Reading the SU board

[UConnDan97]

Allow me to chime in, since I normally can't help myself. Let me preface everything I'm about to type by saying that I have no doubt whatsoever that everyone on this board (BC trolls excluded) love the Huskies and want the absolute best for them. For that, I applaud and respect you all. Here goes:

1) For Those Who Like to Bash Edsall - Edsall did some extremely impressive things during his time here at UConn, as Bizlaw has already pointed out. He took over a playoff-caliber 1-AA team (thanks in part to Skip Holtz) and turned them into a multiple bowl victory, BCS appearance 1-A team. You can qualify it, you can marginalize it, you can do anything else that you would like to it, but at the end of the day, there are plenty of FBS teams that would have stabbed their sister in the back for the decade-plus run that we had under Edsall. The way he left was rotten as hell, but the body of work was exceptional. Period.

2) For Those Who Like to Bash Pasqualoni - Pasqualoni did some extremely impressive things during his time at Syracuse. If you examine the era before him, as well as the era after him, Syracuse is nowhere near what he had them at. You can qualify it, you can marginalize it, but at the end of the day, he turned them into a multiple bowl victory, BCS appearance 1-A team. I don't want to hear about Floyd Little or Jim Brown or the E-Train. The kids PP recruited couldn't spell any one of them, nor did they see any of the black-and-white game tape. They were 18 years old, and they cared about being the next Graves, McNabb, Freeney, and Tebucky Jones (Sr., of course). AND OF COURSE NFL EXPERIENCE MATTERS!!! Some of you crack me up. Any one of us, if having had a multi-year experience at the top company or firm in our profession would have picked up more than a trick or two at what we did for having been there! C'mon!

3) For Those Who Like to Bash Each Other - Always keep in mind (I know some of you do) that we all love UConn. Period. We may have different ideas as to how to get us to the height of Mt. Everest, but we sure as hell all want to be there. And for , why is it that our most popular threads are things with names like "ACC" and "Reading the SU Board"?? It's embarrassing! It should be "UConn kicks others' a$$es yet again" and "I can't believe how other schools cannot be like us". For more on that type of shameless bragging, visit the WVU fansite, where they believe that they have cured cancer (even though they struggle to cure tooth decay....they should have gone to UConn Dentistry!)

Thanks for reading, and GO UCONN!!!

 

[UConnDan97]

Also, sorry if the Breakfast Club ending didn't embed correctly. It was going to make my post "epic"...

 

[CTMike]

Very well said. It won't stop the bickering, but very well said.

 

[UConnDan97]

Very well said. It won't stop the bickering, but very well said.

Not even with a Judd Nelson fist-pump during a song from Simple Minds?? Weird...

 

[whaler11]

No one really bashed PP.

 

[Husky68]

fhcRE's body of work was not exceptional. Never had a year end top 25 team. How can that be exceptional? Didn't say needed a top 10 or top 5 team, just one top 25 finish. How many teams have gotten into a BCS bowl and finished the year unranked? Says more about the BE being bad than fhcRE being exceptional.
If his body of work was exceptional he wouldn't have lasted 'till his dream school came a calling (or just responded to his call).

 

[UConnDan97]

How many teams have gotten into a BCS bowl and finished the year unranked?

You could have stopped the sentence at "How many teams have gotten into a BCS bowl." Once you've answered that question, you might wish to reconsider your post. Or don't. Whatever. I've spoken my peace in my aforementioned epic post. (Don't you.....forget about me....don't don't don't don't....)

 

[husky10]

fhcRE's body of work was not exceptional. Never had a year end top 25 team. How can that be exceptional? Didn't say needed a top 10 or top 5 team, just one top 25 finish. How many teams have gotten into a BCS bowl and finished the year unranked? Says more about the BE being bad than fhcRE being exceptional.
If his body of work was exceptional he wouldn't have lasted 'till his dream school came a calling (or just responded to his call).

What word do you use to describe what Edsall did at UCONN? Outstanding? Extraordinary? I think you are splitting hairs in this post as to what qualifys as exceptional. To change a program the way he did in such a short amount of time, imo, cannot be called just average.

As to the reason he was passed over for so many other jobs is some of the criticisms that most people on this board have. 1. He never seemed to compete with big time programs for recruits. 2. He never really developed a qb after Dan. 3. The simpleness of his offense. 4. His bend dont break defense. I think many, like myself believed that these attributes showed he had a ceiling on how far he could take a program. I think PP has already shown a better job doing these things and is the reason so many folks here are excited for what lies in store for UCONN football.

