- Joined
- Apr 25, 2014
- Messages
- 5,289
- Reaction Score
- 19,755
You need to do something else.
Documents show Big 12 flirting with Houston, Memphis, others
- Thread starter UCDaveD
- Start date
- Status
You need to do something else.
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2013
- Messages
- 279
- Reaction Score
- 482
THIS needs its own thread! And it needs to be tweeted out for all the CR world to see (who cares about its significance or accuracy, just the inference makes us look good!
TRest
Horrible
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 8,241
- Reaction Score
- 24,118
The dopes on the csnbbs board are already running with it.
Last edited:
CAHUSKY
UConn Class of 2013
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 93
- Reaction Score
- 12,064
People who understand the metrics that are important to BigXII expansion are mentioning UCONN. Rubes who are lazy, haven't done their research and believe it has more to do with regional rivalries and football than cable boxes aren't mentioning UCONN because it doesn't make sense to them.
MattMang23
Adding Nothing to the Conversation
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2011
- Messages
- 5,142
- Reaction Score
- 14,700
UCFBfan
Kings of New England!
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2012
- Messages
- 6,350
- Reaction Score
- 15,042
I disagree. When we got snubbed for Louisville, it came out of nowhere. We were an absolute shoe in for the open spot in the ACC until the last second when it was announced Louisville was getting the spot. There still a month or so before anything official comes out for the Big 12.
This all sounds like grovelling and begging from people look from the outside in and knowing that if they don't get these last few lifeboats, they are in deep crap for awhile.
Here's to praying our silence is a good thing and that we are on one of those last few lifeboats.
.-.
Jimbo
Running to Stand Still
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2016
- Messages
- 710
- Reaction Score
- 3,107
I agree with you. If anything, this feels like the opposite of the Louisville debacle. Hopefully that means it leads to the opposite outcome this time around.
The one thing mentioned in the ESPN piece that I don't quite understand is Gee's trip to Houston to tour the athletic facilities and hobnob with officials there. Does anybody have a take on this or know if he's made similar visits to other schools? I'd be more concerned if I thought Houston made any sense at all as a Big 12 expansion candidate, but I'm still curious about why he'd make the trip there.
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 103,819
- Reaction Score
- 428,484
FWIW: UH officials hope Gordon Gee recalls visit when Big 12 mulls expansion
>>Gee's visit to Houston, however, was part of a regularly scheduled appearance to discuss the university's capital campaign. "He was not here in regard to expansion. He was here for a development exercise," said Hunter Yurachek, UH's vice president for intercollegiate athletics. Yurachek added that while Gee was on campus, UH officials "took the opportunity to showcase our new and improved athletic facilities."<<
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 8,885
- Reaction Score
- 18,180
The competition for membership seems to be putting out a lot of self-promotion this past week and they must think the time is now for some reason. I'll give it 30-45 days and then Rule #1 kicks back in.
UConnNick
from Vince Lombardi's home town
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2011
- Messages
- 5,073
- Reaction Score
- 14,066
They better have kept Hofheinz Pavilion locked up tight during his visit. It's a dump.
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2014
- Messages
- 416
- Reaction Score
- 2,933
IMO the recent lobbying drama is nothing more than a public extension of the already hugely overinflated egos of the Big12.
It's impossible to listen to the Big12 and not conclude its a directionless disfunctional entity. How does the Big12 counter that perception? By publicizing all the G5 schools begging to get in. For the Big12 that is affirmation they are still a sought after desiresable entity. The more ridiculous the offer, the more the Big12 wants to showcase it. I'm waiting for "UCF promises to move the Big House in Michigan to Orlando" or "Fedex offers to buy Memphis a small Caribbean island to house an amusement park for the Big 12."
It's like watching North Korea televise a prisoner begging for forgiveness prior to them convicting and executing him. It has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with demeaning the victim. Memphis, UCF, Temple et al are begging but life in the gulag is awaiting. I still believe Big12 expansion will be metrics driven....tweets from school Presidents and unobtainable financial promises won't change those numbers. It just makes those schools look pathetic.
The idea that UConn needs to publicly beg the Big12 for admission is wrong. UConn is head and shoulders above programs like Memphis, Temple, Houston and UCF in every metric. By even publicly lobbying against them we lower ourselves to their level.
