Looking at Potential OC Candidates: Jeff Quinn

[FDNY99]

Let's take a closer look at Jeff Quinn. He was the OC under Brian Kelly at Grand Valley St., Cincinnati, and Notre Dame. We know that Kelly's offenses were terrific, but I would assume that the real OC was Brian Kelly and not Jeff Quinn. But, Quinn has his own resume, separate from Kelly as he was head coach at Buffalo for 4 1/2 seasons from 2010 to 2014.

Let's look at the offensive results:

The two years before Quinn at Buffalo:

2008: #53 in total offense, #33 in scoring offense.
2009: #39 in total offense, #82 in scoring offense.

Quinn's tenure:

2010: #111 in total offense, #120 (last) in scoring offense.
2011: #80 in total offense, #97 in scoring offense.
2012: #83 in total offense, #99 in scoring offense.
2013: #78 in total offense, #54 in scoring offense.
2014: fired midway through the season.

So, Buffalo had a competent offense in the 2 years before Quinn got there and he turned it into probably the worst offense in college football in year 1 and never really got the offense competent in 4+ years at Buffalo. It seems Quinn pushed out Buffalo's starting QB (going into his JR year) just after being hired because he didn't fit the offense he wanted to run. I just don't see the offensive results to be considered for UConn's OC.

Personally, I think we need to pass on Quinn at OC and look for an OC with more proven results. I would consider Quinn to be Associate Head Coach to mentor Diaco.

Just remember that Quinn related Turner Gill who parlayed his success at Buffalo into the HC job at Kansas which he miserably failed at. Gill is now the HC at Liberty.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Excuse me, but was there something said about UConn's current OC going anywhere? The three games of his tenure might have been disastrous, but that fact can hardly be laid at his door. And like someone said, HCBD will surely be gone on January 2, 2018, so why would someone come to Storrs to take a short term OC job? Certainly no one with any credibility, record, or expertise.

While the failures of this season certainly don't rest on Corley's shoulders, the fact that in 10 of the 12 quarters he was the OC we scored zero points means he's not cut out to be an OC. It's not all his fault, but someone brand new must be brought in.

 

[UConnJim]

Just remember that Quinn related Turner Gill who parlayed his success at Buffalo into the HC job at Kansas which he miserably failed at.

Gill took over a cluster at Buffalo. Before he got there, Buffalo had won 10 games in 7 years. He turned Buffalo around and he was recruiting decent talent to Buffalo. He went to Kansas, the worst program in the Big 12, and he was only given 2 years. OK, seems like he failed there, but he has had pretty good success at his next stop, Liberty. He has tied for 1st in his conference in 4 out of his 5 years.

 

[FDNY99]

Gill took over a cluster at Buffalo. Before he got there, Buffalo had won 10 games in 7 years. He turned Buffalo around and he was recruiting decent talent to Buffalo. He went to Kansas, the worst program in the Big 12, and he was only given 2 years. OK, seems like he failed there, but he has had pretty good success at his next stop, Liberty. He has tied for 1st in his conference in 4 out of his 5 years.

Exactly what I was getting at with Quinn being compared to Gill. As for Gill he was QB coach at Nebraska from 92-03 where he tutored Tommie Frazier and Eric Crouch among others. In 04 he moved to WR coach. He is a guy who IF you could get to leave Liberty would be a good pick for OC.

 

[Husky25]

Exactly what I was getting at with Quinn being compared to Gill. As for Gill he was QB coach at Nebraska from 92-03 where he tutored Tommie Frazier and Eric Crouch among others. In 04 he moved to WR coach. He is a guy who IF you could get to leave Liberty would be a good pick for OC.

Mixed feelings.

Frazier and Crouch were triple option QB's. Both sides of the ball begin in the trenches, and if anyone thinks (rightly) that the OL under-performed, wait 'til they are in a predominantly option setting. Kinda like fitting 6'-7", 330 lb peg in a 6'-3" 285 lb. hole.

 

[Stinger92860]

Exactly what I was getting at with Quinn being compared to Gill. As for Gill he was QB coach at Nebraska from 92-03 where he tutored Tommie Frazier and Eric Crouch among others. In 04 he moved to WR coach. He is a guy who IF you could get to leave Liberty would be a good pick for OC.

A quick internet search shows Gill making 600k+ in 2014.

 

[Confident Carl]

Maybe it's just me but I would love to see Diaco hire a guy he has no connections too. I understand that in this game it really matters who you know, but why not hire some up an coming offensive assistant at some school Diaco has no connection to

Off the top, I get what you are saying. But bringing in a young Maverick no matter how great the potential could back fire for a number of reasons. I'd say bringing in a coach that you were 12-0 with and ranked #3 in the country with might not be a bad place to start looking.

