Mike Anthony: It’s time for David Benedict to handle the football problems that UConn’s Big East move creates.

[StunningSteve]

It proves one thing...our donors are just as clueless as our administrators.

And the way they frame it... How they’ll overcome all of the extra added fees and income disparities with an influx of donations that haven’t been there before, sounds so foggy...

 

[GridironGR8]

I thought this Big East story was a brain fart from The BTM or Dude when I first got home from three days out-of-state (and out of contact with the Boneyard) last night. After reading this forum for 3 1/2 hours to catch up all I can say is I am in shock. I hate to see this decision as it is essentially the end of DI football at UConn. I just can't believe the NBE would be accepting the Huskies back if there wasn't a wink and nod agreement that UConn will ease down to FCS over the next several years. Terrible decision by the UConn AD and administration. The AAC may not be a great cultural fit but it offers very good FB, BB and baseball. From a competitive perspective and in terms of staging for a future move to P5 (as unlikely as that was) the AAC was the best option out there. I am just a northeastern college FB fan with no real link to UConn but I am in mourning today and my sympathies go out to all you Boneyarders who have expressed such strong support for the team and kids who signed on to play for UConn over the years. You all deserved better.

 

[Pudge]

Well. I was wrong

Benedict did it. And it’s parallel to a shocking decline in our Football product.

 

[Exit 4]

Well. I was wrong

Ha yeah - been saying that a lot lately. All weekend.

 

[hardcorehusky]

If any of you think UConn did not know what was going on with the TV contract negotiations until they were announced are crazy. UConn knew what was on the table and that is probably when they aggressively looked to leave. Aresco threw women's basketball under the bus by killing the SNY deal. Everything else publicly was all orchestrated.

Originally I thought at best this was a negotiating ploy - now we see UConn legitimately made the decision to pull the plug.

 

[Pudge]

Curious & curious

 

[Pudge]

I got news for BC&Syracuse ... and that Dino Babers quoted speech about Northeast Football

We can have a vibrant robust College Football product; but you’ve done that no favors in your behavior the last 20 years. I’m not sure David Benedict has any notion of this. But there needs to be a REGIONAL push to play each other & promote fan bases within the core states Maryland to Maine. You’ve been sucked into a mindset ... head full of dollars. The long run is not good.

We all can’t & shouldn’t be like Texas/Florida. But there is a reason Anomalies succeed. (Like Boise) And there has to be a far more focused approach. Play promote pull young talent along.

Because this has been a slide towards real lower points since the Lambert Trophy ceased to be a notable thing.

 

[noeynox]

I got news for BC&Syracuse ... and that Dino Babers quoted speech about Northeast Football

We can have a vibrant robust College Football product; but you’ve done that no favors in your behavior the last 20 years. I’m not sure David Benedict has any notion of this. But there needs to be a REGIONAL push to play each other & promote fan bases within the core states Maryland to Maine. You’ve been sucked into a mindset ... head full of dollars. The long run is not good.

We all can’t & shouldn’t be like Texas/Florida. But there is a reason Anomalies succeed. (Like Boise) And there has to be a far more focused approach. Play promote pull young talent along.

Because this has been a slide towards real lower points since the Lambert Trophy ceased to be a notable thing.

Had we been offered a P5 bid, we would have gone too. Ultimately you want to compete at highest level possible. The biggest travesty ever was the creation of the BCS. For a while we enjoyed the spoils of it. It sucks being on the other side of it. Now we now how Houston and SMU felt. They played CFB at the highest level and then were relegated.

I hope we can make this Indy thing work. I said elsewhere, whether its UCF or FIU, i don't really care. Tulsa or Arkansas State. Neither one of those is drawing me more or less to the Rent. The question is can a coach recruit here with no conference title go strive for. Can it be done?

 

[jrazz12]

I love how they pick and choose teams to highlight when discussing conference differences....."UConn gets to play Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall and Providence instead of USF, UCF, and Tulsa."

The only team that should excite is Villanova...Seton Hall and Georgetown are ghost programs and Providence....is well Providence. I would much rather play Houston, UCF, Temple, and Cincinnati in basketball than Xavier, Creighton, and Butler.....the AAC is a better bball conference than Big East PRESENT DAY....and its not even close

Everything you just said here is wrong. Other than that, good post

 

[Pudge]

We had a Profile. A Priority. College Football in the Northeastern USA. We rose to be a solid competitive Product - New England State U.

