If you could go back in time would you want UCONN to sue BC and the ACC?

[DarthGrumpy]

No, it was political showmanship from a self-motivated wannabe Senator. There were rumors even before the first ACC raid that eventually a ‘super’ conference would form between the football centric ACC and Big E schools. If UConn did not sue, maybe UConn would be in the ACC today; but, I have my doubts. BC was scared of UConn even back then and the suit was only an excuse for them to blackball UConn.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

No, it was political showmanship from a self-motivated wannabe Senator. There were rumors even before the first ACC raid that eventually a ‘super’ conference would form between the football centric ACC and Big E schools. If UConn did not sue, maybe UConn would be in the ACC today; but, I have my doubts. BC was scared of UConn even back then and the suit was only an excuse for them to blackball UConn.

There weren't rumors of that super conference, there had already been discussions. If Pitt, Rutgers and WVU had not joined our lawsuit, maybe they would have joined the ACC back in 2003. Where would that have left UConn?

UConn had a 10 year run in a BCS league that would not have happened without that lawsuit.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

You don't like Blumenthal. We get it. But this idea that the lawsuit was a mistake is just idiocy. How much money did UConn make in the 10 years after that lawsuit?

It is going to be brutally difficult to keep UConn football and basketball relevant in this turdburger of a conference today. If UConn had to do this right after going D1? The program would have been finished before it started. Does Calhoun tack 7 more years onto his career if he is coaching in CUSA? Doubt it.

Unless you can prove to me that UConn would have been in a BCS conference without the lawsuit, you really have no argument. Its funny how so many would rather have seen UConn's athletic program get smoked 10 years ago than see a Democrat help the Huskies out. Why don't you take your political nonsense to the Cesspool, and leave it off this page?

You float turd after turd based on conjecture then ask me for proof? Stop making idiotic accusations based on unfounded assumptions.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You float turd after turd based on conjecture then ask me for proof? Stop making idiotic accusations based on unfounded assumptions.

My proof is that UConn was in a BCS league for 10 years, and was in the best basketball league in college history for most of that stretch. Those were a great 10 years of UConn sports. There were a lot of great memories during that period. My son still does the Kemba stepback shot in the driveway (I have to be McKee). The domination of South Carolina is probably the high point of UConn football. The 2010-2011 basketball season is the most fun season of overall basketball I will probably ever see.

You would rather it didn't happen because Blumenthal is a Democrat. You are beyond tedious.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

My proof is that UConn was in a BCS league for 10 years, and was in the best basketball league in college history for most of that stretch. Those were a great 10 years of UConn sports. There were a lot of great memories during that period. My son still does the Kemba stepback shot in the driveway (I have to be McKee). The domination of South Carolina is probably the high point of UConn football. The 2010-2011 basketball season is the most fun season of overall basketball I will probably ever see.

You would rather it didn't happen because Blumenthal is a Democrat. You are beyond tedious.

You want to talk about beyond tedious? You have no idea what, if any, political affiliation I have. Jerks in politics abound and no group has a monopoly on them. Smearing someone by repeating allegations makes tedium almost a virtue.

UConn didn't upgrade its football in hopes it would get Big East/BCS affiliation. They knew. Big East basketball took a giant leap forward after the initial raid.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You want to talk about beyond tedious? You have no idea what, if any, political affiliation I have. Jerks in politics abound and no group has a monopoly on them. Smearing someone by repeating allegations makes tedium almost a virtue.

UConn didn't upgrade its football in hopes it would get Big East/BCS affiliation. They knew. Big East basketball took a giant leap forward after the initial raid.

You don't even understand the timetable do you? Do you realize that the raid happened after UConn had poured $100MM into the football program and were scheduled to join the BE in 2005?

 

[hthusky74]

Does all this talk about lawyers and money remind anyone else of the late, great Warren Zevon? Especially the middle verse about being "down on my luck"

 

[Excalibur]

Nope. Not at all. But we had a glory hound for an AG, now our Senator, who saw a huge PR opportunity. It's crazy. UConn wasn't the only school that signed the suit but is the only one that felt the fallout. Thanks to Hanoi Blumenthal

Funny because the suit was WVU's idea. It's just that blumy was all to willing to be front and center.


At the end of the day, the suit probably had very little to do with where we are today and how CR has played out.

 

[Excalibur]

I think a more pressing issue for Boston College was UConn's location and a general fear of being further eclipsed.

This, and nothing but this.

 

[CL82]

and how much did it cost Connecticut to litigate the suit? How much was the net worth? Blumenthal tried to dun the university.

