Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[Jimdish255]

I went to Joe Morrone soccer camp, I was a fan but soccer and field hockey don't exactly give you a major bump in applications, raise your profile dramatically nationally, and aren't the impetus for major capital campaigns.

There wasn't really much there in 1980. Coming from Fairfield County it was a big adjustment. But I think even then you could tell changes were coming just based on the student population. There's been a steady progression but development and planning were certainly behind parts of the State and there's more to do. But the Campus is a great visit, just needs some magnets outside of athletics.

BTW I didn't mean you were hysterical it was just the tone if the day.

 

[huskymedic]

-> Would UConn make an immediate football splash? Of course not. But Yormark doesn’t need UConn football to be great. He doesn’t even need the Huskies to be competitive week in and week out sooner than is realistic.

He just needs UConn football to continue on a certain path. UConn, Yormark believes, has the right coach in place in Mora, who led the Huskies to a 6-7 record and a bowl appearance in 2022. Attendance at Rentschler Field increased. UConn is at least functional for the first time in a long time. The Huskies are recruiting better players out of high schools and out of the transfer portal, plucking some from Power Five programs.

There are major strides remaining for the program to make, of course. But any goals associated with Mora’s next phase of the project would be more accessible under the Big 12 umbrella and with that Power Five moniker attached to the program. Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida – three of four new additions to the Big 12, with BYU – have seen upticks in recruiting prowess. Wouldn’t UConn expect the same transformational impact and expect to function at a much higher capacity within a few years? <-

Access <<

Hyperlink fixed:

Well… appears that Berry Tramel reads Mike Anthony or is hearing softening noises elsewhere about football:

Tramel's ScissorTales: Arizona, Utah & Arizona State decisions take Pac-12 to the brink

-> ∎ Know: Connecticut is ready and waiting, and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark clearly is bullish on the Huskies as a backup plan. UConn plays perfectly into Yormark’s commitment to building up basketball.

The Big 12 theory: UConn’s basketball speaks for itself, and UConn’s woebegone football would have six or seven years to improve, and the Huskies have shown improvement in Jim Mora Jr.’s one season as head coach.

“He wants Connecticut because he thinks eventually you can make money in basketball,” the second Big 12 source said of Yormark. “Now, there’s not enough money in basketball, unless you advance deep in the (NCAA) tournament, but he thinks you can in basketball, and he wants the East Coast market.” <-

 

[Stinger92860]

Regardless, UConn brings far more value and potential to the B12 vs. Utah. It would be crazy for the B12 to take Utah over us right now.

To date not a single conference agrees with the premise that we bring enough value. Thats a 20 year track record. We should be proposing a reduced payout thats greater than the BE payout.

 

[upstater]

I do not know who it is. It is more likely a blended model. Regardless it is an investment. At some point in time someone may say we need to stop investing in athletics. Was UConn 2000 a deficit or an investment?

All I'm saying is that when an academic is risking her newly elevated $1m a year salary to take on this "investment" structure, that speaks volumes. She shouldn't have done what she did. She did it anyway. Why? Probably because she knows she's degrading parts of the university to keep this going. Given that, I wouldn't call this an "investment." I'd call it a suture.

 

[Stinger92860]

All I'm saying is that when an academic is risking her newly elevated $1m a year salary to take on this "investment" structure, that speaks volumes. She shouldn't have done what she did. She did it anyway. Why? Probably because she knows she's degrading parts of the university to keep this going. Given that, I wouldn't call this an "investment." I'd call it a suture.

I agree with you, but would you agree that investment is a better way to get the word out vs. deficit? I’m not sure that I agree that the university has been degraded Though. Research has grown and the academics are very good. The ROI of a UConn degree is positive, at least it has been for my children.

 

[Jimdish255]

It will have the SEC and B1G at tier one. They will land on 20, 22, 24 schools in each conference. Half of the school's that make the tournament (of greater importance, 75% of the top ten seeds) will be from the tier one conferences.

The second tier will be two or three conferences, totalling 32 to 34 schools (ACC remnants, B-12 remnants, whatever happens to the remaining PAC schools) and, for basketball the BE. Eight to ten schools from here will make the tournament.

