I play real sports. Not trying tO be the best at exercising......
I have still yet to be given a answer on what warde has done. I'll wait. It's been months of ppl here defending him with no substance. Still waiting.....
Tell me he has super secret plans for expansion. Tell me he's doing lax and canning tennis. Tell me he's not seriously impressed with the logo or uniforms. Please do.
Here's a stone cold fact and if u try to twist it your exposed as a warde groupie. Warde has yet to add one, ONE just one BCS team to our football schedules. He has got good non BCS games and 2 fcs games. Not one BCS game. Bite on that. Let it sink in. But hey, we are trying to schedule bc in basketball which goes against every single thing we stand for as a school and state. If he goes thru with that. I will put a price on his head. How's that.
I'll bite, HFD. And just to be clear, I realize you are not going to be impressed with my list. I'm just playing devil's advocate with you (and I realize this is dangerous because I don't want you to label me as an ass-clown UConn fan that knows nothing with how things work). And to be even more clear, alot of these were long overdo because of the complete lack of vision and leadership from our previous nickumpoop AD;
- elevated our academic standings within our athletic programs. I understand that we couldn't go anywhere but up in MBB, but our APR rankings have been nearly perfect in his tenure and that is due to an increased focus on classroom work. If our ultimate goal is B1G affiliation, this is very important since academic reputation is valued as much as athletic accomplishments. I've read you say that you don't care that about academics and only care about wins and losses since that is what sells tickets and makes money. I understand your point and agree with it to some degree. But I disagree that academics are not important, especially given that the B1G is clearly UConn's ultimate goal. EVERYTHING that we have seen UConn do and say has been "research" based and with the AAU in mind. The B1G obviously prioritizes AAU members in conference expansion and our mutual Universitas 21 membership with other B1G schools like tOSU along with focus on academics and should help us gain access to AAU. We will never be invited to a great conference like the B1G with our top selling point point program on academic probation and not meeting APR criteria. Warde has done a great job at making academics a bigger focus and giving our student athletes the tutoring and tools needed to succeed in the classroom as well as the playing field/court.
- scheduled Boise and BYU. I'm pretty sure you stopped reading and immediately began typing a nasty "Boise and BYU are easy scheduling, this is not an accomplishment!" retort, but here is the reality: BYU and Boise are easy but they are also located across the country. Both of these schools either turned down the former Big East or left the former Big East because of their own (justified) concerns about football stability and exposure. By scheduling UConn so quickly after spurning the former Big East, it shows me that both programs see value in UConn football and want to increase their own exposure in the coveted northeast demographic. They could have done that by scheduling a different northeast school or playing one of those neutral site games in NYC or Boston against a "bigger" name program. But they didn't, they chose to schedule a home and home with UConn. UConn can give them northeast exposure and if they can do that for BYU and Boise, it can show that they can also do that for every other B1G schools (some with a good northeast exposure already). Also, Warde could have taken the easy approach of padding UConn's schedule with unranked MAC/C-USA types to boost win totals and perception. He didn't. He knows that playing (and beating) tougher OOC competition is valued higher than padding wins against mediocre teams. BYU, Boise, Tennessee, and Virginia (after 2013's epic schedule) are good starts for a competitive and valued OOC schedule. They should also be enough to excite our fanbase at least once or twice a season while we wait in Tulane/Memphis purgatory.
- basketball scheduling including Florida (for those SEC conspiracy theorists) and a game at Barclay's. I know Brooklyn is not the Garden but it is NYC and a chance for our large NYC fanbase to get to see our school in action after being foolishly left out by Aresco last year. The game against Maryland will serve as another reminder of our NYC presence. I know the Maryland game conflicts with a big football game against Louisville but big-time athletic fanbases step up to the plate when they have scheduling conflicts within their programs. It's time for UConn fans to step up to the plate. Warde is essentially blocking off Friday November 8th as "UConn Night" on ESPN and ESPN2 and this is a wonderful opportunity for our fans in Connecticut and New York to show our dispersed we are in the northeast. If UConn can play to football capacity and have a strong showing at Barclay's, it will show that we are not small-time and can only marginally support one sport at a time.
