Possible Big 12 Invite rumors

[CTFAN4LIFE]

You don't think it's entirely possible for those conferences to do that? Not sure what you meant/connected to here?

Decades and in some instances almost a century of tradition have been thrown to the wayside in the interest of acquiring what are perceived to be lucrative markets. Agreed.

I think college athletics has already started a professional sports model and that is only going to accelerate. In fact, at the highest level I believe academics will have virtually no role with the athletes. With the money involved there is absolutely no way the NCAA or any other governing body will be able to enforce academic discipline - not that there is much of it now. I am not sure it is going to accelerate as you said because (1) many experts/insiders believe that NIL investors will come to realize that their money isn't well spent/lacks ROI, (2) almost every coach and administrator that has commented on whether they want athletes to become employees has said NO, and (3) casual sports fans are not going to be more interested by college sports if it truly becomes minor pro sports (fanatical ones/true fans might but not the casuals and that's where the added/incremental tv revenue comes from).

 

[John]

I'm not saying he would only consider Northeast jobs, but that the fact that we're the premiere program in the Northeast, and in the Big East, is a major factor in his loyalty to our school when others come calling. Take away the Big East and that weakens his incentive to stay. That doesn't mean I expect him to jump for the first Northeast school with an opening, but it just opens the door for him to go elsewhere, when right now I'm not sure he would leave us for any other college program.

you know what else would get him to leave? A P5 school throwing ridiculous amounts of money at him and we can't match because we're in a glorified mid-major conference with a basketball pedigree.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

That has nothing to do with the sustainability of a hybrid conference. I'll go so far as to say that the scenario that you proposed reinforces the limited shelf life of a hybrid conference.

While the product may have been great for the fans during the years the 16 schools were together, there wasn't one member school that wasn't looking forward to the day that situation ended. All eight football members (and ND) were looking to move to a better home (some succeeded). The C-7 were biding there time, waiting for the day they would no longer need to cater to football members but were also horrified when they found out ND had discussions with some football members about the possibility of remaining with them (as a non football member) post split, which would have screwed the C-7 over royally.

I strongly disagree. It was and will be all about tv revenue; which is the highest in leagues with the most established football brands.

The Big East was the low man in the BCS totem pole and the programs that could get out, did, and have earned more money than before. The hybrid model had very little if anything to do with it.

The ACC, Pac 12 and Big 12 have all had conference teams raided...do you really think Texas A&M going to the SEC was a money decision but Pitt going to the ACC was because they didn't want to play basketball against Providence?

And again, say the SEC took the top hoop only brands left on the table...would that somehow disrupt the conference so seismically that teams would leave? No.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

you know what else would get him to leave? A P5 school throwing ridiculous amounts of money at him and we can't match because we're in a glorified mid-major conference with a basketball pedigree.

You realize there's about a 0.0000000001% chance Andrea Hurley would allow him to take a job south of the Mason-Dixon line?

 

[John]

You realize there's about a 0.0000000001% chance Andrea Hurley would allow him to take a job south of the Mason-Dixon line?

you realize there's plenty of P5 schools north of the Mason-Dixon line?

 

[WestHartHusk]

Until this thread, I thought our fanbase was reasonably smart.

 

[nadav]

It would be the best position for Villanova if UConn remained the Big East and to have its football in the B12

fixed it

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

you realize there's plenty of P5 schools north of the Mason-Dixon line?

I really don't see Dan Hurley leaving for Rutgers or Penn State.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Bleed money and hope isn't a plan. You take the money, and invest the money to improve.

We’re hoping either way. I would be most hopeful if we aren’t a middling basketball program and a dreg in football.

How would you “invest” the money? Our facilities are already top notch and we are paying our coaches. We won’t be collecting until several years into membership, and the conference is going to decline quickly without Texas and Oklahoma.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

We’re hoping either way. I would be most hopeful if we aren’t a middling basketball program and a dreg in football.

How would you “invest” the money? Our facilities are already top notch and we are paying our coaches. We won’t be collecting until several years into membership, and the conference is going to decline quickly without Texas and Oklahoma.

Why would we become a middling basketball program in the B12?

Also, it's damn near impossible for Mora to recruit as an independent surrounded in the northeast by peer programs that are in the p5. We'd take our lumps but you're downplaying the excitement this would bring to our football fanbase.

 

[superjohn]

How is this at all relevant (or cogent)?

UMass doesn't have the brand power of three of the best college football programs and one who also happens to have one of the best college basketball programs.

He was trying to make some sort of point and relate it to UConn, he got lost as soon as he started typing.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Of course you take it. You take it if the ACC calls too. It's the obvious move.

As for people complaining about the distance of teams, have you seen the Big East lately? Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana...it's not what it was back in the day. We didn't really complain about Miami either when they joined. Yes, the travel is worse, but it's not that much worse. Lubbock is the only one that's really distant and away from a major airport.

I think our problems in the American were the lack of interesting opponents aside from Cinci, Houston and Memphis + Ollie falling apart. The Big 12 has better programs with bigger names and Hurley isn't Ollie. He's turning his recruiting efforts national now, so this wouldn't hurt at all.

 

[WestHartHusk]

We’re hoping either way. I would be most hopeful if we aren’t a middling basketball program and a dreg in football.

How would you “invest” the money? Our facilities are already top notch and we are paying our coaches. We won’t be collecting until several years into membership, and the conference is going to decline quickly without Texas and Oklahoma.

Sincerely, I hope you are not in charge of your family’s finances.

