Spanos -- are you freakin' joking?

[Bongo Fury]

Oh the drama, on a positive the players will have faced competition in 2021.

 

[ZooCougar]

The suck to stop.

This board, and this Fanbase, has football PTSD. It’s been a decade of suck and that tends to leave a mark.

It’s funny, because both sides on this board are absolutely correct. Mora and Spanos were successful together, yet, our defense last year was notably predictable as a few opposing coaches indicated.

I’m cautiously optimistic, but I fully expect there will be growing pains.

Well, every offense had a million opportunities to crack our defense. 129th in time of possession? We were found pretty easily and most defenses would have been.

 

[Greedo]

I'm fine with it. Not excited, but not upset either. This team absolutely did not quit with Spanos in charge. If nothing else, he proved that he knows how to inspire these kids to fight even when they are at the lowest of lows. Having someone like that on a coaching staff is more valuable than I think many here realize. Mora is a defensive coach. He can have input on scheme and improving the X's and O's. Keeping Spanos on to motivate and get the best out of these players is worthwhile.

 

[uconnbill]

Solid choice and is a good coach just needs talent

 

[CL82]

Well, every offense had a million opportunities to crack our defense. 129th in time of possession? We were found pretty easily and most defenses would have been.

Yeah, absolutely true, but what I recollect is that opposing coaching staffs noted that Connecticut made absolutely no attempt to hide their defenses. Consequently they were easy to defeat.

 

[UConnDan97]

From our best returning defensive player, who also led the nation in tackles for a time this season.

This.

He's a good coach with experience at the highest level who has earned the respect of the entire locker room and should have already earned the respect of Husky Nation.

The clown comments in this thread are astounding to me...

 

[Waquoit]

And another thing...

If this hire was the disaster the naysayers say, AD Dave wouldn't have let it happen.

 

[huskysupporter]

And another thing...

If this hire was the disaster the naysayers say, AD Dave wouldn't have let it happen.

Why? He hasn’t exactly been making great decisions for the program.

 

[Buffett10]

This.

He's a good coach with experience at the highest level who has earned the respect of the entire locker room and should have already earned the respect of Husky Nation.

The clown comments in this thread are astounding to me...

You mean like the clown DC not disguising coverages?

 

[ZooCougar]

Yeah, absolutely true, but what I recollect is that opposing coaching staffs noted that Connecticut made absolutely no attempt to hide their defenses. Consequently they were easy to defeat.

The general trend I saw is that the defense started out strong and wore out as the game progressed. Being able to read the defense also gets easier.

 

[polycom]

Why? He hasn’t exactly been making great decisions for the program.

AD Dave hasn't been making great decisions for the program? Some of you people think you are rooting for Alabama or something.

 

[Waquoit]

Why? He hasn’t exactly been making great decisions for the program.

This is a joke post, right?

 

[Huskydog45]

The general trend I saw is that the defense started out strong and wore out as the game progressed. Being able to read the defense also gets easier.

Yes because the lack of an offense left them on the field for 40 plus minutes every game. That would wear any defense out.

 

[DoctorWho85]

I've had some time to mull this over. And honestly I'm pretty happy with it. Spanos did very well under Mora at UCLA. Like I said in my last post, the players love playing under him so having him back definitely gets an added pep in their step and the defense most definitely improved despite Edsall and Edsall's crony Guifre.

 

[huskysupporter]

This is a joke post, right?

yours or mine?

 

[uconnfan68]

You mean like everyone had to support Edsall going with Jack Z to start the season? One can support a team or franchise without having to like every decision it makes. It's only if you support a cult that you can't question anything that the leader does.

Once they start playing, I’m sure the armchair qbs/coaches will be back, but until I’ve seen the results from the new staff, I’m going to give them my support. It’s not like I’m buying a building.

 

[BlueDogs]

Not pleased with this maneuver at all based solely on his success with our own D. It is not good and he owns that. Even if you think it has marginally improved from historically bad levels under Crocker, it's hard to conclude the guy with nearly the worst defense in FBS is the best among all other feasible candidates available today? No. No way. I'm having GDL flashbacks.

 

[uconnfan68]

The suck to stop.

