An Open Letter to David Benedict

[huskymedic]

What is the actual buy out? Feel like on the Yard everyone has been stating that it is 3M before Jan 1 but then 1.5M after.

The only actual source I read on that was from the Courant that says 5M before and like 3.5M after.

Termination costs:
1/15/2016-12/31/2016 - $5M
1/1/2017-12/31/2017 - $3.4M
1/1/2018-12/31/2018 - $1.7M
1/1/2019-12/31/2019 - $1M
1/1/2020 - 12/31/2020 - $1M

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Termination costs:
Termination costs:
1/15/2016-12/31/2016 - $5M
1/1/2017-12/31/2017 - $3.4M
1/1/2018-12/31/2018 - $1.7M
1/1/2019-12/31/2019 - $1M
1/1/2020 - 12/31/2020 - $1M

So the number that has been quoted ad nauseum on the Yard was wrong. Shocking.

At 3.5M there is no way they can afford to fire him and at the same time they can't afford to not fire him.

 

[huskymedic]

So the number that has been quoted ad nauseum on the Yard was wrong. Shocking.

At 3.5M there is no way they can afford to fire him and at the same time they can't afford to not fire him.

It tends to be the same people who are known to have comprehension problems, but I do think other people are talking about the delta between a 12/31/2016 whacking versus a 1/1/2017 whacking.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

It tends to be the same people who are known to have comprehension problems, but I do think other people are talking about the delta between a 12/31/2016 whacking versus a 1/1/2017 whacking.

I tend to think they'll have to do the 3.5M because if you don't make that change you are not only throwing away next season but also 2018 with a new staff.

If Diaco is brought back, I just can't see how we would sell more than a few thousand season tickets total.

What an absolute joke of a coach, which hey we screwed up, but I'm almost more pissed at the administration for this abomination of a buy out.

 

[BlueDogs]

I sent him a note and got no response. I did get a thank you for being part of nutmeg society or some other similarly named group. I thought I was done when I hit the send. The lack of response simpky cemented my view. A tru G5 program. And not a good one.

I sent two and never even got an acknowledgement. Frankly, the whole athletic program is fraying around the seams and there's not a peep to be heard. Meanwhile, they flaunt the crap out of UConn sports when bringing in prospective students. They don't realize they are ephing with their Brand and will pay a heavy price if they don't get it fixed.

 

[UConnDan97]

It tends to be the same people who are known to have comprehension problems, but I do think other people are talking about the delta between a 12/31/2016 whacking versus a 1/1/2017 whacking.

All I've seen is people talking about the delta (1.5 million cheaper on Jan. 1).

I think that most people feel it would be extremely difficult to swallow a 5 million buyout because we didn't want to wait 5 more weeks...

 

[noeynox]

All I've seen is people talking about the delta (1.5 million cheaper on Jan. 1).

I think that most people feel it would be extremely difficult to swallow a 5 million buyout because we didn't want to wait 5 more weeks...

I just find this approach peculiar. Do we let this guy continue to recruit knowing he isn't coming back to save 1.5 million?

 

[HuskyDevil]

View attachment 17030

Now I'm 43. And since I'm going to spend $250 going to the Garden for the Syracuse game... I may be mentally ill. With age comes wisdom I guess.

Ha...me too...blowing a ton for Cuse at MSG in a shallow attempt to relive the old Big East Tourney days! McSorleys at noon, overpriced steak dinner late afternoon, good banter with SU fans on the walk to MSG and $14 bud lights at the game...can't wait!

 

[UConnDan97]

I just find this approach peculiar. Do we let this guy continue to recruit knowing he isn't coming back to save 1.5 million?

Do we want to lock in the new coach to less available scholarships if he had his own vision of players? I'm not saying it's ideal, but it's done all the time. Let's just hope we get the right one...

 

[CL82]

Let's be honest, we all just want to see what the ceremony you would hold for yourself would be like!

I'm guessing a celebration dance in the concourse:

"I'm Whaler...it's my last game, it's my last game..."

