UConn Football: The Bridge Year

[Drew]

Pretty interesting read from The UConn Blog: http://www.theuconnblog.com/2015/7/14/8881087/uconn-football-2015-season-preview-the-bridge-year

 

[History Geek]

Since im an eternal optimist, i hold out how for a bowl. But the realist in me thinks this is spot on. End of 2016 is the tome to evaluate the diaco regime, not before.

 

[huskysupporter]

Since im an eternal optimist, i hold out how for a bowl. But the realist in me thinks this is spot on. End of 2016 is the tome to evaluate the diaco regime, not before.

End of 2016 is time to start evaluating his recruits. But if he makes same questionable decisions this year as last year, it is fair to start evaluating his regime . I am not only looking for improvement from players, I am looking for improvement from HCBD. Rooting hard for him to succeed.

 

[History Geek]

End of 2016 is time to start evaluating his recruits. But if he makes same questionable decisions this year as last year, it is fair to start evaluating his regime . I am not only looking for improvement from players, I am looking for improvement from HCBD. Rooting hard for him to succeed.

Fair point. However, how many of his head-scratching game day decisions were based on his perception that he did not have the horses to do what he really wanted? Not saying he was right or wrong about that assessment (OK, I think he was right). I'm guessing we see an improvement in player ability (many of last year's key contributors are back and have another year of physical and mental maturity under their belts. If we see that and still have as many WTF is he thinking moments during the game, then I agree we can start evaluating the regime. Having said that, unless there are glaring mistakes this year that indicate the ability to be a successful FBS head coach is, and will always be, over his head, he gets a pass from me until the end of the 2016 season.

 

[UConnJim]

I agree with his analysis. This is a bridge year and we should see improvement over last year, but the schedule is difficult and I think 3 or 4 wins and a competitive team will be a successful season. 2016 is when we should see it coming together.

 

[freescooter]

I hope to see progress but but I'm not expecting it. The schedule is brutal and I'm not sold on this coaching staff. The ideat that we're looking at Villanova as anything other than a ho-hum win is freightening. And I don't by we can be 2-10 3-9 and be "better". I really think we need to see a light go on and string together a bunch if wins down the stretch maybe. Think 2002 when we started finished strong and carried that forward into 2003. My concern is that it is very easy to become Temple or Rutgers of the 90-2000s (well in Ruters case 70s-2000s). We are looking at 5 straight losing years. If it doesn't change very soon, someone doesn't force the issue we could be looking at a decade of irrelevance.

 

[epark88]

^^^ Was just about to post this.

After the close loss at Vanderbilt that year they were 2-6, frustrated and PO'd. Then, they just got fed up with losing and things started to click. From that game until the end of the following season, they went 13-3.

At this point I'd sign up for that again in a heartbeat...

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I think we might win 2 games...I hope we would give Missouri a good game, but I think they and BYU will kill us. Missouri is in the best football conference

 

[ktuck911]

2 wins and Diaco's on the hot seat... he starts out bad in 2016 he'll see the same fate as PP

 

[freescooter]

I agree with ktuck. 2 wins and I think he's back but it is far from a sure thing especially if we see the same nonsense we saw last time around. Attendance is going to be dismal the program will be everybody's homecoming opponent. This program really needs a jump start not a ground up rebuild. Top coaches can do both. Fair coaches can do 1 or the other. Bad coaches can tear down but not rebuild.

 

[ktuck911]

I agree with ktuck. 2 wins and I think he's back but it is far from a sure thing especially if we see the same nonsense we saw last time around. Attendance is going to be dismal the program will be everybody's homecoming opponent. This program really needs a jump start not a ground up rebuild. Top coaches can do both. Fair coaches can do 1 or the other. Bad coaches can tear down but not rebuild.

