Geno on why Edsall fails.

[metsfan2323]

It does compare, you just don’t understand it.

Danny Hurley inherited the most talented roster in the AAC. He has said publicly many times that one of the big attractions of this job was the talent on the roster. Randy Edsall inherited the least talented roster in the AAC. Other than that minor fact you're right the two situations are comparable.

 

[LBird33]

Watching the AAC Championship-wishing someday we will be there

 

[gtcam]

That’s great that he played what he felt were the best players, however what about the rest of the kids on the roster? How can you create depth if you keep telling kids they suck? How can you win games without contributions from guys you didn’t list? You’re going to need them. Injuries happen. Guys get tired. Your job as a coach/teacher is to make EVERY kid better. Even if they don’t FIT what you’re looking for. You don’t know when you’ll need them but they need to be ready. Edsall’s coaching record reflects the OPs point. And it’s exactly why Geno and now Hurley have complete buy in from the kids they coach. You’re NEVER going to have a roster of kids you like. Make due with what you have. Build them up. Allow them to reach their fullest potential. That doesn’t happen if you aren’t invested in EVERY kid on the roster. Until Edsall figures that out, nothing will change.

Look, it’s like the kid in Little League that no one wants to draft. He’s a good kid but he’s not very good. He can’t hit, catch or throw. He knows he’s not good because every coach he’s had told him that. But, someone’s got to take him. You know who takes him? I do. I did it every year. I never treated him different then anyone else on the team. If he was willing to give me 100% everyday, I would make him better. I spent time working with him every practice. He knew I wasn’t going to do to him what other coaches had (play RF). I played him everywhere. I let him pitch a game. I don’t like losing but I didn’t care. This was about getting a kid like that to believe he was part of something. You know what happened? He got better everyday. He started to hit. He made plays in the field. His teammates started to see him as an equal. He was never going to be a great player but he felt like he was contributing to a team for the first time ever. We won the league championship and he got a big hit that game. That doesn’t happen if a coach isn’t INVESTED in seeing every kid achieve their own personal level of success. I prepared him for that moment. He ceased the opportunity. He just needed someone who could push him but he knew that it came from a good place.

I’m not trying to to my own horn here. I don’t see myself a great coach. But, I’ve been a very successful youth baseball coach over the years. My teams are always the team nobody wanted to play. Not because I picked the best kids or I was a great coach, (I picked kids I thought I could work with and I ALWAYS picked the kid no other coach wanted.), but because I got my kids to believed in themselves, played together and most played above what THEY thought they were capable of. All because a coach was invested in them and believed they were capable of it!!!

I am happy that you are successful at the Little League level - finding coaches at those age groups are important
I've coached for over 30 years in 3 sports ranging from U-8 through college age ranks.
If you think that every kid who plays hard is doing so because they relate to you or buy into your style/philosophy - you are kidding yourself
I had plenty of males and females who did not like me, my style or my program, I knew it but at least 60% of them played hard and succeeded - Why? because they wanted to play and be successful
Intersecting the blah blah that Geno and many coaches like to carry on with what RE2 has faced is ridiculous and I have no doubt that Geno was not nodding towards RE2 when he said these things
He is currently having his own bump in the road in terms of recruitment
You made on offhand inference to Ollie - not warranted IMHO but if RE2 proportionally had in terms of returning talent that Dan Hurley enjoyed this year - he would be happier than a pig in

 

[LBird33]

Good god would you two take it some where else ! Like two kids try to out pea each other. No one cares who coached what. Really !!!!!!!!!

 

[kris1]

I guess we pissed right in your Cheerios @LBird33

 

[LBird33]

LoL.

 

[LBird33]

I guess we pissed right in your Cheerios @LBird33

Mmmmmmmlol

 

[UConnDan97]

Edsall just needed to love them harder to make them D1 caliber! I’ve heard it all now.

I am a bit concerned that he's never once commented on their vitamin D levels. What is he hiding???

 

[Scrutineer]

Your posts don't go over anyone's head. They are completely devoid of meaning and intelligent comment.

You are not as smart as you think you are.

Since he quoted, and then paraphrased, Geno, you must be saying you're smarter than Geno. Is that correct?

 

[Stainmaster]

Since he quoted, and then paraphrased, Geno, you must be saying you're smarter than Geno. Is that correct?

I don’t think he is capable of understanding Geno’s words.

 

[ktuck911]

“A great coach told me one time a player is only as good as you think they are,” he said. “It makes a lot of sense. A lot of times when you only see the upside in a kid, that kid tends to give you the upside. When you see the downside and only see the bad stuff the kid does, that kid lives down to your expectations. The worst thing a coach can do is make a decision on a kid before the kid plays or actually plays into that bad place."

Actually it was Geno talking about coaching in general. But.

