A Lot Riding on Opening Day
By, Matt Schonvisky
The importance of the debut season under head coach Bob Diaco for the UCONN football team cannot be understated. The watchful eyes of potential suitors for an athletic program and university looking for a way out from utter conference realignment hell, will be looking on with great interest as the Huskies hit the gridiron in August.
Those that believe statements can be made in just one week of a college football season will get the chance to see if there is indeed a pulse at Rentschler Field right off the bat. Brigham Young University comes into East Hartford on August 29th in front of a national television audience on ESPN; the marquee Friday night game on opening weekend.
What better setting is there for UCONN to re-establish themselves in good graces in the college football world? Heading in, the Huskies will be attempting to extend a three-game winning streak. Those wins over Temple, Rutgers and Memphis, closed the books on interim head coach TJ Weist and the rest of the holdovers from the Paul Pasqualoni and Randy Edsall regimes, sans offensive line coach Mike Foley.
There is a new aura surrounding the words ‘UCONN football’ around campus and most, if not all of that can be credited to the understated outgoing personality of Coach D.
“The way we operate our organization, there’s nowhere to hide,” Diaco told CBSsports.com. “It’s so clear. There’s no way that, if you’re not totally invested, that you’re going to have success or survive. It quickly gets separated. We’re really not finding that. These players are very excited about being better than they would otherwise be. They’re sick of losing. They want to win. They want to go to bowls. They’re wide open. It’s a fun group to work with.”
So far this offseason, the new head coach has preached and oh can he preach. From quoting poems and Shakespeare, to telling stories about scorpions and rivers, Diaco has quickly started to breathe life and energy into a program that lost touch with the people who matter the most, the fans.
Averaging just 30,932 (77% capacity) in a season that included a pre-season top 10 team (Louisville), the return of a head coach who left in bad terms (Maryland) and the winningest football program in college football history (Michigan); is a reminder of how far interest in UCONN football has fallen in the three years since the Randy Edsall era.
In those three seasons, UCONN has gone from the quickest and most successful up-and-coming program in Division I football, to the bud of everyone’s jokes nationwide; much deserved for a team that lost to Buffalo 41-12.
But now there is hope. Now there is optimism. Now there is a young and fiery coach at the helm. Now a quarterback returns in Casey Cochran, who set records in passing yards and TD’s in the final game of 2013. Now there is anticipation from the fans and student body that something is indeed brewing as they wait for BYU.
August 29th promises to be a program changer for UCONN football. With a new staff in place, the Huskies host their biggest name opening day opponent in the history of Rentschler Field. Will the performance match the anticipation? Will the players live up to the spotlight, much like they did against Michigan one year ago? Will they have the intestinal fortitude to come out of opening day 1-0?
Coach Diaco nailed his introductory press conference and came away with an astounding first impression. But you only get one shot on the field to show that things really have changed. Come the close of that Friday night on Labor Day weekend, a lot will be known on the direction of not only the 2014 season, but the potential foreseeable future of the entire program and athletic department. But no pressure guys, it’s only a game.
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