Big Changes are Coming

[DarthGrumpy]

Though I like Addazio, if we are going to cut ties and clean house with Paul Pasqualoni and his legacy then Addazio is not the guy. I don't know much about Addazio's coaching style or his recruiting abilities, but know that him and PP go way back. Just saying.

I am not an Addazio fan and I agree that the connection that the shares with PP (coached the same HS, 20 years apart) raises a flag; but, from what I have heard, he is a very good recruiter and lives, eats, breathes, football. He also appears to support more of a smash mouth type football, which has been UConn’s ‘historical’ style.

As for CT HS football players, if UConn has a good team and is getting players into the NFL, they will come to UConn with or without the blessing for the Ct HS Football Association of Fairfield County. I am more worried about attracting the 3 and 4 star recruits out of NJ, PA, OH, FL, the Carolinas, etc.

 

[Dooley]

P was a bargain basement hire from the standpoint that he was willing to keep many of the current staffers and keep costs down. He also didn't have much time to build a staff because Edsall left so late in the silly season.

We don't really have the same impediments working against us this time. Time should be an ally and a the word on the street is more money should be available.

Paying our football coach more than the WBB coach just to make a statement could be like throwing money away. If you are going to pay him that, then he better be worth it.

I agree. I obviously don't want to pay an incompetent coach like PP more than Geno, but I think our vacancy ad should read something along the lines of "salary negotiable up to $2.5M/yr". I think that range should be able to attract a very good pool of candidates.

 

[huskyrob1]

I am not an Addazio fan and I agree that the connection that the shares with PP (coached the same HS, 20 years apart) raises a flag; but, from what I have heard, he is a very good recruiter and lives, eats, breathes, football. He also appears to support more of a smash mouth type football, which has been UConn’s ‘historical’ style.

As for CT HS football players, if UConn has a good team and is getting players into the NFL, they will come to UConn with or without the blessing for the Ct HS Football Association of Fairfield County. I am more worried about attracting the 3 and 4 star recruits out of NJ, PA, OH, FL, the Carolinas, etc.

It's not just that they both coached at Cheshire High, Pasqualoni gave Addazio his start in coaching. Addazio's first real job was as PP's offensive line coach at WestConn, and then right after Addazio left WestConn, PP was instrumental at getting SA the coaching job at Cheshire High. So yes you can say they have different philosophies about coaching, but you can also make the case that PP was his mentor.

 

[HuskyHawk]

One, Addazio won't be the guy. That's good for us and for BC. Used to work with a guy that was in Addazio's wedding party. He mentioned years ago that Steve A was interested in coming to UConn (Edsall era, while Addazio was at Florida). But I really think we need a guy with no local ties who can bring in a new attitude and put his stamp on the program.

Two, I hope what you knuckleheads are trying to say is that whatever guy we seek, whether he's an assistant at a big school or a rising star HC at a smaller school, that guy may wonder about coming to UConn, about a move to the "American". Whoever it is, if that guy is hesitant at 1.2, give him 1.4. Hesitant at 1.5, give him 1.75. That's the message. If attracting talent to Storrs now requires a premium, we pay it. I suspect this was the message Warde was trying to send. It's the message we need to send generally, we mean business, and are serious about football.

 

[FluxTZ]

Agreed! If Warde sticks to his M/O in hiring a coach like he did at Buffalo (2x) and with hiring Cavanaugh to coach the Hockey team here....if there was a betting line I'm betting BIG on him offering Pat Narduzzi DC at Michigan St the job. If you look at his history and the things he has used to make hiring choices it fits VERY well. Like any bet you have a shot at winning and a shot at losing..that name just seems to match up well with his past hires.

Do you mind elaborating on this a little more? You may have in another post but I'm curious what the "things he has used to make hiring choices" include.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

Warde has to think National on this search. Don't need to see another"but he can recruit New England guy"

Don't want to hear that he has no ties to recruiting here-been there done that-how's that working out?

As long as he can pull kids out of PA, NJ, VA, TX and FL

Our next coach is out their WM just needs to find him.

No mistakes and no good ol' boys.

We need a fresh start with fresh ideas.

 

[SubbaBub]

Warde has to think National on this search. Don't need to see another another"but he can recruit New England guy"

Don't want to hear that he has no ties to recruiting here-been there don that-how's that working out?

As long as he can pull kids out of PA, NJ, VA, TX and FL

Our next coach is out their WM just needs to find him.

No mistakes and no good ol' boys.

We need a fresh start with fresh ideas.

And no poseurs, you forgot no poseurs. (See Kiffin, Lane, Schiano, Greg)

 

[BC1978]

Gotta say, I think the earlier post claiming that Addazio is unhappy at BC and is looking for a change is not accurate. Everything he has said and everything the AD has said have been hugely positive about his experience at BC. Both have been VERY enthusiastic in the meetings that have been held for season ticket holders and donors. Addazio has been given everything he has asked for. In December, the AD is widely expected to announce a facilities upgrade, which will include a permanent indoor football practice facility (replacing the "Bubble" - hopefully before it collapses under the weight of the next major blizzard!).

There has been absolutely no buzz anywhere in the BC community that he is unhappy and looking to leave at this time.

