Left Behind in Realignment

[Waquoit]

Our "in-stadium" atmosphere is no different than Maryland based on my visit last year. Except our crowd is better. For real. And they are in the Big 10.

 

[coachcap]

I'm wondering about the Spirit Squad. With the addition of scholarships to UConn Hockey, would additional scholarships be added for women (Title IX) to the SS to upgrade to a Competitive Cheer Squad with coaching as other institutions have. The decision to downgrade the cheerleaders due to insurance issues was done under the Hathaway regime. Would WM consider this as a solution to Title IX balance?

 

[Hoophound]

Email him. The fan base has been indifferent to the cheer changes even though none of us prefer it. I have emailed him about it a couple of times.

 

[kingdobbs]

I'm wondering about the Spirit Squad. With the addition of scholarships to UConn Hockey, would additional scholarships be added for women (Title IX) to the SS to upgrade to a Competitive Cheer Squad with coaching as other institutions have. The decision to downgrade the cheerleaders due to insurance issues was done under the Hathaway regime. Would WM consider this as a solution to Title IX balance?

Quinnipiac got smacked down in court trying to do that just a year or so ago. The hockey plan has already budgeted for increases to the existing women's tennis and women's rowing teams, anyhow.

 

[Adios]

We complain about our cheerleaders? Really? Ever see QU's hockey cheerleaders? They are not models. But it's still cool to see cheerleaders at a hockey game. Feels like the KHL.

The dance team members at UConn football games are hot. I mean, c'mon.

 

[Hoophound]

We complain about our cheerleaders? Really? Ever see QU's hockey cheerleaders? They are not models. But it's still cool to see cheerleaders at a hockey game. Feels like the KHL.

The dance team members at UConn football games are hot. I mean, c'mon.

It isn't a big deal but our failure to use skilled cheerleaders is just another pointless way to make us different than other big time schools. Northerners don't seem to get that in many places, cheer leading and competive cheer leading are a really big deal. Check out the event schedule at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, it is littered with regional, national and world cheer leading championships non stop. People from all over the country and world competing at it and making a big deal out of it. To no surprise, most of the US teams are from the south, west and Ohio/Michigan.

Just bring regular cheerleaders for god sake.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

It isn't a big deal but our failure to use skilled cheerleaders is just another pointless way to make us different than other big time schools. Northerners don't seem to get that in many places, cheer leading and competive cheer leading are a really big deal. Check out the event schedule at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, it is littered with regional, national and world cheer leading championships non stop. People from all over the country and world competing at it and making a big deal out of it. To no surprise, most of the US teams are from the south, west and Ohio/Michigan.

Just bring regular cheerleaders for god sake.

There is a lot that northerners (Connecticut, in particular) don't get when it comes to college sports. Maybe a good place to start is to expand Rentschler into a big boy stadium.

 

[epark88]

Sometimes I wonder if anyone in a position of power at UConn has actually watched a live SEC or B1G football game.

IMHO Warde should organize and fund a yearly junket of UConn leaders to a college football game down South or at Happy Valley - or I dunno, the Big House? - to see what all the hubbub over big time CFB is really about.

Couldn't hurt, might help...

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[WestHartHusk]

It isn't a big deal but our failure to use skilled cheerleaders is just another pointless way to make us different than other big time schools. Northerners don't seem to get that in many places, cheer leading and competive cheer leading are a really big deal. Check out the event schedule at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, it is littered with regional, national and world cheer leading championships non stop. People from all over the country and world competing at it and making a big deal out of it. To no surprise, most of the US teams are from the south, west and Ohio/Michigan.

Just bring regular cheerleaders for god sake.

I guess you and I are on opposite ends of the spectrum here because I am happy to live in a part of the world where young women aren't encouraged to cheer for the success of men, but instead are encouraged to pursue their own ambitions, athletic or academic, and achieve their own success. And if the fact that our football program represents that emphasis leads us to second tier status in football then so be it. As much as I love college football, and UConn football (I have been a season ticket holder since the Rent opened), I think this country is a little batty on its emphasis in the grand scheme of things.

 

[specialisthusky]

I guess you and I are on opposite ends of the spectrum here because I am happy to live in a part of the world where young women aren't encouraged to cheer for the success of men, but instead are encouraged to pursue their own ambitions, athletic or academic, and achieve their own success. And if the fact that our football program represents that emphasis leads us to second tier status in football then so be it. As much as I love college football, and UConn football (I have been a season ticket holder since the Rent opened), I think this country is a little batty on its emphasis in the grand scheme of things.

you realize we still have cheerleaders right? They just aren't on scholarship. So basically these young women are volunteering to do this instead of being on scholarship to compete such as at other schools. Also UConn has cheerleaders at the Women's Basketball games so that kinda throws a thorn in the "cheering the success of men".

