Benedict adding Vanilla to the Fish Cake...

[HuskiesFan1014]

When your head coach makes fish cake, you don't add a bunch of vanilla to fix it. You throw the ENTIRE stinky cake out and start from scratch.

There isn't enough vanilla in Madagascar to fix this Diaco cake. Benedict will be the one forced to eat it one day soon.

 

[Fishy]

If we ain't got the money to fire him, we ain't got the money to fire him.

It is what it is.

 

[CL82]

If we ain't got the money to fire him, we ain't got the money to fire him.

It is what it is.

"Of course were he to have an accident,
that would be entirely different."​

 

[WestHartHusk]

If we ain't got the money to fire him, we ain't got the money to fire him.

It is what it is.

Then fire the person who signed the contract that put us in this bind. This is an epic cluster, you can't just throw your hands up.

 

[freescooter]

I don't think it is just a money issue. Those can be dealt with in so many ways. This isn't 10 or 12 million. It is more than it should be but it isn't impossible. This is as much a philosophical/process issue. The industry standard is to give a guy 4 years. Oh, Texas Michigan and a few other blue blood programs might do less. And if there are problems you might do less. But for recruiting continuity, coaching stability 4 is the standard. But I will say that anything less than a winning record next year and he is toast. 6-6 won't cut it.

 

[FartMan69]

Basically us trying to run a halfway decent FBS program like we used to after the CR disaster is like trying to keep our 2003 Saab running after we've been layed off, collecting unemployment following a nasty divorce. The damn thing keeps breaking down and the parts are expensive but we want to keep the old dream of luxury and class despite not having the means to actually achieve that dream any longer.

We all defend our journey to keep FBS football but this whole we can't afford to axe our awful HC and fix the problem (which is true we can't) theory from our AD shows that they themselves can't even defend it anymore. We're small time and even the big wigs have accepted it now.

 

[J187Money]

I don't think it is just a money issue. Those can be dealt with in so many ways. This isn't 10 or 12 million. It is more than it should be but it isn't impossible. This is as much a philosophical/process issue. The industry standard is to give a guy 4 years. Oh, Texas Michigan and a few other blue blood programs might do less. And if there are problems you might do less. But for recruiting continuity, coaching stability 4 is the standard. But I will say that anything less than a winning record next year and he is toast. 6-6 won't cut it.

Agreed - if they HAD to fire him they would fire him. And they might have if we were also 3-9 last season. But he has proven he can get us to a bowl (barely, but still) and my guess is the players still support him, and that probably means a lot.

@FartMan69 BTW - we aren't a big time program. Stomping our feet and demanding we act like one isn't going to change that.

 

[FartMan69]

Agreed - if they HAD to fire him they would fire him. And they might have if we were also 3-9 last season. But he has proven he can get us to a bowl (barely, but still) and my guess is the players still support him, and that probably means a lot.

@FartMan69 BTW - we aren't a big time program. Stomping our feet and demanding we act like one isn't going to change that.

Then why are we throwing money at a lackluster endeavor we clearly can't afford?

 

[freescooter]

It is entirely possible to develop a successful football program at UConn. Look no further than Temple, South Florida, and a bunch of others...Westwrn Michigan for heaven sakes. I mean Temple was a laughing stock until a few years ago. They haven't had back to back winning seasons since i don't know when. The only reason Temple football wasn't a complete joke was that Rutgers was nearby. But they have now established something. Competent coaching matters. With the right staff UConn can be at least that successful. Is Diaco the guy to get us there? I'd say doubtful but that doesn't mean the next guy won't.

 

[J187Money]

Then why are we throwing money at a lackluster endeavor we clearly can't afford?

People look at the "subsidies" and say we can't afford it. As long as the state is willing to subsidize athletics, and as long as the students don't balk at the student activity fees, I'm not sure I see the problem.

 

[weyuo]

It is entirely possible to develop a successful football program at UConn. Look no further than Temple, South Florida, and a bunch of others...Westwrn Michigan for heaven sakes. I mean Temple was a laughing stock until a few years ago. They haven't had back to back winning seasons since i don't know when. The only reason Temple football wasn't a complete joke was that Rutgers was nearby. But they have now established something. Competent coaching matters. With the right staff UConn can be at least that successful. Is Diaco the guy to get us there? I'd say doubtful but that doesn't mean the next guy won't.