 

[uconndogs]

Termination costs:
Termination costs:
1/15/2016-12/31/2016 - $5M
1/1/2017-12/31/2017 - $3.4M
1/1/2018-12/31/2018 - $1.7M
1/1/2019-12/31/2019 - $1M
1/1/2020 - 12/31/2020 - $1M

They will go into negotiations immediately after the season is over and he'll be let go effective 1/1/17. Where the athletic department comes up with the 3.5 million I have no idea, but I can't believe they can bring him back. He's had three seasons to bring an offense to some level of competence and is now in full regression. Special teams play is completely devoid of a return game.

 

[UCFBfan]

They will go into negotiations immediately after the season is over and he'll be let go effective 1/1/17. Where the athletic department comes up with the 3.5 million I have no idea, but I can't believe they can bring him back. He's had three seasons to bring an offense to some level of competence and is now in full regression. Special teams play is completely devoid of a return game.

You forgot to mention that even his defense, which is his specialty, has looked like a complete disaster. There is NOTHING that works on this team.

 

[huskymedic]

They will go into negotiations immediately after the season is over and he'll be let go effective 1/1/17. Where the athletic department comes up with the 3.5 million I have no idea...

It's $3.5m for BD + any UConn assistant coach buyouts that may exist (not sure if any in place here but it does happen) + buyout for new coach if currently employed + new coach salary + new assistant coach salary pool + associated search/on-boarding costs... gonna add up quick either way if/when it happens.

 

[noeynox]

It's $3.5m for BD + any UConn assistant coach buyouts that may exist (not sure if any in place here but it does happen) + buyout for new coach if currently employed + new coach salary + new assistant coach salary pool + associated search/on-boarding costs... gonna add up quick either way if/when it happens.

So he is back for year 4 no matter what in your opinion?

 

[huskymedic]

So he is back for year 4 no matter what in your opinion?

I really don't know what they are gonna do... it's a business decision. From a game-day/coaching/ fan credibility perspective I can easily see a replacement being in the works. From a cost perspective (and not knowing if a booster guardian angel on either side is in play) - there is an argument that can be made to keep him. Every time he opens his mouth I lean towards replacing him, but I'm not writing the big checks>

The wild card is Dave Benedict didn't hire him and owes him no allegiance/loyalty and sure hasn't made his first year any easier.

 

[kris1]

I really don't know what they are gonna do... it's a business decision. From a game-day/coaching/ fan credibility perspective I can easily see a replacement being in the works. From a cost perspective (and not knowing if a booster guardian angel on either side is in play) - there is an argument that can be made to keep him. Every time he opens his mouth I lean towards replacing him, but I'm not writing the big checks>

The wild card is Dave Benedict didn't hire him and owes him no allegiance/loyalty and sure hasn't made his first year any easier.

If they're lucky, he'll do something really stupid and violate a term in his contract that causes grounds for immediate termination in the next couple weeks. Fingers crossed.

 

[huskymedic]

If they're lucky, he'll do something really stupid and violate a term in his contract that causes grounds for immediate termination in the next couple weeks. Fingers crossed.

Well, if you're crossing fingers and just looking for fantasy/pixie dust intervention thoughts to grab on to --- there's always this:

Irish Illustrated@PeteSampson_ 1 hour ago
Brian Kelly said he’ll inteview internal and external candidates for the defensive coordinator for the position.

Send him back to "daddy" for more seasoning...

 

[kris1]

Well, if you're crossing fingers and just looking for fantasy/pixie dust intervention thoughts to grab on to --- there's always this:

Irish Illustrated@PeteSampson_ 1 hour ago
Brian Kelly said he’ll inteview internal and external candidates for the defensive coordinator for the position.

Send him back to "daddy" for more seasoning...

If they'll pay the buyout, they can have him back yesterday.

