According to Mark Blaudschun of the Boston Globe, former Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni has been hired as the new head coach of the UConn Huskies football team. Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register has also confirmed the hiring as well as Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant.
Conner also states that the Huskies will hold a press conference on Friday to introduce Pasqualoni as its new head coach.
Pasqualoni has Big East coaching experience as he spent 14 seasons (1991-2004) as the coach of the Syracuse Orange. During his time there, he was 107-59-1 (62-33) in the Big East. His Syracuse teams won two outright Big East titles in 1997 and 1998 and also shared it twice in 1996 and 2004.
Paqualoni, a Cheshire, CT native, has been in the NFL for the past six season with the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins. He was the Cowboys from 2005-2007 and then was in Miami in 2008-2009. He went back to the Cowboys in 2010 where he was the defensive line coach before being promoted to interim defensive coordinator when head coach Wade Phillips was fired.
UConn had also been considering Mark Whipple for the job and he at one time was thought to be the favorite. Obviously things have changed.
With Pasqualoni as head coach, you have to wonder if more in-state players will go to UConn. He did recruit Tebucky Jones and Dwight Freeney to Syracuse.
Photo credit: Syracuse University
