UConn Insider Podcast: Joe D Returns To Talk Huskies Football, The Return Of Randy Edsall

[huskymedic]

>>In his return to the UConn Insider podcast, WTIC 1080's Joe D'Ambrosio spoke with Mike Anthony about just that, along with some roster talk, a look at the Huskies' tough 2017 schedule, ways to measure progress beyond wins and losses, and just what went wrong in the short-lived Bob Diaco era.<<

 

[thatguyed]

My gosh that last point is a mindfield.

 

[uconndogs]

The coaching hires after Randy1 could not have gone more poorly.

Something happened with the stupid twins in the third season that must have been pretty dramatic to trigger the firing after the third game. Ward jettisoned both of those guys which I thought was pretty odd. I heard enough rumors about how they treated the players to suspect there was probably some truth to them. The program was in pretty good shape and those guys took in down in pretty rapid form.

Crazy Bob is a head scratcher for me. I think the kids really liked him and played hard for him until the point they realized he really didn't know what the hell he was doing. I was at the Husky Walk for the Virginia game after the Navy debacle and Diaco looked like a very unhappy guy to me. The decisions he made on and off the field were many times completely bizarre. I was at the BC game with the fake field goal and everyone around us was just scratching their head. I simply told everyone that he does this crap all the time.

I will say this about Randy. Not everyone is going to like him and no one will like him all the time. But, he really doesn't seem to care all that much and he'll take absolutely no from anyone in the program. His leadership style always struck me as tough, fair and straightforward. His handling of events after the Jasper Howard tragedy was a terrific demonstration of class.

I fully expect him to get this thing back on the rails over the next two seasons.

 

[Excalibur]

The coaching hires after Randy1 could not have gone more poorly.

Something happened with the stupid twins in the third season that must have been pretty dramatic to trigger the firing after the third game. Ward jettisoned both of those guys which I thought was pretty odd. I heard enough rumors about how they treated the players to suspect there was probably some truth to them. The program was in pretty good shape and those guys took in down in pretty rapid form.

Crazy Bob is a head scratcher for me. I think the kids really liked him and played hard for him until the point they realized he really didn't know what the hell he was doing. I was at the Husky Walk for the Virginia game after the Navy debacle and Diaco looked like a very unhappy guy to me. The decisions he made on and off the field were many times completely bizarre. I was at the BC game with the fake field goal and everyone around us was just scratching their head. I simply told everyone that he does this crap all the time.

I will say this about Randy. Not everyone is going to like him and no one will like him all the time. But, he really doesn't seem to care all that much and he'll take absolutely no from anyone in the program. His leadership style always struck me as tough, fair and straightforward. His handling of events after the Jasper Howard tragedy was a terrific demonstration of class.

I fully expect him to get this thing back on the rails over the next two seasons.

P and GDL murdered the culture here and made it completely poisonous in 14 months' time. Their second season was made to look almost respectable by a great DC and great defensive players that the previous coach had recruited.

With the culture murdered, Warde went to look for a guy who could fix the culture, and forgot to take into account whether the guy knew anything else about how to coach a football team.

 

[huskymedic]

Quick 15 minute listen:



Interesting that Joe D doesn't believe this year's QB is on campus yet.

 

[ktuck911]

Quick 15 minute listen:



Interesting that Joe D doesn't believe this year's QB is on campus yet.

I don't either... not until later on this month when kids start taking Summer classes...

 

[uconndogs]

P and GDL murdered the culture here and made it completely poisonous in 14 months' time. Their second season was made to look almost respectable by a great DC and great defensive players that the previous coach had recruited.

With the culture murdered, Warde went to look for a guy who could fix the culture, and forgot to take into account whether the guy knew anything else about how to coach a football team.

I think that's dead on.

 

[Exit 4]

Quick 15 minute listen:



Interesting that Joe D doesn't believe this year's QB is on campus yet.

True, - but I agree - the QB for 2017 will be one of the three coming in this summer. Reading between the lines from this spring practice, Bisack and Sheriffs frustrated the new staff. Both give us solid #2 guys, but the staff wants more upside.

