Can everyone take a deep breath

[whaler11]

You have no idea how badly I wish this was true. Running clock and situational football practices just like our old PP Spring Games!

The spring game first and goals were worse than the first 5 games this season.

 

[Block C]

What does everyone expect with freshman you need to let them grow by there third year you will see a difference. Stop freaking lol. This program will turn around

 

[DAC17]

There's a bigger problem, guys. Yes, the schedule has been hard. Yes, the players are inexperienced and too small for D1 football.

However, the fact that this comes on top of 6 poor seasons, with increasingly disappointed and uncaring fans, will make it extremely hard to come back from. And how do you convince good recruits to come here when they get one look at the pitiful attendance? Tell me what brings even 30,000 people back into the Rent over the next couple of years. In the meantime, the program continues to bleed money that, frankly, the state doesn't have.

I don't know how this ends well. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Husk1881]

Do you still after that hose-job the Browns got yesterday?

It’s been a rough football season

 

[RSTuthill]

I dunno, I don't think I will start to get excited until or if the end of the season comes and the Huskies are 1-11. But I am also not going to any more games, either. There are LOTS of things to do besides sitting on ones butt all afternoon on a beautiful Saturday.

 

[Kemba429]

I wish we played Rutgers this season

 

[whaler11]

I wish we played Rutgers this season

Guy who makes the lines at the South Point had them as 2 pt faves over UConn on a neutral field as of last week.

 

[freescooter]

I actually think we are in a similar situation to what Rutgers was in at the end of the Terry Shea era. Like Diaco, Shea recruited what were basically 1AA players. It took Schiano really 4 years to build the program. I think they won 1 game the first year, 2 in year 2 then like 4, and 5 before becoming at worst a competent program. Over the rest of his tenure they won like 7,8,9 and 11 games though I think there was one bad year with 4-5 wins in there, Rutgers became at worst a competitive program during his tenure. But many of the things they said about Shea’s teams apply to Diaco’s recruits.

The other thing is something Edsall said and I heard Jim Grobe also say about succeeding at Wake. Unlike at a Clemson or Alabama or Michigan, At UConn and Wake and some others you recruit athletes and teach them to play football. It takes a while to build but your best teams come when you have redshirt juniors and seniors at key positions especially on the oline d line and at linebacker. But that obviously takes time to build. And when the previous regime’ recruits don’t cut it it is even worse.

 

[Hornet22]

There's a bigger problem, guys. Yes, the schedule has been hard. Yes, the players are inexperienced and too small for D1 football.

However, the fact that this comes on top of 6 poor seasons, with increasingly disappointed and uncaring fans, will make it extremely hard to come back from. And how do you convince good recruits to come here when they get one look at the pitiful attendance? Tell me what brings even 30,000 people back into the Rent over the next couple of years. In the meantime, the program continues to bleed money that, frankly, the state doesn't have.

I don't know how this ends well. I hope I'm wrong.

Here’s what I think- and of course this goes along with the team starting to play better next year and really shining the year after- just as powerful as the narratives have been talking about how terrible we are now, the rags to riches phenomenon will be in play. Society as a hole enjoys stories like “the worst defense in FBS history,” blah blah blah. That’s why these reporters are headlining this story because records and feats get people curious. On the flip side society also enjoys reading stories and hopping on bandwagons of teams that are ranked last as we are then turning it around and playing scrappy.
These same reporters will gladly eat some crow and detail how bad this team/defense was and how admittedly Randy’s plan and patience paid off.
People will curiously want to see what originally looked like trash to what has blossomed into a competitive team.
It’s human nature.
The new narratives from the players will be, “A few years back we were getting our butts kicked and not many people believed in us but we stuck together as a team and a program and had faith in our coaches, blah blah blah.”
And the future UConn students who probably are paying more attention to their high schools right now will walk in to a team that’s playing better with some buzz surrounding them. So they will show up.
Again, we have to improve these next two years for all that to happen.
That’s what I’m waiting patiently for.
Rags to Riches fellas.

 

[DAC17]

Here’s what I think- and of course this goes along with the team starting to play better next year and really shining the year after- just as powerful as the narratives have been talking about how terrible we are now, the rags to riches phenomenon will be in play. Society as a hole enjoys stories like “the worst defense in FBS history,” blah blah blah. That’s why these reporters are headlining this story because records and feats get people curious. On the flip side society also enjoys reading stories and hopping on bandwagons of teams that are ranked last as we are then turning it around and playing scrappy.
These same reporters will gladly eat some crow and detail how bad this team/defense was and how admittedly Randy’s plan and patience paid off.
People will curiously want to see what originally looked like trash to what has blossomed into a competitive team.
It’s human nature.
The new narratives from the players will be, “A few years back we were getting our butts kicked and not many people believed in us but we stuck together as a team and a program and had faith in our coaches, blah blah blah.”
And the future UConn students who probably are paying more attention to their high schools right now will walk in to a team that’s playing better with some buzz surrounding them. So they will show up.
Again, we have to improve these next two years for all that to happen.
That’s what I’m waiting patiently for.
Rags to Riches fellas.

Hornet22: I hope you’re right, and that the school can keep the funding going during the downtime, but the state as a whole is going to have to make some tough choices in the next couple of years.

 

[BlueandOG]

There's a bigger problem, guys. Yes, the schedule has been hard. Yes, the players are inexperienced and too small for D1 football.

However, the fact that this comes on top of 6 poor seasons, with increasingly disappointed and uncaring fans, will make it extremely hard to come back from. And how do you convince good recruits to come here when they get one look at the pitiful attendance? Tell me what brings even 30,000 people back into the Rent over the next couple of years. In the meantime, the program continues to bleed money that, frankly, the state doesn't have.

I don't know how this ends well. I hope I'm wrong.

Two things about UCONN fans: we are forgiving and we love a winner. The home opener for most of the past 6 seasons has had a decent crowd, ready to go nuts if they would play well - not even necessarily win, just play tough. Edsall will have them playing tough. It will take another year, but even next year they will be better. When they make a bowl, people will come back.

 

[freescooter]

If we put together a good string. Maybe win 4-5 in a row or start like Cindy has this year the crowds will start to come back. Hard to get excited about a really bad team. In any sport really. Men’s basketball drew under 9000 per game last year and a few times had no more than 5000 actual bodies. Why? They stunk. Winners draw. Losers don’t. Boston Red Sox sell out Cincinnati Reds sell $5 tickets yet don’t. KC Royals of a few years ago were a hot ticket. This year you could get box seats for 10 a game and they weren’t sold out. The difference was that they went to the World Series when tix were scarce. They finished way back when they weren’t.