Blair's comments about UConn's future

[toadfoot]

I actually follow very little college sports with the exception of UConn basketball, but it seems to me the logical destination for UConn is the B1G. For starters, it would seem the B1G has relatively little TV penetration in NE and most of NY and UConn would be by far the best university to remedy that. Secondly, if I were a B1G AD, I'd be worried that the addition of UConn to the ACC would almost certainly lock the B1G out of NE for the foreseeable future. It also seems like the best fit geographically. The B1G would comprise the entire upper portion of the US all the way from Nebraska to NE, the ACC would have the middle atlantic and east coast, the SEC the deep south, the B12 Texas and the upper plains and PAC the far west.

As someone who is relatively ignorant about this whole topic can someone explain why any of the B1G teams would object to having UConn? If the answer is football, wouldn't being a member of the B1G tend to improve UConn's football recruiting ability and make them more competitive over time? As for the rest of it's athletic program my general knowledge suggests that UConn would be very competitive in most other sports and certainly basketball would, as probably the 2nd biggest collegiate sports money machine, put the B1G right up there with the ACC.

Am I missing something here?

 

[LesMis89]

I actually follow very little college sports with the exception of UConn basketball, but it seems to me the logical destination for UConn is the B1G. For starters, it would seem the B1G has relatively little TV penetration in NE and most of NY and UConn would be by far the best university to remedy that. Secondly, if I were a B1G AD, I'd be worried that the addition of UConn to the ACC would almost certainly lock the B1G out of NE for the foreseeable future. It also seems like the best fit geographically. The B1G would comprise the entire upper portion of the US all the way from Nebraska to NE, the ACC would have the middle atlantic and east coast, the SEC the deep south, the B12 Texas and the upper plains and PAC the far west.

As someone who is relatively ignorant about this whole topic can someone explain why any of the B1G teams would object to having UConn? If the answer is football, wouldn't being a member of the B1G tend to improve UConn's football recruiting ability and make them more competitive over time? As for the rest of it's athletic program my general knowledge suggests that UConn would be very competitive in most other sports and certainly basketball would, as probably the 2nd biggest collegiate sports money machine, put the B1G right up there with the ACC.

Am I missing something here?

UConn is not a member of the Association of American Universities. All of the B1G are members, excepting Nebraska, and they were when they joined. (See my above post).

Membership in the AAU is a big, big deal to the B1G. The only school with which the B1G had discussions about joining them that wasn't an AAU member is Notre Dame and they have a big academic and football cache.

It's in serious doubt, given the relative weakness of UConn's football program, that UConn brings enough to the table for the B1G to overlook the AAU issue.

 

[ctdad]

I actually follow very little college sports with the exception of UConn basketball, but it seems to me the logical destination for UConn is the B1G. For starters, it would seem the B1G has relatively little TV penetration in NE and most of NY and UConn would be by far the best university to remedy that. Secondly, if I were a B1G AD, I'd be worried that the addition of UConn to the ACC would almost certainly lock the B1G out of NE for the foreseeable future. It also seems like the best fit geographically. The B1G would comprise the entire upper portion of the US all the way from Nebraska to NE, the ACC would have the middle atlantic and east coast, the SEC the deep south, the B12 Texas and the upper plains and PAC the far west.

As someone who is relatively ignorant about this whole topic can someone explain why any of the B1G teams would object to having UConn? If the answer is football, wouldn't being a member of the B1G tend to improve UConn's football recruiting ability and make them more competitive over time? As for the rest of it's athletic program my general knowledge suggests that UConn would be very competitive in most other sports and certainly basketball would, as probably the 2nd biggest collegiate sports money machine, put the B1G right up there with the ACC.

Am I missing something here?

I grew up in Connecticut and remember when UConn was in the Yankee Conference and had trouble beating Yale at anything. I now live in The Gang That Can't Count Straight (aka Big 10) country. IMO, UConn brings very little to the table for the Pig10, especially in football (and that is what drives all of this). Connecticut is a small basketball state. They have a small stadium, and as much as you don't want to hear it, bring very little of the Northeast market TV wise. Boston is BC for college football, and New York is a pro town. Syracuse takes upstate NY. Sizewise, the Storrs campus has what, about 16,000 students? That would make it the second smallest school, and only slightly ahead of private Northwestern. Most Pig10 schools are 35,000+ students. As someone else said, what does UConn bring to the AAU if they could even get in?

