Pirates invade The Rent to face Huskies
East Hartford— UConn has not had a winning season since 2010 when it last appeared in a bowl game.
And to keep alive their slim hopes of snapping that streak, the Huskies ( 3- 5) need a victory against East Carolina today (7 p.m., ESPNU) in an American Athletic Conference game.
The Pirates (4- 4) are coming off a loss a week ago at home to No. 21 Temple, and need two wins in their last four games to become eligible for a fourth consecutive bowl bid.
“Losing has a contagious element,” UConn coach Bob Diaco said this week. “Everybody is working really hard — players, coaches and administrators — to beat that back to its appropriate spot, because it doesn’t really represent the work done or the improvementmade to have five of the last six end the way that they have.”
The Huskies are 1-5 since starting the season with two wins. They visit two-win Tulane next week before finishing the season with games against undefeated Houston and Temple.
East Carolina has just one more win than the Huskies. But that is a bit deceiving. The teams that have beaten the Pirates (Florida, Navy, BYU and Temple) have a combined record of 24-4.
East Carolina has also had a couple of more days to prepare than the Huskies. The Pirates have not played since last Thursday. UConn lost Saturday at Cincinnati, and Diaco said the difference in preparation time is a real concern.
“To have the opponent in our half of the conference have two extra days to prepare and heal up, it’s really bi- zarre, frankly,” Diaco said. “We’ve got a pretty bruised and battered team, having just played not long ago.”
Game notes
After giving up an average of 324 yards of offense in their first six games, the Huskies have allowed 461 yards to South Florida and 612 against Cincinnati. East Carolina’s offense comes in averaging 426 yards. ... East Carolina’s touchdown drives this season have taken an average of under 3 minutes, and only two of them have lasted longer than 5 minutes. ... This will be East Carolina’s first trip to East Hartford. ... The Huskies will be debuting alternate uniforms. The uniforms will feature dark steel gray matching jerseys and pants with a flat matte gray that has a chrome Husky logo on each side. manager in 2012. Mike Redmond, fired this year, remains under contract through 2017.
Jennings is under contract through 2018, and his dismissal came three weeks after team officials said he would resume his former job as general manager. Team President David Samson said he proposed firing Jennings, and Loria agreed.
President of baseball operations Michael Hill will handle the responsibilities of GM, as he has done since Jennings gave up the job.
“I just thought the way it was running since the middle of May was the way it should continue to run,” Samson said. “The ideas that Michael has as to how to turn this around are ideas that I think are right.”
Jennings was the first major league skipper with no experience as a manager or big league player since Braves owner Ted Turner managed his team for one game in 1977. He had worked with Hill on the Marlins’ personnel side since 2002.
— Associated Press