Helpful or hurtful?

[06029]

http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/pubaf/news/2012-jun-aug/ad-announcement.html

Solely in the context of Uconn and potential re-alignment.

 

[CL82]

Paves the way for UConn to the ACC. I'm not in any hurry to make that move, though.

 

[TRest]

Can't hurt.

 

[Husky68]

Wonder if the conspiracy kitty will find a link to ESPN weakening the BE by getting ACC to take Uconn and Rutgirls and demanding that BCU's Flipper leaves so it can happen.

 

[jostar1]

The stars are aligning.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

It'd be better if Leahy retired too, that way none of the former administration who has an ax against uconn is there. no major coach, ad, or president who was there during the lawsuit.

 

[CL82]

It'd be better if Leahy retired too, that way none of the former administration who has an ax against uconn is there. no major coach, ad, or president who was there during the lawsuit.

yep. By the way the bitching about the law suit is a smoke screen. As mean Gene pointed out this was all about competitive advantage.

 

[CL82]

Wonder if the conspiracy kitty will find a link to ESPN weakening the BE by getting ACC to take Uconn and Rutgirls and demanding that BCU's Flipper leaves so it can happen.

She's in her litter box, checking her usual sources, as we speak.

 

[Carl Spackler]

It'd be better if Leahy retired too, that way none of the former administration who has an ax against uconn is there. no major coach, ad, or president who was there during the lawsuit.

I've never been a fan of Dick Blumenthal, and when it came out that he let a lie about his service in Vietnam perpetuate to enhance his public image, it only validated everything I've ever though of the guy. Blumenthal (AG of CT at the time) jumped on the whole situation, just like he did everything else - personal publicity - everything else be damned. I can understand people in power related to BC, being upset with the lawsuit that Blumenthal jumped out in front to handle. Jim Calhoun? Well he's a old school, backyard brawler. I can't believe people would be ticked off at Calhoun for his public stance on all of it, well except a guy like DeFilippo.

I do hope that this paves a way for UConn and BC to begin scheduling each other again. I'd prefer to it to be a conference game, Big East that is. NOT ACC.

ACC sucks.

 

[huskymedic]

Wonder if the conspiracy kitty will find a link to ESPN weakening the BE by getting ACC to take Uconn and Rutgirls and demanding that BCU's Flipper leaves so it can happen.

Here kitty, kitty...

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The clout that Flipper had (not quite one year ago) was more due to the specifics of the situation (he was on the committee, the committee had a minute window to accomplish their goal, one dissenting vote was sufficient to derail that goal as it then would not have been possible to accomplish within that window) at that time. If the day arrived when the ACC decided they needed to further expand Flip would have been powerless to do much (especially if BC's fall from even respectability continued).

If his replacement is somehow able to bring them back to where they were in both football and basketball in their first days in the ACC (nothing spectacular but far more relevant than their current stature) BC could then possibly have some clout in an ACC expansion discussion.

 

[uconndogs]

GDF was in so far over his head he drowned years ago. His crowning acheivements are:

• Firing two successful football coaches and putting that program in the hands of an incompetent. BC is expected to be one of the worst football teams in the nation this season.
• Firing BC's most successful men's hoop coach to place that program in the hands of an unproven who also can't figure out how to beat Harvard.
• Firing a women's hoop coach who had a modicom of success to make sure that program now rivals the men's hoop team in terms of utter dispare.
• Successfully sweep under the rug an inappropriate (and by all accounts sexual) relationship between the women's hockey coach and one of his players.
• And my favorite, after the announcement that Syracuse and Pitt would join the Big East to publicly state that BC, under the guidance of ESPN, where intentionally blocking UCONN from the ACC to protect territory and media markets for BC. That gem no doubt brought him a sharp reprimand from the ACC, ESPN and I am sure the BC BOTs. He recanted the remarks in less than 24 hours.

BC is infinitely better off without him, although the damage is deep.

And ultimately, UCONN is better off without him. Keeping regional interest in college athletics helps all parties involved. Anyone with a shread of common sense can see that. Gene couldn't and that's why he was "retired".

 

[Uptop]

[quote="I do hope that this paves a way for UConn and BC to begin scheduling each other again. I'd prefer to it to be a conference game, Big East that is. NOT ACC.

ACC sucks.[/quote]

From Blaudschun's blog

"Last fall he talked openly and candidly about the ACC expansion and how he opposed the addition of Connecticut as a potential ACC addition. He talked about ESPN’s influence and later was forced to publicly apologize for some of his statements–which was a tough one for Gene to accept because he was basically apologizing for telling the truth.

The irony of this is that it wasn’t all that long ago when Gene and former UConn athletic director Lew Perkins played golf and socialized on a regular basis that Gene talked about having an annual end of the season or begin the season game against the Huskies, feeling it would be good for both schools and good for the college football fans in New England."

 

[observer]

[quote="I do hope that this paves a way for UConn and BC to begin scheduling each other again. I'd prefer to it to be a conference game, Big East that is. NOT ACC.

ACC sucks.

From Blaudschun's blog


The irony of this is that it wasn’t all that long ago when Gene and former UConn athletic director Lew Perkins played golf and socialized on a regular basis that Gene talked about having an annual end of the season or begin the season game against the Huskies, feeling it would be good for both schools and good for the college football fans in New England."[/quote]



Suing people does change relationships.

UCONN complaining about BC not wanting them in the ACC is like a kid who kills his parents complaining about being an orphan.

