UConn as a mid-major

[nelsonmuntz]

This is a terrible outcome, but it doesn't have to mean the end of the athletic program. It does mean that UConn needs to recalibrate its football program for the new reality.

Coaching

This is a longer discussion, but the short answer is that Pasqualoni is OK as a major conference HC, but not the right guy for a mid-major. In sales terms, he is a harvester, not a hunter. He leans on the school and conference affiliation to attract decent talent, but he doesn't get guys to sign up just for him.

He is also not strong enough a gameday coach to get away with having under the radar talent, as we have seen.

Successful mid-major coaches fall into 3 categories:

1) young and hungry, like Sumlin, Patterson when he started, Whittingham, Peterson
2) brilliant schematically, like Rocky Long, Ault, Peterson and June Jones.
3) supreme motivators, like Pat Hill

Pasqualoni is none of those things. He is an ok program CEO that can win when he has superior talent. And you can not have a coordinator as weak as Deleone when you are a mid-major.

Scheduling

When you have as many cupcakes as the Big East will have in-conference, you can't have as many out of conference. UConn also won't have the money to buy guarantee games. Sun Belt schools are going to go for over $2MM a game when all the new TV deals kick in. UConn doesn't have that kind of cash.

On the plus side, the playoff is going to encourage better scheduling by the majors, including games against programs like UConn. Mississippi State can't buy 3 Sun Belt games and an FCS anymore because their SOS will screw Alabama and LSU.

Finally, UConn is going to need quality OOC games to sell tickets.

UConn is going to have to schedule at least 2 major conference schools a year non-conference, and possibly 3. Selling a road game to a BCS program is not out of the question either, and neither is home games in New York. UConn has to adopt "anyone, anytime, anyplace" scheduling.

UConn can be successful, but it has to change the way it runs its program. Otherwise it will die a slow death.

 

[Hoophound]

This is a terrible outcome, but it doesn't have to mean the end of the athletic program. It does mean that UConn needs to recalibrate its football program for the new reality.

Coaching

This is a longer discussion, but the short answer is that Pasqualoni is OK as a major conference HC, but not the right guy for a mid-major. In sales terms, he is a harvester, not a hunter. He leans on the school and conference affiliation to attract decent talent, but he doesn't get guys to sign up just for him.

He is also not strong enough a gameday coach to get away with having under the radar talent, as we have seen.

Successful mid-major coaches fall into 3 categories:

1) young and hungry, like Sumlin, Patterson when he started, Whittingham, Peterson
2) brilliant schematically, like Rocky Long, Ault, Peterson and June Jones.
3) supreme motivators, like Pat Hill

Pasqualoni is none of those things. He is an ok program CEO that can win when he has superior talent. And you can not have a coordinator as weak as Deleone when you are a mid-major.

Scheduling

When you have as many cupcakes as the Big East will have in-conference, you can't have as many out of conference. UConn also won't have the money to buy guarantee games. Sun Belt schools are going to go for over $2MM a game when all the new TV deals kick in. UConn doesn't have that kind of cash.

On the plus side, the playoff is going to encourage better scheduling by the majors, including games against programs like UConn. Mississippi State can't buy 3 Sun Belt games and an FCS anymore because their SOS will screw Alabama and LSU.

Finally, UConn is going to need quality OOC games to sell tickets.

UConn is going to have to schedule at least 2 major conference schools a year non-conference, and possibly 3. Selling a road game to a BCS program is not out of the question either, and neither is home games in New York. UConn has to adopt "anyone, anytime, anyplace" scheduling.

UConn can be successful, but it has to change the way it runs its program. Otherwise it will die a slow death.

Boise has already shown us the model. It starts with taking a different type of student.

 

[Jimdish255]

Boise has already shown us the model. It starts with taking a different type of student.

Robbie Frey comes to mind.

 

[freescooter]

This is a terrible outcome, but it doesn't have to mean the end of the athletic program. It does mean that UConn needs to recalibrate its football program for the new reality.

Coaching

This is a longer discussion, but the short answer is that Pasqualoni is OK as a major conference HC, but not the right guy for a mid-major. In sales terms, he is a harvester, not a hunter. He leans on the school and conference affiliation to attract decent talent, but he doesn't get guys to sign up just for him.

He is also not strong enough a gameday coach to get away with having under the radar talent, as we have seen.

