Is there a chance we get a New Year's Surprise

[whaler11]

So piecing together the public information and the private bits and pieces I've picked up from a number of people more connected to the athletic department than I am...

There seems to be a chance that when January rolls around HCVV will be stuffed into the rocket and shot into the sun.

I'm fairly confident that Benedict wants to do the right thing and has put together a coherent financial plan. I don't know how much pain that plan would inflict upon the programs. I don't get the feeling that his superiors fully support what he wants to do, nor do I have anything but guesses as to why they wouldn't support Benedict.

This feels a little bit like blind optimism - but maybe there is a 10-20% chance that this university has a random moment of lucidity and makes the only decision that provides a future for the football program.

Worst case scenario I gave us a jumpstart on the thread that was going to be started every third day until January 3rd.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Do I think Benedict wants to fire Bob? Absolutely. He wants to put his mark on the program and get his hire in there. He knows Diaco is a dumpster fire and the program will continue to sink into oblivion with him at the helm. Whether he's allowed to make the change on January 1 is the total unknown. The argument DB can make is if you let Diaco stay and he starts the season 1-6 and it's painfully apparent the program is a corpse, firing him at that point is no different financially than firing him on 1/1/17. If he doesn't fire him then, he has to wait until 1/1/18 or else it's a waste of time and harms the program.

If you have people on the inside insinuating it's a possibility, that's great. The longer we don't hear from DB the higher the odds go that it will happen.

 

[CTMike]

VV=Vineyard Vines?

 

[whaler11]

VV=Vineyard Vines?

But of course.

 

[Nostical]

In a perfect world DB tells BD that he's going to be let go in Jan after the reduction in the buyout. In he meantime his agent can quietly put out feelers for other jobs. The only problem is the world isn't perfect.

 

[UConnNick]

So piecing together the public information and the private bits and pieces I've picked up from a number of people more connected to the athletic department than I am...

There seems to be a chance that when January rolls around HCVV will be stuffed into the rocket and shot into the sun.

I'm fairly confident that Benedict wants to do the right thing and has put together a coherent financial plan. I don't know how much pain that plan would inflict upon the programs. I don't get the feeling that his superiors fully support what he wants to do, nor do I have anything but guesses as to why they wouldn't support Benedict.

This feels a little bit like blind optimism - but maybe there is a 10-20% chance that this university has a random moment of lucidity and makes the only decision that provides a future for the football program.

Worst case scenario I gave us a jumpstart on the thread that was going to be started every third day until January 3rd.

I'll offer a guess as to why Benedict's likely getting flak from the school administration, if he is.

They don't want to admit they made a gigantic, colossal mistake giving this nimrod the extension. This whole mess could be nothing more than a total face saving measure. We lay low, say next to nothing, and hope against hope that the whole thing gradually blows over as this football season becomes more of a distant memory.

If there's any possibility that this is what's really going on behind the scenes, then Suzy Q is willing to mortgage the entire future viability of the athletic dept. just to save herself the embarrassment of having to take ownership and responsibility for the whole cluster F.

It's also marginally possible that they agreed to announce Verducci's demotion and a bogus search for a new OC just to buy some time to try and get the funding necessary to buy Fiasco out. It was like a fake fake FG attempt, to put it in terms we all understand here.

 

[JMick]

Benedict has two cases to make.

1.) Can we afford/fund this?

2.) He has to sell them on the candidates he has in mind.

I want to fire Diaco as much as the next guy but we have to make the right hire this time around or the program will be dead forever

 

[ConnHuskBask]

There has to be someone in the AD that has the sense to realize that not firing him now is going to cost us at least 2 more full seasons of terrible play.

Even if the new guy is a miracle worker its tough to see them even making a bowl given the QB situation - that being said as long as he's allowing people to return punts, can get plays in on time, doesn't do fake fake fgs and knows how to use a timeout he will have some leeway.

 

[ZooCougar]

So piecing together the public information and the private bits and pieces I've picked up from a number of people more connected to the athletic department than I am...

There seems to be a chance that when January rolls around HCVV will be stuffed into the rocket and shot into the sun.

I'm fairly confident that Benedict wants to do the right thing and has put together a coherent financial plan. I don't know how much pain that plan would inflict upon the programs. I don't get the feeling that his superiors fully support what he wants to do, nor do I have anything but guesses as to why they wouldn't support Benedict.

