Those of you want big time football at UCONN - help me understand why

[CTrefugee]

I have been to many DIV III games between top teams in that division. I find them just as exciting as any other game.
Many of the best Div III schools are also ranked among the top academic colleges.
That's just me. Help me understand why you want UCONN to keep pursuing the big time.

Thanks,

 

[BlueandOG]

It is a lot of fun. I have so many great memories of the good years.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Because competing at top level and winning put the school on the map to attract students across the country.

Also, it's the best way to keep old alums engaged with the school. If we are playing in D3, no one will care.

 

[Bobol]

the early line has UConn +27.5 against Purdue

College Football Week 2 Odds 2021: Major Big Ten Vs. Pac-12 Matchups

Lines for college football Week 2 with live odds on Ohio State versus Oregon, Washington versus Michigan, and more NCAA games.

www.thelines.com

 

[PackTheRent]

If it was on campus in Storrs overlooking the hill, I think people could handle a lower level of football. Always nice to be on campus, take the kids to the Creamery etc. But if you spending the day on a former airstrip out in East Hartford you'd like to see a big-time atmosphere, and it was like that as recently as 6-8 years ago. We got left in the cold in conference realignment and it looks like we will be a pretender in FBS football for years. Very sad.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The fanbase could barely stomach the AAC, yet you want people to accept the Colonial Athletic Conference?

I, for one, will forever stop following the program if they drop to FCS.

We've seen Temple and Buffalo have levels of success in recent years, there's no way a decent hire couldn't do something similar here.

 

[BigFanCT]

Because competing at top level and winning put the school on the map to attract students across the country.

Also, it's the best way to keep old alums engaged with the school. If we are playing in D3, no one will care.

We have basketball for that, though.

 

[CTrefugee]

Because competing at top level and winning put the school on the map to attract students across the country.

Also, it's the best way to keep old alums engaged with the school. If we are playing in D3, no one will care.

Go to a top Div III games if you want to see rabid alums. Also checkout the DIV III forums.
Also the alumni giving at UCONN is abysmal compared to many small schools, so it isn't the division level of football that brings in donations. The list below shows top 25 small college endowments in thousands of dollars. I added UCONN's at the bottom.

School	Endowment
Williams	$1,784,305
Pomona	$1,700,454
Amherst	$1,641,511
Swarthmore	$1,508,483
Grinnell	$1,500,219
Wellesley	$1,499,872
Smith	$1,429,527
Washington & Lee	$1,218,132
Middlebury	$907,668
Bowdoin	$904,215
Vassar	$814,130
Oberlin	$699,895
Colgate	$693,436
Bryn Mawr	$671,103
Hamilton	$657,529
Macalester	$654,465
Carleton	$653,465
Colby	$611,441
Wesleyan	$589,811
Claremont McKenna	$543,236
Davidson	$509,583
UCONN	$460,000

 

[ClifSpliffy]

why i want the program to continue pursuing the big time?
cuz it's big time funner. and the foods better at the big time stadia. and, on my big time tv, i get to watch the games. normally, i'd be all over trashing ur kind of talk right aboot here, but i can't cuz u've got ol calvin and my boy hobbes for ur avatar, which is pretty cool, so i won't.
hi there.

'and my heaven will be a big heaven, and i will walk thru the front door.
big time.'

 

[kemba]

Go to a top Div III games if you want to see rabid alums. Also checkout the DIV III forums.

Just because people embrace a lower level of football at those schools doesn't mean they would at UConn. There are many obvious differences.

 

[Kolumbo]

Top 25 Public University and State Flagship. FBS is where UCONN belongs.

 

[Block C]

I know one day UConn will turn the page. I know one day we will be looking back at the disaster and just laugh. UConn belongs in FBS and I believe we can be competitive once this settles.

 

[John Greene]

Go to a top Div III games if you want to see rabid alums. Also checkout the DIV III forums.
Also the alumni giving at UCONN is abysmal compared to many small schools, so it isn't the division level of football that brings in donations. The list below shows top 25 small college endowments in thousands of dollars. I added UCONN's at the bottom.

School	Endowment
Williams	$1,784,305
Pomona	$1,700,454
Amherst	$1,641,511
Swarthmore	$1,508,483
Grinnell	$1,500,219
Wellesley	$1,499,872
Smith	$1,429,527
Washington & Lee	$1,218,132
Middlebury	$907,668
Bowdoin	$904,215
Vassar	$814,130
Oberlin	$699,895
Colgate	$693,436
Bryn Mawr	$671,103
Hamilton	$657,529
Macalester	$654,465
Carleton	$653,465
Colby	$611,441
Wesleyan	$589,811
Claremont McKenna	$543,236
Davidson	$509,583
UCONN	$460,000

If you really want to be grossed out, show the number of living alumni from each school as well. The incompetence of UConn's fund raising over the years is staggering.
.

 

[coachcap]

Listen, I'm an alum & I care about the public perception of UConn. (self admission, I've always been a big time college football fan).
As far as perception, UConn has a reputation for being successful in any sport it sponsors. In my lifetime I've seen NCAA championships in Men's & Women's soccer, Men's & women's hoops, women's field hockey. The baseball team has qualified for the College World Series postseason numerous times. Men's & Women's hockey are competitive.
Our Football team was elevated to 1-A status (now FBS) to follow this plan & be successful. Consecutive sellouts of the RENT were common as recently as the last decade.
A return to lower division football would put a stain on the University''s reputation. It implies that UConn doesn't care about being in the upper echelon both academically & athletically.
When UConn Football was successful a decade ago, only the football haters (& there were many) were bringing up this type of subject.
Take a lesson from the recent news at University of Hartford & its decision to drop down to D-III for all sports. In yesterday's Hartford Courant U of H announced that its usually successful lacrosse team will forfeit the 2022 season because too many of its players have transferred & it can't field a team. This is a blot on U of H's reputation. Dropping down a division in Football would be a similar situation for UConn.
UConn has proven in the past that the State wants & will support a competitive & successful FBS football program. (If you build it, they will come effect). What happened after HCRE 1.0 was Cause & effect: the program ceased to be a success & attendance waned. This State supports winners.

