UConn Football 2014 - A New Hope

StuckOnYouk · Jan 3, 2014

Years from now we'll wonder where the 2013 UConn football thread was only to rememer it never existed.

Thanks for creating a new one. The stench of Pasquolini's era is finally wiped clean. Diaco and Poindexter are supposed to be very good recruiters, we'll see how they do at UConn.

Skeesix · Jan 7, 2014

Is it OK to say how happy I am with how the UConn coaching search went? We had high quality candidates who seemed interested, we moved quickly, and we got an early jump on recruiting.

This is especially with how many high profile schools seem to have bungled their own coaching searches this year. This isn't to say that I would not have been overjoyed if Sarkasian came onboard to UConn especially at this point in time, but I'd have to imagine USC could strongly do better. As for other schools, well Penn State may still salvage their search but I think even at UConn I wouldn't be super amped about getting Mike Munchak.

Captaincoop · Jan 7, 2014

It's going to be fun to watch a team that isn't 100% unprepared to play Division I football for the first time in several years.

TheYaz67 · Jan 16, 2014

A new hope, and.................... a new controversy before the season even begins....

When UConn assistant football coach Ernest Jones talked about spirituality in his role as director of player engagement, he set off a controversy that prompted the school president to say that "employees can't appear to endorse or advocate for a particular religion or spiritual philosophy as part of their work or in their interactions with students."

Jones, also the running backs coach, told The Courant in a story Sunday that "we're going to make sure [players] understand that Jesus Christ should be in the center of our huddle, that that's something that is important." He also implied that head coach Bob Diaco felt the same way.

UConn President Susan Herbst, in a letter that appears in Wednesday's Courant, responded.

"At public universities we value everyone in our community, and treat each person with the same degree of respect, regardless of who they are, what their background is, or what their beliefs may be," Herbst wrote. "Every student, including student-athletes, must know they are accepted and welcomed at UConn. Always. Our staff should educate and guide students, to ensure they are well-prepared for life at UConn and beyond. But it should go without saying that our employees cannot appear to endorse or advocate for a particular religion or spiritual philosophy as part of their work at the university, or in their interactions with our students. This applies to work-related activity anywhere on or off campus, including on the football field. Our athletic director and Coach Diaco agree wholeheartedly with me, and have made this clear to their staff."

http://articles.courant.com/2014-01-15/sports/hc-uconn-football-religion-0115-20140114_1_uconn-president-susan-herbst-bob-diaco-touchdown-jesus

Skeesix · Jan 16, 2014

A new hope, and.................... a new controversy before the season even begins....

http://articles.courant.com/2014-01-15/sports/hc-uconn-football-religion-0115-20140114_1_uconn-president-susan-herbst-bob-diaco-touchdown-jesus

In fairness, Jesus Christ in the huddle is a dumb fucking thing to say unless you're literally going to be distributing loaves and fishes or curing blindness. Rubbing mud in someone's eyes is a half and half. I have to imagine that whatever his beliefs Coach Diaco knows this.

Dan Murfman · Jan 29, 2014

And the latest controversy. A non white Jonathan.

I really couldn't believe that people are actually upset. How could anyone be upset with that puppy?

BigMike · Jan 29, 2014

Dan Murfman said:
And the latest controversy. A non white Jonathan.

I really couldn't believe that people are actually upset. How could anyone be upset with that puppy?

Racists

Doug Beerabelli · Jan 30, 2014

Dan Murfman said:
And the latest controversy. A non white Jonathan.

I really couldn't believe that people are actually upset. How could anyone be upset with that puppy?

It's a malamulatto!

Plantiers Wart · Sep 8, 2014

QB Casey Cochran has quit football due to concussions.

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/hc-casey-cochran-career-over-0909-20140908,0,6865970.story

OCST · Oct 7, 2014

Just bumping this long-dead thread to show that no one cares to discuss this trainwreck.

I had hope that a new coach could get this team to semi-respectability, and that they would get off the island of misfit toys and into a real league.

