Don't do this again

[Echo Hawk]

Not criticising our administrators. But don't come on bended knee again to any conference who is considering us for admission. To do that dog and pony show to 18 universities is not a place you want to be given the process they required. They slimed themselves as well as the candidate schools for nothing. If we really want power conference affiliation, our administrators should be way ahead of the curve and know exactly where they stand long before what just happened. Why go through that unless you have been told how many schools they plan to add and when. If you can't get that, don't do it. They were not serious. We interviewed for something that did not exist.

And if we are not a known quantity at this point to anyone considering adding us, then that's on us. Should we not measure up on football, so be it. Scale down the program.

Our mission is academic excellence and that is far more important than football.

 

[RoderickSpode]

If the Big 12 tomorrow said that they are reconsidering expansion and our administrators failed to re-apply, they would be run out of town (to put it mildly) -- and rightly so.

 

[JMick]

No

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

 

[VAHuskyFan]

What is the DEAL with airline peanuts?

 

[SubbaBub]

Our admin is one of the few that came out of this looking good. They expressed genuine interest in the XII as opposed to scrambling for the fire escape. They professionally presented our case without resorting to public groveling or peacocking. And when the wheel of the ludicris finally stopped, they didn't moan, whine or otherwise bad mouth anyone. They responded with class and understanding of the situation.

They did everything right.

 

[MattMang23]

Great. Another person who wants to be Miami...

The one in Ohio.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

Not criticising our administrators. But don't come on bended knee again to any conference who is considering us for admission. To do that dog and pony show to 18 universities is not a place you want to be given the process they required. They slimed themselves as well as the candidate schools for nothing. If we really want power conference affiliation, our administrators should be way ahead of the curve and know exactly where they stand long before what just happened. Why go through that unless you have been told how many schools they plan to add and when. If you can't get that, don't do it. They were not serious. We interviewed for something that did not exist.

And if we are not a known quantity at this point to anyone considering adding us, then that's on us. Should we not measure up on football, so be it. Scale down the program.

Our mission is academic excellence and that is far more important than football.

This post sucks almost as much as ESPN, but so informative and original. Folks here had no idea about what's been going on FOREFFINGEVER until you so kindly enlightened us.
"To do that dog and pony show to 18 universities is not a place you want to be given the process they required."
What language are you speaking?

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Our admin is one of the few that came out of this looking good. They expressed genuine interest in the XII as opposed to scrambling for the fire escape. They professionally presented our case without resorting to public groveling or peacocking. And when the wheel of the ludicris finally stopped, they didn't moan, whine or otherwise bad mouth anyone. They responded with class and understanding of the situation.

They did everything right.

Bingo. We didn't post dopey Twitter pictures with every president in the XII who would take a selfie, we didn't tweet obnoxious things like LOL MY FAV STEAKHOUSE IN DALLAS LOLZZZZ AWSUM!!!!, or create ridiculous hashtag campaigns that made no sense. We didn't get unrelated local sports celebrities with no ties to our school to film cheesy video clips proclaiming that we'll all get behind if you just give us a chance! There were no relevant leaks, everyone interviewed was tight-lipped - every boundary was respected. Our approach was mature and acting like you've been there. Our presentation was about what we've done, not what we will do if you just give us a chance. We didn't hang our hat on our one good team that is one coach leaving from becoming 6-6 again. We hung our hat on multiple strong programs, four of whom have won national championships in almost entirely in relevant sports. We got relevant people in the college sports industry to endorse us who have professional relationships with everyone in the XII and elsewhere, not Tony Dungy and Tino Martinez. Whether you like his handling of the old Big East situation or not, Tranghese is incredibly well respected around the college sports world and his endorsement carries a huge amount of weight.

It wouldn't shock me if this was a planned effort to show other conferences, were we to not get into the XII, that this is who you get and who you'll deal with. Herbst and Benedict did everything right in this process to position UConn well for the XII and for future expansion opportunities. The only thing I can think of that I would've liked to see in their documents was a more concrete vision for Rentschler expansion. The mockups of the baseball, softball, and soccer stadiums were awesome as well as the plans for Gampel, but including something in there about Rentschler expansion would've been nice. I don't think it would've swayed much, but with the documents becoming public it would've been good press for us.

 

[The Funster]

Thank God we didn't pimp ourselves like some others did.

 

[buddy]

Thank God we didn't pimp ourselves like some others did.

It didn't matter one way or the other, did it?

 

[noeynox]

Bingo. We didn't post dopey Twitter pictures with every president in the XII who would take a selfie, we didn't tweet obnoxious things like LOL MY FAV STEAKHOUSE IN DALLAS LOLZZZZ AWSUM!!!!, or create ridiculous hashtag campaigns that made no sense. We didn't get unrelated local sports celebrities with no ties to our school to film cheesy video clips proclaiming that we'll all get behind if you just give us a chance! There were no relevant leaks, everyone interviewed was tight-lipped - every boundary was respected. Our approach was mature and acting like you've been there. Our presentation was about what we've done, not what we will do if you just give us a chance. We didn't hang our hat on our one good team that is one coach leaving from becoming 6-6 again. We hung our hat on multiple strong programs, four of whom have won national championships in almost entirely in relevant sports. We got relevant people in the college sports industry to endorse us who have professional relationships with everyone in the XII and elsewhere, not Tony Dungy and Tino Martinez. Whether you like his handling of the old Big East situation or not, Tranghese is incredibly well respected around the college sports world and his endorsement carries a huge amount of weight.

