To Dave Benedict

[huskyrob1]

I might be in the minority but I wouldn't fire Benedict.

Agreed. Except for grudgingly hiring Edsall, he's done an ok job. Fired Ollie and then moved very quickly to hire Hurley, has overseen the new soccer and baseball facilities, and the hockey arena. If you want a disaster of an athletic director look at Warde or Hathaway.

 

[Sportsfan71]

It could change if Edsall was fired tomorrow. The play calling and tackling are terrible. Fire him and name Spanos the interim coach, maybe bring in Dan O to help with the offense. The school needs to make a statement now, mid season. That's my opinion, if you don't agree, fine.

Spanos? Dude is equally bad. Clear everyone out year end.

 

[RSTuthill]

Is Urban Meyer available?

 

[UConnJim]

What coach would want to coach a program that has fired their last 3 head coaches after 3 or less seasons? (Assuming Edsall would be fired.) Think about this, all three of those coaches would have had their first real recruiting class playing as redshirt freshmen or sophomores. (When you are hired in December, your first recruiting class is really not made up of players you recruited.). How has UConn shown they are committed to rebuilding if the head coach doesn’t get to play their recruits as juniors and seniors?

How is Edsall responsible for the poor recruiting of Diaco, the pay for assistant coaches, the exit from the AAC and move to independence, no known schedule for next year, the limited ability to recruit JUCOs and transfers, the tight admission standards,...

I think you have to give Edsall another year to turn around the program. It will be better to hire a coach after giving a coach 4 years to prove what he is doing is working and the independence path is more clearly defined.

 

[Skiblets]

What coach would want to coach a program that has fired their last 3 head coaches after 3 or less seasons? (Assuming Edsall would be fired.) Think about this, all three of those coaches would have had their first real recruiting class playing as redshirt freshmen or sophomores. (When you are hired in December, your first recruiting class is really not made up of players you recruited.). How has UConn shown they are committed to rebuilding if the head coach doesn’t get to play their recruits as juniors and seniors?

How is Edsall responsible for the poor recruiting of Diaco, the pay for assistant coaches, the exit from the AAC and move to independence, no known schedule for next year, the limited ability to recruit JUCOs and transfers, the tight admission standards,...

I think you have to give Edsall another year to turn around the program. It will be better to hire a coach after giving a coach 4 years to prove what he is doing is working and the independence path is more clearly defined.

I think this is a fair take. But man the misery seemingly doesn’t have an end point

 

[uconnyankee]

Something has to give. This is intolerable. I don't know how much more what's left of the fanbase can take. They can't field a remotely competitive football team and nobody in the AD even seems to give a crap.

I'm a diehard and have all but given up that this is ever gonna get better before it's totally gone.

so you're saying Mission Accomplished by the AD?

 

[uconnyankee]

They're broke. They aren't eating a million to make you feel better for eight weeks.

If the right coach is out there and available right now, hire that person. Get the staff ready, get them on the recruiting trail, get them on evaluating the talent now...
I don't care who it is. Just give the fans something....

 

[Alum86]

We should pay Dave Benedict $1,000 for every time he talks to the UConn fanbase. I think we'd only be out about 5k over the last two years...

so accurate. Sad

 

[Waquoit]

No. Dave has abdicated his responsibilities. Fire Benedict, Edsall, and half the athletic department.

Disagree. (Almost) Everyone liked the hire. DB just finished saving the BB programs. He stays.

 

[huskyrob1]

What coach would want to coach a program that has fired their last 3 head coaches after 3 or less seasons? (Assuming Edsall would be fired.) Think about this, all three of those coaches would have had their first real recruiting class playing as redshirt freshmen or sophomores. (When you are hired in December, your first recruiting class is really not made up of players you recruited.). How has UConn shown they are committed to rebuilding if the head coach doesn’t get to play their recruits as juniors and seniors?

How is Edsall responsible for the poor recruiting of Diaco, the pay for assistant coaches, the exit from the AAC and move to independence, no known schedule for next year, the limited ability to recruit JUCOs and transfers, the tight admission standards,...

I think you have to give Edsall another year to turn around the program. It will be better to hire a coach after giving a coach 4 years to prove what he is doing is working and the independence path is more clearly defined.

Does Edsall need three or more years to teach his players how to tackle, or three or more years to realize calling plays drawn up in 1923 is going to lose games?

 

[8893]

Has anyone considered the possibility that Edsall was brought back to finish the job he started when he left for UMD, i.e., to kill the UConn football program once and for all?

 

[RSTuthill]

Disagree. (Almost) Everyone liked the hire. DB just finished saving the BB programs. He stays.

Agree. I am currently an agnostic on the subject of AD David Benedict but I am quite sure he will stay due to the reason you cite.

 

[uconnell]

Hurley was doing fine recruiting in the AAC. He is a good coach and I have faith in him. The basketball didn’t need savingat this time.
We could have spent a year or two in the oAAC. It supposedly a fan problem which a lot of schools are having. Saving basketball was just a beard to get rid of the football problem.
We would have had the money to get rid of Edsall et all and hire a competent coach.
The UConn ADept and the administration is run by a ship of fools.

