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

[JMick]

I think you are wrong when you say if football was good people would be happy to get in a power conference. I think there is a sizeable
Minority of basketball only fans that would prefer football lose.

I want to ask you something. If UConn won in football in the aac, you think UConn goes back to the big east and goes Indy?

UConn basketball people look at UConn football as a threat. Benedict is doing a good job of trying to bridge fanbases and people, but no other AD department in the country is this fractured.

Football people
Basketball people
Women basketball people.

Football really is a problem for the school here. They went D1, but the financial commitment waned and there are people who prefer to focus all resources on hoops

I dont think it's a sizable minority. I think it's a loud minority and I doubt any of them are decision-makers. There are a lot of apathetic people but I don't think many are left that are actively against the football program. The people that have a say understand the stakes. Saying we don't provide resources is just untrue. We're competing at the top of the G5 for resources. We'd be middle of the pack for "P4" spending if we had the media dollars. You can't compare our spending to the programs that bring in over $30m just on media alone. I'm not sure how that's hard to grasp.

 

[coachcap]

You've said this often over the years. I find it hard to believe. People may prefer basketball to football. People may think that football draws off resources from basketball and want to drop the program. But I think, if any actually wants to have a football program that loses.

There are those who have wanted to kill off the football program for decades. In the mid-70s it was the soccer crowd. UConn had a home game at Memorial Stadium against the St. Louis Billikins (then a national powerhouse) & fans of the men's soccer team were calling for the demise of the football team & the redirection of resources to the soccer program.
When Boston University & Northeastern d/ced their gridiron teams, again there was an uptick of anti-football sentiment. The building of the RENT, along with the upgrade to 1-A (now FBS) status put the anti-football sentiment on simmer. It only started heating up again after FHCRE's defection to Maryland & the subsequent bungling by Hathaway, Pasqualoni, Red Pants, & FHCRE-II.

 

[UConnJim]

Jim. That is true, and that started a war at end of Hathaway regime that Manuel had to try and fix

They absolutely have not provided resources since they have went to the aac on football.

I agree that they didn't spend enough on football, but I disagree with your analysis. UConn's media revenues declined when they went to the AAC and so did revenues for tickets from football, basketball, and women's basketball. Thus, the AD deficit went up. And, the AD was flailing in the AAC even though football spending was still higher than basketball spending due to the poor football coaching hires. Ollie ended up not working out and there was the large financial settlement with him and they hied Hurley. When it became apparent that Hurley was successful, they dramatically boosted his salary. Between the Ollie payment and the payment for success, the basketball spending ballooned at the same time that men's basketball revenues increased. When UConn moved to the Big East, virtually all media revenues and NCAA money came from men's basketball so it made sense to invest in basketball. Football revenues have been static and so has investment. The only way for football investment to go up would be for sponsors and donors to increase investment and the AD has to get moving on that.

Many people seem to forget that in the late 2000s, more people attended UConn football games than either men's or women's basketball games. And, the tension that was felt between basketball supporters and football supporters centered around the facility upgrades for the 2 programs. Basketball supporters felt that UConn needed a state of the art practice facility, but the focus of the AD had been on building the football facilities. That changed after the football practice facility was completed and then the basketball practice facility was built.

 

[How Sway?!]

That is the issue. You want results before investment.

Duke, NC, Kansas — all basketball schools, spend more on football than basketball.

There are 130 FBS football teams. Only 1 spends more on basketball than football. There is a reason UConn is the last independent and stuck in this conference purgatory. They aren’t spending Enough on football, and conversely aren’t generating enough revenue and are not winning enough.

The program is under performing in the field, in revenue generation and in media marketing.

Lastly, if football became good do you guys really think people would be happy about that? Or, pissed that it is stepping On basketball?

Think about stakeholders.

It’s a weird thing at UConn. Since the move in 2003, there has always been a movement to have the team stay in its lane and not eclipse the hoops programs in resources.

