B12 Related - Why is UConn's brand so tainted?

[DMTCYNAW]

No matter what we do, no matter how many bball championships, no matter the progress shown in football, based on what i'm seeing aroudn the internet, it really seems like UConn's athletic brand simply does not make a dent with people. Folks outside our immediate fanbase/community, are not excited about us, and thus us being a part of their favorite team's conference. And utlimately, that's what drives eyeballs and thus $$ - regardless of actual on-the-field success.

i'm a relatively new fan, so i'm so confused by the lukewarm reception. What happened to us, that has made this brand so difficult to position positively on a NATIONAL stage?
I know we're powerful in the Big East (a fairly local bball conference), but again - my question is about NATIONAL.

if someone has a fact/historical based explanation, i'd love some context & enlightenment, because this just doesn't make sense why college sports fans (FB/basketball) across the country find us boring/offensive/beneath them.

What i've seen so far:

• ACC has never wanted us and still doesn't, even though it's the perfect geographic fit and member profile (i.e. schools and matchups make the most sense for us, within P5)
• B1G has probably never heard of UConn (who?)
• SEC has prob never heard of the state of Connecticut, much less UConn
• Pac12 just doesn't make sense, so didn't look around for threads/chats on that potential relationship
• Big 12 - only possible connection, but fans across the conference hate us/the idea of this happening.

 

[chalk1]

Good troll, UConn is well known throughout the US to sports fans. Good god man we just one the NCAA national championship in basketball.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Heck even our local journalists dislike us. Makes me like UConn more but the popular negative doesn’t help.

 

[DMTCYNAW]

Good troll, UConn is well known throughout the US to sports fans. Good god man we just one the NCAA national championship in basketball.

the issue is not about being well-known. Of course we're well known. The issue is being DESIRED (i.e. brand equity). No one WANTS us, which i'm trying to understand WHY (something must have happened to make a 16x nat'l champ not a hot commodity).

 

[GoKU]

When people talk about Colorado/UConn as the 2 adds, most Big 12 fans like it. Only Cincinnati seems against it.

 

[Urcea]

HCRE2.0 didn’t help

 

[hoopsfan22]

the issue is not about being well-known. Of course we're well known. The issue is being DESIRED (i.e. brand equity). No one WANTS us, which i'm trying to understand WHY (something must have happened to make a 16x nat'l champ not a hot commodity).

Suing the ACC back when the Big East was dissolving probably isn't going to earn you any friends in the power club.

 

[BlueandOG]

We’re new money in an old money world. People love Cinderella until she becomes royalty. UCONN was barely on the sports scene 50 years ago. Now we’re a juggernaut, smashing our names in the annals of NCAA history at the expense of the old guard. They don’t like it. I don’t like them.

 

[UDann]

HCRE2.0 didn’t help

HCRE2.0 undid what HCRE1.0 built. Mora will save the day. Full confidence in him and Dave Benedict.

 

[UDann]

We’re new money in an old money world. People love Cinderella until she becomes royalty. UCONN was barely on the sports scene 50 years ago. Now we’re a juggernaut, smashing our names in the annals of NCAA history at the expense of the old guard. They don’t like it. I don’t like them.

Agreed when we went to the Fiesta Bowl the old guard couldn’t stand it. Seems to me the college sports world turned against us and did everything to keep us out of conference realignment. Ironically our old conference mates have suffered and not won while we survived and flourished.

 

[Urcea]

HCRE2.0 undid what HCRE1.0 built. Mora will save the day. Full confidence in him and Dave Benedict.

People overstate, I think, Diaco and PP role in the grand scope of program legitimacy. Teams can survive a six year stretch of one bowl with a 24-49 record with decent players and draft picks. He legitimately set us back to like a FCS transition level program

 

[NH Husky]

No matter what we do, no matter how many bball championships, no matter the progress shown in football, based on what i'm seeing aroudn the internet, it really seems like UConn's athletic brand simply does not make a dent with people. Folks outside our immediate fanbase/community, are not excited about us, and thus us being a part of their favorite team's conference. And utlimately, that's what drives eyeballs and thus $$ - regardless of actual on-the-field success.

i'm a relatively new fan, so i'm so confused by the lukewarm reception. What happened to us, that has made this brand so difficult to position positively on a NATIONAL stage?
I know we're powerful in the Big East (a fairly local bball conference), but again - my question is about NATIONAL.

if someone has a fact/historical based explanation, i'd love some context & enlightenment, because this just doesn't make sense why college sports fans (FB/basketball) across the country find us boring/offensive/beneath them.

What i've seen so far:

• ACC has never wanted us and still doesn't, even though it's the perfect geographic fit and member profile (i.e. schools and matchups make the most sense for us, within P5)
• B1G has probably never heard of UConn (who?)
• SEC has prob never heard of the state of Connecticut, much less UConn
• Pac12 just doesn't make sense, so didn't look around for threads/chats on that potential relationship
• Big 12 - only possible connection, but fans across the conference hate us/the idea of this happening.

What the heck are you talking about? Tainted?
Either you’re a troll or an insecure fan (which there are plenty of).
Just chill, one way or another we will end up in a good place.