 

[Nostical]

I doubt anyone is firing Edsall mid-year, for all the reasons stated. The question is whether Benedict stays committed to Edsall longer term or is already quietly sending out feelers for a year end replacement.

 

[SAMCRO]

Rumor is Benedict is already polling the CT HS FB coaches to see who they want as the next UConn head coach.

 

[Chief00]

No you're not. I think it would be better for the players and the stability of the team, and for the school in finding a new coach. The quicker the better.

There is an argument there if a good coach was available but a $1M argument - probably not.

 

[Chief00]

Rumor is Benedict is already polling the CT HS FB coaches to see who they want as the next UConn head coach.

I hope that’s not true. Basically that approach got us Coach P.

 

[UConnJim]

Does Edsall need three or more years to teach his players how to tackle, or three or more years to realize calling plays drawn up in 1923 is going to lose games?

I think the defense will get better, but we need to mature and get more LBs. Spanos did fine at UCLA as DC, so I assume he knows what he is doing. I do think some of the defensive problems are due to the lack of sustained drives by the offense.

I am concerned about the offense. You had to expect a conservative offense this year as we had no experienced QBs. I do think the offense would have looked much better this year if Pindell was still QB.

That said, I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a brand new OC who is also the OL coach. How can you do both? And, neither has looked good.

One last point. Tulane has one redshirt freshman/freshman on their two deep. I think UConn has 15+. We need to get back to only having 4 or 5 freshmen or redshirt freshmen on the 2 deep.

 

[DefCONNOne]

Benedict has to fire him now. Firing Edsall at the end of the season is worse for the school, team and players, IMHO.

Sure thing, champ. Just leave the $1,000,000 check on the table when you leave.

 

[uconnell]

Disagree. (Almost) Everyone liked the hire. DB just finished saving the BB programs. He stays.

The basketball did not need saving at this time. Hurley was recruiting well and its thefootball that needs saving at this time. Hurley knows how to coach and Edsallvdoesnt know how to coach.

 

[AAC Guru]

The basketball did not need saving at this time. Hurley was recruiting well and its thefootball that needs saving at this time. Hurley knows how to coach and Edsallvdoesnt know how to coach.

Who did he recruit? I only see Brendan Adams, akok, Yakwe, and Terrence Smith. We haven’t seen Akok in a college game and B Adams didn’t look good last year although I think he will be a nice role player in the future. I have to imagine the recruits they are bringing in this year had some idea of the conference move. I like football, but I don’t think there is any question recruiting will be better and easier in the NBE.

 

[UConnJim]

Who did he recruit? I only see Brendan Adams, akok, Yakwe, and Terrence Smith. We haven’t seen Akok in a college game and B Adams didn’t look good last year although I think he will be a nice role player in the future. I have to imagine the recruits they are bringing in this year had some idea of the conference move. I like football, but I don’t think there is any question recruiting will be better and easier in the NBE.

Basketball recruiting comes down to winning. If UConn was getting NCAA bids in the AAC, recruiting would have been fine. If Hurley doesn’t produce a winning record this year, recruiting will get tough.

My biggest concern with the move to the Big East is the risk of a split coming within the NCAA as I think the AAC has a better chance of surviving a split than the Big East. Football drives the bus and UConn is joining a conference that doesn’t have football. Didn’t Lou Perkins warn us about the risk over 20 years ago?

 

[Dooooooomed]

Basketball recruiting comes down to winning. If UConn was getting NCAA bids in the AAC, recruiting would have been fine. If Hurley doesn’t produce a winning record this year, recruiting will get tough.

My biggest concern with the move to the Big East is the risk of a split coming within the NCAA as I think the AAC has a better chance of surviving a split than the Big East. Football drives the bus and UConn is joining a conference that doesn’t have football. Didn’t Lou Perkins warn us about the risk over 20 years ago?

I think you got it backwards. If there's a split, I believe there's a much greater chance of the P5 taking along a non-football conference than propping up a G5.

 

[BlueDogs]

I think you got it backwards. If there's a split, I believe there's a much greater chance of the P5 taking along a non-football conference than propping up a G5.

That makes little sense to me... basketball is not the money sport.. as much as some may want it to be otherwise. It all about football eyeballs in good media markets and capturing $$. The B1G dipped its toe into the DC market and NY market. What it needs is more representational density .... grab UConn and a UMass or BC or UVA and they lock up the East

 

[Dooooooomed]

That makes little sense to me... basketball is not the money sport.. as much as some may want it to be otherwise. It all about football eyeballs in good media markets and capturing $$. The B1G dipped its toe into the DC market and NY market. What it needs is more representational density .... grab UConn and a UMass or BC or UVA and they lock up the East

I mean, I think if the P5 split, they don't bring anyone with them. But if they're gonna take someone, it'd probably be to fill out their new basketball tourney format. The Big East then would be the obvious choice over any G5 league, especially the AAC (who has made some enemies with their P6/fake National Championship shtick). Additionally, if you're looking at who the P5 respects, look no farther than who they have scheduled for basketball challenges. The Big East has challenges with 2 P5 leagues. No G5 league has a single P5 challenge.