Benedict Wants Meeting With Aresco On Remaining In AAC For Football

[ConnHuskBask]

The Big12 has 10 teams and plays a conference title game. You don't need divisions or a certain number of teams anymore (of course this would have been a whole hell of a lot more beneficial to us when the ACC had 9 teams).

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

AD Dave gotta be the dumbest AD in the history of ADs. There’s less than a 0% chance this happens.

But he’ll get to tick the “I tried” box off and move on.

 

[whaler11]

Talk about obsessions, when was the last time the Whalers played a game in Hartford?

tedious.

around the time i picked my username

 

[Exit 4]

But he’ll get to tick the “I tried” box off and move on.

Ha - don't underestimate how valuable that can be in the years to come for his own CYA.

I just hope this notion of 1 or 2 years additional years of AAC football can get hammered out this July, ahead of Newport. If not, every minute that goes by reduces the chances of making any sort of 2020 schedule. Heck, 2021 is no slam dunk either. And not to belabor, but really do need Fox to help give whatever we do with football some juice (ie some decent scheduling).

 

[WrenchFan69]

The Big12 has 10 teams and plays a conference title game. You don't need divisions or a certain number of teams anymore (of course this would have been a whole hell of a lot more beneficial to us when the ACC had 9 teams).

You need full round robin or divisions. Navy definitely isn't playing a 10 game conference schedule, and probably nobody else would either.

 

[Guapo]

Those odds point to uconn paying the AAC to play.

The odds don’t point to this at all, actually.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

You need full round robin or divisions. Navy definitely isn't playing a 10 game conference schedule, and probably nobody else would either.

I stand corrected.

Maybe this whole thing would be crazy enough to work then?

 

[BlueDogs]

I guarantee for all the differences of opinion on the BY, more thought had gone into thinking about UConn football and the ramifications of the NBE decision than the dolts who crapped out this half-baked plan. Sad.

 

[WrenchFan69]

I stand corrected.

Maybe this whole thing would be crazy enough to work then?

It's going to be okay either way. In a vacuum I might even vote independent gives us a more clear pathway to a P5 which is the only way we have a football team in 10 years, but this obviously isn't a vacuum

 

[skies88]

Ha - don't underestimate how valuable that can be in the years to come for his own CYA.

I just hope this notion of 1 or 2 years additional years of AAC football can get hammered out this July, ahead of Newport. If not, every minute that goes by reduces the chances of making any sort of 2020 schedule. Heck, 2021 is no slam dunk either. And not to belabor, but really do need Fox to help give whatever we do with football some juice (ie some decent scheduling).

100% a CYA move. He might get laughed away from the table

 

[TJT]

What Benedict wants and what he will get are far different outcomes.

 

[TJT]

Uconn staying in the AAC is still the best for both AAC and UConn.

AAC won't have to renegotiate with ESPN on the new media deal. Uconn still delivers a big market. Uconn is close to Temple.

Get it done Dave! Give them a few bball games if needed.

Why do you think the ESPN deal will not have to be renegotiated? The old deal included UConn men's and women's basketball which would no longer be a part of the deal. It is those sports that provided the most value of UConn membership for ESPN.

 

[thedrowsyowl]

The AAC has no incentive to listen to UConn. The 11 other schools signed the same contract as UConn did. There’s no grounds to negotiate anything in the eyes of the conference, especially with a school that is taking its most valuable assets and peacing out.

 

[uconndogs]

The AAC has no incentive to listen to UConn. The 11 other schools signed the same contract as UConn did. There’s no grounds to negotiate anything in the eyes of the conference, especially with a school that is taking its most valuable assets and peacing out.

Thanks for the insights Mr. Aresco!

 

[UConnNick]

How do you strike out on 3 Athletic Directors in a row?

Suzy strikes again! It's apparent she's never cared or paid much attention to athletics. She proved time and again that she had zero aptitude for hiring ADs, and each one of them has exacerbated the problem by having no talent for hiring coaches, except for the Hurley hire, but that was essentially a no brainer because there really wasn't anybody else that fit the bill. It became a giant snowball running downhill.

Then when you add the gross mismanagement with contract extensions, always knee jerk reacting to the slightest bogus threat that any coach was leaving, it just added to the ineptitude. Benedict seems like a nice guy, but with no actual AD exprience coming in, the job has been way to much for him. We have him to thank for the current Kevin Ollie contract saga. How many millions of dollars will that cost the university in attorney's fees, even if the school is ultimately exonerated from having to pay him a dime?

About 15 years ago or so, I think it was SI that ran a story about the 50 best jock schools in the country. I think we were ranked somewhere around No. 35. Think about that. Yes, we were in a BCS conference then, but I don't think our on campus football facilities were finished by then. If you think about what we've done since then (practice facilities for M&W BB, new stadiums for soccer, hockey and baseball u/c, six more women's BB NCs, two more men's BB NCs, a couple more FH NC's), if another poll like that came out tomorrow we should still be on that list, and perhaps be rated even higher.

