BC struggles to compete in ACC. Why did ACC want them?

[UConnJim]

I really can't understand why the ACC wanted Boston College. They are a small, private, Catholic school with limited fan support. They are a geographical outlier in the ACC. Now, it's apparent that BC is struggling to compete in any sport in the ACC.

Today, I looked up BC's athletic performance for the past year. It is not pretty. Below, I have
listed BC's ACC record and overall record for their ACC sports:

Football. 1-7 2-10
Men's Basketball. 7-11 16-17
Women's Basketball 5-13 12-19
Baseball. 0-8 3-18
Softball. 0-3 8-14
Men's Tennis. 0-2 5-6
Women's Tennis. 1-2 7-3
Volleyball 4-16 10-22
Field Hockey 2-3 10-9
Men's Soccer. 3-2-3 8-6-5
Women's Soccer. 4-5-1 11-8-3
Women's Lacrosse. 1-2 4-5

It is shocking how bad BC has become.

 

[CTEagle]

uh, BC left 9 years ago. Whats with all the envy over such an inferior institution like BC?
Uconn is such a powerhouse school they will thrive whatever league they are in. The A12 just signed a "national" deal with ESPN. Make the most of the opportunity.

 

[uconnric]

BC was taken for the Boston tv market, period. They really don't bring anything else to the table. They thought they could be like Stanford or Duke, but they are rapidly becoming Northwestern.

 

[husky210]

Bc's ad has been poorly run. Firing JJ for simply interviewing for the jets job was idiotic. They were never really a big time basketball program and had a few decent years when they had Dudley.

 

[prankster]

uh, BC left 9 years ago. Whats with all the envy over such an inferior institution like BC?
Uconn is such a powerhouse school they will thrive whatever league they are in. The A12 just signed a "national" deal with ESPN. Make the most of the opportunity.

As conference realignment is still ongoing.... and as BCU was one of the first bits of gravel to break loose in what has become a bit of an avalanche.... and as UConn strives to find its niche amid this shifting landscape.... many believe that it is reasonable for message board slugs, such as ourselves, to take back-bearings, to get a better idea of what motivates (motivated) certain conferences to make the decisions that they do (did).

I don't believe that anyone here has any envy for BCU.... but their invite to the ACC continues to stand as a bit of a puzzler.

BCU has not delivered any regional TV market to speak of. BCU does not put many fans into the arena when they play home games. BCU puts hardly any fans into the arena when they play away games, or conference tournaments. BCU under-performs in all conference sports (as documented by the OP).

It is reasonable, against that kind of backdrop, to try to better understand whether the ACC grossly misunderstood what they were "buying" when they invited BCU to join their conference, or whether there is some other, less well understood, calculation that somehow still holds that BCU was/is a good fit within the ACC brand.

But, as always, we appreciate the continued interest that you have in UConn sports.

 

[UConn9604]

uh, BC left 9 years ago. Whats with all the envy over such an inferior institution like BC?
Uconn is such a powerhouse school they will thrive whatever league they are in. The A12 just signed a "national" deal with ESPN. Make the most of the opportunity.

I love it when a BC alum visits a UConn board at 11 o'clock at night.

It meshes well with the talking point excuse that BC attendance stinks because there's so much to do in Boston...

 

[uconnric]

It probably has worked for them financially, but it has done nothing for the perception of the ACC. The high point being the BC-Wake ACC championship game which no one bothered to attend. They acted in what they thought was their own best interests, but the ACC right now is kind of a mess so I expect some defections once the Maryland case is settled. The lack of cohesiveness, which ended up bringing the Big East down, now exists in the ACC.

 

[Drumguy]

BC was taken for the Boston tv market, period. They really don't bring anything else to the table. They thought they could be like Stanford or Duke, but they are rapidly becoming Northwestern.

I think you mean Northeastern since their academics are no where clsoe to NW AND their sports suck.

 

[06029]

It probably has worked for them financially, but it has done nothing for the perception of the ACC. The high point being the BC-Wake ACC championship game which no one bothered to attend. They acted in what they thought was their own best interests, but the ACC right now is kind of a mess so I expect some defections once the Maryland case is settled. The lack of cohesiveness, which ended up bringing the Big East down, now exists in the ACC.

Just in the interest of real facts, BC played Virginia Tech in two ACC championship games. They are in the same division as Wake so it was not possible for them to play Wake in a championship. The ACC championship game proves that any league not named the SEC needs to have a championship game on campus at the higher ranked/more successful team. Having these games in large, pro stadiums is dumb.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

i hate bc as much as the next person but funny how the OP left out BC's hockey record

 

[CL82]

They wanted BCU because of their history. They don't want them now because of their present.

 

[Waquoit]

uh, BC left 9 years ago. Whats with all the envy over such an inferior institution like BC?
Uconn is such a powerhouse school they will thrive whatever league they are in. The A12 just signed a "national" deal with ESPN. Make the most of the opportunity.

Admit it, BCU was never about winning, they were about getting away from UConn before they lost to them in football. And they succeeded. Congrats.

 

[prankster]

i hate bc as much as the next person but funny how the OP left out BC's hockey record

The post was about why the ACC had any interest in BCU. The ACC does not play any hockey.

So you may as well bring up the success of BCU's curling or scrabble teams. None have any impact on the ACC's decision process regarding BCU, or, therefore, the topic of this thread.

 

[Marty Jackson]

i hate bc as much as the next person but funny how the OP left out BC's hockey record

I think the poster was referring to BC in the ACC. BC plays hockey in Hockey East (same conference as Uconn next year)...

