I have completely lost interest in this program

[LRock34]

Say what you want about me as a fan but I will tell you why this isn't good news for UConn. I have been die hard since 2001 and I mean DIE HARD. Season ticket holder until I moved away from the northeast in 2010. Never missed a game that I could attend or watch on tv. Traveled to a few away games and bowl games.

I am not the kind of fan that the program wants losing interest because if I've lost interest the casual fan has definitely lost interest. That crowd I saw on TV last week against Buffalo was pathetic and it's only going to get worse.

The Big East doesn't have the appeal that it once had, people are already unimpressed by the opponents that will be coming to to the Rent...now combine that with a team that losses to Western Michigan TWICE...a team that puts up 3 points against our rival...a program that will miss a bowl 2 years in a row...combine all of that and this program is headed in the wrong direction at lightning speed.

If we are going to maintain the progress we were seeing when we played in the BCS 2 years ago...if we are going to have a program worth respecting, one that fans will buy tickets to see....We MUST dominate this Weak conference. With PP in control that will never happen. This head coach and offensive staff is slowly digging our athletic program's grave.

I hope we're researching innovative coaches that can put points on the board and butts in the seats.

And I'm sending to to Warde.

 

[Dann]

#UNCN

 

[Chin Diesel]

Moreso than a record that has hovered just below .500 over the past two seasons, fan apathy is what will be the quick downfall of PP.

An AD can handle a .500 record while transitioning through regimes. He can't handle having only 25K in the seats.

 

[gars44]

Say what you want about me as a fan but I will tell you why this isn't good news for UConn. I have been die hard since 2001 and I mean DIE HARD. Season ticket holder until I moved away from the northeast in 2010. Never missed a game that I could attend or watch on tv. Traveled to a few away games and bowl games.

I am not the kind of fan that the program wants losing interest because if I've lost interest the casual fan has definitely lost interest. That crowd I saw on TV last week against Buffalo was pathetic and it's only going to get worse.

The Big East doesn't have the appeal that it once had, people are already unimpressed by the opponents that will be coming to to the Rent...now combine that with a team that losses to Western Michigan TWICE...a team that puts up 3 points against our rival...a program that will miss a bowl 2 years in a row...combine all of that and this program is headed in the wrong direction at lightning speed.

If we are going to maintain the progress we were seeing when we played in the BCS 2 years ago...if we are going to have a program worth respecting, one that fans will buy tickets to see....We MUST dominate this Weak conference. With PP in control that will never happen. This head coach and offensive staff is slowly digging our athletic program's grave.

I hope we're researching innovative coaches that can put points on the board and butts in the seats.

And I'm sending to to Warde.

You have to email Warde. He hasn't responded to me yet. I'm used to that, however. I'll survive. Will this program?

 

[sdhusky]

Say what you want about me as a fan but I will tell you why this isn't good news for UConn. I have been die hard since 2001 and I mean DIE HARD. Season ticket holder until I moved away from the northeast in 2010. Never missed a game that I could attend or watch on tv. Traveled to a few away games and bowl games.

I am not the kind of fan that the program wants losing interest because if I've lost interest the casual fan has definitely lost interest. That crowd I saw on TV last week against Buffalo was pathetic and it's only going to get worse.

The Big East doesn't have the appeal that it once had, people are already unimpressed by the opponents that will be coming to to the Rent...now combine that with a team that losses to Western Michigan TWICE...a team that puts up 3 points against our rival...a program that will miss a bowl 2 years in a row...combine all of that and this program is headed in the wrong direction at lightning speed.

If we are going to maintain the progress we were seeing when we played in the BCS 2 years ago...if we are going to have a program worth respecting, one that fans will buy tickets to see....We MUST dominate this Weak conference. With PP in control that will never happen. This head coach and offensive staff is slowly digging our athletic program's grave.

I hope we're researching innovative coaches that can put points on the board and butts in the seats.

And I'm sending to to Warde.

Thank god you still care about us. Or you wouldn't be here.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

The hockey team is upgrading, give that a try.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Rock - there's a space on the ND bandwagon for you.

 

[Dann]

can the hockey team score?

#UNCN

 

[WestCoastHusky]

What is Warde's email? I think we should all send an email to Warde. This regime has to go. They have lost the ability to coach college. This team is going backward fast. If we don't make changes now, the damage could take a long time to recover from.

 

[uconnbaseball]

I hear you, but still see just enough potential in this team to eek its way into a minor bowl game. Objectively speaking, USF, Temple, and Pitt are all as bad as we are and we have owned Syracuse.

Of course, 3-9 is just as likely as 6-6. Next week will define our season. Are we mediocre or terrible? Our defense at least deserves mediocrity.

 

[fortebleedsblue]

I hear you, but still see just enough potential in this team to eek its way into a minor bowl game. Objectively speaking, USF, Temple, and Pitt are all as bad as we are and we have owned Syracuse.

Of course, 3-9 is just as likely as 6-6. Next week will define our season. Are we mediocre or terrible? Our defense at least deserves mediocrity.