I'm not sure Herbst ever grasped what the athletics program has meant to this school. She was great with academics, but appeared to have no feel for athletics and how to manage a program.

 

[Exit 4]

There is a lot we don’t know here about the real dynamics and priorities of ESPN, the AAC contract with ESPN and its member schools.

We’ll see how it plays out.

1) immediate exit - independent football for 2020. Hello SNY football deal.
2) one or two year extended stay in the AAC at a reduced pay out. Smoothest plan for all parities. AAC can take some time to ponder our replacement - if there is one. What’s the incentive?

What if the AAC says we can stay indefinitely as a partial member; do we take it? What’s our payoff break point, yes if above 4m annually and no if less? I honestly don’t know the line that makes sense.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I’m wondering if we could stay in AAC for football just for 2020 season and then leave. Would solve our scheduling conflict and allow the AAC to avoid a headache on their end

 

[ZachCT12]

 

[UConnJim]

Here are the choices for the AAC as rules are currently written:

1) Add a 12th football school so that they can continue to play a conference championship game.

2) Stay at 11 and get rid of the conference championship game.

3) Stay at 11 and play a conference championship game, but the AAC needs to play a round robin or 10 conference games. (Non-starter, especially for Navy which also plays Army, Air Force, and Notre Dame each year.)

4) Ask the NCAA to pass a new rule that allows conferences with 11 teams to only have to play 9 conference games to be allowed to have a conference championship game. (Think the NCAA and other conferences are up for this?)

The best choices for the AAC to add are Army as a football only (not likely, especially how this would impact the date of Army/Navy), BYU as a football only (Best candidate and could happen), or Boise St. (unlikely, but you never know). I doubt there are any other decent candidates at this time, but a school could develop in the next 5 to 10 years like Old Dominion, James Madison, or Georgia St., but you are not taking them at this time.

So, as much as we may think otherwise, the AAC could be backed into the corner and keeping UConn football is the best option.

 

[UConnNick]

I see NBE has lacrosse team for men -- is UConn upgrading from club sport to join. Herbst would be happy.

Not unless some well heeled mega donor wants to put up 15 million dollars to start a program. Benedict has said that.

 

[Exit 4]

I’m wondering if we could stay in AAC for football just for 2020 season and then leave. Would solve our scheduling conflict and allow the AAC to avoid a headache on their end

Seems like a plausible scenario to me.

I am curious though, what do we think our media potential is for football only with SNY/fox vs a genuine deal to stay AAC for football only at a reduced pay out. What is the dividing line financially?

 

[uconnphil2016]

Seems like a plausible scenario to me.

I am curious though, what do we think our media potential is for football only with SNY/fox vs a genuine deal to stay AAC for football only at a reduced pay out. What is the dividing line financially?

I doubt the AAC will allow us to stay football only. They don’t want to help us. I just wonder if we could wait to move until the winter season of 2020 in order to avoid scheduling issues for both UConn sports and AAC members.

 

[UConnNick]

A polite way of saying:

"Don't let the door hit you in your ass on the way out!"

 

[Exit 4]

I doubt the AAC will allow us to stay football only. They don’t want to help us. I just wonder if we could wait to move until the winter season of 2020 in order to avoid scheduling issues for both UConn sports and AAC members.

It’s an academic question what is the value of our property on SNY as a standalone versus a reduced payout as a member of the AAC.

What if the AAC says you can stay but you get a half million bucks a year?

 

[Huskygrad88]

Here are the choices for the AAC as rules are currently written:

1) Add a 12th football school so that they can continue to play a conference championship game.

2) Stay at 11 and get rid of the conference championship game.

3) Stay at 11 and play a conference championship game, but the AAC needs to play a round robin or 10 conference games. (Non-starter, especially for Navy which also plays Army, Air Force, and Notre Dame each year.)

4) Ask the NCAA to pass a new rule that allows conferences with 11 teams to only have to play 9 conference games to be allowed to have a conference championship game. (Think the NCAA and other conferences are up for this?)

The best choices for the AAC to add are Army as a football only (not likely, especially how this would impact the date of Army/Navy), BYU as a football only (Best candidate and could happen), or Boise St. (unlikely, but you never know). I doubt there are any other decent candidates at this time, but a school could develop in the next 5 to 10 years like Old Dominion, James Madison, or Georgia St., but you are not taking them at this time.

So, as much as we may think otherwise, the AAC could be backed into the corner and keeping UConn football is the best option.

You note BYU to AAC “could happen”. I think there is less than zero chance it ever would, but it made me wonder which is more likely....BYU to AAC to replace us in football or some Frankenstein deal where AAC keeps us in football for some period of time? I really think the latter.