 

[RegisteredUconn]

uh, BC left 9 years ago. Whats with all the envy over such an inferior institution like BC?
Uconn is such a powerhouse school they will thrive whatever league they are in. The A12 just signed a "national" deal with ESPN. Make the most of the opportunity.

What envy? The guy is asking a legit question which you could have taken a stab at answering. But instead of doing that, you chose to attempt to steer the conversation in a different direction. Why not present what you think the logic of the BC decision was?

We know the ACC was feeling the pressure of being left behind in football. We know the ACC believed one of the potential plays for making themselves more relevant was a conference championship game, for which they needed 3 additional members. Everyone believed Miami would be the plum of the poached schools. VaTech was needed to secure Virginia's vote. But why BC? Were they, in Swafford's mind, simply the best school available at the time?

Whatever the intent, the original raid was, to my mind, the worst conceived and executed plan of the entire realignment era. The Big East's response was far better and concluded with the Big East becoming the country's undisputed hoops leader and, arguably, a better football league than the ACC.

More importantly, by adding BC, the ACC tipped its hand regarding intentions to move north. Trouble was they were far too cautious and greatness does not adhere to the timid. They were playing from behind and that required they be bold. The ACC should have moved to secure the entire east coast but they equivocated, missing the opportunity. They behaved as did Ford after WW2 preferring to make their meal of GM's leavings. Unfortunately, "Join us and feast on scraps" isn't an attractive slogan. So the ACC finds its options limited and its days numbered. A shame too. Combining the northeast with the southeast would have been formidable indeed.

 

[CTEagle]

Considering BC left 8 years ago don't you think it makes more sense to obsess over why the ACC most recently took Cuse Pitt and a pathetically poor academic school like Louisville over UCONN.

I would be wondering "what makes my school so toxic that no conference wants them".

 

[zls44]

I would be wondering "what makes my school so toxic that no conference wants them".

I suppose this is an absurd idea but...what do you think? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[WestHartHusk]

uh, BC left 9 years ago. Whats with all the envy over such an inferior institution like BC?
Uconn is such a powerhouse school they will thrive whatever league they are in. The A12 just signed a "national" deal with ESPN. Make the most of the opportunity.

BC left 9 years ago - and - you are here lurking on our board and are the first to respond. So we ask, if things are going going so well in the ACC why are lingering over here reading our thoughts?

I am reminded of a girl who had a nice boyfriend that maybe wasn't the best looking or richest, but was nice. Then she breaks up with him for a better looking guy with money. Years later, she has a BMW, a nice house and trendy clothes but her now husband sometimes hits her, cheats on her, and is always looking for the next hook-up. After years of this she starts to follow her 'ex' on facebook. She sees that in the interim he has been successful, has won awards and has all the prospects for a great future. And she has regrets, terrible terrible regrets about her life. She chased a few bucks and is now emotionally and physically wasted at the realization that money can't buy happiness and while she was once the diamond in the eye of her husband, he has bored of the relationship and is never coming back. But for the stigma he would have dumped her long ago.


CTEagle - you see what I'm saying?

 

[Davidm]

Considering BC left 8 years ago don't you think it makes more sense to obsess over why the ACC most recently took Cuse Pitt and a pathetically poor academic school like Louisville over UCONN.

I would be wondering "what makes my school so toxic that no conference wants them".

I believe you are being selective with your information UConn was originally going to go to the Acc with cues but BC talked the Acc into getting Pitt instead of us because you were scared to have UConn in the conference and continue to block us

 

[CTEagle]

This may seem way too simplistic but UCONN's problem starts and ends with their arrogance and entitlement mentality.
I know your first reaction will be to become very defensive, even pissed off, but that is part of what I am referring to.
Think about it for a while, apply it to circumstances where you feel UConn is getting the short end of the stick. It just may start making some sense.

 

[CTEagle]

See the arrogance? You feel that UCONN is so strong a candidate yet BC, a school this thread has repeatedly shown as meaningless to the ACC, has the power to keep you out.

For the record, it is my opinion that Uconn was never put to a vote for admission to the ACC.

Sure UCONN may have been discussed. But BC alone does not have the power to keep them out>

 

[WestHartHusk]

This may seem way too simplistic but UCONN's problem starts and ends with their arrogance and entitlement mentality.
I know your first reaction will be to become very defensive, even pissed off, but that is part of what I am referring to.
Think about it for a while, apply it to circumstances where you feel UConn is getting the short end of the stick. It just may start making some sense.

Ha! This may be one of the most arrogant and entitled messages I have ever read on this board.

 

[specialisthusky]

This may seem way too simplistic but UCONN's problem starts and ends with their arrogance and entitlement mentality.
I know your first reaction will be to become very defensive, even pissed off, but that is part of what I am referring to.
Think about it for a while, apply it to circumstances where you feel UConn is getting the short end of the stick. It just may start making some sense.

I hate thinking. Why don't you just spell out your arguments? You sound very confident in them, so please be so kind to apply it to circumstances and explain for me.

 

[noeynox]

This may seem way too simplistic but UCONN's problem starts and ends with their arrogance and entitlement mentality.
I know your first reaction will be to become very defensive, even pissed off, but that is part of what I am referring to.
Think about it for a while, apply it to circumstances where you feel UConn is getting the short end of the stick. It just may start making some sense.

Dude, were not on your board telling you we belong so.....

 

[CTEagle]

See what I mean WESTHARTHUSK? ARROGANCE!