Why should the other Universities in the region care? Why pissing on UMASS ultimately was self-defeating.

The overall experience and game gets diminished. BC pumping its chest on being New England’s [P5 Team] has and will backfire; they have a Zip code fan base. Expanding the base should be a goal.

So throw bricks at me. But a brand new stadium at a FCS CAA place or Leipold succeeding at Buffalo is ... good for our fan base. Good for our region. Army ... we need them to find a successful formula like Navy.

Playing Tulsa. Seeing Memphis rose. That’s meaningless to me. Sorry.

 

[uconnflyer88]

Everything you just said here is wrong. Other than that, good post

Please elaborate

 

[jrazz12]

Please elaborate

Seton Hall and Georgetown are not ghost programs. SH has made the tourney (albeit flamed out) the last 4 years. Gtown is in the middle of an upswing and Providence is a legit local rival with juice. Xavier was a number 1 seed last year. We played Butler in the national championship this decade. And you'd rather play UCF? Come on.

By every single metric, the Big East is a better conference than AAC. Every one. It's not what it once was and had a down year last year, and still outperformed the AAC.

You can debate the merits of this move and the effect on the football program, but you can't say this isn't a great move for basketball.

And not for nothing, but I find it ironic that everyone here is poo pooing the independent idea, comparing us to UMass instead of BYU or even Notre Dame. If we're an actual P5 worthy program, we should be able to operate independently on the level of a BYU rather than New Mexico State, and prove our worth. Win games, get our own TV deal, show value. And if we can't, then we don't belong there in the end.

Tell me how putting up annual 1-7 and 0-8 records in a mediocre conference accomplishes that goal any better?

 

[VAHuskyFan]

I think the AAC was probably the toughest place for us to try to rebuild the football program given the financial constraints on the athletics department.

To rebuild the program, we need (1) wins, (2) games against teams people care about, and (3) revenue. The AAC offered us a slate of losses against good teams no one cares about for a laughable dollar premium over the Big East Fox basketball contract.

It’s not like we are leaving the Big10. Independence isn’t great, but I’m not convinced it’s any worse than continuing in the AAC, which was really a perfect storm of misery.

 

[uconnflyer88]

Seton Hall and Georgetown are not ghost programs. SH has made the tourney (albeit flamed out) the last 4 years. Gtown is in the middle of an upswing and Providence is a legit local rival with juice. Xavier was a number 1 seed last year. We played Butler in the national championship this decade. And you'd rather play UCF? Come on.

By every single metric, the Big East is a better conference than AAC. Every one. It's not what it once was and had a down year last year, and still outperformed the AAC.

You can debate the merits of this move and the effect on the football program, but you can't say this isn't a great move for basketball.

And not for nothing, but I find it ironic that everyone here is poo pooing the independent idea, comparing us to UMass instead of BYU or even Notre Dame. If we're an actual P5 worthy program, we should be able to operate independently on the level of a BYU rather than New Mexico State, and prove our worth. Win games, get our own TV deal, show value. And if we can't, then we don't belong there in the end.

Tell me how putting up annual 1-7 and 0-8 records in a mediocre conference accomplishes that goal any better?

I went to the Georgetown / UConn game in 2017 in DC. The area was MAYBE 25% full. The only reason Seton Hall made it into the NCAA tournament was a lucky run in their conf tournament, hence the monstrous flame out. What has Providence done in the last ten years? This isn't your grandfather's Big East conference. I agree, if its 2008, great move. The regional rivalry thing is so overplayed, no one cares (minus uconn bball fans living in 2008) about that anymore. Houston made it to the Sweet 16 and UCF was a tipped ball away from beating Duke and heading there themselves. Cincinnati, SMU, Wichita State are household names. Remove nostalgia and the Big East is a down trending conference and AAC is on the upswing.....do I need to keep going?

 

[Adios]

Because BYU and Notre Dame have historical success in football. We don't. Very important selling point as an independent.

