"Plan B" ? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

"Plan B" ?

"If the UConn is jilted by the Big 12, should they leave the AAC, rejoin the Big East?

  • yes

    Votes: 88 44.4%
  • no

    Votes: 110 55.6%

  • Total voters
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Recent success is one thing, but when it comes to football down south pure "name recognition" means a ton. UCF and UConn could have both entered FBS the same year and had identical records over a decade span playing the same exact schedules, but 80% would vote UCF as the better program and add for the Big12. Why? Because of the "Florida" part of the name. No one equates the word "Connecticut" with college football success, hell I'd say most southerners dot want a yankee state to ever be as good as them at the game, yet names like "Houston" and "Memphis", as weak of candidates as they may be, will always be perceived greater at football.
I'm sure there's something to your point, but by that logic USF, ECU, and SMU should be talked about more, and I think they would be if they had the recent success of the others. That's basically the point I'm trying to make.

There would definitely still be people against UConn even if we had recent success for a variety of reasons, but the way the past 4-5 years have gone for the program it's a tougher pill to swallow for B12 fanbases.
 
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Name one conference who will expand after this round with the Big12.
There probably won't be any more expansion unless the B12 implodes in 10 years. Not really sure where you're going with this.
 

SubbaBub

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The only way this happens is if the AAC becomes a FB only conference consisting of the best G5 FB schools. No P5 is taking UCONN as FB only. That would be stupid... (B12 you say?)

In other words, it isn't happening unless the AAC dissolves as the other teams would also need to find homes for their other sports.
 

HuskyHawk

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I'm sure there's something to your point, but by that logic USF, ECU, and SMU should be talked about more, and I think they would be if they had the recent success of the others. That's basically the point I'm trying to make.

There would definitely still be people against UConn even if we had recent success for a variety of reasons, but the way the past 4-5 years have gone for the program it's a tougher pill to swallow for B12 fanbases.

I don't think they believe that people in CT care about college football. They know people in Florida and Texas do. This is a preconceived notion that they have no intention of allowing to be influenced by facts. It's a core belief they hold with a blind, almost religious fervor.
 

MASSconn

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The "American" is the laughing stock of college athletics.

If they do get passed over by the P5 again (which I think they won't), all sports except football to the Big East immediately and move non-supported olympic sports to another northeastern league. Football will stay in AAC because ESPN needs UCONN until that contract ends. There should be no loyalty to this pathetic excuse of a home for the last 3 years.
 
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The "American" is the laughing stock of college athletics.

If they do get passed over by the P5 again (which I think they won't), all sports except football to the Big East immediately and move non-supported olympic sports to another northeastern league. Football will stay in AAC because ESPN needs UCONN until that contract ends. There should be no loyalty to this pathetic excuse of a home for the last 3 years.

Real good insight here.

You realize The American has two New Years 6 bowl wins in the last 3 years and is home to the 2014 NCAA Champions in Bball right? It's unquestionably the best G5 conference today. Now, 1-3 months from now what's left of it may not be salvageable, but if the Big 12 doesn't expand this is far and away the best option for UConn in until a P5 opportunity presents itself.
 

Drew

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The "American" is the laughing stock of college athletics.

If they do get passed over by the P5 again (which I think they won't), all sports except football to the Big East immediately and move non-supported olympic sports to another northeastern league. Football will stay in AAC because ESPN needs UCONN until that contract ends. There should be no loyalty to this pathetic excuse of a home for the last 3 years.

I don't want to be here just as much as the next guy but this is simply not true
 

Dooley

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I don't think they believe that people in CT care about college football. They know people in Florida and Texas do. This is a preconceived notion that they have no intention of allowing to be influenced by facts. It's a core belief they hold with a blind, almost religious fervor.

I agree with this. Northeast fans already face an uphill battle because, like it or not, national perception is that nobody in the northeast cares about college football. So when UConn posts attendance numbers of 28K per game, it's a tough sell for the school and our fans to get over that perception. The fans in the south love their college football and in places like Houston, Orlando, Tampa and Memphis (and Cincinnati in the north), they watch every Saturday. Those schools' fanbases get a built-in positive perception because their markets love college football...even if they aren't watching UH/UCF/USF/Memphis/Cincinnati at all in those same CFB heavy markets.

It comes down to a product vs brand argument. The southern schools can lay claim that their home markets love the college football product, even if they don't love their school's college football brand. For UConn, we lay claim that we absolutely control our home market unlike the rest of the competition. However, we aren't exactly showing a love for college football by bringing 28K fans to games and having less than 5K athletic donors.

