Future Big East football picture?

[UConnDan97]

I can see you're not one of the lawyers on the board. This defense is pathetic. Whether the last seven years or any other seven years makes no difference. I showed you that Colorado, a team that has sucked recently, put together a streak in the modern era that was much more impressive than Boise's recent streak. I can also show you recent seven year streaks when LSU didn't even get to a bowl game. But unlike Boise, they will always bounce back, as Michigan and Penn State will and have, because they fill a freaking 100,000 seat stadium year after year and have amazing resources and name recognition that Boise will never have. It's why Nebraska and OU are back on top and Colorado is an afterthought.

The defense rested.

 

[pj]

UConn is a state school in a large media market without pro competition in a region of the country with a scarcity of strong college football teams. If PP can put together the kind of 7-year run that Boise or Colorado did, then we'll expand the stadium to 55k, sell it out routinely, and have a lot more staying power on the national scene than Boise or Colorado did.

 

[UConnDan97]

UConn is a state school in a large media market without pro competition in a region of the country with a scarcity of strong college football teams. If PP can put together the kind of 7-year run that Boise or Colorado did, then we'll expand the stadium to 55k, sell it out routinely, and have a lot more staying power on the national scene than Boise or Colorado did.

No good. HuskyHawk says you have to have a 100,000 seat arena and do it for 50 years to be relevant. Sorry.

 

[HuskyHawk]

No good. HuskyHawk says you have to have a 100,000 seat arena and do it for 50 years to be relevant. Sorry.

I didn't say you have to. I said that if you do, and if you have been relevant for 20-30 years or more, you will stay relevant. Florida State came up from nowhere. I don't think UConn has any realistic chance to do what it did in hoops and become a "blue blood" football program. But we can win, expand the stadium, and be a team that goes to bowl games fairly regularly.

 

[UConnDan97]

I didn't say you have to. I said that if you do, and if you have been relevant for 20-30 years or more, you will stay relevant. Florida State came up from nowhere. I don't think UConn has any realistic chance to do what it did in hoops and become a "blue blood" football program. But we can win, expand the stadium, and be a team that goes to bowl games fairly regularly.

If you don't believe that UConn can be a perennial top-25 program, then what's the point? What's the point of rooting for them if you don't think they can win? This is what I'm failing to understand about you. Not only do you not accept the fact that non-blue-bloods have already achieved this, but you also believe that your favorite team can't achieve it in the future? I just don't get that...

 

[freescooter]

Programs can and do develop. Actually both Florida State and Miami are good examples. both are Johnny come Latelies compared to Texas and alabama and Michigan. Miami was nothing special until the arrival of Schnellenberger. They had some good teams in the late 50s, early 60s. The played a national schedule though and lots of teams like going to Miami late in the season. Then they upset an unbeatable Nebraska team in the 1984 Orange Bowl and they had a 20 year run when the only thing that stopped them was getting caught cheating and they became th U.

Look at Florida State's history. They didn't even play football until after World War II. Heck from 1900 until the end of World War II is was primarily a womens college. They also had the occassional good tema through the 1960s, but weren't really consistent winners. They didn't even get ranked in an AP poll until 1977. They had a couple of UPI/Coaches poll rankings in the 1960s, but nothing like top 10. Bowden's arrival in 1976 turned the program around. He went 5-6 in 1977 then didn't have a losing season until 2006, and won 10 or more games every year from 1987 until 2000.

Now both those programs are considered among the leite and are always ranked in the pre-season, and even when they have bad years are "only a year away." to me what they show is tht it is possible to become one of the "programs." If Boise makes the transition to the Big East, it could do it. If UCONN puts together a few winning seasons, then a few more and then a couple of 11-1, 12-0 type years with some big name bowl wins, they or anyone else for that matter could do it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If you don't believe that UConn can be a perennial top-25 program, then what's the point? What's the point of rooting for them if you don't think they can win? This is what I'm failing to understand about you. Not only do you not accept the fact that non-blue-bloods have already achieved this, but you also believe that your favorite team can't achieve it in the future? I just don't get that...

