Irish fan on why UConn belongs in the ACC

[RegisteredUconn]

From BE days, I have had respect for UConn fans. I may not have liked Calhoun, but I respected Huskies fans and what Calhoun accomplished. I also respected what Edsall did at a place few thought could ever win a bowl, any bowl.

From the selfish view, UConn in the ACC can be very good for ND. Same on your side. There is no football team you can play in Yankee Stadium that will have the impact of playing ND. And other than Syracuse or Duke and maybe North Carolina, there is no basketball team you can play in MSG that can have the impact of playing ND.

So why did the ACC take Louisville first? Immediate impact of football. It is that simple. Louisville has a brand new on campus 55,000 seat stadium. That and having won 3 different BCS bowls over the decades with 3 different coaches, including two within a decade, all but did the trick. Then there is football recruiting. UConn brings nobody a football recruiting hotbed. KY high school football is nothing compared to even AL but its much better than any New England state or NY. And KY borders OH, which is not even GA in football recruiting, and may no longer be better than NC, but still OH produces a lot of talent, which now is in the ACC's backyard.


Football does drive the bus. And UConn came up short in that to Louisville. It wasn't BC keeping UConn out - BC will never have that power. It wasn't Florida State and Clemson being unreasonably biased against UConn. It was looking at those football issues and agreeing they took precedence.

But what the ACC needed to replace hapless Maryland (South Rutgers, we can call it, in terms of finances and football support) is not the same thing the ACC wants and most needs for number 16.

Long term, the best thing for UConn is to be in the ACC. And the best thing for the ACC is to have UConn.

I could have agreed with you had the ACC taken a strategic approach to realignment. They didn't. They bounced from opportunity to opportunity like a kid running the aisles of Toys R Us. Had the ACC expanded right up the Atlantic coast with Rutgers, UConn, and BC as a first move in 2003 they would have created a solid base on which to build. They would have had the population of the northeast megalopolis to challenge the SEC in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. They would have captured the strategic schools in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts to prevent the Big Ten from expanding eastward. Who knows, maybe even Penn State could have been lured away from the mid-west.

The idea that UConn was ignored because we would always be available was ludicrously short-sighted. You know who was always going to be there? Miami, that's who. Syracuse, that's who. The thing that scares me about the ACC is they lack vision, they lack leadership, and they will likely fail to be anything more than an afterthought.

 

[MSNDfan]

Rutgers understands the principle well. "Sure we'll play you... At Met Life."

So you are a Rutgers fan? Or at least one who thinks like a Rutgers fan?

That ought to scare you.

ND was not in any sense a member of BE football. That means that when ND talked to Rutgers about a series, it did so exactly as it does with Northwestern or Arizona now. There are teams we will play only at neutral sites, at least for their 'home' game. That is not applicable to, say, our games versus ACC teams. We cannot refuse to play Wake Forest because it refuses to move its home game to the Charlotte Panthers stadium.

That said, the fact of the mater is that Wake Forest versus ND in Charlotte will have 75,000 in attendance, while only 35 or 40,000 can squeeze into Wake Forest's campus stadium. I have a friend who went to the game when we played there a coupe years ago, and he said it is well designed and cozy, but very small. WF would make more money from moving the ND game to Charlotte. But it would not have to to play ND as part of the ACC.

UConn football would gain more from playing ND at MetLife than at the Rent, but if UConn were in the ACC, ND would have to play UConn's home game where UConn says.

 

[Carl Spackler]

We already have. Including 5 football games a year. The ACC, not our AD, schedules those games for us.

We have to play each full member of ACC football at least once every 3 years. So if UConn joins the ACC, we will play you in football every 3rd year.

No, Notre Dame didn't join. They are enjoying the same leech arrangement they had with the Big East. They started out with an agreement to schedule Big East programs too. We'll see how long that lasts - they're already planting the seeds for changing the scheduling arrangement to whatever ND wants to do - they have for the past 24 years.

