Dave Benedict this is on you

[John]

What paid off for Cincy? They are in the BIG 12, which is basically the new AAC.

There is at least an argument that the Big 12 is a big time conference. The Big East doesn't even get a mention on that regard.

 

[superjohn]

There is at least an argument that the Big 12 is a big time conference. The Big East doesn't even get a mention on that regard.

No shart, Big East doesn't have football. Big East is a big time conference in basketball, UConn is a basketball school and needed to protect it's brand which was dying.

 

[John]

No shart, Big East doesn't have football. Big East is a big time conference in basketball, UConn is a basketball school and needed to protect it's brand which was dying.

Being on a basketball island with non-peer universities in a 2nd tier conference is quite the winner.

 

[UCFBfan]

Here's the thing. We have a bad team, with a bad coach, with a bad QB. But we play a lot of bad teams. Vanderbilt lost 23-3 to FCS, UMass got dumped on. MTSU isn't supposed to be good. Theoretically, we should be better than Yale. Army is solid, but the triple option never really scares me.

Yesterday was an embarrassment but there are plenty of chances to get wins assuming competent coaching and proper player evaluations. I wanted Edsall gone yesterday but he's still here so let's see what the team can do.

This is a nice thought but we have proven over the past two games that we are worse than those teams you listed....nothing I've seen has made me feel like we have any shot over any of those teams, no matter their results this past weekend. We lost to Holy Cross. The score may look semi close but we all know it wasn't.

There's not a team on that schedule I think we have a chance of beating and Yale is included in that list....

 

[superjohn]

Being on a basketball island with non-peer universities in a 2nd tier conference is quite the winner.

Being in a conference of directional schools with no identities halfway across the country from you is quite the winner. If UConn didn't make the move back to the Big East they wouldn't even be stuck in the new cr@ppy Big 12, they would be stuck in the more horrific AAC than previously constituted.

Big East isn't second tier in basketball, UConn's brand is basketball.

 

[Waquoit]

Got to agree. He’s a feckless loser doing BoT dirty work. He doesn’t realize or care that he’s allowed himself to be used at his own expense. His resume is destroyed for P5 jobs. He’s the guy that euthanized an FBS program.

I hope AD Dave doesn't get poached by a P5 team. He's golden for the Hurley hire alone. He'll be a search committee of 1 for the next hire and make a good one. "Feckless loser" is just projection.

 

[BlueDogs]

Great, playing in a directional school league nobody really cares about and will further get picked apart.

Huh?

 

[BlueDogs]

But we aren’t Cincy. Cincy did not have the basketball success that we had, and we don’t have the football games or recruiting territory it does.

I was not in favor of the AAC departure, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad decision. I understand why it was made, and it was certainly in the short and intermediate term interests of the basketball programs.

That’s a fair point, but Cincy was historically a decent mid-tier FB program. They managed their program up, while we did the opposite. I dont think the move was a mistake in a vacuum. It was a terrible mistake in getting football locked up in the deal and the entry and exit economics undermine the premise that we “save” money on travel. They won’t see a dime of savings with entry costs. It certainly elevated BB, though Cincy, Houston, UCF, Temple and Memphis fair well enough.

 

[superjohn]

Huh?

They lost Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, A&M, and just lost Texas and Oklahoma. They will lose Kansas and every other school that has any value if/when the major conferences are looking to further expand.

 

[BlueDogs]

I hope AD Dave doesn't get poached by a P5 team. He's golden for the Hurley hire alone. He'll be a search committee of 1 for the next hire and make a good one. "Feckless loser" is just projection.

No. I disagree. No P5 wants an AD who destroyed an FBS program. Football rules the decision landscape. “Feckless” means he has no backbone, hides and can’t or won’t hold Football accountable. “Loser” because his job is to steward successful, winning programs, not oversee a massive failure and sell BS.

 

[BapeKidd88]

If UConn didn't make the move back to the Big East they wouldn't even be stuck in the new cr@ppy Big 12,

Big East isn't second tier in basketball, UConn's brand is basketball.

You must not have looked at Kenpom.

The "new crappy Big 12" is arguably the best basketball conference in the country. They have the current national champion (BAYLOR), the Kansas Jayhawks, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, (another current Final 4 team ) Houston, Cincinnati, BYU, Iowa State, etc.

The NBE is second tier compared to that. You will be embarrassed by the difference in the metrics

 

[businesslawyer]

This is a nice thought but we have proven over the past two games that we are worse than those teams you listed....nothing I've seen has made me feel like we have any shot over any of those teams, no matter their results this past weekend. We lost to Holy Cross. The score may look semi close but we all know it wasn't.

There's not a team on that schedule I think we have a chance of beating and Yale is included in that list....