This feels a little bit like blind optimism - but maybe there is a 10-20% chance that this university has a random moment of lucidity and makes the only decision that provides a future for the football program.

Worst case scenario I gave us a jumpstart on the thread that was going to be started every third day until January 3rd.

I think it's better than 20%. Things are just too quiet.

 

[whaler11]

There has to be someone in the AD that has the sense to realize that not firing him now is going to cost us at least 2 more full seasons of terrible play.

Even if the new guy is a miracle worker its tough to see them even making a bowl given the QB situation - that being said as long as he's allowing people to return punts, can get plays in on time, doesn't do fake fake fgs and knows how to use a timeout he will have some leeway.

Sounds like that guy is Benedict. I'm maybe not as connected as Flug or the Dood but confident.

Keeping Diaco wouldn't be 2 bad years - it would mean 4.

 

[Fishy]

The silence from UConn is a bit interesting, but I think Benedict et al have probably decided that they do not need to make any hollow comments about how committed they are to the froot loop next year.

The Verducci announcement that he was moving into a new position next year and not being dumped into Long Island Sound killed any day dreams I had about Diaco not surviving this.

My completely uneducated guess is that if they could fire him, they would not be waiting until January and that maybe there's a 5% chance they're working on some compromise.

 

[RSTuthill]

I think it's better than 20%. Things are just too quiet.

Me too.

 

[huskyrob1]

The silence from UConn is a bit interesting, but I think Benedict et al have probably decided that they do not need to make any hollow comments about how committed they are to the froot loop next year.

The Verducci announcement that he was moving into a new position next year and not being dumped into Long Island Sound killed any day dreams I had about Diaco not surviving this.

My completely uneducated guess is that if they could fire him, they would not be waiting until January and that maybe there's a 5% chance they're working on some compromise.

Benedict has to fire him Jan 1st. If he is not allowed to do so (unlikely) , I believe scores of players will transfer and we will have decommits from many recruits. My educated guess tells me SH knows just as well as DB what's at stake here, and has gotten the blessing of the BOT to do what's necessary. I'd be shocked if DB has not already had discreet informal conversations with some coaching candidates. Losing to Tulane like we did was bad enough but burning Williams redshirt was huge.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Thinking back to previous years...and coaching hire timelines....how much does firing BD after Jan 1 (versus now) hurt UConn? Obviously, we went through this when RE left..and as I remember, there was concern that the late departure put UConn in a tough situation.

Will it be significantly more difficult to secure a new coach on Jan 1 versus now? To me..it feels like it will be tougher. Unless....they have another coach in mind...and they already have them lined up.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

The Verducci announcement that he was moving into a new position next year and not being dumped into Long Island Sound killed any day dreams I had about Diaco not surviving this.

I thought the same thing. They wouldn't hire a new OC if a new coach was coming in. That would be putting the cart before the horse.
I do find this thread comforting in that some of you have hope so it's giving me a minuscule amount of hope. Maybe the new coach is helping pick the new OC. Would transfers and de-commits help our cause?

 

[freescooter]

Don't read any more into Verduccis reassignment than that he probably has a 2 year deal so they are keeping him until he lands a new job. And he probably is looking.

 

[UConnNick]

Thinking back to previous years...and coaching hire timelines....how much does firing BD after Jan 1 (versus now) hurt UConn? Obviously, we went through this when RE left..and as I remember, there was concern that the late departure put UConn in a tough situation.

Will it be significantly more difficult to secure a new coach on Jan 1 versus now? To me..it feels like it will be tougher. Unless....they have another coach in mind...and they already have them lined up.

You're correct. The closer we get to national signing day in early February, the more not having your coach in place can affect recruiting negatively.

Any players currently being recruited know what's going on, and some of them may very well realize that Jan 1 could bring an announcement of a change. They may even put off making any decision on a commitment until after the first of January if they're seriously considering signing with UConn. I think it's also likely they've had some kind of smoke screen blown their way by the current coaching staff.

The other perhaps far more important consideration is hiring a new coach. You know who's on the market now, but 30 days is a long time with all the movement that will go on. Other schools realize the importance of solidifying a new coaching hire now due to the recruiting situation, so they're anxious to hire new coaches right now, not in 30 days. Therefore, the pool of available coaches can shrink dramatically between now and Jan 1., limiting your options. If you want the best available coach, now is the time to hire them, not 30 days from now.

