Assistant Coach Search

[businesslawyer]

If we have someone on the staff who has recruited Texas in the past, Texas makes too much sense to ignore. The "don't waste time with Texas" argument could have been applied to Florida when RE first took over if he didn't add Richardson to the staff then.

There was an old Sam Adams commercial that said (speaking of Bud and Coors) was "they spill more than we make". There are a number of states that "spill more than we make" when it comes to college football prospects. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Florida and Texas all qualify (Maryland and Georgia also produce a lot more than we do but not to the level of the six mentioned). RE 1.0 hit NJ, PA and FL well from the start and during the last few years of his first run added Va and dipped his toes in Oh and Tx.

It shouldn't be unreasonable to believe that a quality recruiting staff can do a little better than we had at our best in NJ, Pa, Va & Fl and recruit Tx and Oh considerably better than we ever had in the past.

When we were recruiting at our best, kids knew that if they came here “all” they had to do was win the Big East and they went to a major New Year’s bowl. We are now recruiting kids without even having ties to minor bowls. Even “fake” arrangements like UMass that don’t give you a guaranty you’ll get an invite if you qualify but at least let you mislead recruits in good faith.

 

[ktuck911]

P and Edsall were both NFL coaches as well. NFL coaches don’t have to recruit. And you don’t know that it wasn’t Mora’s background that helped these people to NFL jobs.

Again, I’m not knocking Mora and I understand that in many ways related to how the hiring was perceived this was a great hire. But telling me he sends his assistant coaches to the NFL doesn’t help me conclude that he’s going to be able to turn things around here. I wish it did.

I kinda like the pedigree Mora Jr has over P & Edsall though. Coaching's been in this man's blood arguably his whole life. Luckily for him he has a better budget to work with to bring the right (qualified) staff in to right this FBS ship, which is exciting to think about. We still have pretty decent talent to work with too.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

P and Edsall were both NFL coaches as well. NFL coaches don’t have to recruit. And you don’t know that it wasn’t Mora’s background that helped these people to NFL jobs.

Again, I’m not knocking Mora and I understand that in many ways related to how the hiring was perceived this was a great hire. But telling me he sends his assistant coaches to the NFL doesn’t help me conclude that he’s going to be able to turn things around here. I wish it did.

If Mora has one good year at UConn, and because of it one of his assistants gets a great head coaching opportunity or job in the NFL, at that point I don’t think UConn would lose as much since they would’ve already gotten the proverbial ball rolling for the program. At that point, wouldn’t it be easier to replace anyone that leaves?

 

[Bongo Fury]

Much of the talent, and some in state kids we had, (which in my mind was a huge red flag after Edsall returned) transferred out not too long after Edsall came back. Tyler Coyle, Keyion Dixon, Taj-Herring Wilson, Ryan Gilmartin, and others. Coyle went to Purdue IIRC.

He was more concerned with playing freshmen in attempt to build a solid team in upcoming years. Didn’t work this time. Even today Thomas and Dixon were better WRs.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

He was more concerned with playing freshmen in attempt to build a solid team in upcoming years. Didn’t work this time. Even today Thomas and Dixon were better WRs.

That’s an understatement. Lol. If he was more concerned with playing freshman at the expense of losing his upperclassmen stars or running 1st team players off the team because they were not his recruits then Edsall should have been fired much sooner than he was. Would you be critical of Mora, if he started running the few good players we have now off the team because they weren’t his recruits????

 

[WestCoastHusky]

1. 646. Nvh. Kj(;n( mm /m

When we were recruiting at our best, kids knew that if they came here “all” they had to do was win the Big East and they went to a major New Year’s bowl. We are now recruiting kids without even having ties to minor bowls. Even “fake” arrangements like UMass that don’t give you a guaranty you’ll get an invite if you qualify but at least let you mislead recruits in good faith.