Past Successful relationships do matter. I am confident, with Bob Diaco's job on the line that he will seek the best, most appropriate and game ready OC he can get. I forgot about Quinn but on the surface this has to be a strong possibility.

I also like Quinn's Offensive line experience. No matter what happens at QB or OC we must have a good line or nothing else really matters. We have the makings of a good line lead by Crozier, Pert, Hopkins, Vechery, Rutherford, Hashemi, Oak, Schafenacker. Add to them Cespedes, Leone and DeGeorge. We need a top notch O line coach to mold a strong unit.

If Cummings stays hopefull Quinn can help maximize the talent together with Cummings. They both coached at Central MI.

I don't buy the no connection business. Most CEO's hire executives that they have success with in previous gigs. If Quinn is hired. He will have a say in the O line coach. If he believes in Cummings that would be good enough for me.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

As a former Diaco Kool-Aide drinker, It pains me to see that the team finished so poorly under his watch this season. While I can no longer begrudge any fan who wants the man relieved of his duties, if he is not, I think Benedict must own the decision.

This starts with Benedict having a tad sight more involvement in the OC hiring process than the average bear (i.e. rubber stamp). My guess is that Diaco will be asking the questions, but the list of candidates and questions asked will be fed to him. Finally, Benedict is likely to be watching from behind the two way mirror and will play a larger than normal role in the final selection. Just a hunch.

No. Benedict should have zero input on who the OC is. Not his role nor is it his area of expertise. This is why he should've canned Diaco on Sunday. I understand the financials behind bringing him back but when he did so he killed the program dead. We are not going to recover from this for a long time. If we ever recover at all.

 

[Husky25]

No. Benedict should have zero input on who the OC is. Not his role nor is it his area of expertise...

Is it Diaco's?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Is it Diaco's?

You either fire him or let him choose his new OC. Without the financial aspect it was an easy choice.

 

[ZooCougar]

You either fire him or let him choose his new OC. Without the financial aspect it was an easy choice.

I wouldn't say input, but Benedict can emplace some criteria that applies to suitability.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

I wouldn't say input, but Benedict can emplace some criteria that applies to suitability.

Yeah...at this point BD doesn't deserve the chance to pick his OC without intervention. Benedict is a football guy...who hopefully has a vision for what he wants our football culture to be...including coaches and scheme. When you go 3-9 and don't score a touchdown in the first quarter ALL SEASON, you have lost the ability to say "I got this".

 

[Woof 101]

I wouldn't say input, but Benedict can emplace some criteria that applies to suitability.

Yes! like where's the money coming from? Randy would have loved the purse strings this guy has been allowed. Wacky Bob is not firing anyone yet, simply retaining them in another position for the second time. Where is the money from our broke school for a high priced OC that will only be allowed to operate within the limits of WB going to come from??? From everything I read here it will not be seasons tickets for sure.

Yeah...at this point BD doesn't deserve the chance to pick his OC without intervention. Benedict is a football guy...who hopefully has a vision for what he wants our football culture to be...including coaches and scheme. When you go 3-9 and don't score a touchdown in the first quarter ALL SEASON, you have lost the ability to say "I got this".

I GOT THIS....LOL & then some...What he got was a lot of empty seats, a loss to what should have been the worse team in the conference and a number of folks on the concourse chanting "Bobs gotta go!"
I am sure in his way he could spin getting demoralized in The Cellar Bowl as a positive.

 

[Caronimo]

TJW

 

[Perfect Hair]

Are you guys serious with your love of Quinn? He's a stiff, was a complete failure at Buffalo where he was actually calling plays for the first time in his life. S T I F F

 

[Confident Carl]

Yeah...at this point BD doesn't deserve the chance to pick his OC without intervention. Benedict is a football guy...who hopefully has a vision for what he wants our football culture to be...including coaches and scheme. When you go 3-9 and don't score a touchdown in the first quarter ALL SEASON, you have lost the ability to say "I got this".

After the Verducci, hire, you may have a point. Of all the criticism of Diaco, to me hiring Verducci was the biggest F-U of his tenure at UCONN. The hire never seemed right to me.
I am hoping that taught him a big lesson. Having said that, he needs to pick his guys.

 

[FDNY99]

After the Verducci, hire, you may have a point. Of all the criticism of Diaco, to me hiring Verducci was the biggest F-U of his tenure at UCONN. The hire never seemed right to me.
I am hoping that taught him a big lesson. Having said that, he needs to pick his guys.