Successful mid-major coaches fall into 3 categories:

1) young and hungry, like Sumlin, Patterson when he started, Whittingham, Peterson
2) brilliant schematically, like Rocky Long, Ault, Peterson and June Jones.
3) supreme motivators, like Pat Hill

Pasqualoni is none of those things. He is an ok program CEO that can win when he has superior talent. And you can not have a coordinator as weak as Deleone when you are a mid-major.

Scheduling

When you have as many cupcakes as the Big East will have in-conference, you can't have as many out of conference. UConn also won't have the money to buy guarantee games. Sun Belt schools are going to go for over $2MM a game when all the new TV deals kick in. UConn doesn't have that kind of cash.

On the plus side, the playoff is going to encourage better scheduling by the majors, including games against programs like UConn. Mississippi State can't buy 3 Sun Belt games and an FCS anymore because their SOS will screw Alabama and LSU.

Finally, UConn is going to need quality OOC games to sell tickets.

UConn is going to have to schedule at least 2 major conference schools a year non-conference, and possibly 3. Selling a road game to a BCS program is not out of the question either, and neither is home games in New York. UConn has to adopt "anyone, anytime, anyplace" scheduling.

UConn can be successful, but it has to change the way it runs its program. Otherwise it will die a slow death.

Sad to say, I think you are right on target.

 

[pj]

UConn needs to recalibrate its football program for the new reality.

Coaching

This is a longer discussion, but the short answer is that Pasqualoni is OK as a major conference HC, but not the right guy for a mid-major. In sales terms, he is a harvester, not a hunter. He leans on the school and conference affiliation to attract decent talent, but he doesn't get guys to sign up just for him.

He is also not strong enough a gameday coach to get away with having under the radar talent, as we have seen.

Successful mid-major coaches fall into 3 categories:

1) young and hungry, like Sumlin, Patterson when he started, Whittingham, Peterson
2) brilliant schematically, like Rocky Long, Ault, Peterson and June Jones.
3) supreme motivators, like Pat Hill

Pasqualoni is none of those things. He is an ok program CEO that can win when he has superior talent. And you can not have a coordinator as weak as Deleone when you are a mid-major.

Disagree. It's a coaching staff, not a one-man show. Pasqualoni is an excellent talent evaluator who can find diamonds in the ruff and evaluate the 2*/3* fringe to find the potential stars. He is an excellent teacher who can develop talent and get it to the pros. He knows a ton of football, he likes to teach, and is well liked. He is a steady hand at the wheel of the program.

I agree he needs passionate coordinators who are excellent schematically and are supreme motivators who can get the players excited and playing an exciting scheme. He has that in Don Brown. He needs something similar on the offensive side.

Scheduling

When you have as many cupcakes as the Big East will have in-conference, you can't have as many out of conference. UConn also won't have the money to buy guarantee games. Sun Belt schools are going to go for over $2MM a game when all the new TV deals kick in. UConn doesn't have that kind of cash.

On the plus side, the playoff is going to encourage better scheduling by the majors, including games against programs like UConn. Mississippi State can't buy 3 Sun Belt games and an FCS anymore because their SOS will screw Alabama and LSU.

Finally, UConn is going to need quality OOC games to sell tickets.

UConn needs to develop a fan base that will attend even the mediocre games. Look, 100,000 people will go watch Michigan play directional Michigan, and be excited and have fun seeing the game, even if it is a blowout. And UConn isn't blowing a lot of teams out, so we even have suspense and tension. It should be possible to sell out a 40,000 seat stadium routinely regardless of opponent.

We need to schedule some top teams annually so that we have a chance to get a statement win and get on the national radar and in the news. But we can't rely on the opponent to sell tickets for us. It has to be UConn football that sells the tickets, not Michigan or Notre Dame.

UConn can be successful, but it has to change the way it runs its program. Otherwise it will die a slow death.

Melodramatic. UConn has to improve all aspects of its football program, including success on the field and fans in the seats and audience on TV. But it will not die. Boise didn't die, TCU didn't die, Houston didn't die, Eastern Carolina hasn't died, Navy hasn't died, Air Force hasn't died being outside the BCS conferences. UConn won't die either.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Correct on some points, not so on others. Selling road games to a BCS program and the whole New York as our new "home" absolutely suck. Getting an up and comer as head coach is spot on target.