Notre Dame is just teasing the ACC with the tip, they're not in. They're either in with football or they're not in the conference and simply have a cozy scheduling arrangement for their other sports.

So I say again - NOtre Dame - you go first.

 

[Seaa Blue]

So you are a Rutgers fan? Or at least one who thinks like a Rutgers fan?
UConn football would gain more from playing ND at MetLife than at the Rent, but if UConn were in the ACC, ND would have to play UConn's home game where UConn says.

That is where your predisposition causes you to not see the other side of the coin. Met Life is going to take a significant percentage of the gate and play havoc with season ticket sales and season ticket holders. While they may make more money, teams generally want to see "home" games at their "home". When ND starts to dictate terms they solidify their reputation all the while singing "we just want the best for everyone. p.s. don't trust the Big Ten, we've been oppressed by them for years".

 

[Yawkey Way]

The minute we join the ACC Notre Dame will announce they are joining the Big Ten. . .

While the ACC would be my second choice provided they stay intact, the Big Ten conference better embodies UConn's long term objectives, which go beyond athletics.

ND is not going to pull their Hockey Program out of the Hockey East, and all their non football sports as well out of the ACC.. to join the BIG in football, and with its other sports programs. I would never say never, but it was clear to me that ND looked East, not Midwest, when it bypassed the new BIG Hockey League to ask for, and receive, admittance to Hockey East recently. ND is playing 5 football games each season in the ACC, where they know several of these schools for a very long time. If the day comes for ND to fully hitch its football program to a league, it does not appear to me that it'll be the BIG now... but who knows for sure anymore on these things.

 

[MSNDfan]

So you are a Rutgers fan? Or at least one who thinks like a Rutgers fan?

That ought to scare you.

ND was not in any sense a member of BE football. That means that when ND talked to Rutgers about a series, it did so exactly as it does with Northwestern or Arizona now. There are teams we will play only at neutral sites, at least for their 'home' game. That is not applicable to, say, our games versus ACC teams. We cannot refuse to play Wake Forest because it refuses to move its home game to the Charlotte Panthers stadium.

That said, the fact of the mater is that Wake Forest versus ND in Charlotte will have 75,000 in attendance, while only 35 or 40K can squeeze into Wake Forest's campus stadium. I have a friend who went to the game when we played there a coupe years ago, and he said it is well designed and cozy, but very small. WF would make more money from moving the ND game to Charlotte. But it would not have to to play ND as part of the ACC.

UConn football would gain more from playing ND at MetLife than at the Rent, but if UConn were in the ACC, ND would have to play UConn's home game where UConn says.

That is where your predisposition causes you to not see the other side of the coin. Met Life is going to take a significant percentage of the gate and play havoc with season ticket sales and season ticket holders. While they may make more money, teams generally want to see "home" games at their "home". When ND starts to dictate terms they solidify their reputation all the while singing "we just want the best for everyone. p.s. don't trust the Big Ten, we've been oppressed by them for years".

Some stadiums rip off college teams. I think Paul Brown in Cincinnati is bad about that. Some are very good at working with college teams for mutual benefit. The JerryDome is in that category.

If you have a large stadium and can fill it, do so. If you can gain from playing a game every year or two at a neutral site venue, you are crazy not too. That is how ND became ND.

As UConn does not have a campus stadium and requires the NYC tv market, wouldn't UConn football gain from playing big name teams in MetLife? Isn't there 3 or 4 times more football talent in NJ than in all New England and wouldn't UConn get a boost in recruiting NJ by playing brand name teams in MetLife?

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Who says UConn cannot have the ACC?

You seem to think that UConn's very late arrival to the party of D1 football did not mean major obstacles. That late starting point for the sport that drives the bus of all conference realignment means that once UConn was looking, it was in a line that had formed when it was playing 1AA football. Even Louisville was D1 back when Johnny U played for the Cards.

