If you were the athletic director?

[uconntailgater]

If you were given the job as UConn's athletic director. How and whom would you schedule in football and men's basketball?

 

[uconntailgater]

This question is based on the assumption that we will be stuck in this conference for a few more years.

 

[SubbaBub]

http://the-boneyard.com/threads/should-we-play-umass-home-and-home.39304/page-2#post-602534

 

[B1GALUM]

Go B1G. Familiarity breeds contempt ... which makes for a good rivalry ... which makes for a good conference partner. Play 'em and piss 'em off so they want to face you again.
Football: Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State
Basketball: Indiana, Michigan State

 

[mikeinmanila]

If the goal is to become one of the top northeast "brands", UConn needs to get the following schools on their schedule long term:

Football: Rutgers, BC, Penn State (and all are winnable over the next 5 years)

Basketball: Syracuse, BC, Georgetown (traditional rivals) and maybe St John's (for NYC market)

 

[rw005]

Football: All of the B1G and ACC, teams from the SEC, Auburn, Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, bring back the games against Notre Dame as well!

Basketball: Home/home series to previous BE conference members and also new members, like Creighton and Butler, like for one season, we play 2 BE teams and the next year the samething. One year could be away games, the next year home.

In-state CT schools, just once in a while, alternate each year.

New England schools, once every 3 years, (UMass, Northeastern, Bryant, etc.)

Road trips, I'd probably schedule road trip games, where we can travel and play in different states, I'd like the idea of playing in 2 game away, like @UCLA then @San Francisco, just to balance the schedule out.


Note: This depends on what conference we are in.

 

[itgoeslike]

RE Basketball: Reportedly we scheduled home and home with Florida starting this year at UCONN and there have been discussions with Kansas. . .those are steps in the right direction.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I would be polishing up my resume and calling all my contacts.

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[UCFBfan]

Football: Penn St....why not go big (no pun intended) if we're gonna aim to be the top program in the Northeast. Forget Rutgers, Syracuse, or BC. Go after the big boy. I'd be happy with getting BC back on the schedule too since we desperately need some kind of rivalry that isn't forced on us (see Rutgers)

Basketball: Syracuse....I want them on the schedule every year. I hate Syracuse more than BC and I love playing them just as much. That's always the one game I get really pumped for. It's gonna be a big hole in the schedule without them this year and beyond. The home games for this series can only be played at Gampel.

 

[uconntailgater]

Great discussion so far.

With the NFL starting their season a week after college football. We have a golden opportunity to utilize MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands. I think we should try to schedule a marquee opponent for Labor Day weekend at MetLife every year. Now, I understand this would probably require us to play a two-for-one, with the one being that MetLife. I think we should shoot for Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, Alabama, Florida, Miami, Florida State, Texas, Oklahoma, or any other big name school that would be willing to come up to MetLife for Labor Day weekend.

Next up I think we should finalize across-the-board schedule with Boston College, to include football, men's and women's basketball, and the the rest of the Olympic sports. This would keep our travel costs down and create a instant rival that isn't forced.

 

[Dooley]

The following hypothetical answer to this hypothetical question hypothetically hinges on UConn being in the AAC for the next 3-5 years with little hope (hypotheticals mirror reality, in this case) and scheduling is as easy as snapping a finger:

Football:
Opening Day - first Saturday weekend of season, game at Noon versus a rotation of UMass, Buffalo, Army
BC (home and home for 5-10 years, then explore the possibility of playing the game in different neutral venues like Fenway or Gillette)
RU (same as BC, but the alternate venues would be MetLife, Yankee or Citi Field)
1 B1G school (in addition to RU) every 2 years
1 ACC school (in addition to BC) every other 2 years
1 SEC/B12 school every 3 years
In the 2 "other" years that we are not playing SEC/B12, flex the date to move in whoever has openings (ex- ND, Boise, BYU, etc)

Basketball:
Continue our rotation of preseason tournaments (I think we're locked into some of those anyway?)
Annual games at MSG in some sort of rotation dagainst: St Johns, Duke (they love New Jersey), B1G school, Kentucky
Annual games at Barclays against another B1G school (MD, IU, Mich, Mich St etc) or B12 (Texas, OU, Kansas, etc)
2 ACC schools every year on home and home (rotate between Fruit, Pitt, UNC, Ville, ND, Ga Tech, FSU)
3 Big East schools every year on home and home (rotate between G'Town, Nova, Providence, Marquette, Creighton, Butler)
3-5 flex dates to throw in home and homes whenever possible against the likes of PAC-12 (Stanford, Washington, UCLA, USC, Oregon), B12, SEC (Florida, Vandy, Tennessee), Gonzaga, VCU, etc.
Gampel - all AAC games played plus 2 premier OOC games and half of the early season cupcakes
XL - other half of the early season cupcakes plus rest of the OOC schedule (which would hopefully be a good mix of ACC, Big East and flex games)

 

[itgoeslike]

Go B1G. Familiarity breeds contempt ... which makes for a good rivalry ... which makes for a good conference partner. Play 'em and piss 'em off so they want to face you again.
Football: Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State
Basketball: Indiana, Michigan State

Agree with all of the above, but also play Penn State in basketball and olympic sports; keep the Maryland/Rutgers rivalry going. With the AAC so far-flung, much of our OOC scheduling should be with regional powers (for fans sake). If they happen to be in the B1G, all the better.

