Jim Mora’s new staff coming together… | Page 28 | The Boneyard

Jim Mora’s new staff coming together…

Unfortunately, the DC role was handed to Jarren Horton after Edsall was fired so we really didn't see Spanos defense this year. Horton had no experience as a DC and he had been a DB coach. It was not his fault that he was young an inexperienced. Spanos was handed a hot potato and he could not become interim coach and run the defense at the same time so we really don't know what he could have done.

Here are the total defense stats for the last 3 seasons:

2018 (Crocker): #130 617.4 yards per game
2019 (Spanos): #116 466.8 yards per game
2021 (Spanos/Horton): #115 451.8 yards per game
 
UConnJim said:
Maybe we will find out the backstory at a later time.

That said, if Mora was thinking about hiring Spanos recently, it probably would have been complicated negotiation as Spanos had a contract until March 26, 2022 (his original contract went through Jan.14, 2023, but with the advanced notice, it was able to be changed to 3/26/22).
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I think it was a combination of this and the fact that Spanos had to decide if he wanted to come back after all he went through. 3 weeks in the scheme of things is not that long to figure this all out. I am glad he is back. Just think what improvements can be made with better position coaches and a man who was weaned on Defense.
 
UConnJim said:
Unfortunately, the DC role was handed to Jarren Horton after Edsall was fired so we really didn't see Spanos defense this year. Horton had no experience as a DC and he had been a DB coach. It was not his fault that he was young an inexperienced. Spanos was handed a hot potato and he could not become interim coach and run the defense at the same time so we really don't know what he could have done.

Here are the total defense stats for the last 3 seasons:

2018 (Crocker): #130 617.4 yards per game
2019 (Spanos): #116 466.8 yards per game
2021 (Spanos/Horton): #115 451.8 yards per game
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It's also really hard to benchmark Spanos coming off 2018 that had the worst defense in the history of college football. Like OK sure the ranking is better, but the situation you were coming into was so horrendous that any basic competency results in an improvement, but said improvement still results in a bad defense. All of this in addition to a completely inept offense, so even after a couple years here is still a bit of a unknown.

I really don't know what to make of the move. I'm glad the players like him, the continuity on that side of the ball should help, but still unclear if he can turn water into wine at the G5 level.
 
ktuck911 said:
I'm Happy with this move... brings stability to what we already have... We need that... Give me a guy who wants to be here and the players love him anyways... He's had history coaching under JM.. It's all good.... Glass half full mindset... Let's GO Huskies!!!! Recruits need to see staff stability... He brings this...
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Best i can come up with is, let's see what he comes up without Randy peering over his shoulder. I don't think he could have revamped the whole defense after Randy left, and i thought they tackled the best after the double bye against Clemson.
 
I dont hate it. Our defense was simply on the field to much and was not discipline at all due to youth. A better offense makes a better defense, duh. That being said a new voice would have been better. On the bright side the players respond to him well.
 
Across all the coaching staff, this "hire" is the one with a good bit of upside but honestly it has the most downside by far... Terrible defense was played under his watch. You can talk all you want about this and that as being the reasons why and or that he is a nice and likeable guy but the fact is that if half way through next season we're still allowing 35-40 points a game it's going to get ugly within the fanbase (i.e. eye rolls, frustration, I told you so's, etc leading to sheer madness).

If a defense is without confidence, bravado, and aggression then it's destined to be a failure. So, if the players start to doubt internally, then the whole defense unravels like we've seen.

Risky hire for sure. My vote: pick someone else. But, I'll give Mora this one because at this point we've put our faith in him to make these decisions (and obviously AD David Benedict was hugely involved in this decision as well). I hope I'm wrong.
 
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I am not thrilled by the rehiring of Coach Spanos. I hope Coach Spanos can turn our defense around quickly. Our defenses have been bad, and in some cases record-setting bad, the past couple years. A defense in the #100-130 range of FBS schools is not going to cut it. If you are objectively looking at a candidate for a defensive coordinator position at an FBS school, how can you choose UCONN's defensive coordinator from the past couple years? It's nice the players "like" him, but I remember Diaco's Notre Dame players saying they really liked him, too. I hope I'm wrong about this rehiring, and Coach Spanos quickly turns our defense into a competitive unit.
 
Thought it was announced no one from the previous staff was to be retained. Option x⁹
 
The positional strengths in these first few weeks are Nick Charlton as the Head on that New Offense. Someone with cred ... someone acknowledged to be on the climb in the profession. We can see him take off. Then: Gordie Sammis. We are best when we have a solid OLine that is developing. Good size and simple. Get the push and give us a chance to make plays.

The wildcard - I think - is Diabate. One solid fresh energetic voice lighting up playmakers Jackson Mitchell, Ian Swenson and more. Mora. Spanos ain't Spanos ... if he has a guy on the sidelines who understands D as well.
 
