Big 12

[CL82]

I'm going back more than four decades but the standard thought process would have been: is she doable? Is she easy?

Depending on how many drinks you had in you the order of importance could change.

She's a high schooler!! Why are you liquoring her up in the first place?

 

[NowInStorrs]

So... Big 12, huh?

 

[Exit 4]

Parker - Stats of War has never had anything nice to say about us (I don’t think anyway)….

 

[FfldCntyFan]

She's a high schooler!! Why are you liquoring her up in the first place?

I thought we were speaking of college chicks, Goff mentioned something about cowboy boots.

And the order of importance depended on how much I had to drink back then.

 

[uconnyankee]

If we accept the 'best case scenario,' by all means we should move to the Big 12 or some other 'P5" conference. However, the impression here is that we would be getting a FULL share almost immediately from the new conference. To my knowledge, that has not happened to any school that has transferred to a new conference. Rutgers made more money than they had previously, but their deficit grew. They are still only getting about half of the full Big 0 payout.

Chances are we'd be getting roughly half of the Big 12 payout - maybe $15M - and some of that would come at the expense of money we are currently generating that would go into the conference pocket. You have the increased travel costs that has been noted. But the greater level of competition significantly reduces the opportunity to make a men's basketball statement as we have in the Big East (although women's basketball would likely not be affected much). Final Fours would be harder to come by.

And do you seriously think we are going to go 5-7, 6-6, 7-5 in a league with Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Texas Christian, WVU, BYU, not to mention Baylor, UCF, and Cincy (that went to the playoffs a couple years ago)? Even Kansas and K-State would be a major challenge. You can believe that we'll only get better players by affiliation with a more major conference, but there is no guarantee that the Big !2 will even BE a major conference in the next few years. Again, take a look at the reality - what schools that moved to a new conference over the past 20 years are now thriving? Are now in the mix for conference championships - especially in football? BC? Syracuse? Missouri? A&M? Maryland? Rutgers? Colorado?

Don't even get me started on the payouts to the Big East, the entry fees to the new conference - some of which coincides with the payouts from the AAC and Ollie.

Smell the coffee, folks! No matter how much you want to be considered at the same level as Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, that's not who we are. Oh, and that's not who New England is. New England will go bonkers for basketball - always have and always will - but football is not high on the radar. Could we do better? Sure. Mora will have us there soon, I think. But against a decent schedule that gives us a chance at 9-3, 10-2 seasons. One thing you can say about New England. We really LOVE a winner. If we are part of the Big 10, Big 12, AAC (watered down), being a winner in football at least is not in the cards. Being a winner in the bank account isn't either.

Ummm, college football was practically born in CT... Not saying it's as big today as in the south, but to suggest college football doesn't have any roots in the northeast is somewhat ignorant.

 

[Viet Vet]

Football's roots, 150 years ago, mean squat. Walter Camp graduated from my high school (Hopkins, New Haven), graduated from Yale, became the "father of football" in the Northeast...................all of which, today, means diddly.

If you think the Northeastern roots of football matter in Tuscaloosa, Norman, Columbus, Ann Arbor or South Bend.........................think again. Let alone Bristol, CT (ESPN), LA (Fox), or New York (ABC, CBS, NBC).

 

[noeynox]

Football's roots, 150 years ago, mean squat. Walter Camp graduated from my high school (Hopkins, New Haven), graduated from Yale, became the "father of football" in the Northeast...................all of which, today, means diddly.

If you think the Northeastern roots of football matter in Tuscaloosa, Norman, Columbus, Ann Arbor or South Bend.........................think again. Let alone Bristol, CT (ESPN), LA (Fox), or New York (ABC, CBS, NBC).

Yeah well, up here we call that cultural appropriation.

 

[CL82]

I thought we were speaking of college chicks, Goff mentioned something about cowboy boots.

And the order of importance depended on how much I had to drink back then.

"Honest officer, I thought she was a College chick!"

 

[Kolumbo]

If we accept the 'best case scenario,' by all means we should move to the Big 12 or some other 'P5" conference. However, the impression here is that we would be getting a FULL share almost immediately from the new conference. To my knowledge, that has not happened to any school that has transferred to a new conference. Rutgers made more money than they had previously, but their deficit grew. They are still only getting about half of the full Big 0 payout.

Chances are we'd be getting roughly half of the Big 12 payout - maybe $15M - and some of that would come at the expense of money we are currently generating that would go into the conference pocket. You have the increased travel costs that has been noted. But the greater level of competition significantly reduces the opportunity to make a men's basketball statement as we have in the Big East (although women's basketball would likely not be affected much). Final Fours would be harder to come by.

And do you seriously think we are going to go 5-7, 6-6, 7-5 in a league with Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Texas Christian, WVU, BYU, not to mention Baylor, UCF, and Cincy (that went to the playoffs a couple years ago)? Even Kansas and K-State would be a major challenge. You can believe that we'll only get better players by affiliation with a more major conference, but there is no guarantee that the Big !2 will even BE a major conference in the next few years. Again, take a look at the reality - what schools that moved to a new conference over the past 20 years are now thriving? Are now in the mix for conference championships - especially in football? BC? Syracuse? Missouri? A&M? Maryland? Rutgers? Colorado?

