Professor George's Football Seminar At Ledyard High

Past UConn football regimes under coaches Skip Holtz and Randy Edsall viewed Connecticut scholastic football as third- or fourth-class citizens.

Landing sixth-team All-State picks out of Florida held greater priority to locking down the best two or three Nutmeg State players on an annual basis. Edsall even went as far to criticize CIAC football scheduling, stating the state season started too late in mid December.

Both Holtz and Edsall experienced success at UConn; they just didn't merit blessing from the state football community. It wasn't a mutual admiration society. Yes, UConn offered its stadium for state title games recently, but State U. never loved you (state high school football). Edsall and Holtz were not native New Englanders. Holtz was born in Willimantic when his father was a UConn assistant, but both former Husky heads held southern or mid-Atlantic roots.

New Husky coach Paul Pasqualoni and his staff, however, are welcoming state high school football with open arms. The staff embraces its Connecticut roots. Pasqualoni, from Cheshire, was head coach at Western Connecticut before his successful tenure at Syracuse. Offensive coordinator George DeLeone coached at Southern before assisting with the Orangemen, Dolphins and Chargers.

DeLeone gave a three-hour football seminar Thursday night at Ledyard High as part of his three-part speaking trek across the state. DeLeone and Ledyard coach Jim Buonocore struck up a relationship when former Stonington quarterback Colin Clancy played at Temple, where DeLeone was an assistant. Nearly 50 coaches partook in his 40-years of football wisdom, enjoying food and soft drinks for $5.

It was an invaluable experience and an ultimate ice breaker.

"Our staff, coach Pasqualoni, myself and our assistants, our number one objective is to be of service to high school football coaches in the state of  Connecticut," DeLeone said. "That's a mission statement for us. We want to be the resource where high school coaches can come and ask questions and hopefully get answers."

For one of the smallest states, Connecticut has produced a Texas-sized share of big-time coaches. Bill Belichick graduated from Wesleyan. DeLeone and Kevin Gilbride coached at Southern. Fitch grad Dave Campo coached the Cowboys. Pasquolini at Western, Florida offensive coordinator and Temple head coach Steve Addazio at Cheshire, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz played at UConn. It's only a partial list.

"I've recruited in every state in the union, and Connecticut coaches are as well trained and as good football coaches as any," DeLeone said. "Are the programs as big? No. Do they have 25,000 seat stadiums like Texas? No. The Connecticut high school coach does more with less than any coach in the country. I have great respect for these guys. Our mission is to give back to the coaches here."

One of DeLeone's objectives last night was to recommend that scholastic coaches organize weekly practices like college coaches and use pre-season scrimmages to test situational circumstances such as two-minute drills and goal-line offenses.

"Most high school teams have two-way players so you can't practice these situations," DeLeone said. "In the first scrimmage, practice these situations and you'll be practicing like a college team. It's going to be the best thing you ever did."

In 2008, with the Dolphins as tight ends coach to offensive coordinator Dan Henning, DeLeone oversaw Miami winning seven games with its two-minute drill en route to an 11-5-1 record, the NFL's greatest turnaround from a 1-15 season a year prior.

"Seven games came down to the last drive," DeLeone said. "You've got to be the masters of the two minute drill. The minute a reporter thinks you screwed up in the last minute, the first words in the paper will be you cannot handle 'time management.' My point is I don't care about the media, but you have to give your team the best chance to win, so you better learn how to control time management."

Some may argue that the ECC features so many mismatched teams, most games are blowouts and such strategies never pan out. But all teams face a handful of struggles, especially in the state playoffs where ECC teams have suffered recently, and improved preparation could make the difference.

"I thought it was a great night, an opportunity to talk football with one of the great minds in the game as well as a member of the coaching staff of our state university," Buonocore said. "The mission of the coaching staff at UConn is to serve the high school coaches in the state and last night was a great example of that. Coach DeLeone was magnificent."

The fact Ledyard hosted the seminar is another tip of the cap to Buonocore. Not quite 40, Buonocore has already established himself on the upper tier of state coaches, leading three different schools to state playoffs and landing the Governors Cup head coach job recently.

If he wants the Ledyard athletic director job, vacated by Pete Vincent stepping down after 10 years, then he would be a solid choice. He's a leader, he accomplishes goals and he has experience as an AD at Stonington. Bill Mignault was football coach and AD for a time at Ledyard. It's demanding to handle both jobs, but others have balanced both masters.

And to the UConn football coaching staff's credit, it vows to handle two masters: coaching a winning Husky program and improving the quality of scholastic football in its home state.

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