If Navy can have winning seasons in this league and get ranked in the top 25, go to good bowls and fill their home stadium there is no reason why UConn can't do the same thing. Navy might have endless alumni but UConn has a whole state full of potential fans with no other in-state pro or college team to compete with. And don't tell me UConn can't recruit the same caliber player Navy is recruiting.

 

[superjohn]

I don't think it is just a money issue. Those can be dealt with in so many ways. This isn't 10 or 12 million. It is more than it should be but it isn't impossible. This is as much a philosophical/process issue. The industry standard is to give a guy 4 years. Oh, Texas Michigan and a few other blue blood programs might do less. And if there are problems you might do less. But for recruiting continuity, coaching stability 4 is the standard. But I will say that anything less than a winning record next year and he is toast. 6-6 won't cut it.

Good lord, you haven't seen enough? Diaco is the worst D1 coach I've ever seen.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Then fire the person who signed the contract that put us in this bind. This is an epic cluster, you can't just throw your hands up.

The thing no one on here seems to want to admit is at the time the extension was signed, it was not a bad move. There were a few puzzling things Diaco had said and done in his first two years, but the win trajectory was there and he got the big W last year over Houston. There was absolutely no evidence at the time the extension was given that Diaco would catastrophically implode the way he did this year. On the contrary, he was getting outside interest from a P5 school in his home state, we were projected to have a good team this year with an appealing home schedule, and the AD decided to ensure we didn't lose our coach. Those are the facts of what happened. One year ago today we all believed the program was generally trending back in the right direction towards being a winning program, thus ensuring you didn't have a major shakeup in the middle of that process was the right move. We can argue that the terms of the extension were too favorable to Diaco and that's a fair argument, but at the time it was signed the extension was not an incorrect move.

 

[superjohn]

The thing no one on here seems to want to admit is at the time the extension was signed, it was not a bad move. There were a few puzzling things Diaco had said and done in his first two years, but the win trajectory was there and he got the big W last year over Houston. There was absolutely no evidence at the time the extension was given that Diaco would catastrophically implode the way he did this year. On the contrary, he was getting outside interest from a P5 school in his home state, we were projected to have a good team this year with an appealing home schedule, and the AD decided to ensure we didn't lose our coach. Those are the facts of what happened. One year ago today we all believed the program was generally trending back in the right direction towards being a winning program, thus ensuring you didn't have a major shakeup in the middle of that process was the right move. We can argue that the terms of the extension were too favorable to Diaco and that's a fair argument, but at the time it was signed the extension was not an incorrect move.

It was a horrible move, there were tons of warning signs already with Diaco and there was no incentive to sign him. You only extend someone if you know he's the right guy and you worry he will be poached. He was never the right guy and he wasn't going anywhere.

 

[WestHartHusk]

The thing no one on here seems to want to admit is at the time the extension was signed, it was not a bad move. There were a few puzzling things Diaco had said and done in his first two years, but the win trajectory was there and he got the big W last year over Houston. There was absolutely no evidence at the time the extension was given that Diaco would catastrophically implode the way he did this year. On the contrary, he was getting outside interest from a P5 school in his home state, we were projected to have a good team this year with an appealing home schedule, and the AD decided to ensure we didn't lose our coach. Those are the facts of what happened. One year ago today we all believed the program was generally trending back in the right direction towards being a winning program, thus ensuring you didn't have a major shakeup in the middle of that process was the right move. We can argue that the terms of the extension were too favorable to Diaco and that's a fair argument, but at the time it was signed the extension was not an incorrect move.

It was the incorrect move. He was literally going nowhere last offseason and all we did was enrich BD and tie our own hands. That was as true last year as it is this year.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Basically us trying to run a halfway decent FBS program like we used to after the CR disaster is like trying to keep our 2003 Saab running after we've been layed off, collecting unemployment following a nasty divorce. The damn thing keeps breaking down and the parts are expensive but we want to keep the old dream of luxury and class despite not having the means to actually achieve that dream any longer.

I may be willing to take that Saab off your hands and restore it. What do you want for it?

 

[uconnfan68]

If we ain't got the money to fire him, we ain't got the money to fire him.

It is what it is.