 

[WestHartHusk]

I should have been more clear because you are right, they exist, but aren't on scholarship. My point (unstated) is that if they were on scholarship you would be using cheer-leading scholarships to offset Title IX requirements of the football team essentially on a beauty contest. At least on a volunteer basis they are doing it in addition to other academic interests (though I personally think the whole thing is ridiculous).

Good point on the women's team.

And I know I'm in a minority here, and am not really hoping to convert anyone. Sometimes I have thoughts and they just kinda end up appearing on a message board.

 

[Hoophound]

I guess you and I are on opposite ends of the spectrum here because I am happy to live in a part of the world where young women aren't encouraged to cheer for the success of men, but instead are encouraged to pursue their own ambitions, athletic or academic, and achieve their own success. And if the fact that our football program represents that emphasis leads us to second tier status in football then so be it. As much as I love college football, and UConn football (I have been a season ticket holder since the Rent opened), I think this country is a little batty on its emphasis in the grand scheme of things.

You and people like you miss the entire point. The girls that tumble and do all the different stunts and the like....want to cheer! Cheerleaders are a part of the show. They aren't there to simply cheer on men (and women,by the way), they are there to do what they love and trained to do. Further, they enhance the game day experience. They aren't there to simply "cheer on men", they are there to perform.

Your stance may seem evolved and based in equality but its really just based in ignorance. The removal of cheerleaders and their replacement with a spirit squad is no different than replacing the basketball team with 5'6" computer science majors simply because "they should be able to play too".

It is more insulting that the real cheerleaders are devalued by the school so much. That is a real disgrace.

 

[UConn9604]

Here's a decent summary of the events that unfolded -- the new stadium for Storrs was supposed to cost $107 million and be about the same as The Rent, with the $15 million difference in cost based on the fact that The Rent was a perfectly flat, graded site, donated by the owner, and with easy access to existing infrastructure:

Oct. 14, 1997
The Courant reports that 100 acres on the north end of the UConn campus is emerging as the preferred stadium site. A public opinion poll indicates 48 percent of Connecticut residents want the stadium in Storrs, and 60 percent favor state funding.

Nov. 25, 1997
After virtually promising UConn it would have an on-campus stadium, Rowland announces he will not call a special session to approve finding for a $107 million stadium in Storrs. ``I'm sad for the university,'' Ritter says. ``This is going to be a day that we will regret for a very long time.'' Says Perkins: ``I think we've taken it as far as we can at this point. We've been talking about this thing five or six years now.''

http://articles.courant.com/2012-08...uconn-and-villanova-uconn-athletic-director/2

See, the neat thing about the internet, is maybe if people are motivated enough, and somebody is outrageous enough, they'll actually learn how to do some research by osmosis or something, and learn how to check something as to validity. I just did, but I'm not posting your homework. I mixed up the 65k, with the Hartford facility propose later, involving Kraft. On Campus facility was for 50k capacity. So, I need to correct myself there. Done.

Rentschler field ended up being essentially constructed from the same HOK sport, and local engineering firm blueprints and planning that went into designing the on-campus facility, except it's smaller, and cost the state more tax payer dollars than it would have had it been constructed as planned on campus, using division of athletics revenue streams and internal infrastructure in construction, even though the on campus facility projected cost was higher, than the eventual cost for Rentshcler (106 million to 91 million) .

As for the politics, you basically summed up everything I've been saying, except I also wrote why the democrats made it fall apart and what motivated it. General assembly politics motivated by a Mansfield area residents that tried to stop it locally, but failed and went to the state level. The same partisan politics almost prevented Rentschler from being built, by politicians that didn't give a rats ass either way about having a stadium. It had to be pushed by some people for the entire adriaens landing project to be voted on in a single vote, to get enough yes votes to construct a stadium.

We simply need more politicians in our state government that have the best interests of UCONN on their minds, and I'll leave this at that.

 

[UCFBfan]

Wasn't there a reason we moved away from the traditional cheerleader type of squad? I know during the early 2000's there was a reason they moved away from the tumbling and such as others want to see returned. Unfortunately I don't recall all the specifics but there was a reason they movrd away from it.

