UConn’s Revolving Door At OC

The Cursed History Of The UConn OC

The Story: UConn’s latest offensive coordinator Frank Giufre is the eighth offensive coordinator for the school in the last eight years. Yeah, that’s pretty unstable.

WHAT’S GOING ON?: Hartford Courant writer Mike Anthony has a nice column on Giufre and his first year as offensive coordinator. There are some interesting nuggets about his job, including the hands-on approach Randy Edsall takes to play calling. What struck us, however, is the sheer number of offensive coordinators that recently cycled through the program. 

A STEPPING STONE POSITION BECOMES AN ANCHOR: In Edsall’s first iteration as UConn coach, the OC job was a hot job that turned into head coaching gigs. Norries Wilson went on to become head coach at Columbia, Rob Ambrose at Towson and then — GULP — Joe Moorhead at Fordham and now head man at Mississippi State.  Now? George Delone, T.J. Weist, Shane Day, Mike Cummings, Frank Verducci, David Corley, Rhett Lashlee, John Dunn and now Giufre. Only Dunn and Lashlee left the position for another job voluntarily. Gifure was promoted after Dunn left for the New York Jets despite getting a raise from Edsall’s own pocket.

HOW’S GIUFRE DOING? Huskies were idle this week and in two games, with two different quarterbacks in MIke Beaudry and true freshman Jack Zergiotis. The Huskies’ offense is ranked 108th in the nation currently at nearly 328 yards a game and 94th in scoring offense at 23.5 PPG in two games.

THE HUSKIES’ GAMEPLANNING IS BY COMMITTEE: Giufre isn’t an offensive savant who brings his own offense and concepts. They tried that with Lashlee, who left after one year to SMU. Dunn was considered innovative, and when he left the Huskies have largely kept the same concepts. Giufre calls plays and sets the gamplan, but there is heavy input from QB coach Mike Moyseenko and Edsall, which is, of course, the head coach’s right to monitor and overrule.

WHAT TO EXPECT REST OF YEAR: Zergiotis, assuming there isn’t a change, showed a strong arm in his debut. The Huskies appear to have options at receiver with Cam Ross and Ardell Brown proving to be dangerous receivers in their debut against Illinois. Freshman Matt Drayton has also impressed in two games. The offensive line hasn’t performed up to expectations, but the Huskies have the ability at the skill position and we like the  running backs Kevin Mensah and Art Thompkins. UConn may not be dynamic on offense, but pending QB play, should be able to move the chains.

LOOKING AHEAD TO SATURDAY: UConn plays at Indiana, which was crushed by Ohio State 51-10. The Huskies, get this, are -28 against the Hoosiers in football on Saturday. We know UConn is rebuilding, but that seems ridiculous to us. Maybe it was Illinois’ home loss to Eastern Michigan on Saturday that had the bettors jump on.

AAC STARS: The AAC had a big week. UCF destroyed Stanford while Temple had the win of the week, knocking off a ranked Maryland team. UCF, which UConn faces a week after it plays at Indiana, is led by quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who is national player of the week. How does UCF get all these quarterbacks?

Morning Reads

NELSON-ODODA, WILLIAMS TO USA CAMP: UConn stalwarts in 2019-20 in sophomores Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Christyn Williams were invited to Team USA camp. They are two six NCAA players invited. Let’s hope Sue Bird and Dianna Taurasi take them out to dinner. (Hartford Courant)

MSOC DRILLED BY GEORGETOWN: No. 5 Georgetown knocked off UConn 5-0 on Saturday. The Huskies better up their game when they go back to the Big East. (Georgetown Voice)

FIELD HOCKEY SPLITS: No. 3 UConn knocked off No. 25 Michigan State 2-0 in East Lansing, Michigan. The Huskies did fall to No. 5 Michigan on Friday and are 5-1 on the season. (UConnhuskies.com).

NEW COACH IN XC. Glastonbury native Lindsay Crevoiserat is settling in as cross-country coach. (Hartford Courant)

WSOC LOSES TO HARVARD: THe UConn women’s soccer team dropped its first home match of match of the season to Harvard, 301. (UConnhuskies.com)

THABEET SHOOTING 3S? We almost pulled a muscle laughing, but Hasheem Thabeet, 7-foot-3 former UConn star,  is working out with the Knicks and wants to showcase a 3-point shot. He hit 57-100 from 3 in a recent workout. (SNY)