Kevin Duffy: make or break season?

[junglehusky]

http://www.greenwichtime.com/uconn/article/Kevin-Duffy-Make-or-break-year-for-Pasqualoni-3814298.php

Duffy, whose day job is on the basketball beat, gets some interesting quotes from AD Manuel about the upcoming football season and coach P. I think the headline is overstating the gist if what he said a little. But some of the boneyarders I think will like the statement of higher expectations got this season...

"When you hear me talk, I want you to understand that Paul (Pasqualoni) is the type of person that also has the same expectations," Manuel said. "Obviously, I want to see, as he does, improvements in the win/loss column. I'd like for us to get back to bowl eligibility, that's a start. But the goal is to win the Big East championship." It's more feasible now than ever.

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[jbdphi]

Kind of sounds like if we don't get Bowl eligible this year, we might be in the market for a new coach unless there are extenuating circumstances (I.e. injuries). Given the optimism on this board for what this upcoming season holds for us, I'm not too many would disagree.

 

[RedSoloCup]

I'm on the fence. I can see where people will be gnashing teeth and wearing sack-cloth, but I would need to see how we played. If the wheels fell off because of injuries, etc. then there is no discussion in my mind.

besides, it will be a while before the CT HS coaches can get together for another choice for our head coach.

 

[uconndogs]

Programs that turn coaches over better make good decisions, because it's damn risky. I'm pretty sure that BC fans and Syracuse fans throw up in their mouths a little every time someonw mentions Tom O'Brien or Coach P. Grass is always greener.....

 

[SubbaBub]

New AD, more short term pressure on results, dire need to be attractive as a FB program... Heck yeah it is a make or break year for Coach P. Two losing seasons in a row gets a Coach fired from nearly any respectable BCS program. The days of the little program makes good are over. 6-7 wins against this years schedule is not a lot to ask.

 

[metsfan2323]

Programs that turn coaches over better make good decisions, because it's damn risky. I'm pretty sure that BC fans and Syracuse fans throw up in their mouths a little every time someonw mentions Tom O'Brien or Coach P. Grass is always greener.....

The Fridge!

 

[noeynox]

I agree with Warde in that UConn has no ceiling. I've gotten beat up on this board for pointing to boise. I think a more apr comparison is Wisconsin. They were nothing for ever until barry Alvarez, he built them into a premier program all the while resisting the call of higher profile programs or the nfl. At some point we have to find the barry Alvarez or jim Calhoun of UConn football.

 

[UConnDan97]

I'm on the fence. I can see where people will be gnashing teeth and wearing sack-cloth, but I would need to see how we played. If the wheels fell off because of injuries, etc. then there is no discussion in my mind.

besides, it will be a while before the CT HS coaches can get together for another choice for our head coach.

(sorry, this comment was meant for jbdphi)

I'll disagree. If anyone thinks that Pasqualoni is not going to be offered at least 3-4 years to implement his style, get all of his recruits into the building, and get his chance to succeed in a place that is known for its trust in its coaches, then I think you are all kidding yourselves. I know that we have a new AD and a new President, but even at the most football-insane schools, coaches are afforded 3-4 years to do their thing. I don't think that anything happens to him if we miss a bowl game this year, even if I believe that we will get there.

Also, keep in mind that just because a UConn-centric fanboard believes almost unanimously that we will get to a bowl, that doesn't mean that it is the concensus belief outside of our fanbase. Most pundits have UConn finishing anywhere in between 6th and 8th, and most have us missing a bowl...

 

[UConnDan97]

By the way, my comment was not meant to be a disagreement with RedSolocup's statement. I wanted to press reply to jbdphi's statement just prior to that. Sorry about that...

 

[UCFBfan]

(sorry, this comment was meant for jbdphi)

I'll disagree. If anyone thinks that Pasqualoni is not going to be offered at least 3-4 years to implement his style, get all of his recruits into the building, and get his chance to succeed in a place that is known for its trust in its coaches, then I think you are all kidding yourselves. I know that we have a new AD and a new President, but even at the most football-insane schools, coaches are afforded 3-4 years to do their thing. I don't think that anything happens to him if we miss a bowl game this year, even if I believe that we will get there.

Also, keep in mind that just because a UConn-centric fanboard believes almost unanimously that we will get to a bowl, that doesn't mean that it is the concensus belief outside of our fanbase. Most pundits have UConn finishing anywhere in between 6th and 8th, and most have us missing a bowl...

