{"id":322599,"date":"2025-11-30T15:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/322599\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T15:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:53:08","slug":"uconn-golfer-and-grandma-babs-the-influencer-both-thriving-more-on-mora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/322599\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn golfer and grandma Babs, the influencer, both thriving; More on Mora"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn\u2019s Matt Costello<\/a> returned to campus from Maui in November after playing some of the best golf of his college career, 6-under par for the three rounds of the Ka\u2019anapali Classic.<\/a> He made seven birdies in a row at one stretch during his second-round 67.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of a bummer it was the last of the fall season, it kind of felt like things were turning,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it put me in a good place for the spring. Really excited to get back after it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costello will have to be patient, though, let the future come to him. This is some of the life coaching he gets from his grandmother, Babs, social media\u2019s unlikeliest influencer,<\/a> a rock star.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell Matt he\u2019s been greatly blessed,\u201d Barbara Costello said<\/a>. \u201cAnd to use his gifts and not worry and go out there and just relax. Golf is an extremely intense pressure sport, it\u2019s got to be, but you also need to know that you have these gifts, you relax and you use your gifts. \u2026 And win or lose, you\u2019ll always be a winner in our eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vivacious Barbara \u201cBabs\u201d Costello, retired teacher, began using her gift of gab when her daughter convinced her to make a video in 2020, sharing one of her recipes. \u201cAnd I thought it\u2019d be one and done,\u201d she said, flashing a grandmotherly dash of sports lingo.<\/p>\n

\"UConn'sUConn’s Matt Costello got seven birdies in a row during the Huskies fall trip to Maui. (UConn Athletics)<\/p>\n

Innocently, reluctantly, she plunged into the snark-infested waters of social media during the pandemic, flooding it with warmth and family vibes, and people responded overwhelmingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of this was planned,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know, God has a plan for your life and you just go along and go, \u2018Wow, how did this happen?\u2019 It\u2019s like people were looking for family, they were looking for their moms, grandmas, looking for some kind of normalcy and here\u2019s this older lady on TikTok talking about cooking and obviously it struck a chord.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recipes, kitchen hacks, life tips \u2014 @BrunchWithBabs now has 3.9 million followers on Instagram<\/a>, another 4.2 million on TikTok<\/a>, 16,700 subscribers on YouTube<\/a> \u2014 and all are encouraged to click on this column each and every Sunday morning. There is also her cookbook<\/a>, substack<\/a>, TV appearances. I was unfamiliar with Mrs. Costello, but after some binge clicking, this confirmed bachelor has learned how to make Key Lime ice box cake, get out stubborn oil stains using a toothbrush, and keep yellowjackets from invading an outdoor party by leaving an open can of tuna 30 feet away. Her YouTube channel bills Babs as \u201cthe internet mom\/grandma you didn\u2019t know you needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

At family gatherings, Barbara would have all the grandkids put their iPhones in a box upon entry, so as not to detract from family time. And now she\u2019s one of the stars of the tiny screens in their hands?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you told me five years ago my grandmother would be like this famous social media influencer, I would have said \u2018You\u2019re crazy,’\u201d Matt said. \u201cBut it\u2019s been awesome to see. She loves it, she loves interacting and all the positive comments she gets. And I love it for her. She has not changed, she\u2019s just the same person she was five years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babs and her husband Bill, \u201cMr. Babs,\u201d even made a golf-themed video for NBC Sports before The Open in 2021, where she smacked his hand off a doughnut and offered tips to \u201ctake eight strokes off your golf game:\u201d<\/a> Get a good night\u2019s sleep, eat a healthy, protein-rich breakfast and keep hydrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a very fun one,\u201d Matt said. \u201cThe good stuff to do pre-rounds. Something we could both relate to and I could help with. \u201d<\/p>\n

Dom Amore\u2019s Sunday Read: Rare stress test for Geno Auriemma, CCSU slays another giant, and more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Videos of her recent trip to Notre Dame, where she punted, ran with the football, took a campus tour, are going viral right now. Barbara Costello, 77, a Chicago native and Marquette grad, settled in western Connecticut and became a teacher, raising four children and now enjoying eight grandkids.<\/p>\n

Her son and Matt\u2019s father, Bill, graduated from UConn, as did Matt\u2019s older sister, Mary. Matt\u2019s father gave him a set of plastic clubs as a toddler and he swung them, his grandmother remembers, like a grownup golfer, a natural. As he grew up in Staunton, Mass., Matt Costello became one of the top high school and young amateur golfers in the state, and targeted UConn as a dream school.<\/p>\n

Coach Dave Pezzino roll<\/a>ed out the big artillery, taking the Costellos to a UConn men\u2019s basketball game at Gampel Pavilion, and the recruiting deal was sealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kid\u2019s a workaholic,\u201d Pezzino said. \u201cHe played a very demanding junior schedule, any time, against anybody, and that resonated with me. Great handshake, looks you in the eye, a real Connecticut man, even though he\u2019s from Massachusetts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Matt Costello, a lefty swinger, and Ellington\u2019s Bradley Sawka,<\/a> the Dick Tettelbach Award winner as Connecticut\u2019s top amateur, are a 1-2 punch for UConn on the links. The team\u2019s training trip to warm weather comes in January, with the spring season to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my golf game has matured the most, with the leadership to my teammates and with Coach,\u201d Matt Costello said. \u201cMy course management has progressed, and there is room for improvement there. That\u2019s the biggest thing for me, confidence in course management. \u2026 I still think I\u2019m scratching the surface and my best is far to come. I don\u2019t really have a goal, I just want to work as hard as I can, see how far, how good I can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

