The school that realignment left behind: Inside UConn football's collapse - Adelson @ ESPN

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskysupporter]

Excellent read. What could have been.

 

[Ajs120102]

Excellent read. What could have been.

The dream isn't over.

 

[huskysupporter]

The dream isn't over.

The dream isn’t but the reality makes it unlikely. It’s crazy how it basically had to be a perfect storm NOT to be invited to a P5 conference.

Oh well.

 

[GoatHouse]

Agreed. Dream isn't over. But crazy to hear those quotes from our coaches and admin of what it was like leading up to the realignment selection.

They really what was on the line in real-time, and could foresee how screwed we would be when we didn't get in.

Extremely devastating for a department that was busting their butt to get in.

 

[Ajs120102]

The dream isn’t but the reality makes it unlikely. It’s crazy how it basically had to be a perfect storm NOT to be invited to a P5 conference.

Oh well.

The quotes at the end should scare everyone. It isnt about p5 at this point, we just need to get to 6-6 to save our program.

 

[coachcap]

I rarely read anything written by Andrea A$$inine as she's always had an anti-UConn bent dating back to her days covering Big East football. Even this article seems like it was written & put in a file ddrawer until Jim Mora's name could be inserted.

 

[gioff2323]

2 things.

Discos buyout includes a non-disparagement clause. Let’s not give him too much credit

Article underscores how FCS our trustees are. They alone give me zero confidence. How there was no blowback on them is incomprehensible. They should have all submitted their resignation.

 

[uconnyankee]

I rarely read anything written by Andrea A$$inine as she's always had an anti-UConn bent dating back to her days covering Big East football. Even this article seems like it was written & put in a file ddrawer until Jim Mora's name could be inserted.

Agree somewhat. This seemed a fair read about an unfortunate circumstance and the contributing factors.

Like it or not, the past 10 years haven’t been kind to UConn Football.

 

[noeynox]

Is this an updated recycled article?

 

[Ts5034]

It really was a sad time how things went down. It summed it up perfectly how the hits just kept on coming, with the final nail in the coffin being the Catholic 7 splitting from the pack, and sealing our fate in the AAC. A lot of what If’s? and I think UConn fans and people within the program will ask those questions for many years down the road. What would this athletic program look like if we got the Louisville spot on the ACC? The bottom line is that it’s time to look to the future and start winning. I think Benedict has done the best he could taking control of an uncontrollable situation.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I had 2 takeaways.

1. We did not have 3 consecutive "poor" hires. There has to be a better word than poor. Apocalyptically bad sounds more appropriate.

2. Then there's this line.

Then, NCAA trouble that began under then-basketball coach Jim Calhoun. "College presidents are extraordinarily wary of those kinds of situations," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "As a group, the ACC presidents were a little gun-shy about Connecticut."

They weren't gun shy about LCC? And how do they feel about them now? I guess a card laid is a card played, but I sure hope there's buyer's remorse. Part of me was hoping they'd get the death penalty (deservedly) and the ACC would kick them out. If only the NCAA had teeth.

 

[noeynox]

Yeah that's horseshit. Weary of UConn/Calhoun but all in on SlickRick and his scandals? FOH. The most telling admission was that the administration was complacent in the process. whole crew who stood by.

 

[ScottVib]

I think the article was generally fair, but overstates UConn's "warts" when compared to Louisville. The story there was as much Louisville's perceived football edge as anything else.

For example the article at one point says UConn didn't have facilities and then later points out that UConn had football facilities (and both Burton and Shenkman opened in the same year) in 2006.

 

[Waquoit]

Discos buyout includes a non-disparagement clause. Let’s not give him too much credit

Can't disagree more. Bob didn't have to say that, I don't think we can give him enough credit here.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

There were things out of our control, and we were definitely one the of the most screwed programs throughout the realignment saga. We can thank our neighbor up north for big part of it since their AD did everything possible to kneecap us during the first ACC raid.

We just need to get the football program winning again. If we can get to top 35, and I think we will be fine. We will get a better media deal, and the fans will be back. While we can't control whether a P5 conference will invite us or not, but we can put ourselves in a better financial situation if we can reach the BYU level of competitiveness.

 

[pepband99]

Can't disagree more. Bob didn't have to say that, I don't think we can give him enough credit here.

Agreed. It's also probably his most coherent statement related to UConn ever.

 

[HeGotGame]

2 things.

Discos buyout includes a non-disparagement clause. Let’s not give him too much credit

Article underscores how FCS our trustees are. They alone give me zero confidence. How there was no blowback on them is incomprehensible. They should have all submitted their resignation.

Bad take, he could have said nothing. Nice to see him own his mistakes and take it like a man, he is the opposite of Edsall as a human being.

 

[CL82]

The timing is a little odd though huh? You can football has been a suck fest all year long, but on the day after we have positive news about a great new coach hire ESPN writes an article talking about how the University of Connecticut is footballs biggest loser.

Conspicuously absent of course is ESPN’s role in the demise of the Big East and Connecticut being on the outside and looking in. Without ESPN funding the raid on the Big East, it never happens in the whole conference realignment debacle never guts college sports. ESPN is a Connecticut company that receives tax breaks from the state of Connecticut. Since they were the financier of the ACC‘s raids against the Big East they could’ve stepped up on our behalf at any time. They did not and that cost Connecticut taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. That should never be forgotten, especially the next time they come hand-in-hand asking for more Connecticut taxpayers money.

 

[Waquoit]

The timing is a little odd though huh? You can football has been a suck fest all year long, but on the day after we have positive news about a great new coach hire ESPN writes an article talking about how the University of Connecticut is footballs biggest loser.

The guy's take is already stale.

 

[CL82]

In a phone interview, Diaco said he felt he had enough administrative support, the facilities and the budget to get the job done.

"I just didn't win enough games in that last year, with the expectations where they were," Diaco said. "But it wasn't for a lack of support and resources. It was just my fault, honestly. It's a production business, and if it's not there, then you don't get to do it. I took complete accountability. I don't think they were resource-related or conference-related, or anybody else's fault."

A surprisingly lucid assessment from Bob Diaco. He must be back on his meds.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Since she couldn't get into ESPN's culpability in this mess, outside of Diaco admitting he didn't win enough games, the only thing that got my attention was Toscano. My view of him has diminished greatly based off his comments. Wonder if they were altered to fit the narrative.

Regarding Diaco, it wasn't just winning games. The talent level, his actions, his thoughts, the way he treated people all went into the decision. He still doesn't get it.

 

[BlueandOG]

Totally agree. Diaco was a head football coach mess, but I respect him as a person. Same for PP and his comments in the article. Edsall "could not be reached." Bad coach and a coward.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Regarding Diaco, it wasn't just winning games. The talent level, his actions, his thoughts, the way he treated people all went into the decision. He still doesn't get it.

Well..it was his failures in those areas that led to losing games. He doesn't have to get into specifics...we all know what goes into winning.

I have said this before...the one thing I always thought was a core Edsall strength was integrity. Wow was I wrong.

Diaco is proving to be a much more genuine person than Edsall. And 5 years ago I would have thought you were nuts if you said that.

Nothing but kudos to Diaco for being forthright. Maybe in time Edsall will be more honest about what happened.