Bad will and empty arenas are UConn's fault

[CallMeBruce]

Bad Will and Empty Arenas are UConn's Fault - A Dime Back

Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

[Wordbomar]

100% spot on.

 

[polycom]

Nothing about this article is wrong.

Set aside Kevin Ollie’s ability as a coach for a moment. He has never been very interested in being the gregarious spokesperson for UConn basketball. Maybe that shouldn’t be his job but, at this point in time, it is. Ollie has been a steady off-the-court leader for the players in his program, but he needs to be the public relations face of UConn as well. In modern college basketball, the coaches are the biggest stars — the lead role in the sports drama. However painful, Ollie needs to step up and fill the role, and UConn’s support staff needs to, well, support him.

More broadly, UConn should be on a constant mission to sell its players as individuals and market its best student-athletes as stars. That means more than allowing the press closer to the program, the university should be proactive in mining the players for interesting details to feed to reports or to push on social media.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Good lord that attendance line graph:

But sure, lets just keep burying our heads in the sand and attacking/mocking people who are speaking the truth.....

 

[UConnDan97]

I certainly think the point about pricing is spot on. It's something that I've talked about in reference to the football team as well. My feeling is that you have to lower the prices to help create the next generation of paying Husky fans. The $30 for Coppin State is kind of silly.

Having said that, I checked on uconnhuskies.com to see how the Coppin State game availability was going. I was somewhat happy to see that a bunch of the sections only have single seating available or only a few rows to sell through. But my understanding of the secondary market is pretty weak, and that analysis might not mean a darn thing.

Gotta get the families back into the arenas to ensure future sales...

 

[Kitaman]

Very good article, but I got distracted looking at this picture at the bottom of the website. Hilton was an NBAer and is confronted by a demanding Coach like this.

I won't derail this thread or put it on one of the other dozens Ollie threads. Its connected in a way to our empty seats. Just saying. . . . . . .

 

[TRest]

Nothing about this article is wrong.

Set aside Kevin Ollie’s ability as a coach for a moment. He has never been very interested in being the gregarious spokesperson for UConn basketball. Maybe that shouldn’t be his job but, at this point in time, it is. Ollie has been a steady off-the-court leader for the players in his program, but he needs to be the public relations face of UConn as well. In modern college basketball, the coaches are the biggest stars — the lead role in the sports drama. However painful, Ollie needs to step up and fill the role, and UConn’s support staff needs to, well, support him.

More broadly, UConn should be on a constant mission to sell its players as individuals and market its best student-athletes as stars. That means more than allowing the press closer to the program, the university should be proactive in mining the players for interesting details to feed to reports or to push on social media.

Live stream the scooter races. Would watch.

 

[Robertelamin]

UConn offered Wichita St. tickets on Cyber Monday for $13 while season ticket holders paid $50. Gee, thanks.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I’m confused about what he means. You want them to market our players? How? Make off the wall comments to get them talked about on sportscenter? What can they even do?

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

I agree, I cant remember during the Big East era there ever a need to have cyber Monday deals for Uconn tickets?

 

[UConnSwag11]

For years I’ve always thought that UConn and the athletic department just coasted off of Calhoun and the team. They never came out with anything new or creative. It was and has been the same stuff over and over again. Then they ban signs from the students and have basically shutout the students from XL and haven’t changed or helped the students with anything at gampel

 

[Travelman6]

Nothing mentioned in the article is wrong, persay, but it fails to mention many aspects and reasons for Uconn's recent decline just the same.

Being blackballed out of the ACC and harsh APR sanctions being the top reasons.

 

[superjohn]

For years I’ve always thought that UConn and the athletic department just coasted off of Calhoun and the team. They never came out with anything new or creative. It was and has been the same stuff over and over again. Then they ban signs from the students and have basically shutout the students from XL and haven’t changed or helped the students with anything at gampel

The shool completely coasted off of Calhoun and Auriemma, that's why the dominant program from the Big East now sits in the AAC.

 

[whaler11]

Bad Will and Empty Arenas are UConn's Fault - A Dime Back

Discuss amongst yourselves.

UConn is undercutting themselves on the secondary market.

Just look at what is for sale on Stubhub - it’s clearly the school making tickets available. They have been doing it for years.

Good article tho.

 

[Deadrody]

One quibble with this article: They claim Men's Basketball is the XL Center's "key attraction" - if things continue along their current trajectory, that's simply not true. It's Women's Basketball. Average attendance trends are crossing at the moment, with the Men trending down and the women trending up.

