I am trying, really

[connectikev]

Admittedly, I am not (yet) a die-hard fan of UConn Football. But I really want to be. I have been excited about the football team since their move to the big time. I average attending a game or so a season. I watch most of the televised games and follow the team's results as much as anyone.
I long for this program to be one in which I can relieve the excitement aroused in me by the Men's Basketball program (of which I am indeed a die-hard fan) during the past 26 years.
I know me, I've seen me do it - But the program has to meet me at least halfway. Give me exciting games (there have been quite a few) do not sell me yesterday's crap.
Want my lifeblood behind the program? Try a few of these:

 

[connectikev]

- Win a few games in a row
- If you can't win - at least make the games close
- If you can't manage to stay close, at least offer some exciting offense (yeah, I get that our defense is pretty damn good, but offense will sell the tix and convert the masses)
- Hire (or keep) coaches with some imagination AND the ability to adjust to the opponent (or flow of individual games)
- Run a clean program (I believe they do have this one down)
- Recruit and play young men of good character - our RB's issue this week aside - I think they score well on this also

Til then - I will remain a fence sitter - Need the program to show me something.

 

[Adios]

Do you have any idea how long it took for so many programs to become relevant? We ARE relevant. Just not at the top 25 level so far. If you don't want to be a part of what you see, no one is stopping you. Ever hear of ambition? Who the heck said we'll be national title contenders 10 years into the FBS era? We've done very well so far. We have NFL players, right?

 

[ZooCougar]

Define relevant.

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't really know what relevant means to each person.

I just want to have fun watching the games. I don't enjoy watching the thing you love whither away.

Winning is important. After Jasper Howard was murdered, we lost a string of games. Even if it was painful, the team was still fun to watch.

 

[connectikev]

Butch, respectfully, i understand what you state. I even understand that a rise to relevance is not necessarily linear.
But I am not as invested as others (yet). Too much has occurred to allow me to "jump in with both feet". to wit -
- the team is boring (feel free to disagree - but are you really satisfied with any game since the UMass game? How about from last season?)
- the conference that I longed to be a part of; the Real Big East, is gone. The fact that the Rutgers game is, or should now be, the biggest game of the season is troubling.
- What the fecundity is this conference that we are in (or headed for) - I really don't give a crap about how good Boise is, there's no hook for me in that game - none. Houston? really? - Memphis, sigh.
- The Fiesta Bowl was our highlight (that and beating ND) - Again, success is not linear, but really - name some positives since that game - something for the casual fan that the program needs to work to convert.
- Relevant? - where? - the team is relevant to alumni and students (to varying degrees - and I suspect fading). Step outside the border of our state and check our relevance.
- The program is missing (and has missed) opportunities to turn the corner to convert the unknowing masses into rabid fans for the past few seasons - Epic Fail

Again, I respect you point of view, but I am the "fan" that the program is losing - I need more than they have shown. I need a more valuable reason to spend my money and to invest my time and interest than 2 yards up the middle and plodding victories over MAC teams (and losing to those MAC teams in boring exercises in predictability surely are not advancing the Program's cause).

 

[connectikev]

I don't really know what relevant means to each person.

I just want to have fun watching the games. I don't enjoy watching the thing you love whither away.

Winning is important. After Jasper Howard was murdered, we lost a string of games. Even if it was painful, the team was still fun to watch.

This -- Give me a reason (win or lose) to enjoy the game. I rooted like hell for the team in the games following Jasper's death - God, it hurt to watch them lose. But damn, IT WAS GREAT WATCHING THEM TRY. I literally could not NOT watch. Every game was a mission. I could bleed for a program like that. Forever.

 

[RedSoloCup]

This -- Give me a reason (win or lose) to enjoy the game. I rooted like hell for the team in the games following Jasper's death - God, it hurt to watch them lose. But damn, IT WAS GREAT WATCHING THEM TRY. I literally could not NOT watch. Every game was a mission. I could bleed for a program like that. Forever.

Tough for us to call here, we are all in the same boat.

We have a staff that is not an upgrade, they are not putting a watchable product on the field. God bless the guys that play, they are trying hard and this has to be killing them too.

The Big East will need to stabilize and we will need changes in the coaching, these will make it easier for you, the casual fan, to buy a ticket and show up. You are the best person to send a note to WM and his staff, since you are the independent voters in this election.

The rest of us, well, "addicts" might be a good term, and we will suffer through this. I am watching because I can't help myself... LOL

 

[Adios]

BC, Rutgers and Penn State are still out-recruiting us, in terms of 3 and 4 star players. And I mean relevant as in being part of the national scene at the top tier. We do have a recruit coming in from Texas next year. We have connections to the deep south, as well. And the mid-Atlantic states.

Nebraska didn't win a championship until the 70s. Penn State didn't win a championship until the 80s. Michigan and Chicago were the first non-Ivies to win a national championship in the very early 1900s.

