Article: Basketball is enough. UConn should de-emphasize football, sharpen academic focus

[Kolumbo]

This guy wrote his opinion and he is entitled to it. He didn't say anything that hasn't been repeated ad nauseum on these boards. No biggie.
There are many excellent universities, public and private, with good basketball outside of the P5. We may ultimately end up there and there is the possibility our basketball drops because the Big East vanished. VCU, Old Dominion, Atlantic 10 and C-USA, many of those schools are similar to UCONN and there is a very good chance we remain outside the P5.

 

[Husky25]

This guy wrote his opinion and he is entitled to it. He didn't say anything that hasn't been repeated ad nauseum on these boards. No biggie.
There are many excellent universities, public and private, with good basketball outside of the P5. We may ultimately end up there and there is the possibility our basketball drops because the Big East vanished. VCU, Old Dominion, Atlantic 10 and C-USA, many of those schools are similar to UCONN and there is a very good chance we remain outside the P5.

It's only been repeated by those who have, at best, a rudimentary knowledge of the economics of college sports and their effect on other programs in the department as well as the sponsoring educational institution as a whole. College sports do not take place in a vacuum. Improvement in education quality does not take place in a vacuum. Reduction in the quality of either one seriously hinders the other.

 

[gioff23]

Taken to its logical extreme, why keep any sports programs? Better yet, lets put every program at the U up for review to ascertain the cost/benefit of keeping it. How much money do we net from the philosphy program, the theatre, history, etc.

Alternatively, why focus on FB - why not shut down the BB programs now and save on the salaries, travel money and other "wasted" money being spent.

Why not invest every single dollar in recreating an experience similar to that students receive at Grinnell or Trinity? Students will love the experience of frolicing on the hills of Storrs without the worry of sports to clutter their minds.

 

[ZooCougar]

The author just doesn't get it. Sports is helping the academics by raising the school's profile. It helps increase the pool of applicants, which helps the school become more selective which results in a smarter student body, which means that when they graduate they get better jobs, and hopefully donate to the school, which increases the endowment, which means... I could go on forever.

We could blow 10 million bucks a year on better coaches and make a run for a P5 conference, which if successful would eventually result in earning 40-50 million a year in TV money. The thing about sports is that there is no guarantee, but nobody ever built a winner in the modern era of college football by spending money rationally by most people's standards. And even still it offers some of the most cost effective advertising money can buy. Nobody writes about FCS teams, nobody blogs about bad AAC teams. If we went undefeated in the AAC and the rest of the season, there would be a million gazillion articles about UConn, most of which would be about whether or not we deserved a playoff spot. But that pubilicity is huge and it's what changes perception.

We shouldn't be cutting our losses. We should be doubling and tripling down not because of a panic, but because that is EXACTLY what it takes. With the mediocre coaching staff we have we'll never get close to where we need to be. At best we might knock on the door once, but we need to be so good that people wonder why we aren't under an NCAA investigation.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

There are quite a few people out there who are deluded enough to believe that during the conscious lifetime of current NCAA athletes, Villanova and Georgetown have been basically as significant and relevant in men's hoops as Duke, UNC, Kentucky and UConn (just browse a message board of one of the current BE schools). Subscribing to this fallacy is what leads small minded people to claim that it would be better for UConn to give up on football and rejoin the Big East.

Another piece of flawed reasoning in the article noted to start this thread is that UNC, who had a strong basketball program for decades attempted to improve their football program and now is being exposed for academic improprieties; therefore it was football that was at the root of said improprieties (because as we know, no school cheats when it comes to men's basketball). Additionally, because some schools that attempted to compete at the highest level in football cheated, UConn will (because we also know that if another school cheated at some point in time, UConn of course will follow that lead blindly).

