AAC & Grant-of-Rights

[Towney007]

I get it but a lot of posters here have been pretending the two leagues are on equal footing in basketball or the AAC is even better than the Big East. I don't understand the point of pretending.

There has been a lot of crazy stuff said in this thread. Yes.

 

[gampelcrazies]

Everyone here is acting like UConn football has never won a damn thing in it's history.

It wasn't that long ago that we won 33 games over a 4 year period and including two conference titles against programs that we supposedly can't or won't be able to ever compete against again.

The last handful of seasons have been brutal in losing our league, going through multiple coaches, but this idea we can never compete is a defeatist attitude.

Someday we may need to kill the program for financial reasons, but I'll be damned if it's to play Creighton, Butler and St. John's twice a year.

So it’s ok to play Tulane, Tulsa and ecu twice a year because our football team blows?

 

[Towney007]

So it’s ok to play lose to Tulane, Tulsa and ecu twice a year in front of nobody, at a loss because our football team blows?

fixed it.

 

[JMick]

How did UCF do it without a 5 year plan? Just curious.

They put the school in Florida

 

[UConn Dan]

So it’s ok to play Tulane, Tulsa and ecu twice a year because our football team blows?

the ends justify the means

we're not at our final destination, and I say this driving behind a giant truck carrying giants logs

 

[CL82]

I'm too lazy this morning to go back in this thread and find it but I assumed you were saying that you will just wait for the inevitable P5 invite to come. My point? I don't think it is.

Yeah, maybe it is better to just answer each post, because that's not what we were talking about at all.

 

[yukonfan4]

i would like nothing more than to be proven wrong by getting a P5 invite, and i will get no satisfaction out of saying "i told you so" when we don't.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Listen I lost 5 years of my limited life expectancy on Conference Realignment that amounted to endless and usually almost groundless speculation. I refused to be sucked in.
Let’s talk basketball.

 

[superjohn]

Everyone here is acting like UConn football has never won a damn thing in it's history.

It wasn't that long ago that we won 33 games over a 4 year period and including two conference titles against programs that we supposedly can't or won't be able to ever compete against again.

The last handful of seasons have been brutal in losing our league, going through multiple coaches, but this idea we can never compete is a defeatist attitude.

Someday we may need to kill the program for financial reasons, but I'll be damned if it's to play Creighton, Butler and St. John's twice a year.

That was 9 years ago when UConn played in the Fiesta Bowl and the coach sold out his own players. It's been such a disaster since that UConn crawled back with their tail tucked between their legs because they couldn't come up with or aren't willing to spend the money it takes to hire a real football coach to run a real football program. That coach has rewarded us with a historically bad football team in return and has said it will take 5 years to field a competitive football team.

Paying a lousy sum to a lousy coach who already burned his players and the school once before and has said it will take 5 years for them to ever be competitive is about the most deaftist thing you can possibly do and just delaying the inevitble while wasting more money we don't have.

Funny you would sneeze at playing basketball schools twice a year when we are currently playing the third best team in Oklahoma and the 6th and 7th best team in Texas every year.

 

[BY06518]

Everyone here is acting like UConn football has never won a damn thing in it's history.

It wasn't that long ago that we won 33 games over a 4 year period and including two conference titles against programs that we supposedly can't or won't be able to ever compete against again.

The last handful of seasons have been brutal in losing our league, going through multiple coaches, but this idea we can never compete is a defeatist attitude.

Someday we may need to kill the program for financial reasons, but I'll be damned if it's to play Creighton, Butler and St. John's twice a year.

They haven't won a thing. Getting blown out by Oklahoma in the Fiesta bowl was embarrassing. Kill the program and focus on what made us UConn and that's Basketball.

 

[superjohn]

I don't really follow conference alignment so excuse my ignorance. Isn't the presumed long term plan of the P5 schools to go to 16 each and possibly separate themselves from the rest of the schools, keeping all that money to themselves? In that case, it would be ACC or bust and while our chances would be slim, the only hope we have is to get our football program to be just mediocre enough to be their most viable option. We have by far the best brand remaining, albeit with the worst football program.

I have a hard time imagining an NCAA tournament without allowing schools like UConn and Nova being eligible but isn't this the long term worry?

Some people will tell you that but they're talking out of their arses.