No such luck.

Doug Beerabelli · Oct 7, 2014

Not looking good, but I'm willing to give it some time.

There will be a good football game at the Rent this Friday night.

Clears Cleaver · Oct 7, 2014

Since the first year of Calhoun's tenure, I am pretty sure that this year's UConn football team is the worst/least competitive major sports team at UConn. They had worse football teams, but were division 1-AA.

I hold out hope that they drop football and successfully offer up their hoops and Olympics sports to a P5 conference. Like every team north of the Mason-Dixon, football will never matter or be competitive nationally at UConn. The only point was the get into a conference with a football-centric TV contract. That is not happening nor will happen anytime soon. Cut bait and try to save hoops, baseball et al where UConn can compete. no one cares about UConn football. It is a money loser.

#optimist

Plantiers Wart · Oct 7, 2014

This is the low water mark resulting from the Coach Blue years. I think Diacco will turn this around. As for getting into a bigger conference, UConn might be the one school where the hoops program drags the football along with it.

Skeesix · Oct 7, 2014

OilCanShotTupac said:
Just bumping this long-dead thread to show that no one cares to discuss this trainwreck.

I had hope that a new coach could get this team to semi-respectability, and that they would get off the island of misfit toys and into a real league.

No such luck.

It's really amazing how much damage the Pasqualoni hire did. Some of it was timing of course, with respect to conference expansion. But plenty of it was just a poor job of running the program. Even the Michigan slide pales in comparison.

Clears Cleaver · Oct 12, 2014

I hope they disband the program

Doug Beerabelli · Nov 3, 2014

Gotta bump for UConn's upset defeat of UCF. This is Diaco's signature AAC victory as coach of UConn. It's also his first AAC victory as coach of UConn.

Woo hoo!

Clears Cleaver · Nov 3, 2014

Doug Beerabelli said:
Gotta bump for UConn's upset defeat of UCF. This is Diaco's signature AAC victory as coach of UConn. It's also his first AAC victory as coach of UConn.

Woo hoo!

you can't just march into the Rent in November and expect to walk out a winner!

Clears Cleaver · Nov 9, 2014

Then get beat by Army while giving up 35 points. Hard to take Diaco seriouslyafter that. He's seen option offense every year as ND d coordinator and uconn was totally baffled. Tells me it was talent over teaching. He's awful.

Philip Jeff Frye · Nov 9, 2014

You guys know that Army lost to Yale earlier this season, right?

OCST · Dec 6, 2014

Wow.

Losing to 0-11 SMU, at home, in front of the marching band and almost no one else, to finish a 2-10 year in an abortion of a conference that absolutely no one cares about?

Is there lower than this?

OCST · Dec 6, 2014

Philip Jeff Frye said:
You guys know that Army lost to Yale earlier this season, right?

when I was at Yale in the late 80's, we played UConn every year. They stopped the game around the time the old Yankee Confetence fell apart

I have no doubt Yale would beat UConn this year.

StuckOnYouk · Dec 6, 2014

The last 24 hours have been humiliating.

berniecarbo1 · Dec 6, 2014

There's a reason Diaco got no offers a few years ago when he was asst coach if the year and ND was in the national title game. This season at UConn showed why.

He just set the program back 5 years. Admit the mistake and unload him now. 2-10 is unacceptable. The team has actually regressed this year. What...a..,,disaster

Doug Beerabelli · Dec 6, 2014

Amen, Bernie.

StuckOnYouk · Dec 7, 2014

Unload him when they still owe him 4 years?

Diaco is coaching with non P5 talent. He lost his starting QB and most of the line from a 2013 team that had 3 wins.
I will grant you as a first time head coach he has some gaffes, there just wasn't a lot of talent at all on this years team IMO.

Now maybe he does suck as a coach but any sane person will give him another 2 years with his own players to get more of a read on it.