UConn started too late to be near the top of the list anytime before maybe 4 years ago. And the 3 ACC additions in that time all make sense, in the order they were taken, considering football as the number 1 factor. Syracuse and Pitt both have a Heisman winner and multiple Hall of Famers. Louisville has Johnny U and 2 BCS bowl wins over the past decade. UConn football moved up far too late in the game to better any of those.

I don't want to be part of any conference making membership decisions based on where Unitas went to college.

 

[MSNDfan]

I could have agreed with you had the ACC taken a strategic approach to realignment. They didn't. They bounced from opportunity to opportunity like a kid running the aisles of Toys R Us. Had the ACC expanded right up the Atlantic coast with Rutgers, UConn, and BC as a first move in 2003 they would have created a solid base on which to build. They would have had the population of the northeast megalopolis to challenge the SEC in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. They would have captured the strategic schools in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts to prevent the Big Ten from expanding eastward. Who knows, maybe even Penn State could have been lured away from the mid-west.

The idea that UConn was ignored because we would always be available was ludicrously short-sighted. You know who was always going to be there? Miami, that's who. Syracuse, that's who. The thing that scares me about the ACC is they lack vision, they lack leadership, and they will likely fail to be anything more than an afterthought.

Take Rutgers in 2003? Why? Rutgers football then was no better off than UConn football, which had just moved up to FBS from FCS. If the ASCC had taken Rutgers in 2003, the BE would have celebrated.

Miami was the school the ACC had to take then. First, Miami was a major football power. Second Florida State wanted Miami in the ACC so its rivalry would be a conference game. Take Rutgers and tick off Florida State, which joins Miami in the BE? That would have led to the death of ACC football.

 

[MSNDfan]

ND is not going to pull their Hockey Program out of the Hockey East, and all their non football sports as well out of the ACC.. to join the BIG in football, and with its other sports programs. I would never say never, but it was clear to me that ND looked East, not Midwest, when it bypassed the new BIG Hockey League to ask for, and receive, admittance to Hockey East recently. ND is playing 5 football games each season in the ACC, where they know several of these schools for a very long time. If the day comes for ND to fully hitch its football program to a league, it does not appear to me that it'll be the BIG now... but who knows for sure anymore on these things.

Yes, the hockey decision ought to be understood as fitting with the ACC decision. The ND die is cast permanently with the east coast.

 

[HuskyFan16]

Take Rutgers in 2003? Why? Rutgers football then was no better off than UConn football, which had just moved up to FBS from FCS. If the ASCC had taken Rutgers in 2003, the BE would have celebrated.

In what way is Rutgers football now better than UConn football?

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Take Rutgers in 2003? Why? Rutgers football then was no better off than UConn football, which had just moved up to FBS from FCS. If the ASCC had taken Rutgers in 2003, the BE would have celebrated.

Miami was the school the ACC had to take then. First, Miami was a major football power. Second Florida State wanted Miami in the ACC so its rivalry would be a conference game. Take Rutgers and tick off Florida State, which joins Miami in the BE? That would have led to the death of ACC football.

When you lack vision, you're conclusions make a lot of sense. When you play the realignment game on a tactical level, those are exactly the moves you make.

 

[MSNDfan]

I don't want to be part of any conference making membership decisions based on where Unitas went to college.

Would you also not want to be part of a conference that makes membership decisions on other football reasons? Or is this just a Johnny Unitas aversion?

The most powerful reasons Louisville football got the nod over UConn football are: newly renovated state of the art on campus 55,000 seat stadium and three major bowl championships, two of them within the past decade.

 

[itgoeslike]

ND is not going to pull their Hockey Program out of the Hockey East, and all their non football sports as well out of the ACC.. to join the BIG in football, and with its other sports programs. I would never say never, but it was clear to me that ND looked East, not Midwest, when it bypassed the new BIG Hockey League to ask for, and receive, admittance to Hockey East recently. ND is playing 5 football games each season in the ACC, where they know several of these schools for a very long time. If the day comes for ND to fully hitch its football program to a league, it does not appear to me that it'll be the BIG now... but who knows for sure anymore on these things.

