The Time Has Come For UConn To Make A Change (DiMauro)

[Chief00]

Who is justifying the buyout? You asked about the practices and how it relates to this season, and I answered. You now bring up two completely different questions/topics.

The simple question first : we won 6 games last year because we were exceptionally lucky with regard to turnover margin.

I've never attempted to justify the buyout. I can understand the factors that went in to the contract extension, yet ultimately, it would have been better to wait. Of course that is said with the benefit of hindsight.

You are a real if you think standing up to those kids who busted their arses last year and telling them "yes you are bowl eligible but we should decline because it makes Diaco look too good and he might get a contract extension. Sorry!" was the right course of action. You continue to be dead wrong. I've said enough on this. Do us all a favor and quit on this topic as well.

Sometimes coaches should tell kids stuff at the moment they don't want to hear. Calhoun did that all the time.

 

[Skiblets]

Calhoun always had a winning record when he accepted a NIT invitation.

Ok. I will bite. One simple question.

How would this football team have benefited from declining the bowl bid? Straight simple question.

 

[Chief00]

Fake fans are tougher.

Would you be even on the football board pretending to be a fan of the team if Diaco hadn't "upstaged" Calhoun at a basketball game, an incident that nobody except you cares about?

He attempted to do that (upstage Calhoun) but failed miserably. I respect Calhoun and what he has accomplished - obviously you don't. Diaco should have shown more respect for a Hall of Fame Coach - something he can just dream about.
As for me being a fan of the team - I go back to Memorial Stadium and I have been a season ticketholder from The Rent's inception. Have you been?

 

[UCFBfan]

If my phone allowed me to I'd post the standard popcorn eating animated gif. since it wont, I'll just say I'm going to enjoy watching this unfold......

 

[Bonehead]

 

[mauconnfan]

"more postgame drivel from Mr. Diaco, whose musings are the unfortunate fusion of Casey Stengel and Vivian Stringer."

Absolutely spot on Mr DiMauro, excellent article.

 

[gtcam]

You're either Diacos cousin or the most obtuse (do I get Shawshank points?) troll evah. Seriously. Just shut up now and get back on the meds.

Take it easy
Yeah Chief00 is a troll!!!!
Disagree without being an with the meds crap

 

[UConnNick]

Although I've posted this same message before, apparently it becomes necessary to do so again.

Reasons you ALWAYS accept a bowl invitation:

1. Extra practice sessions;
2. Playing a game in a market area outside of your region, thereby exposing your program to recruits and fans who wouldn't normally get a chance to see it...playing in Florida last year was a no brainer...best recruiting territory in the country;
3. As a reward to your team...bowl committees sponsor lots of fun activities for the players from both teams during the week leading up to the game;
4. Tends to be a fun trip for your hardcore fanbase, typically to a warmer climate destination during the dead of winter; and
5. Showcases your program and brand to the rest of the country on national TV.

That's why almost nobody ever turns down any bowl invite, even if the school is going to lose money overall on the deal. It's money well spent promoting the program. The only schools that ever do are blue blood programs if the team doesn't want to participate in a minor bowl way beneath its stature. I think we can all agree that UCONN is about as far away from that status as we can possibly be at this point in time.

Look at it like a three hour infomercial that doesn't cost much if anything, and you might even make a little money while doing it.

 

[Chief00]

Ok. I will bite. One simple question.

How would this football team have benefited from declining the bowl bid? Straight simple question.

For one thing it would be a lot easier getting rid of Diaco with a $1.6m buyout than a $5m buyout. The bowl game was the rationalization to increase his buyout.

 

[Skiblets]

For one thing it would be a lot easier getting rid of Diaco with a $1.6m buyout than a $5m buyout. The bowl game was the rationalization to increase his buyout.

So you knew last November 30th that this would turn into the dumpster fire it is today? Got it.

 

[Dooley]

For one thing it would be a lot easier getting rid of Diaco with a $1.6m buyout than a $5m buyout. The bowl game was the rationalization to increase his buyout.

So UConn gave him an extension to finish 6-7 and play one of the worst bowl games of the 2015 bowl season but wouldn't have if he finished 6-6 and no bowl game? Please tell me that you understand that the bowl game and contract extension are two completely separate entities.

