AAC Coaching Job Rankings (CBS Sports)

[upstater]

You cite all the NFL talent that has been produced, but the guys who played on those teams and are in the NFL is scarce. The list of NFL players from UConn that played the majority of their careers in those 4 seasons is only: Andrew Adams, Geramy Davis, Byron Jones and Obi Melifonwu.

4 NFL players: Adams who has been a big surprise from my Giants at safety, Davis who goes from inactive/active on gamedays and then Jones who has been promising and the current draftee in Obi.

So, to my point, you look at 4 guys in the NFL in a period of when we went 14-35. That to me is a handful of outliers on a roster that was devoid of much talent.

It doesn't matter if they stayed on the same team or whatever. What matters is that UConn has 3x as many players as the other schools over decade. Right now they have 17 and will likely have 19 when the season starts. They have had 20+ in the past. That's a lot.

The other teams that only have several don't produce all-stars either. The talent is undeniably there at UConn.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

It doesn't matter if they stayed on the same team or whatever. What matters is that UConn has 3x as many players as the other schools over decade. Right now they have 17 and will likely have 19 when the season starts. They have had 20+ in the past. That's a lot.

The other teams that only have several don't produce all-stars either. The talent is undeniably there at UConn.

The years which they played makes all the difference in the world. Why else would we even be debating the root cause of UConn's problems?

We were successful under Edsall and most of the NFL talent was either coached entirely by Edsall or was recruited and brought into the program by Edsall.

When the wheels completely fell off after the second 5 win P season, there is a clear drop off in the NFL talent produced.

Given that the original premise is that we have a coaching problem not a talent problem against AAC schools it seems irrelevant to compare NFL players produced who were successful at UConn and or players who were here when we were in the Big East.

The coaching has sucked first and foremost, but the talent level on the field isn't far behind either.

 

[upstater]

The years which they played makes all the difference in the world. Why else would we even be debating the root cause of UConn's problems?

We were successful under Edsall and most of the NFL talent was either coached entirely by Edsall or was recruited and brought into the program by Edsall.

When the wheels completely fell off after the second 5 win P season, there is a clear drop off in the NFL talent produced.

Given that the original premise is that we have a coaching problem not a talent problem against AAC schools it seems irrelevant to compare NFL players produced who were successful at UConn and or players who were here when we were in the Big East.

The coaching has sucked first and foremost, but the talent level on the field isn't far behind either.

I cant understand this at all.

We're talking about the amount of regional talent available to UConn.

Whether Diaco squandered it or not is irrelevant to the fact that it is there. If it weren't there, UConn wouldn't be putting 3x as many players into the NFL as other AAC teams.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I cant understand this at all.

We're talking about the amount of regional talent available to UConn.

Whether Diaco squandered it or not is irrelevant to the fact that it is there. If it weren't there, UConn wouldn't be putting 3x as many players into the NFL as other AAC teams.

You are moving the goal posts. First it is talent on the roster, then it is locally available recruiting talent.

Diaco and P didn't have as talented rosters as Edsall did. The rosters were less talented by UConn standards and they were less talented by AAC standards.

In the context of comparing talent in the AAC, stating UConn put 3x more players in the NFL, the majority of which played under a different coach and in a different league, has no bearing.

UConn had a coaching problem, that has been fixed. UConn still has a roster talent problem, and a local recruiting problem, but a coach that has proven he can find under the radar guys.

 

[upstater]

You are moving the goal posts. First it is talent on the roster, then it is locally available recruiting talent.

Diaco and P didn't have as talented rosters as Edsall did. The rosters were less talented by UConn standards and they were less talented by AAC standards.

In the context of comparing talent in the AAC, stating UConn put 3x more players in the NFL, the majority of which played under a different coach and in a different league, has no bearing.

UConn had a coaching problem, that has been fixed. UConn still has a roster talent problem, and a local recruiting problem, but a coach that has proven he can find under the radar guys.

I don't see how I am moving the goal posts at all.

Also dont see how your post is relevant to the discussion.

Those players went to UConn. Many ended up in the NFL.

Whether Diaco or Pasqualoni recruited as well is almost irrelevant.

Especially when Diaco/PP players like Adams, Geremy Davis, Byron Jones, Melifonwu, and Stephen have come out over the last 2 or 3 or 4 years. That's not as great a rate as Edsall's but 5 players in a 4 year span is still at the very least in the middle of the AAC pack.

The point is, over a longer period of time, a decade, UConn has been top of the league in NFL talent, and they are actually far ahead.

They are certainly not last.

