If you could travel back in time and give one piece of advice to a UConn AD regarding Conference Realignment, when and what?

[UConnJim]

It's interesting to read all of these comments. I have thought that UConn should be a growth engine for eastern Connecticut and the area should be developed. The state should incentivize the locals to let it happen.

As for football, the biggest issue facing UConn was the late commitment to college football. UConn went FBS in 2000 and the youngest FBS program in the P4 is UCF which went FBS in 1996. They are followed by Cincinnati (1983) and Louisville (1962). UConn wasn't on the radar for conference expansion when the ACC and Big 10 started expanding.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I understand your point and see some logic in it. Storrs is a nice quiet area. At the uni where I did my undergrad, some putz said all there was to do at UConn was cow tipping. Like what?!!? Still, that idiotic sentiment gives way to the thought that UConn main campus is located nowhere. When I went to UConn for my doctorate, I was commuting and it took a lot of backroads to get there. That said, if they want to expand, the land is there. Now had they opted to expand in Hartford, well, it would be located more closely to highways and be a shorter trot to Bradley International...major uni near a (mid)major city...and closer to its medical school campus, kinda begins to make a stronger case for cough cough AAU status? OK, maybe not, but gotta have dreams.

Making it easier for UConn to become an AAU university would have been one of the benefits of a better location. How many other major college flagships are located in the middle of nowhere? Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, UCLA, Cal, all in or near a big city. There are some remote main campuses, like Penn State, but the majority of premier public universities are in urban areas. Few are in areas so remote and isolated that the location is considered a joke within the state.

Through the 80's, all the Northeastern state schools suffered from the problem of being in a region flooded with private schools there were the alma maters of many of the people deciding how much money the state schools were going to get. For the first 100+ years of Europeans being in the Northeast, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell and Princeton were the colleges of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York City, upstate New York and New Jersey respectively. Other elite and kind-of-elite colleges grew up in the area, and by the time the state schools really started to become important after World War I, and really after World War II, UConn and the other Northeastern schools had to run a gauntlet of Ivy and Little Ivy and other private school graduates in their respective state houses, and their constituents, that did not feel like the state needed to invest in their own public universities. That didn't really change until the 90's. I went to UConn in the 90's, and while its reputation was improving rapidly, prior to UConn 2000 in 1995 or 1996, the campus looked like a place that no one cared about. UConn was not put out in some empty forest 15 miles from the nearest highway because anyone thought it was a good idea to put it there. UConn was put out in Storrs because no one cared where it went. The reality is that without the basketball programs exploding on the national scene in the early 1990's, UConn would not have gotten the funding to become the major university that it is today.

Ideas like "investing millions more into the football program in the 60's" sound fun, but the money was never there for that kind of investment. Arguing for investing in a New England state college football program in the 60's is like arguing for investing in unicorns and time travel. It would be fun if it was remotely possible. If you keep the dollars relatively even over the last 60 years, one of the few decisions that would have really made a difference for UConn, and the state of Connecticut, would have been to move the main campus to Hartford in the 90's.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Interesting responses. As a UConn alum I shudder at all the moving campus suggestions. Hartford, Stamford, Yuck! I made too many memories in Storrs to ever entertain that idea.

I like the suggestions about traveling back to the 1950's and suggesting that we invest heavily in football. At that time it would've been so affordable and we would've definitely had become a football power. However the butterfly effect that this would have had worries me. I feel like something would have gone differently in the basketball realm where our dominance in women's and men's basketball would not have played out.

I think simply going back to the 2007 season when we first tasted football success under Randy Edsall and were making bowl games and getting ranked and tell the AD what was going to happen down the road to the Big East and about the whole P2 and P4 dynamic could have changed things big time. I would've suggested approaching the big 10 with some crazy multi-year 0 share offer that was too good to refuse to get membership. If that didn't work, I would've gotten out ahead of the Big East exodus and offered another absurdly generous reduced share pitch to the ACC.

We don't know what the next 5 years of college athletics will bring, and it is very possible that these low share or no share offers that schools took to get into the P4 leagues completely blow up in their faces. I am not a fan of the Big 12 basketball only offer because I don't have enough confidence that either 1) the Big 12 will be a major conference in 2032 or 2) the college sports landscape will look anything like it looks now in 2032. Right now, the economics of college sports are dominated by the P2, even though they have their own problems and the reason they became a P2 is because of quirks in the linear cable model that enabled that to happen. The linear model is dying.

 

[ZooCougar]

It's interesting to read all of these comments. I have thought that UConn should be a growth engine for eastern Connecticut and the area should be developed. The state should incentivize the locals to let it happen.

