Conference Thought Experiment

[Travelman6]

It's the real world. I didn't mean it so much in the workplace relations way as in the recruiting/HR way, especially in more lucrative fields.

*shrugs* skilled people come from all over.

 

[Austin316]

We need to win.... win... win... and win some more. Then we get the damn invite. If we were in Cinci, UCF, or Houston’s shoes with b-ball and football I think we would have gotten an invite already. The history is there but non-UConn fans don’t take us seriously anymore. Gotta freaking WIN!

 

[huskyinfl]

Yeah you’re right, where you go to college has absolutely no barring on your career.

Look, I’ve had one experience, you’ve clearly had another. I’m just relaying what I’ve experienced. Maybe the fields we work in are different?

I’m between the ages of 28 and 38.

Who is talking about career direction? No one. Global Insurance Brokerage here so... Here is the truth. people in North Carolina will pretend like they don't know that UConn has a men's basketball team. They compliment the women's team and pretend like they don't know about the men's team. then you refresh their memory and they know and then pretend to forget that we play football.

That's North Carolina and the South. Compliment women's team, feign ignorance on Men's team, really don't know we play football.

 

[Guapo]

Who is talking about career direction? No one. Global Insurance Brokerage here so... Here is the truth. people in North Carolina will pretend like they don't know that UConn has a men's basketball team. They compliment the women's team and pretend like they don't know about the men's team. then you refresh their memory and they know and then pretend to forget that we play football.

That's North Carolina and the South. Compliment women's team, feign ignorance on Men's team, really don't know we play football.

I don’t even remember what we were arguing about. Everything you said here sounds about right, though. Peace out, my dude.

 

[billybud]

I'd say the statement about folks in the south ignoring UConn football is close enough to be called true.

Except for Duke/UNC, and maybe Va, the south is fairly football centric.

And the Huskies have not really done much to draw southern attention to the football brand.

But...everyone associates UConn with basketball, especially the women's dynasty.

 

[billybud]

And likewise...I'd bet that, maybe until very lately....folks in the northeast never associated FSU, Clemson, VT, Miami, Alabama, Auburn, etc with a national class basketball brand.

 

[intlzncster]

How old are you? No one associates your degree with any other school than the one you graduate from. I've lived all over the world and have had no issues even when I went to grad school at USF no one made a connection.

Sure they do. If you go to Brown or Columbia or where ever, people tend to think, "oh an Ivy League guy".

 

[zls44]

Was a better conference and was viewed as a major. The American is better. Right now it is.

This is, literally and factually, not true.

 

[zls44]

Was a better conference and was viewed as a major. The American is better. Right now it is.

This is, literally and factually, not true.

 

[zls44]

Was a better conference and was viewed as a major. The American is better. Right now it is.

This is, literally and factually, not true.

 

[intlzncster]

This is, literally and factually, not true.

zls said it three times for emphasis. Just so you know, that was not a mistake.

 

[Guapo]

zls said it three times for emphasis. Just so you know, that was not a mistake.

That is, literally and factually, true.

 

[intlzncster]

Would you really want to work at a place that judges a person they have not met just based on the UNI they went to? Sounds kind of..narrow minded.

That's most employers in the country.

 

[freescooter]

I’m just trying to get a gauge on those of you who don’t want to drop football;

If the ACC or Big 10 offered partial membership for all sports IF we dropped football would you drop football?

Basically what I’m asking is; are you advocating keeping football because you think it’s important for the school to play football or are you advocating keeping football because you think it’s the key to getting the athletic department into a better conference?

If you could have 20 million dollars if you grew wings and flew around the state capital would you do it? Of course you CAN’T grow wings so it’s a dumb question, but let’s discuss it anyway. 2 conferences that are based on football would want UCONN only if we dropped football. Honestly.

What if the ACC or the B10 offered membership for all sports except basketball. Would you favor dropping it?

 

[Guapo]

If you could have 20 million dollars if you grew wings and flew around the state capital would you do it? Of course you CAN’T grow wings so it’s a dumb question, but let’s discuss it anyway. 2 conferences that are based on football would want UCONN only if we dropped football. Honestly.

What if the ACC or the B10 offered membership for all sports except basketball. Would you favor dropping it?