 

[ktuck911]

The only thing I find hard to believe at the end of that interview is that they actually had fun... How do you have fun when you're like a broken record saying "and the Huskies go 3 and out" 90% of the time they were on offense in the 2nd half of the season?????

 

[mikedog10]

The only thing I find hard to believe at the end of that interview is that they actually had fun... How do you have fun when you're like a broken record saying "and the Huskies go 3 and out" 90% of the time they were on offense in the 2nd half of the season?????

How do you have fun covering football like that? The same way we all endured it: liquor.

 

[UConnDan97]

P and GDL murdered the culture here and made it completely poisonous in 14 months' time. Their second season was made to look almost respectable by a great DC and great defensive players that the previous coach had recruited.

With the culture murdered, Warde went to look for a guy who could fix the culture, and forgot to take into account whether the guy knew anything else about how to coach a football team.

... and he didn't fix the culture either! The comments about the new Randy2.0 regime vs the Diaco regime from players like Shireffs didn't shock me. What really shocked me was when kids on the recruiting trail noticed a large and immediate difference. That's when you really appreciate the level of crazy person that we had here...

 

[Exit 4]

Finally listened to the podcast. This would have been unbearable with Dez (because he always had an agenda), so thank you Mike Anthony for playing it straight. Looks like Mike got the good Joe D today...attitude in check.

 

[Excalibur]

... and he didn't fix the culture either! The comments about the new Randy2.0 regime vs the Diaco regime from players like Shireffs didn't shock me. What really shocked me was when kids on the recruiting trail noticed a large and immediate difference. That's when you really appreciate the level of crazy person that we had here...

I think he made progress -- if you look at quotes from kids when he came on board they sound a lot like what you're hearing now about RE2.0. His gross incompetence as a coach ultimately did him in. I think Joe D is correct that he lost the team in the last 30 seconds vs. Navy. They players realized that Diaco was an impediment to success, and that he wasn't walking his own talk about accountability.

 

[Exit 4]

They players realized that Diaco was an impediment to success, and that he wasn't walking his own talk about accountability.

<--bingo

 

[History Geek]

I think he made progress -- if you look at quotes from kids when he came on board they sound a lot like what you're hearing now about RE2.0. His gross incompetence as a coach ultimately did him in. I think Joe D is correct that he lost the team in the last 30 seconds vs. Navy. They players realized that Diaco was an impediment to success, and that he wasn't walking his own talk about accountability.

This.

 

[SubZero]

I think he made progress -- if you look at quotes from kids when he came on board they sound a lot like what you're hearing now about RE2.0. His gross incompetence as a coach ultimately did him in. I think Joe D is correct that he lost the team in the last 30 seconds vs. Navy. They players realized that Diaco was an impediment to success, and that he wasn't walking his own talk about accountability.

Wait a second. Are you saying that the players purposely quit on Diaco because they wanted to prove a point? If that's the case, I hope RE kicks these players off the team. That loser mentality is never acceptable.

 

[Excalibur]

Wait a second. Are you saying that the players purposely quit on Diaco because they wanted to prove a point? If that's the case, I hope RE kicks these players off the team. That loser mentality is never acceptable.

Uh, no . . .

Poor leadership destroys motivation. It happens across all walks of life.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Wait a second. Are you saying that the players purposely quit on Diaco because they wanted to prove a point? If that's the case, I hope RE kicks these players off the team. That loser mentality is never acceptable.

You can "lose the team" a number of ways. It doesn't mean that the players quit to prove a point. It may mean that they saw what some of us saw in year 1 - that this guy was a total incompetent fraud.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Quick 15 minute listen:



Interesting that Joe D doesn't believe this year's QB is on campus yet.

I don't think JuCo QBs transfer to red shirt or hope to play. I would guess it is Pindell's job to lose. Which makes me optimistic. Sherriff's is serviceable, so if Pindell is better..that is a good sign for the program this fall.

 

[blue93]

I think he made progress -- if you look at quotes from kids when he came on board they sound a lot like what you're hearing now about RE2.0. His gross incompetence as a coach ultimately did him in. I think Joe D is correct that he lost the team in the last 30 seconds vs. Navy. They players realized that Diaco was an impediment to success, and that he wasn't walking his own talk about accountability.

Nailed it.