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

[NowInStorrs]

Burn it all to the ground. Hope G5s kill these stupid schools this year in football at every opportunity

When an opportunity presents itself to double up by getting the #2 brands in Utah and Arizona despite already having #1 and to add a school that gives you Denver but hasn't been relevant athletically for decades, you have to do it.

 

[Rufus]

https://x.com/jjfuller72/status/1691663518603288855?s=46&t=nE9wpt1dzj0FNxIZCzvqxQ

Sorry if it’s not embedding correctly. On my Phone.

If you take the new realignment into account, here are the top current G5 schools by revenue:

1. UConn
2. SMU
3. USF
4. SDSU
5. Memphis

Wildcard: Are Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State now considered G5 schools? If so, add them to this list.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Cut us a check Susie!

Plus interest, and require the reimbursement by wire.

 

[CoastAtlantic]

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

please

Navy FB to sail independent seas? Or, potentially Midshipmen FB in new PAC west?

Hypothetical, UConn FB in the east. Would UConn be interested in the latter ? ? ? No strong opinion, just tossed out for discussion purposes only.

 

[noeynox]

I wouldn't worry about any of this stuff, it's still in it's infancy. There's going to be a ton more upheaval eventually, lawsuits, the gov't will probably get involved, streaming vs. linear...

This latest movement came sooner than anyone could have anticipated. We were not far enough into the Mora reclamation project to get over the hump. Bad timing.

 

[noeynox]

 

[Mora4Prez]

Speak for yourself. More like the miracle worker of college sports. We're the small market team that kicks but and we'll keep working until we are dead, and we are far from the only team the operates at a deficit every year. You should find another team to root for if you think what UConn is doing is "sad".

That’s a fine story to tell yourself but doesn’t really mean much when all the other big flagships are pulling in $30-50M a year to our $7.

And for what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s a single team out there besides maybe Cal that runs an athletic deficit like ours.

Also I’ve been a jets fan for decades. It’s perfectly acceptable to find your team sad during tough times. It doesn’t mean you stop rooting for them. You should know that as a Mets fan.

 

[CL82]

And for what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s a single team out there besides maybe Cal that runs an athletic deficit like ours.

You might want to look into that a bit further. I don't believe our deficit is even the highest.

 

[August_West]

If you are truly a fan of the school. if you legitimately want to see things improve for us, invest a little time and a little money (it doesn't require a whole lot of either)

Been there done that. Family members too. Big hoops donors I know, and am related to, fell for that spiel. Went to some games when we could. It was fine. When we couldn’t we/they Tried to GIVE great seats
away. No takers. It didn’t help anything then ( and we are talking recently). It won’t help now. You know what you need? College Football fans! They will go to games and buy tickets.

 

[noeynox]

Been there done that. Family members too. Big hoops donors I know, and am related to, fell for that spiel. Went to some games when we could. It was fine. When we couldn’t we/they Tried to GIVE great seats
away. No takers. It didn’t help anything then ( and we are talking recently). It won’t help now. You know what you need? College Football fans! They will go to games and buy tickets.

All this is true, but you have to give them a worthwhile product. Attendance was tanking under Ollie as well because they were getting curb stomped by Arkansas and Auburn types while Bruce Pearl is telling Ollie he loves what he's doing with the program.

 

[BullDawg]

You might want to look into that a bit further. I don't believe our deficit is even the highest.

College athletics finances often lack transparency

College Athletic Debt Soars as Power 5 Programs Resist Scrutiny

As the costs of doing business at Power Five school soar, athletic department debt is ballooning, writes Illinois professor Michael LeRoy.

www.sportico.com

Sportico’s Intercollegiate Finance Database

Sportico is maintaining an interactive, real-time database that tracks the official balance sheets of public FBS university athletic departments.

www.sportico.com

 

[August_West]

All this is true, but you have to give them a worthwhile product. Attendance was tanking under Ollie as well because they were getting curb stomped by Arkansas and Auburn types while Bruce Pearl is telling Ollie he loves what he's doing with the program.

Don’t disagree. I like Mora ( obviously) and I’m rooting for that ( not so obvious for the role I cultivate here on CR ;-) , but some of that is foisted on me)

I am still skeptical about the minimum ceiling we ever get to that actually makes us an attractive major conf candidate instead of a whipping boy, but I’ll watch and hope with interest. Jim Calhoun’s quote about hoops being “ doable” when he took the job in mid 80’s is thrown around here a lot as evidence that big time football is “doable”. It sounds nice on an idealistic level. It just is so different. Calhoun built that program on the back of the best conference in the sport in the country. We unfortunately aren’t afforded that same opportunity on the grid iron. . And it has been getting less likely by the day since 2011

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Hmmm…. So I assume from prior posts you’ll be cutting a nice check to the program.

