Rhett Lashlee Gone -- OC at SMU

[Waquoit]

The basketball team is holding football back. What was once a proud program has turned into a National laughingstock.

How does a comment like this get any likes? I know what you are going for but it doesn't make any sense, not even ironically.

 

[Pudge]

Pudge We go way back on the Yard so I ask this with the utmost respect. Do you see a better:
1. QB on the roster
2. RB on the roster
3. LBs on the roster
4. NT on the roster
5. DE on the roster
than what we had last year?

I do not. Sorry. I don't . 6 years lost in the wilderness with tweedle dee and cranberry pants coming home to roost next year unfortunately

I am optimistic. This is my entertainment - after all.

I think we could have our greatest QB since Orlovsky. And I liked Shirreffs. Doesn’t matter if it’s Washington or Krajewski or whomever. It ain’t gonna be a McEntee. We haven’t been world beaters. But I am enthused by the position on our roster.

I loved Newsome. But I think Edsall always had 3 or 4 solid RBS. I expect to return there. Who? I dunno. But I expect good solid prospects to walk through February.

WRs - the best we’ve had in depth seemed to be 2003 or so. I think we have lots of good kids now. 2018 could be our best. (Not sure why we’ve deemphasized TE; we can definitely recruit these guys)

OLine has to be far better. We sunk low. I want Peart and Ven Demark to be world beaters.

D?

Not to denigrate Joseph and Vontae. We have had far better Linebacker Corp. We can recruit to that. And be far better. Now? The answer is that you cannot do this in one class. I like what I see coming.

DE? Wow. The next great speed guy ain’t there. It’s got to get better.

NT? High hopes for Travis.

DB? I dunno. I think there’s lots of good prospects. And that should be the start.

————————

There’s only one answer. HCRE is far better at managing a roster in the Northeast than PP or BD. We will see this by Spring.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Pretty sure the sales tax in Texas is less than the sales tax in either in Connecticut or Indiana.

While you may be pretty sure, it is an incorrect assumption.
Sales Tax: TX 8.0% (Dallas 8.25%) > IN 7.0% > CT 6.35%

Combined with Texas' relatively high property taxes and likely similar cost of living near Storrs versus highly affluent Highland Park (SMU) and nearby high-end north Dallas communities, Texas, you wouldn't be the first person to naively leap to an assumption no state income tax absolutely equates to paying lower total combined taxes. Regardless, Lashlee should fare OK with a possible income bump and potential overall COL decrease (depends on where he lived near Storrs).

 

[Nostical]

How does a comment like this get any likes? It doesn't make any sense, not even ironically.

It actually does make sense. It used to be that whenever UConn was mentioned as a candidate for CR and our football was dismissed as being disqualifying we used the argument that although football is down it's now looking more promising --but in the meantime---please factor in our gold plated basketball program. Even I can't make that statement now. In this environment, when UConn's flagship sport isn't paying dividends its easier for other schools to recruit against us in football. "UConn is dropping off the athletic radar screen, come play for us"

 

[UConnRock]

While you may be pretty sure, it is an incorrect assumption.
Sales Tax: TX 8.0% (Dallas 8.25%) > IN 7.0% > CT 6.35%

Combined with Texas' relatively high property taxes and likely similar cost of living near Storrs versus highly affluent Highland Park (SMU) and nearby high-end north Dallas communities, Texas, you wouldn't be the first person to naively leap to an assumption no state income tax absolutely equates to paying lower total combined taxes. Regardless, Lashlee should fare OK with a possible income bump and potential overall COL decrease (depends on where he lived near Storrs).

It is more than just money. There is a lifestyle and a mentality to living in the south that is not understood unless you truly experience it for several years. I moved to the Nashville area almost 15 years ago from CT. Living in a vibrant, growing and positive business environment is something that I was not accustomed to. Truthfully it took a few years to shake the cautious/pessimistic approach that had been drilled into me with New England life since birth. "Why are people so friendly?" "What do they want from me?" "Should I upgrade my house because the market is sure to crash"

I wouldn't ever want to live in Alabama, Memphis, or some of the rural south, but the medium-to-large city south with the continued influx of highly educated people from all across the nation creates an incredible vibe (and regrettably the traffic issues) . In fact, when Lashlee took the job and I saw that he had a southern wife and 2 sets of twins, I immediately knew it would be a short-term stay. One year was too short though.

 

[Skiblets]

It is more than just money. There is a lifestyle and a mentality to living in the south that is not understood unless you truly experience it for several years. I moved to the Nashville area almost 15 years ago from CT. Living in a vibrant, growing and positive business environment is something that I was not accustomed to. Truthfully it took a few years to shake the cautious/pessimistic approach that had been drilled into me with New England life since birth. "Why are people so friendly?" "What do they want from me?" "Should I upgrade my house because the market is sure to crash"

I wouldn't ever want to live in Alabama, Memphis, or some of the rural south, but the medium-to-large city south with the continued influx of highly educated people from all across the nation creates an incredible vibe (and regrettably the traffic issues) . In fact, when Lashlee took the job and I saw that he had a southern wife and 2 sets of twins, I immediately knew it would be a short-term stay. One year was too short though.