I agree that two years is not enough time. You have to remember that year one is a new coach with the old coaches players. Year two the system should be in place with some more players that the new coach brings in and recruiting plays a big role. So far, on paper, the recruiting seems to be better. We'll see on the field how these players are. I see PP getting at least 3 years to get it together. I do feel that this year is the best chance we have due to the experience on the Defensive side of the ball. However, PP hasn't had massive defections like some other Head Coach nor has he bottomed the program out. He'll stick around if he has another bowl-less season but his third year will be the make or break.

However, I have a strong feeling this will be a moot argument because I think we will perform much better than the "experts" predict.

 

[pj]

Pasqualoni is a proven coach. He's doing everything right, except passing once too often against Vanderbilt. For a newspaper to write "If he loses then he'll be on the hot seat" article is vicious. That's true of every coach, and it's not going to happen here. The article should have been titled "UConn football standards rising, program aiming for the top" and talk about how Manuel, Pasqualoni, Herbst, and the university as a whole are doing their best to get us to an elite level in football.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Most of the time, a columnist doesn't write their own headlines. So before you guys shoot down Duffy just realize he probably wasn't the one who said to call it a "Make or Break season".

 

[Doggie Style]

Let me just throw this out there, do u think that comment has less to do w/ P's performance and more with what's riding on this season? I would argue that this season is one of the most important in our young history. Although we seem to be stabilizing in the BE, I think we can all agree that our ultimate goal is to get the hell out. That being said, many suggest that another game of musical conferences could be just around the corner. If that happens, we need a marketable brand AND product for Pres Herbst to start working her magic. If we are 500 or worse, it's gonna be harder to make that case for a new conference, and we could b stuck here for a long time. It would seem to me that Warde has gotten him marching orders and Im glad that we have lofty goals, but I still think that we are not at any disadvantage w/ a coaching staff w/ tons of NFL experience. P just needs to continue to recruit, win some games and give Pres Herbst the ammo to work the negotiation tables to set us up for a great
future. Go Huskies!!!!!

 

[pj]

Most of the time, a columnist doesn't write their own headlines. So before you guys shoot down Duffy just realize he probably wasn't the one who said to call it a "Make or Break season".

Read the article. It's 100% negative, unwarranted opinion from start to finish. He makes Eeyore look optimistic.

 

[Jerry27]

Read the article. It's 100% negative, unwarranted opinion from start to finish. He makes Eeyore look optimistic.

Hardly 100% negative pj, you sumed it up in your own sentence, it's his OPINION, you don't have to agree with it, but another losing season IMO would hurt tremendously. Reality is what it is, and if you think another losing season wouldn't hurt us in the eyes of expansion(which was the point of his opinion) than I guess your view is clearly different. Three and half days we will see what's under the wrapper in year two. I'm thinking we will be much improved and send some of the doubters back to their hole in the wall for a little while! At least until the first loss!!

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Read the article. It's 100% negative, unwarranted opinion from start to finish. He makes Eeyore look optimistic.

How is it unwarranted? We went 5-7 last year in an awful Big East, while Coach P made some glaring errors in terms of decision making and clock management throughout the season.

I'm not on the fire Coach P train, but it's fair to say that UConn is in a win-now mode than ever before due to realignment.

I think Coach P gets a third year no matter what, but to say he that he isn't under a ton of pressure with an awful OOC schedule and a terrible Big East to do better than 5-7 isn't being realistic either.

 

[jbdphi]

(sorry, this comment was meant for jbdphi)

I'll disagree. If anyone thinks that Pasqualoni is not going to be offered at least 3-4 years to implement his style, get all of his recruits into the building, and get his chance to succeed in a place that is known for its trust in its coaches, then I think you are all kidding yourselves. I know that we have a new AD and a new President, but even at the most football-insane schools, coaches are afforded 3-4 years to do their thing. I don't think that anything happens to him if we miss a bowl game this year, even if I believe that we will get there.

Also, keep in mind that just because a UConn-centric fanboard believes almost unanimously that we will get to a bowl, that doesn't mean that it is the concensus belief outside of our fanbase. Most pundits have UConn finishing anywhere in between 6th and 8th, and most have us missing a bowl...