 

[The Funster]

Flipper was dishonest. He said one thing while plotting another. He was not worthy of a relationship. Flipper and Leahy screwed up right down the line. The move to the ACC has done absolutely nothing for their program. In fact it has lessened the program. Football is trending toward mediocrity and basketball flat out sucks. Flipper's comments about blocking UConn only emphasizes this fact. In fact it betrayed his jealousy rather than contempt for the lawsuit. His comments showed just how small minded he really is.

The ACC thinks that adding Syracuse and Pitt will somehow fix the problem. It won't. Northern schools cannot flourish orbiting Tobacco Road. ESPN's goal was to crush the BE and bring a more northern focus by bringing MSG into play. No more annual trips into NYC will hurt Pitt and Cuse baskeball. Pitt football adds nothing and Cuse football is a net negative. The NBE is Frankenstein but the ACC has made the same mistake twice: adding northern schools with the belief that they'll magically flourish.

Had the ACC been smart they would have completed the stroke and added UConn and Rutgers. That would have killed the BE and given them two 8 team pods, one revolving around Tobacco Road and one revolving around NYC. Instead, Swofford and the ACC miscalculated again thinking they can woo the unwooable Notre Dame. And thus, their chance was gone and now the NBE actually has a chance at survival, as ugly as it may be, while the ACC has two more programs to wither on the vine.

If the ACC were to offer an invite right now...I'd have to think about. The ACC leadership is myopic and provincial in it's thinking. Kind of like Gene DeFillippo. Not sure if that is the best place for us.

 

[baggerbob]

Actually the ACC starting next year Tobacco rd is outnumbered. N C ST, Duke, North Carolina,Wake Forest, Maryland will be a group. Miami,Florida St,Clemson,BC,Pitt,Syr will be another,you can expect Virginia Tech to vote with them,and probably Georgia Tech. The days of having the voting edge are gone, just as the new Big East might finally be giving power to football.

 

[ZooCougar]

Too soon to tell.

 

[UConn9604]

Suing people does change relationships.

UCONN complaining about BC not wanting them in the ACC is like a kid who kills his parents complaining about being an orphan.

So does lying to our faces, twice, and threatening our $120 million investment in Division I-A football.

This position always baffles me, i.e., when BC fans/alums are stunned that we had the nerve to file suit against them. Why SHOULDN'T we have sued them? The blame for this current situation falls squarely on BC's shoulders.

Of note, of the ACC schools, only Miami and Virginia Tech have filled Alumni Stadium to a greater capacity than UConn did in its 2002 and 2004 games there (and let's not even mention basketball). It's too bad that DeFilippo was more concerned with a personal grudge than with putting fannies in the seats.

 

[ZooCougar]

Have the Flipper and the BC President gone to confession yet for lying to and screwing over their former partners?

 

[uconnric]

Have the Flipper and the BC President gone to confession yet for lying to and screwing over their former partners?

The BC president was probably busy confessing other well-documented sins of the Catholic hierarchy. The ACC is desparately trying to hang onto FSU, Clemson, NC State, VPI, and UNC, whose southern culture football aspirations are totally different from those at BC, Wake, Duke, Cuse, Pitt, et. al. GaTech is trying to hang on with the big boys, but they may have a tough time. Miami is toast. UNC still has its issues. Cuse and Pitt were added because the Big East was eating the ACC's lunch in basketball, as Tranghese pointed out. I'm sure it wasn't to add the all-important Buffalo tv market.

Northern schools (us included) will never have the southern schools' football culture. The difference in culture, recruiting, overall level of play, and tv money is what will eventually cause the ACC to blow up.

 

[UConn9604]

Wait what?

My comment was based on average attendance, and my sources were BC Interruption's post in June 2011 on Alumni Stadium attendance (which showed, for example, that our game at BC was sold out in 2004), updating those numbers with attendance for the 2011 season from ESPN.com, and removing our 2000 game at Alumni (when we were I-AA with 60-something scholarships and lost 55-3).

Taking those facts into account, here's who has filled Alumni Stadium the most over time:

Miami (Fla.) 43798 98.4%
Virginia Tech 43510 97.8%
Syracuse 42627 95.8%
Clemson 42500 95.5%
Connecticut 42283 95.0%
West Virginia 41648 93.6%
North Carolina 41272 92.7%
Maryland 41115 92.4%
Florida State 40831 91.8%
Georgia Tech 40106 90.1%
Pittsburgh 39298 88.3%
Temple 39254 88.2%
Duke 39069 87.8%
Wake Forest 38770 87.1%
NC State 38578 86.7%
Rutgers 38253 86.0%
Virginia 37275 83.8%

So, my initial comment left out Clemson (my apologies). Regardless, Clemson's attendance has been dropping of late (from 44,500 in 2006 to 41,863 in 2008 and 41,137 in 2010). What you will gain in adding Syracuse to your schedule won't make up for having to host Wake Forest and NC State every other year. That's not a very fair trade, if you want to sell tickets.

Conversely, if we were still in the Big East, we would fill Alumni Stadium again and again and again, just like we did in basketball at Conte Forum -- the last time we played at Alumni, we hadn't even won a bowl game yet, let alone won the Big East or played in the BCS. Plus, we've added a number of NFL players from New England since then, including Todman, Sherman and Reyes. The interest would be there.

Also, those Rutgers numbers don't reflect their relative resurgence, either. The last time Rutgers played there was 2004, when 41,126 showed up. Clearly, their numbers would be better today than they were in the 1998-2002 timeframe when they were awful. Attendance against Rutgers would be far better than at least half of the ACC, too.

But hey, this is what Gene wanted, isn't it? A deflated product, a demoralized fan base, and a further dive into irrelevance?