 

[Towney007]

That was 9 years ago when UConn played in the Fiesta Bowl and the coach sold out his own players. It's been such a disaster since that UConn crawled back with their tail tucked between their legs because they couldn't come up with or aren't willing to spend the money it takes to hire a real football coach to run a real football program. That coach has rewarded us with a historically bad football team in return and has said it will take 5 years to field a competitive football team.

Paying a lousy sum to a lousy coach who already burned his players and the school once before and has said it will take 5 years for them to ever be competitive is about the most deaftist thing you can possibly do and just delaying the inevitble while wasting more money we don't have.

Funny you would sneeze at playing basketball schools twice a year when we are currently playing the third best team in Oklahoma and the 6th and 7th best team in Texas every year.

Anyone who thinks that saving football is the priority at this point isn't someone we should be listening to, tbh. The only question is what we do with it while we save the basketball program.

I was 100% on board w/ waiting for the realignment thing to shake itself out and to give them some time to figure things out and hopefully turn it around - but the dominoes are going to fall earlier than everyone thought it seems and that program isn't going to get anymore time. They're out of time, basically. Keeping football relevant really isn't or shouldn't be part of the conversation at this point. Because I don't think it's possible to keep it relevant.

 

[Pudge]

Crazed

Love how the comparable of one year - or 5 year - TV revenue (BE to AAC) ignored the Burton, Schenk, Rentschler and bucco ancillary investments this UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT has made in football. And YES ... playing in the Fiesta should be considered eye-popping considering the Yankee Conference origins. 40 Programs have risen from FCS/D1 status to FBS since 1994. This run of three stumbling bumbling Football strings points out the obvious: it is really incredibly hard construct to win and have a FBS program in New England. We knew that going in - at least Lew Perkins told us that.

Nobody walks away from Football after the Investment this University has put into it. We aren't Northeastern or Hofstra. We are in this to be good.

When stable ... we can be the Best CR candidate. Some of that is reliant on You ... our Fanbase ... and that concerns me.

Hey Folks ... Saint Joseph's just started a Hoop Program; and it's Catholic. With a Charismatic Coach. Go root for them to take the Connecticut spot in BE.

 

[Towney007]

Nobody walks away from Football after the Investment this University has put into it

First time for everything.

 

[StunningSteve]

Where do people think these schools are going? The Big 12 already passed on everyone in the AAC.

The Big 12 is a microcosm of the realignment tug-o-war wrapped in one conference.
On one side you have OU and UT, who live by their own rules (own conference network, etc), and on the other side you have the ‘others’, who live by OU/UTs rules (including voting the way they want) for fear of upsetting them to the point that they leave.
It’s the Haves and Have-nots all contained in one league. It’s not a democracy.
They will never expand. The last dog and pony expansion show was a ploy to fatten their wallets. UT/OU weren’t content with the share they were getting previously. The notion they will put two more chairs at the table is as silly as UT’s public support of Houston during the beauty pageant.

 

[StunningSteve]

First time for everything.

Actually UAB tried a couple years ago. This season they’re bowling again.
So perhaps if UConn engages the process, it will improve the football team.

 

[yukonfan4]

@Pudge- based on your profile pic you should know better than anyone that uconn is the charlie brown of football programs

a swing and miss laughingstock over and over and over again

 

[LBird33]

How did UCF do it without a 5 year plan? Just curious.

Great question. !!!

 

[HuskyHawk]

One of the most perplexing concepts in this thread is the notion that basketball needs to be "saved". It did need to be saved and we hired Hurley so now it has been saved. Mission accomplished.

Given that basketball is now just fine, why would UConn entertain the idea of leaving a conference that preserves the chance of a P5 invite, provides greater media exposure and which will pay them more money soon than the Big East will ever earn? Playing St. Johns isn't worth a permanent spot in purgatory.

 

[StunningSteve]

So it’s ok to play Tulane, Tulsa and ecu twice a year because our football team blows?

AAC doesn’t have round robin scheduling. The top teams only play the bottom teams once.
Tulsa just beat two B12 teams last week tho, so they have work to do to reach the one-off level. (Something you can root for)

 

[Dooley]

Anyone who thinks that saving football is the priority at this point isn't someone we should be listening to, tbh. The only question is what we do with it while we save the basketball program.

I was 100% on board w/ waiting for the realignment thing to shake itself out and to give them some time to figure things out and hopefully turn it around - but the dominoes are going to fall earlier than everyone thought it seems and that program isn't going to get anymore time. They're out of time, basically. Keeping football relevant really isn't or shouldn't be part of the conversation at this point. Because I don't think it's possible to keep it relevant.