 

[aburks41]

If you really want to be grossed out, show the number of living alumni from each school as well. The incompetence of UConn's fund raising over the years is staggering.
.

It's bad, but those small elite private schools also produce a significant amount of very wealthy alumni. They probably have way more multi-millionaires than UConn despite having 90% less alumni.

 

[Brunoblue]

Hey coach cap, Just to keep the record straight regarding Hartford lacrosse, they have been anything but successful for the last decade. Perennial bottom dwellers in a mid level lacrosse league dominated by U Albany.
Afghanistan was a 20 year debacle and we’re finally rid of that nightmare. How many years and how much money do we pour down the drain with this football pipe dream. Five years from now the SEC and Big 10 will be all that’s left of “big time football” anyway.
Concentrate on basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey and bring back men’s lacrosse. All sports we can be successful at and take pride in. Football devours the money it brings in everywhere but at the top 20 schools. End the charade,

 

[Bonamassa]

Dropping to a lower level would do nothing. The program would continue to suck. It is the Administration that must change. It has never shown the desire for excellence. When Randy left they should have doubled down on a head coach, coordinators and assistant coaches not a "safe hire". UConn is demonstrating that they do not have faculties to operate a D1 football program.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

the early line has UConn +27.5 against Purdue

College Football Week 2 Odds 2021: Major Big Ten Vs. Pac-12 Matchups

Lines for college football Week 2 with live odds on Ohio State versus Oregon, Washington versus Michigan, and more NCAA games.

www.thelines.com

Sample scores that would have UConn just barley beating the spread vs Purdue:
27-0
30-3
40-13
Etc
Etc


I don’t see how they possibly do

 

[BigFanCT]

I know one day UConn will turn the page. I know one day we will be looking back at the disaster and just laugh. UConn belongs in FBS and I believe we can be competitive once this settles.

Sometimes I daydream too

 

[Bongo Fury]

Lower level football cost money too.

 

[polycom]

It's bad, but those small elite private schools also produce a significant amount of very wealthy alumni. They probably have way more multi-millionaires than UConn despite having 90% less alumni.

Idk what the math is but I doubt this. UConn just does an awful fundraising and creating an alumni culture.

If you go to a big time football football school there is a reason why the alumni cares so much the school basically brain washes them.

 

[HC1987]

FCS is actually a very expensive level to play at in that the costs to have a program at that level (scholarships, salaries, facilities etc etc) approximate that of the FBS-level but with nowhere near the $$$ (TV, Bowls, attendance) schools at the FBS can bring in.

A big problem for UConn (and BC is starting to see this too) is that FBS-level football just isn't in the Norteast football-fan DNA in general. The success of the Pats over the past 20 years has sucked a lot of the football oxygen out of "casual fans" in New England who might go to an FBS game at BC or UConn in the past.

UConn football may have some success moving forward but E. Hartford is never going to be a destination-spot like State College, PA, Ann Arbor etc etc

 

[superjohn]

Go to a top Div III games if you want to see rabid alums. Also checkout the DIV III forums.
Also the alumni giving at UCONN is abysmal compared to many small schools, so it isn't the division level of football that brings in donations. The list below shows top 25 small college endowments in thousands of dollars. I added UCONN's at the bottom.

School	Endowment
Williams	$1,784,305
Pomona	$1,700,454
Amherst	$1,641,511
Swarthmore	$1,508,483
Grinnell	$1,500,219
Wellesley	$1,499,872
Smith	$1,429,527
Washington & Lee	$1,218,132
Middlebury	$907,668
Bowdoin	$904,215
Vassar	$814,130
Oberlin	$699,895
Colgate	$693,436
Bryn Mawr	$671,103
Hamilton	$657,529
Macalester	$654,465
Carleton	$653,465
Colby	$611,441
Wesleyan	$589,811
Claremont McKenna	$543,236
Davidson	$509,583
UCONN	$460,000

UConn endowment is sad but you're comparing small wealthy liberal arts colleges to a large public state run University who has received billions from the state.

 

[aburks41]

Idk what the math is but I doubt this. UConn just does an awful fundraising and creating an alumni culture.

If you go to a big time football football school there is a reason why the alumni cares so much the school basically brain washes them.

UConn's problem is that we have ~20 years of success in basketball and football (well, maybe not football...). These SEC, ACC, and Big 10 schools have 50-100 years. Thats multiple generations of legacy alumni. They also have decades of heated rivalries, basically like UConn v Syracuse in basketball but turned up 10x to the max. Our biggest "rival" left the trophy on the sidelines after destroying us lmao

If UConn can sustain any sort of success and build themselves into a BYU indy, the money will be pouring in in 10-20 years.

 

[BapeKidd88]

If UConn can sustain any sort of success and build themselves into a BYU indy, the money will be pouring in in 10-20 years.

BYU has an international following with the Mormon religion.

BYU also built their success as a WAC institution, and later the MWC. Their indy experiement represented a very minute (mostly unsuccessful) window in their history.

Now they are P5. The goal for them was always to get into a P5 conference.

This week BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, and Houston get their golden tickets.