He spent most of his time on Edsall's staff, was interim HC for a minute and was interviewed for HC, but then was kept as a
staff leftover by Paul Pasqualoni at Uconn when Edsall left for Maryland after the Fiesta Bowl and his last DC Todd Orlando
also got a job elsewhere.
But PP brought in a more aggressive DC to run things ( Don Brown now at BC)...because Hughes was more a bend but don't
break guy.....where as Don Brown was Doctor Blitz. Hughes took over again as Uconn DC for one year when Brown saw the
Uconn ship going down with Pasqualoni in charge and left a year before PP got fired. With Diaco coming in from Notre Dame
as a DC...Hughes was done...He was a second in command type of guy for Edsall and they both were known more for turning
2 star under the radar guys into
NFL players (18 current) by evaluation and development more than recruiting studs. And they
were also known for keeping tight lipped about the recruits they identified. I'd guess his knowledge of Big East/AAC teams gave
him an edge for Tubberville to hire him for his 2nd stint at Cincy.
This post was edited on 1/2 9:21 AM by the Blades