In dismissing him, UConn did Billy Crocker a favor (DiMauro @ The Day) | Page 2 | The Boneyard

In dismissing him, UConn did Billy Crocker a favor (DiMauro @ The Day)

Crocker's gone
RE2 HAS to bring in a legit DC and some big boy xfers
This DiMauro is a buffoon - plain and simple - who the hell reads the Day? It's a step above the Courant
Next....
 
College football is a business. The school needed to do something to show the fan base that they care about improving the program. They did something.

Was Crocker the scapegoat for a defense that had a serious lack of talent and experience? Maybe, but there was zero improvement from game 1 to game 12. That's what got him fired.
 
Sorry, folks, gotta side with DiMauro on this one. Crocker and staff were fired for two reasons only. To show some kind of action, any kind; and, to protect HCRE2.0. It was Randy who decided to play all those freshmen, take the hit this year to create a chance for having a really good year in 2021. There isn't a DC on this green earth who could have prevented what happened. Yeah, I understand it was necessary with a new president coming in and the fans howling at the gates (those that are left that is), but this is not gonna accelerate the path to success (if there is indeed a path to success).
 
RSTuthill said:
Sorry, folks, gotta side with DiMauro on this one. Crocker and staff were fired for two reasons only. To show some kind of action, any kind; and, to protect HCRE2.0. It was Randy who decided to play all those freshmen, take the hit this year to create a chance for having a really good year in 2021. There isn't a DC on this green earth who could have prevented what happened. Yeah, I understand it was necessary with a new president coming in and the fans howling at the gates (those that are left that is), but this is not gonna accelerate the path to success (if there is indeed a path to success).
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But its DiMauro. He's not remotely objective. He's twitter handle is "BCgenius." His joy in this world is penning columns to tear down UConn. This column is his personal high point of the year. He can't wait to write the next one.

Crocker is probably a good guy. His system might work fine, but for whatever reason he was not able to get an ounce of improvement out of the entire roster over two seasons.

And where are his recruits? I dont know if you can count two dudes he brought in here.

It maybe his system is too cerebral. Maybe his system works better playing the likes of Holy Cross type FCS talent instead. Maybe his system was built on some underlying positional coaches left behind at Nova. Whatever it is, it just wasn't working and he certainly wasn't bringing in FBS level talent in the quantities needed..
 
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This is how DiMauro goes to his boss for a year end Christmas bonus and negotiate for a raise.

He writes some tripe and then shows how it generates internet buzz.
 
My buddy ran into Jon Wholley at a bar at Santa Con a few weeks back. Since my buddy was hammered, he asked Wholley why the hell Crocker still had a job. Wholley just sort of shrugged his shoulders confusedly. That probably tells you all that you need to know lol
 
Ya know, I've e-mailed with DiMauro and he was a nice guy, so I like to give him some slack. But I find it hilarious that he says, "You think there aren't reasons for that beyond some of the surface-level idiocy that’s always the rage on Twitter, message boards and other bastions of irrational thought?" while he also has drawn from the BY to make the central argument of a number of his columns in the past.
 
uconnphil2016 said:
My buddy ran into Jon Wholley at a bar at Santa Con a few weeks back. Since my buddy was hammered, he asked Wholley why the hell Crocker still had a job. Wholley just sort of shrugged his shoulders confusedly. That probably tells you all that you need to know lol
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You really basing your assessment of the situation on a Coach shrugging his shoulders @ a drunk yelling coaching staff personnel questions at him in a bar??
 
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BCs bowl game moved the needle so much, that it was outright cancelled. He had to take out his frustration.
 
Coaching is the ultimate results oriented business. It's become an immediate results oriented business. We had a lousy defense in 2017 and then the country's all-time worst defense in the history of the sport in 2018. Nobody keeps their job after that. If UConn kept Crocker, they'd be essentially signaling that it could not possibly care less about improving football. It's really that simple.

I like DiMauro through the half dozen or so twitter interactions I've had with him over the years. But he's wrong about this one. Everyone's entitled to their opinions though, even if it's not supported by fact. :)

Crocker will find a job somewhere. All coaches do. This whole idea that a fired coach has been banished to the outer rim of ever coaching again is silly.
 