Well, I'm pretty confident that it was less than $1 million, a lot less. Regardless, I think the payment makes it clear that case wasn't "laughed out court" don't you?

It's revisionist history to suggest that the suit was without merit.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

You don't even understand the timetable do you? Do you realize that the raid happened after UConn had poured $100MM into the football program and were scheduled to join the BE in 2005?

Was UConn guaranteed a spot in the Big East for football before the raid? Wasn't their entry into the conference, in fact, moved up a year because of the raid? Where was UConn's contract with the Big East guaranteeing that the Big East they would join would include Miami, VaTech, and BC? They didn't have one, that's where. Did the Big East misrepresent itself and tell UConn they would forever be the conference as constituted when UConn joined. Because if they did, they were saying they could predict the future. Businesses make investments in hopes of a brighter future every day. There are no guarantees.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Well, I'm pretty confident that it was less than $1 million, a lot less. Regardless, I think the payment makes it clear that case wasn't "laughed out court" don't you?

It's revisionist history to suggest that the suit was without merit.

Laughed out of court is my euphemism. In fact, UConn settled out of court. The court awarded us nothing. We sued for hundreds of millions of dollars, realized their position was as close to meritless as one could be and settled for a million offered to make its nuisance lawsuit disappear.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Was UConn guaranteed a spot in the Big East for football before the raid? Wasn't their entry into the conference, in fact, moved up a year because of the raid? Where was UConn's contract with the Big East guaranteeing that the Big East they would join would include Miami, VaTech, and BC? They didn't have one, that's where. Did the Big East misrepresent itself and tell UConn they would forever be the conference as constituted when UConn joined. Because if they did, they were saying they could predict the future. Businesses make investments in hopes of a brighter future every day. There are no guarantees.

So you wish UConn was not in a BCS conference from 2004 through 2013, was not in a great basketball league that whole time, and didn't make a Final Four or in a National Championship. Got it.

 

[ruskin]

Very easy to second-guess. The string of CR lawsuits that have followed (West Virginia, Maryland, etc) tells me a legal option wasn't out of line. Likely it was the smarmy manner of the pompous grandstanding who led it that frosted people.

If Blumenthal (and Murphy) could learn a lesson from some of their fellow their U.S. Senators and play nice with people while carrying a big stick this could get solved. This is not a party-line thing. 2Rs and 2Ds were equally effective.

 

[CTMike]

I understand why UConn ET AL brought the suit, and it made some degree of sense.

- it was handled poorly.
- if someone back then said "if you don't sue, UConn will find a home in the ACC when the BE eventually falls apart"... I wouldn't have believed you, but I'd have to take that deal.
- BCU is still a scared bunch of pssies with an inferiority complex towards UConn athletics... ie they still would have tried to stab us in the back any chance they got.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

This, and nothing but this.

Agreed. But, BC was able to use the suit to gain additional support in blackballing UConn. Without the suit, it can be argued that BC would have been left on an island by itself rallying against UConn, especially the second raid.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

So you wish UConn was not in a BCS conference from 2004 through 2013, was not in a great basketball league that whole time, and didn't make a Final Four or in a National Championship. Got it.

What the duck are you talking about? You are making absolutely no sense. You set up a false premise then expect me to make sense of it? You live in a world of unsubstantiated conjecture and somehow think it's real. The BCS conference affiliation, the final four third national championship, the BCS bowl appearance all happened in spite of that poorly conceived (and still paying negative dividends) lawsuit, not because of it. You've made no case, none, zip, nil, nada that those things were a direct result of Connecticut making a fool of itself with that suit.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

There would have been no BCS bowl and most likely no Big East for UConn without that lawsuit. I think it would have been less than 50/50 that Calhoun returns to coach UConn after the 2004 championship if there was no Big East.

The lawsuit got UConn 10 more years in a major conference. There is no debating that.

 

[huskypantz]

Very easy to second-guess. The string of CR lawsuits that have followed (West Virginia, Maryland, etc) tells me a legal option wasn't out of line. Likely it was the smarmy manner of the pompous grandstanding who led it that frosted people.

If Blumenthal (and Murphy) could learn a lesson from some of their fellow their U.S. Senators and play nice with people while carrying a big stick this could get solved. This is not a party-line thing. 2Rs and 2Ds were equally effective.

The difference between WVU, Maryland and UConn is that WVU and Maryland sued a conference they no longer wanted to be affiliated with. UConn was part of a suit against a conference that they would have jumped at the chance to join once the initial defections occurred.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

There would have been no BCS bowl and most likely no Big East for UConn without that lawsuit. I think it would have been less than 50/50 that Calhoun returns to coach UConn after the 2004 championship if there was no Big East.