Apparently when I mentioned buying tickets and bringing people your response was somewhat underwhelmed. And admittedly a bit douchey.

I said that? In response to a post of yours saying that you were buying tickets and bringing people? Normally I applaud those efforts.

I've purchased extra tickets (season tickets, not stray individual games) from the minute we started talking an attendance hit (roughly a decade ago) and have been soliciting people on the Boneyard and basically every walk of life to go to games. I've often offered to cover everything other than the time one would need to invest in attending.

Please show me the post if yours and my response. I will not only apologize in advance for posting something that you took offense to, if you show the post where you truly did write about your buying tickets and bringing people and show my response as anything derogatory, I'll provide pregame and postgame drinks and food for the entire home slate. I'll even throw in a couple in game beers per game.

 

[superjohn]

Don’t disagree. I like Mora ( obviously) and I’m rooting for that ( not so obvious for the role I cultivate here on CR ;-) , but some of that is foisted on me)

I am still skeptical about the minimum ceiling we ever get to that actually makes us an attractive major conf candidate instead of a whipping boy, but I’ll watch and hope with interest. Jim Calhoun’s quote about hoops being “ doable” when he took the job in mid 80’s is thrown around here a lot as evidence that big time football is “doable”. It sounds nice on an idealistic level. It just is so different. Calhoun built that program on the back of the best conference in the sport in the country. We unfortunately aren’t afforded that same opportunity on the grid iron. . And it has been getting less likely by the day since 2011

If they got a chance in a P5 conference being a football program who occasionally sneaks into the top 25 and is pretty similar to a bunch of these mediocre/bad teams in the P5 is absolutely doable, I would say it's almost a certainty. There's like 2-5 programs who are miles ahead of everyone else.

Not being a part of it certainly makes the job harder but I think Mora is up to it.

 

[kobe]

Don’t disagree. I like Mora ( obviously) and I’m rooting for that ( not so obvious for the role I cultivate here on CR ;-) , but some of that is foisted on me)

I am still skeptical about the minimum ceiling we ever get to that actually makes us an attractive major conf candidate instead of a whipping boy, but I’ll watch and hope with interest. Jim Calhoun’s quote about hoops being “ doable” when he took the job in mid 80’s is thrown around here a lot as evidence that big time football is “doable”. It sounds nice on an idealistic level. It just is so different. Calhoun built that program on the back of the best conference in the sport in the country. We unfortunately aren’t afforded that same opportunity on the grid iron. . And it has been getting less likely by the day since 2011

don’t worry. the incredible match ups on cbssn+ against umass in november while real conferences are playing big time games will build up brand and have major recruits tuned in!!

here’s to 50 more years of uconn independence!!

 

[Rufus]

Greg Flugaur said yesterday that all the most influential people/alumni of Stanford have a coordinated effort to try and get the Cardinal into the B1G. Stanford is willing to come in at a very low payout. One option Stanford is presenting to the B1G is to take the Cardinal in Olympic Sports only and go independent in football if the B1G does not want Stanford football. Lots of big names are involved in these talks, including Condi Rice. It will be interesting to see if Stanford's connections can get it into the B1G in some capacity.

 

[JMick]

Don’t disagree. I like Mora ( obviously) and I’m rooting for that ( not so obvious for the role I cultivate here on CR ;-) , but some of that is foisted on me)

I am still skeptical about the minimum ceiling we ever get to that actually makes us an attractive major conf candidate instead of a whipping boy, but I’ll watch and hope with interest. Jim Calhoun’s quote about hoops being “ doable” when he took the job in mid 80’s is thrown around here a lot as evidence that big time football is “doable”. It sounds nice on an idealistic level. It just is so different. Calhoun built that program on the back of the best conference in the sport in the country. We unfortunately aren’t afforded that same opportunity on the grid iron. . And it has been getting less likely by the day since 2011

We'll never have the hoops success in football. For some, that's what they expect and if we can't achieve that then we might as well not try. It's truly part of the attitude for why many are anti-football. "If we're never going to win the whole thing then why try?"

I sort of see why people think that but college football is a weird sport.

I do think that we could get to the point where we pump out a 9 or 10 win season once a decade and bowl more years than not. If Mora gets us to the foundation I think he's capable of getting us to, and we have a homerun hire after him, it's doable.

