Joe Zone

[jackl]

I saw the original Joe Zone report on the Marchi Mess and was very surprised at how one sided it was. No where did he mention the late year transferring from one high school to another. It was all the fault of the UCONN administration that his offer was pulled just 6 days before the NLOI signing day. He was really harsh in his dumping on the program. I had read a lot of stuff concerning the situation on the BY before his report and I was shocked at how opinionated he was without mentioning more facts. I didn't realize that he was a former shill for the Fruit in upstate NY but now it all makes sense with his pointed shoutout to P for the recruitment of Arkeel Newsome. Where was he as P lead this program down the $hitshute over the last 3 seasons? Not being connected as a lot of fellow Boneyarders are I have no insight into this mess but I think that because of the BY I was more enlightened than Joe Zone was before he opened his trap.

 

[J187Money]

Never heard of him.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Here's my take on this mess. First, this is the kind of guy you don't want to see hanging around playgrounds.

You don't go to air like he did with one side of the story.

However, I happen to agree with the sentiment that something stinks about this. We will never hear the other side of this story because Diaco (or anyone from UConn for that matter) cannot and will not ever comment. Nor should they. For that reason alone, they may get a small amount of heat for the Marchi mess. But something about the timing just stinks. He was on his official visit 2 weeks ago. He was committed since June.

I understand Diaco's stance on recruiting kids who can cut it academically. But you have to roll the dice on a kid once in a while. You can't be so strict that you don't even recruit a kid like Mark Harrison out of your own state. There has to be a middle ground between Stanford and Louisville.

 

[mauconnfan]

My brother told me about this being reported and asked me what the deal was. It took so long for you guys here at the football BY I told him it couldn't be a big deal at all. Now reading through this thread I can see the Zone dude has an agenda and is being fairly sleazy in this case……thanks

 

[ZooCougar]

Here's my take on this mess. First, this is the kind of guy you don't want to see hanging around playgrounds.

You don't go to air like he did with one side of the story.

However, I happen to agree with the sentiment that something stinks about this. We will never hear the other side of this story because Diaco (or anyone from UConn for that matter) cannot and will not ever comment. Nor should they. For that reason alone, they may get a small amount of heat for the Marchi mess. But something about the timing just stinks. He was on his official visit 2 weeks ago. He was committed since June.

I understand Diaco's stance on recruiting kids who can cut it academically. But you have to roll the dice on a kid once in a while. You can't be so strict that you don't even recruit a kid like Mark Harrison out of your own state. There has to be a middle ground between Stanford and Louisville.

I think when a kid switches schools half way in his senior year, the school provides little notice and the kid doesn't have an alternative already in the bag that it's a problem on the student side of the issue.

If there wasn't an issue then he wouldn't be talking about prep school. And it's not like prep school is some kind of death sentence.

Anyways, there is a reason why this story really only gained traction with Joe Zone.

 

[MattMang23]

FWIW, my buddy did an internship in the sports dept at channel 3. He said Zone was the biggest he's ever met.

 

[freescooter]

Agree with Zooey and Jimmy on this for the most part. Guessing there were academic issues and Diaco either couldn't or wouldn't try a work around. If this kid were from Torrington Ohio instead of Torrington CT this is a non-issue for everyone. He's a local kid so its a big deal. And when his coach is saying I think prep school is his best option, that tells me he probably has academic issues, too. We all know that athletes don't necessarily need to meet the same academic standards as typical students. One need only look at the journeys of Nate Miles to get that. But it is not impossible to imagine a scene where a kid doesn't have some basic requirement for admission and Admissions said no. The coaching staff isn't in desperate need of a quarterback so they didn't fight it. Would have been nice to get t hat dealt with earlier, but again, you don't know what was supposed to done on the student's side, either.

 

[freescooter]

Seems very bitter towards new coach ,made his " thanks coach P" comment referring to Newsome, sounded like a dig,then went on about Logan Marchi and how he was notified 6 days be signing day that he wouldn't receive a scholarship.

For what its worth, I htink the local sports media really liked Pasqualoni. They did when he was at Syracuse and that carried over when he came to UConn. Part of it is local pride, I think. Part is that he was a nice guy and treated them well and kept in touch over the years.

 

[ZooCougar]

It's way too early for Bob Diaco to start burning matches with the admin over recruits, and Marchi was probably not match worthy.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Name another state who's media consistently takes a negative stance towards the states flagship university. You can't.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Never heard of him.

Me neither.

 

[J187Money]

I will say upfront that I don't know what the facts are here, but it seems to me that kids that can't get their grades straight in high school when there is a D-1 scholarship on the line are very unlikely to be able to stay eligible while @ said D-1 school. I'd probably make exceptions for kids from urban schools with little support structures, but kids at private schools really have no excuse for this. Meaning (and I have this conversation with my own kids) - if YOU can't care enough about it, why should I?