Don't even get me started on the payouts to the Big East, the entry fees to the new conference - some of which coincides with the payouts from the AAC and Ollie.

Smell the coffee, folks! No matter how much you want to be considered at the same level as Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, that's not who we are. Oh, and that's not who New England is. New England will go bonkers for basketball - always have and always will - but football is not high on the radar. Could we do better? Sure. Mora will have us there soon, I think. But against a decent schedule that gives us a chance at 9-3, 10-2 seasons. One thing you can say about New England. We really LOVE a winner. If we are part of the Big 10, Big 12, AAC (watered down), being a winner in football at least is not in the cards. Being a winner in the bank account isn't either.

Absolutely UConn could have a winning record in the Big 12. UConn beat Baylor with RG3! TCU left the Mountain West to join the Big 12 and won the Big 12 Conference last year. Oklahoma and WVU finished at 3-6 with Kansas last year. Suddenly Cincy and UC freaking F are world beaters? UCF went from the MAC to CUSA to AAC and now you act like it's Alabama. It's had a nice run no question but it goes to show you any program can succeed if it is smart about it. Pitt won the ACC in 2021. Anything is possible!

UConn won the Big East in 2007 with WVU, Cincy, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, USF

Sure the Pasqualoni/RE2 years sucked but UConn was pretty good before that as a newbie. UConn has beaten out of conference programs not too long ago: ND, Baylor (2 in a row), South Carolina, Virginia, Duke, Army, Maryland, Vandy, Indiana, Buffalo Maine

 

[CL82]

Sure the Pasqualoni/RE2 years sucked but UConn was pretty good before that as a newbie.

I like how you refuse to acknowledge that the Diaco years ever happened.

 

[Kolumbo]

I like how you refuse to acknowledge that the Diaco years ever happened.

There was optimism to start and there was a bowl game, so there was that. 4-4 in the AAC. Check it. 2015. UCF was 0-12, and now going to the Big 12.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Absolutely UConn could have a winning record in the Big 12. UConn beat Baylor with RG3! TCU left the Mountain West to join the Big 12 and won the Big 12 Conference last year. Oklahoma and WVU finished at 3-6 with Kansas last year. Suddenly Cincy and UC freaking F are world beaters? UCF went from the MAC to CUSA to AAC and now you act like it's Alabama. It's had a nice run no question but it goes to show you any program can succeed if it is smart about it. Pitt won the ACC in 2021. Anything is possible!

UConn won the Big East in 2007 with WVU, Cincy, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, USF

Sure the Pasqualoni/RE2 years sucked but UConn was pretty good before that as a newbie. UConn has beaten out of conference programs not too long ago: ND, Baylor (2 in a row), South Carolina, Virginia, Duke, Army, Maryland, Vandy, Indiana, Buffalo Maine

Anything is possible in college football when you have a great football coach, and UConn finally has one. To have a successful football program a great coach and support staff is more important than in other ncaa sports. There many examples of a basketball team with a so so coach making it to the FF, but I can’t think of any football teams making the college football playoffs with a bad head coach. What happened to UCLA when they hired Mora? What happened to VTech when Beamer retired? What’s happened to Florida State over the recent past? Will Luke Fickell save Wisconsin now that Barry Alvarez retired two years ago as AD? That remains to be seen, but I’m hopeful. What happened to Florida football after Urban Meyer?

 

[Huskyforlife]

I think our hopes rest on the New York market, and strong Basketball + Olympic sports programs. Nobody is buying the UConn football sleeping giant stuff, it’ll just make us able to be competitive for the first time in a decade.

 

[Sportsman5]

I think our hopes rest on the New York market, and strong Basketball + Olympic sports programs. Nobody is buying the UConn football sleeping giant stuff, it’ll just make us able to be competitive for the first time in a decade.

UConn football was ranked in the top 25 for 3 out of the last 6 years in the Big East. Legitimately contending for national titles will be very difficult, but being in the top half of the Big 12 is very plausible. Add in top facilities, some big boosters, and there being very little competition from other colleges in New England/ tri-state area. Almost no BIG 12 fans understand this and most UConn fans don't either. However, the commissioner of the BIG 12 does understand this and that is why he was on campus last week. Mora likely has 8-10 additional years to coach and will probably finish his career at UConn if UConn is in the BIG 12, so there's some runway to build a very legitimate football program before he retires.