This happens all the time in big boy football. Look at Manny Diaz, the new head coach at Temple. He has had some good defenses, but in 2012, his Texas defense was historically bad and in 2013, his defense allowed 550 yards rushing to BYU and Mack Brown fired him the next day calling the defense's performance unacceptable. Yet, Diaz's Miami defense was one of the best in the country last year.

Sometimes, well qualified people don't work out at a new place. Crocker was at Villanova for 12 years and was made defensive coordinator after 7 years. Systems were in place and there was a defensive legacy. At UConn, he had to implement and build a defense. Maybe he didn't know how to do that.
 
UConnJim said:
This happens all the time in big boy football. Look at Manny Diaz, the new head coach at Temple. He has had some good defenses, but in 2012, his Texas defense was historically bad and in 2013, his defense allowed 550 yards rushing to BYU and Mack Brown fired him the next day calling the defense's performance unacceptable. Yet, Diaz's Miami defense was one of the best in the country last year.

Sometimes, well qualified people don't work out at a new place. Crocker was at Villanova for 12 years and was made defensive coordinator after 7 years. Systems were in place and there was a defensive legacy. At UConn, he had to implement and build a defense. Maybe he didn't know how to do that.
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Yup... Sugar honey iced Tea happens.... Crocker and UConn will be fine going forward.. Wish we had a true idea as to who will come in and replace him....
 
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RSTuthill said:
Sorry, folks, gotta side with DiMauro on this one. Crocker and staff were fired for two reasons only. To show some kind of action, any kind; and, to protect HCRE2.0. It was Randy who decided to play all those freshmen, take the hit this year to create a chance for having a really good year in 2021. There isn't a DC on this green earth who could have prevented what happened. Yeah, I understand it was necessary with a new president coming in and the fans howling at the gates (those that are left that is), but this is not gonna accelerate the path to success (if there is indeed a path to success).
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The defense was terrible his first year too, when it wasn't all freshmen. He got fired for 2 reasons, one a complete lack of results for the 2 years he was here, and 2. that Edsall for whatever reason has decided to move away from his 3-3-5. So I actually agree with him that maybe this is the best thing for Crocker.

But other than that, it was incredibly biased. Gave him complete credit for all his success at Villanova and absolved him from any responsibility for the failings here. Doesn't work that way.
 
RSTuthill said:
Sorry, folks, gotta side with DiMauro on this one. Crocker and staff were fired for two reasons only. To show some kind of action, any kind; and, to protect HCRE2.0. It was Randy who decided to play all those freshmen, take the hit this year to create a chance for having a really good year in 2021. There isn't a DC on this green earth who could have prevented what happened. Yeah, I understand it was necessary with a new president coming in and the fans howling at the gates (those that are left that is), but this is not gonna accelerate the path to success (if there is indeed a path to success).
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As was mentioned a couple times in this thread, the defense showed no progress. It may have actually gotten worse as the season went along.
 
ShakyTheMohel said:
As was mentioned a couple times in this thread, the defense showed no progress. It may have actually gotten worse as the season went along.
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Lots of possible reasons for that unrelated to the job he did. Just saying that things may improve incrementally next year but that would be a normal expectation given the circumstances. If the D next year is lights out better, I will be more than happy to say you folks were right and I was wrong. Could happen. Hope it does. Not expecting it.
 
Chief00 said:
Our primary problem in football has been really poor coaching hires.
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That may be true but was Edsall just lucky when he brought in Todd Orlando, Rob Ambrose, Joe Moorhead, and a couple other excellent assistants?
 
RSTuthill said:
Lots of possible reasons for that unrelated to the job he did. Just saying that things may improve incrementally next year but that would be a normal expectation given the circumstances. If the D next year is lights out better, I will be more than happy to say you folks were right and I was wrong. Could happen. Hope it does. Not expecting it.
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Tough to defend Crocker. Let’s just say for a minute that all the on-field issues were Edsall’s fault. With all the time that he had available to him, because Edsall handled all of his coaching responsibilities, where are the recruiting returns? There are none. It is Edsall’s fault, he made a really bad hire. Nice guy, bad hire. Time to move on. The next coach needs to be really good at both, coaching and recruiting.
 
huskyrob1 said:
That may be true but was Edsall just lucky when he brought in Todd Orlando, Rob Ambrose, Joe Moorhead, and a couple other excellent assistants?
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I was discussing the last 8 years not two decades ago.
 
