TJ Weist...

[tduconn]

I don't think we can throw this mess of a season.on TJ's shoulders.

He is honest and says a few things fans don't like to hear........overall talent is a big question and I agree when he says "we don't have many play makers". A lot of the players have been in the system 4-5 years, so much for "coaching" up players. How long does it take for someone to know how to block? Four years HS + 4-5 years BCS?

And he shoulders blame for his mistakes....all coaches make some.

Injuries can kill the best of intentions and programs. UConn has had its share........so has Florida and Tennessee. Both head coaches at the latter schools came with a long resume of successes before their current coaching positions and problems.

Warde can bring in one of the hottests coaching names around.......but some of them never had the disadvantages of recruiting from a weak talent base. I'll bet none of them built their resume's on the backs of "diamond in the rough" or "under the radar" recruits.

A lot of us have misjudged the talent level of the AAC teams. It is quite good. And next year UConn plays BYU, Boise State, Houston? and ECU? All very good programs.

Maybe we need new coaches. Maybe we need better coaches. Let those that know more than me be the judge of that.

But one thing is for sure.....who ever the coach is will need play makers and better talent to work with. Maybe the new coach can bring in players that don't need 3-5 years to learn how to play.

 

[Srqhusky]

The odds of us getting any of the big name coaches iut there are low. I dont really think narduzzi or lembo really want to cone to uconn to turn the tram around. Just a hunch. It is going to cone down to an older coach who has been arou d like the ucla guy or nutt. Or go for so eone up and coming. Wr can have weist for less than a million a year most likely and can give him three years to see if it works out. Nelson is right a football program takes time to turn around. Even olearu lost a full season when he started. What is to lose by giving this guy three years?

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Nope. Need to hire someone completely divorced from this program at the moment. Someone who can recruit and someone who can generate offense. Kind of nice the other day to see some "real touchdowns" even if they only came against a crappy opponent. The positive . . . . that's the blueprint in today's college football. You outscore the opposition, you don't shut them down.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Nope. Need to hire someone completely divorced from this program at the moment. Someone who can recruit and someone who can generate offense. Kind of nice the other day to see some "real touchdowns" even if they only came against a crappy opponent. The positive . . . . that's the blueprint in today's college football. You outscore the opposition, you don't shut them down.

You were doing well until the last sentence where you once again got on your pulpit and preached about "today's college football".

But...I agree with the sentiment. I think some people on this board have low expectations for this hire. I don't. Brown, Weist, Ambrose, Moorehead are low hanging fruit. They have no other offers and would be easy to get. Familiarity with the program at this point is not a positive. And please stop with the talent gap stuff. A good coach easily gets 6-6 out of this team this year with the schedule they played.

WM knows this hire will probably be the most important hire of his career. He had good momentum career wise coming into this job, and right now he is stuck in neutral. Who knows how much control he had on the conference situation but most every other program not named football is doing well. Unfortunately, football is the most important. Right now..he is off the hook because he didn't hire PP. I think he won some positivity by quickly firing PP early this season. If nothing else, it showed that UConn cares enough about the football program that the administration wouldn't even wait for the season to end to enact change.

This hire will be Warde's guy. Not someone from the PP or RE coaching tree. I would be surprised if the hire doesn't have a connection with Warde's past. He needs someone he can trust...not the unknown. His near term career hangs in the balance. That's why I think it will be a bigger name hire...that's why he is asking for donor support for the contract....that's why it won't be Brown, Weist, Ambrose or Moorehead.

My two cents.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

You were doing well until the last sentence where you once again got on your pulpit and preached about "today's college football".

But...I agree with the sentiment. I think some people on this board have low expectations for this hire. I don't. Brown, Weist, Ambrose, Moorehead are low hanging fruit. They have no other offers and would be easy to get. Familiarity with the program at this point is not a positive. And please stop with the talent gap stuff. A good coach easily gets 6-6 out of this team this year with the schedule they played.

WM knows this hire will probably be the most important hire of his career. He had good momentum career wise coming into this job, and right now he is stuck in neutral. Who knows how much control he had on the conference situation but most every other program not named football is doing well. Unfortunately, football is the most important. Right now..he is off the hook because he didn't hire PP. I think he won some positivity by quickly firing PP early this season. If nothing else, it showed that UConn cares enough about the football program that the administration wouldn't even wait for the season to end to enact change.

This hire will be Warde's guy. Not someone from the PP or RE coaching tree. I would be surprised if the hire doesn't have a connection with Warde's past. He needs someone he can trust...not the unknown. His near term career hangs in the balance. That's why I think it will be a bigger name hire...that's why he is asking for donor support for the contract....that's why it won't be Brown, Weist, Ambrose or Moorehead.

My two cents.

Agree with most of what you are saying. Good points all. I disagree about the talent level, I think it has been exposed too many times this season. Is there some talent? Yes. But not nearly enough and this program goes nowhere until that is fixed.

 

[ZooCougar]

The odds of us getting any of the big name coaches iut there are low. I dont really think narduzzi or lembo really want to cone to uconn to turn the tram around. Just a hunch. It is going to cone down to an older coach who has been arou d like the ucla guy or nutt. Or go for so eone up and coming. Wr can have weist for less than a million a year most likely and can give him three years to see if it works out. Nelson is right a football program takes time to turn around. Even olearu lost a full season when he started. What is to lose by giving this guy three years?