 

[NickyNewark]

Football RU,PSU and BC/SYRACUSE to gain national recognition you have to compete or dominate your region to stay relevant in the major markets and to excite recruits in our footprint!Plus we'll keep travel cost's at a minimum! Basketball either RU or St Johns to maintain our NY/NJ presence, SU cause they'll try to evade you into irrelevance and Georgetown as a traditional rival in another critical market! I really hate giving any of the C7 any games that would possibly improve their "image/situation" or in their next contract negotiation

 

[NickyNewark]

Football: Penn St....why not go big (no pun intended) if we're gonna aim to be the top program in the Northeast. Forget Rutgers, Syracuse, or BC. Go after the big boy. I'd be happy with getting BC back on the schedule too since we desperately need some kind of rivalry that isn't forced on us (see Rutgers)

Basketball: Syracuse....I want them on the schedule every year. I hate Syracuse more than BC and I love playing them just as much. That's always the one game I get really pumped for. It's gonna be a big hole in the schedule without them this year and beyond. The home games for this series can only be played at Gampel.

There's only one way to be a rival and that's dominate!Why in FB would BC think of a subordinate as a rival?Has UConn FB ever been superior to BC FB?Same can be said for RU?If you want to look down on a FB team BEAT THEM!Sorry guys I can't take this somewhat superior attitude towards RU lightly!You want respect?Earn it or avoid it!What makes you think RU would even have you on there schedule?

 

[UCFBfan]

There's only one way to be a rival and that's dominate!Why in FB would BC think of a subordinate as a rival?Has UConn FB ever been superior to BC FB?Same can be said for RU?If you want to look down on a FB team BEAT THEM!Sorry guys I can't take this somewhat superior attitude towards RU lightly!You want respect?Earn it or avoid it!What makes you think RU would even have you on there schedule?

Honestly buddy, you need to realize that we never viewed Rutgers as a rival. It had nothing to do with being a better football team. It really has ties to our original passion, basketball. Our hatred towards local rivals BC and Syracuse spills over to football. Now, it never truly materialized with Syracuse in FB but with BC, there is true hatred by both fan bases. When BC left, it basically was determined that we and RU were rivals because we played a few close games. That doesn't define a rivalry in my book. RU blows in bball and so at UConn we never viewed them as anything. I'm not making any claims that we're better than RU in football, just that I never viewed them as a rival like I did BC in all sports and Syracuse in bball. Sorry if that upsets you for whatever reason but it's reality for a lot of UConn fans. Finally, this is a UConn message board, why would we NOT think we're better than other programs? I bet any of your Rutger message boards sound similar.

 

[djct1999]

Its simple. For football, try to schedule a home and home w Rutgers and/or Penn State. Then try to lure Alabama/Florida/Texas/Oklahoma/Ohio State/Michigan for a game at Met Life and fill the stadium. For basketball, its even easier. Play as many games as possible in MSG or Barclays.

 

[TRest]

There's only one way to be a rival and that's dominate!Why in FB would BC think of a subordinate as a rival?Has UConn FB ever been superior to BC FB?Same can be said for RU?If you want to look down on a FB team BEAT THEM!Sorry guys I can't take this somewhat superior attitude towards RU lightly!You want respect?Earn it or avoid it!What makes you think RU would even have you on there schedule?

We beat RU in football quite often. Are you ten years old? I agree scheduling RU in anything is a waste of time, it will be Indiana in football and Northwestern in basketball. Bottom feeders.

 

[NickyNewark]

Honestly buddy, you need to realize that we never viewed Rutgers as a rival. It had nothing to do with being a better football team. It really has ties to our original passion, basketball. Our hatred towards local rivals BC and Syracuse spills over to football. Now, it never truly materialized with Syracuse in FB but with BC, there is true hatred by both fan bases. When BC left, it basically was determined that we and RU were rivals because we played a few close games. That doesn't define a rivalry in my book. RU blows in bball and so at UConn we never viewed them as anything. I'm not making any claims that we're better than RU in football, just that I never viewed them as a rival like I did BC in all sports and Syracuse in bball. Sorry if that upsets you for whatever reason but it's reality for a lot of UConn fans. Finally, this is a UConn message board, why would we NOT think we're better than other programs? I bet any of your Rutger message boards sound similar.