My comment was tainted with a bit of sarcasm. After all, ND was leading the Big East expansion committee at one point. . .

The Big Ten is going to be much more stable in the long run. UConn's fans never want to have to endure this crap ever again.

 

[MSNDfan]

In what way is Rutgers football now better than UConn football?

Its not, which is part of the reason I am amazed anyone other than a Rutgers fan would think the ACC should have added Rutgers in 2003.

 

[MSNDfan]

My comment was tainted with a bit of sarcasm. After all, ND was leading the Big East expansion committee at one point. . .

The Big Ten is going to be much more stable in the long run. UConn's fans never want to have to endure this crap ever again.

Well, there are at least 4 conferences that are fully stable, meaning they will lose no one - ACC, Big Ten, Pac, and SEC. The Big 12 is stable as long as Texas does not get itchy feet.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

That's garbage and anybody with sense knows it. In the ACC, your basketball with Syracuse would burn brighter than ever. Your games with Duke and North Carolina would quickly become almost as hot. Your games with us would intensify.

And then there is BC in all sports. The only New England rivalry would get red hot. It would matter down in your bones.

I'm not a advocate of the UConn to the ACC ,I've been trumpeting UConn to the B1G ,since I was a lonely voice crying out in the desert.
The majority of the the posters here couldn't see the huge advantage a school in a compact densely populated state ,whose residents identify with in huge numbers,and located next to two large and accessible markets would bring to a conference.
It's was easier for an expatriate living in the vast western expanse to visualize.
Having said that:
I completely under stood the selection of Louisville. That decision was made at a time the future of the conference was at stake and FSU,and Clemson leaving was a real concern, I think BC's input hurt but it certainly wasn't the cause. BC's position if they were a strong advocate of our cause which was in their best interest might have had some impact.
I'm sure the better ACC Academic institutions weren't happy with Louisville but given the options had little choice.

 

[UCHuskies08]

From BE days, I have had respect for UConn fans. I may not have liked Calhoun, but I respected Huskies fans and what Calhoun accomplished. I also respected what Edsall did at a place few thought could ever win a bowl, any bowl.

From the selfish view, UConn in the ACC can be very good for ND. Same on your side. There is no football team you can play in Yankee Stadium that will have the impact of playing ND. And other than Syracuse or Duke and maybe North Carolina, there is no basketball team you can play in MSG that can have the impact of playing ND.

So why did the ACC take Louisville first? Immediate impact of football. It is that simple. Louisville has a brand new on campus 55,000 seat stadium. That and having won 3 different BCS bowls over the decades with 3 different coaches, including two within a decade, all but did the trick. Then there is football recruiting. UConn brings nobody a football recruiting hotbed. KY high school football is nothing compared to even AL but its much better than any New England state or NY. And KY borders OH, which is not even GA in football recruiting, and may no longer be better than NC, but still OH produces a lot of talent, which now is in the ACC's backyard.


Football does drive the bus. And UConn came up short in that to Louisville. It wasn't BC keeping UConn out - BC will never have that power. It wasn't Florida State and Clemson being unreasonably biased against UConn. It was looking at those football issues and agreeing they took precedence.

But what the ACC needed to replace hapless Maryland (South Rutgers, we can call it, in terms of finances and football support) is not the same thing the ACC wants and most needs for number 16.

Long term, the best thing for UConn is to be in the ACC. And the best thing for the ACC is to have UConn.

Any port during a storm as far as I'm concerned...

 

[Yawkey Way]

My comment was tainted with a bit of sarcasm. After all, ND was leading the Big East expansion committee at one point. . .

.

Yes, I hear you. ND does have much more clout in league alignments than wins and losses in sports should allow them to have, imo. Life's not always fair.. expecially when it comes to the big biz we call major college football. ND does a superb job of protecting their school's self interests in this crazy world of league realignments and its undeniable, imo

 

[MSNDfan]

Any port during a storm as far as I'm concerned...

