Article in Journal Inquirer About Big 12 / Big East | The Boneyard

Article in Journal Inquirer About Big 12 / Big East

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We REALLY need to get into the Big 12...

Report: Big East is UConn's Plan B if Big 12 bid fails
  • Posted: Thursday, August 18, 2016 11:10 am | Updated: 12:30 pm, Thu Aug 18, 2016.

Report: Big East is UConn's Plan B if Big 12 bid fails By Jerry McGuire Journal Inquirer | 0 comments


Should UConn abandon its aspirations to join a "Power 5" conference? If the Huskies are jilted by the Big 12, should they leave the American Athletic Conference, rejoin their former Catholic school foes in the reconstituted Big East for basketball and accept second-class FBS football status in another league?

Boston-based sportswriter Mark Blaudschun reported Monday on his fledgling pay-to-view website, "it seems more and more likely that UConn WILL NOT be part of the American Athletic Conference" after the Big 12 expansion process shakes out. Blaudschun used the capital letters for emphasis.

Citing "people familiar with the situation", Blaudschun reported UConn "does not want to return to the status quo" if the Big 12 doesn't invite the Huskies and suggested the Big East as a home for UConn's "non-football varsity sports".

Blaudschun followed with a Tuesday commentary advocating UConn's return to the Big East and that the school should pursue football-only membership in the Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Conference USA or the Sun Belt, which along with the AAC comprise the so-called "Group of 5", the little brothers to the "Power 5" of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12.

Blaudschun's posts are noteworthy given his history of being first to report breaking UConn athletics news, the most recent examples being the departure of former athletic director Warde Manuel to Michigan and the hiring of AD David Benedict.

Blaudschun's Big East mention prompted reminders on social media that former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese is a paid consultant to UConn president Susan Herbst, who in January said Tranghese advises her on "all matters athletic", with conference realignment believed to be the focus.

Tranghese's contract is reported to be with the UConn Foundation, which is exempt from the state's Freedom of Information laws.

Tranghese continues to wield influence in college athletics through his consulting firm. In March, the Southeastern Conference hired him to help raise the SEC's basketball profile. Benedict came to Storrs in February from SEC member Auburn. Soon after Benedict arrived at UConn, the Huskies scheduled a men’s basketball series with Auburn.

On Monday, Herbst told the Hartford Courant that she would not lobby the Big 12 as many other schools have. She did not address the foundation's ongoing private effort to persuade the Big 12, which included the purchase of full-page newspaper advertising and billboards in the Dallas area in February.

Wednesday, Benedict used Twitter to subtly advocate for the Huskies' Big 12 bid, retweeting a Huskies' fan assertion that "#UConn football has more current NFLers than any (Big 12) candidate school but Boise St. More wins in past 10 yrs over P5 than any school but Cincy".

Blaudschun's website posts also echoed the growing conventional wisdom among national college football media that UConn is a longshot to be invited because the 10-team Big 12 is only going to expand by two -- if it expands at all. That consensus is developing even as the Big 12 is allowing 20 schools to make a video presentation to the league, a process that is drawing scorn from many of the media voices downplaying UConn's Big 12 chances.

Some of the authoritative media voices in the conversation are writers Brett McMurphy and Jake Trotter of ESPN.com -- the digital arm of the Connecticut-based sports network whose business executives are reported to oppose expansion because the massive cost it and Fox would incur (as much as $800 million) if the Big 12 adds members.

Oklahoma sports columnist Berry Tramel, who first reported UConn was being considered for the Big 12 in December, is now suggesting the league may not really be interested in expanding. Tramel's theory is the Big 12 is using expansion as a "smokescreen" to get more money for its 10 schools from ESPN and Fox as a payoff for not expanding.

ESPN, which has received $260 million in tax breaks and credits from the state through the years, has consistently denied it influences the makeup of conferences, and McMurphy has insisted on Twitter his reporting is not influenced by ESPN's business side. Another twist is that Fox also a 12-year, $500 million deal with the Big East for basketball, prompting questions of where it might prefer to see UConn basketball and football.
 
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Prepare for the onslaught....


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Sorry if this has been posted before, I've been in baseball mode. This was the first I heard of a possible move back to the Big East with football going (presumably) to the MAC or Conference USA.
 
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Sorry if this has been posted before, I've been in baseball mode. This was the first I heard of a possible move back to the Big East with football going (presumably) to the MAC or Conference USA.
I don't mind, a lot of us don't mind, we realize not everyone checks the boneyard on a daily (hourly) basis.
 
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I don't agree with the notion that UConn should go to the Big East if they don't get an invite to the Big 12. The Big East basketball schools are the reason UConn is in the AAC in the first place and now they are supposed to go crawling back to what? Boost the Big East basketball conference that only has a handful of decent basketball teams in the first place? And...at the same time take a step down in football after all the work that has been done in the last 15 years to create an environment, a foundation for great D-1 football in the state of Connecticut? The Shenkman Training Center and Burton Family Complex were built for what? To be the best facilities in the MAC? That's just not right. The AAC might not be the Big12(yet) or the ACC in football but it's only 3 freakin years old for crying out loud. Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was the SEC! The AAC is still the best football outside of the P-5 and the schools and conference as a whole are committed to improving the basketball side of things with their coaching hires. Facilities are being improved conference wide. Wasn't UMass booted out of the MAC for only wanting their football there? And you mean to say UConn football will thrive better in C-USA than they will in the AAC? What's the TV payout for C-USA football compared to the AAC? Or the MAC? Geez Louise, just improve on the UConn product, bide your time and stop worrying about everyone else. When UConn football and basketball rein supreme across the land they will have plenty of suitors.
 
