Rival coaches react to Pasqualonis's firing

Rutgers coach Kyle Flood and Louisville's Charlie Strong are the only active American Athletic Conference head coaches who squared off against the Paul Pasqualoni coached UConn squads so I asked both of them for their reaction to Pasqualoni's firing on today's AAC conference call.

"Paul Pasqualoni is somebody I looked up to at a very early stage in my career as a high school and college coach in the New York/New Jersey area as a coach at Syracuse and Coach P really set the standard for what a college coach’s relationship should be with the high school coaches," Flood said. "He is a very well respected figure in New York and New Jersey and that is because of the genuineness of the relationships that he has built over time and I think all of us as younger coaches hopefully some day the high school coaches will feel about us the way I know they feel about Paul Pasqualoni."

Strong was on the wrong end of Pasqualoni's signature victory at UConn, a 23-20 Huskies' road win over Louisville a season ago.

"He is an outstanding coach and I know he will do well wherever he ends up," Strong said. "He has an outstanding staff and just what they where able to accomplish and I have no doubt they will be able to bounce back because it is all about getting the players behind you."

Southern Methodist coach June Jones also reacted to today's news.

"I am a little bit surprised, that is a guy who knows football as well as any guy I have ever sat around and talked to," Jones said. "To not be given a chance , the opportunity to build the program in this day and age it is kind of shocking. I don’t understand the dynamics of that whole situation up there but I know that Paul is a great football man, a good guy and  and sometimes life isn’t far."