 

[superjohn]

you know what else would get him to leave? A P5 school throwing ridiculous amounts of money at him and we can't match because we're in a glorified mid-major conference with a basketball pedigree.

No matter how many times you call Big East basketball a bunch of midgets and a mid-major it doesn't make it true.

Instead it makes you look really stupid and invalidates any good stuff you might have in your posts.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Why would we become a middling basketball program in the B12?

The travel would be ridiculous, and I think recruiting, especially in Hurley’s back yard, would take a hit. I don’t think playing Kansas and Baylor every year is as attractive as it sounds to kids from the northeast. Some kids value the BE traditional rivalries. I get that moving from OBE to AAC won’t be as bad as moving NBE to B12, and I’m not saying that it’s a guarantee, but I see the risk.

Also, it's damn near impossible for Mora to recruit as an independent surrounded in the northeast by peer programs that are in the p5. We'd take our lumps but you're downplaying the excitement this would bring to our football fanbase.

I don’t know how excited the fan base would be. We need to win to get people to show up. Nothing changes if we become and remain a 1-2 win team in the B12.

 

[uconnfan68]

As of 6:59, 40% of our fan base is clueless and would stay in the Big East. Yikes.

Holding out for B1G.

 

[John]

No matter how many times you call Big East basketball a bunch of midgets and a mid-major it doesn't make it true.

Instead it makes you look really stupid and invalidates any good stuff you might have in your posts.

I didn't call Big East basketball a bunch of midgets, I called the schools in the conference a bunch of midgets. And it's not an all-sports conference, so it's a glorified mid-major (albeit with very good basketball).

 

[McLovin]

How is this at all relevant (or cogent)?

Because the longevity of the institution as a whole is based on brand power and perception. Do we want to be a “flash in the pan” or have many future decades of success.

Who is better set up to thrive as an institution in the long run? A school like Michigan State or Penn State with great brand power in a nationally recognized conference… or a school, actually ranked ahead of both academically in recent years, like UMass that top H.S. students outside of their own state would rarely consider going?

I’d rather us be known more like a Penn State or a Michigan State than a UMass on a national level.

I live in Tennessee. Plenty of people down here are familiar with Penn State, Michigan State, Virginia, etc, all schools we could and should be peers of. They want their high school kids going to those state schools. Very few are familiar with “UConn” and I doubt anyone knows anything about UMass lamo.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Sincerely, I hope you are not in charge of your family’s finances.

I would appreciate an actual answer.

 

[biggieb1950]

If you want National Championships, stay in Big East. TV money, big NIL, does that get you there?

 

[noeynox]

What drives the P5? Football.

If the B12 expands it is based on football.

It’s reasonable to think that if the B12 wanted UConn Football, it may consider taking UConn for football only.

It would be the best position for UConn to remain in the Big East and to have its football in the B12, even with the uncertain future of the B12.

Not reasonable at all. But yes it would be having our cake and eating it too.

 

[hank970]

Holding out for B1G.

Have you ever been on a B1G campus? UConn isn't in the same league, either literally or figuratively.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Not reasonable at all. But yes it would be having our cake and eating it too.

Yeah, this is a Nova fan take. No conference would want UConn football and not UConn basketball. That's absurd. Honestly, the B12 would be happy to have our baseball team too. The closer reality is that UConn basketball is clearly back, and our football improved enough not to be a huge impediment to adding us.

 

[Rico444]

Because the longevity of the institution as a whole is based on brand power and perception. Do we want to be a “flash in the pan” or have many future decades of success.

Who is better set up to thrive as an institution in the long run? A school like Michigan State or Penn State with great brand power in a nationally recognized conference… or a school, actually ranked ahead of both academically in recent years, like UMass that top H.S. students outside of their own state would rarely consider going?

I’d rather us be known more like a Penn State or a Michigan State than a UMass on a national level.

I live in Tennessee. Plenty of people down here are familiar with Penn State, Michigan State, Virginia, etc, all schools we could and should be peers of. They want their high school kids going to those state schools. Very few are familiar with “UConn” and I doubt anyone knows anything about UMass lamo.

People in Tennessee only care about football. Going to the Big 12 and getting annihilated by good programs isn't going to raise our brand with college football fans.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Because the longevity of the institution as a whole is based on brand power and perception. Do we want to be a “flash in the pan” or have many future decades of success.

I don’t know why you’re trying to invoke concerns about UConn’s legitimacy as a school. It’s silly and not relevant to the discussion. But sure I’ll play along with this tangent

Who is better set up to thrive as an institution in the long run? A school like Michigan State or Penn State with great brand power in a nationally recognized conference… or a school, actually ranked ahead of both academically in recent years, like UMass that top H.S. students outside of their own state would rarely consider going?

I’d rather us be known more like a Penn State or a Michigan State than a UMass on a national level.

Those schools have institutional pedigree in research and endowments that UConn simply does not have. Sports had little to do with establishing that. If we were a research institution heading back to pre-WWI and were still so behind today, maybe you’d have an argument.

In what way are you concerned about UConn’s long-term longevity as an institution?

I live in Tennessee. Plenty of people down here are familiar with Penn State, Michigan State, Virginia, etc, all schools we could and should be peers of. They want their high school kids going to those state schools. Very few are familiar with “UConn” and I doubt anyone knows anything about UMass lamo.

As your tweet demonstrates, being a good school is being a good school, regardless of what your anecdotal residents of Tennessee (lol) think. People shy away from the northeast because they’re biased against the region and/or because of weather. It’s that simple.