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

[Bongo Fury]

Yeah, this is exactly what the pessimist in me sees ahead!

I just don't have the optimism needed to dream of a dynamic coaching hire, who can concoct brilliant offensive schemes and creative defenses, and/or recruit well enough to uncover the necessary number of underrated players to raise UConn significantly above the bottom.

We had a lot of luck when we were BE co-champions and played in the Fiesta Bowl; maybe we reached our peak then, never to be repeated or topped.

It happened. Luck or no luck son. Better to be lucky than good.

 

[HardFacts]

Doug 98, Thank you for your interest, but leave now. A sacrificial lamb? Really? Did you say that when we played Cincinnati, UCF, Temple? I'm hoping UConn will beat Perdue, but I hope Steven Krajewski will play great and I hope Clemson will be good, too. Should we play MAC teams? If you want to play with the big boys, you might get bullied, but with a coach who knows what he's doing and being serious about scheduling (DB is giving us some great schools in FB) we will be back in a bowl game. I guess you'll say, I knew he was a great hire!!

For all you BB fans remember the pre-Calhoun years when we were at the bottom of the OLD Big East and the Hartford Civic Center games were filled with the fans of visiting teams! So how many of you were saying let’s go back to the Yankee Conference?
I know many that did but there was no Boneyard back then to debate it.

 

[Oracle9]

But it was destroyed overnight in 2011!

 

[DAC17]

For all you BB fans remember the pre-Calhoun years when we were at the bottom of the OLD Big East and the Hartford Civic Center games were filled with the fans of visiting teams! So how many of you were saying let’s go back to the Yankee Conference?
I know many that did but there was no Boneyard back then to debate it.

It’s one whole lot easier to recruit a few good basketball players than a whole football team!

 

[HuskyDogArt]

It’s one whole lot easier to recruit a few good basketball players than a whole football team!

Why not drop all sports except men's and women's basketball, then. Yes it is easier, but apples and oranges you need 22 starters (11 defense/11 offense) but only 5 starters in basketball! Stupid comment.

 

[ScottVib]

Tongue firmly planted in cheek

If D3 is good enough for Calhoun.. it should be good enough for UConn basketball. Let's do it.. embrace academics; shut down the athletic department pour that subsidy into academics and we can merge the administration of the department with the Student Life area. Those who want to play sports will even pay tuition.

I can't believe no other major state university has thought to do this!

 

[ClifSpliffy]

we're not going fcs. period. it doesn't make sense on any level in the media future. i hear that we bought all the fancy cameras, big foam fingers, and all that good stuff. waste not, want not.
didn't it take the sox like a 100 years to win one?
now, that's yankee grit.
try sum. and, while we wait, cookies for everrone!

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Didn't it take the Sox 100 years to win one?

Now that took some Yankee grit

No, it took Red Sox grit...

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Didn't it take the Sox 100 years to win one?

Now that took some Yankee grit

No, it took Red Sox grit...

look bub, i agree that bahstan is the center of the universe, but try to remember that yankeeland is bigger than just some salted fish and mark wahlberg. here's a map

we even have a forcefield. how cool is that? lol.
and our own song!

 

[uconnbill]

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,

This is not Wesleyan, Tufts or a Div III school but a state university that is one of the top 25 in the country. Staying in FBS is the only way with all that has been put forth into the program the last 22 years or so or since the trailers.

 

[uconnbill]

If anyone wants UConn to go FCS, then you need to follow another team for football, because it isn't happening.

 

[storrsroars]

This is not Wesleyan, Tufts or a Div III school but a state university that is one of the top 25 in the country. Staying in FCS is the only way with all that has been put forth into the program the last 22 years or so or since the trailers.

If anyone wants UConn to go FBS, then you need to follow another team for football, because it isn't happening.

Did I wake up in an alternate universe?

 

[Hoophound]

If anyone wants UConn to go FBS, then you need to follow another team for football, because it isn't happening.

You mixed up your FBS and FCS’s.

 

[NHRich]

Does this mean we are actually pretty good?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Does this mean we are actually pretty good?

'pretty good?'
ahhh, definitamundo no.
'good?' err, also negatory.
'alive?' yeppers, cuz it looks like we can unplug the heart paddles.
baby steps.
next up? free micky d's for the first 5000 thru the turnstiles. hey, ya gotta start somewhere.

 

[amishboy]

“This is not Wesleyan, Tufts or a Div III school but a state university that is one of the top 25 in the country. Staying in FCS is the only way with all that has been put forth into the program the last 22 years or so or since the trailers.”

”top 25“ in enrollment? Endowment? Research grants?

So because of what’s already been spent, there’s no end to what we should continue to pour into an FBS football program?

No concern that virtually everyone else in the Northeast is, at best, nibbling at the edges of mediocrity?

All we need are a brilliant coach, upgraded facilities, better players, and a strong conference, and we’ll reach the same heights as…? BC? Syracuse? Pitt? Temple? Rutgers?