That sounds good, but do you watch the Walking Dead? They have reached Terminus, which may be run by cannibals. Some ports are worse than storms, certainly the ones that may be ridden out.


UConn needs a port that looks south, not to the midwest, for football recruiting. It needs a port that pairs it back with Syracuse basketball and with BC. BC left the BE before we could see how hot BC-UConn could become in football. UConn needs a port with football teams that average more along the lines of 50,000 per game than 65,00o or 70,000.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Would you also not want to be part of a conference that makes membership decisions on other football reasons? Or is this just a Johnny Unitas aversion? I mean you're making a sales pitch using the equivalent of Jay Berwanger and I don't think you get many sales using examples perched on a half century time horizon.

The most powerful reasons Louisville football got the nod over UConn football are: newly renovated state of the art on campus 55,000 seat stadium and three major bowl championships, two of them within the past decade. Tactical rationale. Tactics without a strategy invites disjointed, uncoordinated activites that lack a common goal and waste energy.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Its not, which is part of the reason I am amazed anyone other than a Rutgers fan would think the ACC should have added Rutgers in 2003.

Because it would be part of a strategy, something seemingly unfamiliar to you. Why would the B1G add Rutgers now? Maybe because it's part of a strategy?

 

[HuskyFan16]

That sounds good, but do you watch the Walking Dead? They have reached Terminus, which may be run by cannibals. Some ports are worse than storms, certainly the ones that may be ridden out.


UConn needs a port that looks south, not to the midwest, for football recruiting. It needs a port that pairs it back with Syracuse basketball and with BC. BC left the BE before we could see how hot BC-UConn could become in football. UConn needs a port with football teams that average more along the lines of 50,000 per game than 65,00o or 70,000.

UConn doesn't need a goshdarn thing from anyone except TV Revenue. We're doing just fine winning national championships without a Syracuse rivalry that they were more than happy to disown. And frankly, playing BC in any sport except hockey at this point would not be as exciting as playing teams that win and have a tradition of winning.

Would I be fine with UConn in the ACC? Sure. I think it would be cool to play FSU and Va Tech in football and Duke and UNC in hoops. But playing the B1G schools just moves the needle a lot more for everyone on this board. You don't have to believe me. But I really don't care about the idea of playing Syracuse, BC and Notre Dame.

 

[WhartonHusky]

I think most of the long-time fans on this board are basketball fans. We would have loved nothing more than an invite to the ACC along with our conference rivals - Cuse/Pitt and certainly Lville. We dreamed about playing Duke and UNC on a regular basis and how awesome it would be to be part of an ACC tourney in NYC. For a variety of reasons, it didn't come to pass.

As this conference realignment process has dragged out, I think UConn fans have increasingly begun to consider the idea (hopefully) of an invite to the B1G. It's not the same from a basketball standpoint, but there seems to be less animosity and more mutual respect for our accomplishments and what we as a University can bring to the table. We all know that UConn's resume isn't perfect. We lack the football history/tradition, we don't have a Harvard-sized endowment, and we are not AAU (yet). However, we are a University on the rise both athletically and academically - we are investing where it matters and we are committed to the value of sports. In addition, games (football/basketball) against Michigan, MSU, Indiana, OSU, etc are beginning to sound pretty cool -- especially as we start to build rivalries and history like the Elite 8 game.

At the end of the day, we want nothing more than to sit at one of the big boy tables -- and I think we believe we have a tremendous amount to offer to the ACC and the B1G today and into the future. We are scared to death about our long term fate, but the more we perform on and off the court the stronger case we can make when/if the next round occurs.

I think we all feel a little better when outsiders come to the board and tell us that they'd love us in the conference and can't believe we weren't selected because it gives us hope that others see what we do. However, we know in our heart of hearts that no one really knows what a conference commissioner and a bunch of collegiate presidents will ultimately do. So we wait and we build and we hope.

