AAC Expansion

[ClifSpliffy]

Do you even have a point here, beyond the entirely irrelevant "the sunbelt is better than the northeast?"

Temple, where alumni care more about hoops than football, is in a much worse basketball conference with literally no geographic rivals in hoops (and only Navy in football). Wichita State, which is a hoops only member, is now in a worse basketball conference. Even if you are focused on AAC football, mostly sunbelt schools are leaving and will be replaced by much lesser and less prestigious sunbelt schools.

So what in the world are you talking about?

'Do you even have a point here, beyond the entirely irrelevant "the sunbelt is better for football than the northeast?'
ftfy.
i did not say, ever, that the sunbelt is better than the northeast.
nor have i said, ever, that the sunbelt is worse than the northeast, cuz
anywhere can be a great place if you like it, while nowhere can be a great place if you don't.

the point is, mebbe our local culture is becoming an obstacle to a widely popular, deeply ingrained American pastime, clouding our ability to recognize that colleges with 20, 30, or 40 thousand students, fine facilities, large endowments, and world class offerings may, just may, be continuing to move smartly into the future by improving their brand.
now, which football school from where in the nation cancelled last season, hmmmmm?
now, why does the nation's largest city, population almost 9 million, have zero fbs programs, especially since that/this area was foundational to the whole 'big time pigskin' beginnings, before radio, then radio, then the b+w tv, and all the guys with hats and cigars, the whole shebang.
gone.
'friday night lights' is a big deal in the vast majority of the country. mebbe i like it, mebbe i don't -it doesn't matter, but i certainly won't hate on folks who enjoy and support it, a very normal game and culture, and i'll cheer for any school that is actively working to improve their stock, and the benefits it brings to their student and alumni bodies.
once upon a time when Fairfield U had a football team, the new york giants regularly summer camped there. here's a pic of carl 'spider' lockhart back then at the camp,

today?
The End of An Era: Fairfield University’s Forgotten Football Program – Clara Whalen (wordpress.com)

 

[CL82]

I agreed with joining the NBE but also believe we should have been able to overcome any negatives of AAC membership.
As someone else noted, if Gonzaga could become a national power in their league there was no reason UConn couldn't have maintained its previous stature which was much higher than that of Gonzaga, even today if you look at Championships won.
Hopefully we can prove how important the right coach is with the hiring of our next football coach.

 

[CL82]

some on this board want it to be called Big East

With the benefit of hindsight I wonder whether selling the name off was the right call. Certainly, abandoning one of the greatest conference brands in college sports seems questionable, but it got us paid a premium during our tenure there. I wonder if it was always Aresco’s plan to try to create a ‘national’ conference. well, he was successful. He created CUSA.

 

[navery12]

Im not sure what you mean but these are the facts.
The AAC is the direct decedent of the Dave Gavitt‘s Big East chartered in 1979 .
The C7 broke away from that conference in 2013 and attempted to destroy it and make off with the war chest of $70,000,000 .acquired through earned NCAA credits mostly earned by non C7 , schools and exit fees from football schools that joined P5 conferences.
They were stopped cold by the three remaining members
UConn, Cinncy, and USF by a loophole in the bylaws.
By the way the majority of that money was divided between the three remaining schools and distritubuted over a 5 year period in addition to the media and football playoff money. From 2014-2019 UConn was the benefactor of approx $8,000,000 per year in part from old Big East money. When the new contract failed to meet our minimum threshold of $10,000,000 we decided to part ways from the conference we founded in 1979.
Aresco who was the president of the Big East
had a grandiose dream of a national conference which needed a national name, he granted the C7 the use of the name which he had no use for , which was a mistake , in order to forfeit all claim to the conference assets.
The headquarters and all employees of the big East respectively became the property and employees of the AAC. The current Big East started from zero.
The charter for the conference now known as the Big East dates to around 2013. All collective history it claims prior to that is mythical.
I understand the desire to play with your old rivals and to be in a local conference. I understand many respected (there are a few )posters See the C7 as blameless. However I don’t cut them slack they had the votes to control who was accepted and who was rejected and leaving over an addition is bizarre Excuse . No they were negotiating there own deal even as they charged their chosen commissioner to find new football members.With the intent to destroy the old conference.
They also voted to exclude UConn from the final Big East tourney which is hilarious as we were the only founding member staying in conference.
It sad to see any conference destroyed especially one with a history. I was appalled when I looked at the WAC . But seeing the AAC destroyed is particularly difficult.
Partly because we were a co - founder and partly because of the key role it played in the resurrection of Eastern Basketball and later football.
I suspect I could take solace in the fact that The Big East/ AAC had been the only conference that have had teams elevated to power conferences
Even TCU was a member of the AAC when they were picked by the Big 12. I think they even paid an exit fee but never played a game.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

So isn't the AAC basically just C-USA under the name of the AAC now? I mean Memphis, SMU, ECU, Tulane, etc. were all C-USA schools within the last decade and now they're just adding more C-USA schools. Just drop the AAC name and call it what it is...Conference USA.

^This, especially after both Old Dominion and Southern Miss just announcing this week that they are bolting the C-USA for the Sun Belt.

As it stands, currently only six C-USA teams have not been affected by conference changes from this fall: Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, UTEP, Florida International, MTSU.

