Warde to CBSSports: 'Move on' from realignment

[ruskin]

Have at it

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...uskies-to-move-on-from-conference-realignment

 

[Waquoit]

Boilerplate. What else is he gonna say?

 

[huskymedic]

"We're still going to be UConn. We're going to focus on being great at what we do and winning championships in the league we're in."

 

[Fishy]

That's basically the size of it - what else can be said about our predicament?

It should be noted that the Boneyard has not come to grips with it. Personally, I am choosing not to - I hate this conference and every school in it.

 

[RMoore1999]

"We're still going to be UConn. We're going to focus on being great at what we do and winning championships in the league we're in."

This. Fine. I might even go so far as to say not bad.

BUT NOT ANOTHER F$CKING WORD. No reason to say anything about the new dumpster fire league. These people need serious PR help. He's completely delusional if he thinks his excitement about the new league is going to inspire the fanbase or donors.

 

[RMoore1999]

That's basically the size of it - what else can be said about our predicament?

It should be noted that the Boneyard has not come to grips with it. Personally, I am choosing not to - I hate this conference and every school in it.

As to your question, I'd answer "nothing". Crickets would sound better to me.

I'm with you 100% on your last sentence, though technically I hate every other school in the NCAA, not just those in the AAC...

 

[Rumrunner]

Manuel in answering these kinds of questions can approach the answers in one of two ways- the Whit Babcock/Cincy AD way, which basically boils down to saying "We will do whatever it takes to make ourselves attractive to other conferences by hook or by crook" or the Warde Manuel way, which is to pretend it doesn't matter.

Who knows what he is really thinking? Although Manuel isn't a particularly strong speaker, it's gems like this that make me scratch my head,

"You can look at increase of media, what other conferences are doing with cable networks, though we don't have that."

As they say, no sh$t sherlock. That's why it does matter.

 

[Fishy]

As to your question, I'd answer "nothing". Crickets would sound better to me.

I'm with you 100% on your last sentence, though technically I hate every other school in the NCAA, not just those in the AAC...

Yeah, I'm generally in the cricket camp as well - I hate to read SH or WM saying anything nice about our new conference mates.

 

[pj]

Build up the university, build up football, build up secondary sports, build up research, build up fan support. That's what we have to do. We should prove we're too good for the AAC by winning it consistently. Get ourselves in a position so that if B1G and ACC don't invite us, we can do a deal with the AAC like Boise did with the MWC -- get our own media rights back and sell them to SNY and NESN; get a big share of our NCAA and football tourney revenue; make ourselves semi-independent and prove we can build up a substantial following regionally.

 

[CAHUSKY]

I would like him to answer the question "why Uconn was left behind?" He says we have heard the reasons and he doesn't need to rehash them. I haven't heard them. I've heard people here suggest what they think but it would sure be nice to hear from someone actually involved in the process.

 

[Fishy]

I would shoot him in the face if he ever gave a concrete reason.

Don't air your flaws. You'll just hand them to your detractors.

This slipped past me the first time around....

"You can grow the size of your stadium..."

 

[CTMike]

"You can grow the size of your stadium..."

He better be pulling some more major OOC matchups out of his rear for this to have a prayer. Our new BFFs in the AAC aren't gonna cut it.

 

[Fishy]

I agree.

I kinda poo-poo'd the thought of expanding the stadium based on the fact that we're going to be hosting rotting tripe there on a regular basis. (We can play Tulane in the food court at Danbury Fair Mall.) But John Silver's article yesterday has helped modify my thinking on that.

Sure, we'll sell, say, 32,000 tickets to some s--- games, but if we can sell 50,000 to see Tennessee or whoever twice a year, it's much more gooder.

 

[huskymedic]

I agree.

I kinda poo-poo'd the thought of expanding the stadium based on the fact that we're going to be hosting rotting tripe there on a regular basis. (We can play Tulane in the food court at Danbury Fair Mall.) But John Silver's article yesterday has helped modify my thinking on that.

Sure, we'll sell, say, 32,000 tickets to some s--- games, but if we can sell 50,000 to see Tennessee or whoever twice a year, it's much more gooder.

Tripe... I'm impressed!

 

[upstater]

"UConn AD: Time for Huskies to move on from conference realignment"


He never said this. Some editor and headline writer put that up there. All his answers basically stated UConn has to make the best of the situation. He never said "Move on." That's BS. If he really felt that way, it would be time to close up shop on football and perhaps basketball.

 

[UCHuskies08]

This. Fine. I might even go so far as to say not bad.

BUT NOT ANOTHER F$CKING WORD. No reason to say anything about the new dumpster fire league. These people need serious PR help. He's completely delusional if he thinks his excitement about the new league is going to inspire the fanbase or donors.

Sigh.

He can't say nothing. He can't turn down every single interview. He has to try to put a smiling face on this. Do you really not understand this? Do you really think the best strategy for UCONN is to never mention the conference they're in, despite being asked 24/7, for the next 7 years? Have you actually thought this through?

 

[CTMike]

I fear that if we put on that smiling face towards our conference mates, people will start to believe that we enjoy or believe we are exactly where we should be. No thanks. We don't have to take open digs at the conference, but we don't have to be sunshine and rainbows either. We can say that we'll always look for the best home for UConn Athletics, and right now that's the AAC.

 

[sportsart]

I fear that if we put on that smiling face towards our conference mates, people will start to believe that we enjoy or believe we are exactly where we should be. No thanks. We don't have to take open digs at the conference, but we don't have to be sunshine and rainbows either. We can say that we'll always look for the best home for UConn Athletics, and right now that's the AAC.

