One heck of a press conference.

[huskymedic]

I have wondered how Mora and Charlton connected as there doesn't appear to be any past relationship and Charlton was a head coach, not an OC, when he was hired. Maybe somebody looked at Charlton and thought of Kirk Ferentz who was head coach at Maine for 3 years with not great results before he took some assistant jobs in the NFL and ultimately became Iowa's head coach.

David Benedict. Charlton probably was interested in the head coaching job or at least his agent was.

“… Later that day, a connection he and Mora share called him about the job at UConn. Charlton interviewed with Mora several times and was named UConn’s offensive coordinator Dec. 1.”

Mora knows he needs to make changes. He overreached a bit (understandably) on Northeast/UConn connections putting the staff together and it hasn’t worked. He knows what he needs to do and has been painting the picture for weeks. Interesting to see what direction he heads for certain staff positions.

 

[noeynox]

If Mora wanted Charlton to stop with runs on 3rd down he would tell him during practice and games. And if a coach continuously ignored directives Mora should have fired him.

Yeah, you simply take those plays out the playbook/play sheet. I doubt Charlton has gone rouge. Honestly, every position on offense with the exception of the OL has played worse than last year. No coach on offense except for Samis should be safe. The new position coaches at RB and WR have seen their players take a step back.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Guessing Samis is attractive to other Schools.

 

[Blades]

IMHO, better late than never. And maybe JM read the It's the offense. thread... . In any event Charlton's pedestrian offense should have been called out weeks ago, seeing it's as predictable as tomorrow being Monday.

Topping it off is NC's "Rhino set" that brings 8-9 guy in the box as he tries to smash a running back into a wall of humanity with no where to go. And his bubble screens and sideline passes, that has to help Nick lead the nation in completions for loss or no gain, SMH !.... In any event if this was Mora's way of leading into the off season, with a dramatic shift on offense, it can't be soon enough.

 

[giddyup]

Yeah, you simply take those plays out the playbook/play sheet. I doubt Charlton has gone rouge. Honestly, every position on offense with the exception of the OL has played worse than last year. No coach on offense except for Samis should be safe. The new position coaches at RB and WR have seen their players take a step back.

There is more to being an OC than having a playbook and favorite offensive theory. It requires understanding player strengths and weaknesses, the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses, the actual in game tendencies and patterns emerging, sequencing to create exploitation, adjusting in real time and making it all come together to maximize offensive scoring output. Charlton doesn’t have the ability to do that, and it shows week in and out. The less talented your team, the more critical your OC is in closing that gap through scheme to create compensating advantages.

 

[Skies2018]

Maybe I don’t understand the nuances of coaching fully but as people have said - if it’s not working with Charlton, why doesn’t Mora fix it? Like we all have jobs. My manager has a ton on her plate but if something’s wrong with my work she’ll talk to me about it. Because at the end of the day she’s responsible. It really confuses me why Mora hasn’t been more active in fixing Charlton’s play calling.

The only reason I can think of that he hasn’t is because we literally just don’t have the talent to play aggressive offense. Which if so, is also sad.

 

[gopher2]

Yeah, you simply take those plays out the playbook/play sheet. I doubt Charlton has gone rouge. Honestly, every position on offense with the exception of the OL has played worse than last year. No coach on offense except for Samis should be safe. The new position coaches at RB and WR have seen their players take a step back.

I suspect Charlton the the new RB coach were both factors in sudden departures of Houston and Brewton.

 

[Skies2018]

I suspect Charlton the the new RB coach were both factors in sudden departures of Houston and Brewton.

I still don’t understand why we took on a mid level FCS coach to turn around a historically bad offense. Like you couldn’t have found ANY competent assistant OC or OC at the FBS level and just given them a 25k raise or something? Jesus. It’s like the administration is allergic to good decision making.

 

[RSTuthill]

This was game 11 against a bad FCS team and the offense didn't run smoothly and dominate SHU. You can't blame practice time or the other team having better players so it was clear that the offensive schemes/play calling are not working. I have wondered how Mora and Charlton connected as there doesn't appear to be any past relationship and Charlton was a head coach, not an OC, when he was hired. Maybe somebody looked at Charlton and thought of Kirk Ferentz who was head coach at Maine for 3 years with not great results before he took some assistant jobs in the NFL and ultimately became Iowa's head coach.

In 2018 Charlton was OC/QB at Maine. Seems to be his only prior experience as OC.

 

[RSTuthill]

Hypothetically speaking, I bet if Mora brought in Mazzonne for this last week, our scoring potential would increase by at least 10 points just based on play calling alone.

Well, unless the playbook is generic and basic, that would be kinda hard would it not? Coming in and calling plays out of someone else's book? With no clue as to strengths and weaknesses? In a sport with a lot of moving pieces all of which depend on split second timing? That's asking a lot.

 

[gopher2]

I still don’t understand why we took on a mid level FCS coach to turn around a historically bad offense. Like you couldn’t have found ANY competent assistant OC or OC at the FBS level and just given them a 25k raise or something? . It’s like the administration is allergic to good decision making.

