Manuel feels UConn in middle ground financially with power conferences (K. Duffy)

[zls44]

But one thing does convince me they are ramping up for the B1g: Hockey. I can't understand why they are investing all this money ina sport now that they are in revenue hell. Mind-boggling. Unless....

Hockey East. They think they have a chance to create another revenue sport. They need all the revenue sports they can get.

There's certainly enough logic to dictate why they think that. Especially compared to FBS football.

 

[noeynox]

I was an arm's-length away from WH today. Was really tough not to yell at him.

About what exactly?

 

[zls44]

About what exactly?

Upstater, you wanna take this one?

 

[upstater]

Upstater, you wanna take this one?

My big problem with Manuel was that he forced Ollie to lose out in the Brandon Austin recruitment.

Now I have nothing bad to say about the guy.

 

[ZooCougar]

If the AAC is really holding us back, then our best bet may be to declare independent... Sell our media rights on our own and play by their rules, we just need to find a place to bed down our Olympic Sports that can afford t play by P5 rules that has the desire to.. (Big East?)

If we can make the financials work that this might be the only COA other than getting sucked int the AAC vortex.

Not saying this is the only play, but it would be preferable to going down without a fight.

 

[SAMCRO]

Samcro, hope your right, though most of what you wrote is part of running a major university, it is somewhat enckuraging

You are correct, it should be what good University Presidents and AD's are doing as part of their job. The problem is/was, as FrfldCtyFan pointed out, the prior administration at UConn was not doing this to the level it needed to be done, at least not the AD. Hathaway was more interested in saving a buck for the University than he was in making a buck for the University (which involves spending a buck - see the not backfilling Pendergast (sp?) role as fund raiser years ago as one piece of evidence). JH alienated every top coach at UConn (JC, GA, RE). It is no coincidence that once he departed that we started getting some cheddar donated to get a hoops facility built, that we started getting support for a move to HE, that UConn former athletes now in the NBA and NFL, and others who are not playing professionally but did graduate and are contributors to the Univ. receive personal phone calls from WM in an effort to continue to strengthen their connection to the University, that stuff never happened with JH.

It is definitely a new day at UConn, we just have to hope that we did not miss the window. I believe we will land okay, it may just take a few more years than anyone really wants it to.

 

[ZooCougar]

The other play is to find 8-10 non P5 schools between the AAC and MWC and make a conference that can afford to play by P5 rules... There are too many schools between the two conferences who can't afford it.

 

[noeynox]

The other play is to find 8-10 non P5 schools between the AAC and MWC and make a conference that can afford to play by P5 rules... There are too many schools between the two conferences who can't afford it.

And let these schools sell their individual TV rights.

 

[ZooCougar]

Warde scares me in that article. It's like he 's not going to worry until unfavorable terms are forced on him. By then it's too late to act. He's just far too passive to have any kind of real confidence.

 

[noeynox]

Warde scares me in that article. It's like he 's not going to worry until unfavorable terms are forced on him. By then it's too late to act. He's just far too passive to have any kind of real confidence.

Somewhat agree. I no longer blame him for Louisville taking the ACC spot over us, but I don't like that he tries to sell us (the fans) like we are in some great conference that we should be proud of. I did not see UCF/George O'leary say peep about how great the conference was when they were accepting their Orange Bowl trophy. They didn't say a damn peep about The American with Mike Aresco standing right there on stage. That to me was very telling. No one associated with UConn should even utter the conference name when discussing UConn's future. Be conference neutral when talking about our future, please.

 

[ZooCougar]

Somewhat agree. I no longer blame him for Louisville taking the ACC spot over us, but I don't like that he tries to sell us (the fans) like we are in some great conference that we should be proud of. I did not see UCF/George O'leary say peep about how great the conference was when they were accepting their Orange Bowl trophy. They didn't say a damn peep about The American with Mike Aresco standing right there on stage. That to me was very telling. No one associated with UConn should even utter the conference name when discussing UConn's future. Be conference neutral when talking about our future, please.

The AAC exists to fill our schedule and provide crappy bowl tie ins. Not much else.

