How do we build for the future?

[Forte]

Obviously the whole recruiting under the radar players didn't work. The assumption that we have promising talent with the younger class doesn't look so promising. There are a hand full of players like Marion, Carter, Durante etc that deserve to see the field. But we also have a team loaded with players who do not belong in FBS along with maybe 1000 die fan's (including parents) left supporting the program. Saying we are at an all time low proves to be a dirty lie with each passing week. It's probably fair to say based on performance and injuries that the players lack a proper strength and conditioning coach too.

On the flip side UConn has top notch facilities with a national TV contract and a solid schedule going forward ... not to mention a good chuck of change for the right coach.

The massive but is that the football program does not have 4/5 more years to experiment with rebuilding a everything from scratch ... AGAIN. The obvious answer is to hit the transfer portal hard but how realistic is that answer? What is the max number of transfer portal players a coach can realistically bring here vs. JUCO? We've seen other programs turn things around with a new coach after winless seasons like UCF but those programs had clear talent at their core to fill in gaps with. They did not experience years of suffering. UConn has an FCS roster with talent gaps just about everywhere. The roster full of players who are clearly much slower, smaller and weaker than just about every program they've gone up against this year.

A new coach can improve football IQ and play calling ....but it can not improve athleticism. Has a coach ever turned a football program around with UConn level low? If so anyone have examples? Looking for a glimmer of hope.

 

[ZooCougar]

There is nowhere to go but up. This program is a currently at about a non scholarship FCS level. That is your glimmer of hope.

Dislike it all you want. There are D2 teams that would beat us up. They are more skilled, more organized and better coached.

This team looked more athletic in 2001 than it does now.

 

[tjhusky]

Starts with a competent coaching staff. Head coach and assists who know how to coach the game of football as it is played today.

 

[amishboy]

1. Call Nick Saban
2. offer him $10 million/year

Otherwise, there is zero chance UConn will ever be better than a mediocre FBS program. Don’t believe me? Ask BC, Syracuse, & Rutgers (all in Power 5 conferences) how it’s going.

 

[JeepCSC]

Snyder is probably the patron saint for lost causes. Kansas State was a historically horrific program, 4 winning seasons in the previous 50 years before him.

Cutcliffe took up a woeful Duke program. His 2013 team won the same amount of games as Duke won the first 8 seasons this millennium (10 wins).

Those would be the gold standards for program turnarounds I can think of.

 

[metsfan2323]

Looking for a glimmer of hope.

Really? It's hard to tell by your posts. You are impossibly negative and you seem to revel in it.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I've said it before, the entire roster can turn over.

McFadden is the only player who is above average at his position compared to the other 120+ FBS schools. I like Carter so he can stay but I realize there will be 25-30 RB's in the portal and JUCO as good if not better.

 

[businesslawyer]

1. Call Nick Saban
2. offer him $10 million/year

Otherwise, there is zero chance UConn will ever be better than a mediocre FBS program. Don’t believe me? Ask BC, Syracuse, & Rutgers (all in Power 5 conferences) how it’s going.

With all due respect, that post illustrates the problem perfectly. That post is why what we were accomplishing during Edsall I was viewed as a problem by people and not a major accomplishment. Because, as a fan base, too many — way too many — think the level of success that Jim Calhoun brought to this State in basketball can be duplicated in football within a reasonable period of time, if ever.

If the goal is to be Alabama, WE SHOULD STOP NOW. We are not going to be Alabama. We don’t want to be a university attached to a football team that plays by its own rules. The goal is to figure out how we get to the level (more fairly, how we get back to the level) of BC, Syracuse and Rutgers. Because we were at that level for a short period of time. And, by the way, cute to leave Pitt off your list, whose level we were also on and is doing fine at the moment.

And then, and only then, figure out how we take the next step forward from that level, rather than what we did last time which was to constantly whine that our coach wasn’t making us into Alabama and then whining again when he left

 

[CL82]

I've said it before, the entire roster can turn over.

McFadden is the only player who is above average at his position compared to the other 120+ FBS schools. I like Carter so he can stay but I realize there will be 25-30 RB's in the portal and JUCO as good if not better.

Brewton?

 

[Sprague03]

@Exit 4 any idea what happened to TE Jayce Medlock and TE Chris Johnson?

 

[Alum86]

I've said it before, the entire roster can turn over.

McFadden is the only player who is above average at his position compared to the other 120+ FBS schools. I like Carter so he can stay but I realize there will be 25-30 RB's in the portal and JUCO as good if not better.

