Arizona, Arizona State, & Utah to B12....

[champs99and04]

The northeast just doesn’t support college football. It’s all about pro sports here. We have no FBS history. No tradition. We had a few years where we were decent with our Fiesta Bowl year and had some good crowds at the Rent. But that is a blip compared to these P5 schools that for the most part support their team even when they are bad. It is way more than just a few bad hires. It was the majority of our FBS existence. And it was way worse than bad. It was historically bad. And with bad came almost no support. Those of you who were with me at a near empty Rent over the last few years are nodding. Meanwhile, the South and Midwest set their clock to college football. Iowa State was 1-8 - dead last in the Big 12 and have average 57k over the last 5 years - near capacity.

I didn’t buy this doubling down on basketball stuff. I am sorry to say, nobody cares about basketball and certainly not the media partners that are driving these crazy conference deals. If folks cared, we would have already been there. But they don’t. We went back to the Big East to save basketball in the short term. Many of us on the football board were against it. But that is how the country sees it. UConn gave up on football so why the heck would these conferences just hand us $50million in TV contract $ that is 80% driven by football?

Ding ding ding. UConn has value, but I think people here really underestimate the extent to which they prioritize football in that part of the country. It's not a preference of one sport over the other so much as it is a full-blown lifestyle. People might care about basketball in the most literal sense of the word - I'm sure a fair number of them attend games and watch the tournament, particularly when the league is good like it has been. Football fans are typically sports fans. But it is still merely a hobby meant to keep people occupied as they wait for spring football.

Markets are not the priority for the Big 12 like they have been at times for other conferences. It is not a league built on markets. It is a league built on the hope that quality football can attract the bigger markets. They're betting that, proportionally, more people in the northeast will care about #10 TCU against #18 Oklahoma State than they will about 5-7 Rutgers vs. 4-8 Maryland.

I know people will object to this by citing the recent records of Colorado and Arizona, but it's really not at all the same. Those schools both fall within - or not too far outside of - the league's existing footprint and offer much more in the way of history, tradition, and recruiting markets than UConn does.

It was unrealistic, IMO, to expect that UConn could leave the AAC and still get promoted to a power conference one year later. From a perception standpoint, people view the AAC as a league you prove yourself in if you're serious about football. Going independent after several years in the cellar takes you completely off the map.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

He likely didn't visit them because they are tied to the GOR of the ACC. I guarantee, if the ACC implodes and it comes down to the Big 12 choosing between Pitt, Cuse, or UConn, UConn will be left out...again.

If it is true that the Big 12 wants a foothold in the NYC and northeast corridor markets between NYC/Jersey and Boston, then UConn is the obvious choice, GOR or no GOR. If Mora’s team does well this year and they very well might, things could change in UConn’s favor for a P5 invite very quickly.

 

[storrsroars]

From a perception standpoint, people view the AAC as a league you prove yourself in if you're serious about football. Going independent after several years in the cellar takes you completely off the map.

You made decent points early in your post, but you went off the rails at the end.

If anything, UConn going independent in football offers a template for other schools.

Please let us know which of the following schools has a better chance of advancing to a P4 before UConn:
UAB
UNC Charlotte
ECU
FAU
Memphis
Navy
North Texas
Rice
USF
SMU
Temple
UTSA
Tulane
Tulsa

 

[champs99and04]

You made decent points early in your post, but you went off the rails at the end.

If anything, UConn going independent in football offers a template for other schools.

Please let us know which of the following schools has a better chance of advancing to a P4 before UConn:
UAB
UNC Charlotte
ECU
FAU
Memphis
Navy
North Texas
Rice
USF
SMU
Temple
UTSA
Tulane
Tulsa

So you think those schools would be better off if they went independent?

 

[storrsroars]

So you think those schools would be better off if they went independent?

Any school in a conference of any significance has an exit fee to worry about. AAC's is $10MM and none of those schools are making money, although it could work for Navy. But Stanford and Cal are twisting in the wind, and following a UConn template could work out for them better than joining the MWC. I wouldn't be all that surprised if SDSU considers going indy in a couple of years once the penalty for leaving the MWC drops to something reasonable.

 

[champs99and04]

Any school in a conference of any significance has an exit fee to worry about. AAC's is $10MM and none of those schools are making money, although it could work for Navy. But Stanford and Cal are twisting in the wind, and following a UConn template could work out for them better than joining the MWC. I wouldn't be all that surprised if SDSU considers going indy in a couple of years once the penalty for leaving the MWC drops to something reasonable.

It might make sense for Stanford and Cal. It may have even made some sense for UConn to leave the AAC. Unfortunately, independence is still a major handicap for UConn football if the goal is to generate exposure and change the national narrative. It's just too hard too stay in the news as a non-power program unless you're near the top of your league standings vying for a NY6/playoff spot. Last season was the first breath of fresh air for UConn football in several years, and yet it largely went unnoticed due to (among other things) the lack of a conference.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Ding ding ding. UConn has value, but I think people here really underestimate the extent to which they prioritize football in that part of the country. It's not a preference of one sport over the other so much as it is a full-blown lifestyle. People might care about basketball in the most literal sense of the word - I'm sure a fair number of them attend games and watch the tournament, particularly when the league is good like it has been. Football fans are typically sports fans. But it is still merely a hobby meant to keep people occupied as they wait for spring football.

Markets are not the priority for the Big 12 like they have been at times for other conferences. It is not a league built on markets. It is a league built on the hope that quality football can attract the bigger markets. They're betting that, proportionally, more people in the northeast will care about #10 TCU against #18 Oklahoma State than they will about 5-7 Rutgers vs. 4-8 Maryland.

I know people will object to this by citing the recent records of Colorado and Arizona, but it's really not at all the same. Those schools both fall within - or not too far outside of - the league's existing footprint and offer much more in the way of history, tradition, and recruiting markets than UConn does.

It was unrealistic, IMO, to expect that UConn could leave the AAC and still get promoted to a power conference one year later. From a perception standpoint, people view the AAC as a league you prove yourself in if you're serious about football. Going independent after several years in the cellar takes you completely off the map.

The BY failed to grasp how devastating us leaving the AAC was from a general perception standpoint
Together with the Randy rehire which gave impression we wanted to save money on a sport we were no longer interested in .
Perception is critical and as you can see by the negative press it has been a killer .
We won 11 league games in 5 years in that league . 4 coming in Diaco’s 6 win season .
Even with that mediocre year I seem to recall the Houston upset was a near sell out .
True bringing in bigger names helps but a school like UConn struggling to establish themselves in football winning over the state requires being successful. Connecticut has among the best and most knowledgeable fans in the Country . But our teams have been pretty successful. You can’t fake it , you need a good product to win a fan base in the state . If they were 8-0 a Tulsa or East Carolina game would be a sellout .
When you in a league with the AAC footprint the first priority is hiring a coach who can recruit that footprint
Only Mora had a truly ability to recruit nationally.. Northeast or even Midwest guys are disadvantaged.