Diaco: Weeding out process not part of his plan at UConn (J. Fuller)

[huskymedic]

http://runwayramblings.blogspot.com/2015/06/diaco-weeding-out-process-not-part-of.html

>>I asked Diaco if he has a better vibe about the players he has work with going into year two after going through the process of moving forward without the players who fit his plan for the program.

Diaco was quick to shoot down the notion that he came in with the purpose of cutting loose players.

"I don't feel like I did that," Diaco said. "I really don't. I didn't do that, there was some natural circumstances that didn't fit but I didn't intend to do that, I don't intend to do that, it is not what I am about so I can't even go down that road. That speaks to intent and I didn't intend to ever do that."<<

>>Here is the list and it should be noted that some of these players left before Diaco arrived with 10 of them (according to my math) leaving under Diaco's watch. I only included the scholarship players since there is always a large turnover when it comes to non-scholarship players.

WR Kamal Abrams
LB Jefferson Ashiru: Will play this season at Maryland
LB Brandon Battles-Santos
TE Michael Boland: Transferred to Lackawanna College
DB Ty-Meer Brown: Played at Boston College in 2014
DB Tyree Clark
QB Casey Cochran: Retired due to multiple concussions
RB Lyle McCombs: Played at Rhode Island in 2014, currently in camp with CFL's Toronto Argonauts
OT Xavier Hemingway
QB Scott McCummings: Retired due to injury, is the quarterbacks coach at Framingham State
TE Sean McQuillan: Expelled from school after arrest for assault and disorderly conduct.
TE E.J. Norris
WR Shakim Phillips: Played at Boston College in 2014, currently in camp with Pittsburgh Steelers
DB David Stevenson: Transferred to Kennesaw State
QB Kivon Taylor: Transferred to Foothill College
TE Quinn Thompson: Transferred to Baldwin Wallace
RB Joseph Williams: Played at ASA College, now at Utah<<

 

[Stainmaster]

Did not know that McCummings was in the coaching field. Good for him.

 

[gioff23]

Didn't know joe w ended up at Utah.

Surprised EJ never surfaced.

 

[BNich]

Theres 3 maybe 4 on that list that Diaco probably had no control over. Cochran, according to your comments medic(McCummings) Williams who had issues before Diaco ever arrived. Kivon Taylor never seemed like a sure fit either. And McQuillan fought his way out of the program. Michael Boland, I don't even remember hearing him as a scholarship athlete, at the very least his loss wasn't too bad.

 

[FDNY99]

Some of those guys on that list were done in by bad grades.

 

[huskymedic]

... according to your comments medic

Just to be clear... Not "my comments" - cut and pasted direct from article.

 

[Dooley]

Some of these names aren't "weeding out" as much as they were other factors.

TyMeer was a medical determination.
Shak was a post grad transfer.
McQuillan gets to sit in the legal version of the penalty box for fighting.
McCummings was an injury.
McCombs had his fair share of on-campus...um...disturbances and was forced out of school.

I wish that Kivon stayed here...especially after watching last year's QB crop struggle so badly. Abrams showed some flashes of talent...don't know what happened there.

 

[CTBasketball]

It seems more personal problems than weeding out.

 

[gioff23]

Theres 3 maybe 4 on that list that Diaco probably had no control over. Cochran, according to your comments medic(McCummings) Williams who had issues before Diaco ever arrived. Kivon Taylor never seemed like a sure fit either. And McQuillan fought his way out of the program. Michael Boland, I don't even remember hearing him as a scholarship athlete, at the very least his loss wasn't too bad.

Boland was a double disaster. PP brought him in at the last moment while allowing Fuchs to stew over being passed over to the point that he landed up at Indiana. Might we be able to use Fuchs now? Oh, and he suited up for the IU basketball team.

I'll never understand that double move (boland over fuchs) the prior regime made. I guess it was just another in the litany of what the fuchs from that regime

 

[freescooter]

Add

Some of these names aren't "weeding out" as much as they were other factors.

TyMeer was a medical determination.
Shak was a post grad transfer.
McQuillan gets to sit in the legal version of the penalty box for fighting.
McCummings was an injury.
McCombs had his fair share of on-campus...um...disturbances and was forced out of school.

I wish that Kivon stayed here...especially after watching last year's QB crop struggle so badly. Abrams showed some flashes of talent...don't know what happened there.

Joe Williams to that list. Guy was using a credit card that was stolen. I heard it was stolen from a teammate but don't know if that was ever confirmed.

 

[Husky25]

I think only a handful of players were truly "weeded out." Many of those players left the team due to factors of their own doing.

Hemingway was a disaster. He either couldn't or didn't want to put on weight. Whether he couldn't hack it in the classroom, I really couldn't care much less. I do believe that McCombs was invited to leave as well. Explanation of the Ashiru episode was a tad one sided, but he technically left as a grad transfer.

Regardless, a weed out is done virtually every year by the top 10-20 programs. If every recruit kept their scholarship for all 4 years, how is it possible that Alabama continually has a 28 player recruiting classes. Put a different way, The weed out process may not have been a part of Coach Diaco's initial plan, but he certainly isn't sorry it worked out that way.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Am I the only not bothered if he did in fact weed some kids out?

 

[mets1090]

A team that goes 5-7, 5-7, and then 3-9 probably needs to have some players weeded out. Hopefully the resulting 2-10 was them bottoming out and the rebound can begin this year.

 

[Husky25]

Am I the only one not bothered if he did in fact weed some kids out?

FIFY and Nope.

 

[Perfect Hair]

Am I the only not bothered if he did in fact weed some kids out?

It's perfectly normal on a coaching change, and in fact een established coaches do it by disqualifying players for medicla reasons that often are suspect. However, weeding out 15-20 players and then constantly using the "we don't have a full roster" excuse is lame. Can't have it both ways.

 

[mets1090]

It's perfectly normal on a coaching change, and in fact een established coaches do it by disqualifying players for medicla reasons that often are suspect. However, weeding out 15-20 players and then constantly using the "we don't have a full roster" excuse is lame. Can't have it both ways.

As OP pointed out, only 10 of them have left during Diaco's tenure, and most of them were not a result of being "weeded out." It's not as if Diaco came in and just started giving people the boot before complaining about not having enough players.

 

[whaler11]

It's nice where we have a thread where we all agree. It wasn't that much turnover, most of it had nothing to do with Diaco and it isn't exactly an all-conference team they lost.

I am interested to see what Williams does at Utah. Is there some connection I'm missing for him to end up there?