+++. Fact. We have had really good kickers and punters over the past several years, borderline NFL caliber. And over these years the QB slot abysmal.
Tyler Phommachanh may be a bright spot, however. Carter getting bumped out for Mensah for some odd reason is a head scratcher. Like they are trying to hide the horse after he escaped the barn.

 

[regassert6]

So I know you guys don't want to hear this, but you need to join a conference. These body bag buy games might seem like good ideas, but it wears on your players. And it ends up leading to not winning win-able games later, as you're seeing.
When Temple hit true rock bottom, they found their way into the MAC and just won some games. Winning against Akron is more worthwhile than serving your kids up to Clemson. IND is not viable.

And by the by, Saban already makes about $10 million all told.

 

[huskysupporter]

Lower admission standards for at least a percentage of the team.

People keep pointing to teams like Boise and Kansas State. We aren’t elite them because they don’t have any admission standards to speak of. We change that and we can build a respectable team in short order through the portal.

 

[SubbaBub]

The goal: beat teams we should beat and scare teams that are out of our league. There is no reason we cant be a fringe top 30 program and beat a top program every so often. Other lesser schools do it.

Recruiting geography and confernce affiliation are the major hurdles. Nothing hard word can't fix. Find a guy that will do it and then find players that will do it. The schools needs ti support them in any way they can without other priorities getting in the way. The State/University NIL restrictions are an example. Admissions is possibly another, I don't know. Travel, staff and recruiting budgets should not be the problem. Vet every hire from a HC to video asst for this purpose.

Pretend it's an actual organization with goals and accountability.

 

[traitor71]

Have to find something to sell kids on. There is no league championship to shoot for, not much exposure, not much excitement to offer. The transfer portal is one possible solution, but I still think you need to offer kids some sort of unique playstyle or something. Something that gets the team noticed. I'm not trying to be a doomsday prophet, but there has to be some sort of compelling reason to get kids here. What would that be?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Brewton?

I like Brewton but he's replaceable. I'd like to see what he can do with competent coaches who know how to scheme to get him the ball in space. But I have little doubt there aren't 25-30 Brewton's that will be available. should he transfer.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The goal: beat teams we should beat and scare teams that are out of our league. There is no reason we cant be a fringe top 30 program and beat a top program every so often. Other lesser schools do it.

Recruiting geography and confernce affiliation are the major hurdles. Nothing hard word can't fix. Find a guy that will do it and then find players that will do it. The schools needs ti support them in any way they can without other priorities getting in the way. The State/University NIL restrictions are an example. Admissions is possibly another, I don't know. Travel, staff and recruiting budgets should not be the problem. Vet every hire from a HC to video asst for this purpose.

Pretend it's an actual organization with goals and accountability.

Funny enough Randy said before the season started he finally had a roster where players had to worry about the proverbial next man up should they not be performing. And yet we have players on both sides of the ball making the same mistakes every week and trotting out the next week doing the same. It scares me to think how bad the back ups have to be in order to not overcome some of lesser performing players on the team.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Brewton?

There are at least a dozen players on the roster that I see being able to perform at a high level next year. There's probably another dozen (mostly freshman/sophs) that can get there, but the challenge is this coaching staff for the past few years hasn't taught them.

We need a head coach and the rest of the staff that coach position-by-position technique. That's what made us succeed under RE-1. That's what is needed under the next regime.

 

[CCSU97]

With all due respect, that post illustrates the problem perfectly. That post is why what we were accomplishing during Edsall I was viewed as a problem by people and not a major accomplishment. Because, as a fan base, too many — way too many — think the level of success that Jim Calhoun brought to this State in basketball can be duplicated in football within a reasonable period of time, if ever.

If the goal is to be Alabama, WE SHOULD STOP NOW. We are not going to be Alabama. We don’t want to be a university attached to a football team that plays by its own rules. The goal is to figure out how we get to the level (more fairly, how we get back to the level) of BC, Syracuse and Rutgers. Because we were at that level for a short period of time. And, by the way, cute to leave Pitt off your list, whose level we were also on and is doing fine at the moment.

And then, and only then, figure out how we take the next step forward from that level, rather than what we did last time which was to constantly whine that our coach wasn’t making us into Alabama and then whining again when he left

Agree that for many UConn fans here, the problem is unrealistic expectations. UConn's national success has ALWAYS been due to conference affiliation. Calhoun was able to maximize the opportunity in basketball when Perno couldn't. Calhoun only took the job because UConn was in the Big East - that was the selling point to coaches and recruits.

