Creigton writer Shatel suggests UConn rejoin Big East

[malevocalist#]

So you want UConn to achieve in football, a sport that requires at least 22 players separate and distinct players, what it took Calhoun 4 years to build and Auriemma 10 years (in a sport that requires 5 players) in a matter of 4 months? You don't know what Diaco can do yet.

Calhoun is on the record as saying he can turn around a basketball program with 2 guards. Disregarding that basketball is much less specialized than football, the personnel ratio of those 2 guards vs. the starting line up is 2:5 or 40%. 40% of a football starting lineup is 9 players (if you also discount the punter and place kicker).

My guess is you didn't know anything about UConn because for the most part no one inside 95 (or 495 for that matter) follows or covers college sports. It's almost like they make a concerted effort to avoid it.

Sorry pal but your guess is has no merit on what I dont know or know. Did u at all play BB or FB? To be assuming what the next person doesn't know? Or your just attempting to spark a negative debate Looking for a rise? You started off ok....but in the end put your foot Iin your mouth. Assuming to be the wizard of CT.

Better yet in the future there is nothing wrong with reaponding to a post and sharing opinions or your alleged (u got all the answer inside scoope)

Did someone offend you? To causes u to spit out sarcastic remarks And declare what who knows or don't?

I stand by what I said.

 

[Bayareahusky]

What I dont get is (and maybe some wise minds who have more in dept knowledge regarding the goals & state of mind of the Uconn Administration can help me understand this)...Why won't Uconn invest it's money wisely in aFootball Coach who is capable of building & establishing consistency within the football program?

Why keep wasting time investing in coaches who are not equipped in building a powethouse or at least respectful football team? Why keep settling for mediocre year after year?

Is the money not there? Do it not take money to make money? Is it not worth investing in a coach who is skillful and clever in all honesty in attracting & bringing in (good & great) (not decent) football players?

Did Uconn not hit lightning in a bottle twice with calhoun & geno? Who had wisdom from above to build a program out of nothing? Sure no one knew in advance how great theae coaches would become. But they sure found out in due time. Not saying the same can't happen with this football coach though I dont see it happening.

From my years of living in Boston from 1973-1994 I never knew a uconn even existed until Calhoun & Geno started making waves through their players. Not liking Tenn. I immediately jump on the wagon of the underdog and been there ever since that first championship by the uconn WBB.

When the (football) coaching job became vacant the opportunity was there to bring in a renown caliber coach who is (not good) (but great) at recruiting. And when the Uconn Adm. didn't pull the trigger. My head sunk & shook side to side. I couldn't believe it!

I would love to see Uconn become a powerhouse in Football.... (The Icing On The Cake) to all the other achievements that have already been established at The University Of Connecticut.

If such opportunity should ever show its face again. I say pull the trigger Uconn Adm. Spend the money. No worry. It'll come back (10) fold. If that ever happens. Need not worry about a Big East. Every major conference will be knocking.

And to tell you truth. I personally believe they should have came knocking a long time ago especially after the men & women won national titles again for the 2nd time. Something no program has ever done once.

you do not mention any names what sort of person would you like to come to UConn and head up our football program?

 

[j66kicker]

you do not mention any names what sort of person would you like to come to UConn and head up our football program?

Missed out on Jim Harbaugh

 

[Husky25]

Sorry pal but your guess is has no merit on what I dont know or know. Did u at all play BB or FB? To be assuming what the next person doesn't know? Or your just attempting to spark a negative debate Looking for a rise? You started off ok....but in the end put your foot Iin your mouth. Assuming to be the wizard of CT.

Better yet in the future there is nothing wrong with reaponding to a post and sharing opinions or your alleged (u got all the answer inside scoope)

Did someone offend you? To causes u to spit out sarcastic remarks And declare what who knows or don't?

I stand by what I said.

I'm from Central Mass, Smart Guy, I spent all or a significant portion of the first 22 years of my life there, and as far as the RMV (MA)/DMV (CT) and IRS is concerned, I was a resident for 26 years.

My opinion had nothing to do with you personally or what you do/do not know. It was first hand commentary regarding how Boston area TV, radio, and print cover college sports (Yes, the Globe, WEEI, and NESN are available west of Hopkinton), but feel free to be offended over an innocuous comment that has nothing to do with you. It might be your turn, but as you point out, I don't know.

