Jacobs Article is up - Sheds some light on Warde's thought process

[BlueDogs]

So you seriously want Herbst to be fired because PP hasn't been fired yet? So I guess as long as the football team wins games the rest of the university can go to ****? That's one perspective.

No. It's indicative of leadership. Conference affiliation is a big failure, Warde is another weak hire. Athletics are vital to the schools national prominence. It has done wonders, whether the eggheads realize it or not.

 

[J187Money]

No. It's indicative of leadership. Conference affiliation is a big failure, Warde is another weak hire. Athletics are vital to the schools national prominence. It has done wonders, whether the eggheads realize it or not.

So regardless of what conference we end up in or who ultimately coaches the team, she should be fired because she didn't do what you want when you wanted it done. Understood. Let's tell her to clean out her office tomorrow, THEN we can start a search for a new president, and tell him or her that if they don't build a top 25 football program within 15 months they shouldn't even bother unpacking, regardless of what else they might accomplish.

 

[J187Money]

I'm amazed that they were able to keep a university open for 130 years without a top 25 football program.

 

[huskymedic]

Bill O'Brien is having success at Penn State in his first season (6-3) and look at that mess he took over. I don't think it's fair to the players and say theres no talent at the o-line positions when you have DeLeone coaching them... That itself should explain why we're not having success there.

Keep believing that because it's a feel good position. Life isn't fair, our o-line sucks and it's not all because of the god damn schemes or coaching.

 

[Mr.Phat]

So you seriously want Herbst to be fired because PP hasn't been fired yet? So I guess as long as the football team wins games the rest of the university can go to ****? That's one perspective.

Herbst will do a good job with the university - building, endowment, admissions, research money (I hope) - but I question whether she will manage athletics successfully. She is now being tested. Hiring Manuel, letting Manuel hire Ollie, keeping the football coach. This all could be ruinous for the university and the huge goodwill it has built up over the past 10 years.

 

[freescooter]

Herbst will do a good job with the university - building, endowment, admissions, research money (I hope) - but I question whether she will manage athletics successfully. She is now being tested. Hiring Manuel, letting Manuel hire Ollie, keeping the football coach. This all could be ruinous for the university and the huge goodwill it has built up over the past 10 years.

You guys are whacked. Herbst hired a highly respected AD. He might screw up, but he hasn't done so yet. Neither Manuel nor any other AD in the country was going to fire the head football coach who in his first season finished 5-7. Not happening, especially if he: A. was hired late as Pasqualoni was; and B. had to replace the top 2 quarterbacks and his All American tailback. And most schools have the class to wait to announce the firing of their coach until after the season. That Idaho and Kentucky lack such class should come as no surprize to anyone...well maybe Idaho is a surprize, but are you really shocked that the AD at Kentucky lacks class?

And I'm not sure what you mean by "letting Manuel hire Ollie" I mean Calhoun played his Hamlet on the Fenton (To coach or not to coach, that is the question) for months and when he finally decded not, it was too late to do anyhting but name a member of the current staff as the replacement for the season. He could have named George or Hobbs interim and planned a search for next year and everybody but Jim Calhoun would have understood. Instead he gave the job to Calhoun's hand picked successor,a guy with no coaching experience and told him that if he was up to the task he'd get the job permanantly.

 

[whaler11]

Idaho was losing in ways we can only imagine. Look at their boxscore against LA Tech. Picture UConn-WVU in 2007. Now square it and multiply by three.

Kentucky had gotten to the point where the coach was making jokes about getting an extension for laughs. Everyone knew what was going to happen, including Joker. There
comes a point where you make the announcement just so the team can focus on the games and maybe they circle the wagons and beat Tennessee.

I think UConn hasn't made a decision yet which is fine because they don't need to. There is no prize for firing your coach first, nothing bad is going to happen if you wait until after Cincinnati. No one can interview yet so you aren't missing out on candidates.

