Silver: Eight Years of Offensive Struggles

[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.

 

[Rumrunner]

Notwithstanding some minor descent into bickering and name-calling, it sure is nice to read actual football talk.

And kudos to Silver and sny for the article. UConn needs a lot more of this kind of writing, even (especially) in May.

 

[whaler11]

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.

Your position is that the best coach UConn could possibly have in 2013 is Paul Pasqualoni.

I don't think most people here realize you are just screwing around with this stuff. They take you seriously.

 

[junglehusky]

Next on SNYUConn.com: Eight years (and counting) of messageboard bickering...

 

[Alum86]

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

Thank you. Blue has lived a charmed life with us using the cover of his recruiting prowess and his relationship with the CT HS FB coaches fraternity of small state mediocrity.
This is all he has, as his play calling and decisions are sooooooo suspect.
Can we really be optimistic after our glorified flag football blue/white scrimmage?

 

[formerlurker]

Thank you. Blue has lived a charmed life with us using the cover of his recruiting prowess and his relationship with the CT HS FB coaches fraternity of small state mediocrity.
This is all he has, as his play calling and decisions are sooooooo suspect.
Can we really be optimistic after our glorified flag football blue/white scrimmage?

How much did you get from a Michigan fan for your tickets?

 

[Carl Spackler]

Your position is that the best coach UConn could possibly have in 2013 is Paul Pasqualoni.

I don't think most people here realize you are just screwing around with this stuff. They take you seriously.

That might be your best post yet, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[ZooCougar]

So Carl is just screwing around? Good.

We are truly blessed to have Ozymandias with us. Or is he Shiva, destroyer of football programs?

 

[TouchdownHusky]

There is a third way.

You actually spend the money and hire coaches that bring cutting edge football ability. If you believe the assumption that we'll never be able to recruit the blue chips then you mitigate that by bringing the very very best.

Keep these three things in mind:

1. The fanbase isn't as "built" as we want or need it. In order to do that you have to entertain. That means offense, so you bring in the best offensive coaching.

2. Assume that these coaches will move on to bigger things after achieving some success. This reality should be embraced. Their success will demonstrate that great things can be done here. It will be easier to lure in the next crew. Cincy demonstrates this every three years.

3. Everyone here agrees that the AAC is not where we want to be. The best way to get out is dominate it.

Under Pasqualoni, we will never dominate this conference. WE ARE WASTING OUR TIME. And a great man once said, "Don't waste your time, or time will waste you."

This really is the blue print that UConn should be following. Make the program exciting for fans.

 

[FAIRTIDES]

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.

"YOu(sic) are only limited by the goals you set, and time. "

Sadly, you are wrong. Less talented "implementers" are inhibiting to goal attainment. Noble missions (goals) are great as long as talented "implementers" provide strong tactical support.

And, while I am a UCONN MBB fan, it has absolutely nothing to do with my feelings about the University's "reality" as it relates to football or the coming revenue shortfall. You tell me. Does UCONN want to be a national player in football? If it does, pick one of two goals; either "INCREASE REVENUE," or "INCREASE MARKET SHARE" and make sure every person at every level in the Athletic Department understands their individual responsibilities as it relates to the goal and football. At the big schools, the athletic departments are part of a cut throat business market and FB is, overwhelmingly, the primary product.

So I'll ask again. Is UCONN willing to do, within the rules, what it takes to compete in the cut throat business of college football? It's a fair question.

 

[Waquoit]

Can we really be optimistic after our glorified flag football blue/white scrimmage?

The answer, of course, is no. I was ready to park my disdain for P and start thinking good thoughts once we hit signing day. And I was pretty much successful...until that Blue/White game. Forget the off-the-field debacle that it was, the real debacle was on the field. No juice coming the players at all. The post-game spin that they were holding back for the Towson game made my head spin. The realistic posters, the ones with their hearts in the right place aren't buying this happy HS from the fluffers. They care about this program. The fluffers care more about P. If the fluffers held sway, GDL would still be the OC.

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

It's tragic, actually. More horrible timing for the program. Another reason why the time to can P was last year. His Droopy Dog act might just kill the fanbase for good.

