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STORRS, Conn. — Inside the lobby of the UConn football facility, bowl trophies shimmer inside their perfectly maintained glass cases, an ever-present reminder that there once was a time when the Huskies were not the butt of football jokes, nor the focus of endless speculation about their FBS future.
As former UConn quarterback and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky explains it, “You had this program that was on a rocket ship.” Orlovsky chose to play for the Huskies because he saw that upward trajectory, and he wanted to help lay the foundation for sustained success on the FBS level, specifically as new football members in the Big East. He remembers then-coach Randy Edsall selling the vision that UConn belonged among the bigger programs.
Orlovsky believed. So did former linebacker Alfred Fincher, who played with Orlovsky from 2001 to ’04. “We were building something that could be special,” Fincher said. “And when we left there, we did see the benefits.”
Edsall captained the program as it transitioned from FCS to FBS to the Big East, and the success soon followed — with the pinnacle a Fiesta Bowl appearance as Big East champions in 2010. Edsall left after that season, but that was only the start of trouble for the UConn football program.
Conference realignment soon wreaked havoc on the collegiate landscape, affecting the Big East in a catastrophic way. In the fallout, one could make the argument that no program has been hurt worse than UConn.
Since the Big East ceased being a football-playing conference in 2013, UConn football is 21-73, including 1-8 headed into its game at Clemson on Saturday. To be sure, realignment is not the only factor at play. Poor coaching hires, mounting financial woes and a push-pull with its more high-profile basketball programs about the best path forward have contributed to where UConn stands.
Even still, the fall has been much starker than anyone could have imagined.
“As meteoric a rise as it was, it has been just as quick a…
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Source : espn
