11/3 Practice Tidbits (via Horde Twitter)

[NowInStorrs]

UConn students are forced to attend half their basketball games and all their football games 30-45 minutes off campus.

This is insane and almost totally unheard of in all of major college athletics.

...

College sports are to be played on campus, for the students which is the way it is at almost every other school in the country. Anything else is antithetical to what college athletics (should be) about.

My wife went to Georgia. Every last detail of the Georgia football game day experience is catered to the students. The student section is from the 35 to the goal line. Some of the best seats in the house.

We make our students sit behind the end zones and behind the backboards while other schools ring the court with students.

I grew up in Connecticut and have been a UConn fan for as long as I can remember. I've been to several games in Hartford, but mostly I've attended away games that were somewhat close to where I was living at the time. Now that I think about it, those games have always been on a college campus somewhere, at several different universities. They've never been at a "home away from home" some distance from the campus. Except for the AAC tournament a couple of years ago, but that's a different story.

I attended undergrad at a different university that was a part of a "high-major" conference. There is a large city about 45 minutes away from campus, and there was on average one game played there every year, usually against a high-profile opponent. Some years there might be two games and others there might not be any games up there, but those would be considered neutral games and not home games. Basically all of the home games were played on campus. The student section there is huge. It is almost the entire side of the court on one side of the stadium and it goes up to the upper section of the stadium as well. It's general admission (if you have a student sports pass, which you have to buy) so the students that get in line early get the best seats. My friends and I camped out for a few days for one game against a very good opponent and ended up in the 2nd row front right at halfcourt.

That's just how one university does things, but it is quite a difference from UConn's half Storrs and half Hartford scheduling. It seems unfair to the students and to the players to have to travel to and from Hartford so much. To be fair, in the case of my undergrad university there is another large university in that nearby city, so maybe there's no real reason to have two large universities playing games there. Regardless, it was nice having practically all of the home games on campus. I could walk from my apartment to the basketball stadium, and if I wanted to, I could show up a couple of hours early and get great seats. It was a nice experience as a student. I have never been a student at UConn, but it sounds like the experience is not so positive. For what it's worth, I attended grad school in a college town with a large city about an hour and a half away. They almost never had any games over there.

 

[MadDogRevival]

God I'm old. What the _______________ is "Horde Twitter".
Yeah, blow it out your -------------. Whatever.

 

[MadDogRevival]

I grew up in Connecticut and have been a UConn fan for as long as I can remember.

That's both heartwarming and motivational at the same time. You appear to be a wonderful husky. Please keep your posts to under 1500 words - we're not trying to start a new newspaper here.

 

[whaler11]

Playing in Hartford is such a huge disadvantage they only won 4 NCs doing it.

The gampel truthers look like they are going to get their wish over time and it will be another step back into obscurity for the athletic department.

You can replace money with the good feelings of people who believe games belong on campus.

 

[whaler11]

One other fun thing.

The team already played two games and plays Sunday.

Shocking that practice isn’t more attractive. Such a timely event!

 

[David 76]

Come on. The year before last would have been a huge year when I was at UConn. We were still engaged.

The decline began, young and old, when Calhoun was here and we still had a championship(s) to win

 

[Guapo]

Playing in Hartford is such a huge disadvantage they only won 4 NCs doing it.

The gampel truthers look like they are going to get their wish over time and it will be another step back into obscurity for the athletic department.

You can replace money with the good feelings of people who believe games belong on campus.

I want UConn to win and I want the ad to make money, however if all I cared about was making money and winning I'd only care about pro sports.

Look at how much more money the teams I've listed are making because they are in a p5 conference and we are not.

You can make an argument that the reason they are power schools is there is a deeper sense of connection between the alumni base and school and that creates a lager following.

UConn historically has cared very little about fostering that sort of feeling among student and almuni, though that is starting to change. Just look at our endowment vs. peer schools. In my opinion, one manifestation of that historical disregard for caring about this sort of stuff is the playing of so many sports far off campus.

