Chip Malafronte's Sunday Gravy | The Boneyard

Chip Malafronte's Sunday Gravy

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junglehusky

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Chip, like the fanbase, is not sounding optimistic these days...

Sunday Gravy: UConn football may not be at rock bottom yet

• If the season’s first four games are any indicator, it appears the UConn football coaching staff is content to operate the remainder of the fall schedule as a series of live scrimmages. Fine, Friday night’s game in Tampa was played in a monsoon. And South Florida only won by three points. But man, when the Huskies’ Swiss cheese offensive line allowed another opening-drive turnover, did they cower into a shell like frightened turtles or what? The offensive game plan, essentially, was to punt away as quickly as possible.

So far, Bob Diaco’s tenure is evoking images of the early scenes of “Hoosiers,” when the townsfolk of Hickory openly wonder if coach Norman Dale has any clue what he’s doing. Is that too harsh? Perhaps. But honestly, would it be that hard to envision Bob Diaco, in his Friday pregame speech, barking, “How many quarters before we attempt to pass the football?” “FOUR!”

No one expected this to be a one-year fix. Still, unless there’s a Jimmy Chitwood brooding in the wings, waiting to swoop in and save the day, come December we may be staring at 1-11.
 
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I like the Hoosiers comparison, hopefully we are on that same path. We hope to have a Jimmy Chitwood, his name is Tim Boyle.
 

junglehusky

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Oh boy Chip is gonna tick off the kcc's of the board with that drivel.

I think the ceiling people had for this season's win total went up after the BSU game and it came back down with the USF game. Also, the floor collapsed. My irrational hope is the OL can somehow progress, not so that they pick up 100% of the pass rush, but enough of the time to give 1-2 additional seconds maybe 40% of the time to allow Boyle to throw and hopefully not get injured whenever he takes over.

I like the Hoosiers comparison, hopefully we are on that same path. We hope to have a Jimmy Chitwood, his name is Tim Boyle.
We need 5 Big Jimmy Chitwoods to block for Boyle.
 

ShakyTheMohel

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I think the board is split between those who think Diacos approach is a disaster and those who are willing to wait before condemning his approach. I don't think there are that many in the Diaco is doing a perfect job camp.

I am in the wait and see camp. I am frustrated that it looks like another awful year, but I am amazed that people are already throwing the coaching staff under the bus.

I know it's hard to invest your time and money and see such an awful product on the field. But I think a new coaching staff deserves more than 4 games to sort things out. Has Diaco been perfect? No. But I think he deserves a bit more patience from the fan base.
 

SubbaBub

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That is a great line by Chip. He can be right now and hope he's right later. Geez, I hope he's is right later. The thought of Boyle to Bradley at the close to win the Orange Bowl in '16 is just too much to hope for right now.
 

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I think the board is split between those who think Diacos approach is a disaster and those who are willing to wait before condemning his approach. I don't think there are that many in the Diaco is doing a perfect job camp.

I am in the wait and see camp. I am frustrated that it looks like another awful year, but I am amazed that people are already throwing the coaching staff under the bus.

I know it's hard to invest your time and money and see such an awful product on the field. But I think a new coaching staff deserves more than 4 games to sort things out. Has Diaco been perfect? No. But I think he deserves a bit more patience from the fan base.

How about the guy might still be good in the long run but his approach to the actual games to date is insane?

I don't know about others but I don't really care if they win the games - I'm quite aware they don't have the horses.

Diaco has a lot to say but then doesn't act in any way like the things he says. It's more puzzling than anything at this point.
 
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How about the guy might still be good in the long run but his approach to the actual games to date is insane?

I don't know about others but I don't really care if they win the games - I'm quite aware they don't have the horses.

Diaco has a lot to say but then doesn't act in any way like the things he says. It's more puzzling than anything at this point.

I'm in this camp as well. Nobody has called for him to be fired. He may work out in the long run, but I'm much less confident that he will than I was a month ago.

