AAC & Grant-of-Rights

[HuskyHawk]

Of the research schools with international reputation only Georgetown remains.

And on that front USF, Cinci and Tulane demolish the rest of them. UCF possibly as well.

I realize that this is New England and people have a narrow parochial view of the world, but are we really this out of touch? Small liberal arts schools are not what UConn aspires to be, no matter how selective their admissions.

 

[Guapo]

And on that front USF, Cinci and Tulane demolish the rest of them. UCF possibly as well.

I realize that this is New England and people have a narrow parochial view of the world, but are we really this out of touch? Small liberal arts schools are not what UConn aspires to be, no matter how selective their admissions.

Of those schools, only Tulane is legit.

Yeah the other schools have a reputation...and that reputation is that they are rubbish. If you walk into a office here in Atlanta holding a piece of paper from UCF or Memphis, you’ll get laughed out of the building.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Villanova is a research institution with, at least, a national brand (and 3 national championships)

UConn ranks 51 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – University of Connecticut

Villanova ranks 282 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – Villanova University

Cinci 67 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – University of Cincinnati: Data All

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Why is it too big? What do we have invested in it? Im genuinely curious.

I visited Connecticut last weekend and it was truly eye opening. My cousin goes to URI and we went to the URI Providence game and it was electric. Great atmosphere at a fun arena.

We drove by Rentschler Field and it is embarassing. Attendance is a joke. It would seem like football costs the University money.

UConn currently has the worst rated AAC recruiting class and 128th class nationally. How does it change? How does it get better?

I am a KU graduate and our football was recently in a similar spot. KU finally made the financial commitment and brought in a legit coach and gave him money to build a competent staff. Do you ever see UConn doing that?

You drove past a football stadium with no game going on and you are comparing it to a basketball game between bitter rivals. Jumping from basketball to football and back. Tell me again about all this KU football success.

 

[upstater]

UConn ranks 51 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – University of Connecticut

Villanova ranks 282 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – Villanova University

Cinci 67 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – University of Cincinnati: Data All

And within those links it shows Villanova at $19 million of research. NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – Villanova University : Total R&D expenditures, by source of funds and R&D field: 2017

By comparison, there are MAC schools with half a billion in research more than Villanova. More than 25x as much research as Villanova.

 

[Guapo]

UConn ranks 51 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – University of Connecticut

Villanova ranks 282 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – Villanova University

Cinci 67 NSF – NCSES Academic Institution Profiles – University of Cincinnati: Data All

Yes, UC is a better school than Villanova.....lol

 

[Ajs120102]

Also kinda not buying this whole GOR story. It makes no sense. Most of these schools wouldn’t sign it. And why would the rest of the rest of the AAC accept a lesser pay out then the rest of the school? Like it doesn’t make sense.

 

[Guapo]

Astonishing how people don’t understand how academics work.

 

[Towney007]

We're officially in a world where people are trying to make a case Cincinnati is a better school than Villanova.

Good lord.

 

[yukonfan4]

who started talking about academics? and why? the decision to leave the aac for the big east will come down to 1) money and 2) athletics. in that order.

the board of trustees is not signing this deal or any other with president herbst leaving next summer.

 

[Dooley]

UConn's Tier 3 rights are the most valuable in the entire AAC. But if signing a GOR pays $10M/yr, we'd be foolish not to sign it. We're not going anywhere while our football program is extremely underfunded and winning 1 game a year. The only P5 conference that could conceivably expand in the next 5 years is the Big 12 and the Big 12 does not care one bit about academics, markets, or basketball. Their expansion list will be 100% entirely on football record from the past few years and that eliminates us. UCF, Houston, Cincinnati, USF, Memphis...2 or 4 of them would be gone and that leaves us in a terrible position.

 

[Towney007]

who started talking about academics? and why? the decision to leave the aac for the big east will come down to 1) money 2) athletics 3) academics. in that order.

mmmmm probably 1.) money; 2.) money; and 3.) money.


The problem is we're in this conference for football. We're not good at it when everyone else is. So our revenue sharing is going to be camel spit from the looks of things.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We're officially in a world where people are trying to make a case Cincinnati is a better school than Villanova.

Good lord.

Better for what? Better as a liberal arts school? No.
Undergraduate Engineering? Even USNWR has Cinci #86 and Nova #107.
Their law schools are ranked similarly. How about Graduate Sciences?
Villanova doesn't even have any.

 

[StepbackCity]

Dan is definitely the guy to push UConn to the Big East. Hell, he’s been ripping the XL Center already, so he knows what’s up.

 

[FriarJ]

I’m not so sure about that. The AAC tv contract will pay more per year but you have to subtract the operational costs from running the football program.

Once you do that, the NBE tv deal could make UConn more money year to year.

But, then again, you also have the IMG contract, Nike contract etc. which is why they won’t straight up drop football (but might move on from the AAC).

One thing that needs to be understood in all this, Fox is heavily involved with anything that MSG and the BE is doing, it is a tight 3 way partnership and if an 11th school (UConn) is being considered, you can bet that Fox Sports is talking about an extension as well with more $. The dates will all line up. Something is happening here. My guess is that Aresco knows UConn is talking to the BE and this GOR discussion is in response to that.

On a side note Upstater is obviously mentally ill, again

 

[ConnHuskBask]

@FriarJ you mentioned in another post 1 or 2 schools you could think could be in discussions - aside from UConn, who else would the BE even consider?