So, what's easier to grow: product or brand? I think it's product. Look at all the new products that hit the market and grow every year. In relation to UConn, look at how quickly sports like hockey took off once it went in Hockey East. Yes, hockey market already exists here but there weren't 5-6K fans going to UConn hockey games before the move to HE. And there sure aren't 5-6K fans going to Wolfpack games a night. A better example: look at WBB. Prior to UConn/Tennessee, WBB interest was pretty low here and across the country. A few winning seasons later and Gampel and XL sold out both men's and women's games. Now, WBB is an animal in of itself. Soccer: same thing, UConn is a top national draw at its home games. And why is this? The brand loyalty is built in and already there. It just needs to be mobilized, unified, and energized into action. Fans in the northeast love football - the Patriots and Giants wage annual debates on this site and all over CT. Given the opportunity to support big-time college football (again) will energize the fans.
 

geordi

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Man, I want some of that wonderful weed some of you guys are smoking. If you don't think people won't come to a football game against Houston, Navy, East Carolina or USF, how many do you think will show up for Bowling Green, Middle Tennessee, or Eastern Kentucky??? We just put a few hundred million dollars into state of the art on campus football facilities and an expandable stadium and you want to flush all of that?? We might just as well have kept 18,000 seat Memorial Stadium (which we never filled) on campus and kept Pasqualoni as head coach.

The Big 12 is not the last conference expansion. The ACC and/or the B16 will likely expand again at some point. Many of you have said that, if Notre Dame joins the ACC, we are the likely partner. If you move everything out of what is now considered by many as the sixth best conference, do you think for a minute we'll even get a sniff? Temple, Navy, USF, or UCF are all more likely partners in that scenario.

Patience, folks, patience.
 
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Man, I want some of that wonderful weed some of you guys are smoking. If you don't think people won't come to a football game against Houston, Navy, East Carolina or USF, how many do you think will show up for Bowling Green, Middle Tennessee, or Eastern Kentucky??? We just put a few hundred million dollars into state of the art on campus football facilities and an expandable stadium and you want to flush all of that?? We might just as well have kept 18,000 seat Memorial Stadium (which we never filled) on campus and kept Pasqualoni as head coach.

The Big 12 is not the last conference expansion. The ACC and/or the B16 will likely expand again at some point. Many of you have said that, if Notre Dame joins the ACC, we are the likely partner. If you move everything out of what is now considered by many as the sixth best conference, do you think for a minute we'll even get a sniff? Temple, Navy, USF, or UCF are all more likely partners in that scenario.

Patience, folks, patience.

If the same amount of people will show for East Carolina as will show up for Toledo, then why wouldn't we choose Toledo if it offers us the best chance at a NY6 bowl game?

It's about putting our football team in the best position to succeed. When this is all said and done, hopefully it's the Big 12. But if it's not, we should entertain the possibility that it's not The American either.
 

HuskyHawk

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If the same amount of people will show for East Carolina as will show up for Toledo, then why wouldn't we choose Toledo if it offers us the best chance at a NY6 bowl game?

It's about putting our football team in the best position to succeed. When this is all said and done, hopefully it's the Big 12. But if it's not, we should entertain the possibility that it's not The American either.

Exactly. Do people think Dave Benedict and Susan Herbst are just imbeciles? There is no way in hell that they "flush" football. If they move it, it will be because that is the only way to save it. Whether people here scream and wail or not won't matter.

This is a high stakes poker game folks. None of us knows what cards we hold. We don't know what UConn has heard from the Big 12, or the ACC or Big Ten. If the people who do know decide to do this, or at least to leak that it's on the table, then there's a very good reason for it.
 
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I agree with this. Northeast fans already face an uphill battle because, like it or not, national perception is that nobody in the northeast cares about college football. So when UConn posts attendance numbers of 28K per game, it's a tough sell for the school and our fans to get over that perception. The fans in the south love their college football and in places like Houston, Orlando, Tampa and Memphis (and Cincinnati in the north), they watch every Saturday. Those schools' fanbases get a built-in positive perception because their markets love college football...even if they aren't watching UH/UCF/USF/Memphis/Cincinnati at all in those same CFB heavy markets.

It comes down to a product vs brand argument. The southern schools can lay claim that their home markets love the college football product, even if they don't love their school's college football brand. For UConn, we lay claim that we absolutely control our home market unlike the rest of the competition. However, we aren't exactly showing a love for college football by bringing 28K fans to games and having less than 5K athletic donors.

