It’s not over until the fat lady sings

[Yup!]

Let’s not make Cincy into Ohio State!

Cincy has done a great job in hiring coaches and has been pretty solid without the P5 tag.

there is no reason UConn can’t compete with Cincy, which was the premise of the post. And when UConn had that same league affiliation, they did squat.

if you think Cincy’s status is unattainable, what’s the point? Who cares on the next coach, it doesn’t matter?

my god, can we lower the bar any lower? What next, UConn will never be Yale because of their history and IV affiliation?

Cincy has to compete with OSU for local talent? UConn has BC.

 

[businesslawyer]

Despite all these advantages, in Edsall's first year back the two schools played a game that went down to the final play of the game. There was zero difference between the teams. Difference was their coach didn't spend 3 years talking how bad everything was. One of their best players now actually came here 1st, Beavers.

Who you hire matters. Lance Leipold at Buffalo, who here would not have rather had him then Edsall the last few years? He costed about half as much as Randy also.

This is not an all or nothing scenario. We beat Notre Dame. Does any sane person believe that we have the ability in anyone's lifetime to become a better program than ND year in and year out? They are two different things.

I have never seen anyone claim that Randy Edsall is the best coach in the history of football. I certainly am not claiming that. Hopefully we find someone who is a better coach and with the same structural limitations will do better. But ignoring the structural limitations because we think a better coach will solve everything is just as silly.

 

[don356]

UCONN has many advantages over Cincy.

• UCONN is a state flagship university where Cincy is 2nd tier at best with OSU being first.
• UCONN has no other competition for eyeballs within the state of CT.
• While Ohio certainly produces way more talent than CT, but this local recruiting hotbed thing is a little overblown. With Zoom remote recruiting and all games on national TV, it is not hard to recruit far away from your natural geography. There are PLENTY of schools that have been very successful without local recruiting hotbeds. Teams like Boise St and SDSU proved it can be done. UCONN can recruit from state of Texas, FL, and even CA. All it takes is the right coach with the right approach. We need a coaching staff that's tech-oriented.
• UCONN has superior facilities vs Cincy.
• UCONN is next to major media markets. This means UCONN can get better media coverage within the state of CT.
• A winning UCONN program can attract much more fans than Cincy ever will.

I truly believe if UCONN can hire the right coach, we can turn this program around in a hurry. We just can't afford another disaster like PP, Diaco, and Edsall 2.0. AD DB got to get the next hire correct.

Cincy's facilities are every bit as good or better. Ask Rehfeldt.

 

[metsfan2323]

There are plenty of schools that have figured out how to win with less than what we have, Coastal Carolina being the latest example. It's all about the coaching. One good coaching hire can change everything. We have just been so inept finding the right guy.

The next coach has to have a creative vision for our offense and post snap option football better be part of that vision, start there with the qualifications for this job. If Holy Cross can run post snap option football why can't we.

 

[noeynox]

The biggest

This is not an all or nothing scenario. We beat Notre Dame. Does any sane person believe that we have the ability in anyone's lifetime to become a better program than ND year in and year out? They are two different things.

I have never seen anyone claim that Randy Edsall is the best coach in the history of football. I certainly am not claiming that. Hopefully we find someone who is a better coach and with the same structural limitations will do better. But ignoring the structural limitations because we think a better coach will solve everything is just as silly.

The biggest Structural limitations are admissions. No reason we shouldn't allow the same caliber athletes as West Virginia and Cincinnati. None. The second is pay, in particular for assistants. The CBS sports deal is pretty awesome. Need a better product to showcase.

I doubt places like Boise Idaho have built in recruiting advantages. My eyes told me year 1, of Edsall 2.0, Cincinnati and UConn were equally bad. Today One school is ranked in the top 10, the other just lost to an FCS squad.

Randy deserves all the credit for what he accomplished his 1st go round here. I cannot even begin to understand what was his plan his 2nd go around. Talked down the kids who were here from day 1, and told everybody things would be different when he recruited his kids. We are literally worse on the field than when he arrived.