I don't care about the BYU loss. We brought a knife to a gunfight. But the Boise and USF games were ripe for the picking. And instead of coaching to win games we see Davis on the sideline on big 3rd down passing plays and 4 million unimaginitive running plays in the rain.
 

whaler11

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I'm in this camp as well. Nobody has called for him to be fired. He may work out in the long run, but I'm much less confident that he will than I was a month ago.

I don't care about the BYU loss. We brought a knife to a gunfight. But the Boise and USF games were ripe for the picking. And instead of coaching to win games we see Davis on the sideline on big 3rd down passing plays and 4 million unimaginitive running plays in the rain.

You can already see the 'Brotherhood' fraying. The players aren't stupid. They hear what he says and they show up for the games...

He feels bad for the Seniors? Well guess what his best player is a senior and wants a payday. His QB is a senior. His best DB is a senior. If he doesn't want to get embarrased every week going forward he needs to understand the seniors are required to get through the season.

If something is up with Boyle... guess who has every bit of leverage unless Diaco is willing to snap the ball to his running backs directly for the rest of the season.
 

ShakyTheMohel

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How about the guy might still be good in the long run but his approach to the actual games to date is insane?

I don't know about others but I don't really care if they win the games - I'm quite aware they don't have the horses.

Diaco has a lot to say but then doesn't act in any way like the things he says. It's more puzzling than anything at this point.

It sounds like we are all in the wait and see phase, but some of you react very strongly and dramatically to the short term results. At this point, and this may change, I give him the benefit of the doubt and I hope that short term illogical choices will deliver long term positive development.
 
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It sounds like we are all in the wait and see phase, but some of you react very strongly and dramatically to the short term results. At this point, and this may change, I give him the benefit of the doubt and I hope that short term illogical choices will deliver long term positive development.

All we have are short term results. Are we supposed to ignore all of these decisions and not react at all?
 

whaler11

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It sounds like we are all in the wait and see phase, but some of you react very strongly and dramatically to the short term results. At this point, and this may change, I give him the benefit of the doubt and I hope that short term illogical choices will deliver long term positive development.

Well that is because I don't have blind faith in what people say... especially when what they say doesn't line up with what they do.

Like I tried to get across I am not reacting to the short term results. I'm reacting to decisions.
 

Dooley

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I think we all knew that it would take some time to wash away the Pasqualoni from this program. We all signed up for it. But I think the troubling part of this season is that I think we all expected to do everything and anything possible to try to win games in the meantime. I didn't think that there was an overwhelming urgency, until the last 3 minutes, to beat USF on Friday night. We were more than content to run the ball 3 times and punt (then pray for miraculous pick-6s to keep us in the game) over and over and over again. When you're facing a pass defense as horrendous as USF's and not even attempt to exploit it until you are desperate (read: down double scores with minutes to play), that doesn't add up. And if that's the way we are going to play whenever it rains, or we give up an early sack or we turn the ball over, then there aren't going to be many games that we will go for wins.

I'll be at every game this season and next and the one after that regardless of what they do. Thankfully, I'm into torturing myself. But in a vital year of CR and with such a sense of urgency to turn around UCONN football so we can possibly force some hands in the B1G or ACC offices, this type of scrimmage year is painful to watch. What will be even more painful to watch is the disgusting attendance figures that UCONN posts from here on out.
 
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One positive is that Boyle's quicker release and greater physical stature is better suited for the shorter/slant type passing game most of us see as a way to cover for the O line's weaknesses in pass protection. Hopefully he'll be cleared to play and will come in with a take charge attitude. This will all play out in the coming weeks but in the meantime we can still grab a win or two along the way. Remember, we've won the second half of all but the Boise game. I remain an optimist even as I sat in the rain in Tampa shaking my head. Despite our inept offense, the failure to stop USF on multiple third downs is what spelled our doom. It gave them life and more yardage which ultimately (courtesy of their talented punter) repeatedly pinned us back near our goal line. Of course, it wasn't helpful that our parade of three and outs wore down our D, but with just a few more stops of USF on third down, resulting in a more advantageous field position for us, who knows what happens. Maybe we even throw the ball some.
 