You're fooling yourself, If Uconn's defense can hold temple to under 3 field goals we have a shot. Otherwise our D will need to score to keep us in the game.

 

[zls44]

The apathy is the biggest fear. I see it from fellow younger alums, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't starting to feel it myself. Hate it. It's the worst thing you can have.

 

[junglehusky]

uconnbaseball... I thought WMU and Rutgers were our defining weeks, unfortunately. It would take a pretty major turnaround to just eke out a bowl appeareance - UConn hasn't even won back-to-back games under coach P yet. And if we get to 6-6 we're probably staying home, we need 7 which would be 4-2 over the rest of the season. Not saying it's impossible, but I'm certainly not going to hold out much hope for that.

 

[ruskin]

thx for the coach artwork, jungle, between that and army win day not a total loss.

this as good a thread as any for final random thoughts, so here goes .

Jeff Hathaway owes an apology to the seniors and juniors and their families, never mind the donors and CT taxpayers whose $150-million-plus investment in big-time football is at serious risk in big part because of his lazy, uninformed, poorly researched and vetted hire. Now we'll measure Manuel by how quickly he stops the bleeding. For starters he should tell his coach to quit insulting people's intelligence by defending his indefensible nonuse of timeouts at the end of the first half (PPs delusional quote in emshorts post). He should also ban them from using the words "I wasn't going to risk . . ." We get it. You don't like to take any chances on offense.

After the Notre Dame, Michigan, and Fiesta Bowl experiences it seemed UConn football was on the cusp of becoming as big a passion in this state as men's and women's hoops. Now it's back in third place and a diversion, a place to go drinking 6-7 times a year and maybe squeeze in a couple of quarters doing a lap around the Rent looking for buddies. I sadly second the OP's point and the later point about apathy. I've cancelled the Syracuse trip and am not renewing season tickets if no major changes are made.

Look at this website. Football gets two-thirds the traffic of men's and women's hoops. Most of the football posters are well-informed and care about the program, but the program needs many more of those kind of fans to survive and thrive, and just the opposite is happening now. Losing is one thing, but losing boringly is worse. The next coach is going to have to be a salesman on the Mike Leach level (think Schiano-style ad campaign) and develop wider interest in the program.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Unfortunately this is where Hathaway failed miserably (especially if, as has been reported, he knew that RE was gone after the Fiesta Bowl before the game started). An inspired hire would have capitalized greatly on everything that had been built to that point (and publicly giving a departing HC the boot before the bowl game would have led to very favorable press as it had happened at other schools many times in the past) but instead, he allowed the program to sink back to where it was in 2005-2006.

We lost a half dozen years progress in the aftermath of RE's departure.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Jeff Hathaway really screwed us over big time. I was highly skeptical when we hired PP and I am absolutely done with that now. Mike Leach was available. Rich Rod was available. Even the guy at Delaware was available. We did not interview any of them. I am so happy Hathaway is gone. It is time for Warde to erase all traces of Hathaway and start fresh. PP and GD must go. I would make Don Brown the HC now and let him run the program. I have no doubt he would do a better job than PP.

 

[Adios]

I ain't giving up on my alma mater. The only day I'll give up on UConn football (heck, I even support UConn hockey) is the day I spiritually detach myself from this world and pursue more important interests.

 

[john2153]

I will never lose interest because I love following college football and it would hard to follow all the other teams and not Uconn. But it does hurt to look around and see schools like Utah St, La Tech, UL Monore, Lafayette, Ohio, Western Michigan all with exciting teams to watch and we have Pasqualoni and Deleone to look forward to every Saturday.

 

[Adios]

As the wise say, the ego will never be satisfied.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Losing the students would really hurt. Seating has been expanded for them over the last few years. They are not going to bother riding to E. Hartford for this stuff.

 

[Palatine]

The apathy is the biggest fear. I see it from fellow younger alums, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't starting to feel it myself. Hate it. It's the worst thing you can have.

If only we had gotten Addazio

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Jeff Hathaway really screwed us over big time. I was highly skeptical when we hired PP and I am absolutely done with that now. Mike Leach was available. Rich Rod was available. Even the guy at Delaware was available. We did not interview any of them. I am so happy Hathaway is gone. It is time for Warde to erase all traces of Hathaway and start fresh. PP and GD must go. I would make Don Brown the HC now and let him run the program. I have no doubt he would do a better job than PP.

In total agreement. RRod & Leach were just too bold a move for a conservative UConn.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

If only we had gotten Addazio

You have been a fan through worse than this.

 

[ZooCougar]

I have not lost interest. I have lot enthusiasm.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

You have been a fan through worse than this.

Unless you are going back to Jackson losing to New Haven I'm not sure that this is true.

In 2005 we had a glimmer of hope as we played a spirited season ending game against a very talented Louisville team. That squad was decimated by injuries (especially at QB) and a true freshman was a bad snap safety away from beating a decent Rutgers team.

In 2006 we discovered a very talented freshman RB at mid-season.

Unless we have a bowl bid locked up before our final two games (Louisville, Cincinnati), we will likely have a two season stretch very similar to '05 & '06 but with less to look forward to than we had in those years.