Dooley's 2013-2015 UConn Timeline

[Pudge]

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Good luck with your stadium expansion idea.

This is ridiculous.

LOOK ... the Stadium ain't tied to this. It is a Separate Entity. Single Purpose Entity in fact. Full faith & credit of the State of Connecticut ... maybe not that even. You have a NET INCOME ... and you can fund X dollars based on that. I am certain we could do 12-15,000 seats easily on our Coverage ratio. And ... it was easy to do WHEN Louisville & Rutgers did theres.

PR problem & bad optics>? sure. But, that wasn't the problem in 2008 was it?

 

[rich1122]

If we do not expand the stadium to at least 60K and get some more fannies in the seats then we will be relegated to second class citizens forever - no matter if the basketball, soccer, field hockey, and baseball teams all win national championships in the same year and our average SAT scores go to 1500.

The problem is that basketball, for the most part, has paved the way to national prominence and we just thought that football would come along. If we built Shenkman it was done. It had just started. And to be frank football has not caught on in CT plain and simple. People don't have the same passion as with other sports. I do. I never missed a game in 10 years. But even folks that have Season's Tickets don't watch the away games, don't keep up. I thought that as kids graduated and began to come back the stadium would be packed each week. It's the same 20,000 of us and then whomever.

Hathaway and his ilk never understood or just ignored what had to be done to get to the next level. To be wanted by the bigger conferences. Nobody had the vision of football and what it had to be. They just trotted the guys out to a half empty Rent and figured that was it. It's the best we can do and we should be happy with 32,00 against NC State. In fact it should have been the most important thing on everybody's list. Maybe the realignment thing just happened too fast.

Everybody is blaming Herbst and Manuel, when in fact this has been festering for years, to rear its ugly head now. This has nothing to with anything except the perception of UCONN Football. Big East Champions blah blah blah. We could have beaten Louisville 100 times - they were getting in. Can we change the perception yes. It's up to Herbst and Warde now. I have faith.

One last note. After some thought I think Randy Edsall would have stayed if he saw the program on an upswing. He would not have left and I really think he liked it here. He saw the realignment writing on the wall and took the dream job.

 

[uchusky32]

To get more fannies in the seats you need a high scoring offense. People would come to watch us lose 42-38. They stadium would be packed. Losing 10-3 with 6 first downs you get what we have now.

 

[rich1122]

To get more fannies in the seats you need a high scoring offense. People would come to watch us lose 42-38. They stadium would be packed. Losing 10-3 with 6 first downs you get what we have now.

You are missing the point. Win or lose other college stadiums are filled every week. Jeez we can't get 38 frig'n thousand every week. They really don't care about wins losses or the offense or defense. Or any of that crap. They go every week and fill the stadium no matter. The go because they go and that's what they do. It's the real deal.

Sorry, not here not yet. Even if we went 10-2 and scored more points.

 

[businesslawyer]

If we do not expand the stadium to at least 60K and get some more fannies in the seats then we will be relegated to second class citizens forever - no matter if the basketball, soccer, field hockey, and baseball teams all win national championships in the same year and our average SAT scores go to 1500.

The problem is that basketball, for the most part, has paved the way to national prominence and we just thought that football would come along. If we built Shenkman it was done. It had just started. And to be frank football has not caught on in CT plain and simple. People don't have the same passion as with other sports. I do. I never missed a game in 10 years. But even folks that have Season's Tickets don't watch the away games, don't keep up. I thought that as kids graduated and began to come back the stadium would be packed each week. It's the same 20,000 of us and then whomever.

Hathaway and his ilk never understood or just ignored what had to be done to get to the next level. To be wanted by the bigger conferences. Nobody had the vision of football and what it had to be. They just trotted the guys out to a half empty Rent and figured that was it. It's the best we can do and we should be happy with 32,00 against NC State. In fact it should have been the most important thing on everybody's list. Maybe the realignment thing just happened too fast.

Everybody is blaming Herbst and Manuel, when in fact this has been festering for years, to rear its ugly head now. This has nothing to with anything except the perception of UCONN Football. Big East Champions blah blah blah. We could have beaten Louisville 100 times - they were getting in. Can we change the perception yes. It's up to Herbst and Warde now. I have faith.

One last note. After some thought I think Randy Edsall would have stayed if he saw the program on an upswing. He would not have left and I really think he liked it here. He saw the realignment writing on the wall and took the dream job.

Everything I heard (and from sources I believe) is that Edsall's departure had little to do with UConn's structural issues and everything to do with his relationship to one Jeff Hathaway. Unfortunately, Edsall dealt with Hathaway by walking away, as opposed to what Calhoun did which was pushing him out. It is only unfortunate that Edsall and Calhoun didn't have the relationship where knowing each other's problems with the man, they would have worked to push him out together and earlier.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

The state is not doing so hot right now so why not create jobs?

I guess it is because of the TAX AND SPEND RINOS and LIBERAL DEMS in Hartford!!

 

[rich1122]

The state is not doing so hot right now so why not create jobs?

I guess it is because of the TAX AND SPEND RINOS and LIBERAL DEMS in Hartford!!

Either we are in or we are out. Right now we are out. Start digging December 2nd.