@Sorry UCFBfan, fair enough I get a bit touchy as an RU fan as you might under other circumstance's...no real offense intended!I hope you can relate?I'm not here trolling!

 

[NickyNewark]

We beat RU in football quite often. Are you ten years old? I agree scheduling RU in anything is a waste of time, it will be Indiana in football and Northwestern in basketball. Bottom feeders.

No wiseguy I happen to be 62 and did 2 tours of Nam..don't be a wiseguy!! I never said you weren't on a level par with them I'm saying "some see it that way"!I think if playing RU is a waste of time stay in the AAC!

 

[NickyNewark]

@Notice the difference between the responses to a gentleman and a baby poster!

 

[huskiesnyc]

If you were given the job as UConn's athletic director. How and whom would you schedule in football and men's basketball?

Any and every school in the B1G.

 

[pj]

We should also play a team from the Pac. Gets an early start on establishing future B1G-Pac rivalries. Gets national exposure.

 

[uconntailgater]

We need to ensure that we have two quality opponents from the big five conferences going forward. I assume the AAC schedule configuration will be eight conference games? I'll put Boise and BYU in that category.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

We need to ensure that we have two quality opponents from the big five conferences going forward. I assume the AAC schedule configuration will be eight conference games? I'll put Boise and BYU in that category.

I would say the big 4 . wins over ACC teams are rght up there with MW teams. Even Clemson and Fla state don't move the needle.

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[freescooter]

I'd immediately take the following steps before I ever scheduled a game:
1. announce that for the 2013 season UConn would wear blue helmets with players numeral in white. A new more permanent design would be unveiled for the 2014 season.
2. Donald the wolf/dog/bear would be consigned to the dustbin of history at the end of the 2013-14 season. The person who originally designed Donald would be summarily fired and banned from UConn athletic property, events and athletic contests for life. A special device would be atatched to his tv which would block any and all UConn sporting events.
3. A competent designer who would be respectful of the University's history and traditions would be hired to design a new logo for the 2014 season.
Then on to scheduling: For football it is most important to win. That has been demonstrated by TCU, Utah and Bosie State. But I also recognize that you need some names in order to sell tickets and to build a national reputation. To that end I'd schedule games, hopefully home and home, with teams like Mississippi, from the SEC, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Michigan State from the Big 10, and a rotation with BC, UMass and Rutgers for a while and either a MAC when we're not playing UMass or a 1AA or CUSA when we are.

On the basketball side, it is also important to accept 2 principals. First, you cannot "replace" Big East SOS with non-conference games. Even if part of the power rating wat myth, there were many good teams. In the AAC there are a few.the second thing you need to accept is that it doesn't matter how many top teams you play, you need to win and you need to win most of your non-conference games...you can't go 7-5. You need to go 10-2 or better. You also need to get home games. Can't do home and home with 6-7 teams which is what would be required to play major programs.So assuming 12 non-conference games, I'd line them up like this:
Early season tournament 1 home, 2 @MSG/Barclays/similar neutral site. Or 3 @ in some resort area.
2 power conferences 1home, 1 road
4-5 A-10 level 3 or 4 @ home 1 road
1 from among the top mid-majors (Wichita St, Gonzaga, VCU, Butler, type teams) Home
1 from the top Ivy programs-Harvard, Penn, Princeton etc. Home
Depending on space- fill in with 1-2 New England programs...Fairfield, BU, Maine, Vermont etc. Home. Bottom line is you want to drop the games against the dregs of college basketball that we paid to come to the Civic Center or occassionally Gampel to let us show off the difference in skill levels, pad our win totals and run up scores. Replace them with A-10 type teams and some higher mid-majors. We need to end every season with gaudy win totals. A 32-2 AAC team will be seeded highly even with a questionable SOS. A 24-10 one won't be even with a better SOS. You need to be legitimate, but you don't need to be more than that.

I would not play any of the Catholic 7 under any circumstances that I could control. It will be worth more to them than to us and any one of them is easily replaceable. I don't care about them but I absolutely don't want to help them out under any circumstances. Here's the thing. The AAC and the Medium sized East will be vying with each other to be the Top mid-major, basically to move into the role occupied by the A-10. The AAC has better teams at the top. The Medium East has more depth. I have zero interest in helping them. And please spare me the St Johns hogwash. They were relevant in 1985. And they have cable in Queens now, so players can watch UConn without needing to go to the Garden.