Best way to get the program on track

[huskynation]

Kick GD to the curb, get a young up and coming, ambitious OC with ties to a strong recruiting state like FL, GA, TX, PA, OH. Pay as much as needed. We need some young blood, who is gonna go out there on the recruiting trail and make kids wanna play offense for uconn. Friendships aside, this must be done. GD is the worst thing to happen to uconn football since its inception. It will not get better. PP can coach defense very well. However, understand that he coaches defense not offense so he needs a strong dynamic OC to help him out. We're stuck with PP for now, but the program cannot move forward until GD becomes a horrible memory from the past.

 

[Adios]

GD is the worst thing to happen to uconn football since its inception.

Since 1896? You must really hate GDL.

(Before people start talking trash about the football program before it went FBS, remember that athletic programs have been built on the backs of football programs even back then. People who coached football also coached basketball and baseball back then.)

 

[mattp]

There's going to be a lot of disappointed BYers this offseason. I really think we'll be bringing back both P and GDL next year. I hope I'm wrong, but very few head coaches get canned after 2 seasons of mediocre/lousy football.

 

[uconndogs]

These guys have left too many games on the field that should have been Ws. As a result, we are most likely going to miss a bowl for two consecutive seasons. That's a big deal for an up and coming program. Lost exposure, practice time and player and fan support. This, at a time when regional competition in the form of BC and PSU are on their ass. We should have been making hay. Instead, we squandered a season when we had one of the best defenses in the nation because we have a HC who allowed his OC to turn our offense into nuclear science.

On average, I am a very patient fan, especially when it comes to coaches, but I have really seen enough of these guys.

 

[jdb50]

I would make the move this year on both PP and GDL but there are many things coming into play. The jobs at Tenn. and Kentucky are two. What if Charlie Strong and Butch Jones take those two posts? What if S Florida opens up? There could be many options for the type of younger coach on the rise we would all like to see here. Dollars and cents.Trying to keep PP and just get a new OC means that Warde thinks PP is the man to lead us back to being at least Bowl eligible or that the money problems at State U plus the blooming State deficit are tieing his hands. I think the list for real dynamic OC's that would want to come here and just join the staff isn't as long as the ones who would want to become the head coach. I may be wrong. Others have pointed out how defensive minded guys like Strong , Saban et al are making great head coaches. For the fans a change at OC is the best play. Unless we upset the two big boys left on our schedule, going into next year standing pat will make for a tremendous amount of pressure on the AD and PP and it could get very ugly. So would PP agree to this change? My guess if we have any success in the last two games (not talking winning but scoreing) everything remains the same as he can point to the potential for more production on offense next year. We are going to need alot of patient fans.

 

[pj]

The solution might be to bring in an OC with the promise that if he performs well, he'll be the HC when P retires/leaves. It's a great way for the AD to evaluate the new OC - sort of like Ollie's audition.

 

[ZooCougar]

Best way is to fire P and D. They are both atrocious.

 

[mattp]

I really don't think you can keep P but force him to make a change in his staff. If you're going to pick P's staff for him, you need to just let him go altogether. Also, what great OC candidate would want to take part in P's lame duck season knowing there's a very probably chance that he'll be gone and you'll be looking for a job in another year? The type of up and coming OC mentioned in the OP is going to be looking for a head coaching job, or to be OC for an up and coming head coach, not serve as the chair coordinator on the Titanic. Also if we bring in a new OC and then fire the whole staff in a year you'll have had players here under 3 different OCs in 3 years, and I don't think that's good for anybody.

 

[FDNY99]

How about hiring Kliff Kingsbury frmr record setting qb in the Air Raid off at Texas Tech under Leach (Holgorsen was his OC) to replace P and let him bring in his complete own staff. In his first yr as OC at A&M after following Sumlin from Houston where he was also OC.

 

[Husky68]

How do you know that PP can coach defense very well? I give him no credit for Brown. Not his life long buddy and the system Brown is running is the same as he did at Maryland. Brown could just as well report directly to Manuel for all the impact PP is giving him. How do I know, 'cause the defense isn't 115th in the country.

 

[uconNYC]

Did anyone see WM and Susan Herbst reactions after the MSU basketball game? Looked like two people who care about winning. Fact that Herbst was in Germany speaks volumes about her feelings towards big time athletics (she also visited the WhiteHouse with the 2011 BBall team).

I really feel they will not settle for mediocrity (if you can even call it that) and PP and GDL will be gone after the season.

 

[ZooCougar]

Did anyone see WM and Susan Herbst reactions after the MSU basketball game? Looked like two people who care about winning. Fact that Herbst was in Germany speaks volumes about her feelings towards big time athletics (she also visited the WhiteHouse with the 2011 BBall team).

I really feel they will not settle for mediocrity (if you can even call it that) and PP and GDL will be gone after the season.

She was having a good time. She was wearing a UConn jacket the whole night. She was sitting behind the bench with Warde.

And no I didn't accost Warde and tell him what I thought of P.

 

[huskymedic]

She was having a good time. She was wearing a UConn jacket the whole night. She was sitting behind the bench with Warde.

And no I didn't accost Warde and tell him what I thought of P.

 

[ZooCougar]

The night wasn't about that. But whatever.

 

[huskymedic]

The night wasn't about that. But whatever.

Humor dude, humor... you threw it out.

 

[johnhuskies95]

How do you know that PP can coach defense very well? I give him no credit for Brown. Not his life long buddy and the system Brown is running is the same as he did at Maryland. Brown could just as well report directly to Manuel for all the impact PP is giving him. How do I know, 'cause the defense isn't 115th in the country.

So he's responsible for the offense but not the defense? Makes sense.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I really don't think you can keep P but force him to make a change in his staff. If you're going to pick P's staff for him, you need to just let him go altogether. Also, what great OC candidate would want to take part in P's lame duck season knowing there's a very probably chance that he'll be gone and you'll be looking for a job in another year? The type of up and coming OC mentioned in the OP is going to be looking for a head coaching job, or to be OC for an up and coming head coach, not serve as the chair coordinator on the Titanic. Also if we bring in a new OC and then fire the whole staff in a year you'll have had players here under 3 different OCs in 3 years, and I don't think that's good for anybody.

Coaches are strong-armed all the time into making staff changes. After 2010 Mack Brown was basically forced to change his entire staff.

 

[rich1122]

There's going to be a lot of disappointed BYers this offseason. I really think we'll be bringing back both P and GDL next year. I hope I'm wrong, but very few head coaches get canned after 2 seasons of mediocre/lousy football.

They have also convinced the world that they inherited a mess, 8% unemployment and $16 trillion in debt are OK and they just need more time.

Sound familiar.

 

[Waquoit]

Since 1896? You must really hate GDL.

True, is GDL really worse that that loss to Miss Porter's in 1904?

 

[ruskin]

I will be stunned if GDL is in charge of the offense next year. I think think that's going to be non-negotiable with WM/SH. Will be up to P to either find a soft landing spot for his buddy on the staff and work with WM to find an OC or renegotiate the buyout terms and make a graceful an exit as possible.