I heard from very good authority back in September 2009 that when (not if, when) the ACC decided to move to 14 members the additions would be UConn and Cuse. The thinking was that it would take away the (then) three most recent BE national titles, relegate the remaining BE to where the first raid was supposed to leave the conference, give them what they could bill as the second best college men's hoops rivalry (to the UNC-Duke rivalry they already had) and lock up the entire eastern seaboard.
JH saw this as a done deal (only variable being the when) and banked on nothing possibly changing over time that would lead the ACC to decide something different. In the spring of 2010 when Delaney began making waves about how large the B-10 would end up being, JH should have been on the phone with anyone and everyone from tobacco road (where we were the top choice) and wherever else he could find a friend in the ACC to make sure we were still the target they were after. This was one of many things that JH was too lazy about to legitimately do the job that he was paid to do.
Interesting stuff, but nothing anyone can say about who said what and knew when, changes the simple fact that all changes in intercollegiate athletics leagues in the past 25 years have occurred because of simple votes going way back to a 5-3 vote involving Penn State. A handful of individuals vote that you can count on your fingers vote, and multimillion dollar annual budget institutions change their business operations.
The fact is, that not enough people that actually vote (and there aren't that many) have voted in such fashion that UCONN would move to a different athletic conference. The last time, a vote occurred that involved a signicant change in UCONN athletics, it was the former big east membership, that voted to extend UCONN an offer to upgrade football and join the Big East as a BCS program. That was 17 years ago.
Now - could things have been handled differently, by literally dozens of different people in positions of power - such that the people that voted in 2009-10-11-12........on such matters, would have come to a majority rule to once again create a major change in UCONN athletics? I believe so - yes - whole heartedly.
UCONN needs to build the personal relationships and reputation among the people that matter, such that when a vote again occurs, which would impact UCONN significantly, that such a vote turns out in our favor.
In the meantime, while those personal relationships are established and/or repaired and/or cultivated, among the the people that actually vote.....the best we can do is embrace our current situation positively, invest in it, and go out and win conference championships and compete at a level that is nationally relevant.