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

[CL82]

Ha! I'm just saying my BC friends thought we were in based on what they were hearing and they were just as surprised by the Louisville news as I was.

I think the tobacco road schools were as surprised as we were by FSU and Clemson's power-play. They were upset because they perceived that the Syracuse and Pittsburgh additions were "basketball schools" and they wanted a "football school" in the next round of additions. Ironically, we beat Louisville in football days before the announcement that they would be joining the ACC.

 

[JVN]

I think the tobacco road schools were as surprised as we were by FSU and Clemson's power-play. They were upset because they perceived that the Syracuse and Pittsburgh additions were "basketball schools" and they wanted a "football school" in the next round of additions. Ironically, we beat Louisville in football days before the announcement that they would be joining the ACC.

IIRC they also wanted the next addition to be a southern school, as they were not happy with the ACC's northward expansion.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Not a tweet but you have Sun Belt Conference schools dropping $13M on marching band facilities.

USA Marching Band

 

[BullDawg]

Not a tweet but you have Sun Belt Conference schools dropping $13M on marching band facilities.

USA Marching Band

It’s a named facility, so donor dollars.

 

[JVN]

 

[UConnTrumbull]

 

[CL82]

He might be one of the reasons UConn is not in the Big 12, however. The publicity it generated could not have been good and only emphasized the cultural mismatch.

I guess that's a possibility, but the lawsuit was 23 years ago. It seems unlikely that it would be at the forefront of people's minds.

Some the big 12 did indicate that Connecticut as an East Coast institution might be a bad cultural fit for the big 12. I think it is more likely that the phrase cultural fit was a euphemism for something other than the lawsuit.

The truth is the criteria for getting into a conference has been a complicated target with a number of moving pieces that have changed for each opportunity. For the most part people don't actually want to spend the time to pay attention to those moving pieces. Instead, it becomes more convenient to say "they don't like us." Some of that is cognitive dissonance much like the student who says he got an F in a class because "the professor didn't like him" but ignores the fact that he didn't bother to turn in the final project.

 

[king conn]

He might be one of the reasons UConn is not in the Big 12, however. The publicity it generated could not have been good and only emphasized the cultural mismatch.

The idea that the lawsuit affects anything possible with the ACC now is grasping at straws

This scenario however is the equivalent of the moon landing was filmed in a desert.

 

[RuffRuff]

He might be one of the reasons UConn is not in the Big 12, however. The publicity it generated could not have been good and only emphasized the cultural mismatch.

No one likes sue happy types. I'm sure politics has something to do with the B12. In a land of red, not sure they want a state with a blue haired congresswoman. B12 will never happen.

 

[Stinger92860]

I think we can all agree that the lawsuit did not help our chances.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[JVN]

"If only we had added UConn, would we be BETTER than the NBA??"

 

[upstater]

He might be one of the reasons UConn is not in the Big 12, however. The publicity it generated could not have been good and only emphasized the cultural mismatch.

You know who headed the lawsuit against the ACC? Pitt's President. You know who cursed out BC's President and called him a liar openly at an academic conference? Someone on Syracuse's Board of Trustee. I know the lawsuit is now lore but much much worse was said and done by other teams who are now IN the ACC.

 

[upstater]

As someone who had presidential level contacts at BC and SU back in the day, I'm just telling you what was.

Also, we were never in over Louisville. That's make-believe. The triangle folks preferred us but that was the depth of it. Even Syracuse lobbied for UL.

Did the people you knew at Syracuse hear about what BCs AD claimed? (i.e. that BC had blackballed UConn). I'd say many of us are NOT going on the scuttlebutt in the media or rumors but just what was said directly by all sorts of people.

I can remember quotes from the Pitt President, Louisville's guy (UConn written in pencil), UNCs people blasting BC for not wanting competition, and especially BCs AD who claimed ESPN put them up to it!

It may very well be as you say, but for sure there's a lot of noise going the other way and it was coming from primary sources. So... were the Syracuse people very aware of all the internal happenings (after all, they weren't IN the conference yet)?

 

[CL82]

As someone who had presidential level contacts at BC and SU back in the day, I'm just telling you what was.

Also, we were never in over Louisville. That's make-believe. The triangle folks preferred us but that was the depth of it. Even Syracuse lobbied for UL.

I'm sure you're right. Of course, the contemporaneous newspaper reports from people with firsthand, rather than secondhand, knowledge contradict that, but you are probably right, and they are probably wrong.

Regardless, given that everybody but Leahy is out now, it's probably moot.

 

[UConnJim]

Someday, somebody will write the story about what really went down in 2012 and what each party did or didn't do and what was everybody's motive.

 

[Fishy]

I'm sure you're right. Of course, the contemporaneous newspaper reports from people with firsthand, rather than secondhand, knowledge contradict that, but you are probably right, and they are probably wrong.

Regardless, given that everybody but Leahy is out now, it's probably moot.

You’re allowed to be wrong.

But you’re not allowed to change the facts as they were in order to pretend you’re not.

A decade-plus later, Stanford, California and SMU are in the ACC and despite being considered three times by the Big 12 and winning however many championships, the ACC is not one percent closer to considering us for membership. Kinda feels like a blacklist, don’t it?

 

[Fishy]

Someday, somebody will write the story about what really went down in 2012 and what each party did or didn't do and what was everybody's motive.

Louisville had Michael Corleone and we had Tom Hagen, not that it would have made much of a difference.

2003 was far more interesting than 2012 - 2012 was not as dramatic as we remember it. Maryland bailed on the ACC on the 20th, Louisville was basically the pick a week later. We were dead in the water by day two - the rest of the week was the ACC getting to unanimous for UL.

 

[RSTuthill]

You know who headed the lawsuit against the ACC? Pitt's President. You know who cursed out BC's President and called him a liar openly at an academic conference? Someone on Syracuse's Board of Trustee. I know the lawsuit is now lore but much much worse was said and done by other teams who are now IN the ACC.

But Blumenthal never saw a TV camera he would not move heaven and earth to monopolize. He was the most visible. And his continued visibility in the US Senate has not helped.

 

[CL82]

You’re allowed to be wrong.

But you’re not allowed to change the facts as they were in order to pretend you’re not.

A decade-plus later, Stanford, California and SMU are in the ACC and despite being considered three times by the Big 12 and winning however many championships, the ACC is not one percent closer to considering us for membership. Kinda feels like a blacklist, don’t it?

Kind of, but you're "feelings" rather than "facts." Tell you what why don't you point out one "fact" that you think I got wrong. Then when you do, I'll pull up the blades article or an article with the Tom Jurich quote about how Connecticut was slated to get into the ACC before he started reaching out to schools so that Louisville could steal the bid. But you know these articles exist the same as I do.

"You're allowed to be wrong, but you're not allowed to change the facts and pretend that you're not."

 

[UConnJim]

Louisville had Michael Corleone and we had Tom Hagen, not that it would have made much of a difference.

2003 was far more interesting than 2012 - 2012 was not as dramatic as we remember it. Maryland bailed on the ACC on the 20th, Louisville was basically the pick a week later. We were dead in the water by day two - the rest of the week was the ACC getting to unanimous for UL.

All of the facts have not come out and one day they will. (I'm sure many of us have stories about college athletics in which the accepted story is not the real or complete story.) And, UConn certainly isn't motivated to tell their side of the story if they want to have a shot at moving to another conference and play nice with the state politicians.