Tiers three and four will be mid majors and low majors, they will fill out the tournament. Once or twice a decade you may see a second bid from one of these conferences but that will be a rarity.

The tier one conferences landing 75% of their members in the tournament won't be much of a stretch (especially with their financial advantages) as it has happened at times already. Tier two being subject to two, on occasion three bids each year becoming the reality also is not much of a stretch as the member schools will be at a massive financial disadvantage, crippling members who haven't been able to consistently compete under the current configuration, leaving whatever schools may remain at the top fighting themselves for whatever talent they may be able to convince to go to a tier two school.

Beyond just network money the main issue is who makes the rules. And if you're not in the top 2 or 3 conferences you will have no meaningful impact in that process. And those rules will be put into place to benefit the ones that make the rules.

 

[aburks41]

Hyperlink fixed:

Well… appears that Berry Tramel reads Mike Anthony or is hearing softening noises elsewhere about football:

Tramel's ScissorTales: Arizona, Utah & Arizona State decisions take Pac-12 to the brink

-> ∎ Know: Connecticut is ready and waiting, and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark clearly is bullish on the Huskies as a backup plan. UConn plays perfectly into Yormark’s commitment to building up basketball.

The Big 12 theory: UConn’s basketball speaks for itself, and UConn’s woebegone football would have six or seven years to improve, and the Huskies have shown improvement in Jim Mora Jr.’s one season as head coach.

“He wants Connecticut because he thinks eventually you can make money in basketball,” the second Big 12 source said of Yormark. “Now, there’s not enough money in basketball, unless you advance deep in the (NCAA) tournament, but he thinks you can in basketball, and he wants the East Coast market.” <-

Key word once again is "backup plan". Unfortunately for us, the Pac is dead which means Utah gets first dibs at the 16th spot, and they'd be signing their own death certificate if they rejected it.

 

[CL82]

We need to stop calling it a deficit. It’s an investment by the State or School or whomever in the university. It’s a positive and not a negative. The powers that be have decided that it’s in the best interest of the state of Connecticut and UConn to continue to invest in athletics.

Federal/States/Cities provide subsidies all the time. We as UConn fans are lucky that our state cares enough. The cost of the investment in UConn Athletics per state resident is approximately $14 per year. I’d rather see that 50M go into the research side and getting a bigger payout will help, but until then we leverage the subsidy.

Expenditures are in excess of income, that's a deficit. I have the same reaction you do when people refer to it as being in debt. That's not accurate.

Describing a deficit as an "investment by the state" is, I suppose, accurate in that ultimately the state foots the bill, but, it feels disingenuous to me.

 

[Jimbo]

UConn: 7

It’s 9 (since 2007: WBB 09,10,13,14,15,16; MBB 11,14,23).

 

[businesslawyer]

Hyperlink fixed:

Well… appears that Berry Tramel reads Mike Anthony or is hearing softening noises elsewhere about football:

Tramel's ScissorTales: Arizona, Utah & Arizona State decisions take Pac-12 to the brink

-> ∎ Know: Connecticut is ready and waiting, and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark clearly is bullish on the Huskies as a backup plan. UConn plays perfectly into Yormark’s commitment to building up basketball.

The Big 12 theory: UConn’s basketball speaks for itself, and UConn’s woebegone football would have six or seven years to improve, and the Huskies have shown improvement in Jim Mora Jr.’s one season as head coach.

“He wants Connecticut because he thinks eventually you can make money in basketball,” the second Big 12 source said of Yormark. “Now, there’s not enough money in basketball, unless you advance deep in the (NCAA) tournament, but he thinks you can in basketball, and he wants the East Coast market.” <-

No idea how true any of this is, but he writes in one words of one syllable what I have believed all along — we were being looked at to pressure the four corner schools into acting quickly before we took one of their safe landing spots.

Still hope I’m wrong. And if I want to be optimistic, I don’t see hard news signs of Utah doing anything to be #16 (or #14).