For the same reason I watched and enjoyed UConn basketball under Dom Perno. Are you a fair weather fan? Can't pull for a team that isn't routinely in the top 25? The vast majority of teams are not frequently in the top 25, should their fans abandon them? I think UConn can get into the rankings now and then, and play in a few bowl games every decade. Maybe about what Arizona State is, or North Carolina. Considering they were a 1AA program during my time, I'm pretty happy with that outcome. I won't say UConn has zero change of becoming the next Florida State, but our structural disadvantages (small campus, very small town, off campus stadium, weak local HS football, no history of passion for college football in the state, no history of success, strong local following of one of three NFL teams) make it very unlikely. There are lots of schools that are in a better position to make that leap.

I attended law school at a Big 12 school and my takeaway is that Storrs is UConn's greatest weakness. I loved my time there, but please find me the big time football program that isn't in at least a medium sized town. If UConn was in Danbury, West Hartford or Middletown, I'd say our odds were 5 times better than they are.

 

[sdhusky]

Programs can and do develop. Actually both Florida State and Miami are good examples. both are Johnny come Latelies compared to Texas and alabama and Michigan. Miami was nothing special until the arrival of Schnellenberger. They had some good teams in the late 50s, early 60s. The played a national schedule though and lots of teams like going to Miami late in the season. Then they upset an unbeatable Nebraska team in the 1984 Orange Bowl and they had a 20 year run when the only thing that stopped them was getting caught cheating and they became th U.

Look at Florida State's history. They didn't even play football until after World War II. Heck from 1900 until the end of World War II is was primarily a womens college. They also had the occassional good tema through the 1960s, but weren't really consistent winners. They didn't even get ranked in an AP poll until 1977. They had a couple of UPI/Coaches poll rankings in the 1960s, but nothing like top 10. Bowden's arrival in 1976 turned the program around. He went 5-6 in 1977 then didn't have a losing season until 2006, and won 10 or more games every year from 1987 until 2000.

Now both those programs are considered among the leite and are always ranked in the pre-season, and even when they have bad years are "only a year away." to me what they show is tht it is possible to become one of the "programs." If Boise makes the transition to the Big East, it could do it. If UCONN puts together a few winning seasons, then a few more and then a couple of 11-1, 12-0 type years with some big name bowl wins, they or anyone else for that matter could do it.

I think there are programs like Alambama, Michigan, USC, ND etc that will always be back up even if they are currently in a down period.

However, for programs like UCONN, Pitt, WVU, SU, Rutgers, BCU, MD etc - our success is more based on the coaching staff - how good they are and how long they have been there.

Its nice to know that UCONN has a coach that has won more games and had more good seasons than all the coaches of the programs I just mentioned...combined.

 

[Carl Spackler]

For the same reason I watched and enjoyed UConn basketball under Dom Perno. Are you a fair weather fan? Can't pull for a team that isn't routinely in the top 25? The vast majority of teams are not frequently in the top 25, should their fans abandon them? I think UConn can get into the rankings now and then, and play in a few bowl games every decade. Maybe about what Arizona State is, or North Carolina. Considering they were a 1AA program during my time, I'm pretty happy with that outcome. I won't say UConn has zero change of becoming the next Florida State, but our structural disadvantages (small campus, very small town, off campus stadium, weak local HS football, no history of passion for college football in the state, no history of success, strong local following of one of three NFL teams) make it very unlikely. There are lots of schools that are in a better position to make that leap.

I attended law school at a Big 12 school and my takeaway is that Storrs is UConn's greatest weakness. I loved my time there, but please find me the big time football program that isn't in at least a medium sized town. If UConn was in Danbury, West Hartford or Middletown, I'd say our odds were 5 times better than they are.

and people say I'm living in the past..structural disadvantages? That was the argument against 1-A football in 1992. Twenty years ago. Come on Huskyhawk, move up to 2012. I'm really confused too. You must recognize then, that the following for UConn basketball, didn't really become a diehard thing and explode until the late 1990s, even though we had won the NIT.....and advanced in the tourney. Remember getting blown out by Jackson State in Gampel? There was a time not too long ago, where people wondered if UConn basketball was a just a splash in the pan, because Calhoun couldn't win the big games.

