OT: Paul Pasqualoni fired
Interesting. Did anyone see this coming? Or was Michigan's defeat of UConn so absolute and decisive that UConn felt they had to axe him?
Paul Pasqualoni has been fired as #UConnFootball coach.
— Desmond Conner (@desmondconner) September 30, 2013
EDIT: Uconn fans seem to be taking it well:
YES. YES. LET THE HEALING BEGIN.
— TheUConnBlog (@TheUConnBlog) September 30, 2013
September 30th, 2013 at 9:50 AM ^
I think their showing in Buffalo may have had more to do with it.
September 30th, 2013 at 9:52 AM ^
September 30th, 2013 at 9:54 AM ^
September 30th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
This is how we need to rewrite the history of the 2013 season. We didn't barely beat UConn -- we crushed their souls. Let it be remembered as a glorious victory for UM.
September 30th, 2013 at 11:27 AM ^
He would have been able to edit that content to the appropriate level.
September 30th, 2013 at 9:55 AM ^
September 30th, 2013 at 10:01 AM ^
Jerry Kill better start packing his things.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:06 AM ^
Really? Kill took them to a bowl last year and is near their win total from last year.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:13 AM ^
Michigan is such a destroyer of souls that no opposing coach is safe.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
Kill took over a tire fire of a program and has slowly been making it respectable. Pasqualoni took over a consistent 8-9 win program and has been cratering it.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:48 AM ^
You guys both missed the point.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:50 AM ^
+1 Someone gets it.
October 1st, 2013 at 4:20 AM ^
September 30th, 2013 at 10:05 AM ^
If I'm #UConn, #1 guy on my list is #MichSt DC Pat Narduzzi (born in CT & played at URI). Great def. mind/recruiter/motivator
— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) September 30, 2013
September 30th, 2013 at 10:09 AM ^
of Unnecessary roughness. . .
September 30th, 2013 at 10:10 AM ^
Wait! A certain Detroit radio duo thinks that he'll only leave for a Texas type job, AND more importantly that Texas would come calling.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:26 AM ^
Texas has to be looking at the USC announcement and thinking: oh no, they have the jump on us. Then again they need to hire a new AD first ...
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9747473/earl-campbell-ca…
September 30th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
ESPN has already given the USC job to Jack Del Rio. Too lazy to link, but Del Rio is the current DC in Denver and they look to be gearing up for a deep run this year. Del Rio didn't deny interest.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
Why would Texas ever hire an unproven head coach. I don't know if this is just me, but if you are one of the biggest and most elite programs in the country, taking a coordinator who hasn't head coached seems to be a pretty big risk. Even taking a guy from Alabama or something that has been a coordinator isn't necessarily a great idea. Head coaching is a lot different from coordinating and some guys just don't have it.
September 30th, 2013 at 11:39 AM ^
I thought Texas would make a run at Art Briles from Baylor or maybe Chad Morris from Clemson? One of those "spread/air raid guru" type of folks!
September 30th, 2013 at 10:10 AM ^
Actually, yeah, that would be a good hire. I think he can do better though...USC?
September 30th, 2013 at 10:11 AM ^
Narduzzi is a huge pipe dream. If I was in his position, I wouldn't leave MSU for anything but a big time program. One of the best defensive minds in the game, why would he leave from uCONN?
September 30th, 2013 at 10:18 AM ^
Narduzzi would have been a more likely choice right after Edsall left. But I think Narduzzi's stock is too high for UConn these days.
Or who knows...maybe there's a knock on Narduzzi that's prevented him from being offer HC jobs before, and UConn is his best bet. Gotta start somewhere as a HC.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^
I heard from a quality source that he can't pronounce Chipotle correctly and that he struggles with adding fractions. The guy is right where he belongs.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
but are any big time programs calling? I think Texas and USC are extreme longshots. Hiring him as their DC would be a step up for him, maybe that could happen. The next time a big time school hires a lesser program's coordinator with no ties to them will be the first afaik. It will be interesting to see what happens after this season. If he wants to be a HC, it should be a good time to go.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:58 AM ^
Narduzzi is a great defensive coordinator but has never been a head coach before. And there will always be some questions about how much of the credit he deserves for the defense when Mark Dantonio probably has a hand in the defensive gameplan/development/recruiting.
There is no way a perennial top 20 program would take a risk on hiring Narduzzi when there are so many other candidates out there. He will probably have to prove himself as a head coach first before those opportunities come. Very few college coordinators get offered top 20 jobs, and the ones who do usually come from teams that are in the top 5 and winning national championships. I think he would have to go the route of mid major/BCS bottom feeder like Dave Doeren (Northern Illinois), Jim McElwain (Colorado St.), Kevin Sumlin (Houston), Larry Fedora (Southern Miss), Charlie Strong (Louisville), Steve Addazio (BC & Temple), Al Golden (Temple), Paul Chryst (Pitt), Kevin Wilson (Indiana), Bobby Petrino (Louisville), Mark Dantonio (Cincinnati), Brian Kelly (CMU & Cincinnati). Guys like Bob Stoops, Will Muschamp, Bo Pelini, and Steve Sarkisian are rare and usually are much higher profile than Narduzzi when they get top 20 coaching jobs.