So, what's easier to grow: product or brand? I think it's product. Look at all the new products that hit the market and grow every year. In relation to UConn, look at how quickly sports like hockey took off once it went in Hockey East. Yes, hockey market already exists here but there weren't 5-6K fans going to UConn hockey games before the move to HE. And there sure aren't 5-6K fans going to Wolfpack games a night. A better example: look at WBB. Prior to UConn/Tennessee, WBB interest was pretty low here and across the country. A few winning seasons later and Gampel and XL sold out both men's and women's games. Now, WBB is an animal in of itself. Soccer: same thing, UConn is a top national draw at its home games. And why is this? The brand loyalty is built in and already there. It just needs to be mobilized, unified, and energized into action. Fans in the northeast love football - the Patriots and Giants wage annual debates on this site and all over CT. Given the opportunity to support big-time college football (again) will energize the fans.
I've been around college football since the days of leather helmets
It's not that the Northeast is not into college football it's more a fact the Northeast was abandoned by Big Time college football .
It was popular to drop football in the fifities because of costs ,small privates like Fordham ,the Ivies and finally Army de emphasized football. They had been the dominant players since the beginning.
As late as the late 60's Army was still playing and beating teams like Cal.
(I was at that game.)
Schools like Rutgers and UConn the logical heirs to NE football were slow to grasp the situation created by that vacuum. Only Penn State emerged.
In retrospect there is no reason UConn couldn't have become as a national player
With the addition of a couple of large eastern schools a viable conference was a possibility. The segregated SEC was fading in importance. An integrated NE football league might have been created.
Blue collar Connecticut was producing players like , Floyd Little, Nick Pieatrosante, Bob Skoronsky,and many more.
Instead Football was gift wrapped and handed to what had previosly been a niche group called the NFL.
 

MASSconn

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Real good insight here.

You realize The American has two New Years 6 bowl wins in the last 3 years and is home to the 2014 NCAA Champions in Bball right? It's unquestionably the best G5 conference today. Now, 1-3 months from now what's left of it may not be salvageable, but if the Big 12 doesn't expand this is far and away the best option for UConn in until a P5 opportunity presents itself.

nobody cares about two NY 6 bowl wins in the playoff era, and I guarantee you that 80% of the country thought we were still part of the Big East during the 2014 Championship (I was in Dallas and can attest). I'm talking about the "American Athletic Conference" Brand. It carries dog $#it (look at NCAA selection committee).

This is why if UConn loses again on B12 expansion (that's what this thread is about right - Plan B), Susan needs to move all non-football sports to the Big East.
 
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Total Solvency without P5 is impossible with or without football
UConn sponsors many teams especially women's that create zero revenue.
No G5 program can carry the entire budget and it's unfair to expect that.
Even in the G5 there is a good possibility of football becoming a positive in revenue. If we're willing to absorb a $$20 million lose on women's sports why wouldn't we continue in a sport that's revenue neutral .
A successful UConn football team adds many more dollars in donations than appear on the budget.
I suspect this year will see football close the PP years deficits
Temple increased addendence last year by 20% in the AAC.
If UConn duplicated that ,revenue would increase by millions.
Attractive OC scheduling and success in conference could get us there.
 
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I agree with this. Northeast fans already face an uphill battle because, like it or not, national perception is that nobody in the northeast cares about college football. So when UConn posts attendance numbers of 28K per game, it's a tough sell for the school and our fans to get over that perception. The fans in the south love their college football and in places like Houston, Orlando, Tampa and Memphis (and Cincinnati in the north), they watch every Saturday. Those schools' fanbases get a built-in positive perception because their markets love college football...even if they aren't watching UH/UCF/USF/Memphis/Cincinnati at all in those same CFB heavy markets.

It comes down to a product vs brand argument. The southern schools can lay claim that their home markets love the college football product, even if they don't love their school's college football brand. For UConn, we lay claim that we absolutely control our home market unlike the rest of the competition. However, we aren't exactly showing a love for college football by bringing 28K fans to games and having less than 5K athletic donors.

