Conf USA in Talks with UConn, Liberty, NMSU | Page 7 | The Boneyard

Conf USA in Talks with UConn, Liberty, NMSU

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Looking back at being left out of Conference realignment when ESPN wanted us and BC and Cuse and Pitt, et al basically worked against us, it was claimed that UConn was "arrogant" behind the scenes with all our athletic success. Even the lawsuit, we got blamed for it. I never took much stock in the claim, but maybe there was some truth to it. Maybe we have learned to be humble and work with other institutions better. If so, AD David Benedict handled this well.
 
Kolumbo said:
UCONN is Independent so it should talk to everyone at any time any where. It's just talk and I'm sure it's a No.

“It’s our duty to consider options when they are presented to us and we’re always going to do what is in the best interest of our football program,” athletic director David Benedict said Thursday night. “Period.”

What if C-USA did something radical just to keep alive, such as a football only conference:

UCONN
UMass
Army
Navy
Liberty
NMSU

FIU
Marshall
MTSU
Louisiana Tech
WKU
UTEP
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Only Way Navy leaves the AAC is to be independent again. Army has openly said it does not want to join a conference ever again. UMass isn't even in consideration for addition to CUSA. No way CUSA is going to be able to do that. They got embarrassed by the Sun Belt in realignment. CUSA is going to fold once the schools leave for the AAC.
 
shizzle787 said:
Their contract ends in 2023. So it would be up in the air.
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I can't see an island-of-misfit toys conference like that potential C-USA with a few FCS teams, us, UMass, and Liberty (barf) having a contract that gets them on national TV ever. ESPNoooze would be the best we can hope for.
 
DoctorWho85 said:
What is the Sunbelt too good for us now?

All kidding aside, I honestly think this is a move by AD Dave to leverage more TV money out of CBS for football.
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The current deal ends in 2023 but it has two 2-year network options on it that could take it out to 2027. CBSSN has all the leverage at this point.
 
Blades said:
That's the way I read it. The group running this conference are about to lose their jobs. They're in scramble mode calling any and all parties before it implodes. Dave's already said he likes his position in the current CR climate and it certainly wasn't to join what's as bad a conference geographically and worst than the one he just got of, that forces Uconn to take "bi-annual trips" to these places.

That being said he can't just tell them to take a hike as a FBS Indy when he may need a few of these schools periodicly to fill wholes in the schedule that makes sense. See the Florida H & H/s vs. FIU ( 4 games- 2022,23,25,27) and MTSU they just played. And especially with all the schedule changes because of the current musical chairs. So yeah you probably don't hang up on them and tell them we're to good for ya, IMHO
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After the last decade, I don't believe UCONN football is too good for anybody. Followers of the program (I am one, with season tickets) tend to over rate the importance / viability of the program. We have become an outlier. An independent with no bowl affiliation. Our big win was holding on to beat Yale. With ongoing conference realignment, maybe scheduling becomes more difficult. Maybe building a winning program in a "lesser" conference is our best option.
 
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is there some way we could have our cake and eat it too? i.e. maximize benefits of a conference (all-conference status for players, bowl eligibility, some scheduling stability) while keeping the benefits of independence (big time games on TV and scheduling independence, revenue from road games, our TV deal, good recruiting because of the former 3)? i am all the way out on C-USA but i don't mind examining raking some desperate conference over the coals to get these
 
Urcea said:
is there some way we could have our cake and eat it too? i.e. maximize benefits of a conference (all-conference status for players, bowl eligibility, some scheduling stability) while keeping the benefits of independence (big time games on TV and scheduling independence, revenue from road games, our TV deal, good recruiting because of the former 3)? i am all the way out on C-USA but i don't mind examining raking some desperate conference over the coals to get these
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No. We have the perfect situation at the moment. Get a coach people take seriously, start winning and stay with CBS. There is no appealing option that is on a level below the B12. At the moment we don't need a conference. Lets win some games and then see what opportunities exist in a couple of years.
 
Storrs South said:
The current deal ends in 2023 but it has two 2-year network options on it that could take it out to 2027. CBSSN has all the leverage at this point.
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I honestly hope we stay with CBSSN. I enjoy coverage. And there commentators are some of the best. They don't poo poo on UConn for being bad. They do pretty fair analysis in game and so much more enjoyable than anyone on ESPN (outside of Herbstreit and Orlovsky).
 
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You all are missing another key point...

The fact that AD David Benedict said ANYTHING to the press acknowledging this phone call is as big of a no thanks as he could give.

When was the last time any AD, considering a conference move, ever made a statement to the press that wasn't "No comment?"

NEVER!

This isn't happening. I don't believe UConn ever considered this to be "happening," nor did they "negotiate" anything, nor did they "consider" anything. CUSA cold-called AD David Benedict, had a general discussion then ran to the press with a grossly inflated account of what happened. It would not shock me if AD David Benedict was caught off-guard by the original article due to it being such a complete mischaracterization of their discussion.
 