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In Crocker’s two years here, Chief can’t point to anything positive or even a sign of a positive trajectory. He checked all the boxes of failure.
I will hold Randy accountable for the bad hire and for blaming Lashlee for the poor defense by scoring too fast and putting them back on the field too soon. About 1/3 into the first RE2.0 season - that thinking and actions - started the tailspin where Randy reigned in Lashlee and never held Crocker accountable since he was Randy’s not Dave’s hire. The rest is dismal history.
#ChiefKeepingItReal
 
Chief00 said:
In Crocker’s two years here, Chief can’t point to anything positive or even a sign of a positive trajectory. He checked all the boxes of failure.
I will hold Randy accountable for the bad hire and for blaming Lashlee for the poor defense by scoring too fast and putting them back on the field too soon. About 1/3 into the first RE2.0 season - that thinking and actions - started the tailspin where Randy reigned in Lashlee and never held Crocker accountable since he was Randy’s not Dave’s hire. The rest is dismal history.
#ChiefKeepingItReal
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While that simplifies things, I agree. I’m glad that it didn’t become an even bigger issue by hiring a bad OC. Dunn is good, if he wasn’t things would be staggeringly bad for Randy.
 
Hoophound said:
While that simplifies things, I agree. I’m glad that it didn’t become an even bigger issue by hiring a bad OC. Dunn is good, if he wasn’t things would be staggeringly bad for Randy.
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I retain the view that losing Lashlee was a very destructive moment in UConn football. The AD was effectively undermined. Lashlee was brought here by the AD using his personal capital and relationships. Rather than get rid of a terrible DC that he hand picked, Randy made Lashlee’s life miserable and the AD had no leverage to deal with that problem. Randy also knew Lashlee could be his replacement if the offense continued to perform at high levels and the D sucked. With that single event, the AD lost all ability to build upon and bring in more SEC level coaching talent. That was squandered. Randy’s stubbornness and hubris remain his greatest downfalls. Having him return, in retrospect, turned out to be a very poor decision. Dunn is fine, but he is no Lashlee. Losing a guy like Grimes was a huge loss.
 
Exit 4 said:
DiMuaro's twitter handle is "BCgenius." He has spent his entire career penning direct and indirect anti UConn columns.
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The absurdity of his twitter handle is epic. He shelled out $150K to go to BC for a job that 1) doesn't pay that well and 2) does not require a degree from BC (whatever edge it may provide in the Boston area) to get. A true genius would have recognized the ROI for a BC degree in his career and decided to go to a great state school - like UCONN.
 
BlueDogs said:
I retain the view that losing Lashlee was a very destructive moment in UConn football. The AD was effectively undermined. Lashlee was brought here by the AD using his personal capital and relationships. Rather than get rid of a terrible DC that he hand picked, Randy made Lashlee’s life miserable and the AD had no leverage to deal with that problem. Randy also knew Lashlee could be his replacement if the offense continued to perform at high levels and the D sucked. With that single event, the AD lost all ability to build upon and bring in more SEC level coaching talent. That was squandered. Randy’s stubbornness and hubris remain his greatest downfalls. Having him return, in retrospect, turned out to be a very poor decision. Dunn is fine, but he is no Lashlee. Losing a guy like Grimes was a huge loss.
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Should have given the head job to Rhett.
 
BlueandOG said:
The absurdity of his twitter handle is epic. He shelled out $150K to go to BC for a job that 1) doesn't pay that well and 2) does not require a degree from BC (whatever edge it may provide in the Boston area) to get. A true genius would have recognized the ROI for a BC degree in his career and decided to go to a great state school - like UCONN.
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The genius is a reporter for a SMALL town newspaper in Connecticut. The genius rails UConn at every opportunity with a readership that is pro-UConn in Southeastern CT. I know, because I grew up there. The genius should be fired!
 
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