UConn football team gets a visit from Gov. Lamont
Aug. 8—STORRS — A VIP visited UConn football preseason practice on Tuesday morning.
Governor Ned Lamont, who stopped by the Shenkman Training Center, definitely qualifies as a Very Important Person.
He's also a VIF — Very Important Fan.
Lamont is a big supporter of coach Jim Mora and the Huskies.
"They've got a great coach that makes you believe," Lamont said. "Each of these kids, they're going to surprise us every day. I love it. ... They're ready to go for NC State at the end of this month. You've got to be there and cheer them on."
As of Tuesday, UConn's season opener against North Carolina State on Aug. 31 in East Hartford was just 23 days away.
Lamont has faith that Mora will continue to elevate the football program after leading the Huskies to a bowl game and posting six wins for the first time since 2015.
Here's why:
"Because they have a great coach that has the team believing in themselves," Lamont said. "You've got almost the entire team from last year back. Last year, they surprised the heck out of their opponents. I'm afraid that nobody is going to take UConn for granted this year, so they're going to have to be ready to go.
"And they are ready to go."
After practice ended on Tuesday, Lamont addressed the entire team and briefly spoke to Mora before leaving.
Mora appreciates Lamont's support.
"That means a lot to us as a program, as a university and I know it means a lot to our players to have the leader of our state out here and taking an interest, taking the time out of his busy schedule to come and talk to our guys, and it was outstanding," Mora said.
Lamont also answered questions from the media about conference realignment and the future of the football program.
Mentioned earlier this month as a potential candidate to join the Big 12, UConn was left on the sidelines. The Big 12 recently decided to add four Pac-12 schools, voting to bring in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State.
Odds are there will be more changes in the college landscape.
"I'm going to follow (athletic director) Dave Benedict's lead — it's like three dimensional chess," Lamont said. "But, look, everybody wants to be aligned with UConn. UConn is a university with winners. That's basketball, that's hockey, that's football, across the board. So I think it's all going to settle out.
"There's always a lot of maneuvering. Let's see where it ends up."
Mora has made no secret that he's in favor of UConn joining a Power Five conference.
"We're building something that is earning the right to be in a Power Five," Mora said. "This team will compete with Power Five football teams. We have the facilities, we have the people. We do more with less than any athletic department in the country, in my opinion, when you look at all the sports. And if we're able to increase our revenue where we can provide more for our football team, more resources, I think we just ascend.
"Quite frankly, I don't understand why people don't see it because they don't come here. I read well, they don't have the facilities. Yes, we do. This program was a proud strong program years ago and we're getting back to that. ... We're not afraid to compete against anybody. Does that mean we're going to beat them right now? We'll see because we're going to play the game."
During his playing days at Washington and coaching stint at UCLA, Mora forged strong ties with what is now called the Pac-12. His son attends Colorado. His father coached at Colorado and Stanford.
He's seen the league evolve and expand over the years.
So it pains him for the conference to be picked apart.
"I've always had an infinity for the Pac-12," Mora said. "And so to see it dissolve the way it has, it's sad. I don't like it. ... I'm sad to see what's happened to the Pac-12 just being that matters to me. Like the Big East matters to us out here because of our history there, and I'm learning that."
Another step forward as a program this season will certainly improve UConn's stock.
Lamont is encouraging fans to support UConn this season and show up at Rentschler Field for home games.
"We've got women's professional basketball, we don't really have big professional teams like other states. UConn is our team. That's our state team. We cheer for our state team. It's important. They did us proud in basketball last year and they're going to do us proud in football. I love what's going on here."