The deafening silence out of Storrs is killing me like everyone else but I trust our Athetic Department and President. A program can't regain its dignity once it is lost and no one respects desperation. UConn has shown a lot of discipline and composure the past couple weeks. If we get in a P5 conference it be like an ice water shooter knocking down a winning 3 point shot and walking off the court without saying a word....dead eye
It's impossible to listen to the Big12 and not conclude its a directionless disfunctional entity. How does the Big12 counter that perception? By publicizing all the G5 schools begging to get in. For the Big12 that is affirmation they are still a sought after desiresable entity. The more ridiculous the offer, the more the Big12 wants to showcase it. I'm waiting for "UCF promises to move the Big House in Michigan to Orlando" or "Fedex offers to buy Memphis a small Caribbean island to house an amusement park for the Big 12."
It's like watching North Korea televise a prisoner begging for forgiveness prior to them convicting and executing him. It has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with demeaning the victim. Memphis, UCF, Temple et al are begging but life in the gulag is awaiting. I still believe Big12 expansion will be metrics driven....tweets from school Presidents and unobtainable financial promises won't change those numbers. It just makes those schools look pathetic.
The idea that UConn needs to publicly beg the Big12 for admission is wrong. UConn is head and shoulders above programs like Memphis, Temple, Houston and UCF in every metric. By even publicly lobbying against them we lower ourselves to their level.
The deafening silence out of Storrs is killing me like everyone else but I trust our Athetic Department and President. A program can't regain its dignity once it is lost and no one respects desperation. UConn has shown a lot of discipline and composure the past couple weeks. If we get in a P5 conference it be like an ice water shooter knocking down a winning 3 point shot and walking off the court without saying a word....dead eye
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2012
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction Score
- 26
Houston has selected Greg Brown of AECOM as the architect for the $60M arena renovation project. In recent years, he's designed the renovations at Arizona, Clemson, Illinois & Ole Miss.
This thread contains several initial conceptual renderings.
The design phase will be complete by early 2017 and we'll have finalized renderings at that point. The construction phase will begin as soon as the season is over. Houston will play off campus in 2017-18 and move into the new arena in November 2018.
The $25M Guy V. Lewis Basketball Development Center opened in December of 2015. It wraps around one corner of Hofheinz and provides clues about how the new arena exterior will look.
.-.
UConnNick
from Vince Lombardi's home town
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2011
- Messages
- 5,073
- Reaction Score
- 14,066
Reducing the seating capacity is the wrong way to go if you're trying to impress the B12. With teams like UT and Baylor coming in for games, they'll have to play them in the Toyota Center to take any advantage of the kind of crowds they'll draw. Most of the other B12 teams have a sizable alumni population in metro Houston as well. They should level Hofheinz and build something in line with major conferences. Their thinking is AAC driven, which is not good.
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 103,819
- Reaction Score
- 428,484
... and the 10 miles down the road to Toyota Center from Campus is gonna kill them how? On-Campus/Off-campus options close-by mirrors their on-campus/off-campus football options. Seems to be the best of both worlds.
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2012
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction Score
- 26
Actually, Toyota Center is 2.5 miles from campus. But the Rockets own it. So we can't use it for all our games due to scheduling conflicts. Eventually, if the demand is there for bigger games, we should have the ability to go to a UConn Gampel/XL set up.
As for football, aside from the new $128M 40K football stadium that is easily expandable to 50K to 60K, we have hired the architects to design a $20M indoor practice facility set to open in late 2017. It will be located adjacent to the stadium.
After that, the final project is to move football headquarters from its current home to the West End Zone of the new stadium near the new IPF. That's a $30M project with an ETA of ~2020.
So while we have the ability to play at NRG Stadium (about 6-7 miles from campus), I doubt we play many games there given the investment we've made.
As for football, aside from the new $128M 40K football stadium that is easily expandable to 50K to 60K, we have hired the architects to design a $20M indoor practice facility set to open in late 2017. It will be located adjacent to the stadium.
After that, the final project is to move football headquarters from its current home to the West End Zone of the new stadium near the new IPF. That's a $30M project with an ETA of ~2020.
So while we have the ability to play at NRG Stadium (about 6-7 miles from campus), I doubt we play many games there given the investment we've made.
From Susan Herbst's letter dated December 12, 2012:
"I realize that this is aggravating to hear, but as in all things, we can only affect what is in our control. As a result, we strive for excellence at UConn daily across all departments, something very much in our control. We stand tall at UConn and we need not beg, plead, nor despair. That is not who we are, and my reading of our university history -- from 1881 to today -- conveys the pride of every generation, in good times and bad."
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 103,819
- Reaction Score
- 428,484
Yup, thx. I meant 10 minutes - not 10 miles. Been there, done that.