 

[UconnFamily]

Keep believing that because it's a feel good position. Life isn't fair, our o-line sucks and it's not all because of the god damn schemes or coaching.

If you want to believe that talent is the reason why the o-line sucks and not because of DeLeone so called genius schemes then believe it if that makes you feel better!

Last year when Foley was in charge of the o-line, he produced a 1,000 + rusher from a back that barely breaks tackles. Under DeLeone, do you think your going to see a 1000 yard rusher?

We can't say its lack of talent, Darrell Hazel doesn't have better talent then we do at Kent State, but his team is 8-1 (5-0). Ken State rushed for over 200 yards against Rutgers defense that is top in the country against the run. Hazel doesn't have his own players just like PP... This is his 2nd year with Kent, he's having success!

We can barely get a RB to crack 100 yards. Under Foley, how did that wildcat work last year? Life isnt fair coaches gotta go!

 

[businesslawyer]

Keep believing that because it's a feel good position. Life isn't fair, our o-line sucks and it's not all because of the god damn schemes or coaching.

I agree that this is our least talented OL in a while. But if you believe it's mostly personnel, Medic, that makes it the worst run blocking line in the country, let me ask you this. We know Jimmy Bennett has no ready replacement on the roster at LT, and we're hearing about UConn searching for a JUCO LT. If the talent on the OL just flat out sucked, why didn't we go the JUCO route after last season?

 

[Uconnalliance]

If you want to believe that talent is the reason why the o-line sucks and not because of DeLeone so called genius schemes then believe it if that makes you feel better!

Last year when Foley was in charge of the o-line, he produced a 1,000 + rusher from a back that barely breaks tackles. Under DeLeone, do you think your going to see a 1000 yard rusher?

We can't say its lack of talent, Darrell Hazel doesn't have better talent then we do at Kent State, but his team is 8-1 (5-0). Ken State rushed for over 200 yards against Rutgers defense that is top in the country against the run. Hazel doesn't have his own players just like PP... This is his 2nd year with Kent, he's having success!

We can barely get a RB to crack 100 yards. Under Foley, how did that wildcat work last year? Life isnt fair coaches gotta go!

Feel the point but we are missing Moe Petrus & Zach Hurd that hurts.

 

[huskymedic]

I agree that this is our least talented OL in a while. But if you believe it's mostly personnel, Medic, that makes it the worst run blocking line in the country, let me ask you this. We know Jimmy Bennett has no ready replacement on the roster at LT, and we're hearing about UConn searching for a JUCO LT. If the talent on the OL just flat out sucked, why didn't we go the JUCO route after last season?

Biz, I don't know firsthand that we definitively didn't try... We have a depth problem and that scares me! JUCO is a short term fix due to eligibility. I get all the scheme excuses/arguments and i agree that is a significant piece of our problems but if you focus on the line - the misses are much more than scheme based. Once engaged, we are outmuscled more often than not. When was the last pancake block you've seen. The only pancakes I see are the FB missing and falling flat and the ones that CW takes!

UconnFamiy - how do you know that Kent State does not have better o-line talent than UConn - just because they are a MAC team? I am not a GDL fan, I've made that point clear, but you can't blame everything on the coaches because you won't blame the players because it doesn't seem fair!

 

[J187Money]

Herbst will do a good job with the university - building, endowment, admissions, research money (I hope) - but I question whether she will manage athletics successfully. She is now being tested. Hiring Manuel, letting Manuel hire Ollie, keeping the football coach. This all could be ruinous for the university and the huge goodwill it has built up over the past 10 years.