Right now, the SEC is dominating. It can be argued that Vanderbilt laid the foundation for the SEC, by a chemistry professor in 1894. And they have no national titles. Do we see their fans going nuts? They just enjoy their history and what they have.

Look at South Carolina, Miami and Florida. Florida was nothing for years. Same with Miami. They just won championships recently. South Carolina has yet to win a championship. Washington has one title. Colorado has one title. Georgia has one title. Clemson has one title. Somehow, TCU has two titles in the late 30s. It is very possible that a school can win it's first national title this year. Oregon and West Virginia are possibilities. Kansas State even has a shot. And they were nothing before Bill Snyder.

We should just be happy that UConn finally stepped up and took it's football program to the top level. With 15 national titles in sports other than football and our market, it is very likely we'll end up in a conference other than the Big East soon.

I feel like I wrote up a Carl Spackler-style post. If you want, support the program. Whining accomplishes nothing. Being proactive does. We can sit there and be like fortebleedsblue and cry, sucking on a pacifier. Or we can push for success (as gentlemen, not cheaters). The PP era has to come to an end at some point. We all agree our present offense is boring. Our administration has made clear we are aiming high in football. It IS possible we can win a national title in the future. Unless the NFL takes over developing amateur players.

It's just entertainment. If you don't like the product and just want to complain, don't watch. There's loads of people dying in the world and billions living in complete poverty and here we have people acting like our football team losing is the end of the world.

 

[Adios]

The rest of us, well, "addicts" might be a good term, and we will suffer through this. I am watching because I can't help myself... LOL

How you been? lol

 

[mauconnfan]

Much like connectikev I do love the university. I grew up the son of a season ticket holder of the hoops team in the Field House and saw Balosuknia and on play......I am forever a hoops fan. I also grew up with the same Dad being a huge Notre Dame fan (sorry for those who have the hatred I've read) and watched Lindsay Nelson, Theismann, Gatewood, Montana on on and on...........Uconn football was something I read about, made sure I checked to see how they did against UNH, Maine, UMass etc etc in the paper and even occasionally would go up to Storrs to take in a game.......

Then Indiana came in to open Rentschler and I was there with many friends buying ticket packages and taking in the growth of the program.....slowly the Huskies were the team to watch and for the most part every year they continued their growth, without seemingly high expectations from anyone, and were fun to watch. Then a few years back I took the trip with 8 friends to ND to watch the the Irish and the Huskies......there was never any doubt who I would root for and where I would sit in South Bend, one of my most enjoyable trips ever. It was a joy to be a UConn fan, through and through.......I have never wavered from the hoops team, season ticket holder, Big East tourney goer even through the Dim Porno days (painful at times) and now as a football fan I was hoping they could keep my attention.......

I will say this, as Randy's days were ending they were still very respectable and despite a hammering form national power Sooners, they were heading in the right direction we thought. But the fun was already gone, the offense was predictable and they were very conservative. That doesn't allow recruiting the impact offensive position players easy since they hear about how awful it is from other teams recruiting. Well, obviously they have fallen back in their efforts and now have a long road to hoe. This team is coached by dinosaurs, guys who have not caught up to the new day athletes requirements to have your school appeal to them. Don't get me wrong they have some nice players but most are on defense..........and the good offensive players have little chance to prove themselves due to a lackluster game plan week in week out.............

And much like kev, I would stay home to watch a Notre Dame game again rather than go out and waste my day watching this boring football team these coaches are putting on the field.......it's plain painful to watch. I was excited to sit and watch the WMU game and they let us down.....not so much the Buffalo game but they were awful and just about beat a team in the UMass end of opponents........still had hope vs RU but were completely outclassed and out coached............the defense was solid though and Don Brown cannot be put into the same sentence as PP and Delone.......

But in order to keep the "new" fans and not let them just be casual fans again a change is in order and real soon! I believe all the teams assist each other in recruiting and for now the football team will not help anyone. The Mens and Womens basketball teams do not have the luxury other schools have when a recruit visits on the weekend of game, at least for now. They would embarrass themselves at this point when there will be a stadium half full and the crowd needing to drink themselves to oblivion to find excitement.

I believe mr ward, an ex-football guy with goo connections, will bring this situation to a halt soon, real soon. And things will be back in order starting 2013......at least I hope so!!

 

[HuskyNan]

We should just be happy that UConn finally stepped up and took it's football program to the top level. With 15 national titles in sports other than football and our market, it is very likely we'll end up in a conference other than the Big East soon.

It's just entertainment. If you don't like the product and just want to complain, don't watch. There's loads of people dying in the world and billions living in complete poverty and here we have people acting like our football team losing is the end of the world.

