OT: Bill Connelly Article on UMass

[freescooter]

He was passed over multiple times at multiple schools. That is usually a sign that something is wrong. Of course it didn’t help that Pasqualoni was from Connecticut and he wasn’t. Hard to believe that we replaced P with a guy who was 100 times worse. But then the rock star was avfootball Guy. In fact it’s hard to believe we replaced a hack like Hathaway with a worse hack like the rock star. It has taken a while to undo the damage

 

[Palatine]

Me too. I met him when an organization I was working with was setting up a group ticket buy and he was great to talk with and even met several of us at Rafters for dinner. This was during his first stint there, probably the early or mid 90's.

Maybe someone here can inform as to why he was not hired at UConn. He was a winner and certainly had to have been ticked off when Pasqualoni was hired.

Thus, any games UMass plays against UConn with Whipple as head coach could turn out like what happened with John McKay at USC when Notre Dame ran up a score on USC one year. McKay said he'd never lose to them again and he proved it. Of course, Whipple will want to beat UConn anyway, but being passed over for Pasqualoni may have given him extra special motivation.

Pasqualoni was the interim defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys when UConn hired him as head coach. Dallas Cowboys to UConn should have been a big deal. A boon to recruiting.

Instead of making a big deal out of it, Hathaway let P. get branded as the retread Syracuse failure.

 

[huskyrob1]

Umass had the same record as UConn (again based on Massey) but UConn played the tougher schedule. Would suggest teams are pretty similar in skill and if anything UConn is better but does not point to Umass being better.

Did any of the UMass losses hinge on one field goal or a missed PAT? Like Tarbutt, but UConn could've very well been 5-7 last year and 4-4 in the conference had it not been for Tarbutt's butterflies.

 

[uconndogs]

Pasqualoni was the interim defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys when UConn hired him as head coach. Dallas Cowboys to UConn should have been a big deal. A boon to recruiting.

Instead of making a big deal out of it, Hathaway let P. get branded as the retread Syracuse failure.

I don’t think P’s recruiting was all that bad. His performace was abysmal and Hathaway’s blunder was hiring him in the first place.

 

[huskyrob1]

I don’t think P’s recruiting was all that bad. His performace was abysmal and Hathaway’s blunder was hiring him in the first place.

Paul Pasqualoni was a good recruiter, no question, but he was stubborn, old school Mr NFL and was IMO was way too focused on stats rather than watching his kids play in games or in practice, particularly with his QB's. You can't judge a kids real potential when your always staring at your clipboard.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Did any of the UMass losses hinge on one field goal or a missed PAT? Like Tarbutt, but UConn could've very well been 5-7 last year and 4-4 in the conference had it not been for Tarbutt's butterflies.

Sort of a good point that gets lost. We should've at least 4-8 beating either ECU or Cincy.

 

[History Geek]

Sort of a good point that gets lost. We should've at least 4-8 beating either ECU or Cincy.

On the flip side all three of our wins were close games. Weren't that far from a winless season either.

 

[uconnphil2016]

On the flip side all three of our wins were close games. Weren't that far from a winless season either.

You're right. Temple was a pretty big upset statistically, Tulsa obviously could have been lost if not for a great play by Junior Joseph, and I don't even want to talk about Holy Cross.

 

[gopher2]

Did any of the UMass losses hinge on one field goal or a missed PAT? Like Tarbutt, but UConn could've very well been 5-7 last year and 4-4 in the conference had it not been for Tarbutt's butterflies.

UMass lost to Hawaii when they gave up a TD with less than a minute to play. This is a very winnable game at home but it certainly won't be another 37-0 rout.

 

[huskyrob1]

UMass lost to Hawaii when they gave up a TD with less than a minute to play. This is a very winnable game at home but it certainly won't be another 37-0 rout.

Was the TD a fluke play or did Hawaii drive down the field?

 

[gopher2]

Was the TD a fluke play or did Hawaii drive down the field?

Not a fluke play. Hawaii drove about 70 yards in the final minutes and scored on a short pass into the end zone.

 

[Palatine]

This will be UMass Super Bowl. But it shouldn't matter. Unless our defense gets worse.

 

[huskyrob1]

Not a fluke play. Hawaii drove about 70 yards in the final minutes and scored on a short pass into the end zone.

Then Hawaii deserved to lose. UConn's two losses that I pointed out, on the other hand were heartbreakers, we had the momentum in both games, but sadly Tarbutt misses an extra point in one game and a very makeable field goal against East Carolina.

 

[huskyrob1]

This will be UMass Super Bowl. But it shouldn't matter. Unless our defense gets worse.

With the freshman coming in on defense, I think we will see a marked improvement in our DL and linebackers. Also we already have one grad transfer DE coming and are in the mix for a couple others.

 

[Redding Husky]

This thread has me more worried than before I read it.

We need to fast forward to 2019.

 

[History Geek]

With the freshman coming in on defense, I think we will see a marked improvement in our DL and linebackers. Also we already have one grad transfer DE coming and are in the mix for a couple others.

The incoming freshmen may in the end be better than what we have now, but they are still freshmen with a lot of learning and development to do. If we are playing a lot of freshmen next year it is going to be another long one. As long as they show signs of being good in 2019 and beyond I could live with that.

 

[Waquoit]

Now seems like a good time to remind everybody that in the best season ever for UMass football they lost to UConn twice.

 

[noeynox]

Pasqualoni was the interim defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys when UConn hired him as head coach. Dallas Cowboys to UConn should have been a big deal. A boon to recruiting.

Instead of making a big deal out of it, Hathaway let P. get branded as the retread Syracuse failure.

Branding? Results matter. The fact that he was hell bent on the handing the reigns to Deleone pretty much showed he was never going to succeed here regardless of branding.

 

[06029]

This will be UMass Super Bowl. But it shouldn't matter. Unless our defense gets worse.

You are so right. This will be their super bowl and way bigger than their game with BYU, or BC, or UGA. Playing a regional opponent with 6 wins over the last two seasons is way more important to their program than playing the runner up in the national championship game in 2017.

I say this game will matter way more to Uconn than UMass when it is played.

 

[gopher2]

Now seems like a good time remind everybody that in the best season ever for UMass football they lost to UConn twice.

I believe they had Marcel Shipp, a future NFL running back on their roster. How we pulled off even 1 win against them that year still amazes me, let alone 2.

 

[auggie22]

You are so right. This will be their super bowl and way bigger than their game with BYU, or BC, or UGA. Playing a regional opponent with 6 wins over the last two seasons is way more important to their program than playing the runner up in the national championship game in 2017.

I say this game will matter way more to Uconn than UMass when it is played.

I bet the attendance for this game will suggest otherwise.

 

[gtcam]

Tl;dr

Yeah, I'm buying that!

 

[Waquoit]

I believe they had Marcel Shipp, a future NFL running back on their roster. How we pulled off even 1 win against them that year still amazes me, let alone 2.

UConn was a better team.

 

[gopher2]

UConn was a better team.

I looked it up and actually we were better than I remembered. That was the year we made the I-AA playoffs for the first time and won a playoff game before losing by 22 to Georgia Southern in the second round. UMass won 4 playoff games including the I-AA NC game against Georgia Southern.

 

[whaler11]

Now seems like a good time to remind everybody that in the best season ever for UMass football they lost to UConn twice.

Too bad we don’t have Shane Stafford this year.