Um, you linked to a June 2010 article where SMU is getting a new video board - has nothing to do with the Big East and who cares.
Houston's article is also from June 2010 - they are probably the best of the additions - light years better than Memphis for example. Do you have the link where they actually get $115 for the naming rights on their stadiums (since that is what pays for it)? 55 million for the ancillary naming rights to their football stadium seems a bit aggressive.
Boise certainly wins football games - it's easier to look the other way that the reason they win some of those games is because they admit students who can't qualify at Pac-12 schools. There is no way they can work out in the long run because the geography is ridiculous. I've been to Boise and a few other cities in Idaho... it might as well be on the dark side of the moon. When they stop winning like they have recently - and that will happen - what sense will they make?
As for Memphis, you should post the article that talks about them being happy with something like $8 million in a TV contract. The numbers this league will generate might sound great for Memphis, but they are a death sentence for UConn.
Save your energy arguing w/ this guy people. Not worth it. I can only imagine what real life is like, unless he's actually here for a purposeful reason. And as the days go by, I wonder what the hell the guy is really doing here.
Memphis, has the full support and finanical resources of Fred Smith's company, they've been waiting in Memphis for a while, to have a reason to invest. THe Big East. THey were the prime example in the past 8 months, of what it means in the current big east to establish trust, loyalty and security of information among conference members and I'm not going to go into why I write that. On May 1, 2012 FedEx delivered a $2.5 million dollar check to Shirley Raines, to upgrade the video and electronic systems at the Liberty Bowl, and there's no hint that it's going to stop there.
Houston, is full go, in construction of a BRAND NEW football practice and training facility, as well as a brand new stadium. The Robertson renovation plan, was scrapped, and demolition is set to begin after the 2012 season, the cougars are lined up to play their 2013 home games in Reliant, and then have the new stadium ready for opening day in 2014.
Houston, as far as I can tell, appears to be following the UConn facilities and infrastructure plan like a road map.
Southern Methodist? The concept of playing football again, at the level they were dropped out of when the Big 8 folded, has got them salivating down there. Just got to make sure they don't go to the darkside.......I can't wait to match up with that program again.
You can go on and on down the line.
THe Big EAst is our home, and Pudge is exactly right. We owe every thing we are right now in 2012, as compared to URI, and UNH, and UMass (who's trying) and UMaine...etc.. as a university, to the Big East conference. The only time UConn has not been 100% loyal as far as I can tell, was in fall 2011, after being lied to not once but TWICE by other conference presidents and officials - face to face.
That kind of thing, when workign with things the scale of state universities.....will make you question your organizational structure and search out your best options.
The best things for UConn moving forward, in athletic business, are to maintain our ownership of our own market in athletics, and that's southern New England from the Boston and the tri-state NYC metropolitan areas, maintain allegiance to whatever athletic conference also maintains the northeast USA corridor footprint. THat means the Big East. The ACC doesn't deliver it. Check.
What the conference movement has done, is make our scheduling so much more important. We need a very pro-active, adn aggressive athletic director that's experienced in helping an athletic department maintain an upward growth curve through scheduling and athletic department alliances. Enter Michigan product, via Buffalo, Warde Manuel. Check.
Next, we need to continue to recruit, recruit, recruit, recruit, and then recruit some more the best students and athletes in our region, and in all the regions that our sports extend into. For ALL sports. Constantly trying to land a better recruit than before. And doing it the right way. Check.
Lastly - we need to go out and win the games.
Coach P had a losing season in 2011. I think it was only his third or fourth losing season in 20+ years of head coaching. He was damn close to having a winning season, and a little bit more time, to learn the players tendencies and skill levels, prior to September 2011, we probably do finish on the plus side of .500 in 2011. But that's hindsight.
I fully expect a winning season in 2012, I expect a title run in 2012, and I fully expect to be challenging regularly for titles every year by 2013 and crackign the top 25 regularly.
Those are the goals, as far as I"m concerned.
The big east conference in 2012 and moving forward, has changed dramatically. THere is no northeastern all sports intercollegiate league, because of the Big East. Learn to accept it, learn to accept that our place IS the Big East, adn it's a national brand now, and you'll see where we're going, and that the future is very bright.
This conference, is the largest intercollegiate conference in the United States, and represents the largest media footprint in the country. Guys like Neinas beating their chest that the big east doesn't matter, is just waht it is, an old guy beating his chest.
Sooner or later, this month, news will come out about the college football post season, and we'll see what the reality of the matter is. Just like in the fall, we'll see what the reality of the Big EAst conference value is.