Diaco got his extension, and absurd buyout increase, because he brilliantly played and won a game of knifey/spoony with UConn - "I got UConn back to bowl game eligibility and now (X), (Y), (Z) schools have shown interest in hiring me". UConn, about to embark on a Big 12 expansion process that was 100000% about football, probably thought that replacing their football coach before a potentially huge football season with huge impact on many things, including becoming a P5 school, was too much to ask for a new coach. UConn was desperate to get out of the AAC and blinked. Diaco took advantage of the CR situation and won on all counts. Diaco has lied to just about everyone during his tenure...and that includes UConn leadership (and an AD who had a foot out of the door and pointed at Ann Arbor).

To be fair, I don't think anyone in their right mind saw this dumpster fire of a season coming after getting to a bowl game last year. Expectations were high - some, including me, thought that we could even contend to win our AAC division. We were all wrong. It doesn't justify the buyout increase though. UConn could've very well increased his salary a bit more and left the buyout as-is (or increase it modestly), but they chose to save a few bucks on the salary and try to cash in on (X), (Y), (Z) school to pay his buyout and make a little coin. UConn dug itself quite a financial grave here - one that they have no choice but to bite the bullet and pay or else they run the risk of losing more games, players and, most importantly, fans/money.

In a series of horrendous mismanagement mistakes made by UConn over the years, increasing Diaco's buyout ranks towards the top of the list. But that has absolutely nothing to do with playing in the friggin' St Pete Bowl or not.

 

[Adios]

If Diaco coachd like he should have, we'd be looking at 6-6 to 8-4.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I really think it's time for people to stop responding to Chief. Guy is a total self absorbed attention seeking clown. The act is more than old and tired now. It's sad.

 

[J187Money]

For one thing it would be a lot easier getting rid of Diaco with a $1.6m buyout than a $5m buyout. The bowl game was the rationalization to increase his buyout.

Had they not increased his buyout, would you be railing against the bowl game? That's a conflation of two distinct issues. They might be related, but there was no reason to give him an increased buyout. Bowl game or no.

 

[UConn76]

I don't know what has sparked the change in the Day, the Register, the Courant, etc. but the articles coming out have been much much better than years past.

United in a common cause.....

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

The time has come for UConn to make a change



OK. Let’s just say it:

Jeff Hathaway blew it with Paul Pasqualoni.

Warde Manuel blew it with Bob Diaco.

David Benedict … you are on the clock.

Because this is where we are now with the Apocalypse Formerly Known As UConn Football. Leaderless. Rudderless. Hopeless.

It was evident even before Saturday’s barf-o-rama at Boston College. But there was no better example of the program’s malaise than Saturday at the Heights, with nearly 37,000 fans watching: impotent offense, absurd game management and then the worst of all: more postgame drivel from Mr. Diaco, whose musings are the unfortunate fusion of Casey Stengel and Vivian Stringer.

Pretty sure at this point every other college football program in this state- CCSU, Sacred Heart, hell even Coast Guard! would beat UConn...

 

[HuskyHawk]

Calhoun always had a winning record when he accepted a NIT invitation.

Calhoun didn't coach football. .500 teams don't get NIT invitations.

Why must you confuse the facts? Going to a bowl was good. Extra practices are good. Giving Diaco a bigger buyout and extension, that was bad, especially in hind-sight.

 

[CTMike]

The best part in all of this is that Chief thinks that if Diaco met all of the qualifications to get invited to a bowl but subsequently declined the invite that it would have made a hill of beans difference in the extension negotiations. That's honestly hilarious. "Haha! Gotcha, Diaco! You technically didn't attend the bowl so no extension for you!" Lmao.

 

[Adios]

Chief00 is this message board's Bob Diaco.

 

[SubbaBub]

That and playing to the fan base for clicks...

It's not hard to visit this site and write an article that pegs the fan base sentiment.

The saddest part of Saturday was the missed opportunity to inject some life into the fanbase. I'm assuming most of the people there were season ticket holders. A big win on the road in front of the strongest part of your season ticket base would have done wonders.

It would have been worth putting jerseys on Bryon Jones, Dan O, et al running them out there just to get a win. It was that important.

 

[huskymedic]

The saddest part of Saturday was the missed opportunity to inject some life into the fanbase. I'm assuming most of the people there were season ticket holders. A big win on the road in front of the strongest part of your season ticket base would have done wonders.

Yup... would have worked for me. Would have still been disappointed overall but would have made me happy going into the offseason!

