Tuesday practice

It was a ho-hum practice Tuesday as the Huskies wind down spring practice, and only the seniors were made available to speak.

First the business, Alex Polito has a torn labrum in his shoulder and is out about 16-20 weeks. Trevardo Williams is out with the chicken pox. He is in the infirmary now. Apparently, he was vaccinated against it at some point but it did no good. They are trying to figure out if someone else is susceptible.


There was still plenty to talk about however, and all of it was brought up by UConn coach Randy Edsall, who wants fans to be at the spring game on Saturday. It was unusual for Edsall to say he wants fans there for the spring game. This is a point of concern for him. In casual talk right before the interview in a joking manor about the weather Saturday I said to Edsall that "Connecticut people melt." There was no polite laugh at my corny attempt at small (never laugh after your own joke).

Edsall then brought up how he would like to see the stadium expanded at some point. Here's what Edsall said.

“Hopefully,  we get people out there to watch, not only these kids,  but with (former players) Dan (Orlovsky), Al (Fincher), Don (Brown) and Tyler (Lorenzen) coming back, if we want to make this program bigger and better we are going to have to have more people show up for the spring game. That’s part of building the tradition and increasing the fan base and getting to the point where you can increase the stadium.”

On the Stadium expansion:

“I don’t want to get into it, it will open up a can of worms...but I just want to see more people there and want 15,000-20,000 for a spring game. I would like to fill the stadium eventually. When you do that you have a chance to increase the size of the stadium. That’s what you want as a coach. You want to keep getting things bigger and better.”

Edsall on being outspoken about this:

“I have to do what I feel is necessary to help our program. Here, we’ve been to 3 straight bowl games, had guys go to the NFL and guys coming back who have made this program. You would like to see that ‘hey  people here really appreciate football' and want to be a part of it.
If I have to be the spokesperson for the program that is what we have to do."

Finally:

“I’ll tell you what. I will be disappointed if the stadium isn’t sold out before the seaosn starts. I’ll be disapointed.I don’t know what else these young people have to do. It’s how I feel. I think that we’ve created a buzz and excitement and these kids are working their tails off and they deserve to have a lot of people there. With the schedule we have, 16 starters coming back, I will be disappointed if the stadium isn’t sold out before our season opener."

This kind of came out of nowhere, but I think the head coach may be right here. The showing at Gampel Pavilion for the UConn women was embarrassing for the victory rally. I am sorry. No more excuses. There are 10,000 + students on campus. The lack of selling out of men's and women's basketball games are concerning also and this is going to be a make or break year for the football team in the attendance area.

Edsall is putting his neck out, which he really never has done, and that would seem to me to think he believes the Huskies have a chance to really do something. This won't be an alignment of the stars like 2007 and backing into the title, the 2010 Huskies looked like a Top 25 at the end of the year, and if the secondary issues can be resolved this team should be preseason top 25 in my opinion.

That puts the onus on the fans. There is no reason that the games shouldn't be sold out unless in fact the fans don't care. It's put up or shut up time in 2010.  Birmingham had a small UConn contingent, and I think that hurt. Now, I know a lot of fans blew their travel money for Notre Dame, but seeing 25,000 USC fans there I am sure was disheartening.

There are a lot of things that UConn probably could do better in marketing and selling it's program. We know that, they need to be more aggressive.  For the last 15 years, the program sold itself on the hoops side so they may just be learning how to turn that tide. But, one thing is certain -- the product on the field as far as football is real. Edsall has delivered.

If the Huskies have a big year Edsall is going to be in demand. Even when they go 8-5, there are whispers. A 10-2 year? It will become a fever pitch.  If the fan base doesn't show up and support the team like it does in other places, why should he and the staff stay? Big-time football is here in Connecticut. They have a terrific team coming back.  I remember going to a hoops scrimmage at the civic center that had 10,000 people at it. That was a long time ago.

Where did Husky Mania Go?