Silver: Eight Years of Offensive Struggles

[Jimmy Serrano]

I also completely disagree that P recruits haven't seen playing time, and haven't made meaningful impact. About the only place, on the team, that P recruits have NOT yet had meaningful impact, and demonstrated improvement - is at cornerback, running back and offensive line. Cornerback b/c we had two starters that weren't getting displaced, and RB and OL - becuase it takes time to develop those players to be able to play a complete game, and we're returning an entire OL unit and QB and RB's.

Who, other than Whitmer, Norris, and Campenni are the P recruits who have seen meaningful minutes?

 

[ZooCougar]

It's amazing to me because I think we can all agree that if PP gets less than 8 wins this year, he's done, and that its highly unlikely they get to eight wins.

Which is why I never got keeping him around in the first place. You are only delaying the inevitable.

PP isn't a new coach. He is what he is at this point. Every additional season is delaying the potential for a real turnaround by another year.

Enthusiasm for the program is at an ALL TIME LOW. Despite having the best home schedule ever. It's sad, really.

Exactly. Warde had a chance to get ahead of this-at no cost to school apparently. That's unconfirmed, but I believe it.

 

[ZooCougar]

ZooWhiner has a man crush on Edsall now.

No, I still feel the same way about Edsall as before.

You're the one who flip flopped. Nothing you say can be taken seriously. You make John Kerry and Mitt Romney look consistent.

 

[ZooCougar]

One of the funnier Boneyard features is people who killed Edsall now pumping up his accomplishments relative to P.

Who is doing that exactly?

One guy was mediocre (OK, a bit more than that at times) . The other is less than mediocre. The contrast is pretty clear.


There is no pumping up involved.

 

[huskymedic]

Who, other than Whitmer, Norris, and Campenni are the P recruits who have seen meaningful minutes?

Transfers Shakim Phillip and Alex Mateas?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Transfers Shakim Phillip and Alex Mateas?

Forgot about Phillips. Mateas......I wouldn't be boastful of that if I were making the case for P being a good recruiter.

 

[huskymedic]

Forgot about Phillips. Mateas......I wouldn't be boastful of that if I were making the case for P being a good recruiter.

I wasn't making an argument - I answered your question who has seen meaningful minutes Jimmy. Cripes.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I wasn't making an argument - I answered your question who has seen meaningful minutes Jimmy. Cripes.

And I wasn't accusing you of making the argument. Cripes.

 

[huskymedic]

And I wasn't accusing you of making the argument. Cripes.

"I wouldn't be boastful" - How should I have read that?

 

[Carl Spackler]

I could be wrong, but I believe that Andrew Adams, Jefferson Ashiru were not officially UCONN recruits until Pasqualoni closed on them, and Ryan Donohue, Tyler Samra, Bobby Puyol, in addition to Philip, Mateas, and Whitmer and Norris., and I think I'm probably missing more. I'm pretty sure the kid that came from JUCO with Whitmer played big on kick units in 2012 but didn't make the academic cuts as time went on.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

"I wouldn't be boastful" - How should I have read that?

I was referring back to Carl's point. Maybe it's time to just shut down the BY. I'm about done.

 

[huskymedic]

I was referring back to Carl's point. Maybe it's time to just shut down the BY. I'm about done.

Comparative negligence - LOL

 

[Carl Spackler]

Is everybody on the rag around here? Call me when it's over.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[sdhusky]

I was referring back to Carl's point. Maybe it's time to just shut down the BY. I'm about done.

I'm not happy with PP - he hasn't won enough. But there is no guarantee he won't.

His history suggests he will turn it around, but I admit I have serious doubts after watching the past two years.

And he wouldn't be the first coach in history to make a big leap forward from where he started.

Beamer went:
2-9
3-8
6-4
6-5
5-6
2-8-1
before his breakout 9-3 season

At Syracuse, Coach Mac went:
4-6
2-9
6-5
6-5
7-5
5-6 before his breakout 11-0-1 season

Coach K went:
17-13
10-17
11-17

Edsall went 1-6 in the BE in 2006 and won the BE at 5-2 in 2007
He went 3-4 in the BE in 2009 and won the Be with 5-2 in 2010

 

[Srqhusky]

I cannot believe we are talki g about p recruits. The guy has been here for two years. Bananas anyone?

 

[FAIRTIDES]

Carl, I hope you're right. But, keep in mind, very few P recruits have seen meaningful playing time. Even fewer have had an impact. I have no idea if recruiting has improved or not. I'm the type of guy to judge a recruiting class 3 years after they have signed their LOI's.

I've said this before. PP, regardless of record, is done after the coming season. PP and UCONN, at this time, equal "bad fit." But Carl is correct. Recruiting is the single most important issue in college athletics. The leeway to get talent is the first thing the next UCONN coaching candidates are going to ask about.