My professional opinion is that the program is underperforming in all aspects but has a lot of potential.

I just question if everyone in the AD department and UConn universe wants them to realize that potential.

I wonder what's the outlier between UConn, NC, Kansas and Duke?

Might it be the extra 25-30 million they get from tv revenues, or the fact that none of them have the greatest women's basketball coach of all time that must be compensated as such?

I get that there are some loud people that would like to kill off the football program to stay in the BE, but they are in the vast vast minority. If you need proof, go to the men's bball board and ask if they wouldn't take a B12 invite or B1G right now? Or the Women's board.

If you want people to show up to football games, you need to put a competitive product. With the amount we are already spending, that should be a given.

 

[noeynox]

Jim. That is true, and that started a war at end of Hathaway regime that Manuel had to try and fix

They absolutely have not provided resources since they have went to the aac on football.

This was clear when Warde and Sue, told everyone that UConn fans needed to learn to support FB whether they were winning or losing. The losing had yet to really get rolling, but the crowds were starting to get smaller toward the end of Ps 2nd year.

 

[CL82]

There are those who have wanted to kill off the football program for decades. In the mid-70s it was the soccer crowd. UConn had a home game at Memorial Stadium against the St. Louis Billikins (then a national powerhouse) & fans of the men's soccer team were calling for the demise of the football team & the redirection of resources to the soccer program.
When Boston University & Northeastern d/ced their gridiron teams, again there was an uptick of anti-football sentiment. The building of the RENT, along with the upgrade to 1-A (now FBS) status put the anti-football sentiment on simmer. It only started heating up again after FHCRE's defection to Maryland & the subsequent bungling by Hathaway, Pasqualoni, Red Pants, & FHCRE-II.

Oh, I get the argument, though I think it's misplaced, that people would rather see the money spent towards football applied to other programs. But I don't think anyone wants us to continue to have a football program that loses. That would be the worst of all possible worlds. So the notion that people are actually rooting for Connecticut football to lose, I think is ill founded.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

We are all familiar with the phrase that football drives the bus in college sports. UConn can't ignore its football program.

 

[John]

If UConn had joined the Big East instead of the AAC when the old Big East came apart, it would be in a power conference right now.

let's remain in a conference that just kicked out the headliner college sport that we're trying to be successful in. I'm sure that would have played well in the P5 offices, shows some real commitment to football.

 

[Ha Who]

Charlie let's remain in a conference that just kicked out the headliner college sport that we're trying to be successful in. I'm sure that would have played well in the P5 offices, shows some real commitment to football.

 

[John]

So we should have never gone to the AAC? Explain to me how remaining in the non-football rump Big East would play in P5 offices when they considered our commitment to football versus other programs. Especially when all of our football-playing former Big East conference mates went to a football conference.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

ha who: Lucy is holding in her hand an invitation to join the ACC!

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Everyone I know supports both

I know a long time Women's B-ball season ticket holder who hates when the Men's team is good. She thinks they get too, much attention and detract from the Women's team.

 

[BigTenFan]

UConn is in a power conference in basketball and many other sports - just not football.
How many National Universities wouldn't pay big dollars to hang all the banners that UConn has .....all in the past 25 years!

The reality for football is that no one is showing up in Storrs with a 75million dollar blank check.....every year. The current model just does not and will not work for football.
I would rather see teams compete at a level of the service academies.

Basketball will continue to thrive and win but not football

 

[John]

I know a long time Women's B-ball season ticket holder who hates when the Men's team is good. She thinks they get too, much attention and detract from the Women's team.

the women's fans are an entirely separate sub-species in an ecosystem that's on a different time/space continuum.

 

[John]

UConn is in a power conference in basketball and many other sports - just not football.
How many National Universities wouldn't pay big dollars to hang all the banners that UConn has .....all in the past 25 years!

