Daily Face Palm Thread - Today's Courant Article

[Skiblets]

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/hc-uconn-football-1031-20121030,0,5072654.story

Support For DeLeone
Pasqualoni is standing by offensive coordinator/line coach and longtime friend George DeLeone. DeLeone has come under fire, particularly from fans, for a struggling offensive line and an offense that has been consistent at being inconsistent.
"I think what George is doing, is he's trying to run the offense that we'd like to establish which is a pro-style attack. It's been in the DNA at UConn so George is doing a great job of preparing every day for practice, trying to help the team win, coaching the players, the offensive line plus coordinating it. He's a tremendously conscientious individual and everything he does is planned and well thought out."
But are the two hats he's wearing too many?
"No, I've coached a position and coordinated the defense in the NFL. George has done this all his life," Pasqualoni said. "We were together for a lot of years [at Syracuse], coached the offensive line, coordinated it. He's got a good support staff. Everybody has input. I would not say [two hats are too much], no."


I get it. PP needs to support his guy but I honestly can't take much more of this blind faith when results are what they are

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

When I read that earlier my first thought was........let's hope P is saying what he needs to say now because they are not firing anyone with 4 games left on the schedule. Let us all pray that this is the case. As much as it upsets me, I'm starting the accept the possibility that P will return next season. GDL cannot return. He just can't.

 

[Pudge]

IF THEY REALLY WANTED TO HELP THE PROGRAM ... they would both just leave and work in a Not-for-Profit form improving the game in New England.

They are sooo out of their element in today's college game. I don't want to hear about the NFL. They are getting gobsmacked by our conference mates & passed by MAC coaches. They are losing the kids. There is a reason why Warde Manual is going to practice ... these two (as BL stated) are delusional. And, I think we are going to see a hot sticky mess from here.

 

[SubbaBub]

I don't think anyone has a problem with.a pro set offense. Nor would.anyone argue that our passing offense looks better than it has recently, minus a few early season int's.

The WTF is going on around here cries are coming from the complete collapse of the oline play and running game along with consistently getting owned in the second half.

Someone else posted that of you're at the bottom of big east then you're at the bottom of major college football. While not completely accurate (Hi BC!) it is way to close to be casual about the state of the program.

This is the level of play people predicted for our first few years of FBS, not.following two BE titles and a BCS appearance.

Other than the weight of the oline, I don't see a dropoff in talent from.past years that would.explain what we are seeing.



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[Palatine]

We don't make in game adjustments. Our opponents do. That approach will NEVER win.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I don't think anyone has a problem with.a pro set offense. Nor would.anyone argue that our passing offense looks better than it has recently, minus a few early season int's.

The WTF is going on around here cries are coming from the complete collapse of the oline play and running game along with consistently getting owned in the second half.

Someone else posted that of you're at the bottom of big east then you're at the bottom of major college football. While not completely accurate (Hi BC!) it is way to close to be casual about the state of the program.

This is the level of play people predicted for our first few years of FBS, not.following two BE titles and a BCS appearance.

Other than the weight of the oline, I don't see a dropoff in talent from.past years that would.explain what we are seeing.



Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

Pretty much sums it up. If you can't run the ball in a pro-set offense, you will get your QB killed eventually. Whitmer has taken a beating. Kid is tough as nails and is a gamer. I think he can be a very good QB at this level once we get a competent OC in here next year.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

 

[CTMike]

We are all going nuts about this IN season... What's this place gonna be like in the OFF-season when no changes have been made and there are no games to divert out attention??

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

We are all going nuts about this IN season... What's this place gonna be like in the OFF-season when no changes have been made and there are no games to divert out attention??

If GDL is retained this board will go nuts. And rightfully so.

 

[Skiblets]

I'm pretty sure my head would explode

 

[Waquoit]

If GDL is retained this board will go nuts. And rightfully so.

It's not GDL, it's P. If he stays the board will go nuts. He's killing the program.

 

[businesslawyer]

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/hc-uconn-football-1031-20121030,0,5072654.story

Support For DeLeone
Pasqualoni is standing by offensive coordinator/line coach and longtime friend George DeLeone. DeLeone has come under fire, particularly from fans, for a struggling offensive line and an offense that has been consistent at being inconsistent.
"I think what George is doing, is he's trying to run the offense that we'd like to establish which is a pro-style attack. It's been in the DNA at UConn so George is doing a great job of preparing every day for practice, trying to help the team win, coaching the players, the offensive line plus coordinating it. He's a tremendously conscientious individual and everything he does is planned and well thought out."
But are the two hats he's wearing too many?
"No, I've coached a position and coordinated the defense in the NFL. George has done this all his life," Pasqualoni said. "We were together for a lot of years [at Syracuse], coached the offensive line, coordinated it. He's got a good support staff. Everybody has input. I would not say [two hats are too much], no."