From freshman to sophomore year, Costello lowered his average from 76.2 to 72.8. His grandparents get out to watch him compete for UConn when they can, Babs brings the warmth and the life tips her family, and the world, find so comforting. \u201cShe\u2019s always taught me, just staying patient and letting everything come to you,\u201d Matt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get nervous, especially putting,\u201d Babs said. \u201cThe strong, powerful strokes early in the game, fine, but then putting. He practices constantly. Sometimes I close my eyes and say a Hail Mary, and if everybody cheers, I know my prayers were answered.\u201d<\/p>\n

More for your Sunday Read:<\/p>\n

Dom Amore: Jim Mora leaves UConn football far better than he found it. Now, what\u2019s next?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Still unpacking Jim Mora\u2019s departure<\/p>\n

A few stray thoughts and fallout from the big news of the week. \u2026 Given Jim Mora\u2019s departure from UConn<\/a>, done in the unfortunate, abrupt, slip-out-the-back-Jack way these things are done nowadays, it\u2019s a good time to point out one thing the NCAA, with full cooperation from the colleges and agents, should wade into: The timing of the coaching carousel and transfer portal.<\/p>\n

In football, coaches jumping and players hitting the portal or opting out with a bowl game, even playoffs, still ahead is a nationwide epidemic. Open the portal Jan. 10 or so, and put a moratorium on coaching hires until that date. This would leave plenty of time for recruiting and portal surfing once positions are filled. If that\u2019s not possible, then you might just as well get rid of most bowl games outside the playoffs. They\u2019ve become meaningless exhibitions with interim coaches and JV lineups.<\/p>\n

*Don\u2019t be too concerned (yet) about UConn players entering the portal.<\/a> Several players, including Skyler Bell, entered before the Fenway Bowl a year ago. Some played, some didn\u2019t. Some came back, some didn\u2019t. Players are wise to explore options, gauge interest, see how the coaching search plays out, gain leverage.<\/p>\n

*Geno Auriemma\u2019s take on the search: \u201cDave Benedict seems to get these things right, so I\u2019ll leave it up to him. But we\u2019re in much better shape than we were four years ago, so the pool of candidates, internal or external, a much greater pool to choose from and that\u2019s because of what\u2019s happened here since Jim took the job. Jim did what great coaches do, he put his stamp on the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Mora will be formally introduced at Colorado State on Monday. A head\u2019s up for our brethren out there: Be ready to fire off questions. Hesitate half a second and he\u2019ll disappear faster than a character on \u201cBewitched<\/a>.\u201d (We\u2019re half joking).<\/p>\n

\u2018She expects way more:\u2019 UConn star Sarah Strong on pace for record-breaking sophomore season<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sunday short takes<\/p>\n

*In this crazy, crass age in which we live, pearl-clutching over a coach\u2019s foul language doesn\u2019t do much for me. But one thing Dan Hurley should avoid is referring to the medical staff when players are injured. Even if he is just frustrated about the injury and doesn\u2019t mean to point fingers, it can easily be interpreted that way.<\/a> It\u2019s just not a good look, or sound.<\/p>\n

*Wait a minute. The Yankees\u2019 payroll isn\u2019t high enough? Are we really having that conversation?<\/a><\/p>\n

*Yale basketball is off to another good start, taking home the trophy from the Virgin Islands<\/a> after beating Wisconsin-Green Bay, College of Charleston and Akron in the Paradise Jam, going 21-for-21 from the line in the championship game. Senior Nick Townsend was the MVP, averaging 22 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists. Meanwhile, Conard-West Hartford\u2019s Riley Fox is growing into a bigger role for the Bulldogs<\/a> as a sophomore, averaging 12.9 points per game, shooting 52 percent on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

*Lenny Bonn, 72, is retiring after 50 distinguished years<\/a> coaching football in Connecticut, most of it at Notre Dame High in West Haven, Branford High, where he was head coach, and his alma mater, Southern Connecticut, where he worked with running backs and special teams.<\/p>\n

*NBC-CT loses an industrious, young talent, and Detroit gained, when Matt Finkel peace\u2019d out<\/a> as sports director at Channel 30 earlier this month. Wish him the best in his new, major-market gig.<\/p>\n

*Auriemma was also effusive in his ZOOM call Friday effusive about quarterback Joe Fagnano:<\/a> \u201cI think one of the greatest stories in college football and the best story here is what Joe has done. He got here, had the job, then he lost it, had it, then lost it, easily that kid could have said, \u2018I\u2019m out.\u2019 But the kid hung in there, guys from Pennsylvania who are Italian have a tendency to do that, and he had a season for the ages. One of the best stories in Connecticut sports in a long, long, long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last word<\/p>\n

Semi-serious question: If Sarah Strong played 40<\/a> minutes against some of UConn\u2019s conference opponents and set her mind to\u00a0 it, could she get a quintuple-double?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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