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Today's Press Conference

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I still hate the call, and the burnt timeout, but at the same time I'm a little disappointed we couldn't get the half yard to win the game. If it didn't take half a year to hand the ball off, maybe it would be a better call. I can't stand our run and playaction philosophy of dragging everything out when we don't have the line to hold the blocks.
 
I understand the desire not to pass at the end, but once they screwed up and had to burn a time out they almost HAD to pass it. That was, in fact, Diaco's first instinct. But they didn't do it. If the launch pad was not the OL + RJ, then shame on the coaches. The OL didn't key the comeback, the short passes did. They should have known the OL wasn't going to be able to punch it up the gut (even though they almost did exactly that).

Incidentally, they had Teddy Allmendinger line up as a FB in the backfield didn't they? But he didn't block for RJ. What was that about? He coulda hit the goal line with some momentum that might have created an actual hole.
 
RSTuthill said:
Incidentally, they had Teddy Allmendinger line up as a FB in the backfield didn't they? But he didn't block for RJ. What was that about? He coulda hit the goal line with some momentum that might have created an actual hole.
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He was blocking same as he did on the Johnson TD earlier but on the other side - the problem was that this time Johnson cut to the right when the play was designed to go left. (Disclaimer - not saying it was the right play call for time/down)

The View From Section 241 -- Navy
 
Gotta be honest here, the fact that Allmendinger is playing so much as a true freshman concerns me greatly. He was very good in high school but I didn't think he'd be playing FBS football.
 
JMick said:
Gotta be honest here, the fact that Allmendinger is playing so much as a true freshman concerns me greatly. He was very good in high school but I didn't think he'd be playing FBS football.
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From the press conference (ignore time stamp):

ThisIsUConnCountry@MattSchonvisky 1 min ago
On FB Teddy Allmendinger: "been a real pleasant surprise, very smart & very mature. Did a fine job - one on TD & one on 3rd down"

Ian Bethune@Ian_Bethune 2 mins ago
Diaco - Teddy Allmendinger has a special skill set that no has on the team

Diaco said the only others w/ the skill set he was looking for were the LBs (assuming he meant Walsh and ?). I think he's longer for a banger.
 
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huskymedic said:
Diaco said the only others w/ the skill set he was looking for were the LBs (assuming he meant Walsh and ?). I think he's longer for a banger.
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That's the part that concerns me. We're trying to be a power run team and we have one true freshman fullback on the whole team.
 
JMick said:
That's the part that concerns me. We're trying to be a power run team and we have one true freshman fullback on the whole team.
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Yup... I think they envisioned /H back more than the traditional FB and ended up w/ less depth w/ Walsh moving over and Claxx graduating (didn't he have another year?)
 
I was at my daughter's XC meet so I'll try to answer your previous question directly.

"We should have won this game. It was my responsibility to get the correct call in on time and to know what down it was and that didn't happen. To the extent this has been a problem myself and the staff are committed to resolving it and to living up to the expectations regarding preparation and attention to detail we place on all of our players. We'll be looking closely at the process and the roles each of us have in terms of eliminating these types of mistakes and getting plays called more efficiently. If you want to know specifically what happened I can tell you, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm the head coach and it's my responsibility to get this right moving forward."

That took me 2 minutes to write as opposed to the 48 hours our coach had to prepare to make everyone in that room pull their hair out. I still have no idea what he took responsibility for that he interpreted as a mistake. I still haven't had time to re-watch because of the meet but really if he didn't make it clear he understood the play called and the process were both mistakes it was a huge missed opportunity. His answers sounded like a guy running out the clock with fairy dust and over-contextualized word salad and acronyms. Did the questioners sound stunned to you like they couldn't speak or were hearing a different language? They did to me. Sorry I'm done with this as well but this sealed my expectations for this coach until evidence presents itself on the field. I hope I'm wrong and I'll be there for most of the games from here on but that was a crusher.
 
Jimdish255 said:
I was at my daughter's XC meet so I'll try to answer your previous question directly.

"We should have won this game. It was my responsibility to get the correct call in on time and to know what down it was and that didn't happen. To the extent this has been a problem myself and the staff are committed to resolving it and to living up to the expectations regarding preparation and attention to detail we place on all of our players. We'll be looking closely at the process and the roles each of us have in terms of eliminating these types of mistakes and getting plays called more efficiently. If you want to know specifically what happened I can tell you, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm the head coach and it's my responsibility to get this right moving forward."