I might be wrong about this, but in my opinion UCONN gained prominence by sheer luck. They got lucky and hired two Hall of Fame coaches. Where the school is now, versus where it was when I showed up in 1989 is night and day. And we have a president that wants to make today look like 1989 (maybe I'm exaggerating a little but not when you hear her talk about it). And she is NOT an anti-sports person (I know there are some presidents that don't care about sports at all). So I expect her to be successful in ALL things. SHE expects to be successful in ALL things. From what I hear inside the school, she is the first president to lay the wood to people for wanting to keep the "status quo" - she is not from the "land of steady habits" as it were. I fully expect her to get judged for the decisions she makes, athletics included. All I'm asking is let's not ask for her to be hung because her predecessor hired the wrong coach. You want to bang on PP today, absolutely. But to put her in the same boat? Not fair at this point. Football is NOT the only thing on her plate.

 

[businesslawyer]

Biz, I don't know firsthand that we definitively didn't try... We have a depth problem and tha scares me? JUCO is a short term fix due ro eligibility. I get all the scheme excuses/arguments and i agree that is a significant piece of our problems but if you focus on the line - the misses are much more than scheme based. Once engaged, we are outmuscled more often than not. When was the last pancake block you've seen. The only pancakes I see are the FB missing and falling flat and the ones that CW takes!

UconnFamiy - how do you know that Kent State does not have better o-line talent than UConn - just because they are a MAC team? I am not a GDL fan, I've made that point clear, but you can't blame everything on the coaches because you won't blame the players because it doesn't seem fair!

I will be the first to admit that we never know about recruting. But we are hearing it this year, and we didn't last year. And again, I do think talent is part of the problem, but how can you pancake block someone if instead of firing off the line you have to wait to see what the D is doing to decide whom to block?

 

[huskymedic]

I will be the first to admit that we never know about recruting. But we are hearing it this year, and we didn't last year. And again, I do think talent is part of the problem, but how can you pancake block someone if instead of firing off the line you have to wait to see what the D is doing to decide whom to block?

I wonder about the JUCO targets and the "visibility" - a suspicious person could think that we are hearing about it because they want us to hear about it

Pancakes (best are @ Chips on Rt 1 in Orange) - It's not all about just firing forward off the line, it's about leverage and dominating your defensive target. We won't solve the problems with the o-line here...

 

[FfldCntyFan]

One thing that may be a bit encouraging (or possibly, merely too little, too late) is that last night we actually did pull a lineman on a handful of plays (something that had been verboten earlier in the season).

Two thirds of the way through the second season it is still painfully obvious that many veteran lineman are still confused with what exactly their responsibilities are on any given play. We had something that at its worst was still solid and screwed it up completely.

 

[UconnFamily]

I will be the first to admit that we never know about recruting. But we are hearing it this year, and we didn't last year. And again, I do think talent is part of the problem, but how can you pancake block someone if instead of firing off the line you have to wait to see what the D is doing to decide whom to block?

Your exactly right BL the line are not coming off at full speed like the opposing D-Line are. With DeLeones genius scheme you have to wait and see the defense who are flying all over the place at full speed including linebackers... Blocking this way is difficult no matter what the talent is.

Medic, I know we don't have Alabama type of talent, but we don't need that type of talent to beat Temple, W. Michigan, etc... I won't say Kent State does not have talent, but I will say that they don't have better talent then us! DeLeone is making our players look like we don't have talent that's the problem. Hazel in the other hand is doing a great job making his players look talented... Coaching plays a big part if not they wouldn't get paid the money they do. Edsall is an example of a coach making a 1*, 2 * player look like a 4* player!

 

[Nostical]

This argument about lack of O-Line talent is absurd. These O-Line players have just as much talent as several other of our O-Lines, yet none of them ever played as tentatively, subject to as many false starts, and incapable of blowing open a seam or holding off a pass rush, week after week, like these guys. This is a coaching issue. If you talk with any of these guys, or even more interestingly, with some of our past guys, you'd be amazed at what they have to say. Lets just say (not surprisingly) GDL's philosophy and techniques---and inherently miserable demeanor--do not merit lots of love.

 

[gars44]

Keep believing that because it's a feel good position. Life isn't fair, our o-line sucks and it's not all because of the god damn schemes or coaching.

