Is it Time For Warde To Go?

[BlueMAB]

Off topic but we need more than recruiting, particularly at a school like UConn that isn't going to have our pick of 4 and 5 star recruits. We need to be able to develop players, and we need to have solid game planning and coaching.

What we witnessed this year is a coach who is able to lock down recruits fairly early in the process (we won't know how good they are for several years), but didn't seem to do much else right.

 

[huskyrob1]

Off topic but we need more than recruiting, particularly at a school like UConn that isn't going to have our pick of 4 and 5 star recruits. We need to be able to develop players, and we need to have solid game planning and coaching.

What we witnessed this year is a coach who is able to lock down recruits fairly early in the process (we won't know how good they are for several years), but didn't seem to do much else right.

We certainly need to do a better job at developing talent, that's one area where HCRE excelled and one area where HCPP failed miserably. That being said I have always felt that UCONN football also needs to do a better job at recognizing talent in state and recruiting players in state, as well as central and western Mass, and Rhode Island. The Joe Moorhead's of the world are stealing some decent players right out from under UCONN's nose while Diaco and his merry band of assistants are on expensive recruiting junkets in Florida trying to sell some kids on how fun snowstorms are.

 

[Bonehead]

We certainly need to do a better job at developing talent, that's one area where HCRE excelled and one area where HCPP failed miserably. That being said I have always felt that UCONN football also needs to do a better job at recognizing talent in state and recruiting players in state, as well as central and western Mass, and Rhode Island. The Joe Moorhead's of the world are stealing some decent players right out from under UCONN's nose while Diaco and his merry band of assistants are on expensive recruiting junkets in Florida trying to sell some kids on how fun snowstorms are.

You win with Fla kids...case closed - end of story.

You want 85 Tim Boyles go for it - but thats not going to get you to compete with the big boys - or the medium boys either. Most of the good CT HS FB players seem to have affiliation through their parents to top flight universities or their grades prevent them from being accepted to UConn. If you remember the last coach had the backing of the CT HS FB Coaches Association - look what that got him.

Who specifically did Joe Moorhead steal from right out from under UConns nose?

What specific talent are you seeing in Central and Western MA and Rhode Island do you believe the coaches are ignoring?

 

[SubbaBub]

Nice to see some people get it.

It is a complete rebuild, thanks to PP and Hathaway.

The hire cannot be judged for a couple more years.

Anyone who had bowl or other high expectations this year has noone but themselves to blame for that. That was never happening.

So you are saying there was no chance at beating Stony Brook, USF, Army, Tulane, Temple, SMU and UCF? Because that looks like 6 easy wins plus a bonus WTF win to me and I don't see a whole lot of 7 win teams staying home.

The roster wasn't winning any championships, nor beating any P5 level non conference team. But, the coaching staff is the reason we aren't bowling.

Let's all be clear on that so we can move forward.

 

[Confident Carl]

The goal is championships. Those games mean nothing.

We have a long road.

I agree. Folks need to remember the following about UCONN football under Diaco:

1. 2014 was not a program renovation, it was a Total tear down-rebuild
2. Diaco is a perfectionist - He only knows 1 way to do things - the right way
3. Diaco and staff could have done things to achieve greater results in the W-L column but didn't want to take short cuts. They made a decision to build for the future as a #1 priority. In other words they sacrificed short term gains for long term sustained success.
4. People did not like the exhibition/preseason game analogy (paying customers didn't want to hear that) but that is exactly what Diaco was doing.
5. Diaco and staff were building a culture and system designed to last for years and built on:
a. Good Nutrition
b. Strength & Conditioning
c. Discipline, Academically, Socially, Mentally*,Physically, Spiritually, Family
6. Technique - Understanding timing and footwork, fundamentals
* Mentally is huge. He needed to wash out a Negative losing mentality that had
been at UCONN the last three years.
6. Recruiting - Diaco recruited Big, tall players, smart kids that bought into his philosophy.
7. Unfortunately, the fan base has been affected by all the change and Diaco has asked us to be patient and to trust him. He knows it isn't easy. I believe he understands.
8. The team suffered major loses by injury in particular two team captains in Casey Cochran and Byron Jones.
9. We had a very young and inexperience Offensive line that got a lot better in 2014
10. We had some young pup running backs that will be great in the next couple of years and the same goes for the receiving corps.
11. Diaco has promised us a conference championship
12. He is our best chance at moving up to a better conference.

