AAC makes it tougher to build a team from scratch

[billybud]

Even the ACC was taken by surprise by the importance of football...

Swofford said that up through the 90's, that basketball earned more than football...then the tide turned. Swofford said, in 2012, that 80% of the rights monies were from football.

From 2012:

"In the ACC, there is a legitimate divide, or battle lines drawn if you will. North Carolina and Duke sit on one end of the spectrum while Florida State, Clemson and Virginia Tech fall opposite of them. That line cuts through the sand at "what's most important" for a university community to strive for greatness, in the athletic realm.

For Florida State, Clemson and Virginia Tech the answer is simple, football is where they have constructed their identity and how they are building their brand. On the UNC and Duke side, they have opted to tie themselves to basketball.

Well, in the wake of expansion and the numbers piling up with television, we have a clear right and wrong. A winner and a loser of sorts. A right way and a wrong way.

The writing is on the wall. In growing a basketball first league the ACC has effectively limited itself from cashing in the way other conferences have. For all of the passion and the zeal the pockets of fans have during college basketball season; they do not move the meter the way college football does. At least not in the regular season.

As a conference the ACC backed the wrong horse and it is a little late to climb aboard the football train. What happens next is anyone's guess. Certainly pulling Notre Dame in would be great, but the Fighting Irish have no need to make that move until they are at the end of their rope in the big picture.

All you can do is recognize your mistake and hope to fix it in the future. In the case of the ACC, they have to hope they can fix it before things get to a point of no return. As teams look for a way out, a way to make more money, the ACC must come up with a strategy to improve their marketable product.

Losing Florida State, Clemson or Virginia Tech would only serve to further dilute and devalue the football product. That makes the next move in conference expansion even more important for the ACC as they fight to correct their issue."

 

[whaler11]

I know this much... once anyone associated stops laughing from the St Joe’s on TIC news they probably don’t feel a ton of regret.

 

[Redding Husky]

Correct. UConn’s entry into FBS (circa 2000) was the primary factor in us being left out. The commitment to having a top level football program should have happened 50 years earlier. But UConn was a far different place in 1950 than it was in 2000. Our aspirations were quite modest in 1950.

Blumenthol was just the nail in our coffin. He sealed our fate.

 

[uconnbill]

BC kept UConn out and the lawsuit didn't help at all. Those are the two things against UConn in the ACC coming together. I blame BC as much as anything including the Blumenthal who never saw a camera he didn't want to be in front of.

 

[Bobol]

You can believe what you want about Blumenthal, but I can tell you that few years ago I asked an individual who held the title "Senior Associate Athletic Director" at an ACC school about the correlation between Blumenthal's lawsuit and UConn not getting an invite. His reply as a terse "I think it was probably a factor in the decision to not invite UConn".

 

[Chief00]

When a female President of a University doesn’t get her calls returned by a sister University President that tells you something.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You can believe what you want about Blumenthal, but I can tell you that few years ago I asked an individual who held the title "Senior Associate Athletic Director" at an ACC school about the correlation between Blumenthal's lawsuit and UConn not getting an invite. His reply as a terse "I think it was probably a factor in the decision to not invite UConn".

Did any other schools sue the ACC?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

BC didn't want UConn in the ACC. There is no other factor in us being denied. BC destroyed our athletic program.

 

[CL82]

When a female President of a University doesn’t get her calls returned by a sister University President that tells you something.

Shalala had no love for UConn long before Susie got here.

 

[Chief00]

Shalala had no love for UConn long before Susie got here.

True, that’s on Blumenthal. But, Susie did not move the first down yard markers after the penalty flag. .
When people get paid big bucks they are expected to make a difference.

 

[Adios]

BC didn't want UConn in the ACC. There is no other factor in us being denied. BC destroyed our athletic program.

You are emo.

 

[CL82]

True, that’s on Blumenthal. But, Susie did not move the first down yard markers after the penalty flag. .
When people get paid big bucks they are expected to make a difference.

I've post this before, but it makes zero sense to hang our conference affiliation woes on Herbst. The timing just doesn't make sense.

 

[BlueandOG]

The AAC is a good football league. It's not even a bad basketball league if UConn and Memphis rebound.