I would like it if someone who is in that profession would estimate the value of the publicity the school received just within the past five years from the success of the two hoops programs. That would be an eye opener for many of the simple minded.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

This is not just a question of money. UConn could spend $100 million a year on the athletic program and football may still be irrelevant. The deck is so stacked against us that I don't even know if spending $100 million a year would be enough. I do know that being in a southern midmajor league accomplishes exactly nothing for the football program.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sounds about right as I left in the mid 90's. When applying, I felt that UConn was above URI and UMaine, which happened to be my safety school, and about equal with UVM and UNH with UMass slightly ahead. The campus was ugly. I was there to see old South come down, Dodd go up and Babridge be wrapped, unwrapped, wrapped and then finally completed, and then the old Fieldhouse was closed for renovation right when I left. Almost 20 years later, UConn is way ahead of all of the state schools in New England, and equal to Rutgers, Syracuse, BU, etc. regionally while creeping-up on Penn St, Maryland and other big names. In-state, UConn will never be at Yale's level; but, people no longer laugh if a student considers Yale and UConn and picks UConn because of price in certain programs. As for the campus itself, simply stated, I am damn jealous. Athletics played a hug rule in that change. As Herbst has said, UConn Huskies are not the most important part of UConn; but, it is the front door, the most visible part to the outside world. of course, part of me does wonder if UConn would even be further ahead if it wasn't for 3 key mistakes - Hogan as President (2007-10) as no sure what did did in office beside pine for the Midwest (U Illinois wishes he stayed in Storrs), Hathaway (2003-11) for sitting on his laurels watching UConn won championships while investing $0 towards the future, and Mark Emmert (1995-99) for the damage he did to UConn during his tenure in Storrs (UConn 200) and after.

In 1984 when I applied and first attended, UConn was even then the highest rated public U in New England. UMass was close, then UVM next. Infrastructure wasn't what it is now, but it wasn't great anywhere else either. That's simply what college was back then, almost everywhere. I lived in the old South Campus as a senior. It was great. Nothing wrong with it at all. Kids are spoiled now, and the pampering comes with a price.

 

[pnow15]

Connecticut will probably receive an invite to B1G. Who else brings in an entire state and sows up interest around NYC?
I think the decision is not about UConn. It is about the team that will be invited along with UConn.
B1G says it wants contiguous states. NYC will be an acceptable border.
Mass, Virginia, BYU etc.
If B1G lures Virginia, then it travels from DC to NY to Chicago. Quite a triangle. Worth a lot of money.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

In 1984 when I applied and first attended, UConn was even then the highest rated public U in New England. UMass was close, then UVM next. Infrastructure wasn't what it is now, but it wasn't great anywhere else either. That's simply what college was back then, almost everywhere. I lived in the old South Campus as a senior. It was great. Nothing wrong with it at all. Kids are spoiled now, and the pampering comes with a price.

Old South closed my Sophomore year while I was living in Alumni. It was a great time as no one care what the students did to the place as it was being torn down the following year. Trust me, we closed that place properly

 

[Jarhead_1775]

Delusional. Get a clue. Right what on earth would the current BE want to do with UConn anyway? Create another tiered level of membership that we would totally abandon in a second if a big school came calling?!? Yep! Keep fighting for the B1G or ACC. Those are our ONLY options! I don't want to say "you basketball only people" but goodness. Get on board and support football or watch your bball teams, which I LOVE go down the drain too.

 

[Brochacho]

Right now dropping football would be the worst thing UConn could ever do to itself, especially with a current level of optimism surrounding a B1G invite in the next 5 years. But if we are 10 years down the road with an incompetent football team and no life raft in sight, I think that is when you start to question whether it is worth it to keep football D1.

 

[Stinger92860]

Connecticut will probably receive an invite to B1G. Who else brings in an entire state and sows up interest around NYC?
I think the decision is not about UConn. It is about the team that will be invited along with UConn.
B1G says it wants contiguous states. NYC will be an acceptable border.
Mass, Virginia, BYU etc.
If B1G lures Virginia, then it travels from DC to NY to Chicago. Quite a triangle. Worth a lot of money.

Need a way to include Boston. A game against Duke, ND would be sold out and be newsworthy. Make it a mens/womens double header. We should have the same concept for NY/Brooklyn. play Maryland or Louisville there.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Basketball is not enough. Being unprepared for CR is what got us here in the first place, we are sharpening our academic focus.