In summation I will use a golf analogy. I am a 12 handicap golfer. I could take my swing and game and up my time at the range by 1,000 balls a week. I could buy state of the art equipment, play a couple more times a week, watch all kinds of videos, etc. No doubt I would get better. My ball striking would no doubt improve. Putting, Driving, everything. The problem is, that if I had inherent flaws in my swing, I would be building my game on a questionable foundation that would ultimately fail against stronger competition.

On the other hand if I paid David Leadbetter to train me the right way, he could possibly trash my golf swing and make drastic changes that would actually make me look worse and make me feel very uncomfortable for a while. I would probably start swearing at him and state that I never should have gone to him in the first place as I am now worse than before I hired him. He would tell me to be patient and that it will take time for the new techniques to become a habit and that for a while, I would be playing worse until I got comfortable but in the long run I was going to have a more sustainable consistent game. Down the road I could go up against single digit golfers in competition and beat them.

I hope this has helped some of you. Others will make fun of my analogy and theory but that's okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. For now, I choose to believe the Bob Diaco is the best thing to happen to UCONN football. And NO, I didn't get paid for writing this! College football is a very passionate sport. Most of us on the yard are passionate about UCONN football.

 

[kemba]

So you are saying there was no chance at beating Stony Brook, USF, Army, Tulane, Temple, SMU and UCF? Because that looks like 6 easy wins plus a bonus WTF win to me and I don't see a whole lot of 7 win teams staying home.

The roster wasn't winning any championships, nor beating any P5 level non conference team. But, the coaching staff is the reason we aren't bowling.

Let's all be clear on that so we can move forward.

In what world is anybody an easy win for us? None of those teams are good, and I would have hoped we could have won a couple more of them, but to win all those games? Yea, that was unrealistic.

 

[huskyrob1]

You win with Fla kids...case closed - end of story.

You want 85 Tim Boyles go for it - but thats not going to get you to compete with the big boys - or the medium boys either. Most of the good CT HS FB players seem to have affiliation through their parents to top flight universities or their grades prevent them from being accepted to UConn. If you remember the last coach had the backing of the CT HS FB Coaches Association - look what that got him.

Who specifically did Joe Moorhead steal from right out from under UConns nose?

What specific talent are you seeing in Central and Western MA and Rhode Island do you believe the coaches are ignoring?

Kyle Vaughn, Dan Light, Brett Beistek...to name a few, and that's just Fordham. IIRC there's a kid that graduated from Fairfield Prep last year (All-state DL) and is a frosh now for Moorehead. And it's not just Moorehead that's taking players we could use, other successful FCS coaches are doing the same thing. UCONN has no clue even when they have them on the team or how to develop them...so might as well throw in the whole Mike Nebrich saga.

I mean, how many 1 or 2 star HS recruits does CT, MASS, and RI produce each year? When a diamond in the rough like a Scott Lutrus comes along we need to keep them all here, not just one every ten years. Making the school attractive to these kinds of kids is a lot more than having a fancy football complex also.

There are good players in CT that can contribute on a good mid level division one team. It's those players that Honest Bob D needs to go after and sell the program to. If he chucks all that and banks his recruiting budget for iffy Florida/Texas kids then I'm pessimistic on his future in Storrs. Diaco needs to chuck the recruiting jet and start a grass roots recruiting AND development program.

And how manes of these kids would say goodbye to UCONN and 8 losses in a row, and would rather be sold by what Bobby Valentine has to tell them about playing for Sacred Heart.

 

[Bonehead]

Kyle Vaughn, Dan Light, Brett Beistek...to name a few, and that's just Fordham. IIRC there's a kid that graduated from Fairfield Prep last year (All-state DL) and is a frosh now for Moorehead. And it's not just Moorehead that's taking players we could use, other successful FCS coaches are doing the same thing. UCONN has no clue even when they have them on the team or how to develop them...so might as well throw in the whole Mike Nebrich saga.

I mean, how many 1 or 2 star HS recruits does CT, MASS, and RI produce each year? When a diamond in the rough like a Scott Lutrus comes along we need to keep them here. Making the school attractive to these kinds of kids is a lot more than having a fancy football complex also.

There are good players in CT that can contribute on a good mid level division one team. It's those players that Honest Bob D needs to go after and sell the program to. If he chucks all that and banks his recruiting budget for iffy Florida/Texas kids then I'm pessimistic on his future in Storrs. Diaco needs to chuck the recruiting jet and start a grass roots recruiting AND development program.

