Connecticut Football

[whaler11]

In 1987 when I was 13 I had my appendix out. When I recovered my uncle took me to my first UConn game at Memorial Stadium. They got beat by Colgate but I was hooked. Looking back he was happy to have someone else who liked going - feeding me a little wine from the thermos only helped entrench me.

Paul Pasqualoni is not UConn Football. Randy Edsall was not UConn Football. It might seem like that at times, but it's not the case.

UConn football is CoachCap. It's FCF. It's Bizlaw. Waylon, Pudge, Spackler, the UConn Dans.

Things look bad and they might get worse for the next three months. There are some players here. Des is a tool, but he's right about one thing. If this season is saved it's going to be because of players like Steve Greene and Yawin Smallwood - it's going to be saved from within.

If you care about UConn football I'd urge you to do a few things. Do not give up yet - they can beat Maryland. Do not stop coming to the games. Nothing sends a stronger message than a fanbase who represents in hard times.

90+ kids chose UConn and even if you hate the AD and the coach and the staff - please don't stay home. If they are going to fix this your support will only help. If you live in Connecticut do you really have something better to do?

Just think some day when you are on a bowl trip in a nice city and everyone home is freezing you can be the type of fan who can draw real satisfaction because you hung with the team and stayed strong in 2013.

 

[huskymedic]

I miss being able to attach .gifs!!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma0evu2nMo1ry10fwo1_500.gif

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Even though you snubbed me (you POS), it's a solid post.

My mantra this year.....go to games, root for UConn, and for my own sanity.....embrace the apathy.

And drink. A lot.

 

[whaler11]

Even though you snubbed me (you POS), it's a solid post.

My mantra this year.....go to games, root for UConn, and for my own sanity.....embrace the apathy.

And drink. A lot.

I was trying to acknowledge the fans who approach the team differently than I do. Didn't bat 1.000 on that.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I heart Whaler. The world is upside down, and I will be in the bleachers, standing on my head, rooting for my Huskies to win.

 

[ruthetiger]

At least some of you understand how we felt for a long time, but still somehow always remained optimistic. Things will turn around. You fuys have a solid foundation. Capitalize on it and you will still be competitive.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

At least some of you understand how we felt for a long time, but still somehow always remained optimistic. Things will turn around. You fuys have a solid foundation. Capitalize on it and you will still be competitive.

No offense but I have no desire to listen to Rutgers fans pour salt in the wounds under the guise of being nice.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Awesome post Whaler!

In many ways I feel (about the football program) right now the way I felt about the Perno days (especially when too many did not see how inept he was when matched up against quality coaching). There were many then who felt we should drop down, leave the BE and accept that we were only meant to be a regional program.

I waited most of my life (I was 40 when we played our first game as a transition FBS, then 1-A school) for UConn to play bigtime football and I was truly stunned at our attendance during the first couple of seasons at the Rent and I was convinced in 2004 that within a decade we would have expanded to the ~55k the Rent had as its supposed expandable capacity and that within another decade we would need to find a way to add another 10k seats.

We unfortunately lost a ton of momentum after Dano left and when we (for the most part) overcame that, the lack of excitement of the style of play and (near criminal) lack of promotion of the program to the resident's of this state prevented us from (in terms of attendance) returning to that direction.

Our fan base (and in reality, only a tiny fraction is on this board) is what will or will not sustain this program. If we can show enough support as a fan base we will at some point be capable of retaining the coach who can and will bring us where we want to be.

Our one advantage over schools like Cincinnati, USF, UCF and all other (post 2013) members of the American is that we can be the big dog (pun partially intended) in our fan region. I still believe that we haven't come close to fully penetrating our potential fan base and that one day we can regularly have capacity crowds at a stadium double the current size of the Rent.

My fear however is that (similar to men's hoops in the early-mi 1980's) there are far too many people with loud voices who are completely apathetic toward the football program and would lobby to prevent its growth. We need to get louder than those people.

 

[whaler11]

Awesome post Whaler!

In many ways I feel (about the football program) right now the way I felt about the Perno days (especially when too many did not see how inept he was when matched up against quality coaching). There were many then who felt we should drop down, leave the BE and accept that we were only meant to be a regional program.

I waited most of my life (I was 40 when we played our first game as a transition FBS, then 1-A school) for UConn to play bigtime football and I was truly stunned at our attendance during the first couple of seasons at the Rent and I was convinced in 2004 that within a decade we would have expanded to the ~55k the Rent had as its supposed expandable capacity and that within another decade we would need to find a way to add another 10k seats.

We unfortunately lost a ton of momentum after Dano left and when we (for the most part) overcame that, the lack of excitement of the style of play and (near criminal) lack of promotion of the program to the resident's of this state prevented us from (in terms of attendance) returning to that direction.