Huskymedic, there does seem to be a lot of people who are having issues with GDL, more than feel good. This tandem got evicted from Syracuse for a reason. If you can't get it done at a place like Syracuse, where at least they have the tradition, then you're going to have an even harder time at a place like Uconn, not even on the college football map. They are having the kind of results here that got them ejected out of Syracuse. It's like, these coaches are doing a great job except for the won/loss record. Everything's good except the results.

 

[Nostical]

I would jettison our coaches like the Red Sox axed Bobby Valentine as their manager. How interesting it was to listen to all the same arguments--- inherited a team with less talent, a ton of issues to deal with, needs more time, blah, blah. The fact is our players don't want to play for an named GDL nor his enabler, just as the Sox hated playing for Valentine. I don"t care about the timeframe, PP and GDL must go. They are bringing down the "franchise". The fact that Susan and Warde were in Tampa is akin to having the GM travel to Seattle to watch the Sox in a late season series with the Mariners. It spells doom.

 

[huskymedic]

Huskymedic, there does seem to be a lot of people who are having issues with GDL, more than feel good. This tandem got evicted from Syracuse for a reason. If you can't get it done at a place like Syracuse, where at least they have the tradition, then you're going to have an even harder time at a place like Uconn, not even on the college football map. They are having the kind of results here that got them ejected out of Syracuse. It's like, these coaches are doing a great job except for the won/loss record. Everything's good except the results.

Let's go back to the OP that prompted my blurt:

Bill O'Brien is having success at Penn State in his first season (6-3) and look at that mess he took over. I don't think it's fair to the players and say theres no talent at the o-line positions when you have DeLeone coaching them... That itself should explain why we're not having success there.

UF said he didn't think it's fair to the players and say theres no talent at the o-line position when you have DeLeone coaching them. My response is that life's not fair and the o-line sucks and it's not ALL because of the god damn schemes and coaching. No where did I defend GDL - as a matter of fact I have said I'm not a fan of GDL but I stand by the comment that a reasonable person cannot put 100% of our o-line problems on schemes and coachng and that skill level (talent) has to come into play. I support the kids 100 % and will continue to do so each game but I'm not a bad person for saying that the D1 scholarship players have some onus here. (Coming from a dad who's kid plays AAU Baseball and has had his fair share of barbs thrown @ him by parents).

 

[Jimdish255]

Warde Manuel is a genius ! He's up 2 programs at once. 2 yrs ago BCS bowl game and NCAAT champion now look at Uconn. At this rate we will be the last team to leave the NBE when we should have been the first. Fball most important bball most successful. Now both suck and he's not all that concerned. Keep PP another yr. jerk KO around. Poeple everywhere but in CT predicted Uconn would sink to the bottom of college sports, we have, and Manuel is 'n torpedo. It's not like we are in the ACC already and can take our time fixing things, cuse, pitt. I think someone should tell him he's not at Buffalo anymore before we end up in the same league with them!

Is it OK to like a post simply for clarity of thought? My issue is that Ward is in year 1 and P is in year 2. The problem is that he has only had to suffer one year of this decline and actually doesn't know much else. We have seen where the program can be and recognize the unacceptable regression that 2 poor seasons can potentially cause for years to come. That said, his willingness to do a fair evaluation at season's end will determine if he's 'n torpedo Nicci thinks he is. And credit will be given if it's due.

 

[UconnFamily]

Let's go back to the OP that prompted my blurt:



UF said he didn't think it's fair to the players and say theres no talent at the o-line position when you have DeLeone coaching them. My response is that life's not fair and the o-line sucks and it's not ALL because of the god damn schemes and coaching. No where did I defend GDL - as a matter of fact I have said I'm not a fan of GDL but I stand by the comment that a reasonable person cannot put 100% of our o-line problems on schemes and coachng and that skill level (talent) has to come into play. I support the kids 100 % and will continue to do so each game but I'm not a bad person for saying that the D1 scholarship players have some onus here. (Coming from a dad who's kid plays AAU Baseball and has had his fair share of barbs thrown @ him by parents).