Pretty sure most kids these days want the following :

• Want to know if a program and the staff can help them get to the NFL if that's their dream
• Be on TV so their friends and family can watch them play
• Get a good degree at a great academic school that's safe. Yes there are parents still care about college education.
• Ability to play for Champion and bowl game although I believe top 3 above are more important

Uconn can provide top 3 above easily, and we got a coach who has a great track record of doing all that. The bowl game part will need to be fixed. The championship part won't be fixed until we join a conference.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

P and Edsall were both NFL coaches as well. NFL coaches don’t have to recruit. And you don’t know that it wasn’t Mora’s background that helped these people to NFL jobs.

Again, I’m not knocking Mora and I understand that in many ways related to how the hiring was perceived this was a great hire. But telling me he sends his assistant coaches to the NFL doesn’t help me conclude that he’s going to be able to turn things around here. I wish it did.

How's it going BL? I hope you are doing well.

Please don't take this the wrong way but did someone urinate in your cheerios this morning?

One of the better things about RE 1.0 (which never materialized during RE 2.0) was his eye for assistant coaching talent. Granted, we weren't (and aren't) UCLA and yes, I imagine even then Mora's background as an NFL head coach provided far more gravitas than anything Edsall had when looking to add assistants to his staff. That said, Klemm was a kid (early 30's) with only a couple years coaching (SMU) when Mora hired him. Ulbrich was younger and had less coaching experience when Mora brought him on.

I submit that there is valid evidence to believe Mora can bring in some quality assistant coaches and there is reason to believe that this would greatly assist in the ability to turn things around here. Does this mean we should conclude that he will? No, I've seen far too many cases in my lifetime where alleged absolute sure things failed miserably. I do believe however that as a fan base we have every right to be encouraged.

 

[Exit 4]

as a fan base we have every right to be encouraged.

The ten year moratorium on encouragement shall be lifted. I motion to defy @CTMike 's golden rule.

Mora will be solutions oriented, not process oriented. Big change.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

When we were recruiting at our best, kids knew that if they came here “all” they had to do was win the Big East and they went to a major New Year’s bowl. We are now recruiting kids without even having ties to minor bowls. Even “fake” arrangements like UMass that don’t give you a guaranty you’ll get an invite if you qualify but at least let you mislead recruits in good faith.

BL, instead of urinating in your cheerios this morning, I'm beginning to suspect someone did something far worse in them.

Prior to ~2008 going on the recruiting trail, telling kids that "all we have to do is win the Big East" was similar to one of the better AAC schools over the past couple of years telling kids "all we have to do is finish in the CFP top four". While technically correct, it was very far from being realistic.

This will be a multi-step process and will require a different sales pitch than the opportunity to play bowl games. We will (in I believe every case in the reasonable future) play higher profile and more high profile schools than we did in the old Big East. If we can start winning, I imagine our overall profile will put us in a slightly better position to secure bowl invitations than many of our current peers. Until then, we will need to sell something different but I don't see why we can't.

 

[Yup!]

1. 646. Nvh. Kj(;n( mm /m

Pretty sure most kids these days want the following :

• Want to know if a program and the staff can help them get to the NFL if that's their dream
• Be on TV so their friends and family can watch them play
• Get a good degree at a great academic school that's safe. Yes there are parents still care about college education.
• Ability to play for Champion and bowl game although I believe top 3 above are more important

Uconn can provide top 3 above easily, and we got a coach who has a great track record of doing all that. The bowl game part will need to be fixed. The championship part won't be fixed until we join a conference.

Honest question, do you really think we need a conference to have a championship run? If BYU went undefeated this year, do you think they wouldn’t be top 5?

I think our schedule gets better as an independent and if we played like Cincinnati the last two, three years I don’t see why we can’t make a run.

 

[Nostical]

I imagine our overall profile will put us in a slightly better position to secure bowl invitations than many of our current peers.

I agree. If we recruit a few exciting players and have a winning record there will be Bowls eager for us to be there. They see a fan base hungry to travel for a program redeemed by a name brand coach.

 

[metsfan2323]

Honest question, do you really think we need a conference to have a championship run? If BYU went undefeated this year, do you think they wouldn’t be top 5?

I think our schedule gets better as an independent and if we played like Cincinnati the last two, three years I don’t see why we can’t make a run.