As far as Edsall goes I could be wrong, but I think that he thought that he did all that he could here. If we packed 40,000 every week I think that he would still be here. Just me and I understand those who disagree.

 

[Dooley]

Well the Louisville model is a non-starter if it was 46% publicly financed by state taxpayers. So throw that out.

As for the Rutgers model, I'm all for private funding. If we can continue to pick up donations, awesome. I'm not going to make the assumption that people are done donating to UConn or can't donate, although it is possible. If people are willing to donate their money for this type of a project, UConn obviously wouldn't turn them away. My only worry is the damage building an expansion will do to our school on the whole. RU paid a heavy price for their expansion. Their AD went into debt. It sure paid off in the end it looks like, but I've never really been the gambling type.

You're right, the UL model is out. I included it because I used them in earlier posts without researching as an example of being proactive and wanted to be fair. Anything is possible with private funding sources. Heck, I'd throw a few extra bones towards this project. I agree, it's VERY risky but we're getting close to the point of being left out altogether. Ultimately, I think UConn in a top conference is what is best for the state of Connecticut, its people, and its economy. Therefore, considering our position (and how the criteria for conference expansion seems to change every time to better suit whatever school we're up against), it's a risk that I think is worth exploring at least. I'm all ears for any ideas to grow our brand just like everybody else on this board. Sadly, all we can control is showing up on Saturday and screaming until our voices are gone.

 

[Dooley]

Funds are limited. We need to invest them wisely. PR and upgrading coaches where needed is far, far more important than making a UConn game feel like a Yale game by playing in a cavernous stadium with no one there.

I understand your point. I really do. But I think super conferences are looking at venue size as an indicator as to what kind of revenue growth potential a program/school has. Is it the only indicator? Of course not. And I agree, we need to invest far more money into PR and coaching staff. I just think expanding now, before we allow schools that we perceive to be below us (USF, Temple, Cincinnati...Paul Brown Stadium access, etc) are able to use our small stadium against us like Louisville just did to leapfrog us in the next conference pecking order.

 

[HuskyPete]

This is NOT the end of realignment. Far from it. Until the next wave (when the SEC, B1G and Pac-12 start expanding again), UConn MUST do the following, in order to remain a viable option to the B1G Conference:

1. expand Rentschler Field to 60-65,000 (whatever the maximum amount that is agreed upon with the town of E Hartford). This needs to be done now. Include a start of the art HD scoreboard and big billboards that line that area of I-84 with "This is UCONN COUNTRY". Make sure every northeast recruit on their way to BC, Syracuse, Penn State, UMass, or Rutgers can see it from their cars....multiple times.

2. continue to build endowment and research budgets. I like the direction this is already headed thanks to President Herbst. This is important because...

3. acceptance into the AAU is very important. UConn already ranks favorably to other AAU institutions. An "official" invite into the club would put us on par with other B1G schools. We are not Louisville or WVU where degrees are handed out to hobos at the train station. We are UConn, a top research flagship university with a proud tradition and commitment to excellence.

4. increase advertising/marketing budgets. It's important that our venues look good on TV, aka - are sold out and unison. The casual CT fan is going to feel blue during the waiting process so let's give some incentive to go to games (lower prices, guaranteed rights to bowl games including BCS, guaranteed rights to Final 4 men's or women's, discounted student tickets, better student shuttles from campus to football games and XL Center...no early departing shuttles unless an emergency!, a free BLUE t-shirt per ticket to be worn to games, discounts on road game packages, etc). Now is definitely not the time for fan apathy, and it's up to advertising/marketing to give the fans some incentive and excitement. Includes self-proclamations that NYC and Boston is part of UCONN COUNTRY (ex - Syracuse ads at Yankee Stadium). If it's on a billboard, it's got to be true! UConn needs to be bold, now more than ever.

5. increase football coaching budgets and throw our openings out there to some big fish. Again, the fanbase needs to be re-energized after this year and George DeLeone's offensive offensive philosophies (3 and outs are safe/okay) won't do.

6. finish the on-campus basketball facility and extend Kevin Ollie and Geno immediately. Put more emphasis on past UConn greats and all of the championships won in basketball. Print it on the court itself! Remind everybody who is watching a game being played at UConn that we are a powerhouse top 5 hoops program and nothing less. Instill some fear and intimidation into opponents.

7. sign a new clothing contract with several alternate jerseys and apparel. Oregon and Maryland are made fun of constantly for their odd uniforms but it MAKES PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THEM. When people talk about them, no matter what the reason (other than a disgusting Sandusky incident), they are relevant. Maryland, despite a 1 win season with our vanilla ex-coach and thousands of empty seats stayed in the national picture in the past two seasons. Why? Because people kept talking about their unusual uniforms. It's a brilliant marketing stroke of genius, not to mention, the wide array of clothing choices appeals to a vaster audience consumer. More money. Is this selling out? Absolutely. But we need to keep UConn on the tips of the tongues of the country to remind folks that we are available and can generate revenue.

8. WIN. This is self-explanatory and obvious but needs to be listed. It all starts with 40,000 this Saturday and a loud supportive crowd to try to send this great group of seniors out with a bowl game. They brought our state its first BCS game after the tragic loss of a teammate and friend, it's time to do our part to repay the favor!

Go Dahgs!

Dooley Great Post..I could not have said it better.