Ironically, the football program and basketball program both have "UConn" written on their jerseys. I assure you (and all others) that it is indeed possible to root for BOTH the football and basketball teams at the same time.

A successful football program re-opens the door to the ACC and, you guessed it, cementing basketball in a power conference and the national stage that it deserves to be on.

By continuing this dead horse debate, UConn fans are shooting themselves in the foot. Both feet actually.

 

[yukonfan4]

hurley's contract is for 6 years. all the dust from the next conference realignment will have settled by 2025, which is (gulp) also in 6 years....

god i hope he signs a looooong extension before then.

because you cant blame him for leaving if the future AAC is only comprised of uconn, tulane, tulsa, temple, ecu, smu, and wichita/navy.

 

[Adios]

Listen I lost 5 years of my limited life expectancy on Conference Realignment that amounted to endless and usually almost groundless speculation. I refused to be sucked in.
Let’s talk basketball.

Don't listen to armchair administrators on message boards.

 

[VAHuskyFan]

One of the most perplexing concepts in this thread is the notion that basketball needs to be "saved". It did need to be saved and we hired Hurley so now it has been saved. Mission accomplished.

Given that basketball is now just fine, why would UConn entertain the idea of leaving a conference that preserves the chance of a P5 invite, provides greater media exposure and which will pay them more money soon than the Big East will ever earn? Playing St. Johns isn't worth a permanent spot in purgatory.

How does bleeding out 8 figures annually to field a historically bad football team put us in a better position for a P5 invite than suspending the program and using the money we would have spent to build a war chest to relaunch football in a P5 conference?

How does simply having a team help us if the team isn’t winning, fans aren’t watching, and we aren’t in a position to try to spend our way out of the death spiral? The coach and AD don’t even seem to think we’ll be competitive for another two years. And that’s their BEST CASE scenario. We will be playing in front of 5,000 people by then and even deeper in the red financially. How does any of that help us get into a P5 conference?

 

[Adios]

Ironically, the football program and basketball program both have "UConn" written on their jerseys. I assure you (and all others) that it is indeed possible to root for BOTH the football and basketball teams at the same time.

A successful football program re-opens the door to the ACC and, you guessed it, cementing basketball in a power conference and the national stage that it deserves to be on.

By continuing this dead horse debate, UConn fans are shooting themselves in the foot. Both feet actually.

It's amazing how idiotic our fanbase can be.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

They haven't won a thing. Getting blown out by Oklahoma in the Fiesta bowl was embarrassing. Kill the program and focus on what made us UConn and that's Basketball.

They won two conference titles in a BCS league. Whether you want to admit that or not, it counts. We can win here. It'll be harder in the AAC but it can be done.

Getting into a P5 league playing football is the only viable long term solution to the athletic department as a whole.

The Big East is a good basketball league, but it isn't the one we left and I'm not going to throw away the chance to be relevant in 20 years just to play in the New Big East.

If it 10 years we can no longer support football, so be it. Just know that basketball will be following shortly behind.

 

[TRest]

It's amazing how idiotic our fanbase can be.

Yes, its pretty amazing all right.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Great question. !!!

So a couple things to consider. When they went 0-12, the cupboard was not bare. They were 9 and 4 the previous year. The recruiting classes were ranked in the high 60's for 2014/15/16...which is a solid class in the AAC. So that is how they did it.

 

[yukonfan4]

Getting into a P5 league playing football is the only viable long term solution to the athletic department as a whole.

didn't villanova just win 2 chips in 3 years playing in the big east, which is not a P5?

how much more relevant can you get? why are you doubting their athletic departments long term viability?

if you're claiming their bball team is an outlier then please explain how their other teams have suffered or are failing since joining the new big east e.g. baseball, lacrosse, soccer, track, golf, swimming, etc. and the womens teams.

 

[StunningSteve]

So a couple things to consider. When they went 0-12, the cupboard was not bare. They were 9 and 4 the previous year. The recruiting classes were ranked in the high 60's for 2014/15/16...which is a solid class in the AAC. So that is how they did it.

All it takes is the right hire/vision.

Memphis and Temple were both bottom feeders prior to the AAC. Memphis hired Fuente and Temple hired Rhule.
Temple has already won the conference and Memphis has appeared in the last two championship games. Both programs have put first rounders in the draft.
UConn was ahead of both those programs prior to Diaco. Hell, Temple got kicked out of the real Big East conference.