program decline a long time coming

[tduconn]

Does anyone remember preseason predictions by "talking heads"?

Rabid fans (me included) responded to one last place predictions with commentary "how could we be worse than Temple, SMU, Tulane, Army, USF etc., etc" The kindest preseason prediction was somewhere in the middle of the lower half of the conference. And that was even with the hype and resumes of BD and the assistants.......well before August practices.

From RE to present the recruiting classes, for the most part, have not been very highly regarded in and outside of whatever conference UCFB belonged. I don't think any of the opposing coaches, throughout the history of the program, predicted UConn to finish near the top.

Yes, some players made it to the NFL, but I don't think any are household names outside of UConn territory, or will make NFL Hall of Fame.

I don't care who the coach is within UConn or other programs, history has proven that very seldom has any program whose players basically "diamonds in the rough" or "under the radar" with few or no other offers from any other school become a BCS powerhouse, or at least a consistently competitive program.

I had high expectations from BD........but even at that most of his recruit competition comes from mediocre 1-aa/FCS teams. I seriously wonder that with the success of our "prized" recruits this Fall will even get a "last second" interest from programs of note.

Our first "Parade All American" is a big fumble machine.

There may be talent on the roster, but I'm beginning to wonder if any of it can be coached up to performing beyond a 1-aa level of play....if even that.

I think UConn's 1987 1-aa team could beat this team.

For the first time in over 40 years, it is really going to be a struggle for me to look forward to the next season because there is very few players that will be back next year that show a mountain of promise.

Heck, even now HCBD hints that Tim Boyle may not be a lock as next years QB. Outside of the experienced he gained the last two years, the other QB;s have zero or very little experience on the BCS level.

I hope season tickets are offered at bargain prices.

 

[businesslawyer]

If you insist on a dichotomy between teams that are in and around the Top 20 every year and everyone else, and the dichotomy between NFL hall of famers and everyone else (where to people get this crap), then you are dead on correct, we have always sucked and never recruited well enough. And, if that is your test, WE NEVER WILL SO GO AWAY.

For those of us sane enough to realize that we recruited well enough to be competitive in the Big East more years than not, there is a long, long fall from where we were to were we are, and that the world is entirely different now than it was eight years ago.

 

[uconnfan68]

There may be talent on the roster, but I'm beginning to wonder if any of it can be coached up to performing beyond a 1-aa level of play....if even that.

There are a number of talented kids, some only freshmen now, that will be much better in a year or two. I see another Reyes in Fatukasi. We need to start getting hungry high-IQ football players, and stop worrying about NFL prototypical size as the prime indicator.

 

[ZooCougar]

Which is why we need to stop hiring these coaches who think the only way to win is by running between the tackles and getting "innovative" with the wildcat.

If you're a small program and you want to get disruptive then you need a leader who will say "damn the torpedoes" and fight this challenge a little differently. The same old... Will only yield the same results.

Wacky Bob has some unconventional ideas, but they are all the wrong places. On the field, he is as old fashioned and conventional as it gets.

 

[rich1122]

With Casey we win a few more games - maybe 2 or 3. Once he was out of the picture, then this became throw the young guys to the lions and give them snaps. Freshman at RB. The entire DB's were underclassmen. I think that they had the playlist and really could not have cared. Everything revolved around what we would do in the future as opposed to winning the game. Will it pay off? We will see.

 

[huskysupporter]

For those of us sane enough to realize that we recruited well enough to be competitive in the Big East more years than not, there is a long, long fall from where we were to were we are, and that the world is entirely different now than it was eight years ago.

I just don't understand people who need to have highly rated preseason recruiting rankings. Makes zero sense. Look at classes after they have performed for their teams. I don't care about recruits preseason star rating.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

The team has a decline, but what would it be if Casey could have played? Do you think with would have a few more wins?

 

[B1GEast]

decline? it's year one for diaco, I know it's ugly but sheesh

 

[businesslawyer]

The team has a decline, but what would it be if Casey could have played? Do you think with would have a few more wins?

Obviously there is no way to know this. But someone guessing we could have beaten USF, Tulane, Army and SMU with CC would be rational.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The decline after Edsall left wasn't in recruiting rankings (I believe that the arbitrary stars given by overweight, middle aged bloggers who hand those out to kids they've never seen live were better for P's classes than any of RE's), it was in development of players after they ended up on campus. This was without question the strongest part of what Edsall did while it was something P had little use for.