UConn has no football pedigree whatsoever. Anything that was accomplished on the gridiron (rankings, draft picks, bowl games) was done as a P5 program and was mainly due to conference affiliation. Without that P5 affiliation and access the expectations are much, much lower. Your football peers are no longer BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, WV, etc. no matter how much you wish they were or are in basketball.

The model and standard for UConn football moving forward is simple - HAWAII. Connecticut is now on its own little island with some advantages (great basketball, TV contract, $$$ and local media), but very little else. With a good coach and system you can hope for the June Jones years (a decent bowl win), but in most seasons you're simply hoping for a 7-5 record and a few payday games. It is what it is.

But this talk about spending $5mill a year on a coach and further investments in the stadium is misguided and unrealistic. The program will continue to be a huge financial liability for decades and not sure why people think more $$$ guarantees success - it doesn't.

 

[tjhusky]

Have to find something to sell kids on. There is no league championship to shoot for, not much exposure, not much excitement to offer. The transfer portal is one possible solution, but I still think you need to offer kids some sort of unique playstyle or something. Something that gets the team noticed. I'm not trying to be a doomsday prophet, but there has to be some sort of compelling reason to get kids here. What would that be?

What do good college athletes want?
A shot at the pros
Playing time
Ability to improve
National visibility
play against the best teams.
$$$

We already have:
Burton Shenckman Center
National TV deal
A sched that includes top name P5 teams.
Players in the pros
Starting position if you are decent.
3 NFL teams within a 3 hr drive (coaches visit us)
D1 scholarship and NIL $$$

Missing:
competent coaching staff.

 

[uconnfan68]

+++. Fact. We have had really good kickers and punters over the past several years, borderline NFL caliber. And over these years the QB slot abysmal.
Tyler Phommachanh may be a bright spot, however. Carter getting bumped out for Mensah for some odd reason is a head scratcher. Like they are trying to hide the horse after he escaped the barn.

To be fair, those punters get lots of chances here. \s

 

[ScottVib]

So I know you guys don't want to hear this, but you need to join a conference. These body bag buy games might seem like good ideas, but it wears on your players. And it ends up leading to not winning win-able games later, as you're seeing.

Thank you for your interest in UConn Athletics...

UConn hasn't played a body bag game yet (give it a few weeks for the Clemson game). They're not winning the winnable games on their own. Playing a whole league of Middle Tenn State's isn't going to fix the issue.

This is what happens when you have a program that has churned through three poor coaching hires in a decade. One who couldn't coach gameday and really wasn't into the job (but who had talent); one who couldn't coach or couldn't recruit; and a retread that felt like he knew best and tried to flip the switch back a couple of decades.

As a result, UConn has a talent deficit and a lame duck coaching staff. They also have a ton of infrastructure pieces in place that a lot of these "winnable" teams would kill for. The practice and training facilities are top-notch. The stadium can and will fill again once the program gets to the point where the games are fun and not painful. All to often, right now, the best part of football Saturday's ends at the stadium gates.

 

[BlueandOG]

Agree that for many UConn fans here, the problem is unrealistic expectations. UConn's national success has ALWAYS been due to conference affiliation. Calhoun was able to maximize the opportunity in basketball when Perno couldn't. Calhoun only took the job because UConn was in the Big East - that was the selling point to coaches and recruits.

UConn has no football pedigree whatsoever. Anything that was accomplished on the gridiron (rankings, draft picks, bowl games) was done as a P5 program and was mainly due to conference affiliation. Without that P5 affiliation and access the expectations are much, much lower. Your football peers are no longer BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, WV, etc. no matter how much you wish they were or are in basketball.

The model and standard for UConn football moving forward is simple - HAWAII. Connecticut is now on its own little island with some advantages (great basketball, TV contract, $$$ and local media), but very little else. With a good coach and system you can hope for the June Jones years (a decent bowl win), but in most seasons you're simply hoping for a 7-5 record and a few payday games. It is what it is.

But this talk about spending $5mill a year on a coach and further investments in the stadium is misguided and unrealistic. The program will continue to be a huge financial liability for decades and not sure why people think more $$$ guarantees success - it doesn't.

A 7-5 season with a few payday games would be amazing! Every few years we hit a homerun and break into the top 25. Success!

 

[Madmannsucks]

Looking at the depth chart(OF DEF Spec teams)they have a total of 25 Freshman 1st or 2nd on the list.
That is a start.

 

[CL82]

A 7-5 season with a few payday games would be amazing! Every few years we hit a homerun and break into the top 25. Success!

Or where we were when Randy left.