College sports - both hoops and football - is all about the coaches. UConn needs to upgrade at the head coaching level. They also need to adapt an exciting brand of play.

 

[sdhusky]

brilliant schematically, like Rocky Long

I think its less than a month since you said Rocky Long in not the right guy for SDSU and now you are saying he is the model for UCONN?

 

[mattp]

Melodramatic. UConn has to improve all aspects of its football program, including success on the field and fans in the seats and audience on TV. But it will not die. Boise didn't die, TCU didn't die, Houston didn't die, Eastern Carolina hasn't died, Navy hasn't died, Air Force hasn't died being outside the BCS conferences. UConn won't die either.

To add to that point, you could argue that BC and Miami are slowly dying largely as a result of their moves. Going to a better conference doesn't guarantee anything, it just gives you a better hand to play. There can only be so many schools at the top of a conference, and all of the others are stuck in a range of mediocrity. Over the last decade I'd much rather have been a football fan of Utah, TCU, and countless others over Indiana, Minnesota, or Syracuse. We won't die, and just because Rutgers is going to the B1G doesn't guarantee that they'll do better than us. If they end up a perennial 4-5 win B1G school fans will be less excited than they were as a perennial 7-8 win BE school. We just need to keep our heads down, do our work, win games, and keep our fingers crossed someone else will invite us to a conference that pays us more

 

[SubbaBub]

Need 4 AQ OOC games every year. 2h/2a or 1h/3a. Whatever.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[UCweCONN]

Might a solution to all our problems be to fire Manuel, and have PP resign as football coach and become AD?? I can't speak of his administrative ability, but it can't be worse than his coaching.

 

[huskymedic]

Robbie Frey comes to mind.

huh?

 

[uconnric]

This is a terrible outcome, but it doesn't have to mean the end of the athletic program. It does mean that UConn needs to recalibrate its football program for the new reality.

Mid-major my ass. This conference re-alignment isn't over yet.

 

[junglehusky]

Might a solution to all our problems be to fire Manuel, and have PP resign as football coach and become AD?? I can't speak of his administrative ability, but it can't be worse than his coaching.

I'd rather not find out...

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think its less than a month since you said Rocky Long in not the right guy for SDSU and now you are saying he is the model for UCONN?

If we were in San Diego, I would say we should go for a stud recruiter. Southern California is like 10% of the nation's population and there are only 2 FBS football schools there, one of which recruits nationally, not locally. The talent there is sick, and San Diego State should be landing a class of 3*'s even in the NNNBE.

Rocky Long is a great coach, but with that location, I would go with the recruiter that can close. That said, Long is doing great there and I think SDSU enters next season as one of the favorites in the league.

 

[CAHUSKY]

If we were in San Diego, I would say we should go for a stud recruiter. Southern California is like 10% of the nation's population and there are only 2 FBS football schools there, one of which recruits nationally, not locally. The talent there is sick, and San Diego State should be landing a class of 3*'s even in the NNNBE.

Rocky Long is a great coach, but with that location, I would go with the recruiter that can close. That said, Long is doing great there and I think SDSU enters next season as one of the favorites in the league.

They aren't just competing with UCLA and USC. Look at the rosters at Oregon, Arizona, Arizona State, CAL and Oregon State. Their rosters are all stacked with SoCal talent. When Washington was good theirs was too. Those schools all our recruit SDSU for the top talent.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They aren't just competing with UCLA and USC. Look at the rosters at Oregon, Arizona, Arizona State, CAL and Oregon State. Their rosters are all stacked with SoCal talent. When Washington was good theirs was too. Those schools all our recruit SDSU for the top talent.

Oregon and Washington are a long way away from southern California. If you were a 3* or borderline 4*, would you risk riding the bench in rainy Oregon, or start 3 years in San Diego? You wouldn't need too much SoCal talent to pick SDSU to have a really good team.

SDSU and UNLV have always been the two programs that historically should have been a lot better than they were.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Oregon and Washington are a long way away from southern California. If you were a 3* or borderline 4*, would you risk riding the bench in rainy Oregon, or start 3 years in San Diego? You wouldn't need too much SoCal talent to pick SDSU to have a really good team.

SDSU and UNLV have always been the two programs that historically should have been a lot better than they were.

