What is stopping us from being Temple?

[06029]

UConn should be able to dominate the American with its brand recognition. One great hire and we'd be media darlings. UConn is one of the only schools in the American that would sell out the AAC championship game. The momentum would build quickly. Our facilities are the best in the conference. This is a program and fan base ready to explode, the only thing holding us back is the coaching.

So Uconn fans would have traveled in droves to Annapolis with 1 week to plan?

Media darlings where? ESPN? I thought they hated Uconn.

Uconn lacks talent especially since Diaco took over. 2008-2012, Uconn competed and won recruits on a regular basis versus RU, BC, Cuse and UMD. Diaco's been beating out UNH, Delaware and Colgate on a regular basis with the rare recruit having a P5 offer. I have no idea why he can not sell Uconn more effectively to P5 recruits that choose bottom feeders over Uconn.

 

[kemba]

I don't understand the brand argument. Ask anyone in the country what they think of when they think UConn and 100% will say basketball. Same goes for anybody here in state. Every single person knows we have good bball and crap football. A decent season isn't going to bring droves of casual fans in here because they don't just think of UConn as "one big brand" oozing with success and that's been expedited with a slate of teams nobody cares about coming to East Hartford. This program is so far down in the crapper it will take nearly perfect seasons to draw what we did in the honeymoon phase of FBS and even that's doubtful given our conference slate.

Yea I mostly agree.

I think next year we are going to continue to draw high 20's-low 30's for early season games with good weather. If we actually put a decent product on the field hopefully we can keep that level of attendance even late in the year. And if the product is good we can slowly grow that each year.

But I don't see us ever getting back to selling out games, or having real buzz about the program unless we get to a p5

 

[Colt house75]

Who has been denied admissions due to academics for FB? Uconn has taken FB players from those bastions of academic rigor Milford Academy and Fork Union. Not one coach has raised a stink about academic requirements to the press.

Without names and proof, I don't buy it. Innuendo by GDL is a CYA move. Uconn has a history of taking minimally qualifying athletes and it continues today. After the BB APR fiasco, the structure is in place to keep all teams looking fine on that front.

First person I thought of was Tyler Matekevich.... wasn't that PP totally whiffed on him or was it admissions or perhaps a combination of both.. I know the St Joe coaches made calls to PP.....

 

[Colt house75]

Yea I mostly agree.

I think next year we are going to continue to draw high 20's-low 30's for early season games with good weather. If we actually put a decent product on the field hopefully we can keep that level of attendance even late in the year. And if the product is good we can slowly grow that each year.

But I don't see us ever getting back to selling out games, or having real buzz about the program unless we get to a p5

Understand your point but have faith Kemba that we get a divine intervention (donor with doneros).... the right hire and a winning record will get us there ....

 

[06029]

First person I thought of was Tyler Matekevich.... wasn't that PP totally whiffed on him or was it admissions or perhaps a combination of both.. I know the St Joe coaches made calls to PP.....

Innuendo by GDL. Great source and a real CYA about why I sucked at Uconn but not now while protecting his buddy PP for a whiff. But...

Matekevich was a 2* in HS who had offers from Temple and Akron. He was not a sure fire, be a star player. PP and a lot of schools whiffed on him.

Admissions is not hindering recruiting. Meet NCAA minimums, want to play FB at Uconn and you will be admitted. Admissions is a nice excuse crutch for those that want one to help explain the athletic quality of recruits.

 

[Jax Husky]

Who has been denied admissions due to academics for FB? Uconn has taken FB players from those bastions of academic rigor Milford Academy and Fork Union. Not one coach has raised a stink about academic requirements to the press.

Without names and proof, I don't buy it. Innuendo by GDL is a CYA move. Uconn has a history of taking minimally qualifying athletes and it continues today. After the BB APR fiasco, the structure is in place to keep all teams looking fine on that front.

