UConn 2026 Outbound Portal Transfers (*No transfer speculation until announced/posted*) | Page 23 | The Boneyard

UConn 2026 Outbound Portal Transfers (*No transfer speculation until announced/posted*)

Saw a post that Tucker is coming back. Excited to see him get a shot.
Hope to see something official
 
NH Husky said:
You want to see his character?
Let’s see if he congratulates Tucker choosing to come back.
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Exactly! Congratulating returning players would be the right thing to do. Hopefully he gives those players shout outs as well. Otherwise, it would suggest that his comments regarding how he felt about UConn at the end were less than sincere.
 
2Infinity said:
Exactly! Congratulating returning players would be the right thing to do. Hopefully he gives those players shout outs as well. Otherwise, it would suggest that his comments regarding how he felt about UConn at the end were less than sincere.
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Don’t hold your breath.

I’m a conspiracy theorist, but I think DB may have suggested Jim might be able to find a job closer to good skiing. Jim said thanks for your suggestion!
 
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AllHusky said:
Don’t hold your breath.

I’m a conspiracy theorist, but I think DB may have suggested Jim might be able to find a job closer to good skiing. Jim said thanks for your suggestion!
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I don’t think this was exactly the case, but as I said at the time, AD DB was not surprised nor disappointed. The relationship had served its purpose and my opinion was that we’d peaked under Mora. Dave definitely saw his leaving as an opportunity rather than a setback.
 
AllHusky said:
Don’t hold your breath.

I’m a conspiracy theorist, but I think DB may have suggested Jim might be able to find a job closer to good skiing. Jim said thanks for your suggestion!
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I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I am intrigued by your hypothesis. Can you share why you think DB may have suggested JM leave? It seems he (and the team) was very successful here. What would prompt DB to be want a change? (Honest question)
 
Husky92 said:
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I am intrigued by your hypothesis. Can you share why you think DB may have suggested JM leave? It seems he (and the team) was very successful here. What would prompt DB to be want a change? (Honest question)
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Not to interfere with your question, but I don’t think Jim Mora is a great coach. He’s a program builder, a manager and a publicist. We lost games we should have won, he’d really curtailed his efforts on the publicity front and his recruiting had leveled off. I think Dave probably saw that Jim Mora wasn’t all in. His absence in the offseason was so obvious that many of us were waiting to hear that he’d quit in the middle of the summer.
 
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Husky92 said:
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I am intrigued by your hypothesis. Can you share why you think DB may have suggested JM leave? It seems he (and the team) was very successful here. What would prompt DB to be want a change? (Honest question)
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Not part of a conspiracy, but did notice that one of Mora’s sons is on his new staff. Maybe that was something that pushed him.
 
I don't believe that DB had any input, nor did he have any prior knowledge of JM looking at CSU (or any other school).

I do however believe that JM was a little miffed that DB wasn't overly bothered the news and didn't push to keep him here.
 
.-.
AllHusky said:
Don’t hold your breath.

I’m a conspiracy theorist, but I think DB may have suggested Jim might be able to find a job closer to good skiing. Jim said thanks for your suggestion!
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I wondered how discouraged he may have been by the turnout of the Air Force game.
 
Hoophound said:
Not to interfere with your question, but I don’t think Jim Mora is a great coach. He’s a program builder, a manager and a publicist. We lost games we should have one, he’d really curtailed his efforts on the publicity front and his recruiting had leveled off. I think Dave probably saw that Jim Mora wasn’t all in. His absence in the offseason was so obvious that many of us were waiting to hear that he’d quit in the middle of the summer.
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Excellent post!!!

I expected our ex-coach to leave after the 2nd year, so I'm surprised he stuck around 2 more years. I've never gotten over his referral of us a "horseshit program" during a halftime interview in his 2nd season. That he never put Storrs as his locale supported the notion he wasn't all in on CT (I don't care that it's petty, but having Coach Candle do that shows me that little things matter to Candle. Also I genuinely wonder if Candle blocked Toledo fans from his Twitter the way our ex-coach did when he quit). I think he had a summer camp in his early years but not one last summer, so perhaps he had already mentally checked out. Whatever. We need and deserve a coach that will champion UConn...we seem to have that now.

As to the great coach comment, I also agree. The last 4 years we went 27-24 for a 0.529 average (actually 27-23 with 0.540 for the ex-coach, excluding the 2025 Fenway Bowl as technically he wasn't in charge). By way of comparison, Skip Holtz was 34-23 for a 0.596 average over 4 years. Yes, totally different eras and level of competition, but Holtz got us to 10 wins in a season (Div 1-AA, I know). So in the end we swapped a good coach (0.570 lifetime NCAA average) for another good coach in Candle (0.648 lifetime NCAA average).