Hoophound said:
No. We have the perfect situation at the moment. Get a coach people take seriously, start winning and stay with CBS. There is no appealing option that is on a level below the B12. At the moment we don't need a conference. Lets win some games and then see what opportunities exist in a couple of years.
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The situation is not perfect, but it's stable. For the reasons you mentioned.
 
Cuse Socks said:
Why are we acting like we are too good for CUSA?

The MAC will not take us football only we are not good enough. We are not going to be the next BYU as independent. The only reason these good teams are scheduling us is because were an FCS level opponent that gives them credit for an FBS win. Once we at all become good nobody will want to play us.. why not join this conference, try to string together some winning seasons then try to jump ship to the MAC or something?

There are some people here who would be more embarrassed about joining CUSA than canceling an entire football season for no reason. That's insane.
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Because we damn well are better than CUSA, that's why.
 
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calamity17 said:
Somebody tell me a single plus to this move if It happens.
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We kick out the other 5 teams and attract better ones. Other than that, what in the ever livingF are they thinking. Here's the converstion.

UConn: "Can you commit to a $10M/year payout?"

CUSA: "no."

UConn: "Call back when you can"
 
Hoophound said:
It is the perfect situation at any level that is below the B12. Meaning, P5 or stay with what we are doing.
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I guess I see what you are getting at but we are in anything but a perfect situation. And our athletic director had a big hand in that. That’s why I don’t believe a word he says about how far in negotiations they were (or are) with C-USA.
 
I find this amusing. We are doing so well at scheduling we have no need to go to C-USA. Two years ago, we tried to get into the MAC for football-only. What a turn of events. The fact that the fanbase is fuming about this should tell you regardless of record UConn has been doing fine as an independent.
 
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shizzle787 said:
I find this amusing. We are doing so well at scheduling we have no need to go to C-USA. Two years ago, we tried to get into the MAC for football-only. What a turn of events. The fact that the fanbase is fuming about this should tell you regardless of record UConn has been doing fine as an independent.
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#fakenews on your MAC hot take.
 
Guapo said:
Its UConn being diplomatic. This is as close to an “aw hell no!” as you’re going to get in this situation
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Disagree. When the CUSA conference leaks our name in order to bolster their stank saying that we are negotiating with them that’s a breach of etiquette. It is fair and appropriate to respond to it by saying the University of Connecticut has no interest in joining CUSA and is absolutely not in the process of negotiating with them. However, we wish them the best of luck in their attempts to stabilize their conference.

Keep in mind this is the same conference that publicly indicated it had no interest in us when we left the American. We should be civil, but clear, we don’t appreciate them bandying our name about to burnish their failing reputation.
 
Cuse Socks said:
Why are we acting like we are too good for CUSA?

The MAC will not take us football only we are not good enough. We are not going to be the next BYU as independent. The only reason these good teams are scheduling us is because were an FCS level opponent that gives them credit for an FBS win. Once we at all become good nobody will want to play us.. why not join this conference, try to string together some winning seasons then try to jump ship to the MAC or something?

There are some people here who would be more embarrassed about joining CUSA than canceling an entire football season for no reason. That's insane.
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UConn's brand power is greater than every other current and speculated CUSA school combined. While our recent success on the football field is not, this move would severely dampen the perception of UConn athletics overall.
 
Cuse Socks said:
Why are we acting like we are too good for CUSA?

The MAC will not take us football only we are not good enough. We are not going to be the next BYU as independent. The only reason these good teams are scheduling us is because were an FCS level opponent that gives them credit for an FBS win. Once we at all become good nobody will want to play us.. why not join this conference, try to string together some winning seasons then try to jump ship to the MAC or something?

There are some people here who would be more embarrassed about joining CUSA than canceling an entire football season for no reason. That's insane.
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We?
 
Somebody reached out. ADDave took the call. He said, hmm, we’ll get back to you. That’s what this amounted to.

We have some of these teams on future schedules, so we can’t just ignore them. Even if we didn’t, it is in our interest to have multiple programs available for scheduling purposes. It might in fact be useful to have some form of scheduling alliance with some of them, especially if they have only 6-7 conference games. Makes our scheduling easier and makes there’s easier too.

The decision to join The NEWBIE has all sorts of implications for other sports that nobody considered/cared about. Now we are living with them.
 
Forte said:
You seem to have a weird interest in me. Focus on the program.
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I think he just said what most of us are thinking. You post "bury it" (you actually spelled it "burry"), you ask why we should even have a program, you say focus on basketball, then you post that you're a diehard and say "focus on the program."
You seem to have an inner conflict between "kill football" and being a "big fan." It's not helpful.
 
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