Dooley
Done with U-con athletics
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2012
- Messages
- 9,958
- Reaction Score
- 32,816
We just won 2 games last season after winning 3 games the season before. We haven't played in a bowl game in 4 straight seasons after getting to the Fiesta Bowl that most of the country doesn't think we deserved to be in in the first place. We play football in the American against programs that almost nobody cares about. Our offense has been one of the worst performing offenses (in addition to being a conservative/boring style) in the entire country for years. Our stadium attendance in our smaller off-campus stadium has been in a free fall decline since the day Paul Pasqualoni was hired. We have absolutely no chance of playing in a 4-team football playoff even if we run the table and win all of our games by an average of 50 points. The best case scenario for a "high profile" bowl game is, realistically speaking, playing a game against another G5 school that most people do not care about in a baseball stadium in Miami that is 3/4 empty on a weekday afternoon about 1 week before the games that everyone actually care about begin. We do not have the resources that our P5 geographic r1vals have nor can we offer prospects anything anywhere close to what they can in terms of exposure, competitive scheduling against nationally recognized programs, game-day atmosphere (until we start winning, that is), or point to a trophy case stacked with Heisman winners, national championships, iconic plays and players, and All-Americans.
The thought of engaging in a recruiting battle with Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, or even Rutgers seems like a waste of time to me. Most of the prospects that the Yard wants us to recruit aren't coming here. Not now. And not in this stage of the 2015 Class recruiting. It took Jim Harbaugh less than 24 hours to flip Ulizio. He was a late add to the verbal commit list, exactly the part of the recruiting process that we are in right now. We're into 9th inning recruiting. We aren't flipping anyone with a list of "good" offers a few days before Signing Day. So why try?
The CT PWOs thought process is simple:
1. our roster is in desperate need of quality depth.
2. CT kids get charged in-state tuition. It's still expensive but not as expensive as out-of-state tuition. Hopefully, they will only have to pay for 1 or 2 semesters out of their own pocket before #3 kicks in.
3. these kids have no other offers but are now given an opportunity to earn a full ride at a very good school.
Like or not, we are starting over again. Like we all knew at the time, the Pasqualoni hire did not advance the program from where Coach Edsall left it. We went backwards, back to the years of "trailer park football" when Edsall was building off of what Coach Holtz began. Get those hard hats gentlemen, we are back to mining for prospects. Prospects that are under-recruited or not recruited at all. A free ride at the University of Maine versus paying out of state tuition at UCONN is not much of a choice, hence the scholarship offer.
The mission of the 2015 recruiting class is to help fill the many holes in our depth chart. The hope is that all of these big frames will fill out thanks to a proper S&C program under Coach Balis. Hopefully a few of them will turn into productive D-1 caliber players so we can get back to winning. But that is going to take time. It will take years for this year's FR to fill out and develop their man strength. By the time that happens, they'll have a few years of being coached up.
Turning the program around is going to take years. The best case scenario for next season is an improvement to 5 wins. IF we can win more, then maybe we can enter a few more recruiting battles agains the likes of BC, Cuse or Rutgers again with the promise of more playing time. Until then, we need to strap on our hard hats, flashlights and pick axes and prepare to dive deep into the mines of the northeastern high school circuits to look for big frames, "coachable" kids who aren't afraid of hard work, and athleticism. The good news? This formula has worked at UCONN before against MUCH better competition as a member of a BCS conference. We all just need to be patient again (as best we can).
The thought of engaging in a recruiting battle with Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, or even Rutgers seems like a waste of time to me. Most of the prospects that the Yard wants us to recruit aren't coming here. Not now. And not in this stage of the 2015 Class recruiting. It took Jim Harbaugh less than 24 hours to flip Ulizio. He was a late add to the verbal commit list, exactly the part of the recruiting process that we are in right now. We're into 9th inning recruiting. We aren't flipping anyone with a list of "good" offers a few days before Signing Day. So why try?
The CT PWOs thought process is simple:
1. our roster is in desperate need of quality depth.
2. CT kids get charged in-state tuition. It's still expensive but not as expensive as out-of-state tuition. Hopefully, they will only have to pay for 1 or 2 semesters out of their own pocket before #3 kicks in.
3. these kids have no other offers but are now given an opportunity to earn a full ride at a very good school.
Like or not, we are starting over again. Like we all knew at the time, the Pasqualoni hire did not advance the program from where Coach Edsall left it. We went backwards, back to the years of "trailer park football" when Edsall was building off of what Coach Holtz began. Get those hard hats gentlemen, we are back to mining for prospects. Prospects that are under-recruited or not recruited at all. A free ride at the University of Maine versus paying out of state tuition at UCONN is not much of a choice, hence the scholarship offer.
The mission of the 2015 recruiting class is to help fill the many holes in our depth chart. The hope is that all of these big frames will fill out thanks to a proper S&C program under Coach Balis. Hopefully a few of them will turn into productive D-1 caliber players so we can get back to winning. But that is going to take time. It will take years for this year's FR to fill out and develop their man strength. By the time that happens, they'll have a few years of being coached up.
Turning the program around is going to take years. The best case scenario for next season is an improvement to 5 wins. IF we can win more, then maybe we can enter a few more recruiting battles agains the likes of BC, Cuse or Rutgers again with the promise of more playing time. Until then, we need to strap on our hard hats, flashlights and pick axes and prepare to dive deep into the mines of the northeastern high school circuits to look for big frames, "coachable" kids who aren't afraid of hard work, and athleticism. The good news? This formula has worked at UCONN before against MUCH better competition as a member of a BCS conference. We all just need to be patient again (as best we can).
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