Going forward, UCONN has to decide what it wants to be football-wise. A recent article on UCONN football and academics noted that "game changer" types had been turned down for admission based on recommendations from athletic department academic coordinators. Really good, ambitious young coaches are not going to take a chance on a place that doesn't allow them to bring in the occasional "game changer." I'm not talking about emptying the prisons or admitting functional illiterates (SEC gets all those guys, anyway). I'm talking about not trying to be the cliche Harvard, Monday through Friday, and LSU or Alabama on Saturday. Rutgers tried that for years, before Schiano. It doesn't work. After RE bolted, one of the reasons given was that increased admission requirements were hurting recruiting. If that's the case, UCONN is in danger of becoming a "Coach Killer U;" a place that no good coach will touch.

Some may disagree. I'm sorry. You can't win without players and not all elite/semi-elite recruits are scholars. Maybe UCONN is in the process of deciding that big-time football just isn't worth sacrificing lofty principles and that allowing the occasional slightly deficient future all-American admission violates those principles. That's fine if the school is up-front and honest about it's intentions. If that's the case, the RENT, Shenkman and Burton combined become a $150 million monument to the State's/School's ignorance.

Damn-it. The Stanford's, UC Berkley's, Michigan's, Texas', Penn State's, all highly-rated academic institutions, get highly-rated recruits. The built-in advantages the above school's have don't have anything to do with a recruit's high school academic performance or test scores. Any UCONN admission requirements more difficult than the above schools make an already difficult recruiting situation impossible as relates to competition against those schools and especially difficult against lower ranking schools.

Again, UCONN has to decide what and where it wants to be, football-wise. Oh, and please don't relate academic performance to "character." I spent too many years downtown working with "high honors" top "B" school grads to believe that.

 

[metsfan2323]

I cannot believe we are talki g about p recruits. The guy has been here for two years. Bananas anyone?

The bulk of P's first recruiting class have been on the campus 10 months.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I've said this before. PP, regardless of record, is done after the coming season. PP and UCONN, at this time, equal "bad fit." But Carl is correct. Recruiting is the single most important issue in college athletics. The leeway to get talent is the first thing the next UCONN coaching candidates are going to ask about.

Going forward, UCONN has to decide what it wants to be football-wise. A recent article on UCONN football and academics noted that "game changer" types had been turned down for admission based on recommendations from athletic department academic coordinators. Really good, ambitious young coaches are not going to take a chance on a place that doesn't allow them to bring in the occasional "game changer." I'm not talking about emptying the prisons or admitting functional illiterates (SEC gets all those guys, anyway). I'm talking about not trying to be the cliche Harvard, Monday through Friday, and LSU or Alabama on Saturday. Rutgers tried that for years, before Schiano. It doesn't work. After RE bolted, one of the reasons given was that increased admission requirements were hurting recruiting. If that's the case, UCONN is in danger of becoming a "Coach Killer U;" a place that no good coach will touch.

Some may disagree. I'm sorry. You can't win without players and not all elite/semi-elite recruits are scholars. Maybe UCONN is in the process of deciding that big-time football just isn't worth sacrificing lofty principles and that allowing the occasional slightly deficient future all-American admission violates those principles. That's fine if the school is up-front and honest about it's intentions. If that's the case, the RENT, Shenkman and Burton combined become a $150 million monument to the State's/School's ignorance.

Damn-it. The Stanford's, UC Berkley's, Michigan's, Texas', Penn State's, all highly-rated academic institutions, get highly-rated recruits. The built-in advantages the above school's have don't have anything to do with a recruit's high school academic performance or test scores. Any UCONN admission requirements more difficult than the above schools make an already difficult recruiting situation impossible as relates to competition against those schools and especially difficult against lower ranking schools.

Again, UCONN has to decide what and where it wants to be, football-wise. Oh, and please don't relate academic performance to "character." I spent too many years downtown working with "high honors" top "B" school grads to believe that.

COmpletely contrary - I think the football program has done very well recruiting wise, and isn't hurt at all by high academic standards, high academic standards are going to be strength when it comes to recruiting for this program, it MUST be, to be able to compete, with Penn State, Notre Dames, etcs...... The problem is that you need poeple that understand the recruiting terrain,for a division 1 nationally relevant football program based in New ENgland, and they are few and far between as the years have gone by.

Pasqualoni's legacy will be his ability to re-establish the recruiting pathways that he built two decades ago,for a program in the middle of upstate new york, taken over from a guy that built a pretty decent football program in Amherst, MA - and have it all transfer to a younger generation of caoches.

The academics issue - the difficutly with recruiting, etc......there's another high profile athletic program at UCONN, wehre that kind of stuff should be focused as a challenge for the future, not football.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

COmpletely contrary - I think the football program has done very well recruiting wise, and isn't hurt at all by high academic standards, high academic standards are going to be strength when it comes to recruiting for this program, it MUST be, to be able to compete, with Penn State, Notre Dames, etcs...... The problem is that you need poeple that understand the recruiting terrain,for a division 1 nationally relevant football program based in New ENgland, and they are few and far between as the years have gone by.

Pasqualoni's legacy will be his ability to re-establish the recruiting pathways that he built two decades ago,for a program in the middle of upstate new york, taken over from a guy that built a pretty decent football program in Amherst, MA - and have it all transfer to a younger generation of caoches.

The academics issue - the difficutly with recruiting, etc......there's another high profile athletic program at UCONN, wehre that kind of stuff should be focused as a challenge for the future, not football.