I get it. PP needs to support his guy but I honestly can't take much more of this blind faith when results are what they are

There is no reason to worry about what P says because what P says is totally unrelated to what P will do. Either GDL will retire at the end of the season or he won't. Either the whole staff will be fired at the end of the season or they won't. But you'd be a lot happier if you just accepted that even if GDL is going to be forced out at the end of the season, what P said is all you're going to hear until the day that the change is made.

They are good friends. Any criticism P has of GDL will be shared privately, and not publicly. And, frankly, that is as it should be.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

It's not GDL, it's P. If he stays the board will go nuts. He's killing the program.

I don't disagree. But to protect myself from being contained in a room with 4 padded walls......I've started to condition myself to expect P to return.

Without knowing what the schedule looks like next year, I can't see us winning more than 4 or 5 games (5 being possible if Memphis on the schedule).

 

[Carl Spackler]

I don't think anyone has a problem with.a pro set offense. Nor would.anyone argue that our passing offense looks better than it has recently, minus a few early season int's.

The WTF is going on around here cries are coming from the complete collapse of the oline play and running game along with consistently getting owned in the second half.

Someone else posted that of you're at the bottom of big east then you're at the bottom of major college football. While not completely accurate (Hi BC!) it is way to close to be casual about the state of the program.

This is the level of play people predicted for our first few years of FBS, not.following two BE titles and a BCS appearance.

Other than the weight of the oline, I don't see a dropoff in talent from.past years that would.explain what we are seeing.



Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

We won't know if we've really hit bottom until around midnight on Saturday. As for the line, the major difference between this year's line, and previous years, is foot speed. Our players on the line, since about 2009, as upperclassment have moved out, the players coming in have all been progressively slower with their feet, and this is one of the slowest, laterally moving, lines we've had in many years. It's not that often that we're seeing our lineman be able to get out off the line scrimmage and block a linebacker, and if somebody shifts and lines up in a gap, and the line needs to move laterally to account? Look out. Is it the assignments? Maybe. Early on - I was sure it was assignments, we looked so damn bad, but now, I"m not so sure, these guys just look like lead feet out there...too often. They're in position to move and make a block, and are clearly looking at the player they need to block....but......anyway.....

it's entirely possible, seeing the results on the field, through 8 games, and watching these games, that the decreased playing weight across the board this year on the OL, was some kind of calculated attempt by the coaching and training staff, to help generate some kind of foot speed in the line.

I really hope to see some of the younger offensive linemen, that have been brought in, get on the field, before next season, and I think the injuries to Bulloch, and the Air Force transfer guy in camps, really hurt us.

Couple all that with the fact that we're running a smallish TB, behind some seriously sketchy lead blocking, a TB, that in this system, doesn't appear to have very good field vision in hitting open lanes, because the lanes have been there in the current system, as compared to simply reacting and running in the read/option offense we ran in the past....and we get the worst running game we've had as a division 1-A program.

These coaches aren't doing what we did in the past, and that is scheming to cover our weaknesses. We're going full blast straight ahead with the players we've got. That is clear.

Whether or not that turns out to be a good thing in the long run, we'll see. I do know, that we had a ceiling with the way that the program was run in the past, and that ceiling was a self inflicted ability to recruit quality players with the systems we were running, and the ceiling we've got with this kind of approach now, is only limited by the quality of players we can recruit at very important positions - on offense.

Pasqualoni has his issues with game time management, and that's not a secret (our former coach had issues too - just different ones - in game time management, and I despise Deleone for his play calling tactics, and seemingly disregard for the simple concept of momentum in moving the ball on offense...and for each, I wouldn't mind seeing change, because with a highly talented team, you can win with those faults, with a less talented team, you can't, I'd rather see them put a more talented team in place before getting shipped out though. Recruits us some speed and size, guys, and then we'll go get us a different play caller, and game manager. A guy can hope.

And I will re-iterate - to the thought process that keeps popping up around here, from people that supposedly in the know......that if the players are still not getting concepts, refusing to accept systems, and are "giving up" ? on each other? On the program? because they don't like one coach and are loyal to another? Those players should have their scholarships revoked.

That is all. The bottom of the barrel bowl, is saturday night.

 

[Waquoit]

Either GDL will retire at the end of the season or he won't. Either the whole staff will be fired at the end of the season or they won't.