 

[TheCatsLair]

Here's my thought:

• Big 12 surely doesn't want football only - they surely want all 3 teams of value (FB, MBB, WBB), + the rest, sure why not who cares at that point.
• Big 12's future is murky at best - we should NOT give them our 3 best assets as a package, especially not M/WBB without a clearer picture on what conference re-alignment will look like when the dust settles. Personally i would not go to Big 12 ever.
• To that point, the dust has not settled at all on conference re-alignment. I believe that when it's all said and done, the prized ponies of each P5 conference will have moved to the P2 (B1G/SEC). Let's be frank - even with M/WBB, UConn has NO chance of getting into either of those conference. Not now, not tomorrow, not in 10 years. Maybe 20, but it's not happening anytime soon.
• That being said, once the poaching happens, a lot of schools will remain outside the P2 party, along with us. When that happens, we re-assess the landscape as it stands.
• By this point, football may be its own governing body anyway, and there won't really be a need to drag all sports to a conference. If the stars align, many other schools will find themselves in our current position and simply join forces, to form new conferences. Thinking schools like ACC leftovers (Louisville, Virginia Tech, WF, Duke, GA Tech, Syr, Pitt, BC), Pac 12 leftovers (UC Berkeley, WA State, OR State, Stanford, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, AZ State), Big 12 leftovers (Kansas, K-State, Iowa St, OK State, Baylor, Tx Tech, AAC wannabes) will need to find a home for their programs, while also protecting their basketball interests. Sound familiar???
• Thus, I'd love to see UConn form football-only regional alignments with schools in the same situation.

Until all the dust settles, we pay close attention to the landscape but we should only FOCUS on 3 things:

• Win football games; Make the best schedule you can make - right now let's not worry about where the opponent is Geographically, just WIN.
• protect MBB and keep its pedigree as high as possible - keep Coach Hurley happy and under contract.
• Protect WBB and keep its pedigree as high as possible - Ensure the transition plan to Geno's successor is solid and we don't allow Kevin Ollie 2.0 to happen on the women's side.

Until the dust settles, Big East + FB Indep it is, for us. it's a GREAT home, albeit not the most lucrative, but the matchups make sense and we can protect basketball until something better comes along, if ever.

My heart would shatter if we went to B12 just to see it turn into an AAC or worse, the WAC? Remember the WAC? 20 years ago it was on its way to becoming a prestigious/quality conference, with solid flagship western institutions (Nevada, Boise State, Hawaii, Fresno, etc) and a growing list of signature wins by its programs. Now, it's a mishmash of schools you've never heard of, from out west. Truly sad.

Murky at best!? The Big 12 is the third highest paying conference and is locked into an year TV deal and grant of rights and is in position to add Pac-12 schools. How is that "murky"?

 

[BlueandOG]

UConn is a big-time school with big-time sports that belongs in a big-time conference. The Big 12 is conference number 3 after B1G and SEC. Big 12 is our best bet. Let’s do the deal

 

[Skies2018]

How San Diego State prepared for potential conference realignment

"It's a pretty small circle. It's yourself, it's the president, maybe a key ... trustee member," SDSU AD J.D. Wicker said of realignment.

www.on3.com

Big emphasis on their new on campus stadium.

 

[metsfan2323]

How San Diego State prepared for potential conference realignment

"It's a pretty small circle. It's yourself, it's the president, maybe a key ... trustee member," SDSU AD J.D. Wicker said of realignment.

www.on3.com

Big emphasis on their new on campus stadium.

35,000 seat stadium, ours is bigger. We had 42,704 for the Michigan game.

 

[Skies2018]

35,000 seat stadium, ours is bigger. We had 42,704 for the Michigan game.

I feel like you missed the key words which are “on campus”.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I guess the 72,000 folks who used to fill Husky Stadium in Washington didn't realize it was off-capus. Same for the 40,000 who filled the Rent just over a decade ago. Weird..

 

[metsfan2323]

I feel like you missed the key words which are “on campus”.

No I didn't, why would a visiting team care? The Rent is closer to the airport than Storrs so advantage East Hartford as far as opposing teams are concerned. Doubtful the opposing players nor their fans will want to sit in on a class while visiting.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I would think there would be serious talks about building an on campus stadium, or making serious renovations to the Rent if our gigantic athletic deficit vanished over the next 5 years. I’d bank on it being a condition of our approval.

 

[coachcap]

I would think there would be serious talks about building an on campus stadium, or making serious renovations to the Rent if our gigantic athletic deficit vanished over the next 5 years. I’d bank on it being a condition of our approval.

Remember that the footings are in place to expand the RENT to 55k...

 

[Skies2018]

No I didn't, why would a visiting team care? The Rent is closer to the airport than Storrs so advantage East Hartford as far as opposing teams are concerned. Doubtful the opposing players nor their fans will want to sit in on a class while visiting.

Ok so why does every single other FBS team besides Miami and UCLA play on campus? Sometimes it’s worth looking at other programs and seeing what they’ve done to advance their athletic standing.

 

[CL82]

No I didn't, why would a visiting team care? The Rent is closer to the airport than Storrs so advantage East Hartford as far as opposing teams are concerned.

Plus it's much more convenient if they need to go to Cabela's for something.