I hope this isn't really considered a ground up rebuild ... we had success at this level so I can understand why it would be that way... and I sure hope Diaco doesn't up and bail on us if we're winning 8 plus games by year 4 and he gets us rolling in year 5... I'd be pi##ed

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I hope this isn't really considered a ground up rebuild ... we had success at this level so I can understand why it would be that way... and I sure hope Diaco doesn't up and bail on us if we're winning 8 plus games by year 4 and he gets us rolling in year 5... I'd be pi##ed

This is exactly what it is. He was quoted as such.

“This is tear down and rebuild,” Diaco said Tuesday. "That is what we’ve been doing. It needs it. It is still in the beginning phases. Kind of like a baby lifting a coffee table. Did the baby get upset that it didn't lift the coffee table? Probably not. Just frustrated. Could see it on their face, but we understand where we are at as a team. They know. We are going to be ready and excited to play this game Saturday night. We're going to bust our butts to prepare to win a game."

So how does transforming an underachieving program into a competitive one come about?

“It's experience. It’s maturity, it’s culture," Diaco said. "It’s a lifestyle. All areas of where we need to continue to come,” Diaco said. “There is enough instances and examples of not quite getting and understanding the lifestyle necessary to be a champion, collectively. There's examples of a lack of mature football intelligence in situations and game situations which takes coaching and time and experience. There’s instances of a lack of physical strength necessary to consistently do the jobs well. All the jobs. There's just development needs to take place in every area.”

Diaco also stressed that turning this around won't be easy, and it may not happen as quickly as some like.

“The fact of matter is it was a mess,” he said. “A giant mess. It is just a much smaller mess. Never shied away from what it it was. Whether physical development of team, that was what was shockingly so profound. How weak and fat the players were and bad their blood work and nutrients were. That was profound. ... "

 

[ktuck911]

I hear you (and him) Duncan Idaho... I just don't want us to stay as a feeder team.. In that I mean a team that has a coach that proves something by turning around a program in short period of time like ours and then bounce... We need commitment from a coach, kinda like Puke's, I mean Duke's Cutcliffe....

 

[uconndogs]

Diaco is on record as saying this thing was completely broken in terms of morale, S&C and discipline. I suspect he is probably right and that P just was not fit to run a program anymore. It's also in Diaco's interest to manage expectations, so I'm sure some of that is going on as well.

Diaco clearly used last season to assess talent and gain experience for players. I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but I can't believe he continues that this season unless the wheels are completely off later in the season. He has to show progress which could be as little as 3-4 wins and competitively fought football.

Those expecting 7-8 wins given this schedule and what we came off of last season will be disappointed. Nova will be a stiff test like it or not. I will actually be very encouraged if we start 2-0 even if it is an FCS and Army wins.

 

[uconndogs]

I hear you (and him) Duncan Idaho... I just don't want us to stay as a feeder team.. In that I mean a team that has a coach that proves something by turning around a program in short period of time like ours and then bounce... We need commitment from a coach, kinda like Puke's, I mean Duke's Cutcliffe....

About the last thing I am worried about is Diaco leaving because it is recognized he has turned UCONN into a winning program. Compared to where we are now, that would be one terrific problem to have.

 

[freescooter]

My problem with that is that I really think the program needs a real shot in the arm. Needed it last year really and is desperate now. Relatively speaking Addazzio didn't come into a better situation at BC but managed to win 6 his first year. Franklin came into arguably the worst situation in 1A football at Vandy and won 6. We had a weak schedule, some momentum and some excitement with a new coach and went 2-10 and worse looked bad doing it. If this is a bridge year we really need to see some girders going up THIS year. If not you need to question whether he is the builder or just the demo guy.

 

[uconndogs]

I hear you, but we turned over an experienced, albeit lackluster, OL the season before Diaco arrived. My take is that the development of that unit in particular was severely dumb, and that takes time to remedy. I have to believe that P completely ignored S&C, left the O and OL in the hands of an incompetent in GD.

 

[TasteofUConn]

"After implementation of the Civil Conflict, I just don't see how things can possibly go wrong this year." - Taken from Napoleon Bonaparte's pep talk immediately prior to the Battle of Waterloo.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The problem in my eyes with the tear down and rebuild approach is that they didn't get better the whole season. In fact, the last game they may have had their most disappointing performance on the year, in a year with many to chose from.