 

[Dooley]

Thanks to the extension, UConn is in quite a bind. The options are:

1) Keep Diaco for the 2017 season. The buyouts, $5M or $3.5M, are very large for an athletic department on an AAC budget. If he is kept for money reasons (and honestly, the buyout is the *ONLY* reason he would be retained), then Benedict will absolutely have to dedicate more money into rounding out a MUCH better staff, even if Diaco disagrees. The staff he has assembled has been a disaster and it's largely due to the fact that UConn has always cut corners on paying for good assistants. We need a good OC to offset Diaco's overly-conservative tendencies - and if he's hired under a similar guise as TJ Weist was hired by Warde (over PP's head), then hopefully this will mean we will play football closer to 2017 than 1917. If Diaco is not happy with his new, well paid, staff, then maybe a cheaper buyout can be negotiated and we can turn the page quicker.

PRO: UConn saves a lot of money. Paying $750K - $1M/yr for a top flight OC is much cheaper than paying $5M or $3.5M to buy out Diaco (plus the additional buyouts to his staff). Would TJ Weist come back to UConn if we doubled his USF salary? Could we get another good OC from the G5 ranks to come here for doubled salary? I bet we could. Same applies to DC. The conservative style of coaching extends to defense (rush 3, play DBs 10-15 yards off the LOS, go into soft zone). If we increased our DC pay pool to, say, double Todd Orlando's Houston salary, would he come here? If Herman left Houston, he might bring Orlando with him to Texas or LSU or wherever. Or, Orlando might be tapped as Herman's replacement at Houston. But like OC, we need an upgrade at DC as well.

CON: Tickets sales plummet and we run the risk of yet another year where the casual fan is removed from giving a hoot about UConn football. Diehard fans will think long and hard about renewing. If diehard fans like @whaler11 are lost, that is a disaster for the program and the athletic department. Hiring a new OC and DC is not as "sexy" for the fans and won't compel many into renewing or purchasing new tickets. Skepticism will remain: who is actually calling/influencing plays - Diaco or new OC? Also, this team quit on the season during the ECU game. If he's brought back, how many players remain? And if they do remain, how much effort and heart can we expect from them? The entire team, save for a handful of guys, have been going through the motions in the ECU, Temple and BC games. The team is lost. Would bringing Diaco back for another season cement another losing season in 2017?

2. Save $1.5M and wait until 1/2/17 to fire Diaco. $1.5M is not a lot of scratch if we were in the Power-5 but, as we all know, we are not. $1.5M is a lot of scratch for an AAC athletic department when you consider that savings is roughly the equivalent level payout that we receive from ESPN for being in this second-rate conference. If they take this approach, they would run the risk of losing recruits for a full season AND not being able to land a top coach that will be needed to 1) win football games and 2) sell tickets. PJ Fleck and other top candidates will surely garner a TON of interest from ADs who have a lot more money than we have. If we can't come out of the gates (read: November 26th) with a very competitive financial offer to bring in Fleck or Moorhead or whoever, then we might have to sort through the "leftovers" bin to find our 2017 head coach. Maybe Jim Tressel will last until after the New Year, maybe he won't. Maybe Benedict can interview candidates through back channels until 1/2 and find his guy later in the coaching carousel silly season. That's a dangerous game to play when you think about the amount of top openings there are around the country.

PRO: UConn saves $1.5M. *If* Benedict can interview and reach verbal agreements on a new head coach prior to January, then it might be worth it. Obviously, canning Diaco and his staff would energize our fanbase and players. It will take years to dig out from the combined mess that PP and BD have contributed to our program, but thanks to the stall in CR in coming years, we now have years to build our football program back up to acceptable P5 levels when the next wave starts. We will just have to hope that the guy we hire on January 2nd will be good enough to keep the season tickets holders in tact.