Geno is what Nick Saban is to CFB. Can't correlate that to what Edsall is dealing with. Unlevel playing fields when you only recruit and get the best talent year in and year out vs. a guy who has to convince kids to come play be bold enough to build something... two different animals.

 

[jdb50]

One thing I did not like out of Edsall this year was he seemed too corporate on the sideline to me. This team needed more energy out of the head coach, not angry yelling and screaming but leadership in getting the small victories we had each game. Staying by himself, headset on, hood up not really interacting with the players when they all needed feedback in real time even in blowouts was not a good look to me. Recruiting wise he knows the needs and hopefully he can get enough players to commit. We should have won more games last year. This year was what we were. A 1-11 team talent wise. I will give the players and staff credit though as they looked like they weren't mailing it in. There was effort all season long. We just weren't good enough to win in this league in 2018. I stayed till the end of the final game to honor the players who work all year long to be successful. Geno has put down players on his team often bye the way.

 

[Woof 101]

Then demonstate it by posting something cogent. My post was timely, accurate and insightful. Yours was off topic, insulting and vapid. Try to do better.

Pal no attack here but you have to really step back and read what you write....
You use words like, cogent, timely, accurate, insightful, insulting and vapid...
These would all fit a misleading thread created under the guise of Geno making a comment about Randy.
After the azzinine statement you put your tail between your legs with. Actually it was Geno talking about coaching in general. But.

You brought an empty bowl to your own buffet and slander others for their dish.

 

[champs99and04]

Dan Hurley has a team of two five star recruits at 86th on KenPom and people here are ready to build him a statue. Can't remember a time so much was made of a coach beating New Hampshire and Lowell.

The bit about Geno in the OP sounds great and will look good as a yearbook clipping, but it's total BS that even he doesn't believe.

 

[metsfan2323]

Dan Hurley has a team of two five star recruits at 86th on KenPom and people here are ready to build him a statue.

If they are 86 on KenPom now it is due to the teams starting position on KenPom at the beginning of the year probably being higher than 150 which goes back to Ollie not getting the job done.

Your pro-Ollie anti Hurley posts are a lost cause dude, It's embarrassing at this point.

 

[Waquoit]

Dan Hurley has a team of two five star recruits at 86th on KenPom and people here are ready to build him a statue. Can't remember a time so much was made of a coach beating New Hampshire and Lowell.

Bad Faith Alert! Somehow you neglected to mention 15th ranked Syracuse.

 

[HuskyNan]

“A great coach told me one time a player is only as good as you think they are,” he said. “It makes a lot of sense. A lot of times when you only see the upside in a kid, that kid tends to give you the upside. When you see the downside and only see the bad stuff the kid does, that kid lives down to your expectations. The worst thing a coach can do is make a decision on a kid before the kid plays or actually plays into that bad place."

Actually it was Geno talking about coaching in general. But.

Actually, it was Geno talking about individual players' personal development. He recruits all levels of players, from superstars to role players, helps develop their skills and encourages them to be the best they can be. Still, some of those kids will end up getting 5 minutes of garbage time every game because even though they might be playing at their highest level, they just aren't good enough. Geno just wants to be sure that's not because of him.

No idea what any of that has to do with football.

 

[champs99and04]

If they are 86 on KenPom now it is due to the teams starting position on KenPom at the beginning of the year probably being higher than 150 which goes back to Ollie not getting the job done.

Your pro-Ollie anti Hurley posts are a lost cause dude, It's embarrassing at this point.

Who says I'm anti-Hurley? I think he's a good coach. It's just easy to see the honeymoon phase coming to an end for him once people realize how hard it is to win NCAA Tournament games.

If the team doesn't make the tournament, Ollie gets slammed for leaving Hurley in a bad spot. If they do, Ollie gets no credit for recruiting the current team.

I can acknowledge the double standard without losing sight of the fact that Ollie deserved to lose his job. That you consider it embarrassing to support a coach who won the title four years ago is...embarrassing.

 

[champs99and04]

Bad Faith Alert! Somehow you neglected to mention 15th ranked Syracuse.

Syracuse is unranked last time I checked. Perhaps they might work their way back into the top 25 now that Frank Howard is back.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Now, to rebuild a basketball team you need one or two good recruits, you need a lot more to rebuild a football team. I just read that Hurley got AhoyAhoy (might not be the spelling) for next year...he is a top recruit. In football, since HS football is low on the totem pole...(Hockey, soccer, Lacrosse and basketball are higher), we need to recruit against our teams in Texas, Florida and yes the Carolinas. Can we recruit there, yes, but it will be hard..

Can we be successful next year? I think so...will be be undefeated, no, but we will be better.

 

[Waquoit]

Syracuse is unranked last time I checked.

Because UConn beat 'em.

