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The Worst UConn Takes of the Week: Fire Bob Diaco?

Big 12 expansion talk is heating up, and that means plenty of bad UConn takes!

By Tim Fontenault
The Twittersphere—the judge, jury and executioner in Big 12 expansion—was not impressed with your win, Bob Diaco and friends.
The Twittersphere—the judge, jury and executioner in Big 12 expansion—was not impressed with your win, Bob Diaco and friends.
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

If you have TweetDeck, it is in your best interest to create a UConn search column.

Seriously, this thing is amazing, especially when conference expansion discussions begin. It is a gateway to some of the most ridiculous conversations you will ever see.

I have a problem, though: I can't resist the urge to use this search column as an opportunity to criticize the most outlandish takes on UConn's qualifications as a potential Power-5 member.

Eventually, I realized these takes need to be shared with the world. Therefore, I am happy to present the first Bad UConn Takes of the Week column.

Take: One game a P5 candidate makes

This gentleman was not the only person to say something along these lines. I have to have seen this about 200 times on Twitter the last few days. Because UConn almost lost to Maine, the Huskies are not a legitimate Big 12 candidate.

You know what I consider worse than a Group of 5 team narrowly winning a close game against an FCS program? Iowa State losing to Northern Iowa. Mississippi State falling to South Alabama. Northwestern losing to Western Michigan. Virginia getting wrecked by Richmond. The actual existence of Rutgers and Boston College.

All of that is pretty bad, but nothing that happened in the first weekend of college football can possibly top the reaction of Kansas students to their team's first win since 2014. The Jayhawks beat rising basketball school and uninspiring FCS football school Rhode Island on the gridiron. Then...

Take: Increasing competition is bad

I love Twitter.

If this guy's method was the way, Bob Bowlsby would have already announced Rice, Tulane, Northern Illinois and East Carolina as future members.

Some folks out there are insinuating Houston's dominant win over Oklahoma is going to keep them out of the Big 12, as the conference could see it as a slight. Come on, Houston is one of the hottest programs in college football. What they have done recently has been amazing. If the Cougars actually find a way to reach the College Football Playoff this year from a Group of 5 conference, you don't think that would catch the Big 12's attention?

As for UConn, look, we all know football is not the driving factor of the school's Power 5 pursuit. If the Big 12 takes UConn, it instantly improves the conference's basketball pedigree. Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia and Iowa State are all solid, but what Big 12 program can match Kansas? I guess that's the tweeter's point, but you're not convincing me UConn and Kansas playing two or three times a season would be bad for anyone.

Take: UConn best suited for FCS football

I know some of you saw my interesting conversation on Twitter—in which I sarcastically credited Maine with all UConn's football accomplishments—with this man before I was blocked. That was fun. Now about the actual substance of this tweet.

UConn back to FCS? Really? How is UConn better suited for FCS football than FBS? Is it because of the Huskies' meteoric rise as an FBS program, such as the multitude of early bowl games, the win at Notre Dame, the two-game sweep of Baylor and Robert Griffin III calling Rentschler Field the best atmosphere he experienced outside the Big 12? Was it the BCS bowl game appearance?

Let's also remember that saying UConn should go FCS is essentially the same as saying drop and go back to the Big East.

Take: UConn's academics kept it out of the ACC

This isn't so much a take as it is a horrible misrepresentation of facts. The guy went on to say that he misremembered, and that this happened with UConn in the Big 10, which is also false. UConn's lack of affiliation with the Association of American Universities certainly didn't help their Big 10 prospects, but the school's academics—which help UConn rank in the top 60 among all American universities—were not a factor in either conference.

As you may recall, the actual reason UConn is not in the ACC is because of Boston College. Yes, the same Boston College that hasn't won a conference men's basketball or football game in more than a year. They wanted to control New England. It's not going well.

Take: Fire Bob Diaco!

This isn't some #FireGeno nonsense right here. There are people commenting on Bob Diaco's status as the head football coach at the University of Connecticut.

We're talking about the same Bob Diaco, who came in after three years of absolute torture in the Paul Pasqualoni era and puts UConn in a bowl game within two years. Now we want his head for a narrow WIN over Maine?

Look, I get it, people are tense right now with Big 12 expansion going on. I know the offense wasn't thrilling and the defense was shaky. But let's all back off the ledge a little bit. There's no way it has come to this.

Pasqualoni came in and coached a bunch of Randy Edsall players through an 18-game stretch that seriously hampered UConn's progress as a football school. Diaco came in and took a group of Pasqualoni players to a freaking bowl game.

And he beat Houston.

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