I'd love to know the story behind how Charlton landed here. Was he Mora's choice and if so what did Mora see in the Maine teams that Charlton coached that made him think Charlton was the guy?

 

[MKH2317]

Well, unless the playbook is generic and basic, that would be kinda hard would it not? Coming in and calling plays out of someone else's book? With no clue as to strengths and weaknesses? In a sport with a lot of moving pieces all of which depend on split second timing? That's asking a lot.

That was the joke lol

 

[RSTuthill]

That was the joke lol

Yeah, the genre doesn't telegraph that well to those of us in a hurry. But I should have known anyway. Thing is that he had so little experience as an OC that your point was plausible and does still in fact stand.

 

[RSTuthill]

I'd love to know the story behind how Charlton landed here. Was he Mora's choice and if so what did Mora see in the Maine teams that Charlton coached that made him think Charlton was the guy?

Yeah, the sense we got at the time was that Charlton was AD David Benedict's backup and longer term succession plan. And that they were having trouble getting enough good candidates. I am still not convinced he will be leaving. Especially if the beat UMass. A rather big IF, actually.

 

[huskymedic]

I'd love to know the story behind how Charlton landed here. Was he Mora's choice…

“… Later that day, a connection he and Mora share called him about the job at UConn. Charlton interviewed with Mora several times and was named UConn’s offensive coordinator Dec. 1.”

 

[gopher2]

Thanks, Medic. Any idea who the mutual acquaintance was? Spanos maybe?

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Ehh I don’t think he was dismissive, plus all his press conferences have been short. He probably is frustrated about how much talent we have on our roster and can’t put up 50 points on a FCS team. Plus if media really wanted to do their job, they will ask questions like why didn’t our offense obliterate an FCS school. JMU manhandled us and played aggressive, but we can’t do the same.

Talent? UConn has mediocre FCS talent at best. UConn got these guys because they had no where else to go.

 

[Guru13]

Talent? UConn has mediocre FCS talent at best. UConn got these guys because they had no where else to go.

That is false.. because there are a lot of kids on this roster that had other D1 FBS schools to go to.. but I wont run down the list of players who did. The problem is coaching and its a coaches job to get the most out of his players, but when your OC is not helping his case and calling the most dumbest plays in short yard situation you look at the coach not the players. On top of that don't disrespect the players who stuck it out for another season. In all honesty, we would've had a better season if we kept certain individual players because their athleticism could hide some of the bad play calls we've seen this season. Funny enough those players went to other FBS schools

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

O.K., a bit much here. This season has been very disappointing, and I’m not satisfied with the offensive scheme and play calling either. BUT — we had 24 points without any takeaways and special teams help in the first half, and the game was over when we went to the locker room for the break. The only negative thing to say about yesterday, as opposed to the season, is that we stopped playing offensively in the second half when the game was over.

That, my friends, isn’t in the top 10 of issues I have with this year’s team, given that how we play when we’re up 21 at the half has not been our problem over the past decade plus.

Let’s see if we can win in Amherst, and then there will be plenty of time to do the autopsy.

The time to start talking to new coaches is now.

 

[DawgEnjoyer]

That is false.. because there are a lot of kids on this roster that had other D1 FBS schools to go to.. but I wont run down the list of players who did. The problem is coaching and its a coaches job to get the most out of his players, but when your OC is not helping his case and calling the most dumbest plays in short yard situation you look at the coach not the players. On top of that don't disrespect the players who stuck it out for another season. In all honesty, we would've had a better season if we kept certain individual players because their athleticism could hide some of the bad play calls we've seen this season. Funny enough those players went to other FBS schools

100% this....Also on offense at least, we have several guys who despite lack of pedigree are actually pretty good skill players - Ross, Joly, Edwards & Rosa.

With any competent play calling and coaching, those guys should be able to move the chains vs most of our schedule.

 

[Palatine]

Talent? UConn has mediocre FCS talent at best. UConn got these guys because they had no where else to go.

How many future NFL prospects do you need NOT to mediocre?

 

[DawgEnjoyer]

I suspect Charlton the the new RB coach were both factors in sudden departures of Houston and Brewton.

I think the carry load that Rosa received early was a part of that too.

 

[businesslawyer]

The time to start talking to new coaches is now.

Almost every coordinator and assistant you’d want is still coaching somewhere this season. And, because I may be confused, is that our job to be talking to them or Benedict’s and Mora’s?

 

[Buffett10]

I think we might be saying similar things - Coach Mora hired Coach Charlton. Coach Mora parted ways with Coach Spanos and decided not to bring in a defensive coordinator.

Spanos was and is trash. If you think the defense is bad it would be 10x worse with him as DC

 

[RSTuthill]

So everyone who wants a different OC should probably realize that if that is done, UConn will be back to running plain vanilla plays for half a year. Whole new playbook. That's what happens. No one is gonna come in and run the old playbook. That's not how it works.