UConns future likely rides on Diaco. If he succeeds with low rated recruits that he builds up we have some shot at a P5 invite in the next 5-10 years.
If he shits the bed we go back to the Big East. Is that so bad? Let's be honest no northeastern college football team outside of penn state will ever win a national championship so what's the point anyway.

I would have no problem going back to the big east within 5 or so years. It sure would help recruiting and the BE and Madison square garden would get a lift as well. And maybe by then we will be competing for a hockey east championship!

Clears Cleaver · Dec 8, 2014

Stuck - Diaco is an embarrassment. His team does nothing well, is not oprganized, does not scheme well, is not fundamentally sound and does not play hard. The talent sucks but there is not one single thing about this team or program that is headed in the right direction. Keeping him another year to listen to his BS is just another year waiting for someone else who might have a clue take over the program.

But let's face it, UConn football is dead. It is never going to be relevant in CT never mind New England or nationally. If Herbst was smart, and I think she is, you kill football and hope to save hoops and the Olympic prgrams and offer them up at a discount to the Big10 or ACC.

If the B12 expands after seeing TCA and Baylor get shut out of the playoff, they likely ask Cincinati and UCF. then what is the AAC? LOLOL. What a joke.

berniecarbo1 · Dec 8, 2014

Clears Cleaver said:
Stuck - Diaco is an embarrassment. His team does nothing well, is not oprganized, does not scheme well, is not fundamentally sound and does not play hard. The talent sucks but there is not one single thing about this team or program that is headed in the right direction. Keeping him another year to listen to his BS is just another year waiting for someone else who might have a clue take over the program.

But let's face it, UConn football is dead. It is never going to be relevant in CT never mind New England or nationally. If Herbst was smart, and I think she is, you kill football and hope to save hoops and the Olympic prgrams and offer them up at a discount to the Big10 or ACC.

If the B12 expands after seeing TCA and Baylor get shut out of the playoff, they likely ask Cincinati and UCF. then what is the AAC? LOLOL. What a joke.

I agree with most of what you are saying Clears, but most likely the XII goes West and brings in Colorado State and perhaps Nevada or BYU to get to 12 teams.....outside shot with UCF. Unlikely with Cincy based on the school's demographics. But all in all this season did nothing positive for UConn football. You can't lose at home to an 0-11 team, end up 2-10 yourself with one of those wins against an FCS school. So in actuality they finished 1-10 in the FBS. If you look at the schedule they should have ended up at 5-7 at least. Tulane, Army, SMU, Stony Brook and possibly Temple should have been in the win column when you laid out the season. They didbn;t come close other than the upset win with UCF. If you end up 1-10 and lose to an 0-11 team at home on Senior Day....you have lost your team and deserve to be shown the door.

As for leaving $$ on the table, you learn the hard way that you made a mistake, eat the loss and move on. Kansas and ND both did it with Tuna Light ($26.4M to stay home...ain't bad). You have a D1 football team to get to bowl games, share in revenue, and enhance your school's brand. The chances of anyone other than the "Old Guard" winning a national title is remote. But honestly, even before this, wasn't it remote for most programs? The goal was to get to a New Years Bowl and be on national TV. That is the achievement for most programs. You got that a few years ago in the Fiesta Bowl. The fact UConn won't win a national title in football is not unique to the Huskies.

Like hoops (where UConn IS a Marquee 15 program) the vast majority of schools will never make it to the Final 4. If that is the only reason for putting your teams on the field/court then college sports should devolve to 16 hoops teams and 15- 20 football teams and everyone else should run club teams. It is getting to the post season and having a successful program that is the real end game, IMHO.

Clears Cleaver · Dec 11, 2014

I agree with everything u said. My point is that sports fans in CT expect their teams to be able to compete nationally and for titles. Every team does. Uconn football will never do that. What is the upside ? Beat Rutgers or BC? When they played on New Year's Day no one went and season ticket sales were down the following year. The fan base was waning before that.

You are making point that cfb is about rivalries for most schools. Uconn has no rivals. BC? Eh. Syracuse in hoops maybe. Rutgers? You see the problem. There is nothing to play for.

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