It defined him as NOT being ready or understanding what it took to be a HC! When he realized Mike Cummings was in over his head he needed to go hire a guy like a Joe Moorehead type..someone who would be able to competently run a offense and develop a QB. Instead he hired the guy who should have been brought in to replace Cummings as OL coach and gave him play calling duties. This will go down as his Waterloo

 

[Confident Carl]

It defined him as NOT being ready or understanding what it took to be a HC! When he realized Mike Cummings was in over his head he needed to go hire a guy like a Joe Moorehead type..someone who would be able to competently run a offense and develop a QB. Instead he hired the guy who should have been brought in to replace Cummings as OL coach and gave him play calling duties. This will go down as his Waterloo

Totally agree. Diaco was hyper focused on the "North East" model. That really frosted a lot of fans because it was more of the same old same old, PPII. It appears that he is willing to be more flexible with the spread. He just needs a coach who knows how to run it. Hoping all of the on the job training will pay dividends next year.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

His squads at Buffalo scored points too, so he was either calling the plays at both places or surrounds himself with the right people, both of which would be an improvement.

A coach in Quinn's current status might be somewhat realistic. Quinn's stats posted by UConnJim suggest scoring a lot of points was not a strength in minimally 4 of 6 seasons, but it's not a stretch to believe he's more than experienced and successful running an O or surrounding himself with better quality O coaches than Diaco. Yeah, not a very high bar.

 

[HuskyHawk]

You either fire him or let him choose his new OC. Without the financial aspect it was an easy choice.

Screw that. I'd barely let Bob interview the guy. Then tell Bob that guy runs the offense 100%. If you don't like it you can resign and we'll waive your buyout. The hire should be someone that has the chops to stare down Diaco. It should not be Quinn or anybody he coached with. Go get the RB/OL coach at Wisconsin or something (no idea who that is).

 

[whaler11]

Screw that. I'd barely let Bob interview the guy. Then tell Bob that guy runs the offense 100%. If you don't like it you can resign and we'll waive your buyout. The hire should be someone that has the chops to stare down Diaco. It should not be Quinn or anybody he coached with. Go get the RB/OL coach at Wisconsin or something (no idea who that is).

And when he doesn't resign and
doesn't let the guy run the offense -what does Benedict do? Go
to his office and fight him?

Who in the world worth a damn is taking the job if Bob doesn't want them.

This seems fairly obvious that if you don't fire him because you can't afford it - he is untouchable and you have no choice but to let it play out.

 

[hardcorehusky]

AHH, only to be the fly on the wall during a Diaco interview for OC

Diaco: I see your resume and have a few questions

Candidate: sure

Diaco: What does the love mean to you?

Candidate: I love my family, religion and football team. I really love to have aggressive offenses that win games - you know the shift to offensive emphasis in college football today

Diaco: I would love for you to know that we are in the Northeast and we love to have a great running attack. We love Woody Hayes- 3 yards and a cloud of dust and we want to limit negative plays, so we won't return punts and don't want to stress the defense with short fields. We need to work on the Woody Hayes thing though because we average 3 yards per series.


Candidate: I was told that the OC position would have total control over the offense. Is that the case? I would love to know.

Diaco: Of course the OC would have control over the offense. As long as I agree to where we are heading and the kids felt the love of the staff. You know, the offense has been the energy vampire of the team. The person we hire will feel the love of the fans when we turn this Molotov Cocktail of ineptitude around. The fixes are isolated and easy to determine.

Candidate: In looking at the roster, there are 6 Tight Ends and F back. What is an F back anyway? I see 4 tailbacks and 2 QB's. I think there is an imbalance in players at positions. What is the recruiting focus?

Diaco: First thing a recruit has to have is size and then love of G-d, family and culture. The recruit has to have great grades and if they happen to be good at football, even better. We have great classes of the RKG and are well received. I love the interaction we have with our recruits.

Candidate: Ok.... Bob, I would love to implement a fast tempo offense, snap the ball after about 13 seconds. Tire out the D, be creative.

Diaco: the officials should be slowing the offenses down, not speeding them up. Not football and not fair to defense. We don't want that issue here. Use the clock, slow the tempo, make it a 4th quarter game. We can excel in those if we are close.

Candidate:looking at his phone. Bob, my wife has an emergency. I will have my guy call the school, if that is OK with you.

Diaco: sure, too bad you don't have time for me to show you our culture. It's lovely.

Candidate: too bad, maybe next time. Rushes out the door....