As for football, the biggest issue facing UConn was the late commitment to college football. UConn went FBS in 2000 and the youngest FBS program in the P4 is UCF which went FBS in 1996. They are followed by Cincinnati (1983) and Louisville (1962). UConn wasn't on the radar for conference expansion when the ACC and Big 10 started expanding.

UConn spent too long being peers with UNH and URI. They needed to make that move much much sooner. Hindsight 20/20 though.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

This is easy. Invest in football. Ideally this is in like 1950. Next best option would have been to get into FBS when that started in the 70s. Last chance would have been to join Big East football at it's inception in 1991

Any of these would have given us a better financial outcome today.

 

[Patman]

Interesting responses. As a UConn alum I shudder at all the moving campus suggestions. Hartford, Stamford, Yuck! I made too many memories in Storrs to ever entertain that idea.

I like the suggestions about traveling back to the 1950's and suggesting that we invest heavily in football. At that time it would've been so affordable and we would've definitely had become a football power. However the butterfly effect that this would have had worries me. I feel like something would have gone differently in the basketball realm where our dominance in women's and men's basketball would not have played out.

I think simply going back to the 2007 season when we first tasted football success under Randy Edsall and were making bowl games and getting ranked and tell the AD what was going to happen down the road to the Big East and about the whole P2 and P4 dynamic could have changed things big time. I would've suggested approaching the big 10 with some crazy multi-year 0 share offer that was too good to refuse to get membership. If that didn't work, I would've gotten out ahead of the Big East exodus and offered another absurdly generous reduced share pitch to the ACC.

The big brained play would have been to buy the entire of Rentschler airfield and rebuild UConn right there sometime around 1995. Reality is UConn still has a bit of a UMass problem is that its an inconvenient place. Granted both problems is that their early histories were spent being 2nd and 3rd bananas to elite private schools. Granted UMass's location is far more inconvenient in terms of state politics but UConn would have been far more favored were it between Hartford and NYC whereas CT basically dies after you get out of Manchester. There is basically nothing between there and worcester and even worcester is a minor blip since i-90 is so far south of the city. Granted interstates are a 1960s to 1980s invention

The ultimate question of UConn will always be whether or not the state wants to build a world class institution or are they going to be continue to be status quo. That's independent of football.

 

[LBird33]

I would go back in time to the 1980s, and implement a plan to move the entire Storrs campus to Hartford by 2010. Investing billions over the last few decades into a campus in the woods of eastern Connecticut that the locals do not even want there while also investing billions into a small city like Hartford was wasted investment dollars. If UConn was in the state capital, 1) it would be higher ranked academically, 2) it would be a more desirable conference partner, 3) Hartford would be a much nicer city, and 4) the state of Connecticut would have saved billions over the last 35 years.

I have been told that this was actually discussed in the late 80's and early 90's among state legislators, but after some rough budget cycles, the will to make a big change never developed.

In the 80’s we had bridges collapse How could they get their collective act together to do football. Lol

 

[CL82]

UConn wasn't on the radar for conference expansion when the ACC and Big 10 started expanding.

Not correct. UConn was the preferred choice to join with Syracuse until BCU black balled us.

 

[Hoophound]

Not correct. UConn was the preferred choice to join with Syracuse until BCU black balled us.

Yep. BC started whining about being the only New England school, so the ACC took Pitt instead.

 

[Patman]

If you don't understand the difference, it's no wonder folks think UConn doesn't care about football

yes, Notre Dame is the only program that's ever existed. Notre Dame is football incarnate. That's the type of lack of self-belief I talk about. If you want to start off as a failure go for it. I thought this was the "Connecticut Husky" form and not the "Northern Illinois Husky" forum. Or are you going to tell me that ND is 40x the program that Michigan is, because that's what I think I'm hearing from the fanbase. The genuflecting to Notre Dame is disgusting. I'd expect it from a 1970s oriented guy from Walpole. I don't expect it from knowledgeable sports fans.

I want us to be our own men. You want to be a tool for somebody else. We are not the same.

 

[RedRabbit84]

Considering where your football program is, I would think you'd jump at the opportunity to rewrite the trajectory. That starts by playing national programs like Notre Dame on national television. One school played for a national title recently. The other is on the outside looking in. I'm not sure trying to big league Notre Dame was the best idea for UConn...

 

[Fishy]

If you could travel back in time and give one piece of advice to a UConn AD regarding Conference Realignment, what year would you travel to and what would you tell them to do?

I would go back to 1912 and tell then to start a DI football team.

 

[Patman]

Considering where your football program is, I would think you'd jump at the opportunity to rewrite the trajectory. That starts by playing national programs like Notre Dame on national television. One school played for a national title recently. The other is on the outside looking in. I'm not sure trying to big league Notre Dame was the best idea for UConn...

Thank you for your interest in and stunning ignorance of Connecticut football.