The lawsuit got UConn 10 more years in a major conference. There is no debating that.

October 26, 1997, The New York Times
"...the university appears on the verge of building a new football stadium on the Storrs campus that will accommodate a Husky team that will, by 2003, be playing the likes of Miami and Syracuse as a full-fledged member of the Big East football conference." Debate that.

What are you talking about "got UConn 10 more years in a major conference"? Where was UConn going? Back to the Yankee Conf? The Big East offered UConn membership for football. The Big East delivered that membership. That lawsuit didn't deliver Big East membership to UConn. That was promised long before the initial raid.


http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/26/nyregion/will-huskies-embrace-big-time-football.html

 

[HuskyFan16]

October 26, 1997, The New York Times
"...the university appears on the verge of building a new football stadium on the Storrs campus that will accommodate a Husky team that will, by 2003, be playing the likes of Miami and Syracuse as a full-fledged member of the Big East football conference." Debate that.

What are you talking about "got UConn 10 more years in a major conference"? Where was UConn going? Back to the Yankee Conf? The Big East offered UConn membership for football. The Big East delivered that membership. That lawsuit didn't deliver Big East membership to UConn. That was promised long before the initial raid.


http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/26/nyregion/will-huskies-embrace-big-time-football.html

Nelson has somehow convinced himself that the lawsuit was the reason that the major conferences continued to allow the Big East to have a BCS bid after the raid, despite not having one source with qualified knowledge having disclosed that.

 

[HuskyFan16]

Also, when he says "There is no debating that" it means he can't definitively prove his assertion, so he would prefer not to debate that.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Also, when he says "There is no debating that" it means he can't definitively prove his assertion, so he would prefer not to debate that.

Sounds like what you're trying to say is "he's tedious."

 

[UCPusky]

One thing is for sure, the OP is lurking and laughing at the pi$$ing match this thread has turned into.

 

[CL82]

Laughed out of court is my euphemism. In fact, UConn settled out of court. The court awarded us nothing. We sued for hundreds of millions of dollars, realized their position was as close to meritless as one could be and settled for a million offered to make its nuisance lawsuit disappear.

A million dollars, and that's just the portion that UConn received, the total was likely about $5M, isn't "nuisance value." That's significant money to the entities involved. Pretending that it isn't is silly.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

A million dollars, and that's just the portion that UConn received, the total was likely about $5M, isn't "nuisance value." That's significant money to the entities involved. Pretending that it isn't is silly.

$5 million is completely insignificant compared to the value of the repositioning the ACC was attempting accomplish. What was the increased value of the new ACC to its media partners? I'll bet it was at least an order of magnitude greater. Pretending that 5 mill was significant to Swofford considering what he was attempting is what's silly. He got a bargain.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

?It is a sad day for higher education and intercollegiate athletics when universities initiate this kind of unwarranted action ? suing faculty members and conference officials over an institution?s freedom to associate itself with whatever conference it chooses,? ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in a written statement.

Interesting quote

 

[06029]

A million dollars, and that's just the portion that UConn received, the total was likely about $5M, isn't "nuisance value." That's significant money to the entities involved. Pretending that it isn't is silly.

The Big East and the plaintiffs did lose on the one case that did go to trial. They lost on all points. In addition, some of the documentation that came out during that lawsuit showed how inept the BE leadership was at the time. It also illustrated how fractured the conference had become between the FB and BB schools and showed me that the final split was inevitable. Also, a CT court dismissed all other claims at one point as well in addition to the MA judgement.

To your point on the award, $5mm probably paid legal fees. I forget who it was that represented the BE but it was a big NYC firm and the billing rates must have been incredibly high. I am sure there was local counsel engaged for all of the schools as well. There was no big net gain to any of the plaintiff schools on this one.

 

[John Greene]

One thing is for sure, the OP is lurking and laughing at the pi$$ing match this thread has turned into.

Over the years I noticed that when things get slow around here someone (usually a purported BC poster) starts a thread about the original BE breakup. It must work to generate traffic since I just posted.

 

[nomar]

I find it pretty hilarious that someone could swallow the whopper that UConn got blocked from the ACC because it sued the ACC. This is a business and sophisticated companies like universities and conferences (a) understand that litigation is a part of business and (b) make business decisions based on the bottom line. UConn got screwed because the ACC thought Louisville made more sense not because of some prior squabble. The blame, to the extent some should be assigned, is on the administration's relatively recent moves or lack thereof.

The stuff about Blumenthal speaks only to the people harping on it. Blame the politician!