How Many UConn Football Fans Feel Betrayed Today?

[John]

I’m a UConn fan and alum. I admit that I care about the basketball team the most.

However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about the football team.

I may be the only one, but I’m actually really interested to see what we can do as an independent. Unlike what I’ve read in various reports, I think, as a school, we have substantially more clout than UMass when it comes to scheduling and hopefully we can leverage the MBB and WBB teams and, along with some help from Fox, chisel out a halfway decent schedule.

Or, at least, a schedule with teams that I have more interest in playing than the slate the AAC offered.

It will be interesting. What I wonder is what does success doing this look like? And what's our end game?

 

[freescooter]

All these people who fell betrayed didn't feel betrayed enough by our play to donate money to the school...

Lol. Yeah and the day Kristen Keene opened in Newibgton they had a traffic jam stretching from Hartford to Meriden. When they first put in emissions testing there were traffic jams so bad that the Legislature had over 100 bills repealing the program introduced. When UConn joined Hockey East they led the nation in attendance just to throw in a sports example. Just saying, you can’t measure this by 1 days reaction. We’ll see see how many donate again in 5 years when people are seeing Houston and Memphis in the Final 4 while UConn gets booted in the second round for the 4th straight year. And the AD budget deficit doesn’t go down.

 

[huskysupporter]

Not betrayed today. This announcement was just the straw that broke the camels back. Is what it is.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

It will be interesting. What I wonder is what does success doing this look like? And what's our end game?

I do not know a lot about TV. But if there is a way out for UConn football, it may be to become a popular college football team in metro New York City and nearby regions. If we are on SNY and possibly some Fox sports channels, and can provide that viewership to top B10 and B12 teams, things may work themselves out. Major teams may want to play us at venues like Yankee Stadium or Citifield. And since conference realignment can resume out of the blue, I could see the B10 or ACC wanting to get us as a full member because we can provide NYC viewers. If the basketball teams do well, and avoid excuses [like being in the AAC], that can certainly help. TV sports executives have been trying to generate more interest in college sports in NYC for a while. UConn has a way of generating fans. I guess we are truly the underdogs.

 

[Waquoit]

Bailing on this albatross was our only hope.

 

[Slick]

So many people tried to donate to the UConn Foundation at 1 PM when it was officially announced, their site crashed.

Did loyalfanct donate

 

[uconnfan68]

A college Board of Trustees led by a temporary chairman, Tom Ritter, a one-time politician who now represents special interests, possibly gave a death sentence today to our once mighty UConn Huskies football team's future. It is true that some solution could be in the works -- where UConn can survive and perhaps thrive -- if powerful TV companies can intervene to help with airtime and scheduling. But without their help, UConn football likely will become irrelevant, much like Yale football, which itself once thrived. At worst, UConn football will soon be the way of the football teams of Boston University and the University of Vermont. They no longer exist.

I, unlike many of you, do not largely blame outgoing president Susan Herbst, though she could have done a better job. If anyone could have saved the situation today it was Geno Auriemma. If the popular women’s basketball coach said "no" to the Big East plan, people would have listened. My own feeling is that if David Benedict cannot find a viable solution soon, he needs to be fired as the athletic director.

In the meantime, the one person to me who is a role model in all of this is football coach Randy Edsall. He shows his fans and his players one should be honest when speaking on an important issue. He told it like it is. And he continues to do his job. I still have faith the team can do well this year, perhaps even qualify for a bowl game. If so, it may be the last of these for a while.

In the future, if conference realignment occurs at the ACC or Big Ten levels, the governor and legislature need to be held accountable if UConn is in the running and is not given a spot. We cannot rely on the highly paid bureaucrats and hacks who struggle to lead our great university.

And you know that Geno has been promoting a return to the BE for a while now? For the good of the university, in his words. I’m sure most people feel badly for football’s unknown future, but continuing the status quo wasn’t a viable alternative. I hope football works out, but I see fewer and fewer kids interested in playing or their parents are against it. That’s the trend in much of the country.

 

[BlueDogs]

How is this false? If we had a Phil Knight bag man we’d be better at football because we could afford better coaches... How is this false?

“All these people”...means nobody was donating. Agree if we had a big donor that would be great. The alienated one guy who at least wanted to help..

 

[polycom]

Lol. Yeah and the day Kristen Keene opened in Newibgton they had a traffic jam stretching from Hartford to Meriden. When they first put in emissions testing there were traffic jams so bad that the Legislature had over 100 bills repealing the program introduced. When UConn joined Hockey East they led the nation in attendance just to throw in a sports example. Just saying, you can’t measure this by 1 days reaction. We’ll see see how many donate again in 5 years when people are seeing Houston and Memphis in the Final 4 while UConn gets booted in the second round for the 4th straight year. And the AD budget deficit doesn’t go down.