This was the OP's point, Butch. He wants to watch, but the team is unwatchable. If UConn wants to be a big time program and draw fans, that has to stop. Otherwise, this ephemeral "relevance" is just chest-pounding by a small core of die-hard fans.

I am a fan, but I changed the channel during the game yesterday, going back only to check the score. It was a butt-ugly game.

 

[Adios]

This was the OP's point, Butch. He wants to watch, but the team is unwatchable. If UConn wants to be a big time program and draw fans, that has to stop. Otherwise, this ephemeral "relevance" is just chest-pounding by a small core of die-hard fans.

I am a fan, but I changed the channel during the game yesterday, going back only to check the score. It was a butt-ugly game.

We all know it's painful to watch. It is what it is. We don't makes the calls as to who's the coaches and co-ordinators. We have been very fortunate to have had the success we've had in basketball. It's as if we've been spoiled by that success. All FBS programs are relevant, technically. A long time ago, they used to make player cards for college players for players from top programs. Now, it's the NFL who makes player cards.

If people are going to define "relevant" as winning national championships, that's a different story. We have a long way to go. We have beat the most recent Heisman Trophy winner twice, so far. There used to be awards that were more prestigious than the Heisman Trophy back in the day, such as the Chicago Tribune's best player award.

 

[ruskin]

I enjoyed Butch's history lesson. Im hopeful something like that happens in the 30 year or so the actuarial tables say I have left.
The only thing I take issue with is characterizing legitimate criticism as "whining". In the last 24 hours there have been a lot of thoughtful posts about how the PP/GDL regime is driving away people in an already small group of diehards.

 

[Adios]

I enjoyed Butch's history lesson. Im hopeful something like that happens in the 30 year or so the actuarial tables say I have left.
The only thing I take issue with is characterizing legitimate criticism as "whining". In the last 24 hours there have been a lot of thoughtful posts about how the PP/GDL regime is driving away people in an already small group of diehards.

There's a difference about legitimate criticism and getting over-emotional about what's going on. Glad I was able to post something you enjoyed.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Butch, I do hear what you are saying but your comments need to be taken with a bit of a grain of salt as there are many on this board who have invested far more time and far more money than you have in the football program. They are entitled to voice their displeasure towards what we have seen recently.

 

[HuskyNan]

We all know it's painful to watch. It is what it is. We don't makes the calls as to who's the coaches and co-ordinators. We have been very fortunate to have had the success we've had in basketball. It's as if we've been spoiled by that success. All FBS programs are relevant, technically. A long time ago, they used to make player cards for college players for players from top programs. Now, it's the NFL who makes player cards.

If people are going to define "relevant" as winning national championships, that's a different story. We have a long way to go. We have beat the most recent Heisman Trophy winner twice, so far. There used to be awards that were more prestigious than the Heisman Trophy back in the day, such as the Chicago Tribune's best player award.

You might be misunderstanding what it is people want. They aren't asking for Heisman winners or national championships, they just want a team that they enjoy watching, even if it loses. Me, I'd settle for seeing some visible improvements from week to week.

 

[Adios]

Butch, I do hear what you are saying but your comments need to be taken with a bit of a grain of salt as there are many on this board who have invested far more time and far more money than you have in the football program. They are entitled to voice their displeasure towards what we have seen recently.

Understandable. Fair enough. I do wish I had the ability to go to every game. I definitely do watch almost every game.

 

[Adios]

You might be misunderstanding what it is people want. They aren't asking for Heisman winners or national championships, they just want a team that they enjoy watching, even if it loses. Me, I'd settle for seeing some visible improvements from week to week.

Same here. I trust in the leadership of the university. Patience is the key.

 

[mauconnfan]

Same here. I trust in the leadership of the university. Patience is the key.

Totally agree with Butch as patience is required and I certainly respect his loyalty to the program, much like mine throughout the early BE years of hoops in hopes of landing a guy "like JC" eventually.

Now is the time though for them to find that "JC" as things begin to regress from where they should be............and I agree we can trust the leadership now of UConn.......

 

[Waquoit]

There's a difference about legitimate criticism and getting over-emotional about what's going on.

I find your pleas for "patience" and your calling those worried about this progam "over-emotional" to be insulting. This staff is a disaster. They are squeezing the life out of the program. Lectures from those refusing to see that are funny, in a bad way.

 

[Adios]

I find your pleas for "patience" and your calling those worried about this progam "over-emotional" to be insulting. This staff is a disaster. They are squeezing the life out of the program. Lectures from those refusing to see that are funny, in a bad way.

I didn't say this staff is not a disaster. I was implying we have to be patient with this staff. Patient as in need time to get rid of them.

 

[formerlurker]

You might be misunderstanding what it is people want. They aren't asking for Heisman winners or national championships, they just want a team that they enjoy watching, even if it loses. Me, I'd settle for seeing some visible improvements from week to week.

I think you might be misunderstanding what people want as well.