You still can keep him from coaching, put him in Verducci's spot.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

It was the incorrect move. He was literally going nowhere last offseason and all we did was enrich BD and tie our own hands. That was as true last year as it is this year.

It was reported in many places that Diaco had been contacted by other schools, not the least of which was Rutgers.

 

[FartMan69]

I may be willing to take that Saab off your hands and restore it. What do you want for it?

5 million

 

[HuskyHawk]

It was reported in many places that Diaco had been contacted by other schools, not the least of which was Rutgers.

Yes, they refuse to look back without the benefit of hindsight. Last year, he was a young coach who rebuilt an awful program and got them to a bowl while beating a very good Houston team. He was kooky, but in a way you could grow to love if the wins kept coming. They players seemed to buy in and play hard for him.

Nobody saw this coming. The team is in complete disarray and more or less stopped playing during the ECU game, and ever since. Had he not blown the end of the Navy game, they may have rallied and been an entirely different team this year. I really believe that.

I'd rather start with a new guy, but if Bob is back, I'm not going to root against him. I think Benedict is making the best of the cards he's been dealt. If Bob can focus on Defense, and have a really strong, capable veteran voice as OC, they might just turn things around.

 

[freescooter]

I agree with bb's analysis of the decision process though despite his "success" I was never totally sold on Diaco for many reasons. I didn't expect a complete implosion but it doesn't shock me entirely either. 7-5 was my guess but the Maine game raised 100 red flags.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Yes, they refuse to look back without the benefit of hindsight. Last year, he was a young coach who rebuilt an awful program and got them to a bowl while beating a very good Houston team. He was kooky, but in a way you could grow to love if the wins kept coming. They players seemed to buy in and play hard for him.

Nobody saw this coming. The team is in complete disarray and more or less stopped playing during the ECU game, and ever since. Had he not blown the end of the Navy game, they may have rallied and been an entirely different team this year. I really believe that.

I'd rather start with a new guy, but if Bob is back, I'm not going to root against him. I think Benedict is making the best of the cards he's been dealt. If Bob can focus on Defense, and have a really strong, capable veteran voice as OC, they might just turn things around.

Bingo. We all want him gone based on what happened this year and where we sit today. A year ago today, no one with a sane mind could have predicted that Diaco would implode on and off the field the way he did. Exactly as you put, he was kooky but he wasn't endangering players' safety, making psychotic statements to the press which prompt them to write that he's out of touch with reality, and not scoring for nearly 60 straight drives. He had improved by four wins, beat the Peach Bowl champion, and had a veteran and fairly talented squad returning in 2016. He was garnering interest from other schools, including at least one from the P5. To offer him an extension at that point was not at all unheard of or worthy of the vitriol being thrown today.

As freescooter said, starting with the Maine and Navy games, and as the season progressed, the red flags starting increasing exponentially to a point no one could have reasonably imagined. Of course those who had an irrational hatred of him from the start or after his first season will claim they were right, but that's little more than a broken clock being right twice a day. Not a single person with a sound understanding of football, and college football specifically, would have predicted we'd be as bad as we were and that Diaco would catastrophically implode on and off the field as he did.

 

[superjohn]

Bingo. We all want him gone based on what happened this year and where we sit today. A year ago today, no one with a sane mind could have predicted that Diaco would implode on and off the field the way he did. Exactly as you put, he was kooky but he wasn't endangering players' safety, making psychotic statements to the press which prompt them to write that he's out of touch with reality, and not scoring for nearly 60 straight drives. He had improved by four wins, beat the Peach Bowl champion, and had a veteran and fairly talented squad returning in 2016. He was garnering interest from other schools, including at least one from the P5. To offer him an extension at that point was not at all unheard of or worthy of the vitriol being thrown today.

As freescooter said, starting with the Maine and Navy games, and as the season progressed, the red flags starting increasing exponentially to a point no one could have reasonably imagined. Of course those who had an irrational hatred of him from the start or after his first season will claim they were right, but that's little more than a broken clock being right twice a day. Not a single person with a sound understanding of football, and college football specifically, would have predicted we'd be as bad as we were and that Diaco would catastrophically implode on and off the field as he did.

It's awesome how you speak for everyone.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

It's awesome how you speak for everyone.

Was I not speaking for everyone when I said "We all want him gone" - do you have other thoughts on the matter?