Football Preview: 2018 Connecticut Huskies

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

Randy Edsall is in his second-year of his second tenure with the Connecticut Huskies football team. He will look to have a rebound from the 3-9 season that the team had in 2017.

After defeating Holy Cross in their opening game, the Huskies lost four straight before winning back-to-back games, defeating the Temple Owls and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in October. Connecticut then lost five straight games to end the season.

David Pindell hands the ball off to Kevin Mensah against the Boston College Eagles at Fenway Park (Getty Images)

The Huskies will have a different quarterback this season than last season. Bryant Shirreffs graduated, opening the door for a new signal-caller in 2018.

David Pindell received the majority of the work with the first-team offense in the spring. Pindell is the most experienced of the options, as he is a senior.

Brandon Bisack, a redshirt junior, along with redshirt freshman Jordan McAfee and Marvin Washington are also on the depth chart. True freshman Steven Krajewski is also on the depth chart and arrives this summer.

In an interview with the New Haven Register in April, Bisack admitted that Pindell will be the starter. The team has not officially made the announcement.

Pindell was named the team’s starter last season, before losing the job to Shirreffs. Pindell was able to get the job back late in the season after Shirreffs suffered a concussion.

Whoever is named the team’s starter will have Kevin Mensah as the projected starting running back. He had 126 carries for 592 yards with four touchdowns last season.

Edsall will have to find new weapons for the signal-caller. Quayvon Skanes is projected to be one of the starting wide receivers, but no other receiver or tight end returns from last season’s team.

Skanes had 35 receptions for 335 yards and a touchdown last season.

The offensive line has some holes that need to be filled, too. Ryan Van Demark is projected to be the team’s starting left tackle. Cam DeGeorge is projected to be the team’s right guard. Matthew Peart is projected to be the team’s starting right tackle.

Much of the defense is expected to be back. Kevin Murphy is slated to be the team’s starting nose tackle. Darrian Beavers and Ryan Gilmartin are projected to be two of the team’s linebackers.

Tyler Coyle and Marshé Terry are projected to be the starting corners for the defense. Tahj Herring-Wilson and Omar Fortt are slated to be the team’s starting safeties.

Coyle had 67 tackles, three tackles for a loss, two interceptions, one fumble recovery, four pass deflections, and one quarterback hurry.

Ogunbowale’s game-winner sinks Huskies

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma joked that he may not be able to go to the same grocery store without winning another national championship. For the second straight year, the Huskies will not be the champion.

The No. 1 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the No. 1 seed Huskies, 91-89, in overtime from Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s Arike Ogunbowale attempting a shot against the UCONN Huskies (Getty Images)

The Fighting Irish improved to 34-3 on the season. They will face the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who defeated the Louisville Cardinals earlier on Friday night.

The Huskies ended their season with a 36-1 record. UCONN also lost on a game-winning shot by the opposing team, as Morgan William of the Bulldogs made the winner in overtime in last year’s Final Four contest.

Arike Ogunbowale made the game-winner with just one second left in the contest. The Huskies missed their final shot to end the game.

Jackie Young led the Fighting Irish with 32 points. She also had 11 rebounds, one steal, and one block.

Young was one of three Notre Dame players, who scored in double-figures. Ogunbowale added 27 points, while Jessica Shepard scored 15 points.

The Fighting Irish had just two bench points, which came from Kristina Nelson.

Napheesa Collier led the Huskies with 24 points. She also had five rebounds, two assists, and one steal.

Collier was one of five Connecticut players, who scored in double-digits. Azura Stevens scored 19 points, while Katie Lou Samuelson scored 16 points.

Gabby Williams added 12 points and Kia Nurse scored 10 points.

The Huskies had 19 bench points. Stevens had all of her 19 points off of the bench.

Hurley’s decision: Coach picks Connecticut Huskies

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

Rhode Island Head Coach Dan Hurley had multiple offers to consider, including two new opportunities. Unfortunately, for the Rams, they were outbid by the Connecticut Huskies and the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Ultimately, Hurley agreed to become the next Huskies Head Coach. He agreed to a six-year deal that struggled the past two seasons.