Oh Mercy! So when we give a 2 star recruit a scholly with no BCS offers we pound the coach - now others proclaim to recruit the Fordham kids with no stars - we on the BY couldnt agree if the sun rose or not today.

Lets agree to disagree - Go Fordham!!

Beistek - well known CT/BC name.

'There are good players in CT that can contribute on a good mid level division one team' - if you are using the above kids as your example we will never know becasue they didnt get a D1 mid level scholly.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Kyle Vaughn, Dan Light, Brett Beistek...to name a few, and that's just Fordham. IIRC there's a kid that graduated from Fairfield Prep last year (All-state DL) and is a frosh now for Moorehead. And it's not just Moorehead that's taking players we could use, other successful FCS coaches are doing the same thing. UCONN has no clue even when they have them on the team or how to develop them...so might as well throw in the whole Mike Nebrich saga.

I mean, how many 1 or 2 star HS recruits does CT, MASS, and RI produce each year? When a diamond in the rough like a Scott Lutrus comes along we need to keep them all here, not just one every ten years. Making the school attractive to these kinds of kids is a lot more than having a fancy football complex also.

There are good players in CT that can contribute on a good mid level division one team. It's those players that Honest Bob D needs to go after and sell the program to. If he chucks all that and banks his recruiting budget for iffy Florida/Texas kids then I'm pessimistic on his future in Storrs. Diaco needs to chuck the recruiting jet and start a grass roots recruiting AND development program.

Heavily recruiting New England and doing it successfully gets a you a very strong 1-AA team. we need to pluck the very best players in New England, and recruit heavily in exactly every area that Diaco is targeting.

You should really drop this.

 

[huskyrob1]

Heavily recruiting New England and doing it successfully gets a you a very strong 1-AA team. we need to pluck the very best players in New England, and recruit heavily in exactly every area that Diaco is targeting.

You should really drop this.

Not saying Diaco shouldn't recruit outside of the tri-state area, of course he should, he has contacts that can help in those areas. But UCONN over the years needs to focus more on it's immediate geographical area and be alert to what's going on in it's own backyard recruiting wise. You build a strong program and reputation slowly around the state, not hoping that over night some 4 star kid in Texas might sign with you and help turn your program around. If he does, great, but focus locally.

 

[huskyrob1]

Oh Mercy! So when we give a 2 star recruit a scholly with no BCS offers we pound the coach - now others proclaim to recruit the Fordham kids with no stars - we on the BY couldnt agree if the sun rose or not today.

Lets agree to disagree - Go Fordham!!

Beistek - well known CT/BC name.

'There are good players in CT that can contribute on a good mid level division one team' - if you are using the above kids as your example we will never know becasue they didnt get a D1 mid level scholly.

Well I personally would buy UCONN season tickets for a team of "no star" recruits that might play their hearts out and go 5-5. The UCONN men's and women's basketball programs started out that way at the division one level.

 

[Bonehead]

Well I personally would buy UCONN season tickets for a team of "no star" recruits that might play their hearts out and go 5-5. The UCONN men's and women's basketball programs started out that way at the division one level.

Players not playing with heart has nothing to do with location - the QB from Georgia showed the most heart this year.
I dont know where you are going with this...I would rather have 0 star from Fla than a 0 star from CT - they are coached better and have played at a higher level.

 

[uconnbill]

You can't say stuff like this, because you were a Pasqualoni supporter right up to the end, long after I and many others had given up on him.

That's not true at all. I was never a Pasqualoni fan, but wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. He did a horrible job while he was here. HCBD should be given time to fix the problems left from the FHCPP tenor

 

[WestHartHusk]

Not saying Diaco shouldn't recruit outside of the tri-state area, of course he should, he has contacts that can help in those areas. But UCONN over the years needs to focus more on it's immediate geographical area and be alert to what's going on in it's own backyard recruiting wise. You build a strong program and reputation slowly around the state, not hoping that over night some 4 star kid in Texas might sign with you and help turn your program around. If he does, great, but focus locally.

If we want a football team with 2 wins every year, then this is the approach to take.

 

[uconnbill]

Warde has 4 championship rings as athletic director. He's good for a while. Unless he screws up in football's next hire, if there's the need for a replacement.

stop with another hire. That's not happening nor should it. You and others have ZERO patients for the job HCBD has to do in rebuilding the program. I want wins as much as anyone, but I want the program rebuilt the right way after the debacle of FHCPP

 

[uconnbill]

Hey bonehead, enlighten me. I've been to a couple games, and watched almost all the games, but have not been paying much attention to anything crazy that Diaco's been saying. He drives a Ferrari? Up to now I've felt that UCONN should give him at least 3 years or even more, before they start considering getting rid of him. Recruiting is key and that takes time.

