Connecticut governor declares UConn is 'all in' on big-time college football despite its current spot at bottom (Yahoo Thamel)

[Bongo Fury]

CT has had some pretty high profile recruits lately. I think that plays well to our scheduling advantages because some of the bigger programs will want to come here and show off.

Not just athletes, these schools want to attract good students.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Not just athletes, these schools want to attract good students.

Not just good students, likely average or potentially above average for their universities. In addition, CT parents/students paying full freight out-of-state costs to subsidize/contain such universities' in-state student costs. No different than UConn welcoming out-of-state and international students to diversify the student population AND subsidize, read contain, costs for in-state CT students.

 

[huskysupporter]

this should always be the Number One goal of the entire athletic department. Get out of the Big East and into our rightful place in the P5.

Dave Benedict has been very clear that UCONN didn’t join the Big East to leave. It’s the last stop.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Dave Benedict has been very clear that UCONN didn’t join the Big East to leave. It’s the last stop.

Sure, but IMHO there's NFW current or future BoTs, UConn Presidents, ADs, and CT Governors would reject an unlikely nACC invitation nor an even less likely B1G invitation. AD DB won't be around forever, and much bigger dinero could reasonably influence such hypothetical fiduciary decisions. Anyway, Hockey East, gridiron independence, and the nnBE. Go UConn!

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Good money after bad. Our last three games we will set a record as a 50 point dog, in three consecutive games.

F O

 

[Bongo Fury]

Not just good students, likely average or potentially above average for their universities. In addition, CT parents/students paying full freight out-of-state costs to subsidize/contain such universities' in-state student costs. No different than UConn welcoming out-of-state and international students to diversify the student population AND subsidize, read contain, costs for in-state CT students.

Someone in admissions here said UMASS has a billboard in Atlanta to compete for academic talent in the Georgia Institute of Technology region.

 

[McLovin]

Great that the state understands that an investment in the football team = an investment in the university. The best marketing dollars UConn can spend to raise the profile of UConn nationally, is investing whatever it takes to make the football team good again.

Now I hope the state can back it up with action (actually giving DB the money he needs to do this right).

 

[CL82]

Dave Benedict has been very clear that UCONN didn’t join the Big East to leave. It’s the last stop.

Absolutely! Well unless someone offers us a P4 bid, then our departure will look something like this:

 

[kingdobbs]

Dave Benedict has been very clear that UCONN didn’t join the Big East to leave. It’s the last stop.

The only reason he is saying that is because to say the actual truth of “we will absolutely leave for the ACC or B1G if offered” is, as the kids say, a bad look.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

this should always be the Number One goal of the entire athletic department. Get out of the Big East and into our rightful place in the P5.

John is 100 percent right. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, not stumble around in a retread of some once great athletic conference.

 

[giddyup]

So....if we don't beat UCF, do we go winless?

Yup, I think we go winless if we lose every game. That dude is a definitional genius.

 

[huskysupporter]

The only reason he is saying that is because to say the actual truth of “we will absolutely leave for the ACC or B1G if offered” is, as the kids say, a bad look.

You can look at it that way. Or you can look at the 17 million dollars plus it cost UCONN to leave the AAC and joint the NBE.

 

[ZooCougar]

Long term perspective

 

[hardcorehusky]

You can look at it that way. Or you can look at the 17 million dollars plus it cost UCONN to leave the AAC and joint the NBE.

A necessary step in the journey. Step 1 - get out of the AAC. Look at it now, Conference USA wants to merge with them. How would you like to lose Cinnci, Houston and UCF and replace them with Pick any Conference USA school?

Step 2 - reinvigorate the fan base and all programs. Basketball on the men's side is stoked. Women's a little better than AAC. Facilities - big jump. Now to fix football.

Step 3 - see where the shifting landscape offers opportunities.

 

[CallMeBruce]

From the article, so no, it's not as hard as most think on a national level ( and we can also add NC St. , BC, Purdue, Indiana and Illinois as H & H's that DB has also scheduled )

"Former ESPN executive and noted scheduling consultant Dave Brown summed up UConn’s scheduling success by saying that the Huskies essentially scheduled everyone they’d want to in the Northeast and Eastern seaboard. “It came out better than I ever would have imagined,” Brown said. “People want to play up there.”....home-and-homes in upcoming seasons include Maryland, Pittsburgh, Duke, Wake Forest, Buffalo, Temple, Ole Miss, Syracuse (again), Army (again) and North Carolina. "

PS. I heard Edsall mention Pitt as a possible team in the future, but hadn't seen it announced, so does Thamel know something we don't ?

FWIW, I've heard Pitt had been scheduled for a while, but it hasn't been announced for some reason.

 

[Waquoit]

Someone in admissions here said UMASS has a billboard in Atlanta to compete for academic talent in the Georgia Institute of Technology region.

Like how U Maine has a billboard on I-84?

 

[uconnbill]

Disagree with lack of context regarding the schedule this year. It was admittedly cobbled together so it had to be all over the place. Also disagree that the article was ‘worth a click’ because… well written by the self proclaimed genius

agree he is an idiot and self promoter

 

[CTrefugee]

Playing with other peoples' money.

 

[CTrefugee]

What does it mean "the return is significant?" I will probably be dead in 5 years, but if not, I will check back and I suspect we will still have the believers. Hope I am wrong (on both counts).

 

[CONN78SEJ]

The governor, like him or not, is a businessperson. He gets it. Glad that he came out and said it.

I think many prospective HC candidates said the same thing you did. UConn will get the money.

 

[Travelman6]

Give it five more years. Enough time to hire a competent coach to build the program up. if, in 5 years, the program has not made any progress and is STILL the butt of all jokes, yah, by that time it will be time to think about moving down.

But if you want to continue this, actually spend and make all efforts possible to make UConn at least decent. 1 or 2 bad hires, that could happen to just about anyone. But 3 is a lot (PP, D, RE counting him as one) and if this 4th one is a stinker and UConn is still having winless seasons in 2025/6, by that time, end it already IMO.

The correct hire can right this ship within a few years. Holding out hope.

 

[Zissou]

You can look at it that way. Or you can look at the 17 million dollars plus it cost UCONN to leave the AAC and joint the NBE.

Don’t forget - UConn stayed in the AAC long enough to collect the exit fees from the Big East split. It has both collected exit fees and paid exit fees.

 

[Blades]

Don’t forget - UConn stayed in the AAC long enough to collect the exit fees from the Big East split. It has both collected exit fees and paid exit fees.

True, when you look at the $$$ that changed hands, Uconn left the AAC right around the time that the payments ended to " the "football faction" ( of Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida --left behind ), which was a cash fund of "close to $100 million for distribution."

Report: UConn, USF, Cincinnati could get payday from Big East

Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida could receive a payday from the Big East thanks to millions of dollars in exit fees.

www.cbssports.com

 

[Skiblets]

We can look to the northern Chicago suburbs for a case study.

Northwestern was dog meat for years, an 'Ivy' in a big land grant conference. They figured out how to win with constraints and get to meaningful bowl games from time to time. I know they get Big 10 money so don't point out the obvious here, but they have a much tougher hill to climb in the BIG and have figured it out with institutional commitment plus the hiring of Barnett and then Fitzgerald.

Just gotta do better with head coaching hires and with the commitment from the State and the U