UConn Staff Crushing It

[ShakyTheMohel]

My view on Warde:

Football: Diaco was a huge swing and a miss. The miss was understandable; he hired a big name Broyles Award winning DC from one of the biggest football programs out there. However, he did miss, and then he doubled down on the stupidity by drafting up and agreeing to a gigantic extension after a 6-7 season, answering a question that nobody was asking. This further hurts our monetary situation worse than it was already hurting. Dave Benedict seems to have saved the day, likely with some behind-the-scenes donor work that needed to happen to offset the ridiculous extension.

Basketball: Had to have Kevin Ollie shoved down his throat by a Hall of Fame legendary coach. Then proceeded to mishandle KO's contract situation, and arguably had to pay him a premium price on the re-negotiated contract. What a mess.

Hockey: Great hire. Cavanaugh is the man, and Warde should get full credit there.

Facilities / Donors: Also, great work there as well.

It's a mixed bag for sure. To compare him to Hathaway is ridiculous because Hathaway was the undisputed worst AD in the history of UConn Athletics. But he also wasn't anywhere near the rock star people claim(ed) him to be. Dave Benedict is off to a great start, and it will be interesting to see what we will ultimately say about him a few years from now. Which brings me back to: the staff really crushed it with recruiting, right???

I agree except for the Diaco extension piece. I don't know enough to say whether the buy out amount was too much, but losing a coach to Rutgers after a bowl season would haven been a tough pill to swallow. It's easy to look back now and think the move was crazy, but WM was trying to get UConn seriously considered for the Big 12 push, and starting over with a new football coach would have been tough.

In hind site...losing BD would have been a good thing. But at that time, I get why he did what he did to keep stability in the football program at that time.

 

[UConnDan97]

I agree except for the Diaco extension piece. I don't know enough to say whether the buy out amount was too much, but losing a coach to Rutgers after a bowl season would haven been a tough pill to swallow. It's easy to look back now and think the move was crazy, but WM was trying to get UConn seriously considered for the Big 12 push, and starting over with a new football coach would have been tough.

In hind site...losing BD would have been a good thing. But at that time, I get why he did what he did to keep stability in the football program at that time.

At the time, there was more than enough data to show that Diaco was plum crazy. And the amounts of the re-negotiation were outlandish. Especially the buy-out money, with amounts that were mostly unheard of from a "non-P5" school. It was a bad move even at the time...

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

At the time, there was more than enough data to show that Diaco was plum crazy. And the amounts of the re-negotiation were outlandish. Especially the buy-out money, with amounts that were mostly unheard of from a "non-P5" school. It was a bad move even at the time...

Maybe I am misremembering, but I don't remember a lot to talk on here about it being the wrong move. I remember a bit of surprise, but not full on comments that it was a mistake.

Don't you remember all the 8-4 predictions on here? (Including me). Hard to believe we were all thinking that an extension was a bad move if we thought the team would win 8 games.

 

[UConnDan97]

Maybe I am misremembering, but I don't remember a lot to talk on here about it being the wrong move. I remember a bit of surprise, but not full on comments that it was a mistake.

Don't you remember all the 8-4 predictions on here? (Including me). Hard to believe we were all thinking that an extension was a bad move if we thought the team would win 8 games.

I even remember a 15-0 prediction from someone...

 

[2Infinity]

Hathaway sold his contacts in the hoops world to the moron that is president at Hofstra. Part of this idiot's plan was to dump football and join the A-10. Hathaway sold him that he could do that. Football is long gone..and Hofstra is still waiting to join the A-10 in hoops.

Just amazing that a president would put so much faith in him...especially after what he did here at UConn!

 

[Colt house75]

Just amazing that a president would put so much faith in him...especially after what he did here at UConn!

Understandably, one doesn't know what one doesn't know.... and we hired a Broyles award winner that could not manage the last 2 minutes of a hAlf or game (among other things well discussed here).

 

[2Infinity]

Maybe I am misremembering, but I don't remember a lot to talk on here about it being the wrong move. I remember a bit of surprise, but not full on comments that it was a mistake.

Don't you remember all the 8-4 predictions on here? (Including me). Hard to believe we were all thinking that an extension was a bad move if we thought the team would win 8 games.

I think the idea of an extension was a little surprising considering the .500 record, but it wasn't off the wall. The odd part though were the terms...they WERE off the wall! I can't believe that WM ( and I liked how he did many positive things here) felt compelled to offer such a lucrative deal. I'm convinced that as bad as BD was at hiring his assistant coaches, he was quite the opposite with hiring his agent.

 

[jgeorge322]

Uconn can win a lot of games in the american

 

[UConn66]

Right, because the number of stars on high school recruits determined by "independent sources" whose primary goal is to drive subscriptions with college fan bases is what defines a program. On-field performance, NFL alums - all just window dressing.

Absolutely correct. I'd love to see the percentage of four and five stars who make it in college and/or pro. Watch Coach Edsall coach up threes and twos. He's done it before.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Go Dogs

 

[weyuo]

Absolutely correct. I'd love to see the percentage of four and five stars who make it in college and/or pro. Watch Coach Edsall coach up threes and twos. He's done it before.