 

[DMTCYNAW]

What the heck are you talking about? Tainted?
Either you’re a troll or an insecure fan (which there are plenty of).
Just chill, one way or another we will end up in a good place.

I chose my words very carefully. It's clear based on the reception of neutral fans, that we are not desired on a national stage. If "tainted" is too strong, then an alternate description of this brand would be "undervalued".

 

[DMTCYNAW]

People overstate, I think, Diaco and PP role in the grand scope of program legitimacy. Teams can survive a six year stretch of one bowl with a 24-49 record with decent players and draft picks. He legitimately set us back to like a FCS transition level program

this is truly amazing to me. Can anyone kindly lay out what happened during RE2.0 era, to bring it so low? Assuming - as this poster states- that indeed Diaco and PP indeed didn't make the mess.

 

[NH Husky]

I chose my words very carefully. It's clear based on the reception of neutral fans, that we are not desired on a national stage. If "tainted" is too strong, then an alternate description of this brand would be "undervalued".

Yeah. Okay. Whatever.

 

[Viet Vet]

What is the most well-known (and most sought-after for in-state high school seniors) college in the state of Ohio? Ohio State. State of Michigan? Michigan. State of Pennsylvania? Penn State. State of Texas? Texas. State of Alabama? Alabama. State of Oklahoma? OU. Yes, in North Carolina Duke may trump UNC, and Cal is as well regarded as Stanford, and Northwestern as well regarded as Illinois and U. of Chicago..

But here in New England, there is no way the land-grant state universities can compete with their private counterparts for attention or status. New Hampshire cannot compete with Dartmouth; URI with Brown or RISD; UMass with Harvard, BC, or BU; UConn with Yale, Wesleyan or Trinity.

That is why UConn does not command the same attention/affiliation from Connecticut's population as the midwestern/southern/southwestern public schools.

This is from a died-in-the-wool UConn graduate. Full disclosure: I have an MBA from Harvard (please don't call me a hypocrite. I always root for UConn over Harvard.)

 

[DMTCYNAW]

Yeah. Okay. Whatever.

sincerst apologies for any offense. we're on the same team. i promise

 

[NH Husky]

sincerst apologies for any offense. we're on the same team. i promise

So why the heck would you think we are tainted? Bit insecure are we?

 

[hoopsfan22]

So why the heck would you think we are tainted? Bit insecure are we?

Probably because a bunch of garbage schools are in P5 before we are?

 

[NH Husky]

Probably because a bunch of garbage schools are in P5 before we are?

Those garbage schools were in those conferences before we were even division 1, FBS, or whatever you want to call it. And before there was such a thing as the “P5”.
Get real.

 

[Urcea]

this is truly amazing to me. Can anyone kindly lay out what happened during RE2.0 era, to bring it so low? Assuming - as this poster states- that indeed Diaco and PP indeed didn't make the mess.

A whole host of things. He basically didn’t play any Diaco guys with any experience favoring his own recruits over seniors who could play. He alienated guys, both coaches and players. He was inflexible in committing to a late 20th century style of play. His guys were always undersized and basically incapable of playing, leading to the worst defense in the country. He refused to play the transfer portal, effectively putting us behind all other 129 teams. According to some stuff that came out after the firing, during COVID he canceled the season and then hiked it down to Florida, leaving his team in the lurch. They came back to get destroyed the next season after getting destroyed the season before.

It was a national embarrassment. Unfortunately, it happened just in the midst of the current phase of realignment

 

[chalk1]

Are we any different than say Kansas, great basketball and poor football. I just think we are thought of just the same way they are. I love football and believe UConn is upward bound with Mora as head coach. Unfortunately he has only a short track record and it will take some time to be viewed as a successful and winning program. Give it a rest, some people think we a not worthy because of our football track record. I have no problem being disliked because we kicked in the door for basketball. Here comes football.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Those garbage schools were in those conferences before we were even division 1, FBS, or whatever you want to call it. And before there was such a thing as the “P5”.
Get real.

So BYU, UCF, and Houston were all big time schools and their move to a P5 before us is just getting them back to where they were before we were FBS?

 

[UDann]

A whole host of things. He basically didn’t play any Diaco guys with any experience favoring his own recruits over seniors who could play. He alienated guys, both coaches and players. He was inflexible in committing to a late 20th century style of play. His guys were always undersized and basically incapable of playing, leading to the worst defense in the country. He refused to play the transfer portal, effectively putting us behind all other 129 teams. According to some stuff that came out after the firing, during COVID he canceled the season and then hiked it down to Florida, leaving his team in the lurch. They came back to get destroyed the next season after getting destroyed the season before.

It was a national embarrassment. Unfortunately, it happened just in the midst of the current phase of realignment

Besides the Covid year which offered him free money for a year we lost to Holy Cross. Sitting through that game was the lowest point in UConn football this century.

 

[Zissou]

Those garbage schools were in those conferences before we were even division 1, FBS, or whatever you want to call it. And before there was such a thing as the “P5”.
Get real.

Rutgers