Our fan base (and in reality, only a tiny fraction is on this board) is what will or will not sustain this program. If we can show enough support as a fan base we will at some point be capable of retaining the coach who can and will bring us where we want to be.

Our one advantage over schools like Cincinnati, USF, UCF and all other (post 2013) members of the American is that we can be the big dog (pun partially intended) in our fan region. I still believe that we haven't come close to fully penetrating our potential fan base and that one day we can regularly have capacity crowds at a stadium double the current size of the Rent.

My fear however is that (similar to men's hoops in the early-mi 1980's) there are far too many people with loud voices who are completely apathetic toward the football program and would lobby to prevent its growth. We need to get louder than those people.

In the last few days we've seen on the basketball board there certainly is a faction of our basketball fan base who'd love the football program to crawl into a hole and die. There were certainly plenty who never wanted to dip their toes in the water. They still don't get the risk.

Luckily Perkins understood the only way to sustain basketball was to get serious about football - yet some still can't grasp that.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Awesome post Whaler!

In many ways I feel (about the football program) right now the way I felt about the Perno days (especially when too many did not see how inept he was when matched up against quality coaching). There were many then who felt we should drop down, leave the BE and accept that we were only meant to be a regional program.

I waited most of my life (I was 40 when we played our first game as a transition FBS, then 1-A school) for UConn to play bigtime football and I was truly stunned at our attendance during the first couple of seasons at the Rent and I was convinced in 2004 that within a decade we would have expanded to the ~55k the Rent had as its supposed expandable capacity and that within another decade we would need to find a way to add another 10k seats.

We unfortunately lost a ton of momentum after Dano left and when we (for the most part) overcame that, the lack of excitement of the style of play and (near criminal) lack of promotion of the program to the resident's of this state prevented us from (in terms of attendance) returning to that direction.

Our fan base (and in reality, only a tiny fraction is on this board) is what will or will not sustain this program. If we can show enough support as a fan base we will at some point be capable of retaining the coach who can and will bring us where we want to be.

Our one advantage over schools like Cincinnati, USF, UCF and all other (post 2013) members of the American is that we can be the big dog (pun partially intended) in our fan region. I still believe that we haven't come close to fully penetrating our potential fan base and that one day we can regularly have capacity crowds at a stadium double the current size of the Rent.

My fear however is that (similar to men's hoops in the early-mi 1980's) there are far too many people with loud voices who are completely apathetic toward the football program and would lobby to prevent its growth. We need to get louder than those people.

I am all ears as to suggestions as to how to make those (our) voices louder.

 

[Kgun7]

Great post Whaler ... count me in ... or more accurately, not jumping ship any time soon! Maybe Carl can resurrect his David Farragut quotes!

 

[upstater]

My one big piece of advice to those running UConn football. Give students $5 tickets, make their experience enjoyable start to finish, be better with the buses. UConn is going to add a lot of students in the near future. Concentrate on getting them to the games.

This more than anything else is going to help UConn football.

 

[Marty Jackson]

In 1987 when I was 13 I had my appendix out. When I recovered my uncle took me to my first UConn game at Memorial Stadium. They got beat by Colgate but I was hooked. Looking back he was happy to have someone else who liked going - feeding me a little wine from the thermos only helped entrench me.

Paul Pasqualoni is not UConn Football. Randy Edsall was not UConn Football. It might seem like that at times, but it's not the case.

UConn football is CoachCap. It's FCF. It's Bizlaw. Waylon, Pudge, Spackler, the UConn Dans.

Things look bad and they might get worse for the next three months. There are some players here. Des is a tool, but he's right about one thing. If this season is saved it's going to be because of players like Steve Greene and Yawin Smallwood - it's going to be saved from within.

If you care about UConn football I'd urge you to do a few things. Do not give up yet - they can beat Maryland. Do not stop coming to the games. Nothing sends a stronger message than a fanbase who represents in hard times.

90+ kids chose UConn and even if you hate the AD and the coach and the staff - please don't stay home. If they are going to fix this your support will only help. If you live in Connecticut do you really have something better to do?

Just think some day when you are on a bowl trip in a nice city and everyone home is freezing you can be the type of fan who can draw real satisfaction because you hung with the team and stayed strong in 2013.

this doesn't read like the typical Whaler post...
I like this much better.

 

[Marty Jackson]

My one big piece of advice to those running UConn football. Give students $5 tickets, make their experience enjoyable start to finish, be better with the buses. UConn is going to add a lot of students in the near future. Concentrate on getting them to the games.

This more than anything else is going to help UConn football.

no idea what the tickets are for students.
seemed like they were a good portion of the crowd on Thursday.

 

[whaler11]

I think the tickets are $5 for students. I half wrote a post encouraging the Boneyard to potentially underwrite the buses and then did the math and realized we'd need like 1,000 people giving $100.