September 30th, 2013 at 11:06 AM ^
Exactly. Narduzzi may be an excellent DC, but he isn't going to excite the fan bases of any top-20 programs looking for a coach. I actually think UConn is an excellent opportunity for Narduzzi. They're essentially dropping into a lesser conference that will put his shcool on the high end of school resources compared to his conference-mates. Wins there for a couple years and he'd be an excellent candidate for a top-20 job. It would be much better than going to a traditional bottom dweller in a power conference.
September 30th, 2013 at 11:22 AM ^
September 30th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^
I'm not even convinced he's the big reason why MSU's defense is so successful. Mark Dantonio won a national championship as a DC at Ohio State and Narduzzi's entire career as a DC has been under Dantonio. Not saying he hasn't had a role, but it isn't obvious that he's the big reason.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:11 AM ^
I've been hoping to see Narduzzi move into a head coaching job somewhere outside the Big Ten so that MSU can return to balanced levels of ineptitude.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:10 AM ^
According to SBNation - HERE - they canned George DeLeone, the associate head coach, as well. Minor house cleaning going on at Connecticut apparently. The interim coach will be named at a 4 PM press conference supposedly.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:13 AM ^
Are mid season firings the norm in college football?
September 30th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^
Now, yes.
Because a program can allow an interim head coach finish the season. When they hire their "guy," he can focus on recruiting for the future.
Urban Meyer style.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:20 AM ^
But that only works if your new head coach is currently out of coaching. The Urban Meyer thing only worked because they hired him from ESPN. Its a lot harder to pull a coach from another program in the middle of his season.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:52 AM ^
Thinking about our odds with JuJu, I would have preferred that USC prolonged the turmoil by sticking with Kiffin until December. That's only my short-sighted view from afar. USC may have a plan in mind. I'm with some others thinking Kiffin was a short term stop-gap to get through the sanctions. Had he maintained USC as a power without embarrassing them off the field maybe they would have stood pat.
September 30th, 2013 at 11:40 AM ^
But that only works if your new head coach is currently out of coaching.
Agree ... but I wonder if that too is about to change?
I wonder if we're going to start seeing either (a) secret backdoor deals with existing coaches who remain in their current role until the end of the year, or (b) in-the-open arrangements with existing coaches who remain in their current role until the end of the year. Or perhaps existing coaches just leave their current programs and begin building their new program parallel to some interim coach?
It's an upside-down world ... who the heck knows what conventions will be thrown out the window next?
September 30th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^
But college sports is in a weird place now, so who knows.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:18 AM ^
Lane Kiffin to UCONN? /s
September 30th, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
He's looking for the Giants or Steelers to come calling.
\not sarcasm
September 30th, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
Because that was a program that had a lot of potentially that really needed a quick clean up of their image to try to get recruits (leaving it in limbo until the season was over would hurt recruiting and moving on). I don't understand it from UConn's perspective. Seems like you're giving up on the kids more than anything else. I'd be pissed if I was a senior.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:43 AM ^
the happier I will be; Dantonio by himself is just a few bad losses from the pavement. But I'm not so sure the rest of the country thinks Narduzzi is all that; could be CT is the kind of place where he'll have to start proving himself.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:46 AM ^
You would have thought that playing Michigan so close would have bought him some time, but I guess even they know we are an average team in a average conference.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:53 AM ^
beating Michigan would have... but losing a close game after blowing a 14 point lead and then getting annihilated by a MAC team does not look very promising.
September 30th, 2013 at 10:54 AM ^
since we gave them their most respectable loss by far
September 30th, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^
my NFL team,which is Tampa Bay,also makes a move soon. We have to much talent to have another bad season next year. We need to draft a QB,Johnny FOOTBALL PLEASE!!!
September 30th, 2013 at 11:00 AM ^
And outside of the Hamster there isn't a ton of greatness leaping at the other skill positions (lots of good, but no one I'd consider top 10 type). On the flip side, isn't your defensive backfield getting a bit old?
September 30th, 2013 at 11:02 AM ^
Narduzzi to UConn?
September 30th, 2013 at 11:11 AM ^
I can't say I'm surprised. Sure, UConn played us close, but have we all forgotten the absurdity that was blowing your final two timeouts consecutively before a 4th and 30 attempt instead of keeping both timeouts and trying for a stop on defense (either after a 4th down conversion try or a punt)? I was flabberghasted when that happened. That was some serious Andy Reid game management ish right there.
September 30th, 2013 at 11:29 AM ^
UConn booster Robert Burton demanded his $3 million back after UConn hired Pasqualoni; Burton reportedly wanted CT native (and former ND and FL assistant) Steve Addazio, who was hired as Temple's HC after Golden left for Miami. Might be too late now to bring him to Storrs, though.
September 30th, 2013 at 11:31 AM ^
In my opinion, Pasqualoni is a coordinator, not a head coach. I really think he should go somewhere, coach the defense, and be satisfied.