Houston & Memphis in the final round while UConn gets booted based on what? That would mean Hurley is a bad coach not anything to do with us having a bag man or not.

 

[polycom]

“All these people”...means nobody was donating. Agree if we had a big donor that would be great. The alienated one guy who at least wanted to help..

So basically you agree with my posted and you just wanted to quote me. Cool.

 

[jdb50]

Two things- Jim Boeheim thinks we made the right move! and..... we can deep six the " ESPN will step up and help us because of the State tax breaks we gave them" line of wish full thinking. I am not happy as we should be able to dominate the AAC in men's hoops but we will see what happens. HCRE has an interesting task ahead of him.

 

[Woof 101]

If the popular women’s basketball coach said "no" to the Big East plan, people would have listened. My own feeling is that if David Benedict cannot find a viable solution soon, he needs to be fired as the athletic director.

Sorry but this is a double head banger....
Geno is good, Geno is great but he cannot control the entire situation any more than you or I.
If you want to point to one individual that could have done more it was Jeff Hathaway. Add in Larry McHugh a most respected gentleman, deserving of all the praise he gets from all directions but dropped the ball when it came to shoving PP back into the college game. That and all those that agreed with him on that one.
I felt a little betrayed by such a short search and the fact everyone knew he was fading out of the college game when fired at Cuse.
Did not feel betrayed by Warde as Bobby D could sell Kool Aid to a corpse, ND background etc and JC shoved KO up his back side.
Let down, yep, heart broken at times yep, but betrayed no.

In the meantime, the one person to me who is a role model in all of this is football coach Randy Edsall. He shows his fans and his players one should be honest when speaking on an important issue. He told it like it is.
No attack loyal but after doing the opposite his first go round, he has no choice.
Only remorse here is buying tickets early and paying donations that will have my group sitting among the dozens around us for Wagner. OK maybe dozens is exaggerating ......
Not purposeful betrayal at all.

 

[ZooCougar]

Two things- Jim Boeheim thinks we made the right move! and..... we can deep six the " ESPN will step up and help us because of the State tax breaks we gave them" line of wish full thinking. I am not happy as we should be able to dominate the AAC in men's hoops but we will see what happens. HCRE has an interesting task ahead of him.

He’s a basketball guy. Of course he thinks that.

 

[noeynox]

It's not Geno's fault. It's not Edsall's either. He was an employee. He had every right to leave and take what he perceived to be a better job, right or not. And whatever you think about how he left, that is inarguably irrelevant to where we are today.

CEO's leave corporations all the time. Those in charge have to find competent replacements. Our Trustees, our Presidents and our ADs failed beyond miserably in that. If we were still a Top 60 football program, we'd be able to work something out with the AAC just for football.

The only thing i blame Randy for was the performance of the last two years. He hired some duds on the defensive side of the ball. I get the players not being the best and some were young, but the tackle attempts were a joke and that was on the coaching.

 

[hardcorehusky]

While I am angry, disillusioned and anything within that realm over the football program- my rational brain takes over(took 55+ years to get here). We were at best 4th in line for the next round of conference realignment. If we stayed in the AAC without Houston, Cinnci and or UCF- we would be stuck with Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, etc. What isn't appealing now looks even worse. The next round of realignment is around 2024-2025. So, our fate is tied to

1) Oklahoma and Texas leaving Big 12
2) The rest of that league either takes Houston, Cinnci, UCF or merges with AAC(which I doubt highly).
3) There will be no movement with the ACC until the end of their contract- in 2036!! So now we have to hope that Notre Dame joins and by then what place in line will we be?
4) The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This isn't on Randy version 1 or 2. This is on us as a fairweather fanbase- attendance went from close to 40K to 11K. the revenue drop per home game is close to $750,000 per game. Basketball attendance has declined- both men's and women's. You can't blame Geno for the drop in attendance. While Ollie destroyed himself and the program simultaneously, that attendance dropped by almost 50%. Winning cures a lot of ills- but UConn fans really want their cake and eat it too.

The administration saw we were dying quickly on the vine and made their move- right or wrong. I could argue that the football conference was better than the old Big East. The men's side is better than the new Big East, but it doesn't matter. Attendance dropped and a budget deficit grew.