This board, and this Fanbase, has football PTSD. It’s been a decade of suck and that tends to leave a mark.

It’s funny, because both sides on this board are absolutely correct. Mora and Spanos were successful together, yet, our defense last year was notably predictable as a few opposing coaches indicated.

I’m cautiously optimistic, but I fully expect there will be growing pains.

I’d like the fanbase to get behind the new staff and players… at least until they show you something on the field, or how character issues off the field are handled. We’re starting this new year, 2022, at 0-0.

 

[DoctorWho85]

Not pleased with this maneuver at all based solely on his success with our own D. It is not good and he owns that. Even if you think it has marginally improved from historically bad levels under Crocker, it's hard to conclude the guy with nearly the worst defense in FBS is the best among all other feasible candidates available today? No. No way. I'm having GDL flashbacks.

Or maybe just maybe no one else wanted the job hence the date kept getting pushed back. I'm willing to bet the defense will absolutely be a different beast next year. You wont have Edsall's crony Guifre calling the most vanilla game plan on offense amassing less than 200 yards per game. That took it's toll. It's been said elsewhere, but literally look at any assistant that left under Edsall for another position and most, if not all, had much more success.

 

[hardcorehusky]

For those who thought the D was bland and the opponents knew from alignment what we were doing, remember who was the D coordinator from the 3rd game on. Hint, it wasn't Spanos. Also, how many blown coverages did you see early on. Quite a few, so how do you fix that? Either change personnel or make things basic so the guys do the basics. Either way, Spanos is not the problem and if you think you are smarter than Mora, then there is nothing more to say.

 

[DoctorWho85]

For those who thought the D was bland and the opponents knew from alignment what we were doing, remember who was the D coordinator from the 3rd game on. Hint, it wasn't Spanos. Also, how many blown coverages did you see early on. Quite a few, so how do you fix that? Either change personnel or make things basic so the guys do the basics. Either way, Spanos is not the problem and if you think you are smarter than Mora, then there is nothing more to say.

They looked much better by the end of the year. Had the offense been able to move the ball more than 200 yards/game the defense could have kept them on games. Look as the first half against most the second half teams we were in most games. They will be much better next year because the offense will not gas them by keep them on the field.

 

[businesslawyer]

Once they start playing, I’m sure the armchair qbs/coaches will be back, but until I’ve seen the results from the new staff, I’m going to give them my support. It’s not like I’m buying a building.

Except no one was talking about whether you can give them your support. Of course you can. You were criticizing someone else for not simply buying everything being sold without inspection.

 

[Dizzy21]

They looked much better by the end of the year. Had the offense been able to move the ball more than 200 yards/game the defense could have kept them on games. Look as the first half against most the second half teams we were in most games. They will be much better next year because the offense will not gas them by keep them on the field.

We let teams rack up insane points in the first half of nearly every game. The idea that it was the second half that we lost because of being tired is insane. 5 games or nearly 50% of our games we allowed over 30 Points in the first half with a high of 42 first half points against Army. 8 games out of 12, the other team had over 20 points by halftime. Most of our games hard far less points in the second half as they put in backups because they had scored so much already.

 

[UConnRock]

Just like Mora, RE was a defensive coach and likely had his hands all over the general schemes. It is assumed that Spanish was limited/controlled by RE’s concepts.

 

[hardcorehusky]

We let teams rack up insane points in the first half of nearly every game. The idea that it was the second half that we lost because of being tired is insane. 5 games or nearly 50% of our games we allowed over 30 Points in the first half with a high of 42 first half points against Army. 8 games out of 12, the other team had over 20 points by halftime. Most of our games hard far less points in the second half as they put in backups because they had scored so much already.

Here's another way to look at it: If a team should have 5 drives a half, how many td's did we give up after the 4th or 5th drive? How many during the first 5 drives? That is where the wear down came, where you run out of looks to show the offense, etc. An offense could go 3 and out and know they would be back on in 2 minutes to try again. Eventually you make enough adjustments offensively and the D breaks down. That is why RE wanted to slow the game down because that was his only way he thought we could win.

We ran a hurry up that went 3 and out over and over again. You can't blame Spanos for that.