 

[uconnbill]

Thank you for your interest in and stunning ignorance of Connecticut football.

You are wrong. Playing Notre Dame would have helped with visibility for the program. It might have vaulted UConn into the ACC at the time. Too many people like our lousy politicians have sold UConn short with comments and lawsuits.

 

[RedRabbit84]

Thank you for your interest in and stunning ignorance of Connecticut football.

Let me shine a little outside perspective for you:

UConn's biggest football moment was a Fiesta Bowl that most folks outside of Connecticut felt you guys had stumbled into. Outside of Connecticut, the consensus was the other major players in the league were really down and UConn shouldn't be there. Then once the game rolled around, you had tens of fans in the stands, got the brakes beat off of you, and proved the neysayers right. THEN you follow it up by never coming close again. I'm not saying all of that to troll, I'm telling you the outside perspective of your crowning achievement in football to date ultimately did you no favors outside your fanbase.

Whether right, wrong, or indifferent, Notre Dame is viewed as one of the most storied and significant programs in college football even today. You passed the opportunity to play on one of the most hallowed grounds in college football history, perchance even win there........ Why, exactly? I understand having Notre Dame come into your house would've been huge, but UConn wasn't seen as there yet. You had a bird in the hand for a great opportunity and you let it get away. And outside of Connecticut, it looked too folks like you weren't taking football seriously at a time you should've REALLY been taking football seriously.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

UConn was Division I prior to 1978. I do not know why UConn went D1AA in 1978 when college football split.

 

[Hoophound]

Let me shine a little outside perspective for you:

UConn's biggest football moment was a Fiesta Bowl that most folks outside of Connecticut felt you guys had stumbled into. Outside of Connecticut, the consensus was the other major players in the league were really down and UConn shouldn't be there. Then once the game rolled around, you had tens of fans in the stands, got the brakes beat off of you, and proved the neysayers right. THEN you follow it up by never coming close again. I'm not saying all of that to troll, I'm telling you the outside perspective of your crowning achievement in football to date ultimately did you no favors outside your fanbase.

Whether right, wrong, or indifferent, Notre Dame is viewed as one of the most storied and significant programs in college football even today. You passed the opportunity to play on one of the most hallowed grounds in college football history, perchance even win there........ Why, exactly? I understand having Notre Dame come into your house would've been huge, but UConn wasn't seen as there yet. You had a bird in the hand for a great opportunity and you let it get away. And outside of Connecticut, it looked too folks like you weren't taking football seriously at a time you should've REALLY been taking football seriously.

There were tons of UConn fans there. We just bought our tickets on the secondary market for pennies on the dollar. The school then had to eat the tickets they had on hand. This is nothing that doesn’t happen all the time., but UConn just got coverage of it. However, the idea we were poorly represented in the stands is a complete lie made up by the usual suspects. As far as backing into the Fiesta Bowl, fair enough. We were solid but not a great bowl team. The Big East wasn’t strong that year, but we won the spot. Other big bowl games were similar or bigger blowouts (48-20). Nobody says a word about those.

 

[Bongo Fury]

I think there is a perception that UConn doesn’t care about football because of the investment and success in the BB programs. If the BB programs weren’t successful then they’d be UMass and people wouldn’t bother talking negatively.

 

[HuskyNan]

Let me shine a little outside perspective for you:

UConn's biggest football moment was a Fiesta Bowl that most folks outside of Connecticut felt you guys had stumbled into. Outside of Connecticut, the consensus was the other major players in the league were really down and UConn shouldn't be there. Then once the game rolled around, you had tens of fans in the stands, got the brakes beat off of you, and proved the neysayers right. THEN you follow it up by never coming close again. I'm not saying all of that to troll, I'm telling you the outside perspective of your crowning achievement in football to date ultimately did you no favors outside your fanbase.

Whether right, wrong, or indifferent, Notre Dame is viewed as one of the most storied and significant programs in college football even today. You passed the opportunity to play on one of the most hallowed grounds in college football history, perchance even win there........ Why, exactly? I understand having Notre Dame come into your house would've been huge, but UConn wasn't seen as there yet. You had a bird in the hand for a great opportunity and you let it get away. And outside of Connecticut, it looked too folks like you weren't taking football seriously at a time you should've REALLY been taking football seriously.

I thought this was UConn’s biggest moment.

Connecticut 33-30 Notre Dame (Nov 21, 2009) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the Connecticut Huskies vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish NCAAF game from November 21, 2009 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[RedRabbit84]

There were tons of UConn fans there. We just bought our tickets on the secondary market for pennies on the dollar. The school then had to eat the tickets they had on hand. This is nothing that doesn’t happen all the time., but UConn just got coverage of it. However, the idea we were poorly represented in the stands is a complete lie made up by the usual suspects. As far as backing into the Fiesta Bowl, fair enough. We were solid but not a great bowl team. The Big East wasn’t strong that year, but we won the spot. Other big bowl games were similar or bigger blowouts (48-20). Nobody says a word about those.