No, because I care about the basketball program the most.

That answer was what the point of the original question was; getting to the root of why people wanted to keep football. Was it because they cared about the football team or was it because they cared about the basketball program. I think the answers have been pretty interesting!

 

[whaler11]

This is, literally and factually, not true.

The AAC’s highwater mark versus the Big East’s low point and they still can’t get ahead.

They might get 2 of 3 from DePaul tho.

 

[whaler11]

If you could have 20 million dollars if you grew wings and flew around the state capital would you do it? Of course you CAN’T grow wings so it’s a dumb question, but let’s discuss it anyway. 2 conferences that are based on football would want UCONN only if we dropped football. Honestly.

What if the ACC or the B10 offered membership for all sports except basketball. Would you favor dropping it?

I’ve been to every UConn football home game but one since 1999.

If the ACC offered UConn membership in all sports if they dropped football - if they didn’t accept they should be tarred and feathered.

 

[zls44]

zls said it three times for emphasis. Just so you know, that was not a mistake.

I had to do three messages in order to share snips from three separate ratings systems that show how absurd the claim of the AAC being better than the Big East in basketball is.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This is, literally and factually, not true.

That measures the whole season. At the end of the season, Wichita State and Memphis were much improved, even UConn was, had injuries not interfered. Big East teams were largely headed the opposite direction. Even your stats do not show a major gap. AAC top 10 teams vs Big East top 10 teams at the end of the year? Who wins?

I'll stand by my prediction that going forward this will be the better hoops conference.

 

[billybud]

UConn, in sports, could be a Gonzaga...or a Villanova..or, a worse case, a Georgetown....not fielding a football team.

If that is what is desired...over being a Cincinnati or a UCF, or a Houston.

The northeast seems unique in that it is so oriented towards that single sport....even more so than in Carolina's rabid basketball country.

It sounds like fans are beginning to believe that to be really good in that one sport it might be better to focus resources and drop football and compete in a league almost solely devoted to basketball.

With thar move, UConn would be a different kind of sports school...and would be making a 40 year decision.

 

[freescooter]

I’ve been to every UConn football home game but one since 1999.

If the ACC offered UConn membership in all sports if they dropped football - if they didn’t accept they should be tarred and feathered.

Look I am a football fan as well as a basketball an hockey fan. But the question is nonsensical on its face. We those are all sports conferences. Except for niche sports like hockey lacrosse etc where many members don’t offer the sport and thus there is room for the odd outlier, they aren’t taking all sports but football. Further I don’t really think this plowed any new ground. If you asked the same question at Michigan or Texas they’d ask what the hell is basketball. UNC or Duke would say drop football. We already know that. Most UConn basketball fans have never bought into football. But I’d also say most UConn fans don’t get that UConn isn’t a modest cow college any more either. They don’t get that it’s a major national research university. Totally different animal from Providence College and d Paul Marquette and St Johns. And they think Jim Calhoun built it. They don’t get that your academic reputation doesn’t come from the basketball court. It comes from guys like Lew Rome telling university presidents and deans to recruit top flight faculty and committing to fund the infrastructure to support them. And develop a plan and sell it to the legislature despite incredible resistance.

 

[Guapo]

Look I am a football fan as well as a basketball an hockey fan. But the question is nonsensical on its face. We those are all sports conferences. Except for niche sports like hockey lacrosse etc where many members don’t offer the sport and thus there is room for the odd outlier, they aren’t taking all sports but football. Further I don’t really think this plowed any new ground. If you asked the same question at Michigan or Texas they’d ask what the hell is basketball. UNC or Duke would say drop football. We already know that. Most UConn basketball fans have never bought into football. But I’d also say most UConn fans don’t get that UConn isn’t a modest cow college any more either. They don’t get that it’s a major national research university. Totally different animal from Providence College and d Paul Marquette and St Johns. And they think Jim Calhoun built it. They don’t get that your academic reputation doesn’t come from the basketball court. It comes from guys like Lew Rome telling university presidents and deans to recruit top flight faculty and committing to fund the infrastructure to support them. And develop a plan and sell it to the legislature despite incredible resistance.

