Perspective: The school that realignment left behind: Inside UConn football's collapse...and the origins of Jackson Mitchell's commitment to UConn...

[jrg23]

Adelson: How UConn football became the biggest loser in realignment

In the 10 years since playing Oklahoma in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, UConn has become the poster child for conference realignment's losers. Can the Huskies find their way back to college football relevancy?

www.espn.com

What a difference great leadership, belief, and incredibly hard work (and 12 months) make...some meaningful quotes from this 11/12/21 article (e.g., the UConn football obituary):

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Now the next head coach is in place. UConn announced Thursday that it had hired Jim Mora, who last coached at UCLA in 2017 and has previous stops in the NFL as the head coach in Atlanta and Seattle. Though Mora has no ties to the Northeast, Benedict said in a statement announcing the hire that Mora was a proven winner "and he possesses the experience and the energy to lead our football program back to success. Jim is excited and undaunted by this challenge, and we both know that this program has great potential."

Everyone inside the program believes the right coach, with the right fit and temperament, can get the job done -- especially the players, who say they have bonded together through the adversity they have faced over the last two years. Players say interim coach Lou Spanos has helped change the mentality and is someone they have rallied around.

Though Benedict does not paint the new coaching hire as make or break, others do.
For his part, Benedict is focused on doing everything he can to help the new head coach win, sooner rather than later. "We're going to have success," Benedict said. "So when we win, people will be happy again, and those types of comments or conversations will stop."

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My story...I'm new to this Board, but let me tell you I've been a die-hard fan since 2003 listening on the radio whenever possible to Danny O pioneering the program. I've lived in CT a couple of times over the years and when I did I attended every single game. When I wasn't living in CT I watched every single game on TV, good season or bad. As unexpected as the 2011 Fiesta Bowl was (which I attended), the 2022 UCFB team has significantly more enjoyable to root for (thank you JM). I'll be at West Point on Saturday, look forward to seeing all of you that will be attending. Go Huskies!

 

[Palatine]

What a crock, the ACC presidents wanted to avoid controvesy or scandal so they picked L'ville over UConn? LOL.

 

[uconnfan68]

At least Diaco owned his part.

 

[Alum1620]

At least Diaco owned his part.

While they played off Edsall’s and of course they were never going to talk about the part they played in denying us while being in the same state

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I liked the "maybe we were a little complacent" comment by Toscano.

The school's leadership should have been more committed than they were a decade and a half ago if there wasn't any ground shaking.

 

[ctkaiser]

At least Diaco owned his part.

He did. Hathaway was horrible. A boy in an adult's job. In way over his head.

 

[Ldandy]

Credit to Diaco for not making excuses and simply stating that it was on him that they didn't win enough games. He gained a modicum of respect from me for doing that. Edsall in typical Randy fashion accepted no blame for his burial of the program over the last few years. He couldn't even be bothered to answer the phone. Dude is a loser plain and simple regardless of his early success.

The other thing that was galling to me when reading this article, was the absolute hypocrisy of an ESPN Staff Writer pontificating on Uconn's Fall as a program without acknowledging that their company's actions were reason 1, 2, 3-100 why Uconn finds itself in the position that it currently does.

They could have kept the Big East whole and countered with a better offer. They didn't because they knew all along that it made better financial sense to overpay a few new programs in The ACC and Big 12 while grossly underpaying the remainder of the schools with no other options than joining low paying G5 Conferences.

 

[Rocktheworld]

He did. Hathaway was horrible. A boy in an adult's job. In way over his head.

It will never cease to puzzle me that that guy ever stumbled into an AD office, let alone reach the top, let alone do so at a state university with a serious athletic pedigree