 

[husky10]

UConn needs a port with football teams that average more along the lines of 50,000 per game than 65,00o or 70,000.

How is this a good thing????

 

[Gfunk]

ND fans take heat everywhere. ND gets blamed for virtually everything. I once saw a thread about why ND was to blame for the Big 12 nearly falling apart.

I agree BC led any plan to block UConn. But if not for the other factors, BC's leadership to keep UConn out would have fallen flat.

As for Pitt - that you can blame on ND. We have a very old and important football rivalry with Pitt. The best move for the ACC to try to get us to accept partial membership in football was to add Pitt. Syracuse and UConn were probably toss ups to Swarbrick, but Pitt would have been the top choice. And because Syracuse was supposed to get in back in 2o03, the ACC would take it over UConn.

UConn simply got very unlucky twice.

You deserved to get blamed. Your ADept and power brokers could have saved the Big East had you given up football independence. The Big East would be a fantastic football-basketball conference had ND committed everything. You would have had a viable southern presence to maintain your cosmetic national recruiting in football - VT, Miami. I bet PSU would have left the BIG & maybe others like USF. Lville, & UCF would have been fast tracked to join. Btw, UCF is here to stay & it's only a matter of time before they get picked up by a bigger conference.

ND fans are also ungrateful towards their midwestern roots & truly arrogant towards the very Hoosier natives that keep the institution special. Your national alumni are too often dismissive of their university experience and the wonderful hospitality given to them by Indiana natives. I find it funny that little ND fans, brainwashed by their parents, often don't know where the ND campus is.

Plus, you flat out choked in every BCS game, no school lost the way ND did in the BCS era. In other words, you didn't deserve to be in some of those BCS games, though you earned your way to the NCG. Hyped reputation got you there, a reputation that's becoming a bit ancient in today's era of short term thinking.

 

[upstater]

That's garbage and anybody with sense knows it. In the ACC, your basketball with Syracuse would burn brighter than ever. Your games with Duke and North Carolina would quickly become almost as hot. Your games with us would intensify.

And then there is BC in all sports. The only New England rivalry would get red hot. It would matter down in your bones.

I don't think BC football v. UConn moves the dial any more than Rutgers football would. It wouldn't. And they are both awful in basketball.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

UConn started too late to be near the top of the list anytime before maybe 4 years ago.

I initially wanted the ACC for a landing spot, but now echo the sentiments of the other Boneyarders in despising the ACC. Once again schools were underhanded in the actions, like not accepting a good TV offer and then leaving the conference. Seems shady whether it was or wasn't. ND is not immune in this. My brain doesn't recall the details, but their actions as it related to the old Big East had a shifty element to it.
Lastly, but not least important, unless Johnny U, Jim Brown or Dan Marino are walking through the ACC doors, their existence at those schools is of no import. I want UConn to play in a conference that recognizes the present and future value that the school brings. Clearly the ACC is stuck on name recognition from the past. Had they gotten their heads out of their #%$@^ in the first place, they'd have 2 national championships to add to their conference resume. Instead they got knocked out relatively early and the fledgling AAC has 2 National championships to put on its resume.
As someone said earlier, I hope the ACC does reach out to us so we can go to the B1G and let them know they're on the clock. I'd go to the ACC if it was my only option, but I would not be happy with it.

 

[kingdobbs]

How is this a good thing????

Sets a goal we can hope to match in a decade?

 

[Dooley]

With all due respect Irish fan, I think 9 out of 10 UCONN fans are incredibly bitter with the ACC and some of its leaders/fanbases and would prefer a B1G invite over an ACC invite. We've been told all the reasons for why we've been passed over time and time and time again and all of them are changed to better fit the PR campaign on why one particular school is so much better than UCONN (or anyone else). That's not to say we wouldn't be thrilled to get out of the AAC, but watching all of these things unfold the way they have over the past few years, it's really a tough sell to get a UCONN fan to trust anything that comes out of the ACC camp. We've heard all of the reasons why UCONN and the ACC don't fit that, you know what?, we've come to believe it and, instead, prefer to align our academics and athletics with a more stable conference with members who are like us - large, public state universities with excellent academic and athletic reputations.