We will never have a shot at the expanded playoff as an independent, however a MAC or CUSA team could potentially go undefeated or have one loss and make it. (see Western Michigan 5 years ago)

 

[FfldCntyFan]

We will never have a shot at the expanded playoff as an independent, however a MAC or CUSA team could potentially go undefeated or have one loss and make it. (see Western Michigan 5 years ago)

I'm not sure I agree (although I believe it would be a very tall order to reach the level necessary). We are in a situation where if we could hypothetically put together a squad equal to where Cincinnati is today (after what they've accomplished they will still need at least two, possibly three upsets of top teams to land in the playoffs), we could out ourselves in a better position. We could theoretically (if we anticipate the rise correctly) craft a schedule with seven road games against good P-5 schools that a legitimate top five team could handle and play enough quality with the five home games, where the strength of schedule excuse (which will always be held against G-5 conference members) won't be applicable.

So I think this will happen? No. I've known for more than 5 1/2 decades that there is no Santa Claus. Do I believe we are at a disadvantage for the (potential) expanded playoff by not being in the MAC, AAC, CUSA or Sun Belt? No. Not at all.

 

[noeynox]

Yeah, sign me up for getting snubbed out the cfb playoff right now

 

[UConnJim]

We will never have a shot at the expanded playoff as an independent, however a MAC or CUSA team could potentially go undefeated or have one loss and make it. (see Western Michigan 5 years ago)

I disagree. The difference between the schedule UConn will play and a MAC schedule is big, although this year the 2 FCS games plus UMass hurt the schedule strength. This year, UConn played 3 P5 teams (Clemson, Purdue and Vanderbilt) plus 2 schools going to the Big 12 (UCF and Houston) as well as Fresno St. and Army. If UConn was undefeated against that schedule, it holds up well vs Cincinnati's schedule this year.

 

[Bongo Fury]

We will never have a shot at the expanded playoff as an independent, however a MAC or CUSA team could potentially go undefeated or have one loss and make it. (see Western Michigan 5 years ago)

Playoffs? They’re just trying to win some games.

 

[DoctorWho85]

P and Edsall were both NFL coaches as well. NFL coaches don’t have to recruit. And you don’t know that it wasn’t Mora’s background that helped these people to NFL jobs.

Again, I’m not knocking Mora and I understand that in many ways related to how the hiring was perceived this was a great hire. But telling me he sends his assistant coaches to the NFL doesn’t help me conclude that he’s going to be able to turn things around here. I wish it did.

The difference between Mora and Edsall/P is Mora was an NFL head coach that had to evaluate players coming out of college that will help build his teams. Edsall was a position coach and P was a DC for 1 season for Dallas before coming to UConn. Neither of those positions really had to evaluate players in the draft. Just had to coach them up. Mora has that experience at both pro and college level.

 

[noeynox]

RichRod offense beautiful against LSU.

 

[noeynox]

One play sets up the next.

 

[HobokenHusky]

Names of interest (previous ties to Mora and followed on Twitter by newest recruit offer immediately after Mora)

Jerry Neuheisel
Demetrius Martin
Angus McClure
Taylor Mazzone
David Marsh
John Marinelli

 

[Hskies4Ever]

We will never have a shot at the expanded playoff as an independent, however a MAC or CUSA team could potentially go undefeated or have one loss and make it. (see Western Michigan 5 years ago)

Yeah…. No.

After a 1 loss season, UCF went undefeated in a better conference and didn’t get an invite. Cincy, now with a P5 invite in hand, might still miss out on the CFP because of politics.

The American is clearly better than the MAC and C-USA but has done no better with the committee.

 

[Hskies4Ever]

We will never have a shot at the expanded playoff as an independent, however a MAC or CUSA team could potentially go undefeated or have one loss and make it. (see Western Michigan 5 years ago)

Also… in a world where there is (at least) one P5 champion left out of the playoff every year, you think a 1 loss MAC or C-USA team would make it?

Yikes.

 

[jayfromfla]

With the defections of CR recruits it is clear Edsil will not be retained

 

[ktuck911]

With the defections of CR recruits it is clear Edsil will not be retained

what is CR?

 

[jostar1]

what is CR?

I think it is a typo for CE (Corey Edsall). And he is saying it is clear that Corey Edsall will not be retained.