It just strikes me as ignorance coming from a southern homer.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I don't see how I am moving the goal posts at all.

Also dont see how your post is relevant to the discussion.

Those players went to UConn. Many ended up in the NFL.

Whether Diaco or Pasqualoni recruited as well is almost irrelevant.

Especially when Diaco/PP players like Adams, Geremy Davis, Byron Jones, Melifonwu, and Stephen have come out over the last 2 or 3 or 4 years. That's not as great a rate as Edsall's but 5 players in a 4 year span is still at the very least in the middle of the AAC pack.

The point is, over a longer period of time, a decade, UConn has been top of the league in NFL talent, and they are actually far ahead.

They are certainly not last.

It just strikes me as ignorance coming from a southern homer.

What don't you understand?

UConn didn't have a talent problem under Edsall. They had good players and they won games in the Big East.

UConn did have a talent problem under P and Diaco. They had bad players and they lost a staggering amount of games in the AAC.

At this point in time, UConn has some of the lowest talent levels in the AAC, in addition to having one of the toughest home recruiting bases in the league.

So yes, talent is an issue and it doesn't matter who was in the NFL from the Edsall Big East years, when comparing our current talent to other rosters in our current league.

To put it simply - I think the talent at UConn the past 4 years has been bottom 3 in the AAC in terms of talented players. Do you disagree?

 

[Pudge]

What don't you understand?

UConn didn't have a talent problem under Edsall. They had good players and they won games in the Big East.

UConn did have a talent problem under P and Diaco. They had bad players and they lost a staggering amount of games in the AAC.

At this point in time, UConn has some of the lowest talent levels in the AAC, in addition to having one of the toughest home recruiting bases in the league.

So yes, talent is an issue and it doesn't matter who was in the NFL from the Edsall Big East years, when comparing our current talent to other rosters in our current league.

To put it simply - I think the talent at UConn the past 4 years has been bottom 3 in the AAC in terms of talented players. Do you disagree?

Call me an idiot ...

I thought we should have been a Bowl Team last year - Talent wise look at August. I BLAME last years miserable product on Bob Diaco and his 8 apostles. I think that Randy Edsall would have schemed and "roster managed" that group of talent to a far higher spot. We (that Team of kids) deserved to be .500 in AAC play. What a mess.

I thought Edsall could have taken Schiano's talent in his 2002-2010 years and far outperformed GS. Of course ... what happened at MD? IMO ... Edsall had a 10 year plan mindset; after getting rid of Ralph's culture and dregs, he was 1.5 years in and lost a lot of momentum in the fanbase and recruiting. Hence, there's a Pudge Maxim: you cannot be a HCRE at a Maryland and hope to survive a slow build; you can at UConn. (particularly when you aren't playing Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State) You can jump in as a Edsall to a well-formed talented team and lift it. And YES ... I have totally bought the David Benedict program: Edsall 2.0.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Call me an idiot ...

I thought we should have been a Bowl Team last year - Talent wise look at August. I BLAME last years miserable product on Bob Diaco and his 8 apostles. I think that Randy Edsall would have schemed and "roster managed" that group of talent to a far higher spot. We (that Team of kids) deserved to be .500 in AAC play. What a mess.

I thought Edsall could have taken Schiano's talent in his 2002-2010 years and far outperformed GS. Of course ... what happened at MD? IMO ... Edsall had a 10 year plan mindset; after getting rid of Ralph's culture and dregs, he was 1.5 years in and lost a lot of momentum in the fanbase and recruiting. Hence, there's a Pudge Maxim: you cannot be a HCRE at a Maryland and hope to survive a slow build; you can at UConn. (particularly when you aren't playing Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State) You can jump in as a Edsall to a well-formed talented team and lift it. And YES ... I have totally bought the David Benedict program: Edsall 2.0.

Diaco was miserable, but I don't think anybody wins with last years roster. You had classes that were wrecked by the P firing and then 2 years of RKGs under Diaco. That's how you end up at 3-9 (1-7).

I mean, look at our OOC for crying out loud.
24-21 home win over 6-5 Maine.
13-10 home win over 2-10 UVA.
31-24 home loss against 4-8 Syracuse.
30-0 road loss against 7-6 BC.

The last 4 games we scored 16 total points! 16!

Now, to your point about Edsall. I was a big time Edsall guy when he was here, and I was really excited when he was brought back. I trust Edsall to bring UConn back to respectability. There is absolutely no reason we shouldn't be bowling most years and contending for an AAC title in most years as well.

I trust Edsall's ability to find under recruited and undervalued recruits. If Edsall offers a 2* kid with MAC offers, that means a whole hell of a lot more to me than if P or Diaco does. With Randy, you let him build the culture and bring in his guys. His prior success here and putting guys in the NFL that he recruited gives him that right. I am totally on board with Edsall, even if this team goes 3-9 again next season. It'll take time but he'll get us there.

I just disagree with the premise our roster has had just as much, if not more, talent than other AAC teams the past few seasons. I think the coaching sucked, but the talent level was lower than most AAC teams. 4 outliers in the NFL over that period does nothing to dispel that notion.

 

[upstater]

What don't you understand?

UConn didn't have a talent problem under Edsall. They had good players and they won games in the Big East.

UConn did have a talent problem under P and Diaco. They had bad players and they lost a staggering amount of games in the AAC.

At this point in time, UConn has some of the lowest talent levels in the AAC, in addition to having one of the toughest home recruiting bases in the league.

So yes, talent is an issue and it doesn't matter who was in the NFL from the Edsall Big East years, when comparing our current talent to other rosters in our current league.

To put it simply - I think the talent at UConn the past 4 years has been bottom 3 in the AAC in terms of talented players. Do you disagree?

You don't get it.

The article is about UConn having very little talent in its recruiting region.

If this were so, UConn wouldn't have more NFL players than everyone else.

And, the Diaco teams you mentioned still had more NFL talent than much of the conference! 5 guys in 4 years.

 

[Pudge]

I really never bought this.

5 major Programs in NC. Three of them Public. 10.1m in Population.

3 major Programs in NY and NE. One Public. 39m in Population.

Fact is ... UConn needs to attack differently. Develop over 5 years. Seed in speed and some skill sets from FL or PA. We can do that and HCRE largely showed that. There's zero reason for whining nor believing some Illinois based media nerd. We listened for a long time to Rutgers appraisal of our talent. They had it ... we never would. Turns out, they can't even turn on lights in Piscataway

 

[ConnHuskBask]

You don't get it.

The article is about UConn having very little talent in its recruiting region.

If this were so, UConn wouldn't have more NFL players than everyone else.

And, the Diaco teams you mentioned still had more NFL talent than much of the conference! 5 guys in 4 years.

You're argument is all over the place.

CT/New England have less FBS/NFL players than other regions of the country where AAC teams are located.
UConn has had way less talent than other AAC teams the past few seasons.
Yes, talent has been a problem.
Yes, coaching has been a problem.
No, having 5 outlier players in the NFL during the Diaco years (2 of which are from Georgia; not CT/New England) doesn't say anything about the quality of players on the two deep.

You're argument is that UConn has had successful players in the past in NFL because Edsall found under the radar talent. Is anyone debating that?

 

[upstater]

You're argument is all over the place.

CT/New England have less FBS/NFL players than other regions of the country where AAC teams are located. AAC teams aren't the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th most popular teams in their football heavy regions.

UConn has had way less talent than other AAC teams the past few seasons. What teams? Houston? Yes. But 5 NFL players out of 4 years makes them middle of the road. This is also irrelevant since we should be looking at UConn talent over 15 years, not 4.

Yes, talent has been a problem. How do you figure? They produce top players at the highest rate in the conference.

Yes, coaching has been a problem.
No, having 5 outlier players in the NFL during the Diaco years (2 of which are from Georgia; not CT/New England) doesn't say anything about the quality of players on the two deep.

It's irrelevant where they are from. The fact is they went to UConn during a huge down period for the program. and how is it an outlier? That's crazy. The trend was for MORE players coming out of UConn. Not less. You can argue the outlier is the LACK of more than 5 players produced in that period.

You're argument is that UConn has had successful players in the past in NFL because Edsall found under the radar talent. Is anyone debating that?

That's not my argument at all.

Wow, talk about all over the place. Your post above makes points that are totally irrelevant to what we are talking about.

When you're looking at the possibility of coaching at UConn, you have to see what is available for you regionally, and we are talking about 2 star players here, because that is who UConn recruits. The region is obviously underrecruited. Look at Byron Jones and Melifonwu. Look at Kendall Reyes. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey too. Yeah, occasionally a Georgia and Florida kid is going to help, but I'm talking about the whole region. There is talent up here and it is easy to see that because UConn has 20 kids in the NFL while the majority of the league has 7.

Hard to ignore that.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

What's hard to ignore is you're sitting here saying that aside from Houston we've had similar talent to our peers in the AAC, yet somehow finished 14-35 the past four seasons. The measure of talent is your record, which is in indication of your roster as opposed to a few high level guys who made the league.