Also, I am not the first one who was negative (If I was at all). You are assuming the administration blew money on the Diaco hire (I'm not so convinced yet). So sell your righteous indignation somewhere else. I ain't buying it.

 

[malevocalist#]

I'm from Central Mass, Smart Guy, I spent all or a significant portion of the first 22 years of my life there, and as far as the RMV (MA)/DMV (CT) and IRS is concerned, I was a resident for 26 years.

My opinion had nothing to do with you personally or what you do/do not know. It was first hand commentary regarding how Boston area TV, radio, and print cover college sports (Yes, the Globe, WEEI, and NESN are available west of Hopkinton), but feel free to be offended over an innocuous comment that has nothing to do with you. It might be your turn, but as you point out, I don't know.

Also, I am not the first one who was negative (If I was at all). You are assuming the administration blew money on the Diaco hire (I'm not so convinced yet). So sell your righteous indignation somewhere else. I ain't buying it.

U smoking?

 

[amory]

And what did the 7-1 conference records for Memphis, Cinci, and UCF earn them this year? Memphis climbed up 19% in attendance to 33,851, which is still far below the mean or media for FBS attendance, but UCF and Cinci crashed by -10% and -9% even in their very good years. That's a lot better than UConn did, but that's a pretty low goal line to shoot for.

So just why would any P5 conferences be slavering for these mainly unappreciated programs, and really if you haven't heard a "whisper of a rumor of a chance" about UConn being a target of acquisition in the last three years, you clearly have never visited the Conference Realignment site, where if a P5 commish scratches his ear there will be thread about UConn joining his league. The Big East makeup is nothing like UConn at this point, and talking about going back even if it was a possibility would be a huge defeat and ego killer to a school that now has visits to Texas and Florida at least and still has a double BB brand that is unmatched in recent years by any other school. Whether it will be enough to get an invite from the B10 or ACC remains to be seen, but holding firm is far better than folding the tents.

Yes, that's my point. We have an entire board dedicated to keeping an ear to the ground regarding a possible P5 invite, and no one has heard a thing about UConn that had any substance after Louisville was chosen over us.

That board is a bunch of the same people sitting around posting pictures of conspiracy kitty to tell us why Jim Delaney taking his dog for a walk means UConn's B1G invite is imminent. It's a joke.

 

[buddy]

What I dont get is (and maybe some wise minds who have more in dept knowledge regarding the goals & state of mind of the Uconn Administration can help me understand this)...Why won't Uconn invest it's money wisely in aFootball Coach who is capable of building & establishing consistency within the football program?

Why keep wasting time investing in coaches who are not equipped in building a powethouse or at least respectful football team? Why keep settling for mediocre year after year?

Is the money not there? Do it not take money to make money? Is it not worth investing in a coach who is skillful and clever in all honesty in attracting & bringing in (good & great) (not decent) football players?

Did Uconn not hit lightning in a bottle twice with calhoun & geno? Who had wisdom from above to build a program out of nothing? Sure no one knew in advance how great theae coaches would become. But they sure found out in due time. Not saying the same can't happen with this football coach though I dont see it happening.

From my years of living in Boston from 1973-1994 I never knew a uconn even existed until Calhoun & Geno started making waves through their players. Not liking Tenn. I immediately jump on the wagon of the underdog and been there ever since that first championship by the uconn WBB.

When the (football) coaching job became vacant the opportunity was there to bring in a renown caliber coach who is (not good) (but great) at recruiting. And when the Uconn Adm. didn't pull the trigger. My head sunk & shook side to side. I couldn't believe it!

I would love to see Uconn become a powerhouse in Football.... (The Icing On The Cake) to all the other achievements that have already been established at The University Of Connecticut.

If such opportunity should ever show its face again. I say pull the trigger Uconn Adm. Spend the money. No worry. It'll come back (10) fold. If that ever happens. Need not worry about a Big East. Every major conference will be knocking.

And to tell you truth. I personally believe they should have came knocking a long time ago especially after the men & women won national titles again for the 2nd time. Something no program has ever done once.

We have been through this many times before. UConn was "penciled in" to join the ACC in 2012. The Louisville AD aggressively lobbied for their admission. The UConn AD was smug and went to the Virgin Islands to sip pina coladas. Result was Louisville to ACC, UConn to AAC. The UConn president and AD flubbed UConn's chance at joining a P5 conference. Now it will be a long long time before anything comes up and by then UConn will just be an afterthought. UConn will have stem cell research and genomes however, while Lousiville with their basic arithmetic major will be raking in megabucks. Yes I am drunk. UConn and the people of CT have always thought small. Never thought big. That is why UConn is in this situation and it apparently won't be fixed for decades.

