Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Edsall's New Deal

UConn announced the terms of Randy Edsall's new contract today. Here's the full summary of the deal:

University of Connecticut Contract Summary
Randy Edsall — Football Head Coach

CONTRACT PERIOD: Contract is effective January 1, 2008 and runs through December 31, 2012. This new agreement supercedes the previous contract that was in place.

SALARY: $275,000 (effective January 1, 2008 for the 2007-2008 academic year) with all fringe benefits available to members of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The base salary will be annualized for the remainder of the 2007-2008 academic year. The base salary will increase by $25,000 on an annual basis during the term of the contract and will be annualized from the period of July 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012.

SPEAKING & MEDIA APPEARANCES: $512,500 for the period of January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2008 for institutional speaking and media appearances. That amount will be $1,050,000 for the period of July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. That will increase by $75,000 on an annual basis during the term of the contract. For the period of July 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012, the amount will be $650,000.

CONTRACT TERMS
PERIOD BASE SALARY SPEAKING/MEDIA TOTAL
Jan. 1, 2008-June 30, 2008 $275,000 $1,025,000 $1,300,000*
July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009 $300,000 $1,050,000 $1,350,000
July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010 $325,000 $1,125,000 $1,450,000
July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011 $350,000 $1,200,000 $1,550,000
July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012 $375,000 $1,275,000 $1,650,000
July 1, 2012-Dec. 31, 2012 $400,000 $1,300,000 $1,700,000**
* -- The Coach’s total compensation for the period of July 1, 2007-June 30, 2008 will be $1,110,000. This amount is determined by the amount earned in six months of the previous contract (July 1, 2007-Dec. 31, 2007), which was $137,500 in salary and $322,500 in speaking and media appearances and the first six months of the new contract (January 1, 2008-June 30, 2008), which was $137,500 in salary and $512,500 in speaking and media appearances.
** -- The Coach’s total compensation guaranteed for the six-month period of July 1, 2012 though December 31, 2012 will be $850,000 based on annualized amount of $200,000 for salary and $650,000 for speaking and media appearances.

CAR ALLOWANCE: $15,000 on an annual basis.

SUMMER CAMPS/CLINICS: Coach has the opportunity to direct a summer football camp or clinic on the UConn campus in Storrs at the rates and fees established by the University’s Conference Services Office. The Coach may also direct a summer football camp or clinic located off the University’s campus. All camps or clinics run by the Coach shall be owned and operated by the Coach.

ENDORSEMENT CONTRACTS: Permissible as allowed within the established guidelines of the University, the NCAA and the Office of State Ethics.

TICKETS: Twenty (20) tickets will be provided to Coach at no cost for all home, away and postseason contests. Five (5) parking passes will also be provided for all home games. The Coach will also receive four tickets and two parking passes to all home men’s and women’s basketball games.

COUNTRY CLUB: Family membership to be provided for Coach at a country club.

ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION: The Coach will receive compensation for additional services if the team advances to a bowl game and/or if he is named the national or conference coach of the year. The Coach will receive one month’s worth of base salary for an appearance in a non-Bowl Championship Series bowl game and $100,000 for an appearance in a Bowl Championship Series bowl game. In addition, the Coach will receive one half of one month’s base salary if he is named the national coach of the year. If he is not named the national coach of the year, but named the conference coach of the year, he will receive one quarter of one month’s base salary.

BUYOUT: If the Coach accepts a position during the term of this agreement as a head coach at a NCAA Division I institution, or as a head coach in any professional league, the following sums will be due to the University from the Coach: $1,500,000 from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008; $1,250,000 from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009; $500,000 from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010; $400,000 from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011; and $250,000 from January 1, 2012 to August 1, 2012.

The University reserves the right to terminate this contract without cause at any time during the contract. If the University terminates the contract for any reason not mentioned in the contract (permanently disabled, having “just cause” through the AAUP contract; fails, refuses or neglect to perform his job), the University will give the coach the following payments to fully satisfy its obligation of the contract: $3,750,000 from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008; $3,000,000 from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009; $1,125,000 from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010; $750,000 from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001; $350,000 January 1, 2012 to August 1, 2012.

NOTE: No General Fund monies (state tax dollars) were used to provide any of the resources for this contract. The Division of Athletics at the University of Connecticut is an Auxiliary Services Fund entity and the sources of revenue include: gate receipts, private fund-raising, corporate partnerships, television/radio rights fees, BIG EAST Conference revenue, NCAA revenue.