Thank God someone who makes sense in this mess of a thread.

 

[Dogged]

Kyle Vaughn, Dan Light, Brett Beistek...to name a few, and that's just Fordham. IIRC there's a kid that graduated from Fairfield Prep last year (All-state DL) and is a frosh now for Moorehead. And it's not just Moorehead that's taking players we could use, other successful FCS coaches are doing the same thing. UCONN has no clue even when they have them on the team or how to develop them...so might as well throw in the whole Mike Nebrich saga.

I mean, how many 1 or 2 star HS recruits does CT, MASS, and RI produce each year? When a diamond in the rough like a Scott Lutrus comes along we need to keep them all here, not just one every ten years. Making the school attractive to these kinds of kids is a lot more than having a fancy football complex also.

There are good players in CT that can contribute on a good mid level division one team. It's those players that Honest Bob D needs to go after and sell the program to. If he chucks all that and banks his recruiting budget for iffy Florida/Texas kids then I'm pessimistic on his future in Storrs. Diaco needs to chuck the recruiting jet and start a grass roots recruiting AND development program.

And how manes of these kids would say goodbye to UCONN and 8 losses in a row, and would rather be sold by what Bobby Valentine has to tell them about playing for Sacred Heart.

Every recruit is iffy.

Ridiculous to criticise BD's recruiting when we have yet to see a Diaco class on the
field. We need time to see if he develops players.

He has made great effort to establish good relationships with the Ct high school teams.

 

[huskyrob1]

Every recruit is iffy.

Ridiculous to criticise BD's recruiting when we have yet to see a Diaco class on the
field. We need time to see if he develops players.

He has made great effort to establish good relationships with the Ct high school teams.

I'm not necessarily criticizing what he's doing recruiting wise, I actually don't know. But I do have an opinion on what I think he should be doing recruiting wise, and I said as much. Haven't been on the football board in a while asked for some info and read things by other posters saying things to the effect that HCBD is saying crazy things on the field that might give this or that fan pause about how much time HCBD might be here.

 

[BNich]

Every recruit is iffy.

Ridiculous to criticise BD's recruiting when we have yet to see a Diaco class on the
field. We need time to see if he develops players.

He has made great effort to establish good relationships with the Ct high school teams.

I am from CT, but not enough CT athletes have come from CT and made enough of a difference at the D-1 football level to really truly care about this. Not talking about just at Uconn, but at D-1 schools around the country. How many CT athletes really made a difference around the country? Most haven't panned out here recently.

 

[Dogged]

Recruiting is much more than identifying a geographic area. We want Connecticut players but that is not a limiting factor. Connecticut is a small place. We want to recruit to a brand that offers academic excellence and a superb undergraduate experience and an elevated competitive experience. Regional recruiting( i.e., 2-3 hr flight from Hartford) makes a lot of sense to me. That is what Coach Diaco is talking about.

 

[BNich]

Recruiting is much more than identifying a geographic area. We want Connecticut players but that is not a limiting factor. Connecticut is a small place. We want to recruit to a brand that offers academic excellence and a superb undergraduate experience and an elevated competitive experience. Regional recruiting( i.e., 2-3 hr flight from Hartford) makes a lot of sense to me. That is what Coach Diaco is talking about.

2-3 hr flight would get you to florida. I don't consider that regional. 2-3 hr car ride is much more reasonable. Also, No recruiting is much more than identifying a geographic area. I was just pointing out how PP supposedly was to devout to recruiting hours to bring in CT's best based on his CT HS coaches links, yet those recruits haven't really panned out at the D-1 level. The few that Uconn has brought in, really haven't blown us away recently.

 

[buddy]

Hating a coach and not trusting him because he said the team was going to a bowl game in his introduction press conference and then they miss a bowl game that season is flat our ridiculous.

But everyone is entitled to their opinions.

I don't hate him. I actually want to give him a chance. I feel betrayed and deceived. Not only by him, but by the AD was well.

 

[BNich]

I don't hate him. I actually want to give him a chance. I feel betrayed and deceived. Not only by him, but by the AD was well.

Explain?

 

[buddy]

AAC!

 

[junglehusky]

I don't hate him. I actually want to give him a chance. I feel betrayed and deceived. Not only by him, but by the AD was well.

ooooohhhh betrayed and deceived, oh nooooo