 

[amory]

We have been through this many times before. UConn was "penciled in" to join the ACC in 2012. The Louisville AD aggressively lobbied for their admission. The UConn AD was smug and went to the Virgin Islands to sip pina coladas. Result was Louisville to ACC, UConn to AAC. The UConn president and AD flubbed UConn's chance at joining a P5 conference. Now it will be a long long time before anything comes up and by then UConn will just be an afterthought. UConn will have stem cell research and genomes however, while Lousiville with their basic arithmetic major will be raking in megabucks. Yes I am drunk. UConn and the people of CT have always thought small. Never thought big. That is why UConn is in this situation and it apparently won't be fixed for decades.

You can't honestly think Louisville being chosen over us had anything to do with Warde going to the Virgin Islands right? FSU and Clemson wanted Louisville because they were seen as a stronger football presence, and the other ACC schools wanted to keep them happy. Plus BC (for what it's worth) was and still is hell bent on keeping us out of their conference.

 

[John Glass]

UConn should join the WNBA

 

[buddy]

You can't honestly think Louisville being chosen over us had anything to do with Warde going to the Virgin Islands right? FSU and Clemson wanted Louisville because they were seen as a stronger football presence, and the other ACC schools wanted to keep them happy. Plus BC (for what it's worth) was and still is hell bent on keeping us out of their conference.

Sitting back instead of being aggressive is what I meant. Who knows what transpired over that weekend. Everyone thought UConn was a shoo in. Maybe persistent lobbying would have made a difference. Maybe not. But I would never sit back and wait for something to happen if I could help it, and that's what Warde should have been doing. Now look where UConn is. If no one comes calling very soon, money will run low, programs will be cut. UConn is not even in the running for possible Big 12 expansion. How will it be when Cinci and UCF pass over UConn as well? If this were corporate America, how long do you think he would have lasted after the Louisville announcement was made?

 

[hjoerring]

It never ceases to amaze me that people keep on talking about how we were penciled-in for this or that conf. Of course we and a hundred other schools are penciled-in. The point is, at the end of the day others are seen as more valuable for this or that reason. Even today, Cinn and a couple other AAC schools are better positioned then us. My gut feeling is that the ACC doesn't want us- it's personal with a number of schools (even some recently joined ones and perhaps for something regarding anti-Yankee thing(?) Don't laugh. This leaves the B10 and it is there that we may have more advantages then all other conf foes. As for the BE, we have courtesy membership and have some clout. FH is there and that is a plus for them and us. I doubt that the BE will ever say never to us. It's more then BB, there is a sense of belonging even though we aren't Catholic. In the meantime, FB has a 5-year window of opportunity to put up or shut-up. If the former, we can go knocking with our portfolio at the door of the B10 with possible good results. But we need to put together a few winning seasons and a stable recruiting base. This might explain why we are not prostituting ourself as others for the ACC or Big12. Personally, I would not feel proud to get an offer from the ACC at this juncture.

 

[buddy]

It never ceases to amaze me that people keep on talking about how we were penciled-in for this or that conf. Of course we and a hundred other schools are penciled-in. The point is, at the end of the day others are seen as more valuable for this or that reason. Even today, Cinn and a couple other AAC schools are better positioned then us. My gut feeling is that the ACC doesn't want us- it's personal with a number of schools (even some recently joined ones and perhaps for something regarding anti-Yankee thing(?) Don't laugh. This leaves the B10 and it is there that we may have more advantages then all other conf foes. As for the BE, we have courtesy membership and have some clout. FH is there and that is a plus for them and us. I doubt that the BE will ever say never to us. It's more then BB, there is a sense of belonging even though we aren't Catholic. In the meantime, FB has a 5-year window of opportunity to put up or shut-up. If the former, we can go knocking with our portfolio at the door of the B10 with possible good results. But we need to put together a few winning seasons and a stable recruiting base. This might explain why we are not prostituting ourself as others for the ACC or Big12. Personally, I would not feel proud to get an offer from the ACC at this juncture.

The longer UConn remains in the AAC, the worse things will get. Take any lifeboat off of a sinking ship.