Dooley

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Boyle coud have a ruptured achilles or torn ACL for all we know. Nobody knew about Cochran's concussion or concussion injury until after he decided to retire. If that's the case, we haven't seen the last of the Whitmer hand-off edition of the 2014 offensive playbook.
 
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Looks like another tough year. I don't know how the program can sustain 4 years of failure. But, all we can do is plow forward. I liked everything Diaco was doing until they hit the field. Still got to have faith. I do wish they would get Weist as an OC or assistant head coach. It's clear the D side is managed. The O side is abysmal.
 

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Insane?

Yes. Insane.

His attitude that the first three games are an imaginary preseason.

Talking about how the conference schedule matters and then coaching the team in a fashion that would make Testudo himself wince.

Talking about trust and brotherhood and then showing so little trust and faith in his own team that it's already falling apart.

Kicking field goals for practice. Punting late in the fourth quarter Friday night.

Playing four frigging running backs at USF. Four games and dozens of practices and you don't have an opinion on who should get the carries? If anyone but 30 die hards were paying attention everyone would be all over this one.
 

junglehusky

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It's clear he doesn't trust the OL. Unfortunately if you don't trust your OL you don't trust your offense, including the running backs. As the color announcer said, you still have to roll the dice at some point, like in the 3rd quarter instead of under 4 minutes to play.
 

FfldCntyFan

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)At the moment our starting left tackle is a sophomore who is getting a ton of on the job training. At right tackle we are now splitting time between an undersized kid (who has put in a good effort, with mixed results, for parts of last season and this one) and a huge, athletic kid who is still in his infancy as an offensive lineman. Add to this the fact that we are trying to mix and match guards in order to find a combination that may work (Hopkins now is a starter and it would not surprise me if Gifford gets moved there as well once they feel Knappe can handle the RT job). The offensive line is a mess and it will take most of the remainder of the season to reach an adequate level. The plus side on this is that once the group of linemen get it the quality of play by the line as a whole takes a quantum leap forward. We may not see that until next season but that will happen.

On the head coach/coaching staff, I think back to a couple of things I witnessed in 1986 (yes, I'm kind of old):

I had tickets to the '86 BE mens tournament in the Seton Hall section (through connections where I worked then I was able to get exceptional seats at face value through that school). My buddy and I were invited to a private party thrown by some very well heeled SH alumni at the Penta hotel (they rented out the entire top floor and no exaggeration, that weekend had to have cost them more than my friend and I both made in a year back then) where every SH alum was b!tching about PJ Carlessimo. One guy announced to the entire crowd that he had a golf date late that spring with Bill Parcells (who coached the Giants at that time) and one of Parcells' best friends, Bobby Knight. He also stated that he was going to let Knight know that he would cover anything he asked for to become SH's head coach (we found out a few years later from JC's book how likely it was the Knight would consider a job at a private school). That fan base couldn't stand Carlessimo at that time but three short years later he brought them within seconds of a national title.

I've brought this up a few times already but early in his tenure as head coach here (this all happened before the calendar turned to 1987) JC lost to Yale and then Hartford. Those losses would be the equivalent of our recent loss to USF (if USF were a Sunbelt team that game were at home) and a loss to a sightly better but still mediocre, Sunbelt level school. I can only imagine how the Boneyard would have reacted back then if there was today's internet.

Turning this thing around is going to take a bit of time. We can cry all we want but there really needs to be a better way to address the current shortcomings of the program. Things will improve.
 

ShakyTheMohel

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All we have are short term results. Are we supposed to ignore all of these decisions and not react at all?