- signed Ollie to an extension the right way: after he earned it. Just like bullet 2, I'm sure you are already writing a scathing "he took too long" reply. But I'm in the camp of you just don't hand the keys to the Ferrari to a 16 year old kid just because he's your son and your ex-wife kind of forced you to. You wait, make sure that his kids love him, the fans love him, and that he values the same qualities that you do (winning, classroom work, hard work ethic, classy sportsmanship, etc). Once he proved that by mid-season, he got his keys. Ollie didn't seem to mind having to prove himself and why should he? He has had to prove himself every day of his life and through a series of 10 day NBA contracts and that never stopped him from working hard to pursue his dreams. So if he didn't care, why should we as a fanbase? And why should we hold it against Warde because he was trying to protect UConn's prestigious MBB program? We love Ollie and Ollie loves UConn. This was going to work out but Warde had to make sure before completely ruling out other terrific young coaches like Shaka Smart or Brad Stevens. The right move was made when everyone, including Warde, was comfortable making it and after our son (who had no prior head coaching experience) showed he was the right fit for the Ferrari.
- rebranded our logo. I like the rebranding and I like the new uniforms. UConn seems to be embracing its "new money" reputation by challenging the branding and uniforms status quo. I like that. Maryland did that with Under Armour and created enough buzz during AWFUL (worse than UConn football seasons) seasons and drew enough buzz to stay in the CFB conversation and eventual B1G invite. Oregon has gone from above average program to top program in part because of their resistance to the status quo. UConn has ignited a national conversation about their unconventional helmets and a local conversation of choosing to roll with "UConn" over "Connecticut". I like that. The more people are talking about UConn/Connecticut, the better. The day that we do something like a re-branding or drastic uniform alteration and NOBODY taks about UConn is the day that all need to accept our AAC affiliation as a long-term sentence. UConn is young and so is their brand/uniform approach. If successful, it will show older established programs that we are the ultimate growth stock that we claim to be and that we can do it in "new" unconventional ways. We are never going to have the tradition of other "block letter" programs so why pretend to be? Instead, UConn PR can now pump out all sorts of statistics in terms of how much money they've generated in merchandise sales driven by the new logo and uniforms. It's a brilliant move actually. The same reason why professional teams wear alternate jerseys...to sell more stuff. A new brand and new everything guarantees that the diehard UConn fan found here on the BY and everywhere else will flood merchant shelves to buy new UConn stuff. Then, UConn can tell media outlets that they broke all sorts of merchandise sales records despite being the AAC. They can spin it in a "wow, UConn has some serious diehard fans to buy MORE stuff even though they have been passed over so far in CR" way and that gives UConn fans a positive pump (something that is also needed). Perhaps the older programs might even look to us as an example should they ever decide to follow suit and rebrand to something newer!!
- upcoming Rentschler Field and XL Center renovations. President Herbst is a huge catalyst for the $2B bill being signed and delivered but guess who has Herbst's ear regarding the importance of athletics for the future of UConn? By showing commitment to academics (see bullet 1), Herbst has made a commitment to athletics. Now, I don't dispute these venues have needed renovations for quite some time now and these are long overdo. But in a stagnant Connecticut economy (read UConn's research re: Connecticut economy growth), to be able to secure government bond funding to be able to slap some lipstick on our pigs is a good accomplishment. Let's see how the new scoreboard and renovations look and see if it translates into an improved gameday experience for our fans. Let's see how our off-campus stadium can be improved upon and realize that it isn't Warde or Herbst's fault that prior leadership wanted the stadium in East Hartford and not Storrs.
- Michigan is coming to Rentschler Field. They didn't buy out (something they could have done EASILY and probably would have been praised for doing by its fans) after not being able to move the game to MetLife or a larger venue. Why is this important? Michigan understands that UConn's location is where they and the rest of the B1G would ultimately like to gain futher access into. Warde held firm on the game being played at the Rent and successfully sold Brandon on how a game in Connecticut can benefit Michigan. Like I said, Michigan could have bought this game out years ago once it was learned that it wouldn't be moved but didn't. Warde deserves credit for selling our young program and small venue to the most profitable football program in the country. The Fruit, for example, would have absolutely wh0red themselves out for a game at MetLife against Michigan like they did with USC in their feeble and desperate attempt to gain their own access point in NYC as "New York's College Team" (sorry Buffalo!). But a game in East Hartford, CT was sold as the northeast entry point they obviously covet. Now our fans have a premier home game to get fired up over and a reason to buy/renew season tickets after two consecutive 5-7 seasons and no bowl games. I also know that he didn't schedule this series but he was successful in holding onto the series. Reference the Seinfeld episode regarding car reservations: anybody can schedule, schedule schedule. It's the "holding" of the schedules that is equally as important and he held onto Michigan (let's see if he can hold onto Tennesssee).
