Days after announcing that true freshman Tim Boyle would be UConn's starting quarterback heading into next Saturday's matchup with USF, interim coach T.J. Weist, who replaced recently fired Paul Pasqualoni last week, suggested that more changes are on the way for the 0-4 Huskies.
"I sat down with some of the seniors and captains and I wanted to get their input on what changes they think can help us in this transition and can help us to win games," Weist said, via the Hartford Courant's Desmond Conner. "One of the things they said was they'd like to have some music [at practice]. ... They see other teams with music and they all watch the videos, there are videos everywhere of teams practicing ... and they get excited about it. We added some music at the beginning of practice, during stretch and some other things just to get the practice started out right. ... It's my music."
According to Conner, that means some "Enter Sandman," some Gap Band and it's only a matter of time before country music finds its way into the rotation.
But this isn't about music, it's about changing a culture of losing.
"You don't go 0-4 and make some of the mistakes we made and not change," Weist said. "We're not going to wholesale change everything. I'm not going to sit here and announce we're going to be something different. I don't want anybody we're playing to go, 'They're going to do this, they're going to do that.' You're going to see some changes. I want to see some changes in execution. I want to see changes in energy and effort.
"We've got new energy with a new quarterback. I think we'll get some guys back from injuries. I'm sure we'll have a game plan ready to oppose South Florida (0-4) on offense, defense and special teams, but I don't want to sit here and say we're going to run double reverses and blitz every snap. Hopefully you guys know I'm smarter than that."
Weist taking over doesn't magically fix all that's wrong with this team, and that includes a young quarterback who has yet to take a snap in a college game.
"We'll be patient with him," Weist continued. "Are we married to him? I treat him really like most of the players. [He must] go out there and perform. Our goal is to win and you need to do things to help us win. I don't say that if he goes out and doesn't perform the way we want that we're going to keep him in the game and stick with him no matter what. We have to do what's best for the team at any position and he is just like everybody else. ... With him as the quarterback, we're going to give him time. But this is a time to win in this program."