There is something to be said about working in an pro-business area where you're not worried about the next crash.. Couldn't agree more with how it takes some time to shake that CT feeling once you move

 

[J187Money]

I love Orlavsky as much as the next guy. He's a UCONN legend, but there's no way he should be given even a look at OC. He has zero coaching experience whatsoever at any level of football and doesn't he not even have his master's yet? So I don't think he can at all right now

I'd love him as a QB coach. See how he does from there.

 

[J187Money]

It is more than just money. There is a lifestyle and a mentality to living in the south that is not understood unless you truly experience it for several years. I moved to the Nashville area almost 15 years ago from CT. Living in a vibrant, growing and positive business environment is something that I was not accustomed to. Truthfully it took a few years to shake the cautious/pessimistic approach that had been drilled into me with New England life since birth. "Why are people so friendly?" "What do they want from me?" "Should I upgrade my house because the market is sure to crash"

I wouldn't ever want to live in Alabama, Memphis, or some of the rural south, but the medium-to-large city south with the continued influx of highly educated people from all across the nation creates an incredible vibe (and regrettably the traffic issues) . In fact, when Lashlee took the job and I saw that he had a southern wife and 2 sets of twins, I immediately knew it would be a short-term stay. One year was too short though.

Exactly. I spend a lot of time in TX for work. More time I spend down here the more I like it. I would absolutely pick up and move out of CT and head south, and I have spent my whole life in the MW/NE.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

How does a comment like this get any likes? I know what you are going for but it doesn't make any sense, not even ironically.

Because people have a sense of humor?

 

[#1 PA Husky Fan]

This is a sign to kill the football program. Come on UConn let's move them down to 1-AA and get the basketball program back to the Big East.

Oh ya. It’s football that is driving the ineptness of the basketball program. There are AAC basketball teams that are doing very well. As a fan of both programs, it saddens me to say that MBB is embarrassingly bad and may not have bottomed yet. Football has at least bottomed, and giving signs of hope for the future. The AAC is not an excuse for us, but an opportunity in what is proving to be a pretty good conference.

 

[blue93]

Oh ya. It’s football that is driving the ineptness of the basketball program. There are AAC basketball teams that are doing very well. As a fan of both programs, it saddens me to say that MBB is embarrassingly bad and may not have bottomed yet. Football has at least bottomed, and giving signs of hope for the future. The AAC is not an excuse for us, but an opportunity in what is proving to be a pretty good conference.

The conference excuse is getting so old. If the conference is so bad, we should be crushing it. If we were winning, nobody would want to be in the Big East.

 

[UConnNick]

To me it's no surprise that Lashlee's leaving after one year for the reasons that have already been mentioned. I didn't see SMU as the landing spot as I thought Sonny Dykes is more of an Air Raid guy. Oh well.

Sonny just got totally outcoached in a bowl game by Skip Holtz.

 

[Irishfan]

While you may be pretty sure, it is an incorrect assumption.
Sales Tax: TX 8.0% (Dallas 8.25%) > IN 7.0% > CT 6.35%

Combined with Texas' relatively high property taxes and likely similar cost of living near Storrs versus highly affluent Highland Park (SMU) and nearby high-end north Dallas communities, Texas, you wouldn't be the first person to naively leap to an assumption no state income tax absolutely equates to paying lower total combined taxes. Regardless, Lashlee should fare OK with a possible income bump and potential overall COL decrease (depends on where he lived near Storrs).

I was in Texas two weeks ago and was charged 6.25%.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Sonny just got totally outcoached in a bowl game by Skip Holtz.

Yeah kind of weird to hop on the Sonny Dykes train

 

[Exit 4]

The conference excuse is getting so old. If the conference is so bad, we should be crushing it. If we were winning, nobody would want to be in the Big East.

Totally agree. Everyone else seems to have success and frankly no one else has more than one r

Yeah kind of weird to hop on the Sonny Dykes train

Yeah, career as HC in FBS is 40-46. SMU went local - hiring a real Texan.

Sonny Dykes - Wikipedia

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

It actually does make sense. It used to be that whenever UConn was mentioned as a candidate for CR and our football was dismissed as being disqualifying we used the argument that although football is down it's now looking more promising --but in the meantime---please factor in our gold plated basketball program. Even I can't make that statement now. In this environment, when UConn's flagship sport isn't paying dividends its easier for other schools to recruit against us in football. "UConn is dropping off the athletic radar screen, come play for us"

The thing is, if CR were to come up again and we had a solid football program that became attractive to the ACC/B10/B12/whoever, it would be VERY easy to say our basketball program suffered due to the AAC and individual coaching situation and that the foundation and reputation is very much in place for the program to flourish in said P5 conference. Our argument there wouldn't be "Give us a chance, we'll finally make our BB team respectable!" as it has been in the past with football. Instead, it'd be a very believable, "With P5 $ to pay the right coach, our existing facilities and brand name to recruit on, you'll be getting the UConn basketball programs you know." The key here still is, the football program would have to be at a level where it's not a joke. I fully believe if you flipped the name on this season's 12-0 record from UCF to UConn, there would be rumblings from the ACC or B10. The ONLY P5 checkbox UConn doesn't fill is the biggest one, the football program's success. Every other one is there - multiple dominant non-FB athletic teams, quality academic profile, large public school, top-quality practice facilities, demonstrable attendance (when we aren't playing ECU and Tulane every night), and DMA location.