CON: By waiting, we run the risk of not finding the right guy to be our coach. Not only do we need a new head coach, but we also have to round out a good staff too. There would be a lot of positions that would need filling and waiting until January will cut our candidate pool down considerably. UConn desperately needs to sell tickets again and circle the wagons on its diehard fanbase first, then worry about adding new casual fans later. The longer we wait to name a new guy, the more disenchanted with the program the fans will become. We would also guarantee ourselves of not being able to get a single recruit to commit to UConn until our situation "clears up". No kid is going to commit to UConn while we are in a state of coaching purgatory - and rightfully so. Yes, UConn will say all of the right things: "We are committed to Bob Diaco", but if kids don't believe it (and they probably won't), they aren't coming to UConn. And that only gives the new coach 1 month to recruit and find kids. In other words, we can toss away our entire 2017 recruiting class.

3. Bite the bullet, pay the $5M+ buyout, and fire Diaco immediately following the Tulane game. The most expensive option considering that we also need to buy out his staff *and* hire a whole new staff. Suddenly, that number swells closer to $10M than $5M, all-in. I don't know that an AAC school can afford to make that kind of financial decision without serious aid from donors or adding to the already high subsidy. The effect though, would be positive. If Diaco isn't the guy, which he has shown to everyone that he isn't, then, from a football perspective, moving on quickly would be most beneficial for all involved parties. It gives Diaco and his staff time to find another job, which they will, and it gives UConn the most time to put together a viable candidate pool for not only head coach, but an entire staff.

PRO: Everyone wins. Diaco and his staff have ample time to find another job - which they will (Paul Pasqualoni and George DeLeone found new jobs!). UConn has the most time possible to assemble a top coaching staff. The new coaching staff could energize our fanbase (very much needed!) and excite our players to the point that they start to care again on game days. Players need confidence in their coaching staff to put them in the right position to succeed and win. It's more than clear that the players have given up on this entire staff - perhaps none more evident than the way they completely gave up at Boston College after we passed up a 1Q FG, on 4th and 18, in favor of a low percentage throw by our 4th string QB. Players can read and they can read the stuff that is written by our media, the fans, and on social media. Hope is lost on every level and a quick change allows everyone to turn the page as quickly as possible.

CON: Obviously, money. When the all-in cost after a new staff is named approaches $10M, that cost will need to come from somewhere. Will UConn be forced to up their own subsidy? Probably. Will UConn pass the added cost to its alumni/fans? Probably there too. Will UConn need to think long and hard about making some cuts to other sports in its athletic department? Unfortunately, probably that too. UConn might be able to raise ticket prices if they hire a staff that brings genuine excitement, which is why getting out in front of the coaching line is important. Aside from the financial impact, there really isn't another CON (unless the new coach and staff fall flat on their faces too).

4. Do nothing - bring everyone back for 2017 under the shortest of leashes. The pros and cons of doing this are obvious. Yes, UConn saves money but it runs the risk of continuing the trend of losing fans, media, players and recruits. UConn football is a national punchline and until it isn't, we are cemented to the AAC.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

@Dooley It's not my money obviously but I think that we need to go all in and make one last push to be a top 40 to top 50 consistent program. That is unequivocally not happening with Diaco.

UConn athletics are at a cross roads. I think we empty the war chest one last time and go all in for football to try and improve by the early 2020s when CR maybe revs up again.

If it all fails and CR doesn't happen again? We may be effed anyway and be begging for a Big East invite and dropping football anyways.

 

[NEforceUConn]

I think negotiations begin on 11/27 and Diaco settles for $3.8 or $4 mio, stepping down in early Dec. UConn then immediately communicates he is gone and hopefully Benedict announces a new HC a week after. This would give us a new HC by say 12/15. This assumes the decision was made and communicated to him that he is gone. If that's the case Diaco will accept less than $5 mio because he knows its only $3.5 mio on Jan 2.

If UConn is going to give him another year then all is moot - including the fb program.

I believe Whaler said although the buyout is large it is reduced by any new job (salary) that Diaco earns as a DC (or assistant). The payout is also over a few years and if his new anticipated earnings does reduce the payout then its doable.

Maybe a sanity clause exists which would trump the buyout.