 

[Deadrody]

Very good article, but I got distracted looking at this picture at the bottom of the website. Hilton was an NBAer and is confronted by a demanding Coach like this.

I won't derail this thread or put it on one of the other dozens Ollie threads. Its connected in a way to our empty seats. Just saying. . . . . . .

Awesome!!! I didn't see that! I was there against Vermont in the first round in Buffalo in 2004. Good times.

 

[mauconnfan]

Good lord that attendance line graph:

View attachment 26774
But sure, lets just keep burying our heads in the sand and attacking/mocking people who are speaking the truth.....

No one is mocking or disagreeing HAD, just can't stand the chest pounders and there's plenty. I'm attacking the attackers, check it out you're the usual suspects who jump on anyone positive at all. But you keep on your merry way it fits you.

Seriously this place is a joke of people who think they actually like UConn yet still have given up on basketball only to get their point across of how smart they were/are. It's disgraceful there's still kids on that team and they still need to play. Whoever is coaching they are still UConn after all.

 

[FartMan69]

No one is mocking or disagreeing HAD, just can't stand the chest pounders and there's plenty. I'm attacking the attackers, check it out you're the usual suspects who jump on anyone positive at all. But you keep on your merry way it fits you.

Seriously this place is a joke of people who think they actually like UConn yet still have given up on basketball only to get their point across of how smart they were/are. It's disgraceful there's still kids on that team and they still need to play. Whoever is coaching they are still UConn after all.

Wow thank you for your service

 

[Guapo]

No one is mocking or disagreeing HAD, just can't stand the chest pounders and there's plenty. I'm attacking the attackers, check it out you're the usual suspects who jump on anyone positive at all. But you keep on your merry way it fits you.

Seriously this place is a joke of people who think they actually like UConn yet still have given up on basketball only to get their point across of how smart they were/are. It's disgraceful there's still kids on that team and they still need to play. Whoever is coaching they are still UConn after all.

This is 100% correct.

I am currently very unhappy with Ollie's coaching but I will be rooting with everything I've got for him and this team to win every game they play this season because there's no other choice.

This isn't the NBA. There's no tanking, there's no benefit to losing.

 

[Palatine]

Add in that Connecticut is an economic basket case, and the need for good marketing is critical.

 

[AdamaNation]

Good lord that attendance line graph:

View attachment 26774
But sure, lets just keep burying our heads in the sand and attacking/mocking people who are speaking the truth.....

What are the matchups?

 

[Storrs South]

I remember they used to do these cool videos before and during the season that I found engaging and cool marketing material. I don't think we've seen anything like that in 2 years. They also as recently as 2015-16 posted highlights to YouTube every game but they were in a more cinematic theme and were really well done. Now they post a standard highlight package every one in a while. I know I'm focusing a lot on the social media presence here, but as someone that observes this more than I care to admit, it feels like they've scaled back their efforts here dramatically over the last couple years.



UConn Men's Basketball: The Wait Is Over

UConn Basketball: The Tradition Continues...

UConn Basketball: Greatness Is Not An Accident

 

[Muddler]

It is really quite simple. The University President didn't understand or realize the importance of how conference realignment was unfolding. They were asleep at the wheel leading up to Louisville to the ACC. A hundred million dollars in lost revenue and now an apathetic fanbase has basically doomed the athletic department. I'm not sure Uconn could even get a spot in the ACC if a spot opened up. I know many of you love to defend, but at the top of the list for college presidents is to raise money and this was the cash cow. It is now gone and the likelihood of UConn maintaining its academic standing as it becomes cash starved is unlikely.

 

[mauconnfan]

Wow thank you for your service

Thank you for your input, another solid effort!

 

[whaler11]

It is really quite simple. The University President didn't understand or realize the importance of how conference realignment was unfolding. They were asleep at the wheel leading up to Louisville to the ACC. A hundred million dollars in lost revenue and now an apathetic fanbase has basically doomed the athletic department. I'm not sure Uconn could even get a spot in the ACC if a spot opened up. I know many of you love to defend, but at the top of the list for college presidents is to raise money and this was the cash cow. It is now gone and the likelihood of UConn maintaining its academic standing as it becomes cash starved is unlikely.

This is a super unpopular opinion around here but Herbst is clueless re: sports.