 

[CL82]

Yes, that's my point. We have an entire board dedicated to keeping an ear to the ground regarding a possible P5 invite, and no one has heard a thing about UConn that had any substance after Louisville was chosen over us.
That board is a bunch of the same people sitting around posting pictures of conspiracy kitty to tell us why Jim Delaney taking his dog for a walk means UConn's B1G invite is imminent. It's a joke.

Conspiracy Kitty says:
Wait, Delaney has a dog? A dog?! F-him, somebody get Swofford on the phone and tell him we're in.

 

[DobbsRover2]

One thing we can all take comfort on is that at least UConn is one of the Trending schools on the NCAA site when you mouse over the Schools option on the menu. 20 schools are listed, 8 from D1 and 6 each from D2 and D3, and UConn is one of the honored trendy selections, even though Bazz pantsed Emmert at the NCAAs last year.

C'mon now, life can't get much better than that, can it?

 

[Buzzyboy]

The state of the football program is there because Pasqualoni was a horrible choice for a HC and he drove the program into the ground. Diaco just took the team over last year and he will be judged on the hopefully steady improvement he gets out of the program. He's young, energetic, and comes from a historically great program (Notre Dame).

Hopefully his recruiting picks up and the team rises from the ashes, so to speak. They can't get any worse. A move back to the big east would not only be a step backwards, but an indication that UCONN has given up on the football program and accepting mediocrity in conference affiliations.

If teams like Memphis, Cinci, and UCF are poached before UCONN, then it tells me 2 things...

1. Something is really wrong in the universe
2. Something is going on that we just aren't aware of

UCONN is doing everything it can IMHO, or almost everything it can. It continues to invest in infrastructure and development/growth of the University to up their standing and reputation nationally. they are putting the $ into the football program as evidenced by the state of the art practice facility and hiring of a young, up and coming coach.

When you compare where UCONN is compared to other universities in the B1G and ACC, they are right in the mix - better than some, not as good as others. As a university, there is no reason they aren't a great fit. If any of them are considering UCF, or even Memphis/Cinci, then they aren't looking at the complete picture as UCONN is better all around than any of those universities, and it's short sighted to say "oh but their football team is better". Sure but how good will UCONN be in 3-4 years and how good going forward?

I can't imagine that these conferences are so short sighted to thing that where we are now is where we will be in 5 years. Even if the wanted to add a university, it will likely be a few years before the actual change takes place. A lot can happen in 2 years... And I thin at least our FB program is on the right path, which is why I said I think we are doing all we can...

You are so right on! What is also true is that with a better conference affiliation, UConn's football program would probably get significantly better in short order. If we were going to get into the Big 10, don't you think that there would be a bunch more high quality kids wanting to compete against the Ohio States and Michigans and Penn States of the world. You wouldn't see the team struggling to recruit kids other than possibly two star and the occasional three star kids. They would be a lot of three star and maybe even a few four star kids that would love to play big time football against prominent teams and that would surely enhance our possibility of future success. We've had occasions where we would get a few guys who were under the radar or just matured a little later or who the rating services missed on and some of these kids are now playing in the NFL but wouldn't it be nice to have better talent across the board to work with from day one ?

 

[Buzzyboy]

The longer UConn remains in the AAC, the worse things will get. Take any lifeboat off of a sinking ship.

Boy, that negative thinking works for me every time. Do you have any other friends that might want to post gloom and doom and are sitting at home doing nothing. Recruit them so we can be inundated with more!

 

[buddy]

Boy, that negative thinking works for me every time. Do you have any other friends that might want to post gloom and doom and are sitting at home doing nothing. Recruit them so we can be inundated with more!

I am not sitting at home doing nothing. I am at work doing nothing. How can we be positive when everything that has happened so far has been negative? How can we be positive when the silence coming out of Storrs is deafening? The latest rumors have Cinci and UCF getting out of the AAC to the B12. That leaves UConn even more isolated and desperate. Put on a positive spin on it to make me feel better.

 

[uconnfan68]

How many flagship state U athletic departments don't have football?

Answer: Vermont

(and Alaska-Anchorage if you want to count them).

Now's not the time to go small time with the big time looking to separate.

We also were good - two conference titles and a major bowl. Several bowl appearances. A shutout win over South Carolina of the SEC in one of them. So the correct question should be "will we be good again?"

wasn't a shutout... we gave them a late score... 20-7.