O’Neil: After cutting sports, UConn needs to focus its future on basketball

[YearoftheHusky]

O’Neil: After cutting sports, UConn needs to focus its future on basketball

UConn shut down four sports on Wednesday, victims of budget cuts and the school's insistence on making football work.

theathletic.com

He used to make his pitch, rambling on as the king of filibustering is known to do, selling the promise of what his program would be. Invariably someone would stop Jim Calhoun and ask if his school was in Alaska. “You know, because it was UConn,’’ the Hall of Famer says. “I’d have to say that it’s UConn with a U, not a Y.’’ A reluctant add to the Big East only after Holy Cross said no, the school had so little juice that some people wanted commissioner Dave Gavitt to boot the Huskies less than 10 years into their conference membership.

But then along came Calhoun, a fast-talking kid from Boston, hired a year after an Italian immigrant by way of Philadelphia had taken over the women’s team. In 1990 Calhoun led the Huskies to the Elite Eight in the men’s NCAA Tournament, and a year later, Geno Auriemma took the women’s team to the Final Four.

Basketball built UConn. Now it’s going to have to save it.

 

[CallMeBruce]

A reluctant add to the Big East only after Holy Cross said no, the school had so little juice that some people wanted commissioner Dave Gavitt to boot the Huskies less than 10 years into their conference membership.

Is this actually true? I'd never heard either of these things before, and they don't make a ton of sense.

Overall, this is an insane thing to publish on June 25, 2020, 6 days out from the school dropping to independent in football so it can join the best basketball-only conference. I'd always assumed O'Neil was merely dishonest, but now I think she might just be stupid.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I couldn't read the article, but by the headline alone it seems to be a day late. Moving to the Big East, hiring Hurley and still having Geno is about as much focus on basketball as we can have. I would suggest basketball is right where it needs to be and it's time to shore up other sports. Men's soccer needs some attention (I'm looking at you Ray).

 

[ConnHuskBask]

What garbage.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I read the article this morning. I usually like O'Neil's work and she's one of my favorite college basketball writers, but this article was mostly old hat.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I used to like O'Neil but she's a complete hack now.

 

[RMoore1999]

Is this actually true? I'd never heard either of these things before, and they don't make a ton of sense.

Overall, this is an insane thing to publish on June 25, 2020, 6 days out from the school dropping to independent in football so it can join the best basketball-only conference. I'd always assumed O'Neil was merely dishonest, but now I think she might just be stupid.

Unfortunately, dishonest and stupid aren't mutually exclusive...

 

[navery12]

 

[kansashusky]

Dana O'Neil has become such a trash columnist. No research, and totally tired writing.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Is this actually true? I'd never heard either of these things before, and they don't make a ton of sense.

Overall, this is an insane thing to publish on June 25, 2020, 6 days out from the school dropping to independent in football so it can join the best basketball-only conference. I'd always assumed O'Neil was merely dishonest, but now I think she might just be stupid.

I don’t know about the thoughts to get rid of uconn 10 years after big east started. But uconn was in big east only because holy cross said no.

that is well documented.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I don’t know about the thoughts to get rid of uconn 10 years after big east started. But uconn was in big east only because holy cross said no.

that is well documented.

Could you show me this documentation? A cursory search of my own indicates otherwise.

 

[CL82]

I don’t know about the thoughts to get rid of uconn 10 years after big east started. But uconn was in big east only because holy cross said no.

that is well documented.

Apparently Dave Garett must not have seen that documentation.

HC and the Big East
When the Big East was founded in 1979, Holy Cross could have been a charter member. Providence, St. John’s, Georgetown, Syracuse and Seton Hall, all teams that HC once played on a regular basis, agreed to start the Big East, but the league needed more New England representation

However, athletic directors at Holy Cross, Boston College, Rhode Island and Connecticut agreed all four schools would remain a block. Take `em all or get none. If they couldn’t be separated, and the conference wanted the Boston market, which, of course, it needed, there would be a big league.

“Connecticut had been very good in the Yankee Conference. Boston College and Holy Cross was a toss up; actually, Holy Cross had the better basketball tradition. But their president couldn’t be convinced,” said the first Big East commissioner, Dave Gavitt, about the league’s founding.

Former St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca spoke to me, about these inside Big East formative dealings during a talk at the 2007 East Regionals at the Meadowlands. He told me that Holy Cross was supposed to join the Big East, but the school’s president, the Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., vetoed the move for academic reasons.

Eventually, both BC and UConn agreed to join, making the Big East a seven-team league in the inaugural 1979-80 campaign.

Villanova joined a year later in 1980. and Pittsburgh joined in 1982.

 

[Platt81]

I get really tired of the whole “focus on basketball because football is a dumpster fire” argument. Anyone who knows anything knows UConn Basketball HAS to be the most important sport at the school, but I still don’t understand all the hate for the moves they’ve made in football.