As always, the grey area is a difficult place for message board posters. I think ignore is one end of the spectrum. Saying the coaches quit or their decisions are insane is the other end of the spectrum. I guess I am somewhere in the middle.
 

whaler11

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)At the moment our starting left tackle is a sophomore who is getting a ton of on the job training. At right tackle we are now splitting time between an undersized kid (who has put in a good effort, with mixed results, for parts of last season and this one) and a huge, athletic kid who is still in his infancy as an offensive lineman. Add to this the fact that we are trying to mix and match guards in order to find a combination that may work (Hopkins now is a starter and it would not surprise me if Gifford gets moved there as well once they feel Knappe can handle the RT job). The offensive line is a mess and it will take most of the remainder of the season to reach an adequate level. The plus side on this is that once the group of linemen get it the quality of play by the line as a whole takes a quantum leap forward. We may not see that until next season but that will happen.

On the head coach/coaching staff, I think back to a couple of things I witnessed in 1986 (yes, I'm kind of old):

I had tickets to the '86 BE mens tournament in the Seton Hall section (through connections where I worked then I was able to get exceptional seats at face value through that school). My buddy and I were invited to a private party thrown by some very well heeled SH alumni at the Penta hotel (they rented out the entire top floor and no exaggeration, that weekend had to have cost them more than my friend and I both made in a year back then) where every SH alum was b!tching about PJ Carlessimo. One guy announced to the entire crowd that he had a golf date late that spring with Bill Parcells (who coached the Giants at that time) and one of Parcells' best friends, Bobby Knight. He also stated that he was going to let Knight know that he would cover anything he asked for to become SH's head coach (we found out a few years later from JC's book how likely it was the Knight would consider a job at a private school). That fan base couldn't stand Carlessimo at that time but three short years later he brought them within seconds of a national title.

I've brought this up a few times already but early in his tenure as head coach here (this all happened before the calendar turned to 1987) JC lost to Yale and then Hartford. Those losses would be the equivalent of our recent loss to USF (if USF were a Sunbelt team that game were at home) and a loss to a sightly better but still mediocre, Sunbelt level school. I can only imagine how the Boneyard would have reacted back then if there was today's internet.

Turning this thing around is going to take a bit of time. We can cry all we want but there really needs to be a better way to address the current shortcomings of the program. Things will improve.

Which is all great: but it's a pointless argument. For every coach you can name like Calhoun - we can name 20 that didn't work out.

If you want to make arguments to be patient with Diaco, either come up with evidence to support him or just say it's blind faith. Because your Calhoun and PJ comparisons boil down to blind faith.
 

FfldCntyFan

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Which is all great: but it's a pointless argument. For every coach you can name like Calhoun - we can name 20 that didn't work out.

If you want to make arguments to be patient with Diaco, either come up with evidence to support him or just say it's blind faith. Because your Calhoun and PJ comparisons boil down to blind faith.
Why don't you try to provide some evidence that Diaco hasn't worked out. We've played USF for a decade now, with four different head coaches over the years and we've beaten them all of once in Tampa. Losing to them, by a field goal, in a quagmire is evidence that Diaco hasn't worked out? I need more to go on than that.
 

whaler11

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Why don't you try to provide some evidence that Diaco hasn't worked out. We've played USF for a decade now, with four different head coaches over the years and we've beaten them all of once in Tampa. Losing to them, by a field goal, in a quagmire is evidence that Diaco hasn't worked out? I need more to go on than that.

I haven't made the claim that he hasn't worked out.

I have pointed out where he has made questionable decisions and where what he says doesn't match what he does.

When you have a rebuttal about the decisions he is making let me know. If what you've got is stories about Jim Calhoun that have nothing to do with this you can save them - I understand what Calhoun did I'm not young and I was here the whole time.
 

uconnbill

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Which is all great: but it's a pointless argument. For every coach you can name like Calhoun - we can name 20 that didn't work out.

If you want to make arguments to be patient with Diaco, either come up with evidence to support him or just say it's blind faith. Because your Calhoun and PJ comparisons boil down to blind faith.


We need to have some faith. Did you and others forget what just left here FHCPP and his side kick.
He left UCONN in shambles and it will take time to turn it around.
 
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