Brace yourself: Coaching change silly season set to begin. (CBS Sports - Fowler)

[Jimmy Serrano]

WCIA3Matt11:36am via Twitter for Android
I just finished an interview with #Illini AD Mike Thomas. He told me Tim Beckman will return as coach next season.

Relative only because it keeps Lembo in play. Beckman was also Matt Campbell's mentor @ Toledo.

Good news for us.

I'm torn on rooting for or against RU this weekend. They win, they go bowling at 6-6 and likely keep that disaster of a HC for another year. They lose, they stay home but may end up canning Flood. The less competition for a coach, the better.

 

[jrazz12]

Narduzzi will get better offers than us. So will Herman. I like both of those guys bit I am realist.

Like where though? This year?

He's not in line for USC. Other potential openings this year are maybe Vanderbilt (Franklin to USC), Iowa(?), maybe Georgia(?), probably Rutgers. I don't see where Narduzzi really gets that better of an offer. That goes for Lembo and Herman too.

Illinois is holding off. Nebraska sticking with Pelini for now. Mack Brown gets a lifeline. I think the quality coaches compared to the quality openings is actually in our favor this time. Plus we don't have a moron for an AD as well.

 

[ZooCougar]

Like where though? This year?

He's not in line for USC. Other potential openings this year are maybe Vanderbilt (Franklin to USC), Iowa(?), maybe Georgia(?), probably Rutgers. I don't see where Narduzzi really gets that better of an offer. That goes for Lembo and Herman too.

Illinois is holding off. Nebraska sticking with Pelini for now. Mack Brown gets a lifeline. I think the quality coaches compared to the quality openings is actually in our favor this time. Plus we don't have a moron for an AD as well.

Illinois holding off is good for us. But the problem is that next December our first year coach will be embroiled in the silly season. Expect the unexpected. I think a one and done would be bad for us.

 

[ZooCougar]

If were a betting man (Whaler) my money would be on Lembo right now.

 

[noeynox]

Illinois holding off is good for us. But the problem is that next December our first year coach will be embroiled in the silly season. Expect the unexpected. I think a one and done would be bad for us.

He would probably have to be lights out for that to happen though. Every once in a while yiu see Gene Chizik, who parlays a mediocre stint at iowa state into a prominent job like auburn, but not often.

 

[ruskin]

The more you scan the landscape it seems Narduzzi is not beyond UConn's grasp, especially with Illinois keeping Beckman. Now his price will skyrocket with a win or dominating defensive performance against tOSU and at that point WM/SH have to decide if they're going to pay that price. BTW the salary isn't quite 'other people's money'. If you're buying tickets you have a stake. and the Big East separation cash is there as well, even if it isn't quite as big as it could have been.

Hope we're getting to a point where the Lembo or Narduzzi odds are better than "the field".

Wonder if someone will FOI Warde's travel/communication records this week.

 

[FDNY99]

I find it interesting that you're worried about FCS coaches because some of them manage to recruit top transfers, but you have no concern over the lack of head coaching experience of the coordinator candidates.

Also, the potential issues with Ambrose are well documented, so don't pretend that you have some great inside source. If he's a candidate, that will need to be investigated.

I'm not pretending I have an inside source...there are some incidents that happened that never made the press. If they had happened after Mike Rice's incident it would have been national news. I will say this my feelings on Ambrose stem from stories I heard from former Asst Lyndon Johnson...my opinion of Ambrose: he is a big mouth arrogant who if hired will make me a former UCONN fan after 37 years of bleeding Husky blue. Not the guy I want to see as the face of UCONN football.

 

[huskymedic]

If were a betting man (Whaler) my money would be on Lembo right now.

TOS site is "reporting" on Lembo: . Update 12/2: UConnReport talked with a source close to Lembo. Although he would listen to UConn he most likely would pass. Lembo thinks he has put together enough impressive seasons that he can jump right to the Big Ten.

 

[Excalibur]

I'm not pretending I have an inside source...there are some incidents that happened that never made the press. If they had happened after Mike Rice's incident it would have been national news. I will say this my feelings on Ambrose stem from stories I heard from former Asst Lyndon Johnson...my opinion of Ambrose: he is a big mouth arrogant who if hired will make me a former UCONN fan after 37 years of bleeding Husky blue. Not the guy I want to see as the face of UCONN football.

In case you haven't noticed, we've had a couple of other big-mouthed arrogant douches coaching our teams . . .

 

[SubbaBub]

TOS site is "reporting" on Lembo: . Update 12/2: UConnReport talked with a source close to Lembo. Although he would listen to UConn he most likely would pass. Lembo thinks he has put together enough impressive seasons that he can jump right to the Big Ten.

If true, then that drops him down a peg. The only B1G jobs that might be available, with the possible exception of Nebraska, downright suck. Ill, NW, Indiana, Minn, RU, Purdue, Iowa. Meaning, he isn't getting M, OSU, PSU, Wisc, or MSU. He'd be signing his own ticket back to the MAC.

If he said ACC, then he's be making some sense.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

I'm not sold on Ambrose but his record at Towson almost can't be argued against.

With either Morehead or Ambrose, the real question is talent procurement. Both have benefited from 1A transfers that didn't have to sit a year. They've both shown the ability to win, but at UCONN it will be more difficult to use transfers. Can they recruit, head-to-head, for HS kids?

 

[FDNY99]

In case you haven't noticed, we've had a couple of other big-mouthed arrogant douches coaching our teams . . .

Yeah...I noticed...been a UCONN for a LONG time. You can have your opinion of Ambrose and I will have mine. I just wonder if you would be so pro Ambrose if we had beaten Towson...and if you wanted him out of here when he was OC.