It's not ALL ABOUT a better coach, but i don't think any sport the coach matters as much as college football.

Randy wasn't all that cheap 2nd time around. His biggest plus was no buyout.

 

[Yup!]

The biggest

The biggest Structural limitations are admissions. No reason we shouldn't allow the same caliber athletes as West Virginia and Cincinnati. None. The second is pay, in particular for assistants. The CBS sports deal is pretty awesome. Need a better product to showcase.

I doubt places like Boise Idaho have built in recruiting advantages. My eyes told me year 1, of Edsall 2.0, Cincinnati and UConn were equally bad. Today One school is ranked in the top 10, the other just lost to an FCS squad.

Randy deserves all the credit for what he accomplished his 1st go round here. I cannot even begin to understand what was his plan his 2nd go around. Talked down the kids who were here from day 1, and told everybody things would be different when he recruited his kids. We are literally worse on the field than when he arrived.

It's not ALL ABOUT a better coach, but i don't think any sport the coach matters as much as college football.

Randy wasn't all that cheap 2nd time around. His biggest plus was no buyout.

Good points! Cincinnati’s success has everything to do with amazing hires.

 

[Yup!]

I have never seen anyone claim that Randy Edsall is the best coach in the history of football. I certainly am not claiming that. Hopefully we find someone who is a better coach and with the same structural limitations will do better. But ignoring the structural limitations because we think a better coach will solve everything is just as silly.

Randy Edsall is the best coach in the history of UConn football. At one point in time UConn football was making some noise in the NCAA, beating teams like ND, Indiana, S. Carolina and many others. Almost beating 15 Michigan at the time ( lost by 3 ) in a packed stadium.

Lets say we hired great coaches after Edsalls first stint here the perception of UConn football would be completely different. A great coach CAN solve this mess we’re in by winning. Being independent isn’t as bad as some of you may believe. We’re scheduling games with some pretty good schools, with a pretty good tv deal, and some think independent helped us with the recruiting class we have coming in as well.

 

[ASweet3781]

Cincinnati football was straight up garbage until they joined the Big East in 2005.

They played in 1 bowl game between 1950-2000. 1.

Yes they are located in a better recruiting spot. But it means nothing unless you make a commitment. The coaches they have had the last 15 years speaks for itself. The coaches we had the last 15 years speaks for itself.

lots of hyperbole on both sides in this thread. We are a lifetime away from them right now. But Cincinnati had almost no “history” up until 2005.

 

[blue93]

The biggest

The biggest Structural limitations are admissions. No reason we shouldn't allow the same caliber athletes as West Virginia and Cincinnati. None. The second is pay, in particular for assistants. The CBS sports deal is pretty awesome. Need a better product to showcase.

I doubt places like Boise Idaho have built in recruiting advantages. My eyes told me year 1, of Edsall 2.0, Cincinnati and UConn were equally bad. Today One school is ranked in the top 10, the other just lost to an FCS squad.

Randy deserves all the credit for what he accomplished his 1st go round here. I cannot even begin to understand what was his plan his 2nd go around. Talked down the kids who were here from day 1, and told everybody things would be different when he recruited his kids. We are literally worse on the field than when he arrived.

It's not ALL ABOUT a better coach, but i don't think any sport the coach matters as much as college football.

Randy wasn't all that cheap 2nd time around. His biggest plus was no buyout.

Bingo. Great post. If we want to be a legitimate FBS school, we need to go for it now. Otherwise this may actually be the last football hire we make.

 

[BlueDogs]

Cincy is a large public research U and is closer to Ohio State than the MAC schools in terms of enrollment.

Correction noted. Not sure what I was thinking...Miami Ohio, Kent State, Akron, etc are public. Point stands.

 

[Jimdish255]

This is not an all or nothing scenario. We beat Notre Dame. Does any sane person believe that we have the ability in anyone's lifetime to become a better program than ND year in and year out? They are two different things.

