Who are the UCONN Coaches?

Head coach Paul Pasqualoni is in his first season at UCONN.

As the Bulls prepare to take on UCONN, it is time to take a look at who will be calling the plays from the Huskies sideline.

Head Coach Paul Pasqualoni is entering his 19th season as a coach, but his first season as the head coach of UCONN. He spent the 2010 season as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys (and 2005-2007) and spent 2008-2009 with the Miami Dolphins. During that time he worked on the defensive side of the ball, so the Huskies will be well coached on that side of the ball.

Pasqualoni is no stranger to the Big East despite spending the last few years in the NFL. He was the head coach of Syracuse from 1991 to 2004, taking the Orange to 9 bowl games during that time.

In his career, he has 107 careers (before this season). Pasqualoni runs a normal pro-style offense (power I formation) and uses a running back to power through opposing defenses. He runs a tight program, always having great academic standings with his players. He is a solid coach, but is entering his first season and will have a hard time adjusting to the speed of USF.

Don Brown is the defensive coordinator for the Huskies (also the cornerbacks coach). Coach Brown has spent the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Maryland. Before his time at Maryland, he was the head coach at UMASS from 2004-2008. He was also the head coach at Northeastern and Plymouth State.

During his time at Maryland, coach Brown's defense was ranked 38th in the country in scoring, allowing just 22.8 points per game, so the Bulls will have a tough time getting points on the board. They also ranked 39th in total yardage, allowing 352.3 yards per game, so the offense will have to get it going in this game.

UCONN runs the 4-3 defense, so USF will face a more traditional front. The front 4 for the Huskies are strong, but there are holes that the Bulls can exploit in this game and overall speed for the USF offense will give UCONN trouble all day.

George DeLeone is the offensive coordinator for the Huskies. He has over 40 years coaching, helping round out a solid coaching for the Huskies. Coach DeLeone has worked with head coach Pasqualoni for many years, from the NFL all the way back to his days at Syracuse, so the relationship and trust between the two is strong.

DeLeone prefers to run the power-I formation as the base of his offense. He lets the big offensive lineman and the running backs push their way forward and get the yardage, taking pressure off the quarterback and simplifying the playcalling.

The Huskies are thin at wide receiver and have been rotating at least 3 quarterbacks into the offense this season, so the coaching staff will put the ball into the hands of the running backs and DeLeone is the perfect coach to get them ready for it.