Not to go too far down this rabbit hole, but the question was not meant to be a “would you rather” it was to try and gauge the reason for wanting to keep football.

Judging from your response above, it sounds like your answer would be “I’m a football fan and I think it’s important that the school keeps the sport in order to preserve and grow it’s status as a state flagship research university.”

I happen to disagree, but it’s a fair argument.

 

[J187Money]

I’d rather be with DePaul, Creighton, Butler, Xavier, Marquette and PC than just about anyone else you could list in the AAC.

Sure - but it isn't a compelling enough slate to make you buy season tickets if you don't already buy them. It is just a more familiar flavor of mid-tier hoops.

 

[Guapo]

Sure - but it isn't a compelling enough slate to make you buy season tickets if you don't already buy them. It is just a more familiar flavor of mid-tier hoops.

I disagree. Sign me up now for that slate, please.

 

[J187Money]

I disagree. Sign me up now for that slate, please.

I pine for the old BE, but I'm pretty indifferent to most of the teams in the NBE and the AAC. I might be more interested in a DePaul/Marquette because I grew up in the midwest, but the thing that makes me want to go or not go to a UCONN game is if UCONN is any good or not.

And I don't think either league gives us a leg up in recruiting v. the other one.

 

[freescooter]

In my view people who say go back to the Big East really mean go back to 2004. The current Big East bears no resemblance to the one that existed in the first decade of the 21st century. In no way do Xavier Creighton and Butler equate to Syracuse Pitt and West Virginia. PC Seton Hall and St Johns couldn’t compete when they had to play UConn Syracuse Pitt WVU a few times a year. Now they make the tourney...and get blown out early. And academically outside Georgetown and to a lesser extent Villanova it is the NEC. People from Georgetown have been snooping around the ACC for the Whaler option—all sports but football. The ACC is too polite to laugh at them but it hasn’t been particularly receptive to put it mildly.

For me it is about winning. If UCONN goes 10-2 in football and gets to a sweet 16 or Ekite 8 again the crowds will be back. Maybe not all sellouts but that simply doesn’t happen anywhere anymore.

 

[J187Money]

In my view people who say go back to the Big East really mean go back to 2004. The current Big East bears no resemblance to the one that existed in the first decade of the 21st century. In no way do Xavier Creighton and Butler equate to Syracuse Pitt and West Virginia. PC Seton Hall and St Johns couldn’t compete when they had to play UConn Syracuse Pitt WVU a few times a year. Now they make the tourney...and get blown out early. And academically outside Georgetown and to a lesser extent Villanova it is the NEC. People from Georgetown have been snooping around the ACC for the Whaler option—all sports but football. The ACC is too polite to laugh at them but it hasn’t been particularly receptive to put it mildly.

For me it is about winning. If UCONN goes 10-2 in football and gets to a sweet 16 or Ekite 8 again the crowds will be back. Maybe not all sellouts but that simply doesn’t happen anywhere anymore.

Said more artfully than I did - but that's my point. We will never get back what we lost. At this stage NBE v. AAC is a preference issue for hoops (I will admit I would love to be back in MSG for the tournament - that's a huge plus) but meaningless (and probably worse for all other sports).

 

[ConnMotors]

In football, the AAC is just a reanimated corpse made up of body parts from the last batch of schools who got killed by realignment. No one wants to be in this conference except maybe Tulsa, Tulane and East Carolina. Everyone's #1 goal is to get out of it. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see them go full blown island of misfit toys - bring in BYU, Boise St and everyone else who needs an island and shutting out the dregs of the conference. Whatever the American is now, it won't be for much longer.

Can the AAC dump a couple of the schools mentioned above East Carolina, Tulsa and Wichita State? As much as I dislike the AAC I believe that UConn is stuck here for a while. If not forever. What the AAC actually has going for it is the location of its school members. We have Cincinnati, Houston, Philadelphia, Orlando, Tampa/St. Pete, Memphis, New Orleans and Dallas. Aren’t these huge assets? Or better yet make them be. Know that there are not many other quality schools to grab but the conference is so spread out anyway why not tap into the Mountain West Conference? If not, then we wait for the ACC, Big 10 and SEC to jump to 16 schools that will come mostly from the B12.