PonyFans.com

I did not expect that.

http://connecticut.rivals.com/default.asp?SR=RivalsFP

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6019525

good for him.

This is probably a good hire. I was hopeful that SMU would look at him before JJ was hired.

In the blog days, I tossed his name out there as someone SMU should consider back when the SMU coaching search hit day 70 or so.

There are very few people, both real and fictional, that weren't mentioned at some point.

Given his record, it was a great surprise that he got fired at Syracuse. He will probably be a good fit at UConn unless there is something going on about his attitude. I suspicion that he is an "old school" type coach and perhaps the modern players might not relate to his toughness. We might could use a little of that.

Junior wrote:There are very few people, both real and fictional, that weren't mentioned at some point.

rich59 wrote:Given his record, it was a great surprise that he got fired at Syracuse. He will probably be a good fit at UConn unless there is something going on about his attitude. I suspicion that he is an "old school" type coach and perhaps the modern players might not relate to his toughness. We might could use a little of that.

that, and add some NFL seasoning afterward. I think he can do well.

rich59 wrote:Given his record, it was a great surprise that he got fired at Syracuse. He will probably be a good fit at UConn unless there is something going on about his attitude. I suspicion that he is an "old school" type coach and perhaps the modern players might not relate to his toughness. We might could use a little of that.

The boosters and Admin at SU were frustrated with him, because he couldn't get the program to the next level. Similar to O'Brien at BC (now NCSU). Look at SU's recruiting territory though - NY and PA. Nobody is going to out recruit Joe Pa in that area. He did a lot with less talent (like Randy Edsell).

stc9 wrote:

rich59 wrote:Given his record, it was a great surprise that he got fired at Syracuse. He will probably be a good fit at UConn unless there is something going on about his attitude. I suspicion that he is an "old school" type coach and perhaps the modern players might not relate to his toughness. We might could use a little of that.

The boosters and Admin at SU were frustrated with him, because he couldn't get the program to the next level. Similar to O'Brien at BC (now NCSU). Look at SU's recruiting territory though - NY and PA. Nobody is going to out recruit Joe Pa in that area. He did a lot with less talent (like Randy Edsell).

His recuiting territory at Syracuse was Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Problem is that these 3 states have high quality talent, but the over all numbers for talent is quite limited. In the old days these 3 states were pretty much preyed upon by Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse and Notre Dame. Things changed during his time at Syracuse. Boston College jumped into the territory as well as UConn, up start Rutgers, U of Buffalo now, WV, plus Maryland, Virginia, Va Tech, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa making things tough in the recruiting wars. Bottom line is that none of the needs of these colleges can be fully met in this recruiting region today. Even Paterno is having a tough time finding his talent in this region and getting them recruited. Everyone must look else where particularly Florida for the speed and depth needed to sustain a top program. At Syracuse he never had the numbers or depth to sustain his program. He was not successful at recruiting out side the region and despite a program that looked good based on stastics, he was not at all competitive the last 5 years of his program. He lost to traditional rivals and as well as other weak Big East programs. If it were not for a fairly weak non-conference schedule his record of wins would be down. I think he is an excellent coach; however, I do not think he is righ for UConn as he cannot elivate them to a higher level which is a program objective. He will perform at the same level that he did at Syracuse. UConn should have gone young and energetic with Florida or Texas connections.

I completely agree. I just got off the phone with my father (we're both UConn grads) where we said we didn't care about the Ct. HS coaches being happy with the hire as it would be more important for the HS coaches in Fl. Or Tx. To be happy. Good thing I'll be focusing my attention now on SMU!