Hurley replaces Kevin Ollie, who was fired earlier this month. Ollie could not break the 16-win mark the last two seasons after four straight of 20-plus win seasons.

He started his Rams tenure with an 8-21 record. But in the past five seasons, he steadily built the team that has become a powerhouse within the Atlantic 10 Conference.

For the second straight season, Rhode Island has made the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship with Hurley as head coach. They were eliminated in the Round of 32 against the Duke Blue Devils.

Hurley is bringing assistant coach Tom Moore with him to Storrs, Ct., according to the New York Times’ Adam Zagoria. Moore previously served as a Huskies assistant coach.

Hurley met with his players on Thursday morning to tell them of his departure, according to Zagoria.

This will be Hurley’s third collegiate head coaching job. In his six-years with the Rams, he went 113-82. He also went 38-28 in two seasons at Wagner.

UCONN fires coach Kevin Ollie

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

The Connecticut Huskies have fired men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie on Saturday. The former NBA player will now look for employment elsewhere.

Ollie had been the Huskies men’s basketball coach since the 2012-13 season. He took over for Jim Calhoun when he retired on an interim basis, before being promoted to the full-time head coach thereafter.

Kevin Ollie is seen here as the Connecticut Huskies head coach (Getty Images)

The Huskies went 14-18 this season. They were eliminated in the American Athletic Conference by the SMU Mustangs on Thursday in the AAC Tournament.

The 14-18 record was the worst of his coaching career with the Huskies.

The first four years with the Huskies, including the National Championship in 2014, his team’s won more than 20 games. However, the last two seasons, his teams could not win more than 16 games.

The Huskies job was his first head coaching job at the college or NBA level. He went 127-79 with the Huskies as their head coach.

After being ineligible for postseason play during his first-season as the Huskies head coach – they went 20-10 in 2012-13 – Connecticut then went 32-8 in his second season. No. 7 Huskies defeated the No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats, 60-54, to win the National Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

In their last four seasons, his teams did not win more than 25 games. They went 25-11 in 2015-16 before losing in the NCAA Tournament second-round.

The last two seasons, though, his teams have gone 30-35. However, they have gone a disappointing 16-20 within the American Athletic Conference.

The Huskies were also 0-11 vs. ranked teams over the last two seasons, as well.

St. Petersburg Bowl Prediction: Connecticut Huskies win

The Connecticut Huskies (6-6) and the Marshall Thundering Herd (9-3) will kick off the post-Christmas bowl games. They’ll kick off at 11 am this morning on ESPN in the St. Petersburg Bowl from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.

This game will be the first of six bowl games on the day. The first game of the day will go to the Huskies 16-6 over the Thundering Herd, according to our whatifsports.com simulation.

Connecticut lead with 31:08 time of possession, while Marshall had 28:55. The Huskies also had 367 total yards while the Thundering Herd had 298.

UCONN’s Bryant Shirreffs, who was questionable with an injury, went 12 of 17 for 222-yards with a touchdown and an interception. His counterpart, Marshall’s signal caller Chase Litton went 27 of 44 for 261 yards and three interceptions.

Remi Watson led the Herd with 31 rushing yards, while Tony Pittman had 10-yards. Hyleck Foster had five-yards, while Litton had -9-yards.

Davonte Allen led them with 53 receiving yards, while Ryan Yurachek had 45-yards. Justin Hunt added 41-yards, while Emanuel Byrd had 32-yards. DeAndre Reaves had 27-yards with Deon-Tay McManus added 19. Nick Mathews contributed 13-yards, while Watson had 12-yards. Foster added 11-yards and Pittman had 8.

The Huskies had 80 rushing yards from Arkeel Newsome while Ron Johnson had 32-yards. Shirreffs also had 22-yards and a touchdown.

Tyraiq Beals had a game-high 104 receiving yards and a touchdown. Alec Bloom had 49-yards, while Noel Thomas had 48-yards. Thomas Lucas had 13-yards, while Newsome and Johnson had four-yards each.

