"They’re sick of losing. They want to win. They want to go to bowls."

[FAIRTIDES]

I've remarked on this elsewhere as well too. will do again. There was a lineup of players at the kickoff dinner signing autographs a few seasons ago - Pasqualoni's first season. Sio Moore, Dwayne Gratz, Ryan Griffin, Nick Williams, Trickshot Johnny. You often forget just how young these guys are, until you meet them and see them up close without their gear on, but that's a sidetrack - it was the end of July and they were in shape.

last season, in june/july - whenever it was - a projected starting quarterback - QUARTERBACK - came to camp something like 30lbs overweight with flab, and promptly blew out an acchilles doing simple runs.

Those of you out there that can correct me, please do, if you think I'm wrong - but the QB - IMNSHO is the position that should be the first into the facilities and working out, and the last to leave - every day. There is an unwritten kind of chain of leadership that flows from there through a roster of 105 players.

Coaches set the tone, but coaches aren't there to hold the players hands, and tell them how good they are, and give them trophys every minute of every day. Players need to be leaders in the group, and assemble everyone as a team.

All of that was consistent under Edsall, under Skippy, under Jackson, I'm sure before that too. Pasqualoni came in and by all appearances essentially ignored all of that, with a professional mindset that the players need to get it done. Period. No other interest. Left the players alone for themselves to develop apparently, and paid no interest to the strength and conditioning staff, and actually alienated them for whatever reason it seems. It all broke down - badly.

I've said this before, this will be the last time, I promise. I was once a very big supporter of Paul Pasqualoni. The guy did accomplish great things, and I was blinded to what was happening, by several factors, not the least of which was the appearance of progress at the end of 2012, after a clear tranisition year in 2011, and then my own blind respect for past accomplishments. I won't let that ever happen again. The sigsn that things had all fallen apart, were more than evident. Especially after Ambrose brought his 1-AA squad to Rentschler and steamrolled us physically.

If all the players come back like a Sio, Ryan, Nick, Dwayne and even Trickshot - with that kind of dedication to their craft again - instead of a Scott McCummings, we will have a good seasons. If we get one, just one single Scott McCummings, then the program hasn't been cleaned up completely yet.

And that people - is up to the players to clean up now - not the coaches.

Having spent only three years in the Army, years ago, there is little I remember. Carl's comments stirred one very clear memory, however. Early, during our first week week at Benning, a very impressive Field Grade Officer started a fairly (for Benning) informal talk with, "There are no bad soldiers, just bad Officers." He went on to say that given latitude, an infantryman would not dig deep enough, insure interlocking fields of fire or do the work necessary to provide solid overhead cover unless it was clear that all three were command priorities. Moreover, he told us that, otherwise intelligent, soldiers would try to sneak a smoke or turn on a transistor (dated, I know) radio. All absolute no-no's for the field, at night. All huge command issues in the RVN.

My point? Guys were willing to cut corners even when it could get them killed. While we, as fans, consider the stakes to be high for the players, the players were, obviously getting signals that certain issues (S & C/Nutrition ) were not as important as in the past. Guys with reasonable shots at NFL opportunities ended up benching/squatting less than my 3-year old granddaughter. That indicates giving up, and giving up is a leadership problem.

 

[ZooCougar]

He'll have more to talk about once games start.

He has a set speech for the off season circuit and that's why we are hearing it over and over again.

Yeah, that just tells me that he is disciplined about his message. Most fans aren't like us, drinking this stuff in the second it gets released.

 

[ZooCougar]

Having spent only three years in the Army, years ago, there is little I remember. Carl's comments stirred one very clear memory, however. Early, during our first week week at Benning, a very impressive Field Grade Officer started a fairly (for Benning) informal talk with, "There are no bad soldiers, just bad Officers." He went on to say that given latitude, an infantryman would not dig deep enough, insure interlocking fields of fire or do the work necessary to provide solid overhead cover unless it was clear that all three were command priorities. Moreover, he told us that, otherwise intelligent, soldiers would try to sneak a smoke or turn on a transistor (dated, I know) radio. All absolute no-no's for the field, at night. All huge command issues in the RVN.

My point? Guys were willing to cut corners even when it could get them killed. While we, as fans, consider the stakes to be high for the players, the players were, obviously getting signals that certain issues (S & C/Nutrition ) were not as important as in the past. Guys with reasonable shots at NFL opportunities ended up benching/squatting less than my 3-year old granddaughter. That indicates giving up, and giving up is a leadership problem.

Yup. Priorities of work have to be established.

 

[gioff23]

It would be nice to look forward rather than back, but these are the dog days when the board has nothing to focus on more than futbol, so another 20/20 hindsight chat is not unexepected. My view is that when things go wrong, it is no one person's fault. I am thrilled by the new regime and the promise of hope and enthusiasm they bring to the table. I truly believe we will be back on the path we were headed in short order.

I have no idea why the kids and the prior staff did not click, but they clearly did not. My point is that I don't care how much I dislike my coach, my manager, my boss, my commanding officer - if I don't do my job to the best of my ability, I am at fault. Sure I can blame others, but at the end of the day each of us has to get up in the morning, look in the mirror and ask him/herself are they doing right by themselves, their families, their friends, their colleagues, their teammates. A kid with dreams of playing on a pro football line who cant bench 225 14x on his pro day can blame the coach that was fired 6 months before that day 24/7, but at some point he has to look in the mirror.

I just hope the kids who are coming in now to engage in conditioning and being a part of the revitaized UConn program can focus on the future and leave the past where it belongs.

 

[Chief00]

Quite frankly, whatever blame Coach P and Deleone receive they deserve. Kevin Nathan made a career out of defending these guys so if a little truth comes through now - so be it.

 

[Husky25]

When things go right, it is generally not because of only one person either.

 

[Irishfan]

Geez...I guess you get a Mickey Mouse program when you hire a Mickey Mouse coach.

“But the team that we found, it has a losing culture, in terms of how they eat, sleep, train. Physically, you couldn’t see a lot of difference between a freshman and a senior. How is that possible? It shouldn’t happen.You’re training for four or five years, eating for four or five years and going to meetings at a university with a major college football team, and you look the same as you looked when you were 17? That’s unacceptable. We’re working to change that. We need to create a winning mentality, a winning culture.”

I think this was a shot at the players as much as the previous coaches. It's the players who lift the weights, and do the workouts. By blaming the previous coaches he stayed away from blaming the players. I bet the players got the message.