That took me 2 minutes to write as opposed to the 48 hours our coach had to prepare to make everyone in that room pull their hair out. I still have no idea what he took responsibility for that he interpreted as a mistake. I still haven't had time to re-watch because of the meet but really if he didn't make it clear he understood the play called and the process were both mistakes it was a huge missed opportunity. His answers sounded like a guy running out the clock with fairy dust and over-contextualized word salad and acronyms. Did the questioners sound stunned to you like they couldn't speak or were hearing a different language? They did to me. Sorry I'm done with this as well but this sealed my expectations for this coach until evidence presents itself on the field. I hope I'm wrong and I'll be there for most of the games from here on but that was a crusher.
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I agree with this. 72 hours later I would have liked not just responsibility (who else could have been responsible?) but understanding. "I don't know what happened, but I lost track somehow of the last sequence. I feel badly that I let my team down and reduced their chances of winning a game in which they played their hearts out coming from 21 down." I don't think he gets any more than what they did didn't work.

He's our coach and I'm behind him, but the press conference has increased, rather than decreased, my fear that he is not close to getting this fixed. Because no problem can be fixed unless you really accept it is broken.
 
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There are no excuses. He should have simply said he blew the game. To say he had called a pass play but it was the "players" who lobbied for the run simply defies belief. His job is to make the best call, not acquiesce to the whim of the players. There is no logic that made running the ball with no timeouts the correct decision.
 
So many insightful, relevant comments from truly concerned and passionate fans. I even get the U's. To sum it up, most frustrating loss to date. Confusing explanations at press conference. For now, we all should put it behind us, focus on Virginia and get behind our team. I will end this post with a quote from the great Vince Lombardi on mistakes.

“Errors, mistakes are the necessary steps in the learning process; once they have served their purpose, they should be forgotten. If we consistently dwell upon the errors, then the error or failure becomes the goal.”

― Vince Lombardi Jr., The Essential Vince Lombardi

Diaco took full responsibility, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
I hope the HUGE blunders have served their purpose.
Let's hope that Coach Diaco and staff have truly learned something here.
 
It seemed to me he took the blame and people just want him to apparently flay himself live on television as retribution. To me, at least, it's indicative of our continued move towards a blame-first society. We don't want to accept complexity or flawed human nature or difficult times.

We just want to blame someone.
 
J187Money said:
Can't get it to run. Keep getting the dockers commercial and then "content unavailable"...
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Better than "it downloads 99% and then time runs out"
 
I don't think he's being honest about the kids calling that play.... just my opinion. I think the call came from him and the kids supported it, because they are good soldiers. But enough beating this dead horse I suppose.
 
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Let's be clear. Diaco panicked.

The kids didn't panic. They were a little deliberate but they were where they were suppose to be and ready to go.

I said it before and I will say it again. If he demands that the kids play at a 300 or 400 level. Then he needs to coach at a 300 or 400 level. And he's not even close.
 
Jimdish255 said:
Now: University of Connecticut powered by College Sports Live

Says the "Launch Pad" wanted to muscle it in so he obliged.

He thought and thinks they were both good plays.

The answers get worse upon further explanation. I don't know what to feel except sad.

Everyone on this board needs to watch this entire presser before posting anything HCBD related. Make up your own minds about expectations of change moving forward.
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Explain all he wants it still will not and cannot change the end result. They lost. One of the more frustrating loses in recent memory. Literally depressing.
 
Irish Loop said:
It seemed to me he took the blame and people just want him to apparently flay himself live on television as retribution. To me, at least, it's indicative of our continued move towards a blame-first society. We don't want to accept complexity or flawed human nature or difficult times.

We just want to blame someone.
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The problem is that he "took responsibility" then promptly threw his players under the bus by putting it on the "launching pad." Oh for the days when taking responsibility didn't come with all kinds of caveats.
 
freescooter said:
The problem is that he "took responsibility" then promptly threw his players under the bus by putting it on the "launching pad." Oh for the days when taking responsibility didn't come with all kinds of caveats.
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He gave an influence on his choice. He said hey, they wanted to do this, and I said sure. He didn't say it wasn't his fault. He said he should've kept his call, period.

Next time I guess he shouldn't even explain his thinking process/influences so the freescooters of the world don't accuse him of shirking responsibility.
 
Irish Loop said:
He gave an influence on his choice. He said hey, they wanted to do this, and I said sure. He didn't say it wasn't his fault. He said he should've kept his call, period.

Next time I guess he shouldn't even explain his thinking process/influences so the freescooters of the world don't accuse him of shirking responsibility.
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We didn't need all the gobbledygook. He still didn't know it was only 2nd dos for heaven's sake. We don't need the blaming the launching pad or the 2015 Super Bowl. Just sat "we thought we could ram it in so we called that play. In hind sight I made a bad call and credit Navy for making the stop." I still don't understand his time out explanation. "I thought he could get the play ok with 1-2 seconds to spare so I called time out when it got down to 3. ". Huh? If you didn't have questions about Diaco after the game then you surely did after his explanation. I'm trying to figure out who he reminds me of. I used to think Schiano but more and more I am starting to think the closest comparison is former Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust.
 