Sometimes, basketball folks just don't understand football folks, and vice versa. That's all this is. The football program is growing, and I"m more than confident in the fact that our leadership is going to everything they can to ensure that it continues to grow.

 

[UConnDan97]

For the same reason I watched and enjoyed UConn basketball under Dom Perno. Are you a fair weather fan? Can't pull for a team that isn't routinely in the top 25?

You're a clown. Seriously, you are. WHERE ON EARTH DID I SAY I ONLY WATCH UCONN IF THEY WIN?? And I also remember the days of Perno, since that's the UConn that I grew up with. I remember the days watching Earl Kelley, and I remember the days of women's basketball when you could walk into a game with just your student ID, and I certainly remember UConn football when Yale was our biggest game on the schedule.

You are the one with the gigantic superjohn about only liking a conference if they have a team that can be a top25 caliber team every year. My argument is that we just picked up one to replace the one we lost, and I believe that UConn can be the second one. And by the way, I don't require you to agree with me, since most of the nation already does (i.e., ESPN saying that the NBE absolutely needs Boise for credibility purposes). So why don't you take your fair-weather attitude back to the Big12 and root for whatever team you used to in whatever big city it was in, and leave me mine with my cows on Horsebarn Hill!

 

[HuskyHawk]

You're a clown. Seriously, you are. WHERE ON EARTH DID I SAY I ONLY WATCH UCONN IF THEY WIN?? And I also remember the days of Perno, since that's the UConn that I grew up with. I remember the days watching Earl Kelley, and I remember the days of women's basketball when you could walk into a game with just your student ID, and I certainly remember UConn football when Yale was our biggest game on the schedule.

You are the one with the gigantic superjohn about only liking a conference if they have a team that can be a top25 caliber team every year. My argument is that we just picked up one to replace the one we lost, and I believe that UConn can be the second one. And by the way, I don't require you to agree with me, since most of the nation already does (i.e., ESPN saying that the NBE absolutely needs Boise for credibility purposes). So why don't you take your fair-weather attitude back to the Big12 and root for whatever team you used to in whatever big city it was in, and leave me mine with my cows on Horsebarn Hill!

This is what you said: "What's the point of rooting for them if you don't think they can win?" I don't have a fair weather attitude, I'm actually excided about our rapid progress. I don't need UConn to become Alabama to be happy. If we're a competitive FBS program with the usual ups ad downs most of them experience, great.

 

[HuskyHawk]

and people say I'm living in the past..structural disadvantages? That was the argument against 1-A football in 1992. Twenty years ago. Come on Huskyhawk, move up to 2012. I'm really confused too. You must recognize then, that the following for UConn basketball, didn't really become a diehard thing and explode until the late 1990s, even though we had won the NIT.....and advanced in the tourney. Remember getting blown out by Jackson State in Gampel? There was a time not too long ago, where people wondered if UConn basketball was a just a splash in the pan, because Calhoun couldn't win the big games.

Sometimes, basketball folks just don't understand football folks, and vice versa. That's all this is. The football program is growing, and I"m more than confident in the fact that our leadership is going to everything they can to ensure that it continues to grow.

Come on Carl...basketball is entirely different. Schools like St. Johns, PC, Butler and Gonzaga can succeed in basketball. We have huge disadvantages that are not going away. You can ignore them if you'd like, or be proud of what we have accomplished and can accomplish despite them. I've been watching college fooball since I was five..about 1970. Growing up in Manchester, but being from the midwest, I was just about the only kid I ever met in CT who did follow college football.

