Glastonbury — On what Jim Penders called the toughest day of the year, he arrived at the Glastonbury Boat House to hang out with his UConn family.

It was just what Penders needed to soothe his wounds from an NCAA tournament exit on Sunday and a hard, emotional season-ending goodbye to his baseball team in the parking lot of the Myrtle Beach airport early Monday morning. The Huskies split up and took two different flights home.

Penders received a standing ovation before speaking to the big crowd at the kick-off event of the UConn Huskies Coaches Road Show, which will make other stops in Branford Tuesday, New York City Wednesday and Stamford Thursday.

"It's good medicine," Penders said. "It's the toughest day of the year. This is a good salve for the wounds to come here and be around good people and people that are so supportive of what we do. I wouldn't miss it.

"As long as the plane landed on time, I was going to get my butt here."

Penders joined a large contingent of UConn coaches on Monday. After they mingled with fans, there was a question and answer period. Randy Edsall (football), Geno Auriemma (women's basketball) and Dan Hurley (men's basketball) were the other headliners.

The first-time event was a huge hit for both fans and coaches.

"It's something that we've not done in the past that we definitely need to do," Auriemma said, "because there's a lot of people out there that never get an opportunity to interact with us and to hear our stories.

"A lot of these people are season ticket holders or alums — or both — and the only thing they see and hear is what they watch on the court or read in the paper. So for them to see us in person and to talk with us and then listen to what we're going to say about this is how we do things and this is why we need your help to do it. This is a crucial part of the success of our program."

The tour also is a way to promote UConn athletics, sell tickets and raise money. Athletic director David Benedict spoke to the fans about getting involved.

"I urge you to get engaged however you can," Benedict said.

Edsall knows something about selling a program.

Since returning to UConn last year, Edsall's dedicated himself to reaching out to the fans and growing the football program. He regularly attends events and is active on social media.

"I think it's great," Edsall said of the Road Show. "It's way overdue. These are things that should have been happening when I was here before. Sometimes I think what happens is people take things for granted, but you really can't. Not then and not even now. You've got to be appreciative of all the things that your fans do for you and engage them as much as you can. This is a good time for all of us to do it."

June is still a busy time for the UConn coaches.

Edsall held a camp over the weekend. He's already started working with his coaching staff on putting together a game plan for the season opener against Central Florida on Aug. 30.

Summer workouts began Monday for Auriemma and Hurley.

Hurley's been on the go since being hired in late March. He threw out the first pitch at Citi Field before the Mets game on Sunday. He marveled at the fact that he was a high school basketball coach just eight years ago.

He says almost everyone made it through the entire grueling first workout.

"As you can tell, I'm a little hoarse right now," Hurley said. "We got after it pretty good today. We wanted to set the tone. We wanted to check in and see who was putting in some work when they were home. They responded great."

The UConn Huskies Coaches Road Show tour continues Tuesday night at Stony Creek Brewery in Branford.

g.keefe@theday.com