- networking. This obviously can't be measured because nobody knows just how many friends from the B1G and AAU that Warde has. But the fact is he is a "Michigan man" who got the ball rolling at Buffalo (an AAU school) to improved athletics. He has connections and we would all be foolish not to think that he isn't maintaining these connections in efforts to get UConn to its ultimate goal: the AAU and then the B1G. Some have blasted Warde for staying with the women's team while Jurich was lobbying hard for the ACC and that's somewhat justified. The ACC today is certainly better than the AAC today. But you can't for one second convince me that the AAU/B1G is not UConn's ultimate dream destination, given the recent $2B bill passage, focus on "research" in every single press release or interview given by our leadership, and improvements made to our APR scores. I am not as upset that he didn't lobby hard for the ACC like Jurich did for Louisville. For Louisville, the ACC is their ultimate stomping ground (maybe the Big 12). But they would NEVER be considered for a prestigious conference like the B1G based on their horrendous academic reputation. UConn, on the other hand, is a good marriage of academics and athletics that Louisville isn't. This bullet will better be measured on the day that the CR music stops. If UConn is in the B1G, then having an AD with AAU/B1G ties probably helped. If they aren't, then this bullet is definitely overstated and wrong. Time will tell, but I'm in the camp that believes AAU/B1G ties in our Athletic Director and leadership is important.
In summary, before you write my name in lipstick on your list of UConn fans that you are going to revenge one day, just remember that I am firmly planted on the USS Connecticut and am completely convinced that the B1G and UConn are perfect partners for each other. What Warde is going and has done is consistent with the B1G culture of academics and athletics. In my opinion, it's current academic standing that is the biggest deterrent in UConn's quest for B1G membership . We aren't AAU (yet) and our men's basketball program (our main selling point in CR) was in academic APR hell last season. We need 2013 to re-establish our men's program as a top national power with EXCELLENT APR scores and continue to make progress in getting an AAU invite. The more B1G universities that gain Universitas 21 membership (welcome Ohio State!) should help us network and politick towards AAU.
As for not scheduling BCS teams, think of it this way: if Warde can find the right balance of competitive scheduling (Boise and BYU are definitely good adds to the schedule, no matter if they are "easy" or not), winning (should get more wins against lousy conference competition), and holding onto previously scheduled home and homes with the likes of Michigan (could have bought out), Virginia and Tennessee (might buy out), then I consider it a success. Is that small time? No. UConn needs to win games and get to a bowl game more than anything. I think a football schedule that consists of 2 or so good OOC games (Michigan, Boise, BYU, Tenn, Virginia, etc), 1-2 good conference games (Cincinnati, USF, UCF) and the rest winnable games should translate to a bowl game. Why would Warde load up on tough BCS OOC scheduling when UConn has gone 5-7 in the Big East the last two years? UConn could lose all 5 OOC games and even if they run the conference table, it will still be viewed as bad by national perception. Scheduling respectable programs that we can remain competitive against will boost our value more than loading up on games that we would get crushed in. We are not on that level yet but are building towards it over time.
We all want the same thing: UConn in a better conference. Making all sorts of drastic changes while the music is still going but attempting to slow itself down via ACC GOR rumors, new networks, talk of breaking away from the NCAA, etc would only hurt UConn's chances. UConn needs the following to happen in the next 1-3 years:
- gain acceptance into the AAU;
- men's basketball to get back to NCAA Tourney and re-establish itself as a top 10 national powerhouse;
- women's basketball to continue doing what it does;
- football to get to a bowl game(s), no matter how small;
- new merchandise sales to grow to improve national perception AND compensate for the less money we will receive, compared to our local rivals, by being in the AAC;
- fans continue to support UConn by going to games, buying/donating bowl game tickets, travel to away games, and buying the new stuff;
- "other" Olympic sport to continue on the upward trajectory that they are (soccer, baseball, hockey, etc)
I hope we are still friends after you read this.
