Why UConn is destined for the ACC

[jpm25]

Why do people keep thinking it was Hathaway's decision about going to the ACC?

If the ACC wanted us they'd to the president. End of story.

Tell me why I am wrong.

Did we have a President at the time?

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Yup, either one with one foot out the side door (Hogan) or another acting as a transitional caretaker for a nice retirement supplement (Austin).

 

[Murph]

Sounds like theyd hold their nose while inviting us...and I can live with that.

 

[FDNY99]

I could see Hogan saying no...he's a B1G guy all the way and may have been trying to position us that way.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Before this gets too out of hand, if such a conversation (ACC officials formally or informally discussing with UConn the possibility of an invitation only to have us sh n them) occurred, it would have been late spring of 2011 at the earliest (when the ACC began looking at a means to get their undermarket TV deal reworked). Hogan was gone for a year by then and while she hadn't officially begun her new position, Herbst had made it to Pasqualoni's introduction, the national title celebration at Gampel and the White House visit by then. With her contacts within the ACC, there is no way she would not have been in the loop if this occurred.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Whatever anyone may think of Hathaway, and I am not a fan myself, he is not an idiot. If he or anyone got approached by the ACC, warning bells would have been shrieking and either a) they would have accepted the offer or b) run to the Big East and locked it up. It is ridiculous to think that UConn would have simply brushed off an ACC invite and then done nothing.

 

[Danzz]

http://m.tallahassee.com/latest/article?a=2011110220319&f=1476

Emails outline why FSU president plans to keep Florida State in the ACC
By Ira Schoffel
Democrat sports editor

"In a lengthy response, Barron wrote that three primary factors would drive any FSU decisions regarding conference realignment: The academic standing of conferences, the potential for team success and the potential financial gains. "Academically, the ACC is far stronger than the SEC," Barron wrote to Bailey, while listing the rankings from U.S. News & World Report. "From an academic viewpoint, we are in a premier league academically and the SEC doesn't stack up."

****
"The next two teams should not be weak northern teams like UConn or Rutgers," Voigt [an FSU graduate who emailed Barron] wrote. "That would dilute the football quality even further, and that will hurt FSU."

Barron did not specifically mention either school in his reply, but he explained that the options are limited. He noted that the members of the SEC and Big Ten --two of the closest conferences geographically --appear to be firmly entrenched.

"That means that in reality, the only path to a (16-team) super conference, were that to happen, is the Big East and the Big 12," Barron wrote. "And, the only way to have it be meaningful is if it opens up TV markets that net the conference money. Combined, these two factors mean that there are really very few universities out there that can even be considered."

" The academic standing of conferences"
What a joke. FSU brings down any conference they join academicly. Great school if you want a career in the circus.

 

[TRest]

Whatever anyone may think of Hathaway, and I am not a fan myself, he is not an idiot. If he or anyone got approached by the ACC, warning bells would have been shrieking and either a) they would have accepted the offer or b) run to the Big East and locked it up. It is ridiculous to think that UConn would have simply brushed off an ACC invite and then done nothing.

How would one lock up the BE? Gazillion dollar exit fees?

 

[UCHuskies08]

Seems like the template for that is TV rights lockup

 

[fortebleedsblue]

There is still a chance we end up in the Car Care bowl playing an ACC team. I prefer NYC or obviously (BCS) but if UConn turns things around I wouldn't mind taking on an ACC team in a bowl this year.

A sad reality is that after Pitt and Cuse join the ACC they will have more Big East football tradition than ...... well the Big East. (Pitt, Cuse, VT, Miami, BC) Lots of conference history there.

 

[upstater]

Before this gets too out of hand, if such a conversation (ACC officials formally or informally discussing with UConn the possibility of an invitation only to have us sh n them) occurred, it would have been late spring of 2011 at the earliest (when the ACC began looking at a means to get their undermarket TV deal reworked). Hogan was gone for a year by then and while she hadn't officially begun her new position, Herbst had made it to Pasqualoni's introduction, the national title celebration at Gampel and the White House visit by then. With her contacts within the ACC, there is no way she would not have been in the loop if this occurred.

The Nova guy peddling this story claims it was well before that, last Fall. He has no real credibility since he mentions it to torture Rutgers fans, but he has been saying this since last Spring. He has been saying that UConn and Syracuse have been approached to move as early as last spring.

 

[upstater]

" The academic standing of conferences"
What a joke. FSU brings down any conference they join academicly. Great school if you want a career in the circus.

All the more reason to be concerned about academics.

