We are a flagship public university in a market that the B1G desperately wants to tap into more. I personally think we are on a 3-5 year plan to get into the B1G. Here are the things that currently hurt us and what UCONN is doing to address them:
1. No AAU. This is probably the biggest deterrent but UCONN already measures favorably to other AAU institutions based on a few metrics. President Herbst recently secured $1.5B in state aid to, in large part, expand research. We are one of a very few U.S. universities in the Universistas 21 (global research version of the AAU) and now that Ohio State just accepted membership, I hope we can use that as a network opportunity.
2. Low endowment figure (currently around $340M) in comparison with other B1G schools (Rutgers is around $900M I think). President Herbst hired Emory's fundraiser who helped raise over $1B to Emory's endowment and UCONN has added a few houses in the greater Hartford area to "wine and dine" potential donors. Herbst has said that her goal is to get UCONN's endowment closer to $1B.
3. Football program and venue. Aside from TV market growth potential, football is the primary (but not sole) driver in CR. Jeff Hathaway's uninspired, awful hire of Paul Pasqualoni derailed one of the once fastest growing football programs in the country. UCONN also plays in a small off-campus stadium that is not thought of too favorably by fans outside of Connecticut. Warde Manuel's hiring of Bob Diaco is a big, first step in turning football competitive once again. He increased the Assistant coach salary pool and, as a result, Diaco assembled a fantastic staff full of former recruiting coordinators. I think Diaco will be able to recruit fairly well despite the AAC disadvantage that must be overcome. I also think that the program will win again. We already have more former players in the NFL today than Syracuse, Pitt, and Louisville. The goal though is bowl games. We don't need a National Championship contender…we just need a solid 7-win program to bring fans back to the Rent. Which leads me to the stadium issue: UCONN needs to either look into plans to expand the Rent at some point OR look into building a new on-campus stadium (although there are significant hurdles with this). We all know that Rentschler Field was built with the footings to accommodate an expansion of 10-15,000 seats, so the sooner the program wins and the fans come back, the sooner UCONN can talk expansion.
4. Post-APR/Calhoun establishment. While football is the primary driver, the B1G also needs other content to air when football season is not in progress. There is no questioning the prestige and history of both basketball programs but there is some question around the country of whether UCONN MBB can get back to a championship caliber program after Calhoun's retirement and APR mess (once again, thanks to Hathaway). I think Ollie was the best hire to restore UCONN basketball. It's a shame that UCONN has to prove itself all over again but it does. Ollie is a UCONN guy and loves the school and he will bust his tail to win. He also has pull with former Huskies who can help him in restoring/continuing the proud tradition.
Personally, I think UCONN will be in the B1G in the next 3-5 years. I think Rutgers was added first simply because of market and football recruiting location. The B1G's goal is to gain NYC eyeballs. Adding UCONN would give them more NYC access, as well as exposure in Boston and locking in our own #31 market where there is no competition of other college or professional sports. Adding UCONN BB could also bode well for scheduling future basketball events (perhaps a conference tournament?) in NYC. But UCONN has some work to do first: get closer to AAU, increase endowment, win football games and draw fans, and consistently show MBB can win post-Calhoun.