Dude, if the kid wasn't going to be accepted, we didnt offer. No one is going to be able to produce a list of kids that signed their LOI and then got denied, but we've had multiple coaches say they passed on recruits because of the academic standards, only to have those kids go on to other schools in our league.
Cant remember the name, but we had a commit get denied, went to Milford Academy, and endred up at Temple like 3 or 4 years ago.

 

[huskymedic]

PP and a lot of schools whiffed on him.

Including Edsall when he came out of HS.

Cant remember the name, but we had a commit get denied, went to Milford Academy, and endred up at Temple like 3 or 4 years ago.

Dobbs

 

[Jax Husky]

Including Edsall when he came out of HS.
Dobbs

Thanks, I knew it was a RB

 

[UConnNick]

So Uconn fans would have traveled in droves to Annapolis with 1 week to plan?

Media darlings where? ESPN? I thought they hated Uconn.

Uconn lacks talent especially since Diaco took over. 2008-2012, Uconn competed and won recruits on a regular basis versus RU, BC, Cuse and UMD. Diaco's been beating out UNH, Delaware and Colgate on a regular basis with the rare recruit having a P5 offer. I have no idea why he can not sell Uconn more effectively to P5 recruits that choose bottom feeders over Uconn.

Maybe he comes across as being just as crazy in the living rooms of recruits as he acts during his press conferences. Maybe after he leaves the families are sitting around looking at each other, shaking their heads and wondering what just happened?

 

[ktuck911]

QB. We can't recruit QB's.

And OL. we have to do better

 

[ktuck911]

I don't buy it. Connecticut fans aren't showing up for a losing team that plays boring football. That formula doesn't work anywhere these days. My wife and kids loved the Cincy game and they aren't even UConn fans really (they like them because I do), let alone football fans. It's just a great venue with good tailgating, good beer and food, a good band and a decent DJ. It isn't a hard sell with several million people nearby. However, a silent stadium and almost no points scored puts a damper on things. They'll be back when the points come back.

Kinda hard to find an argument against this post.

 

[shakes65]

Can anything be done about admissions?

Some positive coaching has been a big factor, geography hurts us a bite, but Admissibility may be the biggest factor. I am convinced they are able to admit a bunch of guys who UConn will not consider. Otherwise, their recruiting base is similar to ours, and all things being equal, our facilities, stadium, fan base would seem to make us a no-brainer.

 

[templefan1]

Including Edsall when he came out of HS.
Dobbs

Just stop. Dobbs never made it to Temple's campus either... Basically Temple said if you get qualified, we will take you. He never qualified.

 

[templefan1]

Just stop. Dobbs never made it to Temple's campus either... Basically Temple said if you get qualified, we will take you. He never qualified.

I just wanted to add that Temple did have the ability to take some grey shirts while in the MAC but that is gone with the move to the AAC. I also think one of the biggest things that Temple has been successful at is talent evaluation. They take guys who fit their system regardless of rankings and other offers. Last year Temple had three players taken in the NFL draft. Non had P-5 offers. This year Temple will most likely have 3 players drafted again (Reddick, D.Dawkins, J. Thomas). This group had 1 fbs offer.

 

[Palatine]

Aspiring to be Temple is stupid.

 

[06029]

Some positive coaching has been a big factor, geography hurts us a bite, but Admissibility may be the biggest factor. I am convinced they are able to admit a bunch of guys who UConn will not consider. Otherwise, their recruiting base is similar to ours, and all things being equal, our facilities, stadium, fan base would seem to make us a no-brainer.