 

[businesslawyer]

7 is absolutely reasonable. We'll see how it plays out.

Do you agree that our win total last year had a multitude of causes, including a new system and lack of depth at key positions (such as QB, where we had no one serviceable)? Or is it as simple as UConn = Coach P = 5 Wins = Mediocre Coaching?

I'm not saying he was perfect or the next Bear Bryant, mind you. Just that I think he has the tools and knowledge to succeed here.

Of course there were a multitude of causes. And of course he has enough tools and knowlege that he may succeed. I blame him for giving Vandy away, and somewhat for changing the defense away from what it could have done well. I don't blame the staff last year for the offense at all. I blame lack of playmakers.

For the most part players win and lose games. I have made clear that is my position for years.

 

[UConnDan97]

I shouldn't entertain it further, but to continue on the "Edsall's body of work being exceptional"; in 1999, his first year, we lost 5 games by 25 points or more. The list of teams that dismantled us in such a fashion? Kentucky (okay, not bad), Hofstra (what?), James Madison (huh??), New Hampshire (holy $#it!), and a whopping 42 points to UMass (shoot me now!!). 10 years after the fact, in 2009, we showed that 1-AA teams didn't belong on the same field anymore (beat URI by 42), and beat teams like Baylor (by 12), Notre Dame (in OT), and South Carolina (by 13). Yeah....3 bowl wins and 5 appearances in a decade and two-time co-Big East champion....that's an exceptional body of work.

 

[businesslawyer]

Urban Meyer went 22-2 at Utah with a BCS bowl win - you really want to compare Edsall to Urban Meyer??? I would take Meyer's Utah record over Edsall UCONN record. Honest. Truth be told, I would be happy with 22-2

Are we having a discussion? Or am I just writing things so you can not read them and "respond" with whatever you like. Because I did not compare Edsall to Meyer and I've said every time I make the Meyer point that Edsall is not Urban Meyer.

Seriously -- if you don't care what I'm writing, why waste your time having a discussion?

 

[ZooCougar]

This is Edsall in a nutshell.

1. Terrible Record against the Top 25.

2. Places a huge emphasis on character and values.

3. Slow to take responsibility for results on the field, often deflecting blame to the players.

4. A good gameplanner who can get alot done with a little.

5. Slow to evolve and adapt when the plan isn't working or the conditions changed.

6. Lots of blind spots...

7. Great at developing running backs.

8. Terrible at developing QBs or QBs seem to get worse as time goes by underneath his glare from the sidelines.

---Not a pretty picture overall, but not terrible either. It's not so much that I dislike Edsall so much, as it is that I am so baffled by those here that continue with the worship of his incomplete body of work.

 

[pj]

I think husky10 has it just about perfect. Edsall was in many ways a terrific football coach, probably the perfect coach for helping us through the transition, but he wasn't bringing in talented players consistently and left the team with a big hole at quarterback and no depth at any position. It was only a matter of time before there were too many pieces missing at once and the program had some serious down years. PP has a chance to build the talent and depth levels and enable UConn to play at a higher level. Edsall never got us in the Top 25; PP will, I expect. We shall see. A good year on the field may help bring in some of the talented players considering us and get the program on its way. Pray the offensive line holds together!

 

[whaler11]

I think that Edsall was great for the job at hand. It was a great time for him to go for both parties.

 

[UConnDan97]

This is Edsall in a nutshell.

---Not a pretty picture overall, but not terrible either. It's not so much that I dislike Edsall so much, as it is that I am so baffled by those here that continue with the worship of his incomplete body of work.

Don't be baffled (it's not worship, by the way). I'm baffled that some people think his body of work is incomplete after 11 seasons, but let's just focus on your points:

1. Terrible Record against the Top 25. Most do. That's why they are the Top 25.

2. Places a huge emphasis on character and values. And....that's bad?

3. Slow to take responsibility for results on the field, often deflecting blame to the players. Unfortunately, like most coaches do...

4. A good gameplanner who can get alot done with a little. I agree.

5. Slow to evolve and adapt when the plan isn't working or the conditions changed. Unfortunately, like most coaches do. They say, "I'm implementing my system."

6. Lots of blind spots... ??

7. Great at developing running backs.
8. Terrible at developing QBs or QBs seem to get worse as time goes by underneath his glare from the sidelines. So few coaches are good at both. I would just argue that he wasn't very good at recruiting good QB's with the exception of Danny O.