 

[noeynox]

The AAC exists to fill our schedule and provide crappy bowl tie ins. Not much else.

That's how I feel as well, though that game at Memphis the other night was a fun game to watch.

 

[zls44]

My big problem with Manuel was that he forced Ollie to lose out in the Brandon Austin recruitment.

Now I have nothing bad to say about the guy.

I meant Walter Harrison.

 

[ZooCougar]

That's how I feel as well, though that game at Memphis the other night was a fun game to watch.

Might be the only new member that has a home venue worth playing at.

 

[huskymedic]

The AAC exists to fill our schedule and provide crappy bowl tie ins. Not much else.

They also exist to pay us our percentage of exit fee money/NCAA Tourney credits

 

[ZooCougar]

UConn
UCF
Cincy
NIU
USF
Boise
SDSU
BYU
CSU


Would love to see the revenue figures of those schools. That conference wouldn't be too shabby in theory.

 

[noeynox]

UConn
UCF
Cincy
NIU
USF
Boise
SDSU
BYU
CSU


Would love to see the revenue figures of those schools. That conference wouldn't be too shabby in theory.

I'd swap out NIU with either Temple or Navy or even Ohio, if you could get a traditional MAC school. In the west maybe add Wyoming. They paid decent coin to get the North Dakota State coach.

 

[ZooCougar]

They also exist to pay us our percentage of exit fee money/NCAA Tourney credits

That will run out.

 

[Hoophound]

UConn UCF Cincy NIU USF Boise SDSU BYU CSU Would love to see the revenue figures of those schools. That conference wouldn't be too shabby in theory.

I'd be curious who would be in a real best of the rest conference. Borderline schools would be Temple, Fresno, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado St, Tulsa, N. Illinois, East Carolina, SMU and Houston.

Shoe-ins would be UConn, Cincy, BYU, Boise, UCF, USF, Navy and SDSU.

I'd go with:

UConn
Cincy
Temple
UCF
USF
Navy

Boise
Houston
UNLV (as I understand it, UNLV has more potential than Nevada, I'm indifferent)
Fresno
Colorado St
SDSU

 

[tzznandrew]

When we had SDSU and Boise, I thought it made sense to add other flagship schools out west.

East

UConn
Temple
Cincy
USF
UCF
Navy
Memphis

Boise
Houston
SMU
New Mexico
Nevada
UNLV
SDSU

That conference is not terrible in basketball east or west (UConn-Cincy-Temple-Memphis vs. New Mexico-UNLV-SDSU), and can play some football.

Would have been a good call, given our scenario...but oh well, we have what we have.

 

[HuskyHawk]

When we had SDSU and Boise, I thought it made sense to add other flagship schools out west.

East

UConn
Temple
Cincy
USF
UCF
Navy
Memphis

Boise
Houston
SMU
New Mexico
Nevada
UNLV
SDSU

That conference is not terrible in basketball east or west (UConn-Cincy-Temple-Memphis vs. New Mexico-UNLV-SDSU), and can play some football.

Would have been a good call, given our scenario...but oh well, we have what we have.

What is the fascination with Navy? East Carolina would be better from a football perspective, and Navy basketball is awful. And no, it doesn't bring in any TV money except for one game a year.

Depending on what the P5 does, and what the NCAA allows, it is possible that there is a furtehr restructuring. If half the AAC and half the MWC want to accept the full cost of attendance for scholarships, and the other half does not, it isn't out of the question. 14 is too many though. It would more likely be 12.

 

[Hoophound]

What is the fascination with Navy? East Carolina would be better from a football perspective, and Navy basketball is awful. And no, it doesn't bring in any TV money except for one game a year. Depending on what the P5 does, and what the NCAA allows, it is possible that there is a furtehr restructuring. If half the AAC and half the MWC want to accept the full cost of attendance for scholarships, and the other half does not, it isn't out of the question. 14 is too many though. It would more likely be 12.

The fascination with Navy is viewership and as a result more money. Navy has far greater national appeal than ECU.