 

[huskymedic]

Just watch the first 5 minutes or so... this was a classic. Eagle and Oranges talking UConn Football.

 

[Carl Spackler]

This reporter is the soldier from Missouri in this clip. General inspection. Never heard of him. Alright guys, inspection over, nothing to see here, let's go we got work to do.

 

[Husky25]

I will say upfront that I don't know what the facts are here, but it seems to me that kids that can't get their grades straight in high school when there is a D-1 scholarship on the line are very unlikely to be able to stay eligible while @ said D-1 school. I'd probably make exceptions for kids from urban schools with little support structures, but kids at private schools really have no excuse for this. Meaning (and I have this conversation with my own kids) - if YOU can't care enough about it, why should I?

I'm in complete agreement with you. But it's easier to blame the UConn admissions because that way, no one is really to blame. It's a bureaucracy, where no one takes direct responsibility. Here's the young man's first real life lesson. Take responsibility for your actions, learn from the consequences, and move on. I just glanced at his twitter feed. He's getting a lot of support (including from current UConn commits), but I don't get the sense that he is really doing the first. Hard to take the next two steps when you can't take the first.

 

[Dooley]

Just watch the first 5 minutes or so... this was a classic. Eagle and Oranges talking UConn Football.

Around the 4 minute mark, it looked like Mike DiMauro wanted to lean in and plant a long wet one on Pasqualoni.

 

[noeynox]

Name another state who's media consistently takes a negative stance towards the states flagship university. You can't.

New Jersey.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

New Jersey.

Agreed when it comes to the universityas a whole when discussing their financial situation, but Rutgers football is seemingly always pumped up and gets great coverage in the star ledger.

 

[uconndennis]

Just watch the first 5 minutes or so... this was a classic. Eagle and Oranges talking UConn Football.

I lasted about a minute....as soon as CoachP opened his mouth ..I was done

 

[Waquoit]

Here's the young man's first real life lesson. Take responsibility for your actions, learn from the consequences, and move on....but I don't get the sense that he is really doing the first. Hard to take the next two steps when you can't take the first.

That is just so easy to say when someone else gets screwed. The fact is he gave his word and UConn waited until the last minute to back out of theirs. I'd like to see UConn take responsibility for their actions and learn from the consequences.

 

[sportsart]

That is just so easy to say when someone else gets screwed. The fact is he gave his word and UConn waited until the last minute to back out of theirs. I'd like to see UConn take responsibility for their actions and learn from the consequences.

How do you know UConn waited until the last minute? Maybe they gave him the benefit of the doubt and said you are in as long as you pass the required courses.

Maybe he flunked a required course and changed schools...and...and...who knows.

Something happened to change his ability to be admitted, that you can be sure of. Otherwise you are saying UConn knew weeks or months ago he wouldn't get in and just didn't get around to telling him.

 

[Husky25]

That is just so easy to say when someone else gets screwed. The fact is he gave his word and UConn waited until the last minute to back out of theirs. I'd like to see UConn take responsibility for their actions and learn from the consequences.

Certainly, but as I said, it's a bureaucracy. No one person will take direct responsibility. People get screwed everyday. It's tough when someone this young gets the perceived shaft, but he's got to pick himself up by his bootstraps, learn from it, and move on. I hope he lands on his feet somewhere. Lots of blame to go around to be sure, but no one person on either side will take direct responsibility and its much easier for an institution to deflect their share than it is a single individual recruit.

This is complete speculation on my part, but another thing to consider is that if Coach Diaco really wanted him, he would probably put up a bigger fight. He has little cache right now, being five weeks on the job and looking at the depth chart, Marchi is behind at least Cochran, Whitmer, Boyle, Taylor, McCummings, and the water boy. There's a couple walk-ons as well. We all heard Coach Diaco in the videos that he wanted academically sound players. He may have not been willing to go to bat for a player he did not recruit and thinks he does not need. Warde Manuel may have tacitly agreed in order to put more distance between the school and the APR sanctions, regardless of skill.

 

[ZooCougar]

I bet none of us have a clue what happened unless one of us is in the Marchi family, his coach, UConn Admissions or on the UConn Staff.

 

[freescooter]

I bet none of us have a clue what happened unless one of us is in the Marchi family, his coach, UConn Admissions or on the UConn Staff.

I agree but I bet we all know exactly as much as Joe Zone.

 

[ZooCougar]

I agree but I bet we all know exactly as much as Joe Zone.

The guy is a sleaze simply because he is using a high school kid to grind his axe. This is why I try to follow recruiting as little as possible.