Clearly the move to the Big East was proof basketball sustainability was paramount, but going Independent in football and getting a national linear tv deal is a huge win to me for football. As a fan, I look forward to playing G5 teams like San Jose St in two game series than watching Tulane every season. Not to mention the Clemson, Ohio St, Michigan type games we have picked up as pay games.

Clearly they are not yet to a point where it’s fun to watch but I think in time it will get there. I just can never understand why fans of a school (or journalists who should know enough about a school) always need to make it seem like it’s one sport or another. Why can’t we all just get along?

 

[Waquoit]

Apparently Dave Garett must not have seen that documentation.

You're countering a reporter with a blog post 40 years after the fact??

 

[CL82]

You're countering a reporter with a blog post 40 years after the fact??

Nope I'm countering a "everyone knows" unsourced comment, which notoriously lack credibility, with a quote from Gavitt.

 

[Guapo]

Yeah I’ve never heard anything about UConn being invited only after HC said no

 

[Waquoit]

Yeah I’ve never heard anything about UConn being invited only after HC said no

I guess that's the last word

 

[CL82]

Yeah I’ve never heard anything about UConn being invited only after HC said no

I've heard it from time to time on the board, but I've never seen it sourced back to the people who were there at the time. Cuse AD Crouthamel has that the choice was between BC, Holy Cross and BU for a Boston presence. UConn was invited because it had a very good history as a basketball school and brought the Connecticut market.

It's kind of like the whole CT basketball sucked before Calhoun thing, which is just wrong. Even Perno, Calhoun's immediate predecessor, had a ranked team.

 

[Guapo]

I've heard it from time to time on the board, but I've never seen it sourced back to the people who were there at the time. Cuse AD Crouthamel has that the choice was between BC, Holy Cross and BU for a Boston presence. UConn was invited because it had a very good history as a basketball school and brought the Connecticut market.

It's kind of like the whole CT basketball sucked before Calhoun thing, which is just wrong. Even Perno, Calhoun's immediate predecessor, had a ranked team.

It just sounds like classic Connecticut self-loathing

 

[Dean Wormer]

I've heard it from time to time on the board, but I've never seen it sourced back to the people who were there at the time. Cuse AD Crouthamel has that the choice was between BC, Holy Cross and BU for a Boston presence. UConn was invited because it had a very good history as a basketball school and brought the Connecticut market.

It's kind of like the whole CT basketball sucked before Calhoun thing, which is just wrong. Even Perno, Calhoun's immediate predecessor, had a ranked team.

This is more like what i heard as well, that with PC in the fold and running things with the BE HQ and so on, Gavitt didn’t want the league to seem too NE-centric. So the last spot was between BC, BU, & HC. We were never a question mark since we hopped on the BE train quickly.

 

[the Q]

Apparently Dave Garett must not have seen that documentation.

HC and the Big East
When the Big East was founded in 1979, Holy Cross could have been a charter member. Providence, St. John’s, Georgetown, Syracuse and Seton Hall, all teams that HC once played on a regular basis, agreed to start the Big East, but the league needed more New England representation

However, athletic directors at Holy Cross, Boston College, Rhode Island and Connecticut agreed all four schools would remain a block. Take `em all or get none. If they couldn’t be separated, and the conference wanted the Boston market, which, of course, it needed, there would be a big league.

“Connecticut had been very good in the Yankee Conference. Boston College and Holy Cross was a toss up; actually, Holy Cross had the better basketball tradition. But their president couldn’t be convinced,” said the first Big East commissioner, Dave Gavitt, about the league’s founding.

Former St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca spoke to me, about these inside Big East formative dealings during a talk at the 2007 East Regionals at the Meadowlands. He told me that Holy Cross was supposed to join the Big East, but the school’s president, the Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., vetoed the move for academic reasons.

Eventually, both BC and UConn agreed to join, making the Big East a seven-team league in the inaugural 1979-80 campaign.

Villanova joined a year later in 1980. and Pittsburgh joined in 1982.

amazing how different the world is if the BE did get holy cross Over BC.

A lot of the hand wringing over football probably doesn’t exist

 

[sledog]

The Athletic has lost its luster?

 

[CL82]

amazing how different the world is if the BE did get holy cross Over BC.

A lot of the hand wringing over football probably doesn’t exist

Well we don't get the ACC BCU black ball since they wouldn't have been invited to ACC. So, yeah it would be a much different world for us.

 

[SubbaBub]

So let me understand this, UConn needs basketball to make up for the lack of men's tennis, swimming, XC, and women's rowing?

Money was paid for someone to write this?

 

[BlueDogs]

She must think the Big East has a secret platinum member option and we really really need to double down before the limited spots are taken.