But let me ask you this....are the other schools failing on purpose? Schools like Illinois, with a much bigger alumni base, bigger market, bigger stadium, better history, better local HS talent and better competition to play against, are they just not trying? Or is it perhaps pretty freaking difficult to crack into the top rung of the sport for more than a short period (usually due to a lucky QB recruit and coaching hire). It is several degrees of magnitude more difficult than what the basketball team accomplished, which was itself amazing. I will be thrilled if we can do it.

 

[UConnDan97]

This is what you said: "What's the point of rooting for them if you don't think they can win?" I don't have a fair weather attitude, I'm actually excided about our rapid progress. I don't need UConn to become Alabama to be happy. If we're a competitive FBS program with the usual ups ad downs most of them experience, great.

Exactly right; what I said was "What's the point of rooting for them if you don't think they can win?" I didn't say "What's the point of rooting for them if they don't win?" I'm sure you can tell the difference between those two statements, can't you?

The point is that I root for UConn no matter what. I do not require them to be a top25 program every year. I simply believe that they can be, and I root for them to be.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Exactly right; what I said was "What's the point of rooting for them if you don't think they can win?" I didn't say "What's the point of rooting for them if they don't win?" I'm sure you can tell the difference between those two statements, can't you?

The point is that I root for UConn no matter what. I do not require them to be a top25 program every year. I simply believe that they can be, and I root for them to be.

I root for them to be, but doubt that they can be. Simple as that.

 

[UConnDan97]

I don't think UConn has any realistic chance to do what it did in hoops and become a "blue blood" football program.

Now since we are evaluating quotes, explain the one above for me, since that quote is what prompted my response.

 

[UConnDan97]

I root for them to be, but doubt that they can be. Simple as that.

That was my point all along; if you don't believe that we can do well, what is the point of your following the team? To see if you are right??

 

[HuskyHawk]

That was my point all along; if you don't believe that we can do well, what is the point of your following the team? To see if you are right??

We define "do well" differently. If we are competitive, go to 3-4 bowl games a decade and look more or less like Arizona State or UNC's football programs, to me that is "doing well". It's much better than being Temple, or Buffalo, or Duke.

 

[UConnDan97]

We define "do well" differently. If we are competitive, go to 3-4 bowl games a decade and look more or less like Arizona State or UNC's football programs, to me that is "doing well". It's much better than being Temple, or Buffalo, or Duke.

That's fine. For me, "doing well" is winning it all. And if they don't, or if UConn ends up like Buffalo or Temple or Duke, I'll still be back the next year to try to help them win it all.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Come on Carl...basketball is entirely different. Schools like St. Johns, PC, Butler and Gonzaga can succeed in basketball. We have huge disadvantages that are not going away. You can ignore them if you'd like, or be proud of what we have accomplished and can accomplish despite them. I've been watching college fooball since I was five..about 1970. Growing up in Manchester, but being from the midwest, I was just about the only kid I ever met in CT who did follow college football.

But let me ask you this....are the other schools failing on purpose? Schools like Illinois, with a much bigger alumni base, bigger market, bigger stadium, better history, better local HS talent and better competition to play against, are they just not trying? Or is it perhaps pretty freaking difficult to crack into the top rung of the sport for more than a short period (usually due to a lucky QB recruit and coaching hire). It is several degrees of magnitude more difficult than what the basketball team accomplished, which was itself amazing. I will be thrilled if we can do it.

You know, I was going to type a long thing, I did actually - but it's gone.

One word Huskyhawk.

Recruiting.

Well more words...

REcruiting for football program that's a perennial top 25, is so very much NOT landing a lucky QB or coach. That's basketball recruiting, not football. That one player is enough for basketball, but even for a position as important as the QB, that one player is not enough. To be at that level, you need 15-20 of those playes every year, and you have to manage to keep them healthy, motivated, eligible and not knocking themselves out with social and school behavior, or injury for 2-3 years before they see game time, and you have to do the same thing EVERY year.

Basketball and football - two different things.

 

[Carl Spackler]

We define "do well" differently. If we are competitive, go to 3-4 bowl games a decade and look more or less like Arizona State or UNC's football programs, to me that is "doing well". It's much better than being Temple, or Buffalo, or Duke.