 

[Huskybass]

Dan Hurley has a team of two five star recruits at 86th on KenPom and people here are ready to build him a statue. Can't remember a time so much was made of a coach beating New Hampshire and Lowell.

The bit about Geno in the OP sounds great and will look good as a yearbook clipping, but it's total BS that even he doesn't believe.

Hurley has his team beating the likes of New Hampshire and UMass-Lowell by very comfortable margins. Last year similar games would have been very close or would have gone to overtime. Of course the fanbase is very pleased with that amount of progress in a very short time.

 

[BlueDogs]

Geno said to his first UConn team when the players thought they would go undefeated because they had him. When they were surprised they started losing games he said something to the effect “Yeah but will still only have you guys”.

His team got better as he recruited better players. It will be the same with Randy and Dan.

Basketball you need 5-8 good players. Football you need lots of fast strong players. You can’t make up for the lack of that with willpower. Our D knows when players run by them or drag them for 10+ yds after a tackle. Or tie them up in a block they can’t shed. We Need to keep recruiting good athletes and making them better players in the weight room and then they can be coached as skilled football players.

Your points are well taken. Where I don’t agree is the notion that football is not about will power. On the contrary, will power within boundaries of reason (high school kids can’t beat a division 1 college team). There are plenty of cases where teams with greatly inferior talent beat their opponents. Army and Navy can’t recruit great talent. They are perpetually undersized, slower and weaker than their opponents on the whole. But, they have incredible pride, discipline and will fight like hell through 100% of the game. They won’t win every game, and some seasons are tough and others are better. But, they don’t own the record for the worst defense in college football history. It tells you something very important.

 

[BlueandOG]

UCONN v ND 2009 highlight

If you don't want to watch Dixon score the winning TD, you can go to the 1:15 mark and hear how much RE cares about players. He is not perfect, and he says things about players from time to time that are frustrating, but he cares about his players.

 

[champs99and04]

Hurley has his team beating the likes of New Hampshire and UMass-Lowell by very comfortable margins. Last year similar games would have been very close or would have gone to overtime. Of course the fanbase is very pleased with that amount of progress in a very short time.

But you're comparing two completely different teams. Most of the progress that people see is just the normal development curve of a college basketball team. This year's players are a year older and playing with guys - Gilbert and Smith - who were not there last season. What's further distorting your view is the quality of teams you're playing. All low-majors are not created equal, and you have played some of the very poorest - #237 Cornell, #261 Morehead State, #274 UMKC, #280 UMass Lowell, #316 Lafayette, and #340 New Hampshire.

Last year, before Gilbert went down, they beat #202 Colgate by 12 without Jalen Adams, they beat #223 Stony Brook by 8, and they beat #258 BU by 19. Then they beat Oregon by 8 and lost a mostly competitive game with Michigan State before losing Gilbert for the year in the next game.

None of this is to hide the fact that Ollie did a very poor job last year, or that Hurley has done a good job this year. But a lot of what you're seeing could have been predicted by anyone. Right now he has this team about where your average high major coach should have them. The real sign of encouragement should be what he's done already in recruiting. That's where he'll earn his money.

 

[kemba]

None of this is to hide the fact that Ollie did a very poor job last year, or that Hurley has done a good job this year. But a lot of what you're seeing could have been predicted by anyone. Right now he has this team about where your average high major coach should have them. The real sign of encouragement should be what he's done already in recruiting. That's where he'll earn his money.

So he's done a fantastic job so far and everybody has every right to be excited. So what exactly are you arguing?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Your points are well taken. Where I don’t agree is the notion that football is not about will power. On the contrary, will power within boundaries of reason (high school kids can’t beat a division 1 college team). There are plenty of cases where teams with greatly inferior talent beat their opponents. Army and Navy can’t recruit great talent. They are perpetually undersized, slower and weaker than their opponents on the whole. But, they have incredible pride, discipline and will fight like hell through 100% of the game. They won’t win every game, and some seasons are tough and others are better. But, they don’t own the record for the worst defense in college football history. It tells you something very important.

High school kids can't beat a division 1 team
Pretty much what we had out there.
Edit: Army's defense save Travis Jones is bigger and older. The front seven and the back seven.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Remember, a few years ago when everyone was going hog wild for RKGs? Captain of their wrestling team, played power forward in basketball?

And remember some posters were saying you're not going to win in the AAC with kids who hold MAC, FCS, Academy or no offers?

This is the outcome of that. Do I think we could have beaten UMass. Yes. But we pretty much were beaten to a pulp in every other game.

So to recap. Game we won was against an FCS school. Our closest other game was vs. a MAC cast-off FBS Independent. Our roster was primarily filled with kids at that level.

Our other games that we got blown out in were teams with better talent.

This is a Diaco problem that to date Randy hasn't made any better.