Dan, for what it's worth, I was just trying to interpret the quote from Manuel. In my opinion, HCPP gets at least one more year unless we make a major move backwards this year in terms of W-L. I must say, reading this board far more often than the "mainstream media" does make one put on some rose colored glasses sometimes. If we don't get bowl eligible this year, I feel like the season will be a major disappointment as opposed to just meeting expectations. And at the end of the day, the AD really needs to cater to his fan base, not the pundits. If Manuel doesn't see forward progress, I wouldn't be surprised to see a change.

On the other hand, if we don't beat UMass by at least 30 points, I fully expect to see a "fire HCPP thread" started by some yahoo immediately thereafter (potentially before the game is even over).

 

[pj]

Hardly 100% negative pj, you sumed it up in your own sentence, it's his OPINION, you don't have to agree with it, but another losing season IMO would hurt tremendously. Reality is what it is, and if you think another losing season wouldn't hurt us in the eyes of expansion(which was the point of his opinion) than I guess your view is clearly different. Three and half days we will see what's under the wrapper in year two. I'm thinking we will be much improved and send some of the doubters back to their hole in the wall for a little while! At least until the first loss!!

I agree that a losing season would hurt tremendously. But what are the odds of that? 5% or less. So why lead off the season by talking about a remote possibility, instead of being excited by the probable success which is about to come! If we lose there will be time enough for angst at that time.

 

[junglehusky]

To late jbdphi, we already had the "disappointed in Pasqualoni" thread a couple weeks ago after Nebrich lost the QB competition.

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[Jerry27]

I agree that a losing season would hurt tremendously. But what are the odds of that? 5% or less. So why lead off the season by talking about a remote possibility, instead of being excited by the probable success which is about to come! If we lose there will be time enough for angst at that time.

Because it sells! Whats more likely to get a reaction from you, something you agree with or something you don't? Look how many clicks it generated for them just from linking it here. Not saying that's why he wrote it, he may well believe it, but it doesn't change the reality of it, we are coming off a less than stellar first year and eyes are watching we can ill afford another performance like last year.

 

[Bootsthemonkey]

5-7 didn't tell the whole story last year. Vandy and W. Michigan were better than people expected. The article mentions Endres and Wreh-Wilson as key losses but they weren't the only notable casualties - Todman (NFL), Frey (transfer), Shoemate (injury), M. Smith (academics). Could it have made a significant difference to have these guys on roster? In 2010 the Huskies won a few close games they could have lost and in 2011 some of those close games wound up as L's. It's that close. I think this year the team has the pieces in place to be very successful but a few key losses here or there could change things drastically. The situation is what it is with conference realignment. I agree there may be added pressure as a result but I'm not sure any other coaching staff would have produced significantly better results last year with all things considered and I've noticed on this board, a drastic reduction in complaints about recruiting.

 

[pj]

Because it sells! Whats more likely to get a reaction from you, something you agree with or something you don't? Look how many clicks it generated for them just from linking it here. Not saying that's why he wrote it, he may well believe it, but it doesn't change the reality of it, we are coming off a less than stellar first year and eyes are watching we can ill afford another performance like last year.

If you only had to sell newspapers and ads for one day that would be a sensible strategy. But if your selling point is that you offer coverage of UConn football to UConn football fans, then dumping on the team, the coach, and the program is not going to create more fans for either the team or your coverage.

 

[Bootsthemonkey]

If you want to write an opinion column that's fine, but the details of the article don't adequately describe the adversity faced last season and to say the Warde Manuel quotes support the writer's opinion is really a stretch. It's not really a very good piece. I don't say that as a UConn fan looking for rah-rah media hype and not getting that. I simply don't feel the article accurately portrays the current situation with the football program.

 

[Jimdish255]

The title got me to read it, and he at least made some supported points. I don't really agree with the premise because for the most part, if we improve he stays another year. But a so-so season with losses to poor teams might change the temperature of the water. It's way too early to think that way. I can't see past the first 2 games.

 

[businesslawyer]

Kind of sounds like if we don't get Bowl eligible this year, we might be in the market for a new coach unless there are extenuating circumstances (I.e. injuries). Given the optimism on this board for what this upcoming season holds for us, I'm not too many would disagree.

You would have to have a disaster of a coach to want to get rid of him after just two seasons. I can't imagine how bad this season would have to be for me to want or expect P to be fired.