the 2012 winner and 2011 runner up.
 
The pool of coaches we had to pick from this go-around was light years ahead of the post-Edsall search.
 

StuckOnYouk

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RedOctober3829 said:
It's a state school.  Like other state schools, they have restrictions placed upon salaries and also the amount of multi-year contracts they can give out.  It sucks, but that's the way it is.
 
Of course, there's ways to get around it but I wouldn't kill UConn over it.  They don't want to be good in football anyways.
Why don't they want to be good in football? That's the only way they get into a P5, which is where all the money is. 
 

Williams Head Case

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Love this move... BUT DID THEY CLEAR IT WITH THE CT HIGH SCHOOL COACHES FIRST?!?!?!?!?! Then again, after PP/GDL you could talk me into anyone. Still, all the ND people I know say this is a fantastic move for UConn. One adding that Diaco is a stone cold fox. And I have to agree...
 
[youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71eT7gg-D3A [/youtube]
 
Judge his charisma/engagement/personality from that. I certainly like what I see. Plus UConn gets a northeastern guy, which they always seem to value. Somewhere, Houston Nutt weeps.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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Glad they got it done quickly, glad they got somebody who seems viable to get the program back on track.   The facilities are there, the quality of the institution is there.   Can he recruit well enough and get results on the field well enough to position them for getting back into a P5 conference should the opportunity arise?   Hope so.
 

ivanvamp

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Doug Beerabelli said:
Glad they got it done quickly, glad they got somebody who seems viable to get the program back on track.   The facilities are there, the quality of the institution is there.   Can he recruit well enough and get results on the field well enough to position them for getting back into a P5 conference should the opportunity arise?   Hope so.
 
I think it's just a matter of time til UConn ends up in the ACC.
 

Captaincoop

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Not a huge Diaco fan. I would have wanted Lembo after Narduzzi turned it down. He just doesn't have enough of a track record of success to overcome the lack of head coaching experience, imho.
 

sachmoney

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BigMike said:
He id definitely more of a smartest guy in the room type coach like a Harbaugh type.  Versus the fire and brimstome, all passion and effort type (Addazio)
I don't get the sense that Harbaugh is a smartest guy in the room type at all. Actually, I see a lot more of the fire, brimstone, all passion and effort stuff from him. But your sentiment stands.
 
I think this is a really solid hire for UConn. Diacco isn't just a great coach, he's a really good recruiter. Hopefully, he can get that program up and running.
 
I've been touting Narduzzi as a HC for a year now and I'm glad somebody (not just AD, but the fan base) wanted him. As I said before, get him out of the Big Ten. Haha.
 

StuckOnYouk

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Captaincoop said:
Not a huge Diaco fan. I would have wanted Lembo after Narduzzi turned it down. He just doesn't have enough of a track record of success to overcome the lack of head coaching experience, imho.
He'll recruit better then Lembo IMO. That's half the battle. The other half will be putting a good coaching staff in place. 
 
To me right now UConn needed a guy who would be really good at bringing in the 3's and maybe an occasional 4. I think Diaco would be better then Lembo for that.
 
There are two or 3 coaches on the offensive side of the ball that I would love for Diaco to keep...or at least 1-2 of them, but who knows.
 
Of course my strong preference was Narduzzi, but he was just too hot for UConn. if MSU had given up 40 against OSU and lost and the whole texas/alabama shake wasnt going on right now, who knows.
 

sachmoney

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Is it me or have the roles of Narduzzi and Diacco reversed this time around? Diacco seemed like the hot candidate following Notre Dame's flukish championship game run last year and Narduzzi was under the radar. It seems like the opposite now.
 

Williams Head Case

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ivanvamp said:
 
I didn't see the PC.  Can you describe how it went?
 
Made me want to kick down a door and run through walls. He is a bundle of energy, very intense and engaging - despite the fact he said he had been awake three days straight. Let's see here, he quoted St. Augustine (in Latin), Knute Rockne, and Garth Brooks. That's different. He kissed the ring of CT high school coaches. That's unfortunately the same. He talked about protecting himself from energy vampires so..... And yeah sounded like he might give some pretty fiery pre-game speeches. I might be able to deadlift 2000 lbs if I had him and Kevin Ollie at the gym with me.
 
Overall though I think he "won" the press conference. From what I could tell on twitter, the UConn beat reporters came away very impressed. You can watch it here. You won't have to watch for long to get what he is all about.
 

doldmoose34

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Williams Head Case said:
 
Made me want to kick down a door and run through walls. He is a bundle of energy, very intense and engaging - despite the fact he said he had been awake three days straight. Let's see here, he quoted St. Augustine (in Latin), Knute Rockne, and Garth Brooks. That's different. He kissed the ring of CT high school coaches. That's unfortunately the same. He talked about protecting himself from energy vampires so..... And yeah sounded like he might give some pretty fiery pre-game speeches. I might be able to deadlift 2000 lbs if I had him and Kevin Ollie at the gym with me.
 
Overall though I think he "won" the press conference. From what I could tell on twitter, the UConn beat reporters came away very impressed. You can watch it here. You won't have to watch for long to get what he is all about.
No smarmy coments from me here today this is just the hire that you guys needed

WHC. Last Jan I was at a town hall meeting for season ticket holders held by Bates to start to rid us of the stink from DiFlippo. He had Adaziao come in and 'speak for 5 min' she. He finished taking questions 45 min later I was ready to pull on the helmet

Congrats
 

berniecarbo1

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I think you got this one right.  If he can recruit, its a win. My only concern is can he run a program. I don;t think the resume says anything about being an HC at any collegiate level. People can be great coordinators and lousy HC's.  Time will tell. But Congrats. Now you have to look at getting into a P5 conference. At the end of the day, the program will sink or swim based on revenues and AQ conference affiliations. Mush easier to recruit the top tier guys when you are in P5 conference than when you are not.
 
Good Luck.
 

Captaincoop

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He inherits what looks like a good QB situation. It will be interesting to see if he wants the Brian Kelly/Cincy style offense or if he maintains the grind it out style that UConn has seemingly always played.

I can imagine it might be hard to get the volume of athletic skill position guys necessary to spread it out.

The OC hire is going to be very important and should tell us a lot. I don't think Weist can be an option, it is a bad dynamic to have on the staff a guy who wanted the job himself. Especially for a head coach with no experience running a staff and a program.
 

bosox188

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Captaincoop said:
He inherits what looks like a good QB situation. It will be interesting to see if he wants the Brian Kelly/Cincy style offense or if he maintains the grind it out style that UConn has seemingly always played.

I can imagine it might be hard to get the volume of athletic skill position guys necessary to spread it out.

The OC hire is going to be very important and should tell us a lot. I don't think Weist can be an option, it is a bad dynamic to have on the staff a guy who wanted the job himself. Especially for a head coach with no experience running a staff and a program.
 
With the quarterback's they've had, they've really never had a choice.
 

Williams Head Case

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Diaco kissed goodbye the entire remaining coaching staff save for Foley as TE coach. There goes Tyler Lorenzen's campaign to bring in DJ Hernandez.
 
Also, if you haven't had the chance to listen to Diaco, he just did a hit on Jim Rome's show that you can listen to here. And yes, he did end the interview by reciting a poem.