So, what's easier to grow: product or brand? I think it's product. Look at all the new products that hit the market and grow every year. In relation to UConn, look at how quickly sports like hockey took off once it went in Hockey East. Yes, hockey market already exists here but there weren't 5-6K fans going to UConn hockey games before the move to HE. And there sure aren't 5-6K fans going to Wolfpack games a night. A better example: look at WBB. Prior to UConn/Tennessee, WBB interest was pretty low here and across the country. A few winning seasons later and Gampel and XL sold out both men's and women's games. Now, WBB is an animal in of itself. Soccer: same thing, UConn is a top national draw at its home games. And why is this? The brand loyalty is built in and already there. It just needs to be mobilized, unified, and energized into action. Fans in the northeast love football - the Patriots and Giants wage annual debates on this site and all over CT. Given the opportunity to support big-time college football (again) will energize the fans.
I don't think you can compare our football potential with the basketball team only because they were rising in what was a premier league. Really we can't ever see if our football can prosper to the fullest until we are in a top flight conference. The New England/northeast area has pro teams that compete at an extremely high level and despite the Big East being light years better than the AAC it still was perceived as a mid level football league. US diehards will show up no matter what but how can you expect non alumni and the younger generation to latch on to a product playing in a league perceived as minor league when the pro options take up so many of their time/money?
Basically we have hit our ceiling until a P5 throws us a bone. But i think we all know that.
 
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nobody cares about two NY 6 bowl wins in the playoff era, and I guarantee you that 80% of the country thought we were still part of the Big East during the 2014 Championship (I was in Dallas and can attest). I'm talking about the "American Athletic Conference" Brand. It carries dog $#it (look at NCAA selection committee).

This is why if UConn loses again on B12 expansion (that's what this thread is about right - Plan B), Susan needs to move all non-football sports to the Big East.

What are you even talking about? The NY 6 bowl lineup only came into existence in the playoff era.
 
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Total Solvency without P5 is impossible with or without football
UConn sponsors many teams especially women's that create zero revenue.
No G5 program can carry the entire budget and it's unfair to expect that.
Even in the G5 there is a good possibility of football becoming a positive in revenue. If we're willing to absorb a $$20 million lose on women's sports why wouldn't we continue in a sport that's revenue neutral .
A successful UConn football team adds many more dollars in donations than appear on the budget.
I suspect this year will see football close the PP years deficits
Temple increased addendence last year by 20% in the AAC.
If UConn duplicated that ,revenue would increase by millions.
Attractive OC scheduling and success in conference could get us there.
I like the format. It's easier to read than a paragraph that runs on and becomes a TLDR.
 
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Staying in a weakened AAC will adversely impact the basketball program, so I say get the hell out ASAP.
 
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Man, I want some of that wonderful weed some of you guys are smoking. If you don't think people won't come to a football game against Houston, Navy, East Carolina or USF, how many do you think will show up for Bowling Green, Middle Tennessee, or Eastern Kentucky??? We just put a few hundred million dollars into state of the art on campus football facilities and an expandable stadium and you want to flush all of that?? We might just as well have kept 18,000 seat Memorial Stadium (which we never filled) on campus and kept Pasqualoni as head coach.

The Big 12 is not the last conference expansion. The ACC and/or the B16 will likely expand again at some point. Many of you have said that, if Notre Dame joins the ACC, we are the likely partner. If you move everything out of what is now considered by many as the sixth best conference, do you think for a minute we'll even get a sniff? Temple, Navy, USF, or UCF are all more likely partners in that scenario.

Patience, folks, patience.
As had been stated here more times than anyone could count. The ACC has no need to expand, at least until 2036. It is highly improbable that ND will join the ACC in anyone's lifetime. The B1G has no need to expand. With GOR's in place, it is unlikely that any expansion of the B1G will occur before 2026, as even if UConn were a consideration, they need a partner to join them and there is not much out there for the B1G to choose from any longer. That is a long time to be patient. By then, UConn will have indeed withered and died. The Big 12 is the one and only hope for UConn at this point in time.
 

MASSconn

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What are you even talking about? The NY 6 bowl lineup only came into existence in the playoff era.

Ya, it did. And the games are irrelevant, because now the only thing that matters to anyone is the playoff. We're talking about the general public and not some diehard boneyard members. Yes, people turn into the other games, but their importance has been greatly minimized.

Remember, we're talking big picture here, Plan B. I feel strongly that the American is a bad brand and that if we get passed up once again, all non-football sports are better off in the Big East.
 
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Ya, it did. And the games are irrelevant, because now the only thing that matters to anyone is the playoff. We're talking about the general public and not some diehard boneyard members. Yes, people turn into the other games, but their importance has been greatly minimized.

Remember, we're talking big picture here, Plan B. I feel strongly that the American is a bad brand and that if we get passed up once again, all non-football sports are better off in the Big East.

The games are irrelevant? Tell that to the schools, advertisers, networks and cities that see benefits from the tens of millions of dollars that they generate annually.
 
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