Ryan Dickens Article Critical of UConn Football | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Ryan Dickens Article Critical of UConn Football

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Go_Huskies said:
Edsall was wrong to do this because he told him his scholarship was safe.

"Edsall called on New Year’s Day to assure Dickens the school still wanted him and his scholarship was safe, his parents said."

Then he sent his lb coach to NJ tell him he still had a scholarship

"UConn linebackers coach Jon Wholley even met with Dickens at Raritan Thursday to talk about signing day and his upcoming visit to UConn on Jan. 20"

and then three days later he tells him he doesn't have a scholarship.

Once you give your word you keep it. Period. End of story.
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Well, this team has sucked for 6 years. The staff must have received word that fewer kids are leaving this winter due the usual attrition and we could not afford to miss out on superior talent we could otherwise secure with the approx 10-12 scholarships we have left. Its a numbers game and it must be mapping out that we are coming up short of seats for kids we actually want.
 
huskymedic said:
Wonder if i comes up ;)
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Most likely since Bullhorn Gresh is a URI alum. Though highly unlikely, I hope that any discussion of the subject is balanced. HCRE is tasked with putting the football house in order. As such, it is imperative that he & his staff evaluate & select the players that best fit his system.
 
Agree with above.
This happens more often than not.
Harbaugh, Meyer, Saban and every other coach (business owner or CEO) move in direction best suited for their program. Substitute "business " for program.
No different.

Best for all concerned to go in a different direction if CEO makes the decision.

For those that feel it is bad, you need a mourning room. Grow up.
 
We only have one side of the story, but imho, Edsall should have honored the offer. Right thing to do and we can't withstand the potential negative PR on the recruiting front.

That all said, this further supports my fears that Diaco had not a clue what he was doing on the recruiting front.
 
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Colt house75 said:
Agree with above.
This happens more often than not.
Harbaugh, Meyer, Saban and every other coach (business owner or CEO) move in direction best suited for their program. Substitute "business " for program.
No different.

Best for all concerned to go in a different direction if CEO makes the decision.

For those that feel it is bad, you need a mourning room. Grow up.
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The liberal NE media would be astonished at how often those coaches have 3* kids committed for 2 years, only to pull the offer week before signing day when a 4-5* kid at that spots all of the sudden wants in.
 
Everyone stop. Keep it all in perspective. The DC wasn't hired during initial Edsall call and Wholley visit. Now all I read, the just announced hire of the DC runs a 3-3-5 defense. High likelihood that the kid didn't fit it. Its sad for the kid, but he probably didn't fit the scheme and in turn would be viewed as a wasted scholarship. There is still time for him. I am more concerned that the only school that has called is URI. How good of an FBS level player is he?
 
uconndogs said:
We only have one side of the story, but imho, Edsall should have honored the offer. Right thing to do and we can't withstand the potential negative PR on the recruiting front.

That all said, this further supports my fears that Diaco had not a clue what he was doing on the recruiting front.
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I give a -ish about winning, not meaningless PR that no one even cares about. This story will be seen by hundreds of people, at best.
 
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What are we gonna do here? Flog ourselves for working within the system to implement the change of course we spent millions to affect? These coaches will own the results of every player on the team 2-3 years from now even before they are seniors along with the guys they inherited. We need to use good judgement but this disaster wasn't created by the guys now charged with fixing it.
 
Excalibur said:
It's probably been seen by hundreds of thousands given the retweets by Olney and Feldman.
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Add in Thamel:

Pete Thamel ‏@SIPeteThamel 57m 57 minutes ago
Pete Thamel Retweeted NJ.com HS Sports
Recruiting is a cold world. Hope this kid lands somewhere soon.


It's a slow college football news week - Besides Oregon's issues it's a "juicy" story.
 
Jax Husky said:
I give a -ish about winning, not meaningless PR that no one even cares about. This story will be seen by hundreds of people, at best.
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Fine, I wasn't being literal anyway. What I mean is, that this story will be gone by tomorrow or the next day, and no one will care (outside of this kids family and local community). In the grand scheme of things, this is far from a serious PR issue.

Taggert just had his whole football team go to the hospital with life threatining illness due to overworking them. THAT is a potential PR nightmare, not this.
 
Jimdish255 said:
What are we gonna do here? Flog ourselves for working within the system to implement the change of course we spent millions to affect? These coaches will own the results of every player on the team 2-3 years from now even before they are seniors along with the guys they inherited. We need to use good judgement but this disaster wasn't created by the guys now charged with fixing it.
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I generally agree with this. If true that we are rescinding as many as 5 offers than Edsall sees the issue as systemic (unbalanced roster and talent gaps).

That said, it truly sucks.
 
Jax Husky said:
I give a -ish about winning, not meaningless PR that no one even cares about. This story will be seen by hundreds of people, at best.
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...and it will be yesterday's news. No feelings for anybody caught in this real world scenario. Tough.
This is an extension in kumbaya, touchy feely everybody gets a trophy.

Time to lock this thread and move on...
 
huskymedic said:
Add in Thamel:

Pete Thamel ‏@SIPeteThamel 57m 57 minutes ago
Pete Thamel Retweeted NJ.com HS Sports
Recruiting is a cold world. Hope this kid lands somewhere soon.


It's a slow college football news week - Besides Oregon's issues it's a "juicy" story.
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Any chance this gets to pile on UConn he does @huskymedic . Anyplace else other than UConn that hired a guy like Lashlee he would have been all over it saying how great a hire it was and what a steal it was.
 
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If the kid was fantastic we all know that Rutgers would have been after him. Just another indication of how bad Diaco was as a head coach. Going after kids that should be playing at URI or Cornell level. This also shows that Edsall is doing his job. We need to be recruiting nationwide -- not just in CT or a nearby state -- and looking for players that meet the coach's and team's needs. Looking good Randy!
 
I still think this was a favor to the family or something, someone knew someone who knows someone

Look at the picture of the kid, he looks smaller than the kickers

Jimmy Serrano said:
This is on Diaco for offering kids who were clearly FCS level players.

Diaco.
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Over the course of the last few months, as various verbal commitments were announced, there were those on the 'Yard who lamented Diaco & Co. targeting FCS caliber players for an FBS program. HCRE & his staff are trying to correct this strategy & NOW 'Yarders are griping about not honoring commitments made by the previous regime? Slow off season. Can't wait for National Signing Day & then Spring Practice to actually have material to comment about.
 
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businesslawyer said:
This was not how Edsall did things the first time around, and we're only hearing (and can only hear since Edsall can't comment) one side of the story. It's quite possible Edsall was far more non-committal on the first call and the young man heard what he wanted to hear.
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This is also a 1st for Edsall at UConn. He is walking into a situation where there are kids committed who may not be a fit for his program.

The board should probably tread lightly and not be to hard on the kid and his parents. They are definitely getting the worst end of this at the moment. We will survive a little bad press over this.
 
noeynox said:
This is also a 1st for Edsall at UConn. He is walking into a situation where there are kids committed who may not be a fit for his program.

The board should probably tread lightly and not be to hard on the kid and his parents. They are definitely getting the worst end of this at the moment. We will survive a little bad press over this.
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I feel very badly for the kid and his parents -- the system sucks and he fell victim to it. But it's a system flaw -- UConn did not do anything that many, and probably most, other schools don't do in the same circumstances. And, as I said, I truly doubt Edsall flat out lied to the kid, especially as there really wasn't any reason to.
 
businesslawyer said:
I feel very badly for the kid and his parents -- the system sucks and he fell victim to it. But it's a system flaw -- UConn did not do anything that many, and probably most, other schools don't do in the same circumstances. And, as I said, I truly doubt Edsall flat out lied to the kid, especially as there really wasn't any reason to.
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Early signing periods would fix a lot of this crap. Both coaches and recruits have been asking, but the NCAA has bigger fish to fry going after secondary violations at no name schools.
 
Let's look at this objectively for a second. Even though he was 6'2" 210+ lbs I clearly remember the 40 time on Ryan Mickens being listed as 4.9. I questioned it and was crucified pretty good here for mentioning that 4.9 for a D-1 LB was too slow. When Diaco offered him I figured it was as a LS..which wouldn't be out of the ordinary given his size/speed, but it seems he was offered as a LB. Now Crocker comes in as DC and his system utilizes LB's that attack...when you compare 4.9 40 speed to kids like Diggs, Joseph and Levenberry it doesn't even come close. This issue is a microcosm of what recruiting had boiled down to for Diaco...signing kids that who were serviceable at the FCS level but not in the AAC.
Now for the fallout/ramifications for this move: cross Raritan HS off the recruiting list. Although as my friend said to me earlier..even though Raritan draws from a large town most of the talent goes to the private catholic schools like Red Bank Catholic, St John Vianney and Mater Dei Prep.
 
I am interested in hearing Edsall's take on this. I'm guessing it will be something like:

"That's always a tough phone to call to make. I felt bad for Ryan. He is a fine young man and he was looking forward being a Husky. But when we looked at the things we feel we need to do at Connecticut to be successful on the field, Ryan was not going to be a good fit. It would be unfair at that point to have him come down here when we really didn't have a place for him to help us. So we wanted to give him as much notice as we could so that he could find a place to succeed. I've heard that URI has made him an offer, so he is in a good place. As I said, he is good kid and I wish him nothing but best in his college career."​
 
I guess UConn is the new whipping-boy for this kind of transgression. Nevermind all the other big time programs that have done this just days before Signing Day, probably since the beginning of the sport.
 
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