My point was that SDSU is about 10th in the pecking order for skilled kids in SoCal. Its always been the fall back school for troubled kids, bad grades, etc. that couldn't get into the Pac-10 school. No doubt they are in close proximity to fertile recruiting grounds but they are an after thought.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

My point was that SDSU is about 10th in the pecking order for skilled kids in SoCal. Its always been the fall back school for troubled kids, bad grades, etc. that couldn't get into the Pac-10 school. No doubt they are in close proximity to fertile recruiting grounds but they are an after thought.

Yep. That is why every Pac 12 program is better than every western non-Pac 12 program. Except they aren't, so your logic must be wrong.

 

[whaler11]

Yep. That is why every Pac 12 program is better than every western non-Pac 12 program. Except they aren't, so your logic must be wrong.

You do realize that recruiting rankings are different than actual football games right?

Based on how much Oregon wins, I'm pretty sure if they want a player and SDSU wants a player they are happy to choose Puddles the Duck.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You do realize that recruiting rankings are different than actual football games right?

Based on how much Oregon wins, I'm pretty sure if they want a player and SDSU wants a player they are happy to choose Puddles the Duck.

Leavitt built his program on marginal Miami and FSU recruits that switched at the last moment because they didn't want to ride the bench.

More importantly, this is not remotely relevant to the original post, and just another example of your trolling.

 

[whaler11]

Leavitt built his program on marginal Miami and FSU recruits that switched at the last moment because they didn't want to ride the bench.

More importantly, this is not remotely relevant to the original post, and just another example of your trolling.

I didn't quote your original post jackass. I didn't realize that quoting non original posts was 'trolling'.

SDSU is better than a couple of PAC 12 teams. Just because you have a hard on for San Diego State doesn't mean recruits are going to go there instead of Oregon.

Your premise is moronic. Worthy recruits aren't going to choose SDSU over non-local Pac 12 western schools just because it's local.

If you think Jim Levitt's South Florida teams prove any sort point? Congrats SDSU some day you can win the Beef O Brady's Bowl with players that weren't good enough to play in the PAC-12.

If high school kids have proved anything - they almost never have that mentality you are promoting.

 

[whaler11]

As to your original post UConn can't get opponents to sell tickets today - in what fantasyland can they get them in the future if they are still in the Big East?

 

[ZooCougar]

As to your original post UConn can't get opponents to sell tickets today - in what fantasyland can they get them in the future if they are still in the Big East?

If the people are entertained, the people will show. Touchdowns and celebrations are more fun than making the other offense go three and out.

Under Edsall and P, we have played some really low octane offense. The experience just isn't as great. I know people will say that they like wins no matter how, but A: We don't win enough and B: Wins under Pasqualoni often feel almost like a loss.

At the end of the day, for most this is entertainment. Why would you keep paying money to watch a bad movie?

 

[uconNYC]

I heard John Calipari say on a radio interview that his recruiting pitch at Memphis was why go and get beat-up in the the Big East when you can come to Memphis and get your points and create a highlight reel every night. Also Memphis had an easier path to getting into the NCAAs. And if you're good enough for the NBA scouts will find you - whether it is at Memphis or a Big East school. (He kept saying Big East because that was when UL and Cincy got into the Big East and Memphis did not)

Obviously football and basketball are different, but we need to recruit along those lines.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I didn't quote your original post jackass. I didn't realize that quoting non original posts was 'trolling'.

SDSU is better than a couple of PAC 12 teams. Just because you have a hard on for San Diego State doesn't mean recruits are going to go there instead of Oregon.

Your premise is moronic. Worthy recruits aren't going to choose SDSU over non-local Pac 12 western schools just because it's local.

If you think Jim Levitt's ****ty South Florida teams prove any sort point? Congrats SDSU some day you can win the Beef O Brady's Bowl with players that weren't good enough to play in the PAC-12.

If high school kids have proved anything - they almost never have that mentality you are promoting.

That must be why Indiana, Washington State, Kentucky, Arizona, Purdue, Wake, Vanderbilt, etc. are so incredibly successful year after year after year, and Boise, Nevada, Fresno, UCF, Houston, and before they joined a major, TCU and Utah, suck so badly every year. Because every recruit in the country would rather play for a crappy big conference school than a good mid-major Every single recruit. No exceptions.