The Moose said:
I think the fact the players really seem to love him is big
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You think if that was a motivating factor, though, it would’ve been announced sooner. You also would think that they wouldn’t have announced that he wasn’t coming back.
 
UConnJim said:
Unfortunately, the DC role was handed to Jarren Horton after Edsall was fired so we really didn't see Spanos defense this year. Horton had no experience as a DC and he had been a DB coach. It was not his fault that he was young an inexperienced. Spanos was handed a hot potato and he could not become interim coach and run the defense at the same time so we really don't know what he could have done.

Here are the total defense stats for the last 3 seasons:

2018 (Crocker): #130 617.4 yards per game
2019 (Spanos): #116 466.8 yards per game
2021 (Spanos/Horton): #115 451.8 yards per game
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So it took 2 yrs to go from 116 to 115? That’s hell of improvement for that defense. And if Spanos who had aspirations of getting that interim tag off of his title and he let a coach with zero experience calling plays just goes to show how incompetent he is.
 
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Hoophound said:
I don’t think we should sell Spanos short. He’s been successful before. The dumpster fire he worked through this year was unfathomable. He kept the kids happy and playing hard. He’s got a way with people, players don’t quit on him. Hopefully, with Mora’s help, some better players and a competent offense, he can make the D look quite a bit better.
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Just keeping the good ship Edsall program functioning after a mid season take over is an accomplishment.
 
While Spanos may not have been the top choice, I don’t view that as a failure. The rest of the staff filled in almost immediately. It is certainly possible that the initial DC choice or two got better offers and reneged, but there has been a lot of turnover this year and jobs are available all over college football. Spanos is a Mora guy and the coincidence of Mora coming after the UConn job with Spanos being interim HC is hard to ignore. Maybe Spanos was promised a different, lesser job on the staff but ended up DC when other option(s) fell through. It is just hard to believe Spanos hooked his buddy up and planned to completely walk away.
 
Ajs120102 said:
spanos took over with quite literally the worst college defense of all time and took them to somewhere thats not an embarrassment. Obviously there is room for improvement on the defense but you got to remember where he started. He and Mora can get this thing back on track defensively.
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Completely agree. And with a better offense maybe these guys won’t have to be on the field All. Game. Long.

IMO the defensive statistics might not be as good a measurement as the eye test here.
 
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CTFAN4LIFE said:
Across all the coaching staff, this "hire" is the one with a good bit of upside but honestly it has the most downside by far... Terrible defense was played under his watch. You can talk all you want about this and that as being the reasons why and or that he is a nice and likeable guy but the fact is that if half way through next season we're still allowing 35-40 points a game it's going to get ugly within the fanbase (i.e. eye rolls, frustration, I told you so's, etc leading to sheer madness).

If a defense is without confidence, bravado, and aggression then it's destined to be a failure. So, if the players start to doubt internally, then the whole defense unravels like we've seen.

Risky hire for sure. My vote: pick someone else. But, I'll give Mora this one because at this point we've put our faith in him to make these decisions (and obviously AD David Benedict was hugely involved in this decision as well). I hope I'm wrong.
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Well us scoring 21-30 or more a game is one way to stop the other team from hitting 40 and 500+ yards. We will find out if the total lack of aggression, especially on pass rush, was someone else’s scheme.
 
Reasons I'm fine with this:
1. Players seemed to genuinely respond to him
2. His past experience as Mora's DC. Would not have played as well if he were staying under a different coach.
3. Empirically, he is the best guy we could have hire 'cause we couldn't sign anyone else through what was clearly an extensive search.
4. The D actually improved, not a lot, still horribly horrible, but by the eye test they improved. With a better pass rush and some continuity maybe, we can actually stop some people.
 
Hogoff said:
The defense looked a lot more competent this year especially in the first half of games.
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Closer to a quarter and a half, but I agree.
 
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Stability from a failed regime with no demonstrated success recruiting and no career prospects. Great. This hire gets a resounding F, and the school knows it or they wouldn't have come out weeks ago saying nobody was being retained.

Frankly, I'd just assume the school save the money and have Mora run the D (which is what is going to happen anyway).
 
DoctorWho85 said:
The players love Spanos. I saw a few tweets all excitement about having him back. Defense will be completely different next year because it won't be nerfed by Edsall's micromanaging and Guifre's less than awful play calling.
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He was handcuffed with Edsall and had no input as to his staff! He did a good job holding things together under the circumstances
 
huskymedic said:
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So the players loved him and he brings continuity. The defense was bad but you can't change an entire defensive philosophy midseason. Let's see what he can do with a new scheme, some time, and some more skilled players. We also have an upgrade in our coaching on that level so I think we are fine with this move.
 
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