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Message: [QUOTE="Dooley, post: 2956081, member: 2920"] Bingo. I will never understand the obsession with the Big East either. If we're going to pay an exit fee of $10M-$12M and split up our athletic department, we aren't going to do it to go to a small time conference that consists entirely of members that we have absolutely nothing in common with. And we're certainly not going to do it to go to a conference that will, in about 12 months, make less TV money than our current AAC conference. We could, in theory, pay the exit fee and split up our AD for an arrangement with a P5 conference. Something along the lines of full-time hoops in ACC/Big 10/Big12 and a part-time football scheduling arrangement similar to Notre Dame & the ACC (ex - 5 games a year). We would keep our school and AD in the national public eye and not have to drop football. Also would establish a relationship with a P5 conference for any potential future expansion. I'm not saying that that will happen...but it's the ONLY exit fee / AD split option that actually makes sense for UConn hoops AND football going forward. I think there are UConn fans who have some sort of weird inferiority, defeatist complex. I also think there are plenty of UConn fans who don't realize just how big the UConn brand actually is. We have a head coach now that understands just how huge the UConn brand is and is recruiting like it...and in the meantime, showing that the AAC conference was [B][U]never[/U][/B] a deterrent to recruiting top level talent. Losing and poor coaching was our only deterrent. Period. This constant and endless Big East debate only accomplishes what it was designed to do by the dopes at ESPiN who started it: splits our fanbase in two and hurts UConn in all sports in trying to gain an advantage in recruiting and winning. When a head coach at one of our recruiting competitors can go into a recruit's home and use this Big East nonsense against us and Television Execs at ESPiN (and others) can use it to drive down the price of the next deal that we would benefit from, it's the very definition of UConn fans being more than willing to shoot themselves in both feet and complain about it. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach