Anyone else still pissed?

[HuskyHawk]

Part of the reason for my optimism about something happening on the conference front is that UConn has stepped up with reasonably big salaries for Ollie and Diaco that are competitive with middle to lower level P5 schools. You don't increase expenses as revenues are declining unless you have some visibility into revenues turning around in the short to intermediate future.

That means that Herbst believes some combination of:

1) The Big 10 is continuing to evaluate expansion within 5 years and UConn has a reasonably high probability of being invited,
2) the ACC is continuing to evaluate expansion within 5 years and UConn has a reasonably high probability of being invited, and
3) the AAC will be able to meaningfully increase its revenue in the short term (next 2 to 3 years).

Without one or two of those 3 happening within 5 years, the UConn athletic program is not viable in its current form. While Herbst blew the sale, i don't think she is an idiot and I am reasonably confident she can count, so she knows we need more revenue. She would not be continuing spending like we had as a Big East school unless she thought we were going to generate more revenue soon.

We can only hope that this is the case. Regardless, it is far more productive for us to look forward to "accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative" as Johnny Mercer would say. Rehashing old threads trying to afix blame to Warde or Susan, or PP, or the lawsuit against BC or whatever, is pointless and counterproductive. Unless one of you has a Tardis and knows how to use it, all we can do deal with the reality as it exists today, try to improve it for tomorrow.

 

[Adios]

As cited before, the first super-conference was going to be the Metro Conference in 1990. They would have went to 20 and UL would have been included. So would have been BC and other Big East members. UConn would probably be in the A-10 if that happened.

Considering 20 was the number those schools had in mind, we'll be fine. It's really a toss-up between the ACC and B1G. The high end schools in the ACC make up for Louisville Community College.

No matter what we say about Providence College, at least one of their people (Gavitt) saved us. And helped us turn into what we are. To me, that makes the ACC and Hockey East more appealing since our present tradition is with those schools.

Yeah, I know the B1G is old but some of the ACC represents new blood. FSU football started in the 1947. They would have been in the proposed Metro Conference, too.

 

[CTBasketball]

If I remember correctly, WM and SH said they would wait by their phones and not push anything.

 

[buddy]

If I remember correctly, WM and SH said they would wait by their phones and not push anything.

And is exactly why UConn is now in this predicament.

 

[Sea Goat]

Once again, this is an interesting discussion, but it doesn't get us anywhere. What is happening now and what are the immediate plans for the future? That's all that is important.

Nelson did touch upon a critical point, however. Without P-5 conference revenue, UConn might have to change its approach to intercollegiate sports. The extra $20-30mm/yr (or more) of P-5 conference member payouts that we are missing will put the athletic department in a hole. (Not to mention, the ridiculous composition of the AAC will make recruiting more and more difficult.) I believe the state will tolerate it for a short time only. I know we have the BE breakup money for the near term, but that will diminish soon. If we are not in a P-5 conference shortly, there probably will be pressure to de-emphasize sports at the D-1 level. As far as looking to the AAC for increased payout - good luck with that.