Giufre won’t change his personality

UConn’s new coordinator plans to keep things light

STORRS– Many football teams have a Frank Giufre, that one coach who can break up the rest of the staff and bring light and lightheartedness to the darkness of meeting rooms.

There’s value, amid the long hours of a most serious endeavor, in having a sarcastic, self-deprecating, chop-busting guy chiming in regularly with a little wit and a big chuckle.

Giufre spent last season as UConn’s offensive line coach and the behindthe-scenes personality of the Huskies offense. Now he’s at the head of the table, named offensive coordinator in the wake of John Dunn’s unexpected departure, a promotion that comes with heavy responsibility and takes Giufre from the relative anonymity of positionspecific coaching to the forefront of an operation.

Giufre is the face of UConn’s efforts to score points in 2019, but he will remain the guy with a wisecrack to match every situation, as he should.

“I can’t change who I am,” Giufre said after spring practice rolled on with a workout Thursday at the Shenkman Training Center. “I’m not going to change who I am.”

He just has to do his job, do it his way and do it well. He has to help identify and develop the next starting quarterback. He has to show a grasp of all aspects of the offense and keep that unit, despite the departure of many of its most productive players, on an upward track.

It’s time for UConn football to show improvement and the offense, while not a glaring problem in 2018, must be an even more functional unit in 2019 if the Huskies are to actually beat a few FBS