Jeff Jacobs: Hey UConn, This Time Make The Right Hire ... Please!

[huskymedic]

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/hc-jacobs-column-1001-20130930,0,2704157.column

That car ride from Buffalo must have really sucked for Mrs. Manuel

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Good grief the more we hear of the 2011 search the worse it gets.............

"One of the fears in 2011, according to a highly placed source, was that McGee would win and bolt after three years."

Jacobs is 100% right.......anyone involved....anyone at all.....in that search........needs to be quarantined from participating in any aspect of this search this time around. I could not believe my eyes reading that about McGee. Is this real life?

 

[jackl]

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/hc-jacobs-column-1001-20130930,0,2704157.column

That car ride from Buffalo must have really sucked for Mrs. Manuel

I bet the AC was turned up all the way.

 

[Palatine]

Captain Obvious.

If Jacobs isn't slamming Jim Calhoun, he is just playing back convention wisdom.

If he wrote this last December, then it might have meant something.

 

[noeynox]

Good grief the more we hear of the 2011 search the worse it gets.............

"One of the fears in 2011, according to a highly placed source, was that McGee would win and bolt after three years."

Jacobs is 100% right.......anyone involved....anyone at all.....in that search........needs to be quarantined from participating in any aspect of this search this time around. I could not believe my eyes reading that about McGee. Is this real life?

This exact sentiment was shared on the board at that time. I couldn't wrap my mind around that being a legitimate concern but I guess it was. Fits right in with Hathaways small time thinking however

 

[ZooCougar]

Captain Obvious.

If Jacobs isn't slamming Jim Calhoun, he is just playing back convention wisdom.

If he wrote this last December, then it might have meant something.

Well, we get that so little from most of the writers, but I thought the piece did a great job at framing the whole picture. It was a good piece.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

If we hire Eric Mangini I just might cut myself and sit in a tub full of ice. Add Kiffin, Leach, RRod, Fulmer, Leavitt, Schiano, and freescooter to that list.

 

[ZooCougar]

If we hire Eric Mangini I just might cut myself and sit in a tub full of ice. Add Kiffin, Leach, RRod, Fulmer, Leavitt, Schiano, and freescooter to that list.

I am I interested in Mangini, but he would fail on the reference front because he is toxic.

He is young, he can learn from his errors, but I have doubts that he knows the recruiting terrain.

 

[FluxTZ]

Mangini is also painfully boring. I can't see him selling the program the way it needs to be sold right now, unfortunately.

 

[ZooCougar]

We need the best coaches we can afford. Since we aren't going to nail down 4 and 5 star guys regularly we need the best football minds. Since we will be overmatched on talent more often than we like, we will need thinkers and developers.

If we get that transcendent coach who changes UConn's image so drastically that we can get those guys that would be great but until then...

-we need a coach who can find the Jasper Howards, D. butlers, Robert McClain etc..
-a developer of talent who can play the long game in developing late bloomers like Will Beatty, Donald Thomas, Marcus Easley.
-Get to the point where our two deep is populated with loads of experienced 4th and 5th year guys.
-gain a competitive advantage by running something a little different than everyone else so that defenses are playing outside of their comfort zone every week
-recruit and develop sound QB play

-have to get back to good offensive line play, if we have that then we can compete every week

-get back to an organized and disciplined sideline and limit those administrative mistakes.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

We need the best coaches we can afford. Since we aren't going to nail down 4 and 5 star guys regularly we need the best football minds. Since we will be overmatched on talent more often than we like, we will need thinkers and developers.

If we get that transcendent coach who changes UConn's image so drastically that we can get those guys that would be great but until then...

-we need a coach who can find the Jasper Howards, D. butlers, Robert McClain etc..
-a developer of talent who can play the long game in developing late bloomers like Will Beatty, Donald Thomas, Marcus Easley.
-Get to the point where our two deep is populated with loads of experienced 4th and 5th year guys.
-gain a competitive advantage by running something a little different than everyone else so that defenses are playing outside of their comfort zone every week
-recruit and develop sound QB play

-have to get back to good offensive line play, if we have that then we can compete every week

-get back to an organized and disciplined sideline and limit those administrative mistakes.

Ironically enough......you just described the guy you hated to a tee.

Sans the recruit and develop sound QB play.

 

[ZooCougar]

Ironically enough......you just described the guy you hated to a tee.

Sans the recruit and develop sound QB play.

Yeah, but he could never see past his routine, and he was in a rut. We had pretty good sideline though.

Edsall's offense wasn't anything special, we need to be running something a little less conventional. Edsall ran half pro set and the spread. We didn't have the QB play to really keep defenses off balance.

The model for me would be Jim Grobe when he had Wake Forest hitting on all cylinders. We definitely have a higher ceiling than Wake however.

