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Nice job by Mike Anthony - worth the full read.
Scoop <<
-> The Huskies have an incredible brand, incredible teams, unsurpassed facilities, so much more that adds up to an athletic muscle flex across the board that few Division I schools can match.
But they do not have a successful football program, which is about all that is valued in the neighborhood they’re trying to enter. Like that reality or not, love the Big East or favor the Big 12, UConn is moving with great energy into a new era of college sports essentially with the thought in mind that Mora articulated in announcing his quarterback.
Want to win in football and stay relevant as a nationally celebrated athletic program? Raise money, spend, recruit. Raise money, spend, recruit. Repeat until one of these conference realignment rinse cycles lands with the Huskies in a power conference, earning some $20-30 million more annually than it does today, and then double-down on efforts again years into the future.
Mora several times last season used the same setting he occupied on Tuesday to emphasize the importance of raising money to recruit. The Huskies raised and spent about $100,000 last season through NIL efforts. This season, the number is up ten-fold, to somewhere between $1-1.25 million.
That is something Benedict was willing to discuss.
“We’re going to double it next year, at least,” he said. “We’re going to pour gas on it. We’re going to win in football. I’m tired of being disrespected as a brand, nationally, because of football. And I get it. But the difference as we sit here today is we have NIL and revenue sharing now. And before, when we were a BCS affiliate with the old Big East, we could recruit differently. When that went away, it really impacted this university in a way that is probably unique because of the location. There are very, very good recruits here. But there are a limited number. And they all go, if you look at the top 10 every year, there’s one thing in common — all of them are going to power [conferences]. Whether NIL and revenue sharing will help us keep some of those kids will be determined, but we can recruit in a totally different way. We have an unbelievable university. We have great facilities. We have great coaches. And we’re going to start providing people with great opportunities in other ways.” <-
Scoop <<
-> The Huskies have an incredible brand, incredible teams, unsurpassed facilities, so much more that adds up to an athletic muscle flex across the board that few Division I schools can match.
But they do not have a successful football program, which is about all that is valued in the neighborhood they’re trying to enter. Like that reality or not, love the Big East or favor the Big 12, UConn is moving with great energy into a new era of college sports essentially with the thought in mind that Mora articulated in announcing his quarterback.
Want to win in football and stay relevant as a nationally celebrated athletic program? Raise money, spend, recruit. Raise money, spend, recruit. Repeat until one of these conference realignment rinse cycles lands with the Huskies in a power conference, earning some $20-30 million more annually than it does today, and then double-down on efforts again years into the future.
Mora several times last season used the same setting he occupied on Tuesday to emphasize the importance of raising money to recruit. The Huskies raised and spent about $100,000 last season through NIL efforts. This season, the number is up ten-fold, to somewhere between $1-1.25 million.
That is something Benedict was willing to discuss.
“We’re going to double it next year, at least,” he said. “We’re going to pour gas on it. We’re going to win in football. I’m tired of being disrespected as a brand, nationally, because of football. And I get it. But the difference as we sit here today is we have NIL and revenue sharing now. And before, when we were a BCS affiliate with the old Big East, we could recruit differently. When that went away, it really impacted this university in a way that is probably unique because of the location. There are very, very good recruits here. But there are a limited number. And they all go, if you look at the top 10 every year, there’s one thing in common — all of them are going to power [conferences]. Whether NIL and revenue sharing will help us keep some of those kids will be determined, but we can recruit in a totally different way. We have an unbelievable university. We have great facilities. We have great coaches. And we’re going to start providing people with great opportunities in other ways.” <-
