Jeff Jacobs: Future of UConn football isn’t clear

[Adios]

The future of UConn athletics isn’t clear.

Geno wins a couple more and it'll even be clearer.

 

[amory]

Watching uconn these past years has given me a lot of newfound respect for Cleveland Browns fans. Eventually youd think they'd naturally lose interest but those people just keep coming back for more

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Totally unproductive article intended to gain attention. Yes, Jeff, I give damn and a lot of people do. Yes, attendance is down. Yes, 17,000 empty seats sounds terrible, but that means 23,000 seats were filled on a Thursday night before Labor Day weekend. Yes, Yale has one game with 51,000 last year...BFD.

So he is saying rivalries do matter?

 

[metsfan2323]

I wrote that almost word for word here a few days ago

and I have written the same sentiment in here about 50 times the past 4 years. It is possible for people to share a simple opinion, it's not the discovery of E= MC2.

He also could have written that we are still in the same conference we have been in since 2004 and it is still the 6th best football conference in the land.

He also could have written that this football conference is much more difficult to win because of its depth and 1 game playoff. When Randy Edsall wins this conference it will be by far the best accomplishment of his career.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

Watching uconn these past years has given me a lot of newfound respect for Cleveland Browns fans. Eventually youd think they'd naturally lose interest but those people just keep coming back for more

Hey, the Browns are 3-1 in preseason...my wife is related to a kid (undrafted free agent TE out of ECU) that went to NYG training camp but wound up signing with the Browns. Seemed crushing, but with Baker Mayfield and a strong preseason, even Browns fans have something to look forward to.

 

[The Funster]

No natural rivalries = no interest

 

[noeynox]

Given that this place chews on everything UCONN it would be hard to write a story that didn't seem like a re-hash of something someone said in the Boneyard. This community should take it as a compliment and not be so pig headed about it.

I thought the crowd surprised to the upside yesterday especially the students who were great. People still care and I think this guilting them to show up is actually working a bit.


My favorite part of the article:

"I do know it’s the not AAC’s fault. There are good teams and — here’s a scoop — some of those Big East teams weren’t as good as you remember. It’s our state’s perception of the AAC that’s a problem". - Bingo

Its BCS designation vs G5. There were always non bcs team equal to or better than what the Big East offered. Utah, Boise State, TCU, Houston come to mind. One screamed you were part of the big time, one specifically says your not, and that matters.

 

[metsfan2323]

Its BCS designation vs G5. There were always non bcs team equal to or better than what the Big East offered. Utah, Boise State, TCU, Houston come to mind. One screamed you were part of the big time, one specifically says your not, and that matters.

Our neighbor schools decided they didn't like the competition we offered so they have conspired to kill us, we can either rally around our beloved D1 football team or have it disappear like the Whalers.

The BCS designation thing goes back to perception of the conference. UCF beat Auburn last year on New Year's day and they have a legit Heisman candidate, "big time" football was being played at the Rent on Thursday night, P5 designation be damned. The message to UCONN football fans is use it or lose it, don't abuse it. Thankfully a coach with a clue is back at the helm, it's time for the fans to come back.

 

[noeynox]

Our neighbor schools decided they didn't like the competition we offered so they have conspired to kill us, we can either rally around our beloved D1 football team or have it disappear like the Whalers.

The BCS designation thing goes back to perception of the conference. UCF beat Auburn last year on New Year's day and they have a legit Heisman candidate, "big time" football was being played at the Rent on Thursday night, P5 designation be damned. The message to UCONN football fans is use it or lose it, don't abuse it. Thankfully a coach with a clue is back at the helm, it's time for the fans to come back.

I don't disagree with most of your post. But have a conversation with your neighbors or coworkers about UConn football and The American Conference. The people who still believe in this thing are largely here on this forum and in the stadium on Thursday night. Most others don't think of it as the big time. As for what UCF accomplished, good for them, but if Reily keeps up the momentum of what Frost accomplished he will be gone next year. What UCF accomplishes means nothing for UConn anyway.

The time for the fans to come back? Give them something to come back for. It takes more than catchy slogans and bat signals. The big time football played at the Rent can't be played by conference mates and call that a reason for fans to come back. To the extent that fans do come back, it's going to be tied directly to the performance of the team.

 

[JMick]

Our neighbor schools decided they didn't like the competition we offered so they have conspired to kill us, we can either rally around our beloved D1 football team or have it disappear like the Whalers.

The BCS designation thing goes back to perception of the conference. UCF beat Auburn last year on New Year's day and they have a legit Heisman candidate, "big time" football was being played at the Rent on Thursday night, P5 designation be damned. The message to UCONN football fans is use it or lose it, don't abuse it. Thankfully a coach with a clue is back at the helm, it's time for the fans to come back.

but the people of connecticut don't think it's big time football.

 

[huskyinfl]

If we can't get top talent, we need to play a unique exciting style. Trick plays, triple option, whatever - just show me something exciting that has a 50/50 chance at winning.

I would be fine independent and smashing the New England schools with a few neutral site games like a NYC/BOS vs quality opponents.

 

[BigEastCT]

We have 5-6years to get to a winning program. If we are not chosen for a power conference in 2023, we should pack it in. Until then we need be all in to will this program to the next level

 

[Exit 4]

If we can't get top talent, we need to play a unique exciting style. Trick plays, triple option, whatever - just show me something exciting that has a 50/50 chance at winning.

I would be fine independent and smashing the New England schools with a few neutral site games like a NYC/BOS vs quality opponents.

Yeah, let’s go to the quadruple option and never punt

 

[ASweet3781]

The future of UConn athletics isn’t clear.