The reality for football is that no one is showing up in Storrs with a 75million dollar blank check.....every year. The current model just does not and will not work for football.
I would rather see teams compete at a level of the service academies.

Basketball will continue to thrive and win but not football

Thank God you're not running our athletic department.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If UConn had joined the Big East instead of the AAC when the old Big East came apart, it would be in a power conference right now.

It wasn't like we had that choice. The catholic seven from the then BE got up and left and invited Xavier, Creighton and Butler to join. They then purchased the name from the remaining five members (unpaid tournament credits and departure fees from ND, WVU, Pitt & Cuse given entirely to the football members).

There never was the option for us joining until a few years afterward.

 

[noeynox]

It wasn't like we had that choice. The catholic seven from the then BE got up and left and invited Xavier, Creighton and Butler to join. They then purchased the name from the remaining five members (unpaid tournament credits and departure fees from ND, WVU, Pitt & Cuse given entirely to the football members).

There never was the option for us joining until a few years afterward.

Was that money a net positive vs what they paid to leave the AAC snd join the Big East? By how much?

 

[Ha Who]

So we should have never gone to the AAC? Explain to me how remaining in the non-football rump Big East would play in P5 offices when they considered our commitment to football versus other programs. Especially when all of our football-playing former Big East conference mates went to a football conference.

Read history . Look at rule 1. The bar changed every round of realignment . Also, the AAC was the conference we had to go to. The Big East was not an option. I never was opposed to the AAC as a bridge to a P5 invitation. I continued season tickets for hoops and football all these crappy seasons. If you loud football fans were as loyal and filled the Rent, you wouldn’t have this straw man argument.

 

[John]

Read history . Look at rule 1. The bar changed every round of realignment . Also, the AAC was the conference we had to go to. The Big East was not an option. I never was opposed to the AAC as a bridge to a P5 invitation. I continued season tickets for hoops and football all these crappy seasons. If you loud football fans were as loyal and filled the Rent, you wouldn’t have this straw man argument.

you could have just said this and skipped the holier-than-thou fan part

the AAC was the conference we had to go to. The Big East was not an option. I never was opposed to the AAC as a bridge to a P5 invitation.

 

[coachcap]

Read history . Look at rule 1. The bar changed every round of realignment . Also, the AAC was the conference we had to go to. The Big East was not an option. I never was opposed to the AAC as a bridge to a P5 invitation. I continued season tickets for hoops and football all these crappy seasons. If you loud football fans were as loyal and filled the Rent, you wouldn’t have this straw man argument.

Um, I started buying 10 season football tickets after UConn announced it was moving up to Division 1-A, well before the RENT was even conceived. Over the years that allotment has increased to 12 ducats. I agree with John's last comment.

 

[UConnJim]

Oh, I get the argument, though I think it's misplaced, that people would rather see the money spent towards football applied to other programs.

UConn is pretty competitive with the P4/P5 in every sport at current spending with the exception of football. Sure, you could add a few dollars to softball, volleyball, swimming, and track and field to make them more competitive, but we are not talking about a large investment. A $5 million to $10 million per year investment increase in football would go a long way. You could double coaching salaries, increase recruiting budgets, ...

 

[Kolumbo]

So we should have never gone to the AAC? Explain to me how remaining in the non-football rump Big East would play in P5 offices when they considered our commitment to football versus other programs. Especially when all of our football-playing former Big East conference mates went to a football conference.

It would have been much worse than that. As it was, UConn remained in the Big East Football conference and the basketball programs bolted. UConn would have had to put its tail between its legs and chosen to leave the football conference which would have been devastating. Leave a conference with Cincy, Louisville, USF, Rutgers and run with the basketball teams. Game over.