Frankly, I tend to denigrate this idea for most schools. For Duke, for instance, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever what conference it's in. Vanderbilt isn't hurt by its associations. Florida St. however is about to go through a rough patch academically. They are probably very concerned about perceptions of them academically at this point.

 

[ctchamps]

How would one lock up the BE? Gazillion dollar exit fees?

In five years a Gazillion dollars will be worth as much as a million.

 

[ruskin]

Can we extinguish this growing urban myth that Hathaway "turned down" the ACC invite? It's pretty concrete UConn was in until DeFilippo intervened. "We wanted to be the New England school" is going to be on his tombstone, for goodness sakes.

 

[ctchamps]

All the more reason to be concerned about academics.

Frankly, I tend to denigrate this idea for most schools. For Duke, for instance, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever what conference it's in. Vanderbilt isn't hurt by its associations. Florida St. however is about to go through a rough patch academically. They are probably very concerned about perceptions of them academically at this point.

I think an argument can be made that standards within the school as well as marketing of the school improve the schools attractiveness to students and therefore can influence the improvement of academic standing. UConn has done and is doing a lot of things within the school structure to make it more attractive both in numbers of students wanting to apply and brighter students wanting to apply.

And UConns sports success has given a bump in the universities attractiveness which, it can be argued, offered the university a greater opportunity than otherwise might have occurred, to take internal steps. So a pitch can be made by a university about its association with a particular conference as part of its marketing to get students. And certainly there are students who would factor conference affiliation in their decision, as well as students who would not consider conference affiliation as an important factor in their decision. The same goes with alumni and getting donations. Perception is important even if the academics of Duke has zero correlation with the academics of FSU.

In the end it is the substantive actions taken by a university that really counts. Marketing can offer an initial attraction to the product by customers, but unless the product delivers, a negative reputation will develop and undo the effectiveness of the marketing.

 

[jpm25]

How would one lock up the BE? Gazillion dollar exit fees?

assignment of media rights

 

[FfldCntyFan]

assignment of media rights

True but at this point this would be like locking all remaining passengers below deck after the Titanic hit the iceberg (and some already departed on lifeboats).

 

[noeynox]

True but at this point this would be like locking all remaining passengers below deck after the Titanic hit the iceberg (and some already departed on lifeboats).

Yep, that ship sailed. This should have been done while Pitt/SU/TCU were still on board. Problem with Big East football side is that it has always been reactionary rather than proactive. Why weren't we having discussions about adding the Boise's, SMU, Houston's before the most recent defections? Is it because it would dilute the basketball product? Sad, because the Big East has provided great basketball moments and good football ones. The Big East commissioner's office and the Big East presidents failed in pushing the envelope and moving this conference from a good football conference and trying to make it great. Locking up the likes of Boise and TCU in some form of western division under the Big East banner with a forward thinking media rights assignment would have been a stroke of genius.

 

[ctchamps]

Yep, that ship sailed. This should have been done while Pitt/SU/TCU were still on board. Problem with Big East football side is that it has always been reactionary rather than proactive. Why weren't we having discussions about adding the Boise's, SMU, Houston's before the most recent defections? Is it because it would dilute the basketball product? Sad, because the Big East has provided great basketball moments and good football ones. The Big East commissioner's office and the Big East presidents failed in pushing the envelope and moving this conference from a good football conference and trying to make it great. Locking up the likes of Boise and TCU in some form of western division under the Big East banner with a forward thinking media rights assignment would have been a stroke of genius.

Syracuse and WV did not have an allegiance to the BE. And that lack of commitment impacted the remaining six football schools in how they had to approach the conference. It prevented the conference from making more stringent exit requirements for instance.

And the conference was in discussion to improve the football product. TCU was on board and would have been a BE member but that was destroyed by A&M. The only questionable decision was to wait on Nova. But the distaste some of the BE football schools might have had for this decision was probably as much as a way of providing an excuse for their own desires to leave the BE, as it was a questionable business decision.

The BE was in discussions with the service academies. And the logical step was that BS was not coming east unless it had a regional partner. The only question was whether they should have approached the football expansion piecemeal or invite 4-8 teams quickly. And the only reason we have an answer to that is because outside circumstances interceded in the process. Piecemeal would have been the better approach because the conference could have been more selective. But once events played out the way they did the conference is left with no choice but to consider multiple entries.

 

[jpm25]

True but at this point this would be like locking all remaining passengers below deck after the Titanic hit the iceberg (and some already departed on lifeboats).

I agree. I was responding to a question of how one would lock up the BE - this is not at all likely or even possible I would imagine.