The Pig10 adds Rutgers and Maryland next year. Again, huge schools and big states. Also, the Pig10 is Michigan and Ohio State. Those schools get what they want. Nebraska and Penn State have found this out, as they used to be the big fish and no longer are.

 

[hoophuskee]

but it seems to me the logical destination for UConn is the B1G. For starters, it would seem the B1G has relatively little TV penetration in NE and most of NY and UConn would be by far the best university to remedy that. Secondly, if I were a B1G AD, I'd be worried that the addition of UConn to the ACC would almost certainly lock the B1G out of NE for the foreseeable future. It also seems like the best fit geographically. The B1G would comprise the entire upper portion of the US all the way from Nebraska to NE,

can someone explain why any of the B1G teams would object to having UConn? If the answer is football, wouldn't being a member of the B1G tend to improve UConn's football recruiting ability and make them more competitive over time?

Am I missing something here?

I think you are looking at it wrong. As a couple of posters mentioned about AAU (I never heard specifcially that) and UCONN being so small. The B1G like the SEC etc wants excitement "and BIG!" The B1G isn't going to invite UCONN in hopes it can improve a football team that would be otherwise graded an "F" with limited potential. Why bother to improve a "F" Program to a "D" when you can find a better football school with more potential? And how great is NE Football- so much so- that you need a small school liek UCONN to hlep to lock up recruits?

Our best bet is for 1 or 2 schools from the ACC to leave.

 

[tomcat]

I grew up in Connecticut and remember when UConn was in the Yankee Conference and had trouble beating Yale at anything. I now live in The Gang That Can't Count Straight (aka Big 10) country. IMO, UConn brings very little to the table for the Pig10, especially in football (and that is what drives all of this). Connecticut is a small basketball state. They have a small stadium, and as much as you don't want to hear it, bring very little of the Northeast market TV wise. Boston is BC for college football, and New York is a pro town. Syracuse takes upstate NY. Sizewise, the Storrs campus has what, about 16,000 students? That would make it the second smallest school, and only slightly ahead of private Northwestern. Most Pig10 schools are 35,000+ students. As someone else said, what does UConn bring to the AAU if they could even get in?

The Pig10 adds Rutgers and Maryland next year. Again, huge schools and big states. Also, the Pig10 is Michigan and Ohio State. Those schools get what they want. Nebraska and Penn State have found this out, as they used to be the big fish and no longer are.

I think you are right about the TV market. Another poster a while back said that the Hartford/New Haven market was important. Well, it's probably Top 25, but that's all, and I've never understood why people say UConn is a major player in the New York market if the evidence is that many UConn fans travel to NY to fill Madison Square Garden. That is evidence of proximity, not power.

You're wrong about size, however. The university has more than 30,000 students, which means it'd fit pretty well size-wise in the league we're discussing.

 

[UcMiami]

Uconn is actively pursuing AAU status though I have no idea what the process involves and whether they have a chance. And while NYC is a pro town, Westchester, Greenwich, and the Conneticut coast is not and is home to a lot of wealth and a large number of Fortune 500 offices. Uconn football is a big problem but Uconn MBB and WBB is a small plus (made a little bigger by MSG showing and two FF.) And the options without a raid on the ACC, SEC, or Big12 are really limited and the SEC raid isn't going to happen. So I do not think B1G option is off the table.

 

[UcMiami]

I think you are right about the TV market. Another poster a while back said that the Hartford/New Haven market was important. Well, it's probably Top 25, but that's all, and I've never understood why people say UConn is a major player in the New York market if the evidence is that many UConn fans travel to NY to fill Madison Square Garden. That is evidence of proximity, not power.

You're wrong about size, however. The university has more than 30,000 students, which means it'd fit pretty well size-wise in the league we're discussing.

Main Campus is 17.5K undergrad and 6.6 postgrad, other campuses are 5.5K or so combined.

 

[Deadrody]

I know football performance is important but it is really more the media footprint of fans than the actual team that these conferences are considering. It really doesn't matter how good a team ND has year in and year out - the footprint of their fan base is the 'holy grail' of conference realignment. And Uconn's best commodity is the shoreline between New Haven and the NY border - full of affluent CT residents many of whom work in NYC and a large number of corporate HQs.

Here's the thing - none of that matters unless those affluent CT residents WATCH UCONN FOOTBALL ON TV. You can claim there are some 3 million prospective viewers in CT, but what is the truth of the matter ? UConn football is barely relevant and that base of potential advertising recipients cannot be counted on in any meaningful way to tune in and watch UConn football.