Like it or not, BC did have everything to do with UCONN being snubbed repeatedly. Their former AD said so. And if they didn't block us intentionally (Pitt), they certainly didn't help us out at all when the southern football schools were campaigning for Louisville Community College. "We don't want another northeast program like BC in our league, so we'll take Louisville because they've won a few games recently." Tell me, why haven't the B12 or PAC12 offered Boise State? They have the same recent wave of BCS games that Louisville has had and have carried over their success over a few decades now. The reason: academics. Granted, academics isn't the first priority in CR but it certainly shouldn't be ignored either. If the ACC is willing to lower its academic standards so low to invite a commuter school with a ridiculous acceptance rate (and embarrassingly low profile) just because "they've won a few football games in recent years", what does that signal to people outside of the conference? It reeks of desperation. I'm not saying that LCC shouldn't have gotten their ticket punched at some point, but it should have definitely come well after UCONN even if it meant that Louisville went to the B12. Athletics are cyclical, academics is long-term. And because we are talking about collegiate athletics, that should mean something. It wasn't too long ago that LCC had their own Steve Kragthorpe era similar to our Paul Pasqualoni era, complete with dwindling attendance and losing records in the Big East. And with the incredibly unreliable Bobby Petrino at the helm, a guy who could be arrested or wander off in some sort of drunken haze to chase some UK tail at any moment, their football stability is now in question. Again, desperation.

Meanwhile, while Louisville reminded everyone of the risk that comes with having them as a full member with hiring Bobby Petrino, UCONN made the hire of the offseason in Bob Diaco. I know you're familiar with him and can share the optimism that UCONN fans feel surrounding our football program. Again, sports are cyclical. Our football program seems to be entering an upswing now that we have the proper coaching staff in place to take advantage of what UCONN has to offer its student athletes. It won't be long before football is competitive again the way it was before Jeff Hathaway (good riddance!) made the mistake of the century in hiring Pasqualoni.

I understand your points about regional rivalries. Believe me, UCONN was more than delighted to be in the former Big East with our regional rivals. But those days are over and those same regional rivals who are in the ACC have done nothing but stab us in the back in an attempt to leapfrog us in the northeast pecking order. Regional rivalries can also be developed in the B1G in Penn State and Rutgers over time. And any UCONN basketball would have juice at MSG, not just UNC, ND, or the Fruit. Michigan State and UCONN sure had a lot of electricity a few weeks ago, eh?

Again, UCONN fans would just be happy to get out of the AAC. But now it appears obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes and ears and an interest in college sports that the negative perception about UCONN was/is flat-out wrong. UCONN basketball is NOT dead after the APR nonsense and Calhoun's retirement. UCONN will NOT always employ Paul Pasqualoni and be happy with 3 win seasons. UCONN fans WILL pack Madison Square Garden to give our team a tremendous home court advantage (and pay top dollar for the privilege). UCONN DOES have tremendous support in New York City.

The ACC has had ample amount of opportunity to add UCONN. And what you said earlier about sitting at 15 so a partner isn't needed to add UCONN only strengthens the point: the ACC and UCONN are not a good fit for each other. If they were, we'd be in the ACC already.

 

[Seaa Blue]

That sounds good, but do you watch the Walking Dead? They have reached Terminus, which may be run by cannibals. Some ports are worse than storms, certainly the ones that may be ridden out.

UConn needs a port that looks south, not to the midwest, for football recruiting. It needs a port that pairs it back with Syracuse basketball and with BC. BC left the BE before we could see how hot BC-UConn could become in football. UConn needs a port with football teams that average more along the lines of 50,000 per game than 65,00o or 70,000.

ND company line... hook, line, and sinker.

Whatever suits ND at the moment. "We're no longer playing Michigan because it no longer suits us."