UConn is a tough job, unless you have the ability like an Edsall to find under the radar guys and develop them.

That's a testament to Edsall, not a testament to the region.

 

[DoctorWho85]

Right now he's right. It's not too desirable of a job due to the last two failures of coaches. If Edsall and company gets back to winning more than losing, then we'll see football stock rise again. To even greater heights

 

[upstater]

What's hard to ignore is you're sitting here saying that aside from Houston we've had similar talent to our peers in the AAC, yet somehow finished 14-35 the past four seasons. The measure of talent is your record, which is in indication of your roster as opposed to a few high level guys who made the league.

UConn is a tough job, unless you have the ability like an Edsall to find under the radar guys and develop them.

That's a testament to Edsall, not a testament to the region.

"The measure of talent is your record."

So you just take all the blame from Diaco.

What you wrote is demonstrably untrue.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

"The measure of talent is your record."

So you just take all the blame from Diaco.

What you wrote is demonstrably untrue.

It isn't mutually exclusive.

The coaches were horrible. The coaches brought in a lot players who shouldn't have been FBS/AAC level players.

In turn, our record against FBS/AAC schools has been horrible the past four seasons when the rosters reflected most of P's and Diaco's recruiting.

 

[upstater]

It isn't mutually exclusive.

The coaches were horrible. The coaches brought in a lot players who shouldn't have been FBS/AAC level players.

In turn, our record against FBS/AAC schools has been horrible the past four seasons when the rosters reflected most of P's and Diaco's recruiting.

You really haven't looked at the talent level on the other AAC teams. It's not that formidable. If it were, only then would UConn be at a talent disadvantage.

Check this out from last year:

American: Connecticut 17, Central Florida 14, Cincinnati 13, South Florida 11, SMU 10, Memphis 8, Temple 7, Tulane 6, Houston 6, East Carolina 3, Tulsa 2, Navy 1

This is NFL players.

UConn over the last 4 years, under Diaco or PP, has about as many NFL players as Houston, Tulane, Temple, East Carolina!

At this point, there is no sense in continuing this conversation.

I am done, and only wanted to say that recruiting region is not a detraction for UConn when it comes to comparing AAC coaching jobs. If UConn were in the B1G or ACC, only then could you make that argument. But not in the AAC.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

You really haven't looked at the talent level on the other AAC teams. It's not that formidable. If it were, only then would UConn be at a talent disadvantage.

Check this out from last year:

American: Connecticut 17, Central Florida 14, Cincinnati 13, South Florida 11, SMU 10, Memphis 8, Temple 7, Tulane 6, Houston 6, East Carolina 3, Tulsa 2, Navy 1

This is NFL players.

UConn over the last 4 years, under Diaco or PP, has about as many NFL players as Houston, Tulane, Temple, East Carolina!

At this point, there is no sense in continuing this conversation.

I am done, and only wanted to say that recruiting region is not a detraction for UConn when it comes to comparing AAC coaching jobs. If UConn were in the B1G or ACC, only then could you make that argument. But not in the AAC.

Again, of those 17 players, the majority of them were recruited and played in the Big East players; not AAC.

So not only do we have a below average home recruiting base, we no longer have the status of the Big East to sell, where as our regional peers in BC, Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, Maryland, etc. can all hold the P5 over us. Not to mention the majority of our new league are in football hotbeds.

UConn can be a great gig, but I think getting a program back up and running in Texas, Florida, Tennessee or Ohio is a hell of an easier task.

 

[SubZero]

You really haven't looked at the talent level on the other AAC teams. It's not that formidable. If it were, only then would UConn be at a talent disadvantage.

Check this out from last year:

American: Connecticut 17, Central Florida 14, Cincinnati 13, South Florida 11, SMU 10, Memphis 8, Temple 7, Tulane 6, Houston 6, East Carolina 3, Tulsa 2, Navy 1

This is NFL players.

UConn over the last 4 years, under Diaco or PP, has about as many NFL players as Houston, Tulane, Temple, East Carolina!

At this point, there is no sense in continuing this conversation.

I am done, and only wanted to say that recruiting region is not a detraction for UConn when it comes to comparing AAC coaching jobs. If UConn were in the B1G or ACC, only then could you make that argument. But not in the AAC.

How many of those 17 were from the Big East days, when we were in a real conference?

 

[upstater]

How many of those 17 were from the Big East days, when we were in a real conference?

12, but BC, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Maryland outrecruited UConn back then, if you recall. It didn't make a difference.