 

[tzznandrew]

What is the fascination with Navy? East Carolina would be better from a football perspective, and Navy basketball is awful. And no, it doesn't bring in any TV money except for one game a year.

Depending on what the P5 does, and what the NCAA allows, it is possible that there is a furtehr restructuring. If half the AAC and half the MWC want to accept the full cost of attendance for scholarships, and the other half does not, it isn't out of the question. 14 is too many though. It would more likely be 12.

Eh. I don't care about Navy or East Carolina. I was just looking at the group above and brought Navy over since, for UConn at least, it adds a drivable (ish) game. But sure, replace Navy with ECU for all I care about. Or add them both and go to 16.

In this scenario, I'm perfectly fine with 14 to 16. Get some flagship publics out west like Wyoming (you could even sell me on Colorado State), or a school like Air Force. Then, you compartmentalize the divisions to minimize travel. 7 or 8 is fine per division because it leaves you with 12-14 Home and Home games, and then you have UConn/Memphis/Cincy play schools like UNLV/New Mexico/SDSU on a yearly basis to keep their RPI up and to make it more appealing for TV.

Cincy
UConn
ECU
Navy
Memphis
Temple
UCF
USF

Boise
Colorado State
Houston
New Mexico
Nevada
SDSU
SMU
UNLV

Each team in division plays each other twice, and 2 H/2 A games against teams from other division for 18 league games. You can't tell me that, minus Louisville next year, guaranteeing two games against Memphis, Temple, and Cincy, in addition to a game a year against perennial good teams UNLV, SDSU, and New Mexico (plus a team like Boise/Colorado State/SMU who are periodically good) wouldn't be preferable to what we have.

 

[Dooley]

I'm going to guess that more than half of the AAC is not on the same page as UCONN (full cost of attendance, paying stipends, etc). In fact, the only non-P5 schools that I would think, although I have no idea, are on the same page (or at least part of the page) are BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and possibly USF. I don't think Boise is willing to go all-in for all sports although I do think they would just for football. Ditto for SDSU, Fresno St, and maybe Houston. I have no read whatsoever on Colorado State but if they decided they wanted to play, they have the enrollment and alumni base to warrant it. BYU is interesting because I do not honestly know if there is a potential religious impact/barrier but judging simply from national brand recognition and revenue alone, they are a no-brainer in terms of ability to create the revenue to support such a move.

At the end of the day, I think UCONN will be fine. UCONN has the resources, the brand, the revenue stream, and backing of the State legislature. UCONN operated just fine in the old Big East and has even added to its athletic budget with the addition of hockey despite being stuck in the AAC. If a split were to occur, I would guess UCONN would be added. It wants to play by the same rules as the other "big" schools that can generate the kind of revenue that UCONN can.

 

[ZooCougar]

Ugh

I'd be curious who would be in a real best of the rest conference. Borderline schools would be Temple, Fresno, UNLV, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado St, Tulsa, N. Illinois, East Carolina, SMU and Houston.

Shoe-ins would be UConn, Cincy, BYU, Boise, UCF, USF, Navy and SDSU.

I'd go with:

UConn
Cincy
Temple
UCF
USF
Navy

Boise
Houston
UNLV (as I understand it, UNLV has more potential than Nevada, I'm indifferent)
Fresno
Colorado St
SDSU

Nevada doesn't have the revenue. They have had a strong team in the past, but we need programs with strong performance and revenue. In this case revenue and the ability to play by P5 standards trumps performance.

We definitely need another stronger western school with cash to balance the construct out. Maybe that's Memphis or Houston. Memphis has decent revenue.

I like ECU over Temple. Temple has money issues. ECU is like another Cincy, they will be another thorn in our sides and will become one of our few appealing football opponents in conference along with Cincy, UCF, Houston and a couple of others.

The problem I have with the AAC is that it just another lame attempt to regenerate Big East football. In doing that we lowered standards and we have Tulsa and Tulane.

I think we need a new idea, a national conference with an East and West with the very best from the MWC and AAC. That will be a tough conference that will have TV appeal across many Time Zones. It would be hard to not improve on the current deal.