So there you have it. My synopsis of your synopsis in a nutshell.

 

[sdhusky]

What word do you use to describe what Edsall did at UCONN? Outstanding? Extraordinary? I think you are splitting hairs in this post as to what qualifys as exceptional. To change a program the way he did in such a short amount of time, imo, cannot be called just average.

As to the reason he was passed over for so many other jobs is some of the criticisms that most people on this board have. 1. He never seemed to compete with big time programs for recruits. 2. He never really developed a qb after Dan. 3. The simpleness of his offense. 4. His bend dont break defense. I think many, like myself believed that these attributes showed he had a ceiling on how far he could take a program. I think PP has already shown a better job doing these things and is the reason so many folks here are excited for what lies in store for UCONN football.

The best you can say about Edsall is that he didn't suck. He could have been Terry Shea or GROB. He wasn't. He walked into a program that was in the process of spending $100 million upgrading to div I and didn't suck. Even after having the facilities built and being in a BCS conference, he never finished higher than 35, he was the epitome of mediocre.

 

[whaler11]

The best you can say about Edsall is that he didn't suck. He could have been Terry Shea or GROB. He wasn't. He walked into a program that was in the process of spending $100 million upgrading to div I and didn't suck. Even after having the facilities built and being in a BCS conference, he never finished higher than 35, he was the epitome of mediocre.

Yes there is no middle ground between Edsall, Shea and Robinson. 4 straight bowls including a BCS game is not really better than 1-10 every year.

 

[CTMike]

I know that duck gets automatically translated "fecundity"... can we set up some way that when someone types "Edsall" they get an automatic 24 hour ban from the Boneyard?

 

[Carl Spackler]

.....a mediocre Yankee Conference (fine, Colonial) team......


I think there's a Big East conference head coach in Florida, and a whole bunch of football coaches around the country, some in the NFL now, some in college at division 1-A, and a whole bunch of players that might take offense to that little piece of this 6 page ridiculousness.

The 1994 recruiting class has the third highest 5 year winning percentage in the 113 year history of uconn football, (behind 1986 #1, and 2007 (#2).....but that mediocre yankee conference program......still owns title to the only 10 win season in history so far. I read somewhere that Blidi has said that the goal now, is to be the first UConn program to win the big east title outright. Awesome goal......got to work for it though.....92 days until college football season starts.


ok.....back to the ridiculousness.

 

[sdhusky]

Yes there is no middle ground between Edsall, Shea and Robinson. 4 straight bowls including a BCS game is not really better than 1-10 every year.

he got to the BCS game, yes. But UCONN was no where near the calibre of a typical BCS team. they went in because the BE sucked just like winning the southwestern conference doesn't make you one of the top 64 NCAA BB teams, but you get to play.

When I hear BCS, I think top 10 type team. That team was more like top 35. BIG difference. Edsall's summit was top 35. Not impressed. But you are right, its better than GROB.

Did Edsall do something amazing? How about Schianno? How about USF? or UCF? or Temple last year? Programs get turned from terrible into mediocre all the time. Big deal.

 

[uconndogs]

We were not terrible, we we NOT in BCS. The programs you reference we're all playing at that level for years (except for USF) and we have outperformed all of them. If you are waiting for PP to take us to a top 10 program on a consistant basis any time soon you are going to be one very unhappy fan.

 

[Pudge]

Did Edsall do something amazing? How about Schianno? How about USF? or UCF? or Temple last year? Programs get turned from terrible into mediocre all the time. Big deal.[/quote]

Then ... with ALL due respect ... I have to say that YOU lack the capacity to understand what Edsall accomplished. I think many of us in the Northeast remember where UConn football was. Edsall did a great job. And, that is also coming from a mutual view that WE got to be a fairly regular top 35/40 Program. We weren't terrible; we were NOWHERE. No recruiting base. Little facilities. No real fanbase. No support. We are talking the building of a complete Infrastructure. Is there like-Program building? Sure (USF ... maybe UCF ... Boise ... NOT RU (different circumstance entirely ... and I am not saying it was easier))

I suppose in your world these things are easy. They aren't. And, I end this with the same stance as others here: We have thankfully moved beyond Edsall to someone with a different set of priorities. Unlike our Observer friend, I see things PP is doing & like what is going on.