O.K., having acknowledged HCRE-II ended yesterday, does that mean it's free for everyone to say really dumb things. Saying the game was not even "semi close" is beyond stupid. The game was a close game, where either side could easily have won or lost, until the 75 yard QB sneak on 3rd and 2.

The better team won, and that we weren't the better team said everything. But pretending the game wasn't even semi-close for 54 minutes -- stop it.

 

[businesslawyer]

You must not have looked at Kenpom.

The "new crappy Big 12" is arguably the best basketball conference in the country. They have the current national champion (BAYLOR), the Kansas Jayhawks, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, (another current Final 4 team ) Houston, Cincinnati, BYU, Iowa State, etc.

The NBE is second tier compared to that. You will be embarrassed by the difference in the metrics

Why do people have to respond to stupid hyperbole with more stupid hyperbole. The Big XII is not a crappy basketball conference. It's a really good basketball conference. You want to argue it's better than the Big East, fine. But saying the Big East is "second tier" compared to the Big XII is also dumb. The teams in the Big East currently have won 4 of the last 10 national championships. Stop it.

 

[WestHartHusk]

They are projecting a $20M rev share. That’s a payoff

They are not getting 20m.

 

[BlueDogs]

They lost Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, A&M, and just lost Texas and Oklahoma. They will lose Kansas and every other school that has any value if/when the major conferences are looking to further expand.

I don’t think so. The conference is looking at $20-25 Million a year per team. It’s not $38 Million, but it surely beats $5 Million. Kansas won’t get to the B1G. Their football is almost as bad as UConn’s. If it was a BB decision, then the B1G or AAC would take UConn and Kansas.

 

[superjohn]

You must not have looked at Kenpom.

The "new crappy Big 12" is arguably the best basketball conference in the country. They have the current national champion (BAYLOR), the Kansas Jayhawks, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Houston, Cincinnati, BYU, Iowa State, etc.

The NBE is second tier compared to that. You will be embarrassed by the difference in the metrics

Baylor covered up their football team raping coeds all over campus and covered up a basketball player murdering another basketball player. They got their one chip, good for them but they will come back down to earth. Kansas is an awesome program, one of the best but that's it.

 

[superjohn]

I don’t think so. The conference is looking at $20-25 Million a year per team. It’s not $38 Million, but it surely beats $5 Million. Kansas won’t get to the B1G. Their football is almost as bad as UConn’s. If it was a BB decision, then the B1G or AAC would take UConn and Kansas.

None of this stuff is anywhere close to done. Big 12 is just peacemealing it together to try and hang on but whenever the musical chairs start again their programs of value will get raided again...

UConn is legit the worst football program in the country right now so if they didn't make the move to the Big East they would be stuck in the AAC which is the most disgusting collection of schools where UConn would be flying all it's teams across the country to play in front of no fans which would've had a serious chance of destroying our basketball program...

Our only option now is to invest in the football program by finding a legit head coach and paying him and his staff the money to make us good as an Independent and get back to being one of the elite basketball programs which Hurley is currently doing.

 

[BlueDogs]

None of this stuff is anywhere close to done. Big 12 is just peacemealing it together to try and hang on but whenever the musical chairs start again their programs of value will get raided again...

UConn is legit the worst football program in the country right now so if they didn't make the move to the Big East they would be stuck in the AAC which is the most disgusting collection of schools where UConn would be flying all it's teams across the country to play in front of no fans which would've had a serious chance of destroying our basketball program...

Our only option now is to invest in the football program by finding a legit head coach and paying him and his staff the money to make us good as an Independent and get back to being one of the elite basketball programs which Hurley is currently doing.

I get the point at this moment in time. The minute the BoT decided to go cheap and save a few bucks with Edsall, they consciously threw away the future. Where we are is the sum total of a lot of bad decisions. The move to the NBE was always available. Once made, the decision cut off future possibilities that were bound to emerge if not now, then in the next few years. You are right that the only option is invest and make run at success with the cards in our hands.

 

[Woof 101]

Dave had to know this day was coming quickly. His job depends on how well his list has been prepared.

Agree, Dave has done a hell of a job under very trying conditions. So many fans only follow one sport so that diminishes an AD's accomplishments. But ... the Randy hire is on him and it was a fumble, he has to recover the ball himself and score big time. Not going to be an easy task.

I think we ran into a lot of worse case scenarios with boosters supporting Edsall, the covid non-season drawing out the inevitable, and likely not a lot of support (money) to bring in a new staff.

Bada Bing Bada Boom ... $$$$$ a big problem for UConn, still fighting to see how much we will pay Ollie and taking on lawsuits from teams / sports being cut. Randy was a you get what you pay for deal, he had lost his mojo.

It's sucking the air from the fanbase (what's left of it) & leaving scorched earth in its wake.