 

[Adios]

I went to the Georgetown / UConn game in 2017 in DC. The area was MAYBE 25% full. The only reason Seton Hall made it into the NCAA tournament was a lucky run in their conf tournament, hence the monstrous flame out. What has Providence done in the last ten years? This isn't your grandfather's Big East conference. I agree, if its 2008, great move. The regional rivalry thing is so overplayed, no one cares (minus uconn bball fans living in 2008) about that anymore. Houston made it to the Sweet 16 and UCF was a tipped ball away from beating Duke and heading there themselves. Cincinnati, SMU, Wichita State are household names. Remove nostalgia and the Big East is a down trending conference and AAC is on the upswing.....do I need to keep going?

Freaking Tulsa just got an 8 year football deal with Oklahoma State.

 

[Waquoit]

Freaking Tulsa just got an 8 year football deal with Oklahoma State.

We can get an 8 year deal with Central if we want it.

 

[Pudge]

The Point is ...

We need to rebuild & rejuvenate our Fanbase. We had a rabid Hoop fandom. First Calhoun put the flame on; then Auriemma found an entirely different component. Soccer? Solid and NCAA leader for 25 years.

We are sucking today. Sure Football. But this is across the board. And the AAC lack of connectivity to other Schools is the beginning of that conversation. I’m sad because I see a Football conference in Big Cities getting better & fighting. On the other hand. We are going to MSG with a different purpose soon- Win Championships. We will play better WBB opponents. We will care about that Providence game. And then Marquette. More than UCF

This is it regardless of what that opponent RPI or product is like that gameday. The UCONN fandom needs to care. Again.

 

[jrazz12]

I went to the Georgetown / UConn game in 2017 in DC. The area was MAYBE 25% full. The only reason Seton Hall made it into the NCAA tournament was a lucky run in their conf tournament, hence the monstrous flame out. What has Providence done in the last ten years? This isn't your grandfather's Big East conference. I agree, if its 2008, great move. The regional rivalry thing is so overplayed, no one cares (minus uconn bball fans living in 2008) about that anymore. Houston made it to the Sweet 16 and UCF was a tipped ball away from beating Duke and heading there themselves. Cincinnati, SMU, Wichita State are household names. Remove nostalgia and the Big East is a down trending conference and AAC is on the upswing.....do I need to keep going?

Sure, please keep arguing that being in a basketball conference with household name SMU and a team that almost beat Duke one time is better for us than that forgettable school down the road that starts with a V who won 2 of the last 4 national championships. You're doing great.

 

[History Geek]

Ha yeah - been saying that a lot lately. All weekend.

Me too

 

[djct1999]

Dan Orlovksy would be decent replacement for Benedict.

A better replacement for edsall.

 

[uconnflyer88]

Sure, please keep arguing that being in a basketball conference with household name SMU and a team that almost beat Duke one time is better for us than that forgettable school down the road that starts with a V who won 2 of the last 4 national championships. You're doing great.

You honestly think Villanova is trending up? I don’t mean to be a d***, in all seriousness do you look at the Big East in b-ball and see a thriving conference with POTENTIAL for FUTURE growth?....sure Villanova won a couple years ago, but what about future championships?....I just don’t see it

 

[jrazz12]

You honestly think Villanova is trending up? I don’t mean to be a d***, in all seriousness do you look at the Big East in b-ball and see a thriving conference with POTENTIAL for FUTURE growth?....sure Villanova won a couple years ago, but what about future championships?....I just don’t see it

Agree to disagree on hoops. But now I'm curious, because I haven't seen a good response to this from the "woe is me" football-first crowd:

How does middling around in mediocrity in a conference that is consistently shunned by the P5 and the NCAA powers that be (how many times can UCF go undefeated and not crack the top 10?) put us in a prime position if there's another round of expansion?

If your answer is "well Randy was going to beat all those southern teams and turn around the worst defense in the history of college football and we'll be back to a bowl within 5 years", I'm sorry, that is not a viable strategy for the university or its athletic department.

If the plan is to go out on our own and take control of our destiny and $, leverage a revitalized national hoops program and a NYC media presence to aggressively schedule an independent schedule with multiple P5 games per year for a few years, while the football team recovers from a decade of ineptitude to build itself back into a respectable program, how is that not a better option than where we were? Doesn't that better prove our place at the final table than 0-8 conference doormats?

 

[huskysupporter]

Not trying to be a Debbie downer here but UCONN basketball has been brutal since the NC.

 

[bendm]

Not trying to be a Debbie downer here

had me fooled.