 

[metsfan2323]

The answer, of course, is no. I was ready to park my disdain for P and start thinking good thoughts once we hit signing day. And I was pretty much successful...until that Blue/White game. Forget the off-the-field debacle that it was, the real debacle was on the field. No juice coming the players at all. The post-game spin that they were holding back for the Towson game made my head spin. The realistic posters, the ones with their hearts in the right place aren't buying this happy HS from the fluffers. They care about this program. The fluffers care more about P. If the fluffers held sway, GDL would still be the OC.




It's tragic, actually. More horrible timing for the program. Another reason why the time to can P was last year. His Droopy Dog act might just kill the fanbase for good.

What do you hope to accomplish with a post like this? What is the upside of doing this in May? And the spin wasn't holding back for the Towson game, the spin was too many players were injured to have a traditional spring game so it was essentially canceled, get your facts together clown.

 

[UConnDan97]

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.

You've caught a lot of crap for this post already (and I'm sure there's more to come), but you're absolutely right. And there is already data supporting that you're right. This past recruiting class was our best on paper despite our current conference conundrum.

There are only two problems with your post; 1) people who want PP gone will never admit that he has improved recruiting, and 2) people didn't feel like reading the part where you mentioned it was short-term. Neither problem can be overcome, I'm afraid...

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

You've caught a lot of crap for this post already (and I'm sure there's more to come), but you're absolutely right. And there is already data supporting that you're right. This past recruiting class was our best on paper despite our current conference conundrum.

There are only two problems with your post; 1) people who want PP gone will never admit that he has improved recruiting, and 2) people didn't feel like reading the part where you mentioned it was short-term. Neither problem can be overcome, I'm afraid...

Or......people don't want to say recruiting has improved until these kids actually see the field.

These are all opinions Dan.

 

[Carl Spackler]

"YOu(sic) are only limited by the goals you set, and time. "

Sadly, you are wrong. Less talented "implementers" are inhibiting to goal attainment. Noble missions (goals) are great as long as talented "implementers" provide strong tactical support.

And, while I am a UCONN MBB fan, it has absolutely nothing to do with my feelings about the University's "reality" as it relates to football or the coming revenue shortfall. You tell me. Does UCONN want to be a national player in football? If it does, pick one of two goals; either "INCREASE REVENUE," or "INCREASE MARKET SHARE" and make sure every person at every level in the Athletic Department understands their individual responsibilities as it relates to the goal and football. At the big schools, the athletic departments are part of a cut throat business market and FB is, overwhelmingly, the primary product.

So I'll ask again. Is UCONN willing to do, within the rules, what it takes to compete in the cut throat business of college football? It's a fair question.

It's already happening. Football is taking the lead. Basketball, is and always will be the love of the long time Husky fans, but pushing the football program is priority #1.

What makes you think it's not happening? Because the whiners around here, the pundits, think that we've got a terrible football coach?

 

[Carl Spackler]

You've caught a lot of crap for this post already (and I'm sure there's more to come), but you're absolutely right. And there is already data supporting that you're right. This past recruiting class was our best on paper despite our current conference conundrum.

There are only two problems with your post; 1) people who want PP gone will never admit that he has improved recruiting, and 2) people didn't feel like reading the part where you mentioned it was short-term. Neither problem can be overcome, I'm afraid...

Thanks Dan. I'm glad somebody is paying attention. Pasqualoni's legacy at UCONN, and his legacy for college football in our part of the country in general, has nothing to do with wins and losses. Our ability to be successful in the future, hinges on our ability to establish and maintain the personal connections in recruiting that it takes to build pipelines that lead to UCONN. The beauty of our oncampus facilities, is not in what it provides for the team to practice in bad weather, it's what we can do with our campus, when it comes to recruiting entire high school and prep school football programs to have UCONN become a destination school. The more players we pump into the NFL, the better.

It would be much less important, if our recruiters, were ablt to show up on the doorstep of a kid, with the media power and the influence that wearing Big10 colors, and giving the pitch of playing in front of 100,000 people in Ohio or Michigan or Pennsylvania brings.

But we don't have that, so we need something else that works, and Pasqualoni, is one of the very few coaches left, that know what it takes, to build in this area of the country. He's got to pass that knowledge down to a younger generation of coaches, and I hope that we've got them on staff now.