Four of those are solid basketball schools, so I'm curious where they will go and/or if the C-USA tries to expand.

 

[bendm]

Conference USA in negotiations with New Mexico State, Liberty, UConn: Source

The potential additions come as C-USA is down to six current members. Six C-USA schools are set to join the American Athletic Conference in the coming years and two more are set to join the Sun Belt, with Marshall potentially leaving C-USA to join the Sun Belt as well.

theathletic.com

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Conference USA in negotiations with New Mexico State, Liberty, UConn: Source

The potential additions come as C-USA is down to six current members. Six C-USA schools are set to join the American Athletic Conference in the coming years and two more are set to join the Sun Belt, with Marshall potentially leaving C-USA to join the Sun Belt as well.

theathletic.com

This would absolutely be a terrible move just two days after I praised the administration for getting it right two years ago. Please don't fuc this up by joining that crappy C-USA

 

[husky8273]

'Do you even have a point here, beyond the entirely irrelevant "the sunbelt is better for football than the northeast?'
ftfy.
i did not say, ever, that the sunbelt is better than the northeast.
nor have i said, ever, that the sunbelt is worse than the northeast, cuz
anywhere can be a great place if you like it, while nowhere can be a great place if you don't.

the point is, mebbe our local culture is becoming an obstacle to a widely popular, deeply ingrained American pastime, clouding our ability to recognize that colleges with 20, 30, or 40 thousand students, fine facilities, large endowments, and world class offerings may, just may, be continuing to move smartly into the future by improving their brand.
now, which football school from where in the nation cancelled last season, hmmmmm?
now, why does the nation's largest city, population almost 9 million, have zero fbs programs, especially since that/this area was foundational to the whole 'big time pigskin' beginnings, before radio, then radio, then the b+w tv, and all the guys with hats and cigars, the whole shebang.
gone.
'friday night lights' is a big deal in the vast majority of the country. mebbe i like it, mebbe i don't -it doesn't matter, but i certainly won't hate on folks who enjoy and support it, a very normal game and culture, and i'll cheer for any school that is actively working to improve their stock, and the benefits it brings to their student and alumni bodies.
once upon a time when Fairfield U had a football team, the new york giants regularly summer camped there. here's a pic of carl 'spider' lockhart back then at the camp,

today?
The End of An Era: Fairfield University’s Forgotten Football Program – Clara Whalen (wordpress.com)

Spider Lockhart??

 

[Greedo]

Conference USA in negotiations with New Mexico State, Liberty, UConn: Source

The potential additions come as C-USA is down to six current members. Six C-USA schools are set to join the American Athletic Conference in the coming years and two more are set to join the Sun Belt, with Marshall potentially leaving C-USA to join the Sun Belt as well.

theathletic.com

I may stop watching the football team if this happens. One of the things getting me through this season is the independent schedule.

 

[Austin316]

 

[Austin316]

Conference USA in negotiations with New Mexico State, Liberty, UConn: Source

The potential additions come as C-USA is down to six current members. Six C-USA schools are set to join the American Athletic Conference in the coming years and two more are set to join the Sun Belt, with Marshall potentially leaving C-USA to join the Sun Belt as well.

theathletic.com

We told them to kick rocks

 

[huskymedic]

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Spider Lockhart??

for some unknown reason to me, carl lockhart and his teammate homer jones, register in the minds of longtime giant fans as codewords for the 60s/early 70s teams, which were pretty bad. apparently, each had a season or two when they were 'all-stars' or had all-starlike performances, so i guess some fans remember that. seemingly similar to the yankees thing of that era, where you can hear 'the horace clark' years as a codeword for those 60s/early 70s teams which also were pretty bad.
u'd think bad teams from half a century ago would fade in the fans memories but somehow these names still hang around in the memory of some oldtimers, prolly cuz that was also the time when the mets, jets, and knicks had their moment in the sun, drawing a strong contrast.
i wonder if there are similar 'names' for a sox, pats, or c's lousy era?

 

[Austin316]

In other words…. The evaluation of C-USA does not equate to UConn’s long term scope of success. A harsh reality. There is no shame in holding out as an FB-independent

 

[Waquoit]

Honestly, doesn't that sound accurate? UConn will (and should) always take a call.

 

[husky8273]

for some unknown reason to me, carl lockhart and his teammate homer jones, register in the minds of longtime giant fans as codewords for the 60s/early 70s teams, which were pretty bad. apparently, each had a season or two when they were 'all-stars' or had all-starlike performances, so i guess some fans remember that. seemingly similar to the yankees thing of that era, where you can hear 'the horace clark' years as a codeword for those 60s/early 70s teams which also were pretty bad.
u'd think bad teams from half a century ago would fade in the fans memories but somehow these names still hang around in the memory of some oldtimers, prolly cuz that was also the time when the mets, jets, and knicks had their moment in the sun, drawing a strong contrast.
i wonder if there are similar 'names' for a sox, pats, or c's lousy era?

that was Spider in the photo. The Giants were in the playoffs in 1963 and not again until 1981.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Spider Lockhart??

I went to a couple of Giant practices with my friend at .
I wasn’t a Giant Fan but I did see Meadowlark Lemon there once.
I was more excited about him than seeing the football players, )although I marveled at how thin Del Shofner was)
I believe ML was a local and he was with his son who played football locally.