It wouldn't shock me if this was a planned effort to show other conferences, were we to not get into the XII, that this is who you get and who you'll deal with. Herbst and Benedict did everything right in this process to position UConn well for the XII and for future expansion opportunities. The only thing I can think of that I would've liked to see in their documents was a more concrete vision for Rentschler expansion. The mockups of the baseball, softball, and soccer stadiums were awesome as well as the plans for Gampel, but including something in there about Rentschler expansion would've been nice. I don't think it would've swayed much, but with the documents becoming public it would've been good press for us.

I don't know how anyone can get any solace in this. The end result was the same. My guess is by the time another p5 conference expands Herbs, Benedict and company will have moved on.

I wasn't crushed with happened or more accurately what didn't happen with the big 12, but this idea that we looked better than the others and 2 bucks gets us a cup of coffee.

 

[housekeys]

Our mission is academic excellence and that is far more important than football.

Well, nothing says we can't do both. And, believe it or not the success of one helps the other (academics v. athletics)

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I don't know how anyone can get any solace in this. The end result was the same. My guess is by the time another p5 conference expands Herbs, Benedict and company will have moved on.

I wasn't crushed with happened or more accurately what didn't happen with the big 12, but this idea that we looked better than the others and 2 bucks gets us a cup of coffee.

The end result was not the same. We weren't passed over for someone else by a conference we belong in. Let's be honest, UConn in the Big 12 was a ridiculous proposition to begin with. The XII is a football-centric conference based in Texas of generally mediocre state universities. To compare this to the ACC choosing UL or Syracuse/Pitt and the B1G choosing RU is apples and oranges.

 

[noeynox]

The end result was not the same. We weren't passed over for someone else by a conference we belong in. Let's be honest, UConn in the Big 12 was a ridiculous proposition to begin with. The XII is a football-centric conference based in Texas of generally mediocre state universities. To compare this to the ACC choosing UL or Syracuse/Pitt and the B1G choosing RU is apples and oranges.

Not comparing it to those examples AT ALL. Just saying Houston's approach with selfies and our professional approach netted the same result. Neither school got in. If it makes you feel good that our unsuccessful approach was classier than theirs then good for you.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

The end result was the same.

I think you're mostly right, certainly in terms of an invite or lack there of. But I think releasing our presentation materials was a brilliant move. I noticed the link referenced in a lot of places, non-UConn sources. I think it gets the word out, at least to any media types that bother to read any of it. I doubt the general public reads it unless they are UConn fans. The fact that no other school did it, that I know of, shows a confidence level that we know we belong and here it is for everyone to see.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Not comparing it to those examples AT ALL. Just saying Houston's approach with selfies and our professional approach netted the same result. Neither school got in. If it makes you feel good that our unsuccessful approach was classier than theirs then good for you.

I do feel good about our approach. It netted the same result because the Big 12 is a complete disaster and likely will dissolve soon, not because our approach (or UH/UC/BYU's) was bad. Coming out of this, the schools who didn't get in aren't the ones with egg on their face, it's the Big 12 - the national media is skewering them right now. We also didn't put ourselves in a position of essentially mortgaging our entire athletic department's future on a Big 12 invite, as UH did. The release of our presentation clearly shows how well-positioned UConn is as a school and broadcast it to everyone who paid attention to this.

 

[noeynox]

I think you're mostly right, certainly in terms of an invite or lack there of. But I think releasing our presentation materials was a brilliant move. I noticed the link referenced in a lot of places, non-UConn sources. I think it gets the word out, at least to any media types that bother to read any of it. I doubt the general public reads it unless they are UConn fans. The fact that no other school did it, that I know of, shows a confidence level that we know we belong and here it is for everyone to see.

That is fine, but most of it will be forgotten or overlooked much like it is overlooked that we did damn well in FB against the likes of ND, Louisville, Pitt, Rutgers and Syracuse. The perception is that we are in terrible in FB despite having a combined winning record against those schools.

Both realities make us feel good as UConn fans, but ultimately they mattered little in our advancement toward P5 Status.

 

[noeynox]

I do feel good about our approach. It netted the same result because the Big 12 is a complete disaster and likely will dissolve soon, not because our approach (or UH/UC/BYU's) was bad. Coming out of this, the schools who didn't get in aren't the ones with egg on their face, it's the Big 12 - the national media is skewering them right now. We also didn't put ourselves in a position of essentially mortgaging our entire athletic department's future on a Big 12 invite, as UH did. The release of our presentation clearly shows how well-positioned UConn is as a school and broadcast it to everyone who paid attention to this.

Again, you seem very interested in appearances. They can afford to wipe that proverbial egg off their face with the dollars they collect from P5 cartel status. No one will care a month from now about the horse and pony show they put on.

 

[noeynox]

It didn't matter one way or the other, did it?

Didn't see your post, but I guess we had the same thought. I hate the idea of some sort moral victory in this. This was a draw. Let's move on and work UConn's revenue problems.