I have never seen anyone claim that Randy Edsall is the best coach in the history of football. I certainly am not claiming that. Hopefully we find someone who is a better coach and with the same structural limitations will do better. But ignoring the structural limitations because we think a better coach will solve everything is just as silly.

Yet without a better coach nothing gets solved. And while we did essentially come from trailers Randy actually inherited a winning football team when he came here the first time around. And that's because Skip Holtz was a good coach while he was here. The bottom line is things were different back then but by the time Randy got back for a second stint his philosophy was not going to be successful. It's funny how when you start winning some of those other obstacles seem to melt away.

 

[hank970]

From the various comments here about UC, it's pretty obvious that some folks think the world ends on the east bank of the Hudson River and that Storrs is the center of the universe. If so, that's a small universe.

The University of Cincinnati celebrated its second centennial two years ago. It was established and thriving decades before UConn. With an enrollment of 46,000+, it's the second largest state university in populous Ohio. It manages a large and envious research portfolio and has an endowment of $1.45 billion. It also has excellent on-campus facilities for football and basketball, both having undergone significant, privately-funded upgrades of about $80-million each in the last few years. Forbes ranks its beautiful suburban campus with its signature architecture in the top ten nationally.

As for recruiting, just a few years ago the Cincinnati metro was home to three of the nation's top twenty-five high school football teams. This year, Cincinnati's St. Xavier High School is ranked in the top 25. Yes, Ohio State may lure many kids, but Cincy's ability to attract and keep local talent is improving. The school also recruits deeply into Florida, Georgia, and other southern states. The trajectory is upward.

UConn is a fine school. You can't and won't make it better be denigrating other institutions with which many of you aren't even remotely familiar.

 

[uconnyankee]

This is not an all or nothing scenario. We beat Notre Dame. Does any sane person believe that we have the ability in anyone's lifetime to become a better program than ND year in and year out? They are two different things.

I have never seen anyone claim that Randy Edsall is the best coach in the history of football. I certainly am not claiming that. Hopefully we find someone who is a better coach and with the same structural limitations will do better. But ignoring the structural limitations because we think a better coach will solve everything is just as silly.

We’ve ignored the coaching and focused on our structural weaknesses. That has gotten us 3 wins in the past 6 years.

ill take a hot up and coming coach, breath some life into the program, and give him as many tools to overcome those challenges.

it wasn’t that long ago I remember watching ESPN and they were showing UConn Football and mentioned, ‘Yeah, the same UConn that plays basketball is now playing football’….
It happened once and RE wasn’t even a great coach. He was a good fit though.

 

[businesslawyer]

Let’s not make Cincy into Ohio State! Big 12 is only a recent development.
Cincy has done a great job in hiring coaches and has been pretty solid without the P5 tag.

there is no reason UConn can’t compete with Cincy, which was the premise of the post. And when UConn had that same league affiliation, they did squat.

if you think Cincy’s status is unattainable, what’s the point? Who cares on the next coach, it doesn’t matter?

my god, can we lower the bar any lower? What next, UConn will never be Yale because of their history and IV affiliation?

Cincy has to compete with OSU for local talent? UConn has BC.

We’ve ignored the coaching and focused on our structural weaknesses. That has gotten us 3 wins in the past 6 years.

ill take a hot up and coming coach, breath some life into the program, and give him as many tools to overcome those challenges.

it wasn’t that long ago I remember watching ESPN and they were showing UConn Football and mentioned, ‘Yeah, the same UConn that plays basketball is now playing football’….
It happened once and RE wasn’t even a great coach. He was a good fit though.

We had two things almost twenty years ago when we started that we don't have now. We had fans who thought this would be fun, who didn't have to sit through 12 years without a winning season, and we had a conference tie in that meant if we won our conference, which didn't have any traditional superpowers, we would play in a Top 4 bowl. Neither of those are there now.