Monday, February 25, 2008

2008 schedule released

2008 CONNECTICUT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Aug. 28: HOFSTRA
Sept. 6: at Temple, Lincoln Financial Field; Philadelphia, Pa.
Sept. 13: VIRGINIA
Sept. 19: BAYLOR, 8:00 p.m., ESPN2
Sept. 27: at Louisville, Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium; Louisville, Ky.
Oct. 4: at North Carolina, Kenan Stadium; Chapel Hill, N.C.
Oct. 18: at Rutgers, Rutgers Stadium; Piscataway, N.J.
Oct. 25: CINCINNATI* (HC)
Nov. 1: WEST VIRGINIA
Nov. 15: at Syracuse, Carrier Dome; Syracuse, N.Y.
Nov. 22: at South Florida, Raymond James Stadium; Tampa, Fla.
Dec. 6: PITTSBURGH, Time TBA, ESPN or ESPN2

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Possible depth charts

Continuing from the previous post detailing numerous changes and news from today, here's the position list as read in no particular order by Randy Edsall. Please note the depth order isn't Edsall's, it's my best guess at what may happen. Take it with a grain of salt because I don't know much about the freshmen, both incoming and those who redshirtted...and no, redshirtted is not a word.

OFFENSE

LT
Will Beatty
Mike Ryan
Jimmy Bennett (will redshirt)

LG
Alex LaMagdelaine or Gary Bardzak
Bobby Fry

C
Keith Gray
Mo Petrus
Trey Tonsing

RG
Mike Hicks
Mathieu Olivier
Eric Kuraczea (will redshirt)

RT
Dan Ryan
Zach Hurd
Adam Masters (will redshirt)

TE
Steve Brouse
Martin Bedard
John Delahunt or Corey Manning or Ryan Griffin or Yianni the Greek or Derek Chard...that's a hell of a lot of tight ends.

"X" WR
Brad Kanuch
Ellis Gaulden or Gerrard Sheppard
Kevin Poles
Alex Molina

"W" WR (SLOT)
D.J. Hernandez
Marcus Easley or Michael Smith
Eric Muschette

"Z" WR
Kashif Moore
Isiah Moore or Brian Parker
Rob Theodele
Nick Amorante

...giving the frosh wide receivers the benefit of the doubt here because UConn really needs help.

FB
Anthony Sherman
Anthony Davis
Joss Tillard

QB
Tyler Lorenzen
Zach Frazer
Cody Endres
Casey Turner (will redshirt)

TB
Andre Dixon or Donald Brown
Robbie Frey
Jordan Todman
Meme Wylie
Nate Scherer

DEFENSE

BANDIT
Cody Brown
Lindsey Witten
A.J. Portee or Teddy Jennings

DT
Jarrell Miller or Rob Lunn
Scott Schultz
Ryan Wirth

DT
Alex Polito or Rob Lunn
Twyon Martin
Danny Russell

...tackles are interchangeable, so you'll see different combo's on the field a lot

DE
Julius Williams
Mike Cox
Kendall Reyes
Oliver Bernson

MLB
Scott Lutrus
C.J. Marck
Aaron Bryant
Doc Goudreau
Jerome Williams

WLB
Lawrence Wilson
Greg Lloyd
Matt Ashmeade
Sio Moore or Alex Folsom

HUSKY
Dahna Deleston
Greg Robinson
Corey Stringer
Jory Johnson

CB
Darius Butler
Jasper Howard or Dwayne Gratz
Kahlil Lane or Derrick Foster
Josh Massey

CB
Robert McClain or Terry Baltimore
Harris Agbor or Gary Wilburn or Blidi Wreh-Wilson

SS
Jonathan Jean-Louis
Kijuan Dabney
Jamison Davis or Jerome Junior
Emmanuel Omokoro

FS
Robert Vaughn
Aaron Bagsby
Glen Mourning
John Yurek or Matt Edwards

P
Desi Cullen

K
Tony Ciaravino
Dave Teggart

A little Valentine's Day news

What to do with all the time in between signing day and the start of spring camp? Why not fill in the media on what's happening with your team? Randy Edsall called a press conference this afternoon that was chock full of nuggets and interesting information regarding the team. Here's a not-so-quick rundown.
  • Marcus Campbell is not in school, and will miss spring practice to deal with "personal issues". Edsall said he hopes Campbell will have everything resolved and be in camp by summer. Brandon Dillon will also miss spring practice because of academic issues. Edsall said it's similar to Dahna Deleston's situation last year, so Dillion was likely academically dismissed and must now pass a course or two to be readmitted in time for next semester.

  • Lawrence Green will miss the entire season to recover from major knee surgery, which he will undergo on Feb. 26. Green was playing on two bad knees, one with a torn ligament, and is looking at a rehab that will be arduous. He would seem a candidate for a medical redshirt, if he so chooses. Edsall said there was also a medical issue with another player, a non-football, non-life threatening injury, but he declined to name who because the medical results were not in yet.