 

[whaler11]

I want UConn to win and I want the ad to make money, however if all I cared about was making money and winning I'd only care about pro sports.

Look at how much more money the teams I've listed are making because they are in a p5 conference and we are not.

You can make an argument that the reason they are power schools is there is a deeper sense of connection between the alumni base and school and that creates a lager following.

UConn historically has cared very little about fostering that sort of feeling among student and almuni, though that is starting to change. Just look at our endowment vs. peer schools. In my opinion, one manifestation of that historical disregard for caring about this sort of stuff is the playing of so many sports far off campus.

Like I said when you get your wish you’ll see how bad of an idea it has been the whole time.

 

[Guapo]

Like I said when you get your wish you’ll see how bad of an idea it has been the whole time.

Why is UConn and its fans different than UNC's, IU's, KU's, Michigan's etc etc?

Why can every single other school do and we can't?

 

[whaler11]

Why is UConn and its fans different than UNC's, IU's, KU's, Michigan's etc etc?

Why can every single other school do and we can't?

Well I guess if you move all the games to Gampel it will just magically turn into Chapel Hill or Bloomington.

Good strategy.

 

[Guapo]

Well I guess if you move all the games to Gampel it will just magically turn into Chapel Hill or Bloomington.

Good strategy.

Wow what a great non-answer to my question.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

I want UConn to win and I want the ad to make money, however if all I cared about was making money and winning I'd only care about pro sports.

Look at how much more money the teams I've listed are making because they are in a p5 conference and we are not.

You can make an argument that the reason they are power schools is there is a deeper sense of connection between the alumni base and school and that creates a lager following.

UConn historically has cared very little about fostering that sort of feeling among student and almuni, though that is starting to change. Just look at our endowment vs. peer schools. In my opinion, one manifestation of that historical disregard for caring about this sort of stuff is the playing of so many sports far off campus.

Maybe. The older P5 schools are what they are.
But how do you explain the newer schools like Rutgers, Louisville?? Easy - TV and media market. Which has been beaten to death on here.

 

[whaler11]

Wow what a great non-answer to my question.

It doesn’t matter what the answer is. It’s just the way it is.

So keep working to alienate the paying customers. Lock the program up in Storrs and keep it all for yourselves.

If that happens you’ll see very quickly why it was a terrible idea all along.

 

[Guapo]

Maybe. The older P5 schools are what they are.
But how do you explain the newer schools like Rutgers, Louisville?? Easy - TV and media market. Which has been beaten to death on here.

I understand that.

And I understand the reality of what UConn is facing and they need to do what they need to do to make money.

To get back to the original reason why I was posting about this stuff is that it is deeply frustrating to me when people attack the student support, that is all.

Though I would like to point out that both Rutgers and Louisville play their sports on or very close to campus and Louisville has a relatively deep and historic following.

 

[Guapo]

It doesn’t matter what the answer is. It’s just the way it is.

So keep working to alienate the paying customers. Lock the program up in Storrs and keep it all for yourselves.

If that happens you’ll see very quickly why it was a terrible idea all along.

Lay it on me hard, in your opinion what would happen?

 

[whaler11]

Lay it on me hard, in your opinion what would happen?

It’s pretty simple:
Revenues would drop even further and the fanbase would shrink even smaller.

Tack on the fact that UConn students of today are less likely to be from here, land here after graduation and are more academically focused and it’s a recipe for destruction.

You’ll also get the extra bonus of alienating the state reps and the people they represent.
Next time they are slashing the budget it is a good reminder to ask why we are spending so much more than everyone else.

But I’m sure the good feelz of the gample truthers from being more like Michigan and Indiana will make up for it. They will
have the program all to themselves, just like they always wanted. How does the ceiling in the Field House look?

 

[Guapo]

It’s pretty simple:
Revenues would drop even further and the fanbase would shrink even smaller.