I still think we can be relevant in football. We need to be ahead of the curve and innovative. A good mix of buy games and home and homes will make football profitable. Get SNY to buy in again on football. If we win and attendance comes back, everyone will win. Personally, I think contraction is next- networks and carriers will stop spending the crazy dollars and when everyone has to take a haircut - the weak will get tossed aside for the almighty dollar. If positioned properly, UConn, its Northeast presence(assuming people still will want to live in these high tax states) can become an example of how to make it without being in a P5. Otherwise, the doomsayers will be right. I eagerly await Benedict's game plan.

 

[Waquoit]

Jim Boeheim thinks we made the right move!

You're not helping...

 

[Adios]

It's not over. It's just going to take longer. We went from a shoo-in to the ACC to, "Pay the price to get in, beyotch." One day.

 

[jdb50]

You're not helping...

I should have added this emogi Waquoit.

 

[freescooter]

All these people who fell betrayed didn't feel betrayed enough by our play to donate money to the school...

Lol. Yeah and the day Krispy kremeopened in Newibgton they had a traffic jam stretching from Hartford to Meriden.

Houston & Memphis in the final round while UConn gets booted based on what? That would mean Hurley is a bad coach not anything to do with us having a bag man or not.

LOL. Talk about missing the point! But no it doesn’t mean Hurley is a bad coach. My lord after watching Ollie drive the program into a wall. It means that the AAC has surpassed the Big East and all this nostalgia is just that. The guy at Loyola Md is a good coac even if his team doesn’t make deep ribs

 

[Adios]

While I am angry, disillusioned and anything within that realm over the football program- my rational brain takes over(took 55+ years to get here). We were at best 4th in line for the next round of conference realignment. If we stayed in the AAC without Houston, Cinnci and or UCF- we would be stuck with Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, etc. What isn't appealing now looks even worse. The next round of realignment is around 2024-2025. So, our fate is tied to

1) Oklahoma and Texas leaving Big 12
2) The rest of that league either takes Houston, Cinnci, UCF or merges with AAC(which I doubt highly).
3) There will be no movement with the ACC until the end of their contract- in 2036!! So now we have to hope that Notre Dame joins and by then what place in line will we be?
4) The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This isn't on Randy version 1 or 2. This is on us as a fairweather fanbase- attendance went from close to 40K to 11K. the revenue drop per home game is close to $750,000 per game. Basketball attendance has declined- both men's and women's. You can't blame Geno for the drop in attendance. While Ollie destroyed himself and the program simultaneously, that attendance dropped by almost 50%. Winning cures a lot of ills- but UConn fans really want their cake and eat it too.

The administration saw we were dying quickly on the vine and made their move- right or wrong. I could argue that the football conference was better than the old Big East. The men's side is better than the new Big East, but it doesn't matter. Attendance dropped and a budget deficit grew.

I still think we can be relevant in football. We need to be ahead of the curve and innovative. A good mix of buy games and home and homes will make football profitable. Get SNY to buy in again on football. If we win and attendance comes back, everyone will win. Personally, I think contraction is next- networks and carriers will stop spending the crazy dollars and when everyone has to take a haircut - the weak will get tossed aside for the almighty dollar. If positioned properly, UConn, its Northeast presence(assuming people still will want to live in these high tax states) can become an example of how to make it without being in a P5. Otherwise, the doomsayers will be right. I eagerly await Benedict's game plan.

I'd say we're still #1. We couldn't be doing this if we were not valuable enough.

 

[Adios]

I feel betrayed by everyone that wanted to stay in the southern mid-major conference after it was obvious that UConn was never getting invited to a P5.

Go ____ yourself.

 

[champs99and04]

I may be the only one, but I’m actually really interested to see what we can do as an independent. Unlike what I’ve read in various reports, I think, as a school, we have substantially more clout than UMass when it comes to scheduling and hopefully we can leverage the MBB and WBB teams and, along with some help from Fox, chisel out a halfway decent schedule.

Or, at least, a schedule with teams that I have more interest in playing than the slate the AAC offered.

I'm surprised by how many people have talked themselves into this. Nobody wanted to play us when we were in the AAC. Why is that going to change now that we're an independent? All this does is create more holes in the schedule. Your program doesn't inherit some mystical flavor just by going independent, otherwise everyone would do it.

The TV rights to football games are exponentially more coveted than the rights to basketball games. I'm sure FOX would love to televise UConn's basketball programs as much as possible, but neither makes a ripple amongst the negotiations that actually matter. If they did, UConn would be in a P5 conference.