We really just need a decade of not having terrible teams and winning a big game here and there.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Basically that realignment isn't done in the next round will be dramatically more dramatic than anything that happened up to this point. Tough to know whether we should be encouraged or terrified by that.

Terrified for sure. There's a tiny possibility we could get left out.

 

[noeynox]

We'll never have the hoops success in football. For some, that's what they expect and if we can't achieve that then we might as well not try. It's truly part of the attitude for why many are anti-football. "If we're never going to win the whole thing then why try?"

I sort of see why people think that but college football is a weird sport.

I do think that we could get to the point where we pump out a 9 or 10 win season once a decade and bowl more years than not. If Mora gets us to the foundation I think he's capable of getting us to, and we have a homerun hire after him, it's doable.

We really just need a decade of not having terrible teams and winning a big game here and there.

All of it is achievable with finding the resources or donors to fund FB close to BB levels. Easier said than done, i know.

By all of it, i mean competing for a top 25 spot and playing in NY6 type bowls.

 

[metsfan2323]

Greg Flugaur said yesterday that all the most influential people/alumni of Stanford have a coordinated effort to try and get the Cardinal into the B1G. Stanford is willing to come in at a very low payout. One option Stanford is presenting to the B1G is to take the Cardinal in Olympic Sports only and go independent in football if the B1G does not want Stanford football. Lots of big names are involved in these talks, including Condi Rice. It will be interesting to see if Stanford's connections can get it into the B1G in some capacity.

Hopefully Stanford gets into the B1G and Cal gets left behind. That might create an opportunity for us in the B12 if they decide to add Cal. I know it's a long shot. It would also be interesting to see who the B1G would pair up with Stanford, Cal certainly does not deserve a B1G bid but maybe they have enough clout to get in anyway.

 

[August_West]

We'll never have the hoops success in football. For some, that's what they expect and if we can't achieve that then we might as well not try. It's truly part of the attitude for why many are anti-football. "If we're never going to win the whole thing then why try?"

So here’s the thing. I agree with that. But you can’t put that on strictly UConn hoops fans. The reality is that it is born overall of the “ New England sports fan” temperament. I mean I’m the guy who calls our hoops fans “ Pats” fans at times and we are the most successful program in the last 1/4 century . What do you think I mean by that? Because it’s a real thing. What do you think is going to happen in this region with a historically bad football program? And furthermore how do you combat the culture of the oldest part of the country? All of us discussing this on a messageboard are already massive converts to whatever degree you want to ascribe for any given sport. That’s not enough. Obviously.

I simply believe that the appetite of our region to have a big time College Football program is lacking. Even by your modest definition of big time.

 

[Khal Drogo]

So here’s the thing. I agree with that. But you can’t put that on strictly UConn hoops fans. The reality is that it is born overall of the “ New England sports fan” temperament. I mean I’m the guy who calls our hoops fans “ Pats” fans at times and we are the most successful program in the last 1/4 century . What do you think I mean by that? Because it’s a real thing. What do you think is going to happen in this region with a historically bad football program? And furthermore how do you combat the culture of the oldest part of the country? All of us discussing this on a messageboard are already massive converts to whatever degree you want to ascribe for any given sport. That’s not enough. Obviously.

We need hotter cheerleaders. No need for student cheerleaders. Get some professionals.

 

[CL82]

You know there are people who do exist who find CFB boring, right?

Yes, they seem to manage to stop by and tell us about it.

 

[Patrick79]

So here’s the thing. I agree with that. But you can’t put that on strictly UConn hoops fans. The reality is that it is born overall of the “ New England sports fan” temperament. I mean I’m the guy who calls our hoops fans “ Pats” fans at times and we are the most successful program in the last 1/4 century . What do you think I mean by that? Because it’s a real thing. What do you think is going to happen in this region with a historically bad football program? And furthermore how do you combat the culture of the oldest part of the country? All of us discussing this on a messageboard are already massive converts to whatever degree you want to ascribe for any given sport. That’s not enough. Obviously.

I simply believe that the appetite of our region to have a big time College Football program is lacking. Even by your modest definition of big time.

TBH, I’ve never understood this narrative that is so widely accepted. Without professional sports teams, I’d bet that UConn football gets a prominent place in media, attention, etc if it starts winning on the regular. Things take time. However you have to at least be competitive.

I was born in CT, am an alum, and had Football tix for years- I’m sorry I just couldn’t keep watching them get wiped out every game. I bought seasons tickets again this year and am
Guessing the fans start coming back.