The Thundering Herd relied on Nick Smith to make two field goals for their lone scores of the game. In the third quarter, Smith converted on a 40-yard field goal as the game went to 16-6.

Smith also had a 21-yard field goal in the second quarter to cut the lead to 16-3.

The Huskies had a 68-yard reception when Shirreffs hit Beals for the long touchdown to make it 16-0. Connecticut kicker Bobby Puyol made a 34-yard field goal to make it 10-0.

Temple Owls, Houston Cougars in the American title game

With a win against the Connecticut Huskies, the Temple Owls have advanced to the inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship game against the Houston Cougars. The teams will will face off next Saturday on ABC or ESPN.

The game will be played at TDECU Stadium, as the Cougars are the highest-ranked team. They won the right to host the game with a 52-31 win over the Navy Midshipmen on Friday afternoon.

The Cougars are 11-1 overall and 7-1 in The American. They were tied with Navy atop the West Division; however, Friday’s win broke the tiebreaker between the teams.

Houston hasn’t won a conference championship since 2006 when they won the 2006 Conference USA Championship. They have won 10 conference titles overall since 1952.

The Owls ran away with the East Division, as they finished the regular season with a 27-3 win this evening in South Philadelphia. They finished the season 10-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play.

It is the first 10-win season in program history for the Owls. They’re hoping to get their second consecutive conference title, and it would be their first since 1967 when they won the Mid-American Conference Championship.

Neither team faced each other this season; however, they’ve met four previous times. Last season, the Cougars defeated the Owls 31-10 at TDECU Stadium.

The two teams were apart of the first-ever American Athletic Conference game, which Houston won 22-13 in South Philadelphia. The Cougars also won in 1987 and 1989 against the Owls.

The game is expected to start at noon with the winner of the game being eligible for either the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl or the Vizio Fiesta Bowl. The Vizio Fiesta Bowl would be part of the College Football Playoff selection process, if one of these teams finish with the best record of a team outside of the Big Five Conferences.

Iowa State Cyclones fire Paul Rhoads

The Iowa State Cyclones have fired head coach Paul Rhoads. They didn’t wait until the end of the season to make the move.

Rhoads was fired with one game remaining on the schedule. On November 28th, the Cyclones play the West Virginia Mountaineers.

The Cyclones were just 3-8 this season. Just yesterday, in his final game with the team, they lost 38-35 to the Kansas State Wildcats at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

The Iowa State administration was fed up and the move was made. He had just eight wins in the past three seasons.

His team went 2-10 last season and improved a win this season. They also had three wins in 2013.

Rhoads, who has been the Cyclones head coach since 2009, had only one winning season with the team. That was in his first season when the team went 7-6.

It’s been downhill ever since and he was 31-54 during his tenure.

The Cyclones job is the latest to join a long list of head coaching positions that will be available this off-season. They’ll hope to attract a young up-and-coming coach who can turn the program around.

They’ll need an impact hire like what the Houston Cougars Administration made when they hired Ohio State Buckeyes offensive coordinator Tom Herman last off-season. They lost to the Connecticut Huskies this weekend, which was their only loss of the season (10-1).

Could Edsall come back to Syracuse next season?

Randy Edsall was relieved of his Maryland Terrapins coaching job on Sunday. But the former leader of their football program isn’t expected to be without a job for long.

His name is already being mentioned as a candidate to replace current Syracuse Orange head coach Scott Shafer should he be fired after the season, according to a source. Shafer is 13-17 since being hired in 2013.

We are not saying that Shafer will be fired. But you never know in this win-now industry.

The Orange are 3-2 on the season, but has dropped the last two games. They lost to Louisiana State University 34-24 at the Carrier Dome as Leonard Fournette ran for more than 200 yards against the Cuse defense.

This past Saturday, they lost to South Florida in Tampa with a 45-24 score. They’ll look to get back on track when they play the Virginia Cavaliers this weekend.

Back to Edsall, he was told that he was going to be without a job after this season earlier this week before his firing a few days later. He had just signed a contract extension in June.