This. 2 cornerstones of our athletic program, men's and women's soccer appear to be done as national powers. It's up to Hurley to fix men's hoop to its glory and Edsall to clean up the mess he created by leaving or we are down to women's hoop and field hockey and the occasional NCAA baseball appearance.

 

[gampelcrazies]

We have 5-6years to get to a winning program. If we are not chosen for a power conference in 2023, we should pack it in. Until then we need be all in to will this program to the next level

I don't think UConn has 5-6 years to wait.

 

[junglehusky]

Its BCS designation vs G5. There were always non bcs team equal to or better than what the Big East offered. Utah, Boise State, TCU, Houston come to mind. One screamed you were part of the big time, one specifically says your not, and that matters.

I think BCS designation was a part of it, but East Coast geography was as important if not more so. If you grew up in CT in the 80's/90's, Syracuse and Miami football had a certain amount of familiarity even when UConn was still in the YanCon. I think those other schools you mentioned have pretty well established brands even if they weren't BCS at the time, but the brand "reach" was restricted to their regions.

Hypothetical situation: a league compose of a bunch of former BE/northeastern FBS programs
UConn,
BC,
Rutgers,
Cuse,
Temple,
Pitt,
WV, and say,
Cincy,
Navy,
Army,
UMass,
and I dunno, VaTech

Assume no BCS/"P5" level access to the playoff as is the case for the AAC today, and that UConn has the same atrocious Pasqualoni/Diaco record to hold everything else equal. I would think attendance would still have cratered, maybe slightly less severely. But the potential for a recovery when wins start coming again (hopefully soon) would be higher in this hypothetical league. For casual fans, they know someone from their town who went to Temple or Cuse, or they may have considered going to Rutgers or Pitt for grad school, but Houston and Tulsa are just schools out west somewhere. I don't think casual fans are hung up on the possibility of going to a national championship game (in BCS era) or CFP (in P5/G5 era), though they might care about access to the Orange Bowl (BE BCS era) and NY6 game (P5/G5 era). But regionality matters, and the loss of regionality hurts the AAC as a whole. Loss of regionality due to TV dilutes the brand of the B1G and SEC from the last round of realignment to a limited extent, but they can drown their sorrows in piles of cash.

 

[BlueDogs]

Winning fixes everything. Always has and always will. People love winners.

 

[huskyrob1]

Our neighbor schools decided they didn't like the competition we offered so they have conspired to kill us, we can either rally around our beloved D1 football team or have it disappear like the Whalers.

The BCS designation thing goes back to perception of the conference. UCF beat Auburn last year on New Year's day and they have a legit Heisman candidate, "big time" football was being played at the Rent on Thursday night, P5 designation be damned. The message to UCONN football fans is use it or lose it, don't abuse it. Thankfully a coach with a clue is back at the helm, it's time for the fans to come back.

Six years of Paul Pasqualoni, Bob Diaco, Warde Manuel, and Jeff Hathaway before him, killed us a hell of a lot more than anything Boston College and Syracuse could do. Granted UConn is not in the ACC or B1G but the AAC is a very solid football conference. UConn football is not going the way of the Whalers. There were a lot of students there Thursday night and more fans than I expected to see. I really don't think the AAC could continue to be a success in football and basketball if UConn dropped football and left the conference. I'm very positive on UConn athletics going forward with a great group of coaches in Penders, Edsall, Geno and Hurley, and for the first time ever all are under a Director of Athletics who knows what he is doing. Hopefully the next UConn president will realize how important athletics are to the University and the state, and will try to repair the problems with neighbor schools and P5 college presidents.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

He wasn't saying drop football, he's just pissed off at the apathy in the state towards UConn Football, especially the western third of the state. From Brookfield and Newtown to Greenwich to Milford and Stratford. He also took a shot at Edsall for bolting to Maryland after the Fiesta Bowl and letting PP and Dicko ruin the program.

I dont want to make excuses but try driving from south western CT to hartford on a weekday night during rush hour and tell me it was worth seeing a team get blown out yhe first quarter

 

[huskyrob1]

I dont want to make excuses but try driving from south western CT to hartford on a weekday night during rush hour and tell me it was worth seeing a team get blown out yhe first quarter

I wouldn't call 14-0 in the first quarter a blowout, easily could have been 14-7 had it not been for costly penalties and turn overs. Only an idiot would drive up at rush hour. Leave at one o'clock, stop for a bite to eat on the way and be happy. ☺️

 

[Adios]

I'll be at Ivy and D3 games. Forgot Lafeyette @SHU is on right now.

 

[freescooter]

These words, or that insinuation, do not appear in the article.

No but these type of piece give more ammo to the basketball onlies who don’t get that:
A. UConn isn’t an urban Catholic school; and
B. The Big East without the dominant teams of the last 20 years of its existence is basically New Coke. The name is the same but the product is very different.

 

[Stinger92860]

I wouldn't call 14-0 in the first quarter a blowout, easily could have been 14-7 had it not been for costly penalties and turn overs. Only an idiot would drive up at rush hour. Leave at one o'clock, stop for a bite to eat on the way and be happy. ☺️

And that’s why the all of the idiots who live in Fairfield county don’t go to weekday games. Dumbest people in the world live here.

 

[JMick]

I wouldn't call 14-0 in the first quarter a blowout, easily could have been 14-7 had it not been for costly penalties and turn overs. Only an idiot would drive up at rush hour. Leave at one o'clock, stop for a bite to eat on the way and be happy. ☺️

a lot of people have jobs, rob

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Winning fixes everything. Always has and always will. People love winners.

It's true. There are a lot more Patriots fans than there used to be.