 

[UConnTim]

How about inquiring about Tom O'Brien? He's the Associate Head Coach at Virginia and is known for running a clean program. Something tells me that he has a few more miles in the gas tank and he would love to surpass BC as the top program in New England. He graduates his players, can recruit the big uglies up front, and he'll get us to a bowl game in 3 years. We probably won't go to a BCS bowl game, but what should we really expect? He knows how to work the media, he plays to win, and has a lot of repsect from HS coaches in NE and NJ. I would also inquire about Dave Clawson from Bowling Green. Too many teams have missed the boat on this guy.

 

[LRock34]

Forget slinging the ball all over the field. We need a strong offensive line, great defense and a passing game just solid enough to keep 8 out of the box. Randy Edsall was able to accomplish two of the 3. Ward is a football guy and a Michigan guy. What we need is a Michigan brand of football. Defense, running game and a serviceable QB. We have the recruiting grounds in the Northeast to field that kind of a team.

 

[ZooCougar]

I am still intrigued by Ambrose. I think he can give us what Edsall did and a bit more.

 

[Nostical]

After reading all the names mentioned here--Jim Grobe, Eric Mangini, Tom O'Brien, Dave Clawson, Rob Ambrose--and thinking about their pluses and minuses--my choice is----- TJ Weist.

 

[Stinger92860]

After reading all the names mentioned here--Jim Grobe, Eric Mangini, Tom O'Brien, Dave Clawson, Rob Ambrose--and thinking about their pluses and minuses--my choice is----- TJ Weist.

Based on what body of work? You could be right, but we need to see him on the sidelines. Unfortunately we will get to judge recruiting before a decision will need to be made.

 

[ZooCougar]

After reading all the names mentioned here--Jim Grobe, Eric Mangini, Tom O'Brien, Dave Clawson, Rob Ambrose--and thinking about their pluses and minuses--my choice is----- TJ Weist.

Yeah I want to see TJ coach an actual game before making that proclamation,

 

[Srqhusky]

If we are doing fantasy coaches I want John Gruden. Imagine seeing Chucky roaming the sidelines

 

[UConn9604]

How about inquiring about Tom O'Brien? He's the Associate Head Coach at Virginia and is known for running a clean program. Something tells me that he has a few more miles in the gas tank and he would love to surpass BC as the top program in New England. He graduates his players, can recruit the big uglies up front, and he'll get us to a bowl game in 3 years. We probably won't go to a BCS bowl game, but what should we really expect? He knows how to work the media, he plays to win, and has a lot of repsect from HS coaches in NE and NJ. I would also inquire about Dave Clawson from Bowling Green. Too many teams have missed the boat on this guy.

All of what you wrote is true, but O'Brien was born in October 1948 -- about ten months before Pasqualoni.

 

[Kgun7]

After reading all the names mentioned here--Jim Grobe, Eric Mangini, Tom O'Brien, Dave Clawson, Rob Ambrose--and thinking about their pluses and minuses--my choice is----- TJ Weist.

So far ... and it is still early ... i am inclined to side with Nos ... I am rooting for TJW because it seems like he WANTS to be here!!!

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Forget slinging the ball all over the field. We need a strong offensive line, great defense and a passing game just solid enough to keep 8 out of the box. Randy Edsall was able to accomplish two of the 3. Ward is a football guy and a Michigan guy. What we need is a Michigan brand of football. Defense, running game and a serviceable QB. We have the recruiting grounds in the Northeast to field that kind of a team.

And there you have history repeating itself. Not the PP horrible ere, but the RE, we've plateaued at 8-5 or 9-4. What UConn desperately needs in a wide open, ball throwing, high scoring, exciting "don't leave your seat" type coach. 35+ points a game. Win with offense not the old school win with defense and running.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Oh and please no re-runs - Ambrose types. And no assistants from the status quo. Let's step out of the comfort zone and get somebody from down south or out west that can help change the culture here.

 

[freescooter]

If we hire Eric Mangini I just might cut myself and sit in a tub full of ice. Add Kiffin, Leach, RRod, Fulmer, Leavitt, Schiano, and freescooter to that list.

At least I would name Foley oline coach and let him do it his way...

 

[freescooter]

How about inquiring about Tom O'Brien? He's the Associate Head Coach at Virginia and is known for running a clean program. Something tells me that he has a few more miles in the gas tank and he would love to surpass BC as the top program in New England. He graduates his players, can recruit the big uglies up front, and he'll get us to a bowl game in 3 years. We probably won't go to a BCS bowl game, but what should we really expect? He knows how to work the media, he plays to win, and has a lot of repsect from HS coaches in NE and NJ. I would also inquire about Dave Clawson from Bowling Green. Too many teams have missed the boat on this guy.

No chance O'Brien gets the job. Funny thing is that he would probably do a solid job of rebuilding the program. But you could never ever sell it to the media or the fans. If we're getting someone from the MAC I prefer Lembo at Ball State. Don't get the love for Clawson. In my mind his record is decidedly ordinary. I keep hearing this great football mind but he was a career .500 coach at Fordham, .590 at Richmond and he's been under .500 at Bowling Green. Not sure there is that much boat to miss.

Weist will get his chance, but ask yourself whether you'd be real excited with that choice if he came from outside...I'm of the opinion that UConn might need a totally fresh look.