BTW, pretty good start of the season for your new hockey league - Hockey East. This was the first weekend of the 1st HE/BiG Challenge and HE came out with a solid 9-4 lead. This was highlighted by back-to-back beat downs of the BiG's best team (Wisconsin) by BC, 9-2 on Friday night, followed by BU (7-3) on Saturday night. (I will choose to just forget about BC's opening night stumble in Ann Arbor against Michigan..LOL!) According to press reports, when the Wisconsin team arrived in Boston, they were petty cocky. When they left, not so much!

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

First, you can't expect to hire another Calhoun or Auriemma. Did anyone see Jim Calhoun becoming one of the 10 best of all time when he was at Northeastern? In reality, no.

You have to find the right guy first, whoever he is, then worry about the contract and salary. The number he's paid is not the starting point for Warde's search, and it also can't be the starting point for fans to evaluate who is hired.

 

[ZooCougar]

Warde needs to be think Coach Dallas big.

 

[Sea Goat]

I'm not arguing the merits of Geno or WBB. I'm lobbying for UCONN to make a football statement. We are staring at the real possibility of a winless season straight in the face. Limiting our coach candidate pool because we can't pay him more than Geno would be a serious mistake.

You are damn right - football needs to make a statement.

We have to stop using WBB or Geno's salary as some sort of litmus test for the football program. The cold, hard reality is that if WBB meant anything on the national stage for media dollars we would have been snapped up a few years ago. If we have learned nothing else from the last 2 years, we learned that WBB just doesn't have the cache in the vast majority of venues that matter as far as media contracts are concerned. People outside a few places in the country just don't give a that Geno's teams have won 8 titles. Don't shoot the messenger it is just the way it is. Football has to grow on its own - the growth has to become organic and sustained. There is just no substituting for that basic fact.

 

[UConnNick]

Liked and agree with your post Dooley. I only pulled out this quote so I could co-opt it for my own purposes. The truth is I'm not interested in "industry standard." I'm interested in setting the bar. I'm interested in finding the guy who's interested in setting the bar. Part of our problem is we've already caught lighting in a bottle twice. Two times we paid "industry standard" (hell, I don't know, maybe we paid Jim and Geno below standard in the early years) and gotten Hall of Fame quality. Now there are those who seem to me to argue we should be looking for a third bite of that apple. Sorry, I've played cards, the lottery, the horses, and the casinos. I'm not that lucky. We need a surer thing. We need to pay the money that attracts not a guy who's in the Hall of Fame but the guy with Hall of Fame qualities.

I want the guy who has the intelligence, knowledge, passion, energy, ability to teach, ability to trust and be trusted, desire, determination, focus, ability to learn, ability to turn failure into success the build on that success, integrity, pride and the ability to instill it, fortitude, vision, leadership, maturity, flexibility, courage, and communications skills of a Hall of Famer. Anybody know how much that costs?

Calhoun was paid $46K for his first season at UCONN. Auriemma's first year in Storrs earned him $29K. I'm fairly certain neither of them were being paid commensurate with any of the top programs in the country, but at that time neither UCONN BB program belonged in the same paragraph with any of the elite schools of that era.

I agree you can get the right guy for the job for less than "industry standard" money if you're lucky. We were lucky three times in the past 30 years. Perhaps we can get lucky once again, although major CFB is a totally different dynamic.

 

[Nostical]

Given the current economic realities in the State and since this is not a state with an SEC-like rabid football centric legislature, it's more politically likely that we'll be offering a "competitive" base salary but build in lots of incentives that can take him much higher. That's the formula to get a rising up and comer rather than a so called proven commodity.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I'm sorry but IMO there is no way we pay a coach $2+MM. I don't see anyway the state politicos & taxpayers will let this happen.

With a tv contract of $2MM & w Geno already making $2+MM I don't see it happening.

I think we end up with a MAC head coach at around $1.2-$1.5MM which is not a bad thing if we get the right guy.

I know this is not a popular idea but as I said it is just my opinion

This Post NEEDS a dislike button!!

 

[FDNY99]

This Post NEEDS a dislike button!!

Don't worry...people in that camo are going to be disappointed when Warde & Susan piny up the cash!

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Don't worry...people in that camo are going to be disappointed when Warde & Susan piny up the cash!

I want to see that... we can show the ACC and the B1G that we are serious!!!

 

[bobbyinaz]

Don't worry...people in that camo are going to be disappointed when Warde & Susan piny up the cash!

Why would I be disappointed? I want the best coach possible. I just don't think that we realistically can afford it.

I hope I'm wrong

 

[ktuck911]

We can argue back and forth till the cows come home about this season, about what coaches are good and bad....who should stay and who should go. The one thing I am certain of is this (any die-hard college football junkie will agree with me on this point)....BIG TIME changes are coming after this season...the kind of changes that occur in a P-5 type team when a coach can't get the job done. There are going to be some colleratal damage coaching moves (guys this fan base like..people like Foley)...and we will see kids transfer out of the program..probably more than we did when Pasqualoni replaced Edsall. We haven't seen this kind of program overhaul since Perno was replaced by Calhoun. For those of you supporting guys like Hughes...understand that these guys are gone by the end of December.

Had to re-visit this post.. the initial one... a whole lotta changes are/should be indeed coming...tough to watch us right now... Even our D has lost it...