Tack on the fact that UConn students of today are less likely to be from here, land here after graduation and are more academically focused and it’s a recipe for destruction.

You’ll also get the extra bonus of alienating the state reps and the people they represent.
Next time they are slashing the budget it is a good reminder to ask why we are spending so much more than everyone else.

But I’m sure the good feelz of the gample truthers from being more like Michigan and Indiana will make up for it. They will
have the program all to themselves, just like they always wanted. How does the ceiling in the Field House look?

I get that.

Allow me a counter argument that doesn't rely on gooey feelings:

(I think we all agree that the atmosphere at Gampel is better than XL, right?)

UConn has a better home court advantage at Gampel (though, admittidetly, I don't think the record reflects that the past two years).

So, better atmosphere in which to host recruits, better home court advantage leads to more wins and better recruiting.

Winning drives fan interest.

 

[whaler11]

I get that.

Allow me a counter argument that doesn't rely on gooey feelings:

(I think we all agree that the atmosphere at Gampel is better than XL, right?)

UConn has a better home court advantage at Gampel (though, admittidetly, I don't think the record reflects that the past two years).

So, better atmosphere in which to host recruits, better home court advantage leads to more wins and better recruiting.

Winning drives fan interest.

Yes the competitive disadvantage of Hartford was stunning for decades of dominating basketball.

 

[Guapo]

Yes the competitive disadvantage in Hartford was stunning for decades of dominating basketball.

I guess we should play all our games in Hartford!

Would you like that?

 

[whaler11]

I guess we should play all our games in Hartford!

Would you like that?

No. That’s a terrible idea.

 

[champs99and04]

Do people really think that a decline in fan enthusiasm is specific to Connecticut?

It's very simple. Win games, market it, and people will show up. Generally, outside of us on this board, it's hard for people to get very excited about a Tuesday night conference game against Tulane.

How does a semi-final match-up with Cincinnati sound? I know that defending our fan base usually entails depicting the conference as unappealing, but aside from the irony that that may have had something to do with us being in that conference in the first place, it's still a bad look for the students to have so many empty seats in Hartford every game. We have a fan base where the alums don't show up at Gampel and the students don't show up in Hartford. It is what it is, but let's not pretend that our fan base is simply chomping at the bit for the teams to be good again. There is a lack of initiative and marketing savvy within the University itself, which is why people like tcf, noescalators, and storrs south seem to gain more traction on twitter than actual students (I'm assuming they're not students). For a number of reasons, student support for UConn athletics is less than it should be. The winning will come and go but the other stuff shouldn't.

So yes, in some respects I think it is unique to UConn. It's a trend across the country, yes, but I think especially pronounced at UConn.

 

[uconnell]

Soccer seems to draw the students.

 

[champs99and04]

there are seniors this year who are yet to see UConn have a nationally relevant basketball, football, or even hockey team

And UConn is one of the few schools in the nation/D1 who can claim this?????
Poor Poor seniors
What happened before the OBE at UConn? The stands were filled with students
It's the kids these days - sleep, iphones and lack of commitment/loyalty to anything - I see it in the young folks we hire - smart but lacking in business protocol and people skills

I think we can criticize student support and even the generation without being unreasonable and pretending that things like "completely unwatchable in every revenue sport, play trash heap from second rate conference that we have no affiliation with, and our school president is determined to wage war on fun" don't have something to do with it. Did I mention that the games are not on campus? UConn has been offering a second tier product at a first tier price, and it goes beyond having a couple of mediocre teams. The entire experience is professionalized which only works when you're not a punching bag.

 

[lange10]

Gets at what @Guapo was saying. Don’t blame the students. Just don’t; it’s an uneducated and lazy cop out for attendance issues.

 

[Guapo]

Gets at what @Guapo was saying. Don’t blame the students. Just don’t; it’s an uneducated and lazy cop out for attendance issues.

Yes this is exactly right.