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It could well be a misinterpretation on my part but it felt his comment was more that the players were on board with (and likely preferred) the change to a running play during the final time out. I didn't see it as Diaco blaming the kids or as the players being in charge.

Of more importance, the 9/10/16 game with Navy is over and it will continue to be over forever (unless of if the UConn professor ever does build a working time machine). It may be a good idea to put it behind us.
 
Ironically, 6 years ago a HC went for a power run from deep inside his own territory on 4th down to beat Pitt. It might have saved the season and put us opn another trajectory. I recall the OL getting credit for saying, let's go for it and run it. Having faith in your team to deliver in a big game is commendable. Now, having said that, I amstill not sure I'll ever understand that ending. A shot at pulling off a W in a game we should have lost by 20+ was a huge setback. The lack of explanations, the confusing and meandering storyline (recall he originally thought it was 3rd down), and frankly the lack of hard questions being asked remind me again why we are not in the P5.

HCBD has been a revelation for a program that had hit rock bottom. He has the vibe back, the program on the uptick, and the promise of better days ahead. But how much better? Are we recruiting talent that can compete with good P5 teams, do we understand the evolution of the game (towards more explosive plays), and can we adjust on the fly (in a game or within schemes across a year)? I so want to believe that the trajectory upward will continue, but in Y3 I expected more. The OL remains a huge problem; the O seems to think games start after the 1/2, the D struggles to get off the field quickly, the specials are, well, not special, and the recruiting does not align w/a P5 program or even that of the top of the AAC. Have we truly solved any of our key issues, other than a feel good atmosphere for the players?
 
6 years ago we had a dominating offensive line and 2 future NFL backs 1 running and the other blocking for him in the backfield. Neither of those conditions applies today.
 
6 years ago we were playing Pitt, a team loaded with talent. We played Navy - I think its fair to say none of their front 7 are going pro.

I am simply starting to feel as if this is more of an experiment by the staff to develop 0-3 star players who are really nice kids and all get along. That'd be great if we were a NE prep school. I am actually beginning to question our commitment to competing at and/or being considered for inclusion in to the P5 cartel.

And i hate having these thoughts. For many of us, we suffered trough inexcusable negligence by the entire athletic department as it relates to football. It costs us millions and set us back years. Do we have the commitment to acting like and playing like a P5 program. I'll be interested to see what team comes out of the tunnel on sat.
 
I don't know about that giof. To some extent we've always been 0-3 star diamonds in the rough type of team. In fact some of our best players were 3 star or less. I just question whether the current staff is as good as Edsall was at evaluating players and quite honestly whether they are as good at getting the best out of them. I posted someplace else that this is a very crucial game on Saturday. P-5, winnable, at home chance to put Navy in the rearview mirror. And pretty important to bowl eligibility too. We have this week and Syracuse then 3 very difficult games in a row. So getting this team very focused this Saturday is crucial.
 
gioff23 said:
Ironically, 6 years ago a HC went for a power run from deep inside his own territory on 4th down to beat Pitt. It might have saved the season and put us opn another trajectory. I recall the OL getting credit for saying, let's go for it and run it. Having faith in your team to deliver in a big game is commendable. Now, having said that, I amstill not sure I'll ever understand that ending. A shot at pulling off a W in a game we should have lost by 20+ was a huge setback. The lack of explanations, the confusing and meandering storyline (recall he originally thought it was 3rd down), and frankly the lack of hard questions being asked remind me again why we are not in the P5.

HCBD has been a revelation for a program that had hit rock bottom. He has the vibe back, the program on the uptick, and the promise of better days ahead. But how much better? Are we recruiting talent that can compete with good P5 teams, do we understand the evolution of the game (towards more explosive plays), and can we adjust on the fly (in a game or within schemes across a year)? I so want to believe that the trajectory upward will continue, but in Y3 I expected more. The OL remains a huge problem; the O seems to think games start after the 1/2, the D struggles to get off the field quickly, the specials are, well, not special, and the recruiting does not align w/a P5 program or even that of the top of the AAC. Have we truly solved any of our key issues, other than a feel good atmosphere for the players?
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He still thinks it was third down, at least as of the time of yesterday's press conference. I'm sure if hearing it was second down from legions of reporters hadn't sunk in by then, he still believes it was third down as of today.

Diaco makes Randy Edsall look like a riverboat gambler.
 
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