 

[CTMike]

*hitting myself for jumping in to this, but oh well*
Sorry, SD - if your goal was Top 10's, or even regular Top 25's, in the timeframe that Edsall (dammit, I just banned myself) had, with the tools that he had - you are smoking some good ish and I'd like a hit. Edsall did a REALLY good job of maximizing the talent on hand, and you don't go from D-II talent to D-I Top 25 talent overnight. There are barely a handful of coaches who would have gotten similar results, all other things being equal. That doesn't make him perfect, or a saint, but he got us farther, and in a shorter amount of time, than almost ANYONE thought was possible when this journey started. To think otherwise is revisionist history. It's much more ridiculous that we didn't flounder.

To ignore where this thing started and immediately start comparing him to every other established program/coach makes zero sense. This was a building project, and He Who Shall Not Be Named built us one fine foundation. We're ready for our next step forward.

Now let's drop this stupid topic.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Few look at a nice house being built and say hey, that a great foundation!

 

[CTMike]

Few look at a nice house being built and say hey, that a great foundation!

 

[Carl Spackler]

[/quote]Then ... with ALL due respect ... I have to say that YOU lack the capacity to understand what Edsall accomplished. I think many of us in the Northeast remember where UConn football was. Edsall did a great job. And, that is also coming from a mutual view that WE got to be a fairly regular top 35/40 Program. We weren't terrible; we were NOWHERE. No recruiting base. Little facilities. No real fanbase. No support. We are talking the building of a complete Infrastructure. Is there like-Program building? Sure (USF ... maybe UCF ... Boise ... NOT RU (different circumstance entirely ... and I am not saying it was easier))

I suppose in your world these things are easy. They aren't. And, I end this with the same stance as others here: We have thankfully moved beyond Edsall to someone with a different set of priorities. Unlike our Observer friend, I see things PP is doing & like what is going on.[/quote]


i agree with most of that, well all of it after the first sentence. The core ticket buying fan base was less than 20,000 people. Significantly less. Facilities made single A baseball look good. When the name that shall result in banning for 24 hours was hired. But to say that the name that shall result in banning for 24 hours accomplished all of that 'infrastructure' change? Nope. I disagree. He had quite a bit of input into the design and architecture of the current facilities. He implemented a plan to build a football program that had his team 9-24 in 3 years....the WORST three year stretch of uconn football since the early 1970 - let that sink in for a second, the guy had the worst 3 year stretch to start his career at uconn - in almost 40 years now, and not ONCE was in danger of losing his job......BECAUSE of all the other stuff that was happening around the football program that he had nothing to do with.....that by 2003....would hand him the hard products that are just now in the past year and a half......being displayed the way it should be and used the way they should be.....in the college football world.

 

[UConnDan97]

Few look at a nice house being built and say hey, that a great foundation!

...until the foundation cracks and they head to the Home Depot to figure out what a "sump pump" is...

 

[sdhusky]

There are barely a handful of coaches who would have gotten similar results, all other things being equal.
Now let's drop this stupid topic.

I don't know. Did UCONN do so much better than USF or UCF or Rutgers or Temple or Navy? They all started from terrible places and had nowhere near the facilities that Edsall got.

I just don't see it. He wasn't a disaster, but I don't think he was special.

 

[jrazz12]

I don't know. Did UCONN do so much better than USF or UCF or Rutgers or Temple or Navy? They all started from terrible places and had nowhere near the facilities that Edsall got.

I just don't see it. He wasn't a disaster, but I don't think he was special.

Are you sure you're a UConn fan?

ALSO, someone please shoot this thread in the head

 

[CTMike]

I don't know. Did UCONN do so much better than USF or UCF or Rutgers or Temple or Navy? They all started from terrible places and had nowhere near the facilities that Edsall got.

I just don't see it. He wasn't a disaster, but I don't think he was special.

USF is a nice story. Comparable bowl wise, but no championships yet. Play it down all you want, but we do have that. We absolutely have grown more in a similar amount of time.
UCF barely registers, but I wish them well.. 2 CUSA championships... I'd argue that our shares of the Big East championships were more significant.
Rutgers is a 143 year train wreck, but kudos for Schiano for getting them respectable again. They are in our peer group, but there is no debating that we have accomplished WAY more in WAY less time than they ever have. And they know it.

Basically, same with Temple and Navy. Not that these teams haven't had some measure of success lately, and good on them. But I'd rather have UConn's last 10 years than any of them.