NO ONE IS SAYING WE WOULDN'T BENEFIT FROM A BETTER COACH. CERTAINLY I'M NOT SAYING THAT. But the question remains as to what we will accomplish with a better coach, and we're nowhere near where we were in terms of either attracting that guy or keeping him after some initial success. (And yes, I'd take initial success.)

 

[lgt2019]

Cincy is a private school and it’s “history” was one of a tough, mid tier program and it’s peers of the day (Western Michigan, Miami of Ohio, etc..) were similar in many respects. But they were nothing until a string of great coaches came in. The recruiting “hotbed” is somewhat accurate but overblown. There is enormous competition for recruits in that area with a lot of schools. They didn’t recruit any better than any other midtier until they got some momentum thanks to a serious of excellent hires.

No, they are a public school.

 

[hank970]

Good points! Cincinnati’s success has everything to do with amazing hires.

Conversely, amazing coaches are attracted by the potential for success, and some programs consistently have more potential (funding, recruiting, administrative and fan support, tradition, great facilities, etc.) than others. No widely regarded up-and-comer is going to jeopardize a promising coaching career by taking the reins of a program that's perceived to be hopeless. If you have a diamond-in-the-rough, someone is going want to step up and polish it. If all you can offer is dross, forget it.

 

[HardFacts]

Yet without a better coach nothing gets solved. And while we did essentially come from trailers Randy actually inherited a winning football team when he came here the first time around. And that's because Skip Holtz was a good coach while he was here. The bottom line is things were different back then but by the time Randy got back for a second stint his philosophy was not going to be successful. It's funny how when you start winning some of those other obstacles seem to melt away.

Randy did a good job on a lot of fronts in his first stint and also in his second. Recruiting has improved and off field issues have been pretty much eliminated.The COVID year was a mistake! We should have played an abbreviated schedule as there is no experience like game reps. RE1 and RE2 both show he was never great at making in game adjustments. His game plan was his game plan and if it worked from the outset we had success. If not it was always a long day because he would not waiver from it. The difference with RE2 is the game today is much faster and you need to constantly be making in game adjustments to have any shot of winning. He talked about taking last year having the year to evaluate and make changes. My guess is change was just not in his DNA.

 

[Travelman6]

Cincinnati is ranked 7th overall this year so far, and if they win out with some of the big boys losing one or two games they might end up in the playoff discussion.

It will be a moot point on October 2nd.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Not much difference at all. Well, other than the fact that they have more of a football history than us. And are located in a high school football hotbed, rather than New England. And are favorites to get into the Big XII because their geography allows it. And play in a league where they recruit players knowing they can compete for all league teams, conference championships and bowl bids. And have a schedule that you can count on being hard enough that if you go undefeated you will be in the playoffs, and most one loss years as well, without needing the luck and cooperation we do to schedule.


But other than those facts, you're right. Both universities have football teams.

If and when the Big Ten expands, they are not taking the next one or two schools based on just football, if that were the case then why did they invite Rutgers? They’re taking the next two teams that can ADD to the Big Tens footprint and can ADD the most crazy fans with TV sets. Minor reasons will be how well the schools Athletic Dept is run in general, the academic standing of the schools, and can grab the most viewers in the Northeast, particularly the New York metro area, including Fairfield County in Connecticut. That being said, with Edsall gone, I take that as a huge positive for UConn going forward and a gigantic positive if UConn hires a decent football coach. Both UConn’s basketball programs might be an enticement as well.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

From the various comments here about UC, it's pretty obvious that some folks think the world ends on the east bank of the Hudson River and that Storrs is the center of the universe. If so, that's a small universe.

The University of Cincinnati celebrated its second centennial two years ago. It was established and thriving decades before UConn. With an enrollment of 46,000+, it's the second largest state university in populous Ohio. It manages a large and envious research portfolio and has an endowment of $1.45 billion. It also has excellent on-campus facilities for football and basketball, both having undergone significant, privately-funded upgrades of about $80-million each in the last few years. Forbes ranks its beautiful suburban campus with its signature architecture in the top ten nationally.