Randy has us on the right track to dig out of the enormous hole P/BD drove us into. Whether he can get us beyond the "nice little 7-5 AAC program" status remains to be seen.

 

[huskyrob1]

Jerry kill got 600k as OC. RL decided to give it a whirl and maybe Ash passed when he realized Rhett would be a one year guy again.

Anybody named Rhett ultimately wants a head coaching job south of the Mason-Dixon line. Ash knew anything up north would be a pit stop.

 

[Exit 4]

Next year we have SMU at home. Rhett's move to SMU makes it the featured home conf match up for next year. Can't wait for the Rhett Bowl at the Rent!

* American home games: UCF, Cincinnati, SMU, Temple
* American road games: East Carolina, Memphis, USF, Tulsa

 

[rich1122]

Next year we have SMU at home. Rhett's move to SMU makes it the featured home conf match up for next year. Can't wait for the Rhett Bowl at the Rent!

* American home games: UCF, Cincinnati, SMU, Temple
* American road games: East Carolina, Memphis, USF, Tulsa

The conference excuse is getting so old. If the conference is so bad, we should be crushing it. If we were winning, nobody would want to be in the Big East.

Maybe football is done no matter what. We can’t get 20k to sit through a game. Maybe we head to the BigEast for hoops and call it a day or become a Boise. Maybe Lashlee figured there is no rescuing it.

 

[whaler11]

I was in Texas two weeks ago and was charged 6.25%.

You looked shifty. It’s 3.0 for everyone else.

 

[UConnNick]

This has nothing to do with football. It’s all about Rhett’s wife. She missed living in the south and yearned to get back there ASAP. Lashlee values his family’s happiness over his job. Can’t fault him for that.

You make a very good point. Many years ago I got a business call at work from a man who worked at a major corp. in Fairfield Co. He had just moved to CT eight months earlier from Iowa. When I told him I had lived in CT, he proceeded to spend 45 minutes on the phone with a total stranger he'd never talked to before, telling me how miserable his wife and family were living there. They had made no friends and his wife wanted to go back to Iowa. I am not exaggerating when I say this guy was pouring his heart out to me.

I think I may have related this conversation to my mother around that time. We too moved to CT from another state when we were still kids. She proceeded to tell me that in all the time we'd lived there, which by then was well over 20 years, she had never felt welcomed or found it easy to make new friends with anybody. I wasn't at all shocked, but was somewhat surprised that she had never said anything about it to me before then. She complained that people from CT were very clannish and at least back then, most of them had a huge family living within close proximity of one another. All their time was taken up with family activities. It was probably easier for us kids to make new friends there than it was for adults at that time. It gets worse the further north you go in New England. Unless you're fifth generation born and raised from there, you don't fit in. Looking back on it, what she said made perfect sense. Most of my parents' close friends were people my father worked with who had all moved to CT from other states, just like we had, because the company my father worked for moved to CT.

I can totally understand anybody moving to CT from other states or parts of the country feeling the exact same way my parents and some others did. Times have changed but maybe not all that much.

 

[businesslawyer]

Does respect = not thinking I can do better at offensive coordinator?

I didn't say he should be our OC. But it sounded like you were scoffing at what he accomplished here, and I don't think turning an 0-9 team around even against poor opposition is any small thing. I would have no problem if he ended up as our OC. If Edsall likes someone else better, great.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Maybe football is done no matter what. We can’t get 20k to sit through a game. Maybe we head to the BigEast for hoops and call it a day or become a Boise. Maybe Lashlee figured there is no rescuing it.

Why do you even post in the football forum?

If you're doing it for laughs, there has to be a better means for amusement. If you just want to show your disdain for the football program, we understood that fully years ago.

 

[whaler11]

I didn't say he should be our OC. But it sounded like you were scoffing at what he accomplished here, and I don't think turning an 0-9 team around even against poor opposition is any small thing. I would have no problem if he ended up as our OC. If Edsall likes someone else better, great.

When an 0-9 team plays a 1-8 and 2-9 team - it pretty much boils down to someone has to win.

I guess it wouldn’t be the end of the world but why do we have to fish from the unemployed pool?

Clearly other schools weren’t blow away with wins over Temple, Memphis and Rutgers after 5 straight losses.

 

[Skiblets]

The thing about Lashlee leaving....why buy the big house if not staying for more than one year? Something stinks here...