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My sense is that this is malarkey. Blausshun has always wanted UConn to return to the Big East and this is yet another chance to push that agenda. There is also a Big East/basketball only base among the alumni and within the UConn athletic establishment who have never wanted football and always dreamed of returning to the Big East. The issue is that UConn has zero in common with most of the CYO outside of Geotgrtown. They are midsize regional universities. We are a major public nation profile. Our athletic budget dwarfs most of theirs. We have vastly different goals as universities and as athletic programs. And football in the Mountain West or the Sunbelt? The MAC has been pretty clear that it is all in of all out.
 
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Key word is ... "fledgling"
This word drew the ire of someone online today. They took the,journal enquirer to task calling it "tiny UConn paper".
 
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That would be an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions. Talk about receding into oblivion. Basketball cannot carry UConn beyond the heavy lifting it is already doing to keep the school nationally relevant during a few weeks in March. Football controls college sports. I can't even believe somebody would be recommending such stupidity.
 
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I agree with the opinions on this. I was alarmed when I saw it in the paper. Hopefully it is just BS.

By the way, does anyone share my opinion that the UCONN President has been given a pass on the negative developments with the conference re-alignment? She gets paid very well, has spent a ton of money, and yet she has failed to get UCONN into a major football conference. I feel that there has been a long-term lack of urgency and energy that other schools (e.g., Louisville) have had.
 
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By the way, does anyone share my opinion that the UCONN President has been given a pass on the negative developments with the conference re-alignment? She gets paid very well, has spent a ton of money, and yet she has failed to get UCONN into a major football conference. I feel that there has been a long-term lack of urgency and energy that other schools (e.g., Louisville) have had.

You may want to spend some time reading this thread and feel free to weigh in. UConn President Says No Plans To Lobby Big 12
 
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My sense is that this is malarkey. Blausshun has always wanted UConn to return to the Big East and this is yet another chance to push that agenda. There is also a Big East/basketball only base among the alumni and within the UConn athletic establishment who have never wanted football and always dreamed of returning to the Big East. The issue is that UConn has zero in common with most of the CYO outside of Geotgrtown. They are midsize regional universities. We are a major public nation profile. Our athletic budget dwarfs most of theirs. We have vastly different goals as universities and as athletic programs. And football in the Mountain West or the Sunbelt? The MAC has been pretty clear that it is all in of all out.
I wonder if this is Uconn finally playing their own game with ESPN. They are basically saying that "we're gone unless you find us a home outside the AAC".
Pretty sure this isn't the ideal situation for Uconn and I wouldn't be surprised if they weighed all their options after the dust settles, meaning they could stay in the AAC if the right schools are added.
 
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I thought Jerry McGuire was a sports agent........$how me the money!!!
 
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SubbaBub

Your stupidity is ruining my country.
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How come we are the only school that has to get creative with it's conference affiliations? Not that it is happening anyway.
 
C

Chief00

Ok I get it - Mike T is compensated well and he is there to be a fall guy if things don't work out for Susan.

But he also has a bias for reconstituting the Big East - which for basketball would be fine. He is well liked so yes it's better to have him at the point and not Susan - but we need to filter his Big East ideas/bias some.
 
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Ok I get it - Mike T is compensated well and he is there to be a fall guy if things don't work out for Susan.

But he also has a bias for reconstituting the Big East - which for basketball would be fine. He is well liked so yes it's better to have him at the point and not Susan - but we need to filter his Big East ideas/bias some.

What business are you in that benefits from your wackiness ... I want to know.

Tranghese is a damn good hire for MY school. He's one guy every one of these Presidents will take a call. Reuniting the Big East is clearly not a priority. That league is fine. But clearly not the BIG EAST. If UConn BB lands there from the AAC, I think that might be ok. For us. I don't think that's nearly our goal on this College footprint. We need to be playing at the highest possible platform.
 
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There is a lot of craziness in the intercollegiate landscape and its difficult to rule anything out on face value, lest it be forgotten that San Diego State was legit prepared to join the Big EASTconference for football only a few short years ago.

That noted, I find the idea of UCONN joining the Big12 for football only to be bare minimum equally crazy as SDSU football only in the Big East.
 
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There is a lot of craziness in the intercollegiate landscape and its difficult to rule anything out on face value, lest it be forgotten that San Diego State was legit prepared to join the Big EASTconference for football only a few short years ago.

That noted, I find the idea of UCONN joining the Big12 for football only to be bare minimum equally crazy as SDSU football only in the Big East.

ONLY makes sense in one way:
The beneficiary is NOT the B12 Conference. Rather the benefit of that move - Olympic Sports (primarily MBB & WBB) - is FOX Sports. If FOX Sports pushes a 2 or 4 expanded B12 model and ends up with a Better Big East conference (including UConn WBB on TV regularly), we all know what just happened.
 
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