 

[Tdaley]

This proposed waiting until January will really hurt the program. No, if they want to get rid of Diaco you have to do it now and bit the bullet on the buyout.

 

[Exit 4]

This feels a little bit like blind optimism - .

<--blind optimism? and from you of all people! holy smokes. I sense a victory lap on Jan 3rd.

 

[06029]

99.99% positive he is back next season from multiple sources.

Things are quiet because there is nothing to say. The current staff is out recruiting so you can't wholesale fire the assistants right now. Anything from the AD right now will fan flames either for fans or for other schools recruiting against Uconn.

Expect the OC announcement before New Years and quite possibly before Christmas. That will be the white smoke that he is 100% back for 2017.

 

[whaler11]

<--blind optimism? and from you of all people! holy smokes. I sense a victory lap on Jan 3rd.

Listen you have to admit you'd be thrilled.

 

[gioff23]

I think he comes back, and I think that is a huge mistake. But I really believe if DB wants to make a change, his best argument is why are we waiting 10 months to do something we could do on 1/1? Moreover, waiting until Jan '18 screws up 2 recruiting cycles, as the new person would have a month to assemble a staff and recruit in a world where kids are committing earlier each year. So, do we believe this year was an anomaly and we are all in on Bob or do we admit we all made a mistake and move on, now?

 

[businesslawyer]

Do I think Benedict wants to fire Bob? Absolutely. He wants to put his mark on the program and get his hire in there. He knows Diaco is a dumpster fire and the program will continue to sink into oblivion with him at the helm. Whether he's allowed to make the change on January 1 is the total unknown. The argument DB can make is if you let Diaco stay and he starts the season 1-6 and it's painfully apparent the program is a corpse, firing him at that point is no different financially than firing him on 1/1/17. If he doesn't fire him then, he has to wait until 1/1/18 or else it's a waste of time and harms the program.

If you have people on the inside insinuating it's a possibility, that's great. The longer we don't hear from DB the higher the odds go that it will happen.

I'm getting confused. I saw the "we're hiring a new OC" statement as de facto confirmation that HCBD is staying. But if he is staying, Benedict needs to come out and say it clearly now in order to make recruiting as easy is possible (which is not very easy but it is what it is). Every day there is not a clear statement that he is coming back makes me think we are waiting for New Years.

That having been said, it is possible that we're in a no mans land and Benedict has been told that he can fire him on 1/1 if he raises $X towards the buyout privately, and Benedict is working on it. Which of course is the worst of all worlds -- HCBD stays but we don't give up on removing him for another 5 weeks, which paralyzed recruiting and coaching changes without getting rid of HCBD. Given how our programs are doing at the moment, why would the worst of all worlds not surprise me.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I'm getting confused. I saw the "we're hiring a new OC" statement as de facto confirmation that HCBD is staying. But if he is staying, Benedict needs to come out and say it clearly now in order to make recruiting as easy is possible (which is not very easy but it is what it is). Every day there is not a clear statement that he is coming back makes me think we are waiting for New Years.

That having been said, it is possible that we're in a no mans land and Benedict has been told that he can fire him on 1/1 if he raises $X towards the buyout privately, and Benedict is working on it. Which of course is the worst of all worlds -- HCBD stays but we don't give up on removing him for another 5 weeks, which paralyzed recruiting and coaching changes without getting rid of HCBD. Given how our programs are doing at the moment, why would the worst of all worlds not surprise me.

You're right, though there is the school of thought that the OC announcement was a hail mary from BD to try and keep his position. Notice in all of the commentary on the OC move as well as the discussions of the other coaching staff evaluations, there was no quote from DB. If they're considering firing BD still, it would likely require a lot of discussion between DB and Herbst/BOT in terms of the financial end of it. DB would have to present a heck of a case why it's necessary to bite the bullet now instead of later. Getting all of those people in the same room and making the decision can require some time. Of course the OC move could indeed mean that BD is staying, but it's not a stone cold guarantee.

 

[freescooter]

It really is no different from what goes on everywhere that a coach gets fired. The current staff stays on and recruits until the new guy arrives and assembles his staff. Actually it could be why Verducci was named recruiting coordinator and implied he would be there next year. Recruiting continues while the coach gets replaced.

I am actually pretty skeptical that anything changes until 2017-18when Diaco goes 4 years with no winning seasons. I'm guessing he won't be back without 7-8 wins and if he goes 8-4 I would welcome him back.