 

[conorg223]

We've known for over a year that this AAC media negotiation would be "multiples of current deal" per Aresco's appearance last winter on a USF podcast. We've also known the Big Priest would expand to 20 conferences games for some time as well--hence the need to add an 11th team. To think the AD David Benedict and the Board of Trustees hasn't seen this coming is foolish. We'll know the specifics on the new deal post-February when Aresco meets 1-to-1 with ESPN execs. And for those that think St. Joe's is the 11th member, perhaps consider Nova's reaction to that news, realizing the Philly market would be simply duplicated and local foe would now be in-conference. The favorite is St. Louis University by a long shot should Fox be unwilling to buy-out UConn's AAC $10MM buyout.

 

[HawkHusky]

@FriarJ you mentioned in another post 1 or 2 schools you could think could be in discussions - aside from UConn, who else would the BE even consider?

Guessing St Louis.

 

[FriarJ]

@FriarJ you mentioned in another post 1 or 2 schools you could think could be in discussions - aside from UConn, who else would the BE even consider?

It would only be for Gonzaga but they would have to park all other sports but woman's basketball somewhere, UConn would only have FB to worry about. A big worry of course but not insurmountable. Any talk you hear about other schools is lunacy, especially Midwest schools, going to 11 has to add supreme value to MSG and Fox and the other conference members, only 2 meet that criteria. Outside of Notre Dame of course.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

It would only be for Gonzaga but they would have to park all other sports but woman's basketball somewhere, UConn would only have FB to worry about. A big worry of course but not insurmountable. Any talk you hear about other schools is lunacy, going to 11 has to add supreme value to MSG and Fox and the other conference members, only 2 meet that criteria. Outside of Notre Dame of course.

Guessing St Louis.

St. Louis has been thrown out a few times, but I don't get the allure. 60% attendance in their new-ish stadium. 0 Sweet 16s since 1957. No draw in NYC for the Tournament.

Gonzaga to the BE, while makes sense on the floor, would be the cherry on top of conference re-alignment lunacy. A team in Washington state and Washington DC.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Astonishing how people don’t understand how academics work.

It is astonishing. The old model of "this school is better than that school" is gone. Out the window. Sure Stanford is better than Memphis at everything, but if you don't think USF, UCF, Cinci and others are better than a mediocre liberal arts schools like Villanova at many things, then you aren't paying attention.

Employers know who puts out good grads in Physics, Math, Chemistry, Accounting, every engineering field etc. And in many cases it is not the "name" schools that you think it is.
Wichita State is no academic powerhouse, but if you want to be an Aerospace engineer it's better than most. And the people at Boeing know it. University of Alabama Birmingham, can't be any good right? Except the Med school is excellent.

New Englanders over-emphasize liberal arts (which is being de-emphasized by employers and students) and perceived "prestige". There is good reason, we are loaded with very good small liberal arts schools, and have very few strong graduate research and science focused schools (with a few obvious exceptions like MIT).

 

[Guapo]

St. Louis has been thrown out a few times, but I don't get the allure. 60% attendance in their new-ish stadium. 0 Sweet 16s since 1957. No draw in NYC for the Tournament.

Gonzaga to the BE, while makes sense on the floor, would be the cherry on top of conference re-alignment lunacy. A team in Washington state and Washington DC.

“that’s a really big East you got there”

 

[Towney007]

Better for what? Better as a liberal arts school? No.
Undergraduate Engineering? Even USNWR has Cinci #86 and Nova #107.
Their law schools are ranked similarly. How about Graduate Sciences?
Villanova doesn't even have any.

What on god's green earth are you talking about? Are you just cherry picking majors you like or something? I can't believe i'm fighting on the internet about something this silly. Here's the national rankings


Villanova is ranked the 49th school in the United States this year.

Cincinnati is ranked #147th. Full stop.

Cincinnati isn't and hasn't ever been a better school than Villanova. Might have some majors that are better. But it's not a better school.

If it's better, why isn't it ranked anywhere near as well?

 

[Towney007]

It is astonishing. The old model of "this school is better than that school" is gone. Out the window. Sure Stanford is better than Memphis at everything, but if you don't think USF, UCF, Cinci and others are better than a mediocre liberal arts schools like Villanova at many things, then you aren't paying attention.

Employers know who puts out good grads in Physics, Math, Chemistry, Accounting, every engineering field etc. And in many cases it is not the "name" schools that you think it is.
Wichita State is no academic powerhouse, but if you want to be an Aerospace engineer it's better than most. And the people at Boeing know it. University of Alabama Birmingham, can't be any good right? Except the Med school is excellent.

New Englanders over-emphasize liberal arts (which is being de-emphasized by employers and students) and perceived "prestige". There is good reason, we are loaded with very good small liberal arts schools, and have very few strong graduate research and science focused schools (with a few obvious exceptions like MIT).

What are you talking about? College has always been this way.

Springfield College was mostly a crappy school. But if you want to be in sports they crank out execs. Purdue's only claim to fame was being Notre Dame's version of the Washington Generals. But their engineering school was outstanding. Creighton was mostly a dump unless you wanted to be a doctor.

This isn't new at all.

 

[HawkHusky]

One thing that needs to be understood in all this, Fox is heavily involved with anything that MSG and the BE is doing, it is a tight 3 way partnership and if an 11th school (UConn) is being considered, you can bet that Fox Sports is talking about an extension as well with more $. The dates will all line up. Something is happening here. My guess is that Aresco knows UConn is talking to the BE and this GOR discussion is in response to that.

On a side note Upstater is obviously mentally ill, again

How quickly and easily the Big East got the MSG renewal makes me wonder if they know something. I also think that Fox gaining complete control of UConn MBB and WBB from underneath ESPN's nose could be worth them giving UConn a rather enticing football independence deal.