He is a former Syracuse quarterback and coached numerous positions at the school for a decade. His last coaching position at the school was in 1990.

He has been a head coach at two schools since 1999, as he coached the Connecticut Huskies from 1999 through 2010. Then, he was the Terps head coach from 2011 through Sunday.

He has a career 96-104 mark at both institutions. He was 2-4 this season before his exit with wins over South Florida and FCS school Richmond Spiders to begin the season.

The team is currently on a three-game losing streak, where the team got outscored 122-34.

His did have back-to-back 7-6 records in 2013 and 2014. He had a combined six wins during his first two seasons at the school.

Shafer, who was the Cuse’s former defensive coordinator under Doug Marrone before he left to become the Buffalo Bills head coach, has the Orange tied with the most wins they had last season. The team was 3-9 last season after going 7-9 during his first campaign in 2013.

If Shafer’s team continues to win, the rumors about the 57-year-old Edsall coming back to town will stop immediately.

Ennis, Napier mentioned as the Bulls express interest in drafting a point guard

By Anthony Caruso III
Posted: June 17th, 2014 at 12:38 am EST

The Chicago Bulls thought they had their point guard of the future when they selected Derrick Rose in 2008.

After two major surgeries on his knees, the Bulls have questions about Rose’s future. They are being mentioned to target Connecticut Huskies point guard Shabazz Napier and Syracuse Orange freshman Tyler Ennis in this year’s NBA Draft.

Tyler Ennis (Getty Images)

Rose, who was the No. 1 overall pick after playing one-year with the Kentucky Wildcats, has been injured the past few seasons. In 2012, he torn his ACL in the first game of the Bulls playoff series with the Philadelphia 76ers.

He had surgery in May 2012 and was expected to be out 8 to 12 months. He was cleared to return to practice in January 2013, then was cleared to play in March of that year. While he was cleared to play, Rose did not play a single second of the 2012-13 season, even when the Bulls went all the way to the Eastern Conference semi-finals, losing to the Miami Heat.

He made his much-awaited return in October 2013 against the Indiana Pacers in a preseason game. About a month later, he torn his meniscus in his right knee and missed the rest of the 2013-14 season.

With Rose being hurt, the Bulls are expected to draft a point guard later this month. At this moment, the Bulls are slated to pick with the 19th selection, but things can change.

Chicago Bulls if they can’t move up hearing they prefer Shabazz Napier over Tyler Ennis [if they draft a Point Guard]. (Source: Chad Ford)

— Chicago Bulls Rumors (@chicagobullsbot) June 18, 2014

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Ollie received the Saint Francis Award

By Anthony Caruso III

Perfect. That word describes Connecticut men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie in this year’s March Madness tournament.

He replaced his mentor Jim Calhoun two years ago on an interim basis, before being promoted to full-time head coach.

Kevin Ollie is seen here as the Connecticut Huskies head coach (Getty Images)

In April, Ollie guided the Huskies to a March Madness tournament championship with a win over Kentucky, winning 60-54 for their fourth championship in school history.

Tonight, he received the Saint Francis Award at the 29th annual Franciscan Sports Banquet and Silent Auction in Aqua Turf Club in Southington, Connecticut. This award is traditionally given to an individual, who honors Franciscan values while excelling on the playing field.

This is the second time that the Huskies men’s basketball coach has been honored with the award, as Calhoun was previously honored. The 72-year-old has a special place in his heart for the Franciscan Life Center, Franciscan Home Care, and Hospice Care.

Guy DeFrances Sr. received the Jim Calhoun Community Service Award, while Dave Bike, recently retired Sacred Heart men’s basketball coach, received the Dean of Sport Award. Longtime Boston sportswriter Jackie MacMullan received the Saint Clare Award.

Other award winners including Mount Ida College defensive tackle Jon Proto, the North Haven and Southington football teams, and the Connecticut Special Olympics.

Many of the Connecticut Special Olympics participants will be traveling to New Jersey to participate in the Special Olympics USA Games, held every four years.