 

[KryHavok]

Since we're adding non key tweets, I'll join. Going to the AAC was a forced move without much alternative. Overall, the move didn't work out despite the men's BB title. We were screwed both by the ACC and by our leadership in Suzy & Warde. The move back to Big East was a gambit...and it now seems to be paying off for MBB while perhaps stabilizing football. We're still on a precarious situation. Geno is Geno, but his time is growing considerably short, so then what happens to WBB, cuz other programs have caught up and are more physical. Despite being in a strong MBB conference, we're isolated, and this will choke us sooner than some want to believe

I saw another craptastic article this morning about whether we're a BB Bbueblood.

crappy loser puts down our status

Come on, again with this garbage!? Would any sane fan/writer not consider UConn as a BB blueblood if we were in the ACC or Big12? Instead, we're maligned cuz we're in the Big East, which is a great for one thing (tradition) but sucks for other reasons (namely lack of revenue income and growth). Or prior sports successes were undone by university leadership complacency. I hope there is time to right the ship before we crash and get left behind the way UCLA, Indiana, and Tennessee did for M/WBB. I loved the old Big East and glad they took us back so we could dress our wounds, but this, as others as noted, is not sustainable.

 

[NH Husky]

This was clear when Warde and Sue, told everyone that UConn fans needed to learn to support FB whether they were winning or losing. The losing had yet to really get rolling, but the crowds were starting to get smaller toward the end of Ps 2nd year.

Fans would be more likely to support FB if their rivals were regionally local. Rivalries carry outside of stadiums on Saturdays. Coworker fans of rivals, bars with rival fans, families with rival fans. All create a local buzz that fuels support.
“We may not have a winning season but at least we beat you!”
Born and raised in CT and New England. I never worked with or socialized with anyone from Tulsa, SMU, Houston, or any AAC school except Temple.
Warde and Sue undervalued the need for local rivalries.
Big reason why Cuse, BC, and Pitt are now floundering. I always knew Miami didn’t fit in the old Big East and would bolt first chance. Who was there Big East rival? The answer is they didn’t have one.

 

[CashewCrew]

The ACC needs to add UConn

Don't overthink this. A conference with a rich basketball history could bolster its hoops product and offer a lifeline to the Huskies' independent football program.

www.insidezonemf.com

 

[Drew]

The ACC needs to add UConn

Don't overthink this. A conference with a rich basketball history could bolster its hoops product and offer a lifeline to the Huskies' independent football program.

www.insidezonemf.com

This may be the first time I’ve ever seen a national media person actually put onto paper that UConn made infinitely more sense than Cal, Stanford, and SMU. Kudos to Matt.

 

[Rufus]

This may be the first time I’ve ever seen a national media person actually put onto paper that UConn made infinitely more sense than Cal, Stanford, and SMU. Kudos to Matt.

UConn is a better fit. UConn can either wait for the ACC to collapse or make the same deal SMU (or Stanford/Cal) made to join. SMU gave up a lot to get in and so did Stanford/Cal, just not quite as much, but they benefited from Notre Dame pulling for them. Making a deal and getting Notre Dame to pull some strings will get UConn into the ACC short of the collapse of the conference.

 

[Drew]

UConn is a better fit. UConn can either wait for the ACC to collapse or make the same deal SMU (or Stanford/Cal) made to join. SMU gave up a lot to get in and so did Stanford/Cal, just not quite as much, but they benefited from Notre Dame pulling for them. Making a deal and getting Notre Dame to pull some strings will get UConn into the ACC short of the collapse of the conference.

I tend to agree with this…. If we go back to back you can offer a SMU/Cal/Stanford like deal to both the Big 12 and ACC and see if either has the balls to take you up on it

 

[CL82]

Was that money a net positive vs what they paid to leave the AAC snd join the Big East? By how much?

I'm not sure there's any relevancy between the events given how long they were apart and the fact that Connecticut was not invited when the Catholic seven left the conference.

 

[CL82]

If you loud football fans were as loyal and filled the Rent, you wouldn’t have this straw man argument.

If basketball won only one game of season there wouldn't be very many tickets sold for that either.