ACC rumor from the Fat White Guy

[btstimpy]

Mr Virginia... Um... November 2nd 1995. Virginia 33 Florida State 28 in CVille.

Would you like to take a swing at what day of the week that was?

I guess it was Thursday. That seems like an eternity ago. I wish UVA would get back to playing football like they did then though. It's going to take a lot of work.

 

[sportsart]

Hey btstimpy...

What are your thoughts on the UVA coaches that appear to be heading our way. Poindexter and Brown.

 

[btstimpy]

Hey btstimpy...

What are your thoughts on the UVA coaches that appear to be heading our way. Poindexter and Brown.

I'm not happy with any of the UVA coaches at the moment. I think we need to clean house and start over. I don't fault either of these coaches though.

However, Poindexter is an icon at UVA as a player, and he does a good job motivating the players. He's been an assistant for a while under 2 head coaches. He's coached various positions on offense and defense as well as special teams. Diaco and Poindexter coached together on Al Groh's staff. UVA had a great season in 2007 when they were there together. Poindexter was a heck of a defensive player and special teams player. I'm not sure how Diaco plans to use him. Diaco himself is a defensive coach, so perhaps on defense.

Brown hasn't been there as long. He's been a lower level assistant on the Defense. I think most recently coaching linebackers. He was a grad assistant when Diaco was at UVA. So I imagine he will also coach some defensive unit at UConn.

 

[hthusky74]

Calhoun saying what he said wasn't brave, or courageous, or valiant. He was pissed off and spoke his mind. Is what it is, but was not a display of bravery.

No, it was a display of honesty which is something that the good priests at BC seemed to be lacking.

 

[SAMCRO]

No, it was a display of honesty which is something that the good priests at BC seemed to be lacking.

Agreed. Spoke his mind = honest. Didn't make it brave.

 

[The Viking]

Calhoun saying what he said wasn't brave, or courageous, or valiant. He was pissed off and spoke his mind. Is what it is, but was not a display of bravery.

Speaking your mind can be brave also, while keeping quite and bending over as some other BE schools did in order to not piss off the backstabbing Fr. Leahy is cowardice.

Keep in mind when I say brave, I'm not talking storming Normandy. There are different forms of bravery.

 

[SAMCRO]

Speaking your mind can be brave also, while keeping quite and bending over as some other BE schools did in order to not piss off the backstabbing Fr. Leahy is cowardice.

Keep in mind when I say brave, I'm not talking storming Normandy. There are different forms of bravery.

I hear ya Viking. Agree to disagree on if it was "brave" or not.

 

[UConn990411]

Also possible they may have heard same chatter through similar channels.

Voices in their head?

 

[Stinger92860]

Voices in their head?

Not Rob.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

don't give in so easily. BC is at least 2 miles from the Atlantic coast.

I just can't bring myself to do that. Sorry, dude.

Yes, but Chestnut Hill is a suburban Newton neighborhood most definitely not on the Atlantic and even Swofford was backed into taking the non-existent Boston College University. Don't feel bad about being wrong, many others screwed up as well!

 

[WestHartHusk]

UConn as #16. In for all sports, except football on a similar scheduling arrangement as ND (until ND joins or leaves in which case the football schools still get to pick the hot team at the moment). I don't love it, but we are where we are.

 

[GG]

UConn as #16. In for all sports, except football on a similar scheduling arrangement as ND (until ND joins or leaves in which case the football schools still get to pick the hot team at the moment). I don't love it, but we are where we are.[/quotes

Are you speculating??

 

[WestHartHusk]

Sorry, totally speculating. It kinda makes sense. It will never happen.

 

[pj]

UConn as #16. In for all sports, except football on a similar scheduling arrangement as ND (until ND joins or leaves in which case the football schools still get to pick the hot team at the moment). I don't love it, but we are where we are.

As long as we have the option of leaving without an exit fee or loss of media rights if we get a B1G invitation (or at least, if we can force the ACC to give us full membership or let us go without an exit fee or loss of rights in that case), then this would be fine. I would hate to be in a situation where we are permanent second-class citizens and can't afford to leave because of an onerous exit fee or GoR.

 

[WestHartHusk]

At this point, I may even be willing to accept an onerous exit fee with the condition that if ND enters or leaves the ACC then we are an automatic add in football. The worst case is that ND stays independent forever in football, but that would at least mean there is a path for an independent-ish school to make the playoffs, and I can live with that.

 

[Fishy]

The only way UConn might go to the ACC is if Notre Dame decides that they're going to join.

And Notre Dame is not going to do that, so that's pretty much that.

I still don't see the Big Ten thing happening either, but others do.

 

[NickyNewark]

If the B1G is as business savvy as everyone seems to think I don't see them leaving an open gap in or very near their perceived footprint by a valuable property like UConn for someone else to gash them? Its just great business sense to grab UConn's winning brand and grow the FB program together binding NYC on both sides with RU on the south and UConn protecting the New England flank ! NYC, locked as well as it could be by northern schools AND the B1G alumni base here. Any rumor could start the musical chairs back into motion!!

 

[Stinger92860]

Up this point, have any teams accepted partial payouts? I would accept a 50% payout for the next 25 years to get into a P5 conference.

 

[specialisthusky]

Up this point, have any teams accepted partial payouts? I would accept a 50% payout for the next 25 years to get into a P5 conference.

WVU and TCU are on partial payout plans.