Carl. we seem to be pretty close in age, and your occasional rants are far less objectionable to me than they seem to others. But, damn man, land your balloon. First, I used something you said about recruiting as a segue to ideas of my own. Next, I'm not advocating admissions anarchy. I'm talking about the ability to compete with public (I know Stanford is private ) institutions of our own ilk. I'm suggesting that we use the same standards for "academic admits" (an Ivy League term, by the way) that other "top 20" public research institutions use.

Right now, exit fees notwithstanding, UCONN is on the verge of realizing approximately $18.0 million less, annually, than schools in the "major" conference with the worst TV deal. There may be more, but I see two possible remedies; either of which might force one of the big fraternities to ask UCONN to pledge. One is to play and win two big-time games a year in NYC, both of which pull NYC area ratings that make the ACC and Big-10 bleed from the ears. The other is to qualify for a big-money bowl every year. Neither of these things are easy. Success at either might force an invite. Worst case, a very successful UCONN might force a reconsideration of the AAC's deal. None can happen without a coach and good players. And please, check results related to the Confederacy and the Japanese empire before using platitudes like spirit, dedication and commitment. Only works when combined with real "stuff."

First and most important, UCONN has to understand it's existing situation. It has to take appropriate steps to remove any and all barriers separating it from the type of football program that allows access to the money tree. Either that, or close Football down and go hat-in-hand back to the Big East. To me, that's the reality.

UCONN is not in an APR, Admissions Standards or graduation rate war. It's in a money war that only realist win.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I'm not sure what your beef is Fairtides. I read that a couple times to try to figure it out, I suppose I wasn't specific enough as to what "contrary" meant.

I think that PP and UCONN at this point in time are absolutely a perfect fit, because of recruiting, and the situation the university finds itself in now with it's entire athletics department, where you start out by saying he's not. I"ve written elsewhere, that establishing a commonality on recruiting rules in this new conference should be very high priority for Warde Manuel, as he speaks with the commissioner.

I think that high academic standards, are a strength, and not a weakness. You simply can't have lazy recruiters for a program like UCONN. Dumb players make dumb mistakes, according to Bill Parcells.

As for going forward you say "UCONN has to decide what it wants to be football-wise." Huh?

Forgive me, but that sounds like yet another UCONN basketball fan, trying to come to grips with the reality of the national intercollegiate athletics landscape where college basketball doesn't really matter that much among the true power brokers. We've already decided what we're going to be, the "deciding" part happened over two decades ago.

You are only limited by what you allow yourself to envision as a goal. That may sound like platitudes of spirit, dedication, commitment, but it is reality. If you cannot set a goal in your mind, and for an organization, as a leader, it can never be achieved. SImple. Our former head coach, and former administration were unable to set goals higher for this university, than what they achieved. YOu are only limited by the goals you set, and time.

I completely understand the reality of the money situation, and how that may affect time to reach those goals. I also know that things like that can change, very, very quickly regarding that, and we've got a 6 year window to work with, in a broadcasting technology world that changes exponentially.

 

[Alum86]

Carl: no way Coach Blue is a fit at this time. Really?
He is driving this formerly upward program into the ground. These players are so confused with his play calling and leadership it is pathetic. We lost all our mojo on Methuselah. Plain and simple. Hathaway's fault, Manuel's perpetuation. Pathetic

 

[ZooCougar]

Carl,

Are you eating mushrooms again? UConn and Pasqualoni are a perfect fit? Do you know something I don't? Are we shutting the football program down?

 

[Carl Spackler]

Carl,

Are you eating mushrooms again? UConn and Pasqualoni are a perfect fit? Do you know something I don't? Are we shutting the football program down?

There are a handful of other coaches still alive, that would be equal or better fits for UCONN right now, but they're all older. Pasqualoni, is the last of a dying breed. A highly successful college football recruiter for a northeast based division 1 football program.

As a member of the Big 10 conference, or the ACC conference, I wouldn't be saying the same thing. But with the way things have turned out, if we want to be able to compete nationally, we need to be able to recruit in ways that are much more in depth and personal, than showing up at kids doorstep wearing the colors they see all over ESPN all day.

It is a perfect fit, because he is one of the only college football head coaches in the country, that is active, and has the ability to transfer what he's built and learned about recruiting for a program in our region of the country, to younger coaches that he brings on staff. It's essential for the pipelines in the northeast,and extended out to the Midwest, and into TExas and florida, to all lead to UCONN.

He's one of the few active head coachs in the country, that have the connections to build it and build it quickly, and he's been doing it. What's more important, is that he's got at most, a decade left, if that, s he's got to develop coaches that can carry it on, in the northeast.

Quick - name all the head coaches that have had success in building a 1A program to national level competition regularly in the northeast in the past 20 years.

It's a short list, and one of them died recently, and the others are all a lot older than P.

Addazio, is the only other one that has a chance, but as long as P is around, he won't be able to.

If you want some of this peyote, just ask, BTW.

 

[ZooCougar]

Good grief.

I am sick of "northeastern" football people. Time for some new ideas. There is a reason why Pasqualoni's breed is dying off.