  • We already knew Dennis Brown, Derek Rich and Terence Jeffers were transferring. Brown wants to play, not be an understudy, and left for Norfolk State. Rich wants to be closer to his hometown of Gainsville, Ga. and his girlfriend, so he's headed to Georgia with hopes of walking on to the football team. Jeffers wasn't happy with how he was utilized, withdrew from school and is headed to an of yet named program.

  • Three walk-ons have left the program: Cody Brumbaugh (who I'd never heard of until I just looked at the 2007 roster...he was an offensive lineman, in case you were wondering), quarterback Matt Vollono and wide receiver Mike Conroy. Vollono would like to play somewhere, but hasn't made a choice yet. Conroy plans to give pro baseball another shot, and is looking into opportunities to join a minor league camp in time for spring training. He plans to return to UConn in the fall to continue work on his degree.

  • Mike Hicks will be moved to right guard. Jarrell Miller to defensive tackle. Scott Lutrus to middle linebacker. Deleston to Husky linebacker. Edsall ran down the full position chart, but I'll have to listen to the tape first because he went kind of fast. We'll post that a little later, but those were the big changes.

  • Miller, because of his size, is more suited to play DT than, say, Julius Williams. Miller is 263 right now, and could easily play at 270 or 275. Edsall also said he thinks Miller has three years of eligibility left, but needed to check on that. Lutrus, Edsall said, would have probably played inside linebacker last season if the Huskies didn't have problems on the outside. His leadership and ability makes that a natural fit. Deleston's skills also suited him better to play closer to the line of scrimmage. UConn is also deep in the secondary, and players were moved to help in other areas in an effort to get the best 11 on the field.

  • Spring practice begins on March 18. The spring game is April 19. Team will practice every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. And, to satisfy all the gripers who think media doesn't get enough access in the spring (drum roll, please) every practice is open. Happy now? I thought you'd like that. Now, can you chip in for gas and coffee money?

  • Edsall can't talk about the proposed Notre Dame series because no contracts have been signed and he doesn't want to screw anything up. Once they're done, expect UConn to set up a teleconference or something of the sort. As for other opponents, Edsall says the Huskies are probably beyond the stage of playing a 2-for-1 with a big name opponent. They could, however, bring in an Akron or someone of the like for a one-shot only deal at Rentschler. We hear there are some other well-known opponents UConn has been in contact with, maybe someday soon, if a deal gets done, we can fill you in.

  • UConn opens with Hofstra on Aug. 28, which is a Thursday night. I think I had been reporting that game will be on the 30th, so adjust your datebooks. Rest of the non-conference is at Temple (Sept. 6), vs. Virginia (Sept. 13), vs. Baylor (Sept. 20) and at North Carolina (Oct. 4). Big East dates TBA, but its home vs. West Virginia, Pitt and Cincinnati. On the road at Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida and Syracuse.

Here's the updates non-league schedule. Games with Notre Dame are unofficial, and Edsall says there's some others that are in the works. Essentially, the Huskies have one open date in 2010 and 2012, and are set through 2013.

2009

Sept. 5: at Ohio

Sept. 12: North Carolina

Sept. 19: at Baylor

Nov. 21: at Notre Dame


2010

Sept. 11: Northeastern

Sept. 18: at Temple

Sept. 25: Buffalo

Oct. 2: Vanderbilt


2011

Sept. 10: at Vanderbilt

Sept. 24: at Buffalo

Nov. 5: at Notre Dame

TBA: Iowa State

TBA: at Northwestern

2012

Sept. 1: Massachusetts

Sept. 8: North Carolina State

Sept. 15: at Maryland

Sept. 29: Buffalo


2013

Aug. 31: Northwestern

Sept. 7: Maryland

Sept. 14: at Buffalo (likely to be moved to a later season)

Sept. 21: at Iowa

Sept. 28: Temple

Oct. 26: vs. Notre Dame (Foxboro, Mass.)

2014

Sept. 20: Iowa

Oct. 18: at Notre Dame

2015

Oct. 24: vs. Notre Dame (East Rutherford, N.J.)

2016

Nov. 12: at Notre Dame

2017

Sept. 30: vs. Notre Dame (Foxboro, Mass.)

2018

Sept. 29: at Notre Dame

2019

Sept. 28: vs. Notre Dame (East Rutherford, N.J.)

2020

Oct. 3: vs. Notre Dame (Foxboro, Mass.)

I'll get that depth chart up a little later.