Husky hawk. I'm very glad that our university leadership doesn't have the same view as you, and has much higher goals. YOu only go as far as you can imagine yoursefl going.

WHen we had one of the most incredibal coaching staffs ever assembled at UConn some decades ago.....they all split up and went on to bigger and better things.

Lou Holtz is on record, saying tha tthe only thing that ever held UConn football back, - for those that don't know - Lou coached at UConn....., was the failure of the higher ups, to commit to the highest level of excellence and having the goals.

Jim Calhoun changed that at UConn, the committment to being the best from the top down, and only very recently has it translated to the expectations for football, so it's no surprise to read your opinions on UCOnn football here.

You answered your own question there, about the likes of Indiana, etc. It's the committment from the very top on down the line.

The way it happens - is recruiting.

have a great memorial day. I hope that you raise your own expectations for uconn football, to what the expectations at the university, really are now.

 

[Carl Spackler]

p.s. Geno and Jim changed it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Husky hawk. I'm very glad that our university leadership doesn't have the same view as you, and has much higher goals. YOu only go as far as you can imagine yoursefl going.

WHen we had one of the most incredibal coaching staffs ever assembled at UConn some decades ago.....they all split up and went on to bigger and better things.

Lou Holtz is on record, saying tha tthe only thing that ever held UConn football back, - for those that don't know - Lou coached at UConn....., was the failure of the higher ups, to commit to the highest level of excellence and having the goals.

Jim Calhoun changed that at UConn, the committment to being the best from the top down, and only very recently has it translated to the expectations for football, so it's no surprise to read your opinions on UCOnn football here.

You answered your own question there, about the likes of Indiana, etc. It's the committment from the very top on down the line.

The way it happens - is recruiting.

have a great memorial day. I hope that you raise your own expectations for uconn football, to what the expectations at the university, really are now.

I agree with both posts. Which is why I said what I did. I think it will be very hard to recruit at UConn, with its small town campus, off-campus stadium, lack of history and unsettled conference situation. It should be much easier to recruit at Illinois. I hope you are right. I would love to be proven wrong on this one.

 

[pj]

Small towns are great for getting work done. Fewer distractions. That won't bother committed athletes. ... Off-campus stadium - what's the big deal? UConn has a great on-campus practice facility, and it's not a long drive. The conference situation needs to get resolved. History can be solved in 10-20 years. 18 year olds only remember 10 years back, so it doesn't take long to build the history you need. ... Champaign-Urbana is even more remote than Storrs. If you're willing to leave Chicago for Urbana, you can just as easily leave for Ann Arbor, Madison, or Columbus. If you want to leave New England or New York, where's the nearest quality football program? Penn State? Ohio State? Penn State is a much tougher drive from New York than Storrs. We've got a much more populous local recruiting area to pull from than Illinois. If we were in the Big Ten, we would have a better chance for success than the Illini.

 

[Stinger92860]

Is that really our conference? {sigh}

Last year, not saying it was you, many people were throwing up on the possibility of a merger with what is now the B12. In retrospect that would have been a great move by thew FB schools.

Last year's final ranking: 5 in the top 30

Team AP/USA
BSU - 8/6
Houston - 18/14
Cinn - 25/21
ORV - Rutgers, Temple

 

[FAIRTIDES]

I root for them to be, but doubt that they can be. Simple as that.

Why, on earth, not. I doubt that the combination of money sources that kicked in $150 Million did so after a presentation that described the future as being mediocre to so-so. The only things that can, at this point, limit UCONN football are the conference situation and poor execution (I hate that word, too.) on the part of those in the school admin, Athletic Department and coaching staff. UCONN is the flagship University representing the wealthiest state in the union. All that is needed are people that can sell the dream to recruits and fans alike. The conference issue will either be part of the dream or something that has to by sold around.

If schools like Boise State, with it's limitations, can become a "ranked" program, so can a school with UCONN's resources.