The lost decade
A tale of trophies, tribulations and few triumphs
The UConn football team reached its high-water mark on Jan. 1, 2011, facing Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. The succeeding 10-plus years have brought four coaching changes, a carousel of quarterbacks, dwindling attendance and some record-setting futility on defense.
As the Huskies emerge from a year off due to COVID-19 and hope to make a fresh start in their season opener at Fresno State on Aug. 28, here’s a brief recap of UConn football got here:
The flight home
After losing 48-20 to Oklahoma in 2011, the Huskies returned home without their coach. Randy Edsall instead flew to Maryland and quickly accept the head coaching position. Coaches leave programs under such circumstances all the time, but the way this was done left the program reeling and humiliated at what should have been a proud moment. Edsall returned in 2017 and expressed regret over the way he left.
Show me the money
Then-UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway chose Paul Pasqualoni to replace Edsall in mid-January 2011, and the choice did not go over well in some parts. UConn donor Robert Burton, whose name is on the football’s training complex, asked for his $3 million back. Eventually things settled down, but it was another “only UConn” moment in the books.
So long, Paul Pasqualoni
UConn finished 5-7 in Pasqualoni’s first two seasons. The next AD, Warde Manuel, fired Pasqualoni on Sept. 30, 2013 after the Huskies fell to 0-4 with a 41-12 loss at Buffalo, where Manuel had previously worked.
Civil Conflict?
Manuel’s choice to lift the program was Bob Diaco, who came from Notre Dame with a reputation for building defenses and, let’s call it, “imagination.” Diaco was given to bizarre soliloquys and metaphors. (See babies lifting coffee tables and Balto, the heroic Husky who inspired the Iditarod but not UConn.) Of lasting imprint is his ham-handed efforts to start a rivalry with Central Florida called the “Civil ConFLiCT” complete with a trophy. After beating UConn in 2016, UCF noticeably left the trophy behind.
The return of Edsall
UConn made a bowl appearance in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl with a 16-10 loss to Marshall to finish Diaco’s second season, but he was fired with a handsome buyout after his third year, when the Huskies were outscored 130-16 over their last four games. Afterwards, current UConn director of athletics David Benedict made the decision to bring back Edsall, who had been fired at Maryland.
The defense rests
After UConn’s 1-11 season in 2018, there was discussion as to whether or not the defense was the worst of all time in Division I. The Huskies allowed an average of 50.41 points per game, 617.5 yards per game, both FBS football records for defensive ineffectiveness in a season. The Huskies gave up 8.8 per play, nearly enough for a first down on every snap. The defense improved marginally in 2019, to 40.5 points, 466.8 yards per game and 7.0 yards per play to finish 2-10.
Out of their league
The original Big East split up in 2012, sending UConn with its other football-playing schools into the American Athletic Conference. UConn was 11-45 in AAC games. In 2020, UConn moved back to the new version of the Big East to benefit its basketball programs but canceled its 2020 football season due to COVID-19. The program is now an independent, with an eclectic batch of opponents, a TV contract with CBS Sports Network and a lot to prove.