In terms of outbounds, I was worried when Mel Brown got injured that he would redshirt and transfer out. I had to be careful of the post I made at the time of his injury as I didn't want to get flagged for speculation. Sure enough, he enters the portal and is likely out to CSU. That sucks. Still, with the size of players we seem to be getting, I'm cautiously optimistic that we won't be completely manhandled. Bring on the big 'uns!!!
 
Just curious….I keep seeing comments that Mora never bought a home in the Storrs area and that Candle is different. Do we know for sure that Candle has purchased a home in CT?

I am sure that HM will provide me 3 links to prove it to be true…but I just don’t remember reading or hearing that.
 
KryHavok said:
Excellent post!!!

I expected our ex-coach to leave after the 2nd year, so I'm surprised he stuck around 2 more years. I've never gotten over his referral of us a "horseshit program" during a halftime interview in his 2nd season. That he never put Storrs as his locale supported the notion he wasn't all in on CT (I don't care that it's petty, but having Coach Candle do that shows me that little things matter to Candle. Also I genuinely wonder if Candle blocked Toledo fans from his Twitter the way our ex-coach did when he quit). I think he had a summer camp in his early years but not one last summer, so perhaps he had already mentally checked out. Whatever. We need and deserve a coach that will champion UConn...we seem to have that now.
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Agreed here. Jim was a terrific coach, really did something special. But I bet that late night call from Mora to AD David Benedict was short

Mora: "I'm leaving- you're losing me!"
AD David Benedict: "Huh, well.... okay."
Mora: "Wait you aren't distraught! I'm serious here"
AD David Benedict: "Well considering you disappear for long periods of time, I'm certainly not surprised. Been expecting this, good luck. And a bit of advice, this time -remember to manage your social media like you are sticking around."
 
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ShakyTheMohel said:
Just curious….I keep seeing comments that Mora never bought a home in the Storrs area and that Candle is different. Do we know for sure that Candle has purchased a home in CT?

I am sure that HM will provide me 3 links to prove it to be true…but I just don’t remember reading or hearing that.
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I always found that argument odd. I would have assumed Mora was renting and had a university stipend for housing. I didn't realize people thought CT was a "forever" home for Mora, or any coach. The coaching industry is fluid and few stay for even a decade. No need to take on housing market risks, even at their salaries.
 
Husky92 said:
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I am intrigued by your hypothesis. Can you share why you think DB may have suggested JM leave? It seems he (and the team) was very successful here. What would prompt DB to be want a change? (Honest question)
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See Hoophound post below your question. Sums up pretty much my thoughts. Jim did his job, next step is going to be a tough one. There were a litany of signals that Coach Moras mind and sometimes his body were elsewhere. Did the job he was hired to do, thanks Coach, stop the BS posts about Husky Transfer Portal guys. Poor form. DB is an astute judge of people, he knew the time was now to make a change and I believe greased the skids for that whole move.
 
Chin Diesel said:
I always found that argument odd. I would have assumed Mora was renting and had a university stipend for housing. I didn't realize people thought CT was a "forever" home for Mora, or any coach. The coaching industry is fluid and few stay for even a decade. No need to take on housing market risks, even at their salaries.
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I don't think it's so much that Chin (by the way, love your new avatar). Our ex-coach was renting while at UConn, which is definitely not a problem, but his Twitter feed showed Idaho as his location for the 4 years he was coaching UConn. Yet as soon as he takes the CSU job, his Twitter location becomes Fort Collins (Col). What the actual hell?!?! Like Kirk said in The Voyage Home, "No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space". Ex-coach didn't really want to associate living in CT as being a CT resident. Meanwhile Coach Candle changes his Twitter feed to reflect Storrs almost as soon as he joined the staff, no apparent problems associating with being in Connecticut. Candle can rent, he doesn't have to buy nor retire in CT, but the perception is what people gravitate to...here perception is that our ex-coach only worked in CT while Candle will seemingly live full-time in CT while working at UConn. I tend to read too much into things. ^_^
 
businesslawyer said:
Because believing it makes him feel good.

Welcome to 2026. Good luck to those of you who have most of your life in front of you.
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Please edify how you think this makes me feel good. Pretty sure you and I are on about the same life curve and I also know DB pretty well. Just sharing my thoughts like everyone else.
 
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AllHusky said:
Please edify how you think this makes me feel good. Pretty sure you and I are on about the same life curve and I also know DB pretty well. Just sharing my thoughts like everyone else.
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If AD DB had been the one to push Jim Mora into the coaching portal, it wouldn't have taken multiple weeks to hire Candle. Stop with the conspiracy theories.
 
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