 

[WestHartHusk]

So is Rutgers for 5 years, I think. Even Nebraska was on a reduced payout at first.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

If the B1G is as business savvy as everyone seems to think I don't see them leaving an open gap in or very near their perceived footprint by a valuable property like UConn for someone else to gash them? Its just great business sense to grab UConn's winning brand and grow the FB program together binding NYC on both sides with RU on the south and UConn protecting the New England flank ! NYC, locked as well as it could be by northern schools AND the B1G alumni base here. Any rumor could start the musical chairs back into motion!!

It makes sense, which is why it won’t happen.
UConn is the last ‘free’ state flagship university in the Northeast that has a major sports program and is close to AAU standard (ranked above several AAU universities in US News and other reports). In addition, I do not see any of the other state universities in the region moving-up to P5 level in the near future. The states of Maine, New Hampshire (whose politicians hate education), Vermont and Rhode Island are too small to be able to support a D1 sports program financially. UMass has always had potential; but, unfortunately for them, Beacon Hill has no interest in anything outside of I-495 as its legislators are all from BU, BC, Northeastern, Bentley, etc. Their current experiment in the MAC has been a disaster (2013 attendance - 15,800, NCAA minimum requirement to avoid probation - 15,000). Heck, at this point, UMass Lowell has a better chance. New York made a decision years ago to have 4 ‘flagship’ style universities instead of 1 of 2 (California, Michigan, Florida). Of the 4, Albany and Binghamton do not appear at this time to have a chance. Buffalo has been established the longest and has an ambitious AD; but, is not attractive historically or demographically. Stony Brook has the demographics (Long Island, closer to NYC than anyone else outside of Rutgers); but, has not history. Farther South, Temple is a possibility; but, they have issues and the B1G basically covers their market (Philly) with Penn State and Rutgers (I can see the ACC at some point taking Temple to fill in their mid-Atlantic ‘gap’). Maryland is already the B1G’s market with the Terps in the fold and Johns Hopkins aligned for lacrosse, which is huge in that region. That leaves only Delaware, which has the same size issue that the Northern New England states have and appears content to be a power in FCS/D1A football.

 

[NickyNewark]

So is Rutgers for 5 years, I think. Even Nebraska was on a reduced payout at first.

To be fair I'm pretty sure only the ACC's made "instant equals" to their new members SU, Pitt and L'ville next yr unless like in Mds case the moneys frontloaded due to extenuating circumstances(plus they were in a safe conference) to be offset at a later date in which case it all equals out from my understanding of the situation?

 

[Sea Goat]

Up this point, have any teams accepted partial payouts? I would accept a 50% payout for the next 25 years to get into a P5 conference.

This is what I'm talking about re: SH,WM and BOT being creative on CR. We are doing all the right things otherwise, but how do we differentiate ourselves? A 50% discount on payout is steep, but some creative financial incentives would be worth it IMO. Graduating up to full payout almost in a vesting sense might work. Will it matter? Don't know, but it is worth a try. Being consigned to the AAC for any length of time will kill us anyways so why not try!

 

[babysheep]

If the B1G is as business savvy as everyone seems to think I don't see them leaving an open gap in or very near their perceived footprint by a valuable property like UConn for someone else to gash them? Its just great business sense to grab UConn's winning brand and grow the FB program together binding NYC on both sides with RU on the south and UConn protecting the New England flank ! NYC, locked as well as it could be by northern schools AND the B1G alumni base here. Any rumor could start the musical chairs back into motion!!

This point is why I'm still fairly confident UConn will get the invite eventually. Like you said, we are assuming the B1G is business savvy here, so they have to know that RU alone doesn't win them NY. Cuse is a far bigger presence in NY. All Delany has ever talked about re: expansion is NY. If he really wants it as bad as he implies, there's no way he's ready to put all his eggs in RU's basket.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I think we could be in the AAC for quite sometime.

Here are the facts:
-ACC is locked into its contract and GORs. There is little incentive for the ACC or ESPN to open this contract again.
-ACC has 14 football playing members. They won't go to an odd number and they won't go to 16 without ND.
-ND has an ideal set up in the ACC, they aren't joining as a football member anytime soon.

B1G
-Just expanded with two no heritage football programs, but ones with big state populations and recruiting grounds.
-B1G has contract negotiations coming up, so maybe even if there is a desire for more content, there really isn't a suitable team as 16 that isn't in a GOR.
-More so than anything, were a small state without much football cache in terms of our program/ recruiting.
-Delany likely waits to see how Rutgers does before doubling down in the north east.

Big12
-Likeliest conference to expand, but UConn is geographically isolated and doesn't offer recruiting grounds even if our brand overall is the best available.
-If Big12 wants a CCG and the networks pony up for two teams, it would seem Cinci is a given and UCF coming off a BCS win is likely two. We'd need a 4 team expansion.

I think for now the prospects remain bleak..If the AAC remains competitive, I think in 6 years our contract could be upgraded to at least cut the disparity from the P5 to us from astronomical to at least just huge.

I believe with an upgraded deal UConn can survive one more contract cycle ( say 10-15 years) as a nationally relevant hoops program and a solid mid major football program.

After that? The jury is really out. I think you can use TCU add an example of being in a power league, falling out, then coming back, but that is certainly the exception to the rule.

I do think at some point and it could be decades away that conferences will once again become more regionalized, but until then, it may be the AAC indefinitely... which I keep trying to accept and as bad as it is, I know eventually I'd just deal with it if it weren't for Tulane and Tulsa. I'll never, ever get over that. It's still mind numbing to me.