Not once did I say it was a 100% DeLeone's fault. Truth is the offense is playing awful under "DeLeone" and the O-Line is playing even worst under "DeLeone" you can't hide the fact's... he's not doing something right.

Again, the coaches get paid good money to bring out the best of these kids and DeLeone is not doing it! Edsall coached kids who came in as 1* players 2* players and by their Junior, Senior years they looked like 3*, 4* players.

When Charlie Weis coached Notre Damn the team wasn't winning like most people in the country thought they would. Now are you going to say Notre Damn didn't have enough talent?

I say it was poor coaching! That school brings in 4*, 5* players every year! look at what Brian Kelly has done with that team, and let's not forget a lot of those talented kids are Charlie Weis recruits. Brian Kelly is doing a better job coaching them up than Weis did and the success proves it

 

[jbdphi]

I agree that this is our least talented OL in a while. But if you believe it's mostly personnel, Medic, that makes it the worst run blocking line in the country, let me ask you this. We know Jimmy Bennett has no ready replacement on the roster at LT, and we're hearing about UConn searching for a JUCO LT. If the talent on the OL just flat out sucked, why didn't we go the JUCO route after last season?

Minor point but I'm pretty sure we pursued that transfer from Maryland last year pretty aggressively (Dill?).

 

[Greenback]

Winning or losing does not matter at this point. There is no excitement with this program. I hate the HC and I hate OC .
Even if we win a few games there is no future with these guys. let’s not waste another minute . THE PP SHOW MUST GO !!!

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't know. Just for me, I would evaluate an AD over a very long time-frame. Coaches usually have a window of several years, and PP and especially GDL may be shrinking their window. At this point I'd still be okay if Warde pressures GDL to go and keeps PP for another year (in which he would clearly be on the hot seat). Whether it plays out that way or not I don't know. The most desirable outcome would be PP and co. voluntarily retiring but I really doubt he'd do that.

I agree with this completely. While I am not exactly thrilled with the words coming out of his mouth, it probably takes five to eight years to judge an AD's true impact. Warde is a leader at the organizational level, most of the decisions he makes are of the kind that won't show their true impact for years.

If I'm Warde Manuel. I'm thinking that I am playing a rapidly diminishing pile of house money with this football staff. He didn't hire them, and he doesn't want to look impulsive in throwing what's left of that money on red (or Coach Blue).

Depending on how this team finishes out, that pile may be depleted. Going into next season, he'll be spending his own. If the team gets bludgeoned for a third season in a row under Pasqualoni, then Pasqualoni will be Warde's fault. He can't just chalk it up to his predecessor.

I guess the only thing that disappoints me is the appearance of a lack of a desire to put his stamp on things. Many of these aggressive ADs want to get their guys in there as soon as possible. He may actually be think this way and he is just playing it close to the vest.

 

[RedSoloCup]

He may actually be think this way and he is just playing it close to the vest.

My hope is just that.

Yeah, we need change around the football program. It needs to grow... and any torpedos of the head coach will hurt recruiting, etc., especially midseason.

Other than HFD, I am not sure who talks to WM daily and knows where he's taking this.

 

[SAMCRO]

Herbst and Manuel are aware. They are seeing everything we are seeing, and more. They are hearing everything we are hearing, and more. How many on this board alone have voiced (or emailed) their dissatisfaction with the current staff to one ir both? Now add on to that how many others who don't come to this board, and donate A LOT of money to the program,have also voiced their displeasure. SH and WM are fully aware. I like that we haven't heard from them thru the press at this point. What's to gain (other than getting HFD to halt his "auto-emails" to WM every hour, on the hour, 24/7 )?

People expecting them to make a declarative statement at this point are being unrealistic, as much as I'd love to hear one as well (I don't care what Kentucky, Idaho, Houston, or even GT did, those are not programs I want UConn to emulate). I'm withholding my critique/assessment until Tuesday, December 4th (had to pick a Tuesday, all important announcements are on Tuesday). If at that time we still have both PP and GDL here, then I'll be concerned. Until then, i will continue to support Herbst and Manuel's handling of the situation.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Herbst and Manuel are aware. They are seeing everything we are seeing, and more. They are hearing everything we are hearing, and more. How many on this board alone have voiced (or emailed) their dissatisfaction with the current staff to one ir both? Now add on to that how many others who don't come to this board, and donate A LOT of money to the program,have also voiced their displeasure. SH and WM are fully aware. I like that we haven't heard from them thru the press at this point. What's to gain (other than getting HFD to halt his "auto-emails" to WM every hour, on the hour, 24/7 )?

People expecting them to make a declarative statement at this point are being unrealistic, as much as I'd love to hear one as well (I don't care what Kentucky, Idaho, Houston, or even GT did, those are not programs I want UConn to emulate). I'm withholding my critique/assessment until Tuesday, December 4th (had to pick a Tuesday, all important announcements are on Tuesday). If at that time we still have both PP and GDL here, then I'll be concerned. Until then, i will continue to support Herbst and Manuel's handling of the situation.

Kentucky plays in the best conference in America. GT has been a leader at times in a much stronger all sports conference than UConn. And you don't want to emulate them. I get it, UConn did beat UMass and Buffalo in the same season. Nothing says "emulate us" like those results.

 

[freescooter]

Kentucky plays in the best conference in America. GT has been a leader at times in a much stronger all sports conference than UConn. And you don't want to emulate them. I get it, UConn did beat UMass and Buffalo in the same season. Nothing says "emulate us" like those results.

I think there is a chance that we WILL model ourselves after Kentucky or Duke if this isn't fixed and soon. A basketball power that only rarely puts decent football teams on the field. I mean UK has exactly 2 football championships in the SEC. the most recent was when Ford was President.

 

[Husky25]

The football and hoop situation are apples and oranges x 1,000,000. This being the football board, I sort of hate to see it get bogged down in the KO issue and take the focus away from PP, etc.

I think it's way to soon to start throwing Manuel under the bus. The "came from a small program" stuff is nonsense. He PLAYED at Michigan and was an associate AD there. That puts him light years ahead of his predecessor.

Jacobs might have been stretching it to say that Manuel "insistent" that he won't fire P after two seasons. Here's what he said to Desmond Conner on Sept. 24 and reinforced to the New Haven Register last week

That being said, Manuel has Pasqualoni's back in terms of support. He said he's not even thinking in the direction of replacing his head coach right now.
"I'm not even thinking about whether Paul is the right coach at this point in his tenure," Manuel said. "He's fine. Nobody is working harder than Paul and that staff and those kids. My expectation and his expectation is that we go out and we plan to win every game we go into. We just have to ensure that we're doing, as coaches, as players and staff, doing everything we need to do to put ourselves in position to win but that's not even remotely in my thought process, about whether or not we have the right coach. I think we have the right coach. We just have to get better."

Asked if he's seen anything that would make him want to make any changes, Manuel said: "Nothing up to this point would make me want to pull out Paul's contract and take a look at it. My goal is to support Paul, support the other head coaches. And at the appropriate time, if it comes that way, at some point he will be the first to know. But nothing up to this point, what I've seen, would cause me to want to take a look at Paul's contract."



The man isn't blind. I'd suspect the 1-4 "run" we're on since then has changed his mind.

That's a tepid vote of confidence, at best and is wide open to interpretation. Mine is simply that November 5 is not the appropriate time, but December 4th is a different story... I am in full agreement that to throw him under the bus this early into his tenure is comepletely premature and no one could not have handled the Ollie situation better than Warde Manuel did. I wrote it in a different post a couple weeks back, perhaps I'll go back and find it if I have a few minutes later on.