New HC wise I like Schiano but if OSU makes the playoffs he would not be able to start until Jan, and getting someone to start sooner would be much preferred. But UConn cn not take a flyer on a HC, it needs to be a recent proven winner. Because with the final CR due in say 6 years we have a lot of ground to make up.

 

[Walker11]

Can we please not mention Fleck as a possibility?

 

[Dooley]

@Dooley It's not my money obviously but I think that we need to go all in and make one last push to be a top 40 to top 50 consistent program. That is unequivocally not happening with Diaco.

UConn athletics are at a cross roads. I think we empty the war chest one last time and go all in for football to try and improve by the early 2020s when CR maybe revs up again.

If it all fails and CR doesn't happen again? We may be effed anyway and be begging for a Big East invite and dropping football anyways.

I tend to agree. I think the longer Diaco remains our coach, the more damage it does to the program, the fans, alumni, and the school. It sucks to the fans who pay for the tickets and will likely be asked to subsidize some of the cost on replacing the coach, but this is our last shot of getting out of the AAC. I'm actually in the camp that would prefer to fire Diaco now and commit to paying a new coach at the top of the entire G5. What good is a $72M AD budget if we continue to cheap out in the one and only thing that cements us to the AAC? Even if it means that my ticket prices go up to bring in a top coach or that a few of Olympic sports are cut, so be it. The damage that our national punchline football program is doing to the entire school and athletic department is real. We need to win football games and sell tickets desperately. I think that if we earmark $3M/yr to a top head coach and commit to paying for good assistants, than we can correct this much faster than going an economic route and hoping for the best bringing in an untested coordinator.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Can we please not mention Fleck as a possibility?

If Fleck is Schiano i disagree. Yes we don't like him, but he knows NJ and was a proven winner at RU, and doesn't have too shabby a position as DC at OSU.

 

[Dooley]

Can we please not mention Fleck as a possibility?

No. UConn needs to aim high and position itself to paying its next head coach at the top of the G5. If he wants to coach in the P5, then so be it. But UConn should absolutely make a full pitch to try to lure him here.

 

[BlueDogs]

If Fleck is Schiano i disagree. Yes we don't like him, but he knows NJ and was a proven winner at RU, and doesn't have too shabby a position as DC at OSU.

Unless it is an OC with a track record of putting up numbers, I don't want to hear about it.

 

[huskymedic]

I believe Whaler said although the buyout is large it is reduced by any new job (salary) that Diaco earns as a DC (or assistant). The payout is also over a few years and if his new anticipated earnings does reduce the payout then its doable.

I do not believe either the initial contract agreement or the contract extension contains future salary offset language.

If Diaco leaves on his own accord to accept another HC or Asst HC job (D1 or pro team) he owns UConn the following:

1/15/2016 to 11/26/2016 - $700k
11/27/16 to 11/26/17 - $350k
11/27/17 to 11/26/18 - $175k
11/27/18 to 11/26/19 - $100k
11/27/19 to 11.27/19 - $50k

 

[Walker11]

No. UConn needs to aim high and position itself to paying its next head coach at the top of the G5. If he wants to coach in the P5, then so be it. But UConn should absolutely make a full pitch to try to lure him here.

Your post was a great summary of the options, I just think that one tidbit is 100% unrealistic. Fleck is going to land a very good job this winter.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

@Dooley The point about the impressive $72M budget but cutting corners in football spending (in all aspects except buyouts for whatever reason..) drives me insane too. Where is all the money going to? I hate to be so calloused but we need to reel in and or at worst cut some sports and make one last push for the P5. It's the only thing that can balance our budget. And if we get into the P5? Programs can be brought back. It sucks that we are here but we are certainly not allocating our resources with regard to what can later return the most return on investment if we are dumping money into womens hoops, men's soccer, hockey, etc.

 

[Dooley]

Your post was a great summary of the options, I just think that one tidbit is 100% unrealistic. Fleck is going to land a very good job this winter.

I don't disagree with you. Fleck will likely end up at a P5 job. But I still want UConn to reach out to him aggressively.