Your point is valid. UConn acted like a basketball focused school, like say Providence, for too long. We didn't appreciate the overall commitment required to be what is now a P5. I'm not saying we aren't acting like a P5 now, we mostly are. But we were too late to make those changes and investments.

Remaining General Negatives:

• Lack of football history and culture
• Lack of on campus or near campus football stadium
• Lack of fan support in key sports
• Baseball stadium/facilities

This! Well written.

 

[Chief00]

I've post this before, but it makes zero sense to hang our conference affiliation woes on Herbst. The timing just doesn't make sense.

I think “zero” is overstating it. Like in anything, if someone is not well like, it impacts things on the business side. How much, we have argued about and we will never know for sure.

 

[gioff23]

BC didn't want UConn in the ACC. There is no other factor in us being denied. BC destroyed our athletic program.

This confuses the 2 separate expansions. In #1, we were the first partner w/Cuse (not Pitt). In the 2d, we should have been in front of Ville. BC was the impetulant child on #2; frigging Blumenthal owns #1 (and a good piece of #2). Thankfully the good people of CT keep electing him so he can have a platform to continue to spout nonsense from.

 

[whaler11]

I guess the whole no politics on the sports board isn’t waived for bashing bloomie even though Pitt is in the league.

they passed over UConn because of the lawsuit for the school that I believe technically filed the lawsuit.

really anything to not place blame with the ongoing inept leadership

 

[billybud]

I don't think that the law suit made much of a difference in the end...
True, Shalala and BC had not much love for UConn...But

There were the other dynamics... the large increases in football driven media contract money and a "come to Jesus" moment between the ACC football schools and the basketball schools that had been brewing for a while.

If UConn was better thought of as a football program, all would have been forgiven or at least put aside. The ACC was fighting for a spot in the upcoming P5 breakaway...and knew that adding another basketball program would be as helpful as giving a bowler a third leg.

 

[CL82]

I think “zero” is overstating it. Like in anything, if someone is not well like, it impacts things on the business side. How much, we have argued about and we will never know for sure.

Mmm, we kind of can know for much of it. Let's look at them one at a time:

1. For the Cuse and Pitt addition to the ACC the prime factor was ESPN's desire to destabilize the Old Big East and shore up a then shaky ACC. The original targets were Syracuse and UConn. BC was on the expansion committee and, effectively, black balled UConn because (BC) wanted to be the only New England team in the ACC. That's documented. Defilippo bragged about it to Blauds while he was at the Boston Globe. Herbst was not UConn's president.

2. For the Rutgers addition to the Big 10, RU was simply a better choice. It gave the Big entry to the NYC DMA (which would have as well) but NJ 9M people are more than CT's 3M. Add to that that RU was AAU and contiguous with PA and it becomes a clear choice. We know that there are no lawsuit bad feelings here because, no one in the B1G was sued.

3. For the Louisville to the ACC, it is well documented that FSU resented the extent of Tobacco Road's sway in conference. The last addition was, in its view, basketball centered and it made it clear that the failure to go with a strong football school would make FSU consider leaving the conference. Clemson and our old friends BC backed this play. The rest of the conference prudently went along. Now here we may find some agreement in that I feel like Warde and Herbst had a puncher's chance to change minds but they would have had to flown back to the States and worked their butts off. Would it have worked? Unlikely, but possible. Here, Herbst's relationships may have cost her. She relied on a Duke connection, who gave her the Tobacco Road view that UConn would be in. It just happened to be wrong.

4. The Big 12 expansion probably failed with the BYU homosexual scandal. They were the big football school in that expansion. Once they became tainted, expansion was less attractive.

(I feel like I should make this my signature.)

 

[billybud]

Once FSU, Clemson, VT, GT and Miami joined hands to protest more movement towards the northeast and basketball...BC's input became fairly unimportant.

BC wasn't going anywhere, no matter what....but there was a threat that some or all of the football schools would.

Syracuse... was the original choice with BC until the Virginia governor strong armed VT into the ACC...Cuse was Shalala's bride price for bringing Miami (and her alma mater). It was never between UConn and Syracuse...the Syracuse promise had been made.

 

[whaler11]

The Big 12 didn’t expand because expanding with that pool of teams was a horrible idea. The networks made them come to their senses.

 

[Husky25]

This dead horse again?

Was apparently buried in Pet Cemetery.