Temple commits 2015 along with offers per Rivals. Ttell me how many would not be admitted at Uconn-
Taiyar Wilson 2* (no offers listed)
Dana Levine 2*; Umass, USF, Cuse (5 other ofers)
Josiah Brown 3*; Idaho, UNM
Jovahn Fair 2*; EMU, Kent State, Ohio (3 other offers)
Jager Gardner 2*,; Akron, UVA, GA Southern
Gregg Webb 3*; Rutgers
Delvon Randall; 3*; no offers (Great Barrington, MA)
Cortrelle Simpson 2*; Albany, Buffalo, CCSU, Toledo (5 other FCS offers)
Dawayne Young 2*; no offers
Chapelle Cook; 3*; BC, Pitt, RU, Wisconsin
Daishaun Grimes; 3*, ENU, Memphis, FAU, FIU
Kareem Ali, JR, 4*; Uconn, BC, Clemson, Duke (about 20 offers)
Roy Pugh 2*, Stony Brook
DeAndre Kelly, 2* Toledo, CCSU, URI, St Francis
Benson Isreal, 2*; Albany, Bryant, Old Dominion
Jeremiah Atoki, 2*; Uconn
Ryqull Armstead 3*; UVA, Old Dominion, Monmouth
Patrick Anderson 2*; Cinci, Miami (the U) Rutgers, Purdue UWV
Jake Roninson 2*; Bucknell, Colgarte, Fordham
TJ Simmons 4*, Auburn, FL, Indiana, KY, Clemson, Notre Dame, Wake Forest (and about 15 more)

Out of that list, I would say the 3 with no other offers might be the answer but that would be on incomplete information at best (the 3* with no offers could suggest academic issues). We can do the same for every year. The fact would remain that your claim about admissions is wrong. 90%+ of their recruits would get into Uconn. 100% of their impact players could get into Uconn.

The admissions excuse is weak and part of a distorted reality hat people want to use to try and explain things when the real answer is they recruit better than Uconn and coach up similar level recruits way better than Uconn over the past 6 years. Nothing more complicated than that.

 

[huskymedic]

Just stop. Dobbs never made it to Temple's campus either... Basically Temple said if you get qualified, we will take you. He never qualified.

Near certain he enrolled at Temple as a partial qualifier. He was on campus and attended classes but never qualified to play football.

 

[templefan1]

Near certain he enrolled at Temple as a partial qualifier. He was on campus and attended classes but never qualified to play football.

That is not how I remember it. So maybe he was a potential grey shirt, which was something Temple did in the MAC because the MAC takes partial qualifiers. None of this applies to Temple now as the Big East and now AAC do not accept partial qualifies. The last recruiting class Temple could do this was the 2012 class. So again, I curious to find out all of these recruits UConn could have had in recent years...

 

[huskymedic]

That is not how I remember it. So maybe he was a potential grey shirt, which was something Temple did in the MAC because the MAC takes partial qualifiers. None of this applies to Temple now as the Big East and now AAC do not accept partial qualifies. The last recruiting class Temple could do this was the 2012 class. So again, I curious to find out all of these recruits UConn could have had in recent years...

You're arguing w/ the wrong person about that... I answered the question about Dobbs (2012 recruit class) that was asked.

 

[HobokenHusky]

Given where we are and our budget in comparison to our peers, we should aspire to be Boise St., and I don't see any reason we can't be. Amp up the uniforms, amp up the offense, get creative. We don't have any type of football style that we are beholden to, and we have a national brand from basketball that we should be leveraging more than we are. We should be able to clean up all the tri-state area recruiting scraps that the P5 teams leave behind - and there is more than enough talent in NJ and NY to make that work.

It's become very clear that if you are not in a P5, the only way people will watch you is if you score a ton of points and are fun to watch while doing it. We are not going to fill up a stadium against our muff schedule with an offense that is more boring than watching paint dry.

 

[UConnJim]

Academics are an issue at UConn relative to schools like Temple and Louisville, but not relative to schools like BC and Rutgers. The issues fall in 5 buckets: Commits not admitted, Prep school kids, JUCOs, Grad school admits, and transfers.

Commits not admitted: James Nixon committed to UConn, but couldn't get admitted and went to Temple. Kenny Tinney committed to UConn, but couldn't get in and ended up at Michigan St. for a short time. Montreal Dobbs committed to UConn, but couldn't get it so he went to Temple, although he never played there. Logan Marchi committed to UConn, but couldn't get in and is now at Temple.

Prep school kids: Prep school kids usually fall into 2 buckets: Kids who need more physical development or kids who need more academic development. In general, UConn has not recruited these kids as they have 2 on the current roster and both were walk-ons. In contrast, Temple has 14 kids who came from prep schools.

JUCOs: Generally, UConn has recruited few JUCOs and has 1 JUCO on the roster. Temple has 2 JUCOs on the roster and Louisville has 15.

Grad school admits: Robbie Frey had trouble getting into the right grad program and went to Kutztown St. Bryce McNeal, a WR transfer from Clemson, couldn't get into grad school at UConn and went to Louisville instead, although he never played.

Transfers: Another area that UConn has not focused on. UConn has 6 transfers on the roster of which 3 are walk-ons. In contrast, Temple has 8 transfers on the roster and Louisville has 7.


If you look at the 2-deeps, Temple and Louisville have greatly benefited from Transfers/Preps/JUCOs. On the 2 deep rosters:

UConn: 2
Temple: 11
Louisville: 11

To summarize: Total Transfers/Preps/JUCOs on current rosters:

UConn: 9 (5 walk-ons)
Temple: 24
Louisville: 22

 

[huskymedic]

Prep school kids: Prep school kids usually fall into 2 buckets: Kids who need more physical development or kids who need more academic development.

You mean kids that reclassify or do a PG year and not just attend and graduate in 4 years (like a Cheshire Academy, Hamden Hall, Choate, Salisbury, Suffield, etc...?)

 

[UConnJim]

You mean kids that reclassify or do a PG year and not just attend and graduate in 4 years (like a Cheshire Academy, Hamden Hall, Choate, Salisbury, Suffield, etc...?)

Kids that do a post grad year.

 

[huskymedic]

Kids that do a post grad year.

Roger...

 

[Rewster]

Academics are an issue at UConn relative to schools like Temple and Louisville, but not relative to schools like BC and Rutgers. The issues fall in 5 buckets: Commits not admitted, Prep school kids, JUCOs, Grad school admits, and transfers.

Commits not admitted: James Nixon committed to UConn, but couldn't get admitted and went to Temple. Kenny Tinney committed to UConn, but couldn't get in and ended up at Michigan St. for a short time. Montreal Dobbs committed to UConn, but couldn't get it so he went to Temple, although he never played there. Logan Marchi committed to UConn, but couldn't get in and is now at Temple.

Prep school kids: Prep school kids usually fall into 2 buckets: Kids who need more physical development or kids who need more academic development. In general, UConn has not recruited these kids as they have 2 on the current roster and both were walk-ons. In contrast, Temple has 14 kids who came from prep schools.

JUCOs: Generally, UConn has recruited few JUCOs and has 1 JUCO on the roster. Temple has 2 JUCOs on the roster and Louisville has 15.

Grad school admits: Robbie Frey had trouble getting into the right grad program and went to Kutztown St. Bryce McNeal, a WR transfer from Clemson, couldn't get into grad school at UConn and went to Louisville instead, although he never played.

Transfers: Another area that UConn has not focused on. UConn has 6 transfers on the roster of which 3 are walk-ons. In contrast, Temple has 8 transfers on the roster and Louisville has 7.


If you look at the 2-deeps, Temple and Louisville have greatly benefited from Transfers/Preps/JUCOs. On the 2 deep rosters:

UConn: 2
Temple: 11
Louisville: 11

To summarize: Total Transfers/Preps/JUCOs on current rosters:

UConn: 8 (5 walk-ons)
Temple: 24
Louisville: 22

Nice job Jim
Looks to me it's an issue. UConn is not Notre Dame or Stanford. We have to get a little dirty if we are going to compete. Otherwise we are singing past the graveyard!!