So if I'm reading you correctly if we get excited about dominating our conference and watching a constant flow of players go to the NFL people will lose respect for the fans who were excited and cheered on their team through thick or thin?

I guess the B1G would rather have a team's fan base b*tch and moan, don't show up for games and encourage new fans to not go to the games due to the weak conference?

If that's the case and Delaney reads this board we will be invited to the B1G by Sept 1, 2013.

Fill the stadium and win, the rest will take care of itself. It is what it is. Being sunshine is the only way to go. Being a dark cloud got no one nowhere.

 

[CTMike]

So if I'm reading you correctly...

I don't think you are reading me correctly.

Aspiring to greater things, to want to play against the best, does not preclude me or anyone from wanting to put a hurtin of epic proportions on this conference. I agree - win. Continue to develop talent. I never said I would stop cheering, and I hope that everyone realizes that support is more crucial now than ever.

I just choose to believe that we deserve better than the AAC, and I don't want us to get happy and complacent in the AAC. Eyes on the prize- stable membership in one of the "major" 5 conferences.

 

[UCFBfan]

Oh man Warde! And to think that I praised you in thr other thread for ignoring the FIRST article on CBS and now you go and do this.....man....

I must admit he can't run away from them all but I'd rather see us go the Cincy route of saying we're doing all we can because we don't wanna be in our current situation for long.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[sportsart]

I don't think you are reading me correctly.

Aspiring to greater things, to want to play against the best, does not preclude me or anyone from wanting to put a hurtin of epic proportions on this conference. I agree - win. Continue to develop talent. I never said I would stop cheering, and I hope that everyone realizes that support is more crucial now than ever.

I just choose to believe that we deserve better than the AAC, and I don't want us to get happy and complacent in the AAC. Eyes on the prize- stable membership in one of the "major" 5 conferences.

There's not a person on this board Mike, that doesn't believe we deserve and desire to be in a better conference.

But, we as the diehards of UConn Nation, need to lead the way with a positive outlook that we will get to the "next level" conference someday and encourage others to join us.

Time to circle the wagons, a la Kevin Ollie. It's us against the world.

This board makes Ground Hog Day seem like a B movie. We need to move on.

 

[trackie]

Hey Girls, Its clear most of you haven't "laced them up tight" Warde is right on, win and everything else works, win big, it works better. Beat up the aac and see what happens, be media darlings, beat your OOC dragons, hope that you can move to the new neighborhood before the realignment money runs out. Yeah we are screwed, but winning will cure alot!!

 

[RuffRuff]

What a fen unreal situation this university and it's fans is in, seriously. Train wreck isn't enough to explain it, downright catastrophic. The two BE teams that we are stuck with may be two of the least appealing brands from the old BE. Not sure what it is about Cinci, but they always felt like a commuter school. The Oscar Robertson thing feels like some sort of freakish anomoly more than anything. From the Huggy Thugs UNLV posse quality in the 90's to their uni's, have never been excited to play them or be affiliated with them. Not to judge anyone by their message board, but it's a friggin wake over there. South Florida, well, they feel like a poor man's Cinci. The only school that has any appeal in this conference is Temple, at least you have some history/character there. What ultimately stings more than anything is that there is now a conference out there that takes all the best brands the BE had to offer, merges them with Duke/UNC and we are left out. That hurts. The day that conference plays their tournament at MSG is the day we can basically all cry together.

I'm just not seeing an out anytime soon. Might as well get used to being up $hits Creek or check out. Shifting all attention to pro sports might be the best option 4-5 years from now after seeing this mess unfold.

 

[upstater]

What a fen unreal situation this university and it's fans is in, seriously. Train wreck isn't enough to explain it, downright catastrophic. The two BE teams that we are stuck with may be two of the least appealing brands from the old BE. Not sure what it is about Cinci, but they always felt like a commuter school. The Oscar Robertson thing feels like some sort of freakish anomoly more than anything. From the Huggy Thugs UNLV posse quality in the 90's to their uni's, have never been excited to play them or be affiliated with them. Not to judge anyone by their message board, but it's a friggin wake over there. South Florida, well, they feel like a poor man's Cinci. The only school that has any appeal in this conference is Temple, at least you have some history/character there. What ultimately stings more than anything is that there is now a conference out there that takes all the best brands the BE had to offer, merges them with Duke/UNC and we are left out. That hurts. The day that conference plays their tournament at MSG is the day we can basically all cry together.

I'm just not seeing an out anytime soon. Might as well get used to being up $hits Creek or check out. Shifting all attention to pro sports might be the best option 4-5 years from now after seeing this mess unfold.

Uconn is located in the northeast corner.

USF is located in talent rich Florida.

Guess which conference has no flag planted in talent rich Florida? It's a historic conference with 10 members.

When they come calling for new members, I fully expect them to call USF first.

 

[noeynox]

It is what it is. If we win we will get personal satisfaction as fans. Nothing else. I find the notion that we can win our way out of this conference silly. Win and enjoy the games and learn to accept that we are part of a conference that doesn't matter. In basketball we can make noise in the NCAA tournament and suspect we will as long as we have Ollie. In football I would be happy if our conference champ got to play the MWC conference champ.

Personally I have this fantasy that Chip Kelly is going to flame out in the NFL, come to UConn and establish us as an East Coast Oregon type with a high scoring offense.