You might not think the schedule can get less interesting, but I can assure you that there are a lot of people out there who do. For all the griping about attendance, UConn put 23,000+ in the stands for last year's opener against UCF (this coming off a year where they were one of the worst teams in the country). UMass, by comparison, netted about 60,000 in total attendance on the season over six games.

We say we don't want to play teams like UCF, South Florida, Cincinnati, and Temple, but really, that's a lot closer to the slate we played in the Big East than the one we'll be playing moving forward. I happen to think that the nostalgia for Pitt, Syracuse, and West Virginia is a bit overstated and would dissipate fairly quickly in the event that we had a good team. Once we start filling in the schedule with Charlotte, Liberty, and Coastal Carolina, I bet season ticket holders will long for the days of Memphis and Houston.

I hope I'm wrong and that UConn miraculously winds up putting together a schedule like BYU every year, but I think eventually we'll have to cut costs and downgrade to FCS.

 

[ScottVib]

With a $30M exit fee and an explicit prohibition on P5 conference affiliation even for football only (not that that was going to happen) it's pretty clear the administration is just biding its time until its politically expedient to sunset the football program.

 

[Guapo]

I'm surprised by how many people have talked themselves into this. Nobody wanted to play us when we were in the AAC. Why is that going to change now that we're an independent? All this does is create more holes in the schedule. Your program doesn't inherit some mystical flavor just by going independent, otherwise everyone would do it.

The TV rights to football games are exponentially more coveted than the rights to basketball games. I'm sure FOX would love to televise UConn's basketball programs as much as possible, but neither makes a ripple amongst the negotiations that actually matter. If they did, UConn would be in a P5 conference.

You might not think the schedule can get less interesting, but I can assure you that there are a lot of people out there who do. For all the griping about attendance, UConn put 23,000+ in the stands for last year's opener against UCF (this coming off a year where they were one of the worst teams in the country). UMass, by comparison, netted about 60,000 in total attendance on the season over six games.

We say we don't want to play teams like UCF, South Florida, Cincinnati, and Temple, but really, that's a lot closer to the slate we played in the Big East than the one we'll be playing moving forward. I happen to think that the nostalgia for Pitt, Syracuse, and West Virginia is a bit overstated and would dissipate fairly quickly in the event that we had a good team. Once we start filling in the schedule with Charlotte, Liberty, and Coastal Carolina, I bet season ticket holders will long for the days of Memphis and Houston.

I hope I'm wrong and that UConn miraculously winds up putting together a schedule like BYU every year, but I think eventually we'll have to cut costs and downgrade to FCS.

Yeah I mean, you're not wrong. What you laid out is worst case, what I lay out is best case.

But, I'm not as pessimistic about the future of the program as some are.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

I'm surprised by how many people have talked themselves into this. Nobody wanted to play us when we were in the AAC. Why is that going to change now that we're an independent? All this does is create more holes in the schedule. Your program doesn't inherit some mystical flavor just by going independent, otherwise everyone would do it.

The TV rights to football games are exponentially more coveted than the rights to basketball games. I'm sure FOX would love to televise UConn's basketball programs as much as possible, but neither makes a ripple amongst the negotiations that actually matter. If they did, UConn would be in a P5 conference.

You might not think the schedule can get less interesting, but I can assure you that there are a lot of people out there who do. For all the griping about attendance, UConn put 23,000+ in the stands for last year's opener against UCF (this coming off a year where they were one of the worst teams in the country). UMass, by comparison, netted about 60,000 in total attendance on the season over six games.

We say we don't want to play teams like UCF, South Florida, Cincinnati, and Temple, but really, that's a lot closer to the slate we played in the Big East than the one we'll be playing moving forward. I happen to think that the nostalgia for Pitt, Syracuse, and West Virginia is a bit overstated and would dissipate fairly quickly in the event that we had a good team. Once we start filling in the schedule with Charlotte, Liberty, and Coastal Carolina, I bet season ticket holders will long for the days of Memphis and Houston.

I hope I'm wrong and that UConn miraculously winds up putting together a schedule like BYU every year, but I think eventually we'll have to cut costs and downgrade to FCS.

All valid points. But one difference: UConn may be able to draw in a highly sought after metro New York TV audience. Let's face it, UMass is not that popular in the Boston region. Getting NYC fans to embrace Husky sports -- BB and FB -- is not easy. But I think it is possible with the help of SNY and Fox. Play some FB in Yankee Stadium or Citifield, too. That may also lead to UConn playing some teams in the B10 and B12. As the team continues to improve, I think Randy Edsall can lead it to a better place.