 

[Rocktheworld]

So UConn gave him an extension to finish 6-7 and play one of the worst bowl games of the 2015 bowl season but wouldn't have if he finished 6-6 and no bowl game? Please tell me that you understand that the bowl game and contract extension are two completely separate entities.

Diaco got his extension, and absurd buyout increase, because he brilliantly played and won a game of knifey/spoony with UConn - "I got UConn back to bowl game eligibility and now (X), (Y), (Z) schools have shown interest in hiring me". UConn, about to embark on a Big 12 expansion process that was 100000% about football, probably thought that replacing their football coach before a potentially huge football season with huge impact on many things, including becoming a P5 school, was too much to ask for a new coach. UConn was desperate to get out of the AAC and blinked. Diaco took advantage of the CR situation and won on all counts. Diaco has lied to just about everyone during his tenure...and that includes UConn leadership (and an AD who had a foot out of the door and pointed at Ann Arbor).

To be fair, I don't think anyone in their right mind saw this dumpster fire of a season coming after getting to a bowl game last year. Expectations were high - some, including me, thought that we could even contend to win our AAC division. We were all wrong. It doesn't justify the buyout increase though. UConn could've very well increased his salary a bit more and left the buyout as-is (or increase it modestly), but they chose to save a few bucks on the salary and try to cash in on (X), (Y), (Z) school to pay his buyout and make a little coin. UConn dug itself quite a financial grave here - one that they have no choice but to bite the bullet and pay or else they run the risk of losing more games, players and, most importantly, fans/money.

In a series of horrendous mismanagement mistakes made by UConn over the years, increasing Diaco's buyout ranks towards the top of the list. But that has absolutely nothing to do with playing in the friggin' St Pete Bowl or not.

I get why Bennedict did what he did. He probably thought he had to display some stability in the AD as UConn had what looked like a turning-around season while the final Conference Realignment push of this decade was still happening. It was unfortunately short-sighted and unwise to do.

I work in an acute care hospital, and am in the ICUs constantly. I work as a speech pathologist, and mainly manage patients who are sick and are currentl and/or at high risk for aspirating food/liquid, which could result in choking or pneumonia, both of which could easily result in death. I often see patients who are coming off of of ventilators and breathing tubes who haven't swallowed anything in days or even weeks. Still hooked up to every machine you can think of, tubes and lines going in and out almost every orifice (as well as some man-made orifices). Sometimes, the patients, despite all that, appear to do just fine when I first give them some ice chips and water. I may even feel comfortable enough to give them some applesauce.

But even so, I would never go off that and immediately start the patient on a regular diet. They came and are still way too close to death and are still way too medically compromised to risk something like that right off the bat. I am open and honest with them about their medical condition and why I need to be extremely careful with them, and that I need to see them do well with trials for at least a few days in a row before I even think about starting them on meals again. And even then, their liquids may be thickened and/or their food may be pureed or ground for a few days thereafter.

Patients almost invariably understand this, no matter how badly they want to eat regular food again. It seems Benedict didn't operate in a similar way.

 

[Chief00]

The best part in all of this is that Chief thinks that if Diaco met all of the qualifications to get invited to a bowl but subsequently declined the invite that it would have made a hill of beans difference in the extension negotiations. That's honestly hilarious. "Haha! Gotcha, Diaco! You technically didn't attend the bowl so no extension for you!" Lmao.

No that not what I said - last season wasn't good football - I attended the games - it led to being embarrassed by Marshall, the ridiculous buyout and compensation raises - it created an unnecessary mess. Just because some bowl committee has very low standards and cable TV has too many times slots to fill - you don't need to reach that lowest common denominator and cost yourself a fortune.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

No that not what I said - last season wasn't good football - I attended the games - it led to being embarrassed by Marshall, the ridiculous buyout and compensation raises - it created an unnecessary mess. Just because some bowl committee has very low standards and cable TV has too many times slots to fill - you don't need to reach that lowest common denominator and cost yourself a fortune.

Just shut up.

 

[Stainmaster]

I actually make be coming around to Chief's view on this.

If Diaco hadn't done whatever thing he did at a basketball game that nobody worth their salt cares about or remembers, then maybe Chief wouldn't have ventured onto the football board with his blather.

Bobby, why did you put this on us too? Wasn't tanking the program enough?