 

[JeepCSC]

By Washington and Oregon saying no to a GOR, it weakened the conference's bargaining position. That in turn led to lower offers than some schools knew they could get elsewhere. Maybe UW/OR outfoxed everyone.

https://www.si.com/.amp/college/2023/06/07/pac-12-schools-verbally-agree-to-conference-wide-grant-of-rights

 

[upstater]

I agree with you, but would you agree that investment is a better way to get the word out vs. deficit? I’m not sure that I agree that the university has been degraded Though. Research has grown and the academics are very good. The ROI of a UConn degree is positive, at least it has been for my children.

Every university in the USA has degraded since 2008. U. Cal-Berkeley's President's words to the incoming freshman: "You will pay so much more for an education in the Cal System than your parents did and you will get so much less."

It's a war of attrition. Remember when UAB dropped football a few years ago? Only to have alumni and politicos force them to put it back? I can only imagine the massacres inside that university.

As UConn tops out its tuition, it has less and less wiggle room.

I wrote in an earlier thread about the budget that when people look at the $1B in expenditures, they conclude $50m is only 5%, but the truth is that the fungible part of the school's budget is teeny. Entire colleges inside run on less than that. It's a problem.

 

[JMick]

No idea how true any of this is, but he writes in one words of one syllable what I have believed all along — we were being looked at to pressure the four corner schools into acting quickly before we took one of their safe landing spots.

Still hope I’m wrong. And if I want to be optimistic, I don’t see hard news signs of Utah doing anything to be #16 (or #14).

Yeah I think we got played again.

 

[Smp7598]

Not to be a downer but at this point, I just don’t see a scenario where Utah doesn’t accept a Big XII invite. The BIG10 is prioritizing O/W and then Cal/Stanford which means U is 5th on their list. The SEC clearly makes no sense for them. So with the PAC falling apart why wouldn’t they go BIG XII? They’re close to their geographic heart, are similar to many of the other schools, and they already have a built in in-state rival. They’d continue to be a national contender in football and would have huge games against Arizona, BYU, and Colorado, Baylor, and TCU every year.

We’re they invited?

 

[upstater]

Yeah I think we got played again.

The B12 Presidents don't like UConn. These are people just trying to hold onto their huge salaries without upsetting the yahoos and the pols.

 

[CL82]

Every university in the USA has degraded since 2008. U. Cal-Berkeley's President's words to the incoming freshman: "You will pay so much more for an education in the Cal System than your parents did and you will get so much less."

It's a war of attrition. Remember when UAB dropped football a few years ago? Only to have alumni and politicos force them to put it back? I can only imagine the massacres inside that university.

As UConn tops out its tuition, it has less and less wiggle room.

I wrote in an earlier thread about the budget that when people look at the $1B in expenditures, they conclude $50m is only 5%, but the truth is that the fungible part of the school's budget is teeny. Entire colleges inside run on less than that. It's a problem.

Is it a problem or a decision? Universities are not run by the athletic department. Professors advance to become school presidents, not coaches. So these leaders, whom we can at least hope are reasonably intelligent men and women, or at least being advised by reasonably intelligent men and women have decided that the continued investment in athletics is prudent for their universities. Given all that, your continued protestations to the contrary don't seem particularly credible.

 

[CL82]

Yeah I think we got played again.

I haven't given up hope entirely, but it does feel like rule one is going to pop up yet again and smack us in the face. I have to say there's a certain familiarity in it and the utter devastation that I felt in the past from getting kicked to the curb at the 11th hour is now just a vague feeling of disgust.

 

[buddy]

BC will always be in demand due to their location, but only if they get back to the level they had when they first joined the ACC. It appears that their president and trustees don’t really care about athletics. They will probably go the route of Holy Cross

Screw BC

 

[JMick]

The B12 Presidents don't like UConn. These are people just trying to hold onto their huge salaries without upsetting the yahoos and the pols.

I think it just comes down to the region. These people aren't sports people. They have friends and family and advisors that are sports people and they probably just listen to them regurgitate all the negative press that seems to follow us. We've been a punching bag to the media and twittersphere for a while now. That has consequences.

 

[JMick]

I haven't given up hope entirely, but it does feel like rule one is going to pop up yet again and smack us in the face. I have to say there's a certain familiarity in it and the utter devastation that I felt in the past from getting kicked to the curb at the 11th hour is now just a vague feeling of disgust.

I'm just glad we're in the Big East and not the AAC. This would be so much worse if we were still in the American.