 

[upstater]

I think an argument can be made that standards within the school as well as marketing of the school improve the schools attractiveness to students and therefore can influence the improvement of academic standing. UConn has done and is doing a lot of things within the school structure to make it more attractive both in numbers of students wanting to apply and brighter students wanting to apply.

And UConns sports success has given a bump in the universities attractiveness which, it can be argued, offered the university a greater opportunity than otherwise might have occurred, to take internal steps. So a pitch can be made by a university about its association with a particular conference as part of its marketing to get students. And certainly there are students who would factor conference affiliation in their decision, as well as students who would not consider conference affiliation as an important factor in their decision. The same goes with alumni and getting donations. Perception is important even if the academics of Duke has zero correlation with the academics of FSU.

In the end it is the substantive actions taken by a university that really counts. Marketing can offer an initial attraction to the product by customers, but unless the product delivers, a negative reputation will develop and undo the effectiveness of the marketing.

For a few schools, sports success might count. You can't make that case for the vast majority since so many of the top schools are not into bigtime sports. What about Boston U, NYU, UCal-San Diego, schools like that? SUNYs? All these schools have risen up the ranks, all of them have huge increases in applicants and quality of students. Some bigtime sports schools have dropped like rocks in the rankings. So, while I buy the argument for a few schools, I don't think it makes a bit of difference for the majority.

 

[huskyrob1]

It is ridiculous to think that UConn would have simply brushed off an ACC invite and then done nothing.

Not so ridiculous if you think Hathaway was palsey walsey with Gavitt, Mike Tranghese, Marinatto, and the rest of those Providence... catholic school...Big East Tournament at MSG parasites. Look at what transpired around the same time, Edsall bolted to Maryland, Hathaway was fired, and the last week Marinatto gave Jeffy boy a job. The people that run the Big East don't give a about D1 football, they say they do but they don't, the Big East football schools have only recently begun to realize that, hence the exodus. They (the basketball onlys) showed their true colors way back in 1985 when they denied Penn State membership because they sucked in basketball and devoted too much of their athletic budget to football. The commisioners office of the Big East (Providence College) only cares about one thing...the health of basketball and the BE Tourney at MSG. That unwritten bylaw has not changed in 30 years. The only thing that would change that is if the loss of football schools would begin to impinge on the sport of basketball in the conf, and that may have already begun to occurr.

 

[RS9999X]

This just goes to show that the university presidents and ADs can see beyond the simple minded idiots who populate message boards.

What it means is they can write clearly and concisely and spin things in a politically correct manner.

He made some great points in the last few months. He believes Florida State can have greater success and more national visibility in the ACC when all sports are considered and the coaches don't favor a move .

Here's the crux of the issue: As he states: Money is the only reason for a move. A move to the SEC would mean more annual revenue. Any short-term financial gains may be lost in research dollars when partnering with the SEC and B12 Schools. The B12 isn't stable and there's significant risk of burning bridges by making the move. The SEC can't offer FSU its full worth due to the presence of Florida.

The only compelling case from FSU is the Pitt and SU case. We've sucked out the place in recent years because of our conference affiliation. Let's forget the Robinson fiasco and the Wannstedt replacment mess and move forward like the ADs are competent. Player misbehavior can be chalked up to conference affiliation. Bobby Bowden will rise again in the SEC or B12!

Look at Duke's well-behaved players like Greg Paulus, a Syracuse resident. The fact he played his HS ball in Manley Field House is an example of how little interest he had in a BE school. If we were in the ACC Paulus would have commited to the Orange at birth.

 

[RuffRuff]

What I feel like so much of this analysis on Uconn fails to miss is "potential". Listen, is Uconn an established football brand? No. It has a long way to go. That doesn't come in a decade plus. But this one of the brand name state universities in the Northeast - the Northeast is, if nothing else, is the most dense/$$ pockets in the US. It has a rabid fan base(as seen by basketball) and stadium expansion capabilities. It has a strong brand it can leverage(from basketball) and it can lean on the fact that it took a D1AA program to a BCS bowl game in a very short time frame - the potential is there. The academic accumen is there. So if put in the right conference with the right drawing cards and the right coach, why couldn't because a successful revenue generating football program? I just think the platform is there, the momentum from the hoops program is there and the brand potential is there to hold Northeast recruits.

So although it's always the ideal to go after established, I think if you want to buy low with high upside, the ACC is not going to find a more appropriate program.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

assignment of media rights

good luck getting any current big east football member to agree to that. i dont even think usf would.