@coachcap I have to disagree we had over 18 and change in the house vs HC! That is a definite up tic in attendance and did you see how many hundreds have upgraded to the chair back sections?

 

[superjohn]

Agree, Dave has done a hell of a job under very trying conditions. So many fans only follow one sport so that diminishes an AD's accomplishments. But ... the Randy hire is on him and it was a fumble, he has to recover the ball himself and score big time. Not going to be an easy task.

Bada Bing Bada Boom ... $$$$$ a big problem for UConn, still fighting to see how much we will pay Ollie and taking on lawsuits from teams / sports being cut. Randy was a you get what you pay for deal, he had lost his mojo.

@coachcap I have to disagree we had over 18 and change in the house vs HC! That is a definite up tic in attendance and did you see how many hundreds have upgraded to the chair back sections?

They aren't going to pay Ollie anything.

 

[BostonBay]

Joining the BE was a death knell for the football program, imo. Perhaps (still debatable) that it helped the BB programs, but in the long-run, no football success has a dire impact on UConn sports in general. Very short-term thinking. That's on Dave on no one else. Who in the world will want to coach/play for this football team? We're talking a minimum 5-year turnaround, and that's if Dave makes the right coaching decision and the new coach is successful at recruiting. By that time, it might be too late.

 

[huskysupporter]

Benedict’s statement about the retirement of Coach Edsall once again shows his absolute lack of self awareness. I have zero confidence he will ensure UCONN football is provided the monetary resources the program needs and even less confidence he will ask the right questions to get the right head coach here.

I can only hope the next statement he pens is that he is also leaving at the end of the season.

He is overseeing the end of UCONN football - and going to the Big East leaving football high and dry was the final nail in the coffin.

 

[Life Is Good]

Agree, Dave has done a hell of a job under very trying conditions. So many fans only follow one sport so that diminishes an AD's accomplishments. But ... the Randy hire is on him and it was a fumble, he has to recover the ball himself and score big time. Not going to be an easy task.

Bada Bing Bada Boom ... $$$$$ a big problem for UConn, still fighting to see how much we will pay Ollie and taking on lawsuits from teams / sports being cut. Randy was a you get what you pay for deal, he had lost his mojo.

@coachcap I have to disagree we had over 18 and change in the house vs HC! That is a definite up tic in attendance and did you see how many hundreds have upgraded to the chair back sections?

Also, it was nice to see actual bodies in the student section. Hope there’s even more for the Purdue game.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

Joining the BE was a death knell for the football program, imo. Perhaps (still debatable) that it helped the BB programs, but in the long-run, no football success has a dire impact on UConn sports in general. Very short-term thinking. That's on Dave on no one else. Who in the world will want to coach/play for this football team? We're talking a minimum 5-year turnaround, and that's if Dave makes the right coaching decision and the new coach is successful at recruiting. By that time, it might be too late.

UConn Football has been a laughing stock for sometime now. No one has been trying to coach/play for this team and that’s not going to change anytime soon. It’s the reason we bought Edsall back in the first place, he had head coaching and recruiting experience and had some success in the 2000s. We were not getting close to that.

I went to UConn during the glory days of the football program. We had great players, great wins and it was an unreal atmosphere on campus. However, outside of us UConn fans no one ever took our football program serious. If they did, we would have been the school on the right side of conference realignment. We were not. As much as I hate to admit it, the rest of the country does not even think of UConn when they think of college football…even during the days we were winning. Remember Oklahoma beating us down in the Fiesta Bowl? Pretty much everyone asked why we were even in that game. That’s the feeling outside of UConn. The only way we could have changed that is if that momentum continued after the Fiesta Bowl. Blame Edsall for leaving when he did. That’s the real issue. Even if he didn’t leave, I don’t know if we get into a P5 conference.

The AAC was a joke - for both basketball and football. Saving the basketball program and getting back to the Big East was absolutely necessary. If we didn’t do that where would we be right now? The AAC is about to lose the four best teams to the Big XII and there was no guarantee we would have been included in that. The Big XII is scrambling right now and while I believe it would make sense for the Big XII to consider UConn that conference isn’t leaning on UConn to replace Texas and Oklahoma.

 

[Bongo Fury]

That’s a fair point, but Cincy was historically a decent mid-tier FB program. They managed their program up, while we did the opposite. I dont think the move was a mistake in a vacuum. It was a terrible mistake in getting football locked up in the deal and the entry and exit economics undermine the premise that we “save” money on travel. They won’t see a dime of savings with entry costs. It certainly elevated BB, though Cincy, Houston, UCF, Temple and Memphis fair well enough.

I think luck is involved as well. They hired Tubberville and even a BD lead UCONN beat them.