Maybe those 40,000 seats at Rentschler won’t be enough, and we should start adding another 10,000.

 

[UCSouth]

If anyone wants UConn to go FBS, then you need to follow another team for football, because it isn't happening.

Too late, we're already FBS.

 

[Hoophound]

“This is not Wesleyan, Tufts or a Div III school but a state university that is one of the top 25 in the country. Staying in FCS is the only way with all that has been put forth into the program the last 22 years or so or since the trailers.”

”top 25“ in enrollment? Endowment? Research grants?

So because of what’s already been spent, there’s no end to what we should continue to pour into an FBS football program?

No concern that virtually everyone else in the Northeast is, at best, nibbling at the edges of mediocrity?

All we need are a brilliant coach, upgraded facilities, better players, and a strong conference, and we’ll reach the same heights as…? BC? Syracuse? Pitt? Temple? Rutgers?

Maybe those 40,000 seats at Rentschler won’t be enough, and we should start adding another 10,000.

It’s really just about coaching. We need a great coach. Joe Moorhead would be worth the investment. I think he could make Indy UConn a Top 25 team and put us back on the map.

Our facilities are better than adequate and our name brand is strong. Publicity will be easy to come by when we start winning. That’s why bashing us is so much fun for the media. The football program may not be relevant right now, but the school and overall athletic department are prominent.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

If anyone wants UConn to go FBS, then you need to follow another team for football, because it isn't happening.

Do you mean FCS? We are in FBS...

 

[uconnbill]

“This is not Wesleyan, Tufts or a Div III school but a state university that is one of the top 25 in the country. Staying in FCS is the only way with all that has been put forth into the program the last 22 years or so or since the trailers.”

”top 25“ in enrollment? Endowment? Research grants?

So because of what’s already been spent, there’s no end to what we should continue to pour into an FBS football program?

No concern that virtually everyone else in the Northeast is, at best, nibbling at the edges of mediocrity?

All we need are a brilliant coach, upgraded facilities, better players, and a strong conference, and we’ll reach the same heights as…? BC? Syracuse? Pitt? Temple? Rutgers?

Maybe those 40,000 seats at Rentschler won’t be enough, and we should start adding another 10,000.

You lose money in the lower FCS and at least here UConn can play the Purdue's, Clemson's, NCST's and others. Going back to playing Maine, Rhode Island, and Albany is not my idea of fun or something the university should do

 

[amishboy]

You probably lose even more money in all but the very top of FBS:

“In fact, only the programs at the very top of the FBS subdivision generate more money from athletics than they spend. Fewer than one in four of the 97 public FBS athletic departments generated more money than they spent in any given year between 2005 and 2010 (and almost none of the remaining Division I programs were profitable). Even so, about two thirds of these profitable FBS departments still received athletic subsidies in 2010. While it is true that the traditional money-generating sports are more likely to cover their own expenses, more than 40 percent of FBS football and men’s basketball programs were unable to fully support their own programs in 2010; in the remaining Division I schools, only a handful of these programs were self-supporting.”

https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/downloads/report/Academic-Spending-vs-Athletic-Spending.pdf

 

[uconnbill]

You probably lose even more money in all but the very top of FBS:

“In fact, only the programs at the very top of the FBS subdivision generate more money from athletics than they spend. Fewer than one in four of the 97 public FBS athletic departments generated more money than they spent in any given year between 2005 and 2010 (and almost none of the remaining Division I programs were profitable). Even so, about two thirds of these profitable FBS departments still received athletic subsidies in 2010. While it is true that the traditional money-generating sports are more likely to cover their own expenses, more than 40 percent of FBS football and men’s basketball programs were unable to fully support their own programs in 2010; in the remaining Division I schools, only a handful of these programs were self-supporting.”

https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/downloads/report/Academic-Spending-vs-Athletic-Spending.pdf

Then go follow another team. Sorry but the university should not downgrade because of a few fans like yourself. They need to get better and start winning. That would solve so many things. You must not have been around in the 2002-2011 time.

 

[HardFacts]

Then go follow another team. Sorry but the university should not downgrade because of a few fans like yourself. They need to get better and start winning. That would solve so many things. You must not have been around in the 2002-2011 time.

We never consistently filled Memorial Stadium and when discussions were on to make the move to FBS I personally
never thought we would fill the RENT as quickly as we did!
A descent home schedule and a exciting team competitive team will bring that back! The negativity on the boneyard is absolutely
incredible!

 

[HardFacts]

We never consistently filled Memorial Stadium and when discussions were on to make the move to FBS I personally
never thought we would fill the RENT as quickly as we did!
A descent home schedule and a exciting team competitive team will bring that back! The negativity on the boneyard is absolutely
incredible!

FYI Women's Basketball had one winning season in it’s first twelve years! Geno was 4-8 in his first year in the Big East!
it took him 5 years to win the conference and make the NCAA
tournament.