This post is another reason why we aren't allowed to have nice things. Why don't you just opine for PGDL to come back?

 

[freescooter]

Weist is not getting the head coaching job. Period. Stop. I'm skeptical that he'll even be back, although Warde might have made a deal with him when he took the Interim job to guarantee him a spot next season in some capacity. Not unheard of even when a new guy cleans house that the athletic department keeps one guy. As far as turning the program around, I don't buy that it can't be done reasonably quickly. This team was incredibly poorly coached and poorly prepared sometimes. Running back the missed field goal, for example. It is amazing what good coaching can do. Is it going to compete for a national championship? No of course not. But 6-6 is not unattainable. Army, Stony Brook and Temple(probably )on the schedule and winnable. Add a few of the others and 6 isn't impossible. I'd add that a number of programs have had that level of turnaround.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

After the miserable stretch post PGDL......beating Temple, Rutgers, and Memphis should not put you in position to be the HC. I like the guy. Hope he does well wherever he is. But if we hire Weist, that means we missed out on our top 10 targets and we have all other kinds of problems other than winning football games.

 

[kemba]

No chance. Courtesy interview and that's it. I think he should be allowed back to be the WR coach, and I'd take him back as offensive coordinator if the new coach wants him, but that he shouldn't be forced down anybody's throat. Guy was put in an impossible situation and if we win the last 2 I'd even say he did a good job as the interim. Maybe he could end up being a successful head coach some day. But he's nowhere near as qualified as some of the coordinators we've been hearing about, or guys who have been successful head coaches at lower levels. He might be a really nice guy, might have great energy, the players might love him, and that stuff matters, but not enough to hire a guy who hasn't even proved he's a successful offensive coordinator at this level.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I am not a Weist proponent at all, but when you say "he is nowhere near as qualified as some of the coordinators we've been hearing about", I have to ask, WTF are you talking about? UCLA's offensive coordinator is more qualified than Weist? He took a bunch of Southern California talent, where there are exactly 2 P5 programs within about 300 miles of about 5% of the country's population, and somehow managed to score 10 points against Stanford and 14 against Oregon. Am I supposed to be impressed by that?

I want to see a coordinator that is either very innovative or has put up big numbers with subpar talent. I am not interested in the OC of one of the perennially most underachieving programs in the country.

 

[businesslawyer]

Weist has no chance at the job and whomever our next coach is will have no immediate baring on an invitation to a P5 conference.

Weist was put in a terrible situation and I would think he would have a chance at being retained as a WR coach. I would like to think that Foley and Hughes have a shot at staying on as well, but I doubt it.

This will be a house cleaning and a lot of players will be gone as well. Make no doubt about it, P duckked this thing bad.

Weist will not be head coach. Hughes will be gone -- too senior and too much of a threat to the new guy. I would think any new coach who isn't tied at the hip to an OL coach to bring with him would have to seriously consider Foley.

 

[huskymedic]

Weist will not be head coach. Hughes will be gone -- too senior and too much of a threat to the new guy. I would think any new coach who isn't tied at the hip to an OL coach to bring with him would have to seriously consider Foley.

Don't disagree at all and I wonder about Wholley being retained as well for first year.

 

[kemba]

I am not a Weist proponent at all, but when you say "he is nowhere near as qualified as some of the coordinators we've been hearing about", I have to ask, WTF are you talking about? UCLA's offensive coordinator is more qualified than Weist? He took a bunch of Southern California talent, where there are exactly 2 P5 programs within about 300 miles of about 5% of the country's population, and somehow managed to score 10 points against Stanford and 14 against Oregon. Am I supposed to be impressed by that?

I want to see a coordinator that is either very innovative or has put up big numbers with subpar talent. I am not interested in the OC of one of the perennially most underachieving programs in the country.

Mazzone isn't my first choice but ummm yes he's way more qualified in Weist. Regardless there's been a bunch of guys who have been mentioned as possibilities, I didn't say all of them are amazing choices, so I don't get the point of your little rant

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

I really think Warde just wants to clean house. Period. Start rebuilding this program with his own guys and no leftovers from the Edsall era. That's why I also don't think in the end Ambrose will be a legitimate selection as HC. #1 has to be Narduzzi right now, the dude's got one of the hottest D's in college, sets the right tone, players love playing for him. What we need here at UConn.

 

[cheech63]

Nope. Need to hire someone completely divorced from this program at the moment. Someone who can recruit and someone who can generate offense. Kind of nice the other day to see some "real touchdowns" even if they only came against a crappy opponent. The positive . . . . that's the blueprint in today's college football. You outscore the opposition, you don't shut them down.

unless your Alabama

 

[TouchdownHusky]

unless your Alabama

When UConn - or about 95% of the Power 5 programs - recruit like Alabama does, then you can look down your nose at "The blueprint in today's college football. You outscore the opposition, you don't shut them down".

UConn can't out recruit Buffalo and you want them to go with a boring, out-of-date, approach to the game that will be totally unappealing to the kind of players the Huskies will need to compete effectively at this level.