.-.
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2016
- Messages
- 184
- Reaction Score
- 1,300
There's so little actual information going on record from credible sources that sports enthusiasts are digging up every morsel they can find, embellishing those tidbits with credibility they don't deserve and then broadcasting their extrapolations as the gospel truth for the info-hungry hoards to devour.
So Gordon Gee interacted with a few schools and sent them pleasant, complimentary, non-committal replies?
I wouldn't read too much into that.
I doubt he will have a whole lot of input.
If OU can rock Texas' complacency enough to move forward on expansion, both OU and Texas will try to be the one to pick the expansion teams.
OU will probably be for BYU and Cincinnati because they're both safe, sensible picks.
Having dealt with the likes of Baylor, TCU and SMU for a century, Texas will throw up in its mouth at the thought of another church school. Especially one that doesn't play baseball on Sundays.
Texas will likely champion UConn and UCF to expand the Big 12 footprint into more homes and because of academics.
Heads will butt, the other eight schools will intercede and in the end Texas and OU will compromise by bringing on Cincinnati and UConn.
That's how I see it most likely playing out.
So Gordon Gee interacted with a few schools and sent them pleasant, complimentary, non-committal replies?
I wouldn't read too much into that.
I doubt he will have a whole lot of input.
If OU can rock Texas' complacency enough to move forward on expansion, both OU and Texas will try to be the one to pick the expansion teams.
OU will probably be for BYU and Cincinnati because they're both safe, sensible picks.
Having dealt with the likes of Baylor, TCU and SMU for a century, Texas will throw up in its mouth at the thought of another church school. Especially one that doesn't play baseball on Sundays.
Texas will likely champion UConn and UCF to expand the Big 12 footprint into more homes and because of academics.
Heads will butt, the other eight schools will intercede and in the end Texas and OU will compromise by bringing on Cincinnati and UConn.
That's how I see it most likely playing out.
This is the root of the problem, though. No need for Texas to give up it's cushy LHN spot. Might take a season where Texas is close to football playoffs but misses because somebody jumps them due to lack of championship game.
UCFBfan
Kings of New England!
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2012
- Messages
- 6,350
- Reaction Score
- 15,042
The silence would be even harder to experience if we hadn't already gone through this once before. Herbst has been through this "last possible life boat" scenario before with the Louisville incident. I'm hoping she has learned how to handle and go about this and I have complete faith that she has. The fact that we aren't pounding our chests about our accomplishments or on our knees begging for acceptance tells me (I hope) that we know how to handle this and that we've already had things in motion for awhile on many fronts. I can only keep that thought in my mind to help.
If our President hadn't gone through this already, I may have more fears. The fact she has, makes me feel like she knows what she's doing and if being silent is the answer, then I have faith in that.
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 6,280
- Reaction Score
- 29,578
UConn is no compromise. If the end goal is securing a network and long term stability, UConn with its pedigree, DMA, and reach from NYC to Boston is really the only solution. Comparing UConn to Cincy in many cases is like comparing Texas to Texas Tech.
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2012
- Messages
- 6,280
- Reaction Score
- 29,578
The LHN clearly has a shelf life. UT is simply posturing itself to receive the maximum payout possible. They already know their future will look nothing like their present so everything they do and say over the next few months revolves around the largest buyout possible.
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2016
- Messages
- 184
- Reaction Score
- 1,300
Exactly. I agree wholeheartedly. My post was not intended to make light of UConn's value in any way. I recognize UConn as the best choice for the Big 12.
The compromise I envision is between what Texas values and what OU values and thus I can see the Big 12 choosing one school that meets OU's criteria and has OU's blessing (Cincinnati) and one school that meets Texas' criteria and has Texas' blessing (UConn).
.-.
HuskyHawk
The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2011
- Messages
- 35,544
- Reaction Score
- 94,738
I'm not even willing to assume that OU opposes UConn. Boren's been pushing greater exposure for his university from an academic recruitment perspective from the beginning. UConn and Cinci are both helpful in that regard, BYU, not so much. There were reports that KU strongly favors UConn for both academic and basketball purposes. I honestly think it's the schools who will have a harder time recruiting students from New England that may not want UConn (OSU, TT, KState, TCU).
Maybe I should talk to some of my Kansas friends and see what they know.
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Messages
- 18,723
- Reaction Score
- 33,637
Maybe we don't need to beg, plead, or despair but I don't want to see Memphis, Cincy or other team that's out, going into a power 5 without us going in too. Should it occur, "that I do not forgive."
- Status