Incredible. I had no clue. Another connection we've got on the board! Thanks for sharing
Eck would make sense - Kotelnicki too big for UCONN FB? I guess getting that HC experience is always valuable. I figured Kotelnicki could be a guy to jump a bit bigger outta the gate in his HC Journey
Kotelnicki timing would work out really well for both sides. Keep in mind he’s got experience in the northeast as OC at Buffalo prior to Kansas and Penn State so he knows the area well.
UConn would be hoping that he could leverage the current situation at Penn State/widely expected turnover to bring someone like Grunkemeyer at QB with him and other New England/Northeastern/DMV guys to Storrs, while also getting his shot at a HC gig. A few things to note about UConn:
~$12M in NIL + Rev Share expected for football which is very competitive with the top of the G5. Skyler Bell the Biletnikoff Finalist made ~$600k this year so UConn does have $ to pony up for a few bigger names on that front
- Mora made $2.5M annually and had a decent sized staff pool, UConn has a good GM/Front Office operation going as well
- Facilities are very, very, very good. Keep in mind UConn spent 15 years in the Big East so they’ve had a IPF, multiple practice fields, huge weight room, etc for a long time, all of those items including the locker room at the stadium and facility have been renovated in the last 3 years
- Linear TV deal so every game is on CBSSN
- UConn has 19 games against P4 competition the next 7 years, 10 of which are at home. There’s big time opportunities to make your mark and move up if you win those games (like Mora did by beating UNC last year and BC and Duke this year)
- Andy will have options no doubt.. he may decide timing isn’t right or it isn’t the right fit, but there’s reasons it would be intriguing for both sides. UConn has lost 1 home game in 2 years and hasn’t lost a game to a G5 in regulation since 2023 - there are a lot more structural advantages over the scheduled opponents there than one would realize upon first glance and the P4 games are mostly regional, ACC teams which UConn has already proven it can beat