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[WestHartHusk]

You and people like you miss the entire point. The girls that tumble and do all the different stunts and the like....want to cheer! Cheerleaders are a part of the show. They aren't there to simply cheer on men (and women,by the way), they are there to do what they love and trained to do. Further, they enhance the game day experience. They aren't there to simply "cheer on men", they are there to perform.

Your stance may seem evolved and based in equality but its really just based in ignorance. The removal of cheerleaders and their replacement with a spirit squad is no different than replacing the basketball team with 5'6" computer science majors simply because "they should be able to play too".

It is more insulting that the real cheerleaders are devalued by the school so much. That is a real disgrace.

I am not trying to sound evolved. The school has to make a value judgment regarding the use of scholarships, and I happen to agree with their judgment that cheer-leading isn't a great use of valuable scholarships. Out of curiosity, what women's sport(s) would you cut to provide for cheer-leading scholarships to improve the perception of the football team?

 

[Hoophound]

I am not trying to sound evolved. The school has to make a value judgment regarding the use of scholarships, and I happen to agree with their judgment that cheer-leading isn't a great use of valuable scholarships. Out of curiosity, what women's sport(s) would you cut to provide for cheer-leading scholarships to improve the perception of the football team?

They don't need to have scholarships. The girls will still show up and put on a show.

 

[Waquoit]

Does anyone really give two craps about cheerleader stunts? Besides their parents I mean. It's slow, boring stuff that adds nothing to the "game-day experience." Cheerleaders that just cheer and dance are fine. To call the lack of stuntleaders a disgrace is to devalue the word "disgrace."

 

[Hoophound]

Does anyone really give two craps about cheerleader stunts? Besides their parents I mean. It's slow, boring stuff that adds nothing to the "game-day experience." Cheerleaders that just cheer and dance are fine. To call the lack of stuntleaders a disgrace is to devalue the word "disgrace."

It isn't the stunts, it is the fact that people somehow feel better that we took something away from the old cheerleaders and gave it to the new spirit squad. What did we accomplish? It is just plain dumb.

 

[huskymedic]

I'm wondering about the Spirit Squad. With the addition of scholarships to UConn Hockey, would additional scholarships be added for women (Title IX) to the SS to upgrade to a Competitive Cheer Squad with coaching as other institutions have. The decision to downgrade the cheerleaders due to insurance issues was done under the Hathaway regime. Would WM consider this as a solution to Title IX balance?

Quinnipiac got smacked down in court trying to do that just a year or so ago. The hockey plan has already budgeted for increases to the existing women's tennis and women's rowing teams, anyhow.

Yup - Competitive cheerleading is not an official sport that colleges can use to meet gender-equity requirements. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38347400/?GT1=43001

Very, very, very few schools offer cheerleading scholarships and those that do are mostly partial and endowed (on here I should probably change that word but you know what I mean).

 

[HuskyHawk]

Wasn't there a reason we moved away from the traditional cheerleader type of squad? I know during the early 2000's there was a reason they moved away from the tumbling and such as others want to see returned. Unfortunately I don't recall all the specifics but there was a reason they movrd away from it.

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Political correctness is the reason.

 

[UCFBfan]

Political correctness is the reason.

No I was being serious and not politically correct. There was a legit reason. Anyway, it's a silly argument to worry about. We have bigger fish to fry than worrying about not making a pyramid anymore.

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[HuskyHawk]

No I was being serious and not politically correct. There was a legit reason. Anyway, it's a silly argument to worry about. We have bigger fish to fry than worrying about not making a pyramid anymore.

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I don't mean you were being PC, UConn was.

 

[hthusky74]

I guess you and I are on opposite ends of the spectrum here because I am happy to live in a part of the world where young women aren't encouraged to cheer for the success of men, but instead are encouraged to pursue their own ambitions, athletic or academic, and achieve their own success. And if the fact that our football program represents that emphasis leads us to second tier status in football then so be it. As much as I love college football, and UConn football (I have been a season ticket holder since the Rent opened), I think this country is a little batty on its emphasis in the grand scheme of things.

We always had male cheerleaders too as do most schools.

 

[uconnell]

No I was being serious and not politically correct. There was a legit reason. Anyway, it's a silly argument to worry about. We have bigger fish to fry than worrying about not making a pyramid anymore.

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Wasn't insurance the issue?

 

[juan]

Warde talks a whole lot of the same

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...uskies-to-move-on-from-conference-realignment