The only way UConn is attractive to a major conference is for UConn football to demonstrate some manner of success, and so far that is not happening. The fact is that UConn football has actually regressed in the last ten years (Thanks Jeff Hathaway!!! You were the BEST!).

 

[Deadrody]

I grew up in Connecticut and remember when UConn was in the Yankee Conference and had trouble beating Yale at anything. I now live in The Gang That Can't Count Straight (aka Big 10) country. IMO, UConn brings very little to the table for the Pig10, especially in football (and that is what drives all of this). Connecticut is a small basketball state. They have a small stadium, and as much as you don't want to hear it, bring very little of the Northeast market TV wise. Boston is BC for college football, and New York is a pro town. Syracuse takes upstate NY. Sizewise, the Storrs campus has what, about 16,000 students? That would make it the second smallest school, and only slightly ahead of private Northwestern. Most Pig10 schools are 35,000+ students. As someone else said, what does UConn bring to the AAU if they could even get in?

The Pig10 adds Rutgers and Maryland next year. Again, huge schools and big states. Also, the Pig10 is Michigan and Ohio State. Those schools get what they want. Nebraska and Penn State have found this out, as they used to be the big fish and no longer are.

Total student enrollment: 30,500 (source). If you don't know what you're talking about, I'd suggest not making that so obvious.

 

[ctdad]

Total student enrollment: 30,500 (source). If you don't know what you're talking about, I'd suggest not making that so obvious.

And I would suggest you work on your reading comprehension; I specifically said the Storrs campus. In the interest of accuracy, I should have said undergraduates. Pig10 schools don't have satellite campuses that they count as part of their enrollment; for example, Illinois is in Champaign, Illinois-Chicago is a totally separate 4 year school. Ditto many of Purdue's "other" campuses. Students don't spend 2 years at Purdue-Calumet and then automatically move on to the West Lafayette campus for their last 2 years; they stay at Calumet for 4 years.

Don't get me wrong, UConn was my second choice of schools coming out of high school; my parents were both UConn grads. But having lived in Pig10 country for the past 30 years, UConn does not have much in common with Pig10 schools; the basketball happy ACC and would be a better fit in almost all sports.

 

[msf22b]

I have great hopes for the football program over the next few years
And that will change everything.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Here's the thing - none of that matters unless those affluent CT residents WATCH UCONN FOOTBALL ON TV. You can claim there are some 3 million prospective viewers in CT, but what is the truth of the matter ? UConn football is barely relevant and that base of potential advertising recipients cannot be counted on in any meaningful way to tune in and watch UConn football.

The only way UConn is attractive to a major conference is for UConn football to demonstrate some manner of success, and so far that is not happening. The fact is that UConn football has actually regressed in the last ten years (Thanks Jeff Hathaway!!! You were the BEST!).

If UCONN joined a big time football conference like the Big Ten or SEC (theoretically, of course), I guarantee a lot of Connecticut residents would start paying attention. Hasn't it only been like 15 years since you moved up from 1-AA to the big leagues?

 

[CL82]

UCONN can point to it all they want. Our football is too poor for B1G to want us. ACC will be more "forgiving" for poor football if enough of the Fla State's will leave. When SEC decides to expand- imo a no-brainer is to go after Fla State. The SEC is about having the best football schools in the country. Just becuase Fla will complain - i won't matter. Most of the other's won't.

One opening may be enough to get into ACC. As far as Clemson- Univ. of South Carolina was nothing before Spurrier. When he goes, Clemson can be an attractive alternative. USC will complain-- but again tmost of the other schools probably wouldn't. But there might be more favorable teams than Clemson. Give us a couple of more cracks to have possibility of going to ACC - we just might get there.

Well our football may be poor, for the time being, but our demographics and academics are pretty good. Oh and you might have heard about the Garden party last weekend in which UConn reminded people who actually is NYCs team.

So yeah, our football may have been disappointing the last three years, but I think that Bob Diaco may have something to say about that going forward.

 

[hoophuskee]

Well our football may be poor, for the time being, but our demographics and academics are pretty good. Oh and you might have heard about the Garden party last weekend in which UConn reminded people who actually is NYCs team.

So yeah, our football may have been disappointing the last three years, but I think that Bob Diaco may have something to say about that going forward.

If our basketball was so valued another top-tier conference would have gobbled us up. If the demograhics were so terrific we would have been gobbled up. And while you think "that Bob Diaco may have something to say about that going forward." I don't beleive the B1G will "listen." Instead -- the ACC might.