Couldn't one analyze anything in a similar manner? And it that's the way one thinks, why post anything, never mind >4,100 things?

 

[Waquoit]

I don't disagree. But to protect myself from being contained in a room with 4 padded walls......I've started to condition myself to expect P to return.

Stay strong, my man. Do what I do, channel your inner-Nostical.

 

[businesslawyer]

Couldn't one analyze anything in a similar manner? And it that's the way one thinks, why post anything, never mind >4,100 things?

You couldn't be more wrong. It's fine to discuss whether GDL is being fired and whether P is being fired. Fans should be discussing that. That's different than analyzing words when the words are unrelated to the actual result.

 

[Sean]

One problem is that the OL Coach is generally one of your most important position coaches. He's one of the only position coaches that realistically might serve as a check and balance to the OC. By moving GDL there, you lose the ability of Foley to keep GDL in check a little bit, too.

 

[Carl Spackler]

You couldn't be more wrong. It's fine to discuss whether GDL is being fired and whether P is being fired. Fans should be discussing that. That's different than analyzing words when the words are unrelated to the actual result.

It's figuring out what that last sentence means that's going to make my head explode.

I think that Pasqualoni and Deleone are old football caoches that aren't going to change what they do much. They've both got flaws in their positions - flaws that can easily by overcome, when you've got a team of very good players, and flaws that cost you winnable games, when you don't.

I've gotten over the sting of losing to Temple at home, and the reactions I had. I've gotten over the blowout at Syracuse. The defense gets a pass from me on that game, becuase of the pressure that has been heaped on that unit to carry the team, by lots of forces, completely beyond their control from the AD's office on down when it comes to scheduling, and the transition the program has had to endure for the past two seasons.

That unit needs to step it back up on Saturday though, or the season is lost. We'll see.

As for keeping or releasing Pasqualoni and Deleone? that's not up to any of us writing around here. We can put pressure on the decision makers, to focus on the issues - and that's that we want a winning football program, but none of use are going to make a decision happen, one way or the other.

As this miserable stretch of losing football continues on, I hope to see it turn around, now in 2012, while it still can, and i hope to see significant improvement in the uncoachables in the recruits we've got coming in - and that's one thing, and one thign only - SPEED.

So far - the players that have come in, the past year - two, and the ones coming - have shown they have it.

 

[Skiblets]

There is no reason to worry about what P says because what P says is totally unrelated to what P will do. Either GDL will retire at the end of the season or he won't. Either the whole staff will be fired at the end of the season or they won't. But you'd be a lot happier if you just accepted that even if GDL is going to be forced out at the end of the season, what P said is all you're going to hear until the day that the change is made.

They are good friends. Any criticism P has of GDL will be shared privately, and not publicly. And, frankly, that is as it should be.

Not digging the condescending tone here Biz. What would be great is if the Head Coach would acknowledge issues and articulate his plan to improve them. This work harder, we've done it before, we know what we're doing approach is just a kick in the balls for those of us who care.

 

[Skiblets]

Oh and one more thing. I know we are a few weeks away, but I am very thankful for the Sonia Baghdaddy thread. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

 

[businesslawyer]

Not digging the condescending tone here Biz. What would be great is if the Head Coach would acknowledge issues and articulate his plan to improve them. This work harder, we've done it before, we know what we're doing approach is just a kick in the balls for those of us who care.

Look, I don't like the job he's doing, but how can you say he's not acknowledging the issues? The staff seems to say nothing but acknowledgment of the issues.

If they had an answer, we wouldn't be here. So all you're left with us changing horses and, as I said, P is not going to publicly embarass a friend to please a fanbase. He will either make a change or he won't.

That having been said, didn't mean the original reply to be condescending (actually, reread it and don't see how it was), but if the OP was offended my apologies.

 

[ruskin]

We're a month away from finding out how much the UConn football program is a subsidiary of (and subservient to) the CT HS football coaches association. If CTHSFBCA member emertius Larry McHugh pushes or permits P to return under the pretenses of "all coaches need three years" and "he needs the players he recruited" this program is screwed.

Unless McHugh comes out and says for the public record that he will not be a part of the decision to retain/fire P & GDL and leaves it up to Dr. Herbst/Mr. Manuel, my guess is P is back with a good chance GDL comes back with him. Again, McHugh and his HS coaching buddies should be up front about this. Not only should McHugh take public and personal ownership of a P return, he & the coaches assn should put their money where their mouths are and pony up the money to cover the certain loss in season ticket revenue if P returns.