 

[Marty Jackson]

I think the tickets are $5 for students. I half wrote a post encouraging the Boneyard to potentially underwrite the buses and then did the math and realized we'd need like 1,000 people giving $100.

maybe not the buses... how about the beer?

 

[jdb50]

no idea what the tickets are for students.
seemed like they were a good portion of the crowd on Thursday.

The student sections were full, the sections in the rest of the stadium looked like swiss cheese.

 

[Marty Jackson]

In the last few days we've seen on the basketball board there certainly is a faction of our basketball fan base who'd love the football program to crawl into a hole and die. There were certainly plenty who never wanted to dip their toes in the water. They still don't get the risk.

Luckily Perkins understood the only way to sustain basketball was to get serious about football - yet some still can't grasp that.

My guess is that many of these fans follow other college football teams (Notre Dame or BC) or don't follow college football at all... They don't care about anything but Uconn BB, so football to them is an impediment at best. They certainly don't see how you can't have one without the other.
I have a close friend who grew up with Notre Dame football. Die hard Uconn Basketball fan, but consistently whines about how Uconn should just drop FB and join the Big East. You will never change these people's minds. Even if Uconn get's into a P5 conference, they will say its because of BB and despite FB.

 

[SubbaBub]

As much as some may appreciate old time Uconn FB, memorial stadium, and the Yankee Conference. The reality is than anything pre-2003 is totally irrelevant.

The Rent wasn't built as a plaything for 1-AA football, neither was Burton or Shenkman. 25,000 season tickets weren't sold for that reason either.

This was all done to compete at the highest level of CFB for a bunch of reasons, including academics, state gov't support levels and BB.

We paddled out into the big surf and we can't just call it off because we don't like how things are going.

Yes, Point Break was on this weekend.

 

[UC990411]

In 1987 when I was 13 I had my appendix out. When I recovered my uncle took me to my first UConn game at Memorial Stadium. They got beat by Colgate but I was hooked. Looking back he was happy to have someone else who liked going - feeding me a little wine from the thermos only helped entrench me.

Paul Pasqualoni is not UConn Football. Randy Edsall was not UConn Football. It might seem like that at times, but it's not the case.

UConn football is CoachCap. It's FCF. It's Bizlaw. Waylon, Pudge, Spackler, the UConn Dans.

Things look bad and they might get worse for the next three months. There are some players here. Des is a tool, but he's right about one thing. If this season is saved it's going to be because of players like Steve Greene and Yawin Smallwood - it's going to be saved from within.

If you care about UConn football I'd urge you to do a few things. Do not give up yet - they can beat Maryland. Do not stop coming to the games. Nothing sends a stronger message than a fanbase who represents in hard times.

90+ kids chose UConn and even if you hate the AD and the coach and the staff - please don't stay home. If they are going to fix this your support will only help. If you live in Connecticut do you really have something better to do?

Just think some day when you are on a bowl trip in a nice city and everyone home is freezing you can be the type of fan who can draw real satisfaction because you hung with the team and stayed strong in 2013.

Dude, Randy Edsall is UConn football. Without him you'd be sitting at the aren't with 47 of your closest friends, a pep band, and 500 students

 

[whaler11]

Dude, Randy Edsall is UConn football. Without him you'd be sitting at the aren't with 47 of your closest friends, a pep band, and 500 students

It's pretty funny for you to attack about the biggest Edsall fan in the world with this comment.

I imagine you are new around here. If you care as much about the basketball team as you think you do - show up at Rentschler.

Trust me on this one.

 

[UC990411]

It's pretty funny for you to attack about the biggest Edsall fan in the world with this comment.

I imagine you are new around here. If you care as much about the basketball team as you think you do - show up at Rentschler.

Trust me on this one.

Season ticket holder for the last 6 years, longer than I've had seasons for basketball

 

[whaler11]

Season ticket holder for the last 6 years, longer than I've had seasons for basketball

Hopefully another 6 gives you some perspective on how these things work.

Penn State. Florida State. Florida. Stanford. Oregon. Michigan. Ohio State.

Did those schools overcome losing coaches a bit more iconic than Randy Edsall?

 

[jackl]

The student sections were full, the sections in the rest of the stadium looked like swiss cheese.

I have a feeling that a lot of season ticket holders gave their tickets to whom ever figuring that this would be a blowout in our favor. There appeared to be a lot of really young kids there that I had never seen before. They were leaving as the 3 quarter wore on. Hopefully the stands will be filled with the regulars come Sept. 14th and Maryland. Go Huskies!!!!!!!!

 

[uconnell]

Jackl it's true about all the young kids @ the game, I was really surprised to see that many well behave youngsters. Congrats to the parents in 129.