 

[Jimdish255]

To date not a single conference agrees with the premise that we bring enough value. Thats a 20 year track record. We should be proposing a reduced payout thats greater than the BE payout.

There should be no problem with us needing to prove our worth over a similar period to the new additions coming in currently. That is a challenge we can meet and exceed.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

https://www.si.com/.amp/college/2023/06/07/pac-12-schools-verbally-agree-to-conference-wide-grant-of-rights

The date on that is June 7

 

[uconnfan68]

I haven't given up hope entirely, but it does feel like rule one is going to pop up yet again and smack us in the face. I have to say there's a certain familiarity in it and the utter devastation that I felt in the past from getting kicked to the curb at the 11th hour is now just a vague feeling of disgust.

Huge announcement the other day about UConn and a few others developing a new material stronger and lighter than steel. Also, UConn pres Radic is an internationally renown expert in green energy. These types of things might just get us into the B1G.

 

[CL82]

I'm just glad we're in the Big East and not the AAC. This would be so much worse if we were still in the American.

Agree 100%. I think that is greatly contributing to dampening how sucky it is to, yet again, get dumped to the curb at the 11th hour.

 

[CL82]

Huge announcement the other day about UConn and a few others developing a new material stronger and lighter than steel. Also, UConn pres Radic is an internationally renown expert in green energy. These types of things might just get us into the B1G.

I doubt it, but I appreciate where you are coming from.

 

[upstater]

Is it a problem or a decision? Universities are not run by the athletic department. Professors advance to become school presidents, not coaches. So these leaders, whom we can at least hope are reasonably intelligent men and women, or at least being advised by reasonably intelligent men and women have decided that the continued investment in athletics is prudent for their universities. Given all that, your continued protestations to the contrary don't seem particularly credible.

According to a Chronicle of Higher Ed. study, the presidents at the big sports schools spend less than 3% of their time on AD stuff, even though the budgets for ADs often represent between 10-15% of the entire budget of the school. Most of the time spent by presidents is on the entire school budget. 50%+ of their time is spent literally moving around beans to see whether they can plug holes here and there, and whether they're causing bigger leaks elsewhere.

I've actually talked to a few of these guys about sports. I've been in Pres. suites where the Pres. (often from a foreign country who can barely understand the sport he's watching, and who thinks Americans are loony over college sports anyway) is simply deferring to the trustees and alumni. He makes $1m in salary. Don't rock the boat. Regarding sports, he is not making any strategy that benefits the long term health of the university and the welfare of students.

An administrator I know, who is now at the highest levels of a B1G school (no, not Penn State) once proposed a very smart plan for his school's athletic department, but it risked too much for the politicos and the Athletic Director (whose #1 goal was to keep his resume spotless for future promotions to bigger/better schools). I had talked about the administrator's (a Provost) recommendations at dinner weeks prior to that, and boy I tell you he will never get involved with sports ever again. His plan was received, and then people did an end around that chopped off his balls.

This is true especially down south where the coaches and ADs will run to the trustees, pols and boards behind the Presidents back. Down there, you will be fired for anything that can be perceived as inconveniencing sports. Remember Elsa Benitez at Texas A&M. Fired when the AD reported a surprise enormous deficit which she wasn't willing to totally subsidize.

So don't tell me Presidents make a considered analysis to lose money in athletics. They don't. The only thing they consider is how to keep making $1m in salary without permanently damaging the university, and when you hear about a President pulling a Benitez, make no mistake, something is going very, very, very wrong.

 

[Waquoit]

The B12 Presidents don't like UConn. These are people just trying to hold onto their huge salaries without upsetting the yahoos and the pols.

I honestly think it's Connecticut they don't like. Look how we treat the rights of women compared to the B12 states. Laugh, but the thinking behind that Pace commercial is real.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Yeah I think we got played again.

No we didn't, we were always behind the four corners schools from the start.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Key word once again is "backup plan". Unfortunately for us, the Pac is dead which means Utah gets first dibs at the 16th spot, and they'd be signing their own death certificate if they rejected it.

Backup plan is Trammel's take on the situation, not necessarily the B-12's position.

 

[djct1999]

Geez, maybe it’s time for UConn to sell itself to a private equity firm.