We have no choice to go all in on the guy but it's just hope and faith at this point.

 

[ktuck911]

The problem in my eyes with the tear down and rebuild approach is that they didn't get better the whole season. In fact, the last game they may have had their most disappointing performance on the year, in a year with many to chose from.

We have no choice to go all in on the guy but it's just hope and faith at this point.

(with a lump in my throat) +1

 

[06029]

I don't think there can be valid comparisons drawn from BD's approach to year 1 and how other coaches have done the tear down/rebuild. In some programs, it is much easier to blow up and start over after bad seasons because of a program's past history. Those programs tend to come roaring back (although TN and MIA seem to contradict my generalization).

In Uconn's case, look at the rebuild efforts at somewhat peer schools and see how it evolved. Cuse (maybe they are on the right track after 3 coaching changes), BC (Adazio inherited a team as bad as PP's last team and has been to two bowl games), RU (how many coaches before Shadey were tearing down and rebuilding with no success), Temple (only Golden had any real success, Addazio benefited from Golden's recruits). Except for BC (whose long term success under Addazio is still an open question) all went thru multiple coaches for over a decade. RU and Temple were perpetual doormats. BC had moderate success and Cuse had been really high at one point but also falls into the moderate success category.

The biggest disappointment from last year was that the staff showed no desire or potentially no ability to maximize the existing skills and strengths on the team. While that may prove vital to building future experience and success, it frustrates the hell out of some fans.Is 4 wins really any better than 2 if you are trying to rebuild? Was there a realistic chance at 6 wins last year? I guess their judgement was no on both accounts.

Maybe Cutcliffe is the best example of what Uconn can hope for. He got the team competitive in year 2, got to a bowl in year 5 and then won big in year 6. I just hope the fans have that kind of patience. Worst case is the revolving door.

 

[ktuck911]

Since we're in a conference where I truly believe we can get better in faster, than say a P5 conference, sooner rather than later, I think our turnaround should be faster than Duke's ... but the only issue is the revolving coaching door.. which is why, hopefully we get a P5 invite as soon as we "prove" we belong...

 

[amory]

End of 2016 is time to start evaluating his recruits. But if he makes same questionable decisions this year as last year, it is fair to start evaluating his regime . I am not only looking for improvement from players, I am looking for improvement from HCBD. Rooting hard for him to succeed.

I'm just looking for him to show he's not actually a crazy person. At first it was like "oh that Bob Diaco, what a crazy guy."

After some of the interviews and press conferences and in-game decisions last season it became "...wait hang on so is this guy actually nuts?"

 

[Duncan Idaho]

The problem in my eyes with the tear down and rebuild approach is that they didn't get better the whole season. In fact, the last game they may have had their most disappointing performance on the year, in a year with many to chose from.

We have no choice to go all in on the guy but it's just hope and faith at this point.

There was a very big improvement in TFL and sacks in the second half of the season. Considering that you now have a change in qb type to match the offensive philosophy should lead to a better confidence going forward. Have to work through losing the C and TE. You cant turn the ball over 5 times against a crappy team like SMU just like UCF cant turn the ball over that much against a team like us. The expectation should be that you don't turn the ball over as much this year.

 

[freescooter]

I think you underestimated Temple a little Golden turned them around, Addazio kept it going in the right direction and after a brief hiccup They were at least moderately successful last year and are poised to do it again this season. I think we have a higher ceiling that Temple but we need to get there first. Frankly we have a higher ceiling than BC I think too.

When you look at last season there were at least 3 games we should have won and 2 that should have been no worse than even. We went 1-4 in those games. I think it would have been a huge boost to the program to have shown progress even if we took a step back this year. In 1975 maybe you could take 4 years to rebuild. In 2015 not so much. The other problem with the tear down approach is that if it doesn't work you can leave an even worse mess for your successor. This was Rutgers problem for a decade and why it took Sciano so long to turn them around.