Remember, the B1G added rutgers. UCONN has many of the pieces which make it an attractive addition including state flagship, academics, power buget, market and multiple championships in multiple sports. The winning could and most certainly would come later just as it did when it joined the BCS Big East.
Agreed, but I would also say history and success narratives are kind of fickle. If Mora comes in here and wins 4-5 games in year one, it will get attention and a positive feeling around the program. Fleeting, nebulous good feelings about football programs is the cornerstone of how realignment works
FSU is in the realignment discussion without a recent winning record
It’s pretty much the same energy as “Lil Jimmy would have made the Little League team if the other kids weren’t so afraid of how good he is.”
"...if the other kids' parents weren't so afraid of how good he is." parents looking out for their own kids' best interest is not unprecedented.
I don't mind him making a statement, but the one he made was just dumb. I would have liked to hear a statement of how he is in talks with ESPN regarding UConn's future.
Or something like “the University of Connecticut competes against the very best institutions in the country both academically and athletically. We have a proud tradition of success both on the field and the basketball court and in the classroom. I fully expect that we will to continue to compete at the highest levels.”
You’re not being objective. Rutgers is the flag ship of a state with almost 10 million people vs UConn in a state with about 40% of NJ’s population. Rutgers is AAU and has a research budget that is much larger than UConn’s. The B1G is a research consortium as well as a sports conference, which is why they value AAU and research $$$. The B1G did a study 20 years ago of universities which are most similar to B1G universities. Rutgers was at the top of the list. They had been bird dogging Rutgers for a long time before they invited them. Twenty years ago we were just bringing our football into 1A and weren’t even in Big East Football yet. We were playing catch up and in many ways we still are.
We have no idea who’s in the conversations that matter. Social media and sports writers can put out all kinds of speculation, but those aren’t the conversations that matter.
Rutgers got the Big Ten invite solely because it allowed the Big Ten to charge a tier 1 premium for households within the NYCDMA. No one in the big 10 was interested in RU for its research prowess, or for “looking like a big 10 school“, which, having been on campus often, I can tell you it does not. As you allude to, the fact that New Jersey has the population density of New Delhi also enhanced its application. The Rutgers invite was a money grab pure and simple. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but let’s not pretend it was something else.
My comment regarding rutty was addressing the level of football success, but I agree with your assessment. Still, UCONN checks all the other boxes and will B1G come begging for us? No. But UCONN is still worthy of a look by the big conferences.
Double dog daring the Big Ten to invite us?
That sounds like Susan Herbst.
Humor. I think people are taking the twitter far too seriously.
No. If it was a Herbst quote it would be something like “we are winning winners who win at winning and there is no such thing as a white Husky.”
Agree. The ACC GoR says any new school must sign the GoR to be accepted. That would not affect the status of current members.
I suppose it is better than suing the P5 conferences
I like that the governor sounds like a fan while showing that the state has UConn's back. When has the grown-up approach worked lately? Not when BE 1.0 was melting down. Besides, what he said is true. BCU and SU have admitted as much.
