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Messages - unionfan

#1
Unionfan is roused from 5+ years of LLPP slumber by the absurdity of the Audino situation, and heartily endorses bigdvs, dlip and Utes' recent comments.  When Unionfan starts to get upset with the school and AD, he tried to remind himself of Hanlon's Razor- "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

A couple of other unvarnished thoughts:

1.  Even if one agreed that Audino should be fired (which Unionfan does not, per below), the way the administration and AD McLaughlin handled this was incompetent and embarrassing to the college.  If you are going to terminate someone, you do it decisively, swiftly and fairly.  You have a plan, you take action, and you take responsibility for that action.  You don't twist in the wind with your panties in a bunch for 30 days before finally releasing an awkward press release that makes pretty clear you're making things up as you go along.  Of course, Union's mishandling of this does not surprise me, as McLaughlin is a weak and ineffective AD.

2.  The debate around how much winning should matter in D3 is a good one.  Unionfan's view is that matters -- it's not the single most important thing (see below), but it is important, mostly because student-athletes deserve to be put in a position where they can achieve success on the field.  But winning requires two essential elements - an administration that gives the team the resources and support needed to be successful, and a coach who can deploy those resources to win games.  If either is missing, you won't see much winning.

3.  Over the past 24 years of Union football, you see 20 very successful years and four poor ones.  You know the coach is a consistent variable across those years, so which is more likely - (i) the coach suddenly become ineffective or (ii) the resources/support needed suddenly changed?  None of us knows the true details about relative level of resources/support, because the Union AD is wholly nontransparent on this stuff, but it seems to me pretty obvious that firing Audino is changing the wrong variable.  Now it may well be the Union has made an institutional choice not to provide real resources/support to its football program, and Audino is the wrong guy to coach a team not well-supported by its AD -- Unionfan legitimately thinks they are coaches out there who specialize in making the mediocre most of an unresourced program, like the old Union men's hockey approach, and the current women's hockey approach.  But that's a very different story than Union is telling - and also a story the alumni would freak out over.

4.  As Unionfan said, winning is important, but there is a higher priority in D3 athletics - educating young men and women and giving the skills and wisdom to succeed in life.  Ask anyone close to Union athletics, and they'll tell you the same thing - Audino does this as well as anyone out there.  Ten years ago, Union said this about Audino when it awarded him its Meritorious Service Award:  "Throughout Audino's 14 years at the helm of Union football, he has been a true educator, teaching his players that there is also much fulfillment outside of football. Through leadership by example, Audino and his coaching staff have instilled in hundreds of players a strong commitment to school, community and family."

5.  As an alum, Unionfan can no longer tell if Union has any discernible mission or plan when it comes to student athletics.  You look at women's ice hockey, the approach seems to be "we simply don't care - we won't support but don't worry about winning."  You look at football, and the approach seems to be "molding and educating kids is nice, but you gotta win games with limited support if you want to stick around.  And you look at men's hockey, and the approach "as long as you win big it's totally cool if you occasionally punch another coach."  As an alum, not a lot to be proud of here.
#2
Gotta love the U punting for field position down 8 with 3 minutes to go and 1 timeout.
#3
Quote from: Union89 on September 11, 2010, 03:12:43 PM
Yikes.....another bomb, Connolly to Vazquez....28-20 Ithaca.

Ufan, I have been mirroring your remarks since the 1st qtr.

4 minutes to go, and a Coney run!?!?!?

Yup, I'm afraid looking back this game will be a sad case of not knowing who we were.
#4
Watching the Union game, and the U o-line seems so strange, zero run blocking but effective pass blocking.  Probably should have given up on the run in the second quarter...

I suspect Coney's talents are going to be seriously wasted this year...
#5
Quote from: Union89 on November 14, 2009, 02:28:33 PM
Union punt....SU ball @ midfield.....5 mins.

3:30 to go.  I'm not sure the D has enough gas in the tank to make the stop... Cmon D.
#6
Coney goes down twice with what seems to be a real knee injury, Union O seems knocked off its mojo.  Susq scores a TD on blown coverage, they lead 14-10.
#7
Quote from: Union89 on November 14, 2009, 01:18:03 PM
Union 10....SU 7.....halftime.

One man's observation....SU is not a good football team.  

I'd agree that the talent is not there, but they are much better rounded than any other LL team the U has faced this year. No glaring gaps on special teams, a nose for converting on third downs, and they execute very well with what they have, it seems to me.
#8
Union 10-7 at the half.  Great game to watch so far.  I felt that Union pretty much dominated the first half, though a couple of key fumbles kept that from showing up in the score.  U has 250 of offense in the first (and 17 first downs!), and has mostly kept Paveletz under wraps.  The U needs to keep it up and get better at converting into points to bring this game...
#9
Quote from: Union89 on November 14, 2009, 12:48:35 PM
Ufan,
Great observation.....Connolly looks great running the ball, especially the option.

It also seems to have taken him out of his own head a bit, making smarter choices.
#10
Quote from: Union89 on November 14, 2009, 12:34:26 PM
Quote from: unionfan on November 14, 2009, 12:30:56 PM
Quote from: Union89 on November 14, 2009, 12:28:26 PM
7-0 'Crotch.....17 yard TD pass.

Sus qb had all day to make that throw.  If I had a nickel for everytime we get beat for a big play after rushing 3 on 3rd and long, I could buy a new stadium...


True, I'm not very impressed with SU so far.....Union should be able to take over this game....cut out mistakes and turnovers.

Especially like the way that Drew is playing.  I like the wrinkle of the QB running game they've phased in the past few games; Drew runs it really nicely.
#11
Quote from: Union89 on November 14, 2009, 12:28:26 PM
7-0 'Crotch.....17 yard TD pass.

Sus qb had all day to make that throw.  If I had a nickel for everytime we get beat for a big play after rushing 3 on 3rd and long, I could buy a new stadium...
#12
Quote from: dlippiel on November 07, 2009, 05:10:47 PM
Quote from: unionfan on November 07, 2009, 04:51:10 PM
Quote from: TGP on November 07, 2009, 04:46:18 PM
Union up 30-6 with about 9 mins to play.  2nd and 3rd stringers (maybe even 4th stringers) getting PT on the Dutchmen side of the ball.

now up 37-6. unionfan is very happy to see a real dominant victory for once, but you still gotta worry about that qb throwing four ugly picks...

Four ****ing picks again??? Great W for Union today. dlip is very worried about these picks... :-\

unionfan too.  the worst part was that only one was a "he threw a duck up for gallo"; the other three were forced throws into traffic. i can live with the first category as a cost of that approach; the latter stuff will kill us against any decent team (se, e.g., Muhl and Salisbury games).
#13
Quote from: TGP on November 07, 2009, 04:46:18 PM
Union up 30-6 with about 9 mins to play.  2nd and 3rd stringers (maybe even 4th stringers) getting PT on the Dutchmen side of the ball.

now up 37-6. unionfan is very happy to see a real dominant victory for once, but you still gotta worry about that qb throwing four ugly picks...
#14
Union goes up 20-6 three plays into the second half on a long Coney run and a Coney short TD run.
#15
Connelly throws another int with 30 seconds left in the half, KP converts into 3 points.  Union 13-6 at the half.