 

[metsfan2323]

Yeah...I noticed...been a UCONN for a LONG time. You can have your opinion of Ambrose and I will have mine. I just wonder if you would be so pro Ambrose if we had beaten Towson...and if you wanted him out of here when he was OC.

Why did anyone want him out of here? We scored a lot of points with TL at QB. That was a good offensive team. Was it not pretty enough for you?

With hindsight I would say that the people who wanted him gone were wrong.

 

[junglehusky]

If true, then that drops him down a peg. The only B1G jobs that might be available, with the possible exception of Nebraska, downright suck. Ill, NW, Indiana, Minn, RU, Purdue, Iowa. Meaning, he isn't getting M, OSU, PSU, Wisc, or MSU. He'd be signing his own ticket back to the MAC.

If he said ACC, then he's be making some sense.

If I were an AD and I interviewed a candidate, and he told me that he turned down or didn't pursue an opening at Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, etc. because those jobs "suck" and he was afraid he'd be "signing his own ticket back to the MAC", I would end the interview right then and there and cross him off my list.

If I were an AD and I made a decision that a candidate was my guy, and then found out that one of those schools was also interested, it wouldn't "drop him down a peg". Quite the opposite, I'd call up some donors to see if we could outbid those schools for the coach I wanted.

 

[FDNY99]

Why did anyone want him out of here? We scored a lot of points with TL at QB. That was a good offensive team. Was it not pretty enough for you?

With hindsight I would say that the people who wanted him gone were wrong.

You made more sense with your points about why mangini should get the job. I'd take Mangini over Ambrose...and you know how I feel about him.

 

[ZooCougar]

Why did anyone want him out of here? We scored a lot of points with TL at QB. That was a good offensive team. Was it not pretty enough for you?

With hindsight I would say that the people who wanted him gone were wrong.

Pretty sure that Edsall had Ambrose pretty well restricted in terms of play calling. In some ways he was a scapegoat for unproductive, but sometimes efficient playcalling.

I was definitely one of those who wanted him gone though, although there were some people like SportsArt (if I remember correctly) that had enough insight to see what was really going on.

 

[ZooCougar]

I'm not sold on Ambrose but his record at Towson almost can't be argued against.

What impresses me about him is that he built Towson back up. He knows that in order to succeed at UConn you have to recruit for development. The other thing is that the day Pasqualoni was canned, Darius Butler and a host of other Alums were pretty vehement in endorsing him.

It seems like Lembo is not on the table anymore, which is a bummer. We may need to look more closely at the art of the possible and not just throw two million bucks at someone who can command it just because. There are no sure things.

In my mind, and I realize I may be in the minority, a successful high level FCS head coach is even with or greater than a successful FBS coordinator with no head coaching experience.

And oh by the way, Lembo ain't interested. Can't see how Narduzzi or Herman would be different.

 

[ZooCougar]

He would probably have to be lights out for that to happen though. Every once in a while yiu see Gene Chizik, who parlays a mediocre stint at iowa state into a prominent job like auburn, but not often.

I don't expect those guys to be mediocre. From day one, the new guy will have enough tools to be successful in the AAC.

If we hire Narduzzi, Lembo or Herman, and they do well here then they will be here for two years at the maximum.

 

[huskymedic]

If we hire Narduzzi, Lembo or Herman, and they do well here then they will be here for two years at the maximum.

Unless we end up in B1G!


(okay - stumbling back to reality)...

 

[metsfan2323]

You made more sense with your points about why mangini should get the job. I'd take Mangini over Ambrose...and you know how I feel about him.

You didn't answer the question, why did you want him gone? Did you think he did a bad job with the TL/Donald Brown offense or was it something else?

 

[Husky25]

He would probably have to be lights out for that to happen though. Every once in a while yiu see Gene Chizik, who parlays a mediocre stint at iowa state into a prominent job like auburn, but not often.

Gus Malzuhn only had a cup of coffee at Arkansas St. To be fair, he was more on the lights out end of the spectrum for one year.

 

[Excalibur]

Yeah...I noticed...been a UCONN for a LONG time. You can have your opinion of Ambrose and I will have mine. I just wonder if you would be so pro Ambrose if we had beaten Towson...and if you wanted him out of here when he was OC.

I have been watching him at Towson since the 2011 season. What I noticed when they played us was not so much the score as it was the way his team was prepared, and how the players responded to him.

I was not a fan of him when he was OC, but given the way that Joe Moorhead was reigned in by Edsall (minus a 5 game stretch in 2009) I don't put that so much on him anymore.

I consider him a fallback option. If you were to ask me, my eyes tell me that Moorhead is an even better fallback option, but I understand the hesitancy there as it is not known how much of their success is a result of just having a better QB than anyone else.

 

[Excalibur]

In my mind, and I realize I may be in the minority, a successful high level FCS head coach is even with or greater than a successful FBS coordinator with no head coaching experience.

I am with you on this.

 

[metsfan2323]

Darius Butler and a host of other Alums were pretty vehement in endorsing him.

I think it was fat white guy (Rob Lunn) calling for Ambrose, which is interesting because both Butler and Lunn played defense. Ambrose must have been popular among the players.

 

[businesslawyer]

With either Morehead or Ambrose, the real question is talent procurement. Both have benefited from 1A transfers that didn't have to sit a year. They've both shown the ability to win, but at UCONN it will be more difficult to use transfers. Can they recruit, head-to-head, for HS kids?

I wouldn't be quick to put Morehead in Ambrose's category in terms of what they've shown. While the year Morehead is having is very impressive, many of the wins (all in conference games) are being played with transitional rules where Fordham has more scholarship players than their opponents).