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Who wants UConn?
B1G would be the best fit for us as a northern state flagship land grant school. We're not great in football right now, but our coach was a contender for coach of the year last season, and there's no reason we can't eventually be respectable even in a power conference. We've done it before in the old Big East. We'd bring our top basketball teams, a couple of very good hockey programs, and we're also very good in some other sports. Someone's gonna snap us up soon I think, and it'll be a home run for whatever conference is bold enough to make that move.Having more titles than UNC and Kansas combined is pretty damn cool. I wish that B1G Leadership was more open minded to The Huskies.
Big 12 doesn’t have hockey.B1G would be the best fit for us as a northern state flagship land grant school. We're not great in football right now, but our coach was a contender for coach of the year last season, and there's no reason we can't eventually be respectable even in a power conference. We've done it before in the old Big East. We'd bring our top basketball teams, a couple of very good hockey programs, and we're also very good in some other sports. Someone's gonna snap us up soon I think, and it'll be a home run for whatever conference is bold enough to make that move.
But the B1G does.Big 12 doesn’t have hockey.
If UConn joins the XII, hockey stays in Hockey East. If, by some act of God, the invite is extended by the B1G, hockey is absorbed.Big 12 doesn’t have hockey.
Kind of how I feel. Right now this feels like the sweet spot if football can stabilize and remain respectable despite independence. Obviously there's the financial ramification, but I say stand pat and see how things progress over the next 5-10 years. Have a feeling things are going to look a lot different in a decade from now.I would love to be a fly on AD Benedict's wall just to hear the conversations. Who the heck knows what will happen with CR but the UCONN athletic department is having a tremendous year. If opportunities present themselves, tough decisions will need to be made. In the meantime, it's great to be in the Big East, so enjoy!!
National title validates Connecticut's choice to embrace basketball in Big East at football's expense
Connecticut made a decision to forsake football and embrace its basketball roots by joining the Big East. It paid off Monday with a national title.www.usatoday.com
I would love to be a fly on AD Benedict's wall just to hear the conversations. Who the heck knows what will happen with CR but the UCONN athletic department is having a tremendous year. If opportunities present themselves, tough decisions will need to be made. In the meantime, it's great to be in the Big East, so enjoy!!
National title validates Connecticut's choice to embrace basketball in Big East at football's expense
Connecticut made a decision to forsake football and embrace its basketball roots by joining the Big East. It paid off Monday with a national title.www.usatoday.com
The cost was not having access to playoffs.Pretty decent article, but I think Wolken is mistaken on the, "at the expense of Football," premise.
I'm sure it hasn't been, nor will it continue to be, easy, but AD Dave has done an extraordinary job with football and pieced together a revenue model that at least approaches an amount commensurate with the AAC payout, with professional content on linear cable vs. high school A/V club production behind a paywall.
Access to a playoff we were never gonna make out of the AAC is overrated. Being in that confenrece just made the fan base apathetic. Now if football had done its part and won, the stadium was packed, and we decided to go back to the Big East there would be something to bitch about. That just wasn't the reality of what was going on. FB sucked. We were having trouble recruiting in MBB and fans of the 2 major sports were losing interest in showing up.The cost was not having access to playoffs.
"It came at some cost, of course. Connecticut football, which had reached its pinnacle by making the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, was forced to go independent. That’s no easy road. Being in the AAC meant that UConn with the right coach could realistically have access to the College Football Playoff.
"Without a conference, that’s over. UConn football will play a lot of road games to pay the bills and hope to cobble together enough wins against bad teams to make a minor bowl game.
"But if that’s the cost of being in a league that fits the school, it was worth it - even before what happened Monday. Whereas most of college sports has spent the last decade chasing something that makes them richer financially but poorer competitively, UConn said that the most important thing was to be great at basketball. So it went to a league where that was possible."
If the women stay healthy, we'll be watching them cut down the nets a year from now. The basketball capital will have another national TV spotlight moment if all goes right in bringing home title #17 in the last 30 seasons.The single most important event that occurred this week to improve the odds of us one day joining a major conference that includes football was not winning the championship. Obviously that was a huge positive, and is what we play sports for in any event (no one goes into college sports just to generate more revenue, since they all spend at least what they make anyway), but the year over year women's final TV ratings literally doubling probably did more to increase our value.
Just a quick bit of info:If the women stay healthy, we'll be watching them cut down the nets a year from now. The basketball capital will have another national TV spotlight moment if all goes right in bringing home title #17 in the last 30 seasons.
The cost was not having access to playoffs.
"It came at some cost, of course. Connecticut football, which had reached its pinnacle by making the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, was forced to go independent. That’s no easy road. Being in the AAC meant that UConn with the right coach couldrealisticallytheoretically have access to the College Football Playoff.
"Without a conference, that’s over. UConn football will play a lot of road games to pay the bills and hope to cobble together enough wins against bad teams to make a minor bowl game.
"But if that’s the cost of being in a league that fits the school, it was worth it - even before what happened Monday. Whereas most of college sports has spent the last decade chasing something that makes them richer financially but poorer competitively, UConn said that the most important thing was to be great at basketball. So it went to a league where that was possible."
Figured this one out last night:Just a quick bit of info:
In 2004, the men won an even numbered (2nd) title and the school was able to hoist both the men's and women's trophies. In 2014, the men won an even numbered title (4th) and again, both trophies ended up in our trophy case.
Next year is 2024 and men's trophy #6 is on the clock. The stars may be aligning for us to complete the triple double.
I like that UConn moved from the AAC to the Big East, but what sports were dying on the vine due to the AAC? Sure, fans were not excited which was a LT problem financially, but most teams were doing OK. Football should have been better, but UConn botched 2 coaching hires. Think about this. Temple passed UConn in football! Men's basketball was failing due to Ollie's problems. That said, moving to the Big East made the turnaround in men's basketball easier. Women's basketball won 3 NCAA championships and made 3 other Final Fours. Field Hockey remained in the Big East and won 2 NCAA championships. Baseball was doing fine. Men's and women's hockey are in Hockey East. Men's and Women's soccer played in the AAC, but most of their games were out of conference. The men have not won a conference tournament since 2007 (can you believe that?!) and their issues were related to coaching issues. The women won the AAC conference tournament 2x. I don't think the AAC had much impact on the other sports.the majority of UConn Sports (save maybe baseball), were dying on the vine. Some quicker, some more than others, but the atrophy was evident across the athletic department.
Big 12 doesn’t have hockey.