Oh I can definitely grant you the argument that UConn didn't get the benefit of the doubt on a lot of those issues, but part of that comes from you guys being so new to the football scene in everyone's eyes. It's not UConn's fault the Big East was down that year. You played and won the games in front of you needed to get to the bowl. I'm not sitting here saying it's necessarily right that that's the perception, but outside of Connecticut, that's the perception and any time you guys had the opportunity to flip the script, change the narrative, and show you're serious about football.... You didn't. The Notre Dame agreement could've helped change that.

 

[ZooCougar]

Oh I can definitely grant you the argument that UConn didn't get the benefit of the doubt on a lot of those issues, but part of that comes from you guys being so new to the football scene in everyone's eyes. It's not UConn's fault the Big East was down that year. You played and won the games in front of you needed to get to the bowl. I'm not sitting here saying it's necessarily right that that's the perception, but outside of Connecticut, that's the perception and any time you guys had the opportunity to flip the script, change the narrative, and show you're serious about football.... You didn't. The Notre Dame agreement could've helped change that.

What bowl game did your team play in?

 

[RedRabbit84]

What bowl game did your team play in?

This isn't about my team. Don't worry about us, we're fine.

 

[LetsGoUC]

While I think having UConns main campus in Hartford or Stamford would greatly help...Storrs has become special for anyone who attended and is a unique place.

Therefore, my advice would be to have built 4 lane highways directly through Storrs for way easier access, along with having an area where a large football stadium can be built and expanded upon. This may be more advice for state than AD but I rest my case.

 

[UConnJim]

Not correct. UConn was the preferred choice to join with Syracuse until BCU black balled us.

The first ACC expansion was in 2003. UConn had played 3 years of FBS football and had an FBS record of 11-23 and they were not on the ACC's radar. During the second ACC expansion, UConn had a shot. UConn never had a shot at getting a Big 10 invite.

 

[KryHavok]

Let me shine a little outside perspective for you:

UConn's biggest football moment was a Fiesta Bowl that most folks outside of Connecticut felt you guys had stumbled into. Outside of Connecticut, the consensus was the other major players in the league were really down and UConn shouldn't be there. Then once the game rolled around, you had tens of fans in the stands, got the brakes beat off of you, and proved the neysayers right. THEN you follow it up by never coming close again. I'm not saying all of that to troll, I'm telling you the outside perspective of your crowning achievement in football to date ultimately did you no favors outside your fanbase.

Whether right, wrong, or indifferent, Notre Dame is viewed as one of the most storied and significant programs in college football even today. You passed the opportunity to play on one of the most hallowed grounds in college football history, perchance even win there........ Why, exactly? I understand having Notre Dame come into your house would've been huge, but UConn wasn't seen as there yet. You had a bird in the hand for a great opportunity and you let it get away. And outside of Connecticut, it looked too folks like you weren't taking football seriously at a time you should've REALLY been taking football seriously.

Uhhh, yes, you are, and an ignorant troll at that. Back in 2010 you would've been like 26 or so, the ignorance is self-inflicted.

We had 10s of fans, really!? As @Hoophound said, we had plenty there, or do you think that the 67,000 that were in attendance were all Oklahoma fans? Our fandom probably stops at anything south and west of Madison Square Garden, right?

Got the brakes beat off, well we faced the #9 team in the country (while we were #25), scored 20 points and lost by 28...yeah, it would've been better had we been higher ranked team playing a lower ranked team and lost by 60 points like FSU did last year (I don't care about their QB being hurt, it's a major bowl, you show up to play). Granted we didn't win, and it didn't help that our coach had a mental foot out the door then cowardly bolted immediately after the game for Maryland...maybe we play better had he been committed to us. But in the annals of pathetic bowl losses, our loss isn't even close, but don't believe me:
The 12 biggest blowouts in bowl game history
The biggest blowouts in college football bowl history

As for the chance to beat ND at ND, well, @HuskyNan schooled you on that. It wasn't hard to miss as it was nationally televised on NBC unless someone was catatonic, but you were around 25 and probably living it up, right?

Our problems are well known to us, our wounds self-inflicted. If we didn't hire a burned out Pasqualoni who couldn't recapture his Syracuse magic, or hire out a whacked Diaco who's fiery spirit was only reflected by his selection of pants rather than Wins/Losses, or REhire (see what I did there?) a traitor who just gave up on us again (SURPRISE!!), maybe our fate in the AAC would have gone differently and we could have joined the call-up to the Big12. The hiring decisions for the 2010s did us absolutely no favors.

But yeah, you're not here to troll us.