As for recruiting, just a few years ago the Cincinnati metro was home to three of the nation's top twenty-five high school football teams. This year, Cincinnati's St. Xavier High School is ranked in the top 25. Yes, Ohio State may lure many kids, but Cincy's ability to attract and keep local talent is improving. The school also recruits deeply into Florida, Georgia, and other southern states. The trajectory is upward.

UConn is a fine school. You can't and won't make it better be denigrating other institutions with which many of you aren't even remotely familiar.

Yep recruiting Ohio and the adjacent states... Really liked their athletic village alot. Always found them to be a tough, gritty program through multiple coaching changes. Same with MBB.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

UConn does not have the buy-in for the football program that other public universities have. We all know that the New England is a bit different when it comes to higher education…many of our best and brightest (as well as our wealthiest) do not want to attend or support the state’s largest public university. I believe this truly has impacted our athletic programs. It boggles my mind as a I believe you can get just as good an education at UConn as compared to just about anywhere else (save the Ivy’s/Public Ivy’s), but there seems to be a perception that UConn is not “good enough” for some. I think the same can be said for our best athletes - they don’t want to commit to UConn because they want to get out and experience what other universities have to offer.

I think part of the problem lies with the shortsightedness of the State of Connecticut. I understand that local municipal control reigns supreme in this State but there is no reason why UConn should not be more built up as a “college town”. That is a draw that many want when it comes to deciding on a college - I think athletes want similar things and not just athletic facilities. Becoming a destination will likely help with recruiting, especially for those recruits in state.

Our state also loves to throw political capital around as well. We try too hard to prop up some of our cities through UConn when the focus should be on the main campus - Storrs. To me if you do that the rest of the state will eventually reap those benefits.

Sorry this was a bit off topic but feel it needs to be addressed if we are talking about the future of the university and the football program.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

From the various comments here about UC, it's pretty obvious that some folks think the world ends on the east bank of the Hudson River and that Storrs is the center of the universe. If so, that's a small universe.

The University of Cincinnati celebrated its second centennial two years ago. It was established and thriving decades before UConn. With an enrollment of 46,000+, it's the second largest state university in populous Ohio. It manages a large and envious research portfolio and has an endowment of $1.45 billion. It also has excellent on-campus facilities for football and basketball, both having undergone significant, privately-funded upgrades of about $80-million each in the last few years. Forbes ranks its beautiful suburban campus with its signature architecture in the top ten nationally.

As for recruiting, just a few years ago the Cincinnati metro was home to three of the nation's top twenty-five high school football teams. This year, Cincinnati's St. Xavier High School is ranked in the top 25. Yes, Ohio State may lure many kids, but Cincy's ability to attract and keep local talent is improving. The school also recruits deeply into Florida, Georgia, and other southern states. The trajectory is upward.

UConn is a fine school. You can't and won't make it better be denigrating other institutions with which many of you aren't even remotely familiar.

Good points, but no matter how you slice it and present it, Cincinnati is a large commuter school, though a nice one at that. It is definitely not a flagship university like the University of Connecticut is. I also doubt if Cincinnati even has all the athletic programs required for Big Ten admission. I know several schools in the Big Ten would vote against a Cincinnati invite. Cincinnati getting an invite from the Big Ten is like Memphis getting an invite from the SEC.

 

[BigTenFan]

Good points, but no matter how you slice it and present it, Cincinnati is a large commuter school, though a nice one at that. It is definitely not a flagship university like the University of Connecticut is. I also doubt if Cincinnati even has all the athletic programs required for Big Ten admission. I know several schools in the Big Ten would vote against a Cincinnati invite. Cincinnati getting an invite from the Big Ten is like Memphis getting an invite from the SEC.

Big Ten conference requires AAU membership- UC is not a member

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Big Ten conference requires AAU membership- UC is not a member

Neither was Nebraska when they got the invite.

 

[BigTenFan]

Nebraska got the boot after they were invited.
They should not be in the BIG 10