Coaching up three's and two's is ok but can they beat Alabama? Oklahoma? Michigan? Until UConn finishes a season or two in the top 10 they will always be considered a basketball school and to tell ya the truth it would be nice to hear them be considered a national power in football. I thought I'd see extraterrestrials on the White House lawn before I saw the Red Sox win a World Series but it happened. Back in the 80's thinking some coach from Northeastern would bring UConn basketball to a Final Four, never mind win multiple National Championships, would have had me laughed out of any bar in New England. Yet it happened. So why not Edsall putting together a few 10+ win seasons, cracking that 4 & 5 star ceiling and bringing us to the promise land in football.

 

[RedStickHusky]

I thought I'd see extraterrestrials on the White House lawn before I saw the Red Sox win a World Series but it happened.

You sure? What if they look like us?

 

[ktuck911]

When Hathaway was here the decision makers that put him in charge sucked.. They knew nothing about FBS level football either...

 

[weyuo]

You sure? What if they look like us?

"Or do they look like the 2004 Red Sox?"

 

[huskypantz]

Coaching up three's and two's is ok but can they beat Alabama? Oklahoma? Michigan? Until UConn finishes a season or two in the top 10 they will always be considered a basketball school and to tell ya the truth it would be nice to hear them be considered a national power in football. I thought I'd see extraterrestrials on the White House lawn before I saw the Red Sox win a World Series but it happened. Back in the 80's thinking some coach from Northeastern would bring UConn basketball to a Final Four, never mind win multiple National Championships, would have had me laughed out of any bar in New England. Yet it happened. So why not Edsall putting together a few 10+ win seasons, cracking that 4 & 5 star ceiling and bringing us to the promise land in football.

It's a double-edged sword - there is no doubt that there is inherent bias in the star system. That said, there are plenty of legit 4-5 star "home runs" out there. The star system usually gets it wrong on the guys who don't get looks from the big programs (often kids from Canada and the Northeast), they don't bother reviewing tape and even if it did it wouldn't matter as they can't evaluate it. Boise St did a great job of winning with guys who graded out "average" but came together as a team and beat big-time programs. Houston did the same, as did WVU back in the day (a little more talent, but examples like Pat White going there to play QB instead of WR or DB in the SEC). This board does a good job of associating offers to talent instead of stars to talent, but since we recruit in spaces where the top tier schools do not, some kids just never get a look. We can be a top 25 school without consistently bringing in 4 star kids, but we have to start pulling a few in here and there as the "miss" rate is lower as you climb up the star rankings.

 

[Pudge]

Coaching up three's and two's is ok but can they beat Alabama? Oklahoma? Michigan? Until UConn finishes a season or two in the top 10 they will always be considered a basketball school and to tell ya the truth it would be nice to hear them be considered a national power in football. I thought I'd see extraterrestrials on the White House lawn before I saw the Red Sox win a World Series but it happened. Back in the 80's thinking some coach from Northeastern would bring UConn basketball to a Final Four, never mind win multiple National Championships, would have had me laughed out of any bar in New England. Yet it happened. So why not Edsall putting together a few 10+ win seasons, cracking that 4 & 5 star ceiling and bringing us to the promise land in football.

Well ... let us debunk you and this.

We are not going to beat out Alabama or Michigan or Oklahoma or Clemson ... or about 10 others. CFB has stratified into a definite hierarchy. Gosh we can't keep Harbaugh out of New England - he just brought in 5 kids from here. Our basketball success is extraordinary; but we need to keep vigilant to push the success of both programs as best we can. In Football, even more so than 2004, I believe we need to grind towards regularly being in the top 40. Even if we do get some new configuration of the Power 5, we need to be the best we can. That will not be top 10. We simply have significant impediments to climbing there once ... let alone often. We ARE better positioned, in general, for longterm success than our regional peers of BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, Buffalo, UMass, Army, Navy, Maryland ... if the Power 5 cartel just fractures a little. But there was a Wall built up in the last decade that we are not going to climb over.

What about the UDub Huskies?

In my view, their solid tradition (Don James) allows both those Dogs and Oregon Ducks to create a structure that dominates the West. For a period. Both UCLA and USC also can get into the Four playoff slots. Maybe Stanford. That is different than the SEC or B1G or Texas/OK. And I don't think an undefeated Houston (or USF or UCF or SMU) ever breaks into the Four. As a UConn Football fan, we can hope for slight bowl openings that are better for the AAC and some fissure of the fault lines in the ACC or B12. Then we can rise to near the top 15 ... maybe. This is a harder sport to get there than hoop.

 

[weyuo]

Didn't know that my wish for UConn football greatness needed to be debunked.

 

[Stray_Dog]

When Hathaway was here the decision makers that put him in charge sucked.. They knew nothing about FBS level football either...

I think Hathaway is an alien from a galaxy far far-away!

 

[weyuo]

I think Hathaway is an alien from a galaxy far far-away!

Wish they would call him back home