Possible Big 12 Invite rumors

[willie99]

That may be true everywhere but the 'Yard. I can personally confirm from having met some of you (and my own deteriorating sanity) that this place does nothing but burn brain cells like a flamethrower in a hay barn.

Getting "BoneYarded" is real, but I suppose that's true for the entire WWW. The few Yarders I know or have met are all educated, successful and reasonable. This place might actually be pretty smart.

Although more people need to appreciate the fact that good and smart people can and do disagree

 

[CL82]

For the schools themselves, sure. But, for example, Michigan's football ticket revenue is not being spread around the rest of the Big 10. The driver is the TV money. And the facts show that the NCAAT generates nearly twice as much TV revenue as the CFP and bowls do, despite Michigan's football attendance being 600,000 people per year vs - idk - 120,000 in basketball?

If the non-revenue D1, D2, and D3 subsidy source suddenly shifted to football instead of relying on the NCAAT, Michigan football's value to the Big 10 would plummet overnight. And Michigan basketball's value would 10x overnight.

I don't disagree with your larger point, that the NCAA being funded via March madness revenues effectively devalues basketball schools and I absolutely agree that ticket revenue stays with the home schools, but it is still revenue. A key, in my opinion, to correcting the sizable deficits of our athletic department is filling the Rent. Even at $25 on average per seat, that works out to $1 million a game, which is 150% of the current biggest media distribution. And, if we are selling out, average ticket price would be more than $25 per game.

 

[king conn]

This poll needed an age input. I’d wager a significant part of my income that the “stay in the big east” crowd is 50+, pull the carpet up after them types.

I think the dividing line is simply those who don't understand how college athletes work ( casuals ).

What's truly amazing is when you go back to when this first started happening, everyone killed UConn and Hathaway for being happy with the Big East while every other football school was setting up their way out to obtain the needed financial power to thrive in the future.

And now, if given the chance a second time, almost half the people here would choose the same stick your head in the sand strategy

That being said, if Hurley were to take another job tomorrow at twice what he is making here, everyone would find religion pretty quickly

 

[Drew]

^^^
Did you know? Texas and Oklahoma are joining Missouri and Nebraska and Taxas A&M and Colorado on their way out.

Don't worry. AAC members Houston and Cincinnati and UCF are filling the void

Sorry Boys, the Big12 is not at the top if the food chain, they're not dealing from a position of strength, they're grasping. And they're a bad fit for us

Dream on

The most ironic part of this is the Big East added members from the Missouri Valley, Atlantic 10 and HORIZON LEAGUE and you’re advocating staying with them

As a matter of fact, exactly half of the league opponents we have were added to the Big East from a “low major” (CUSA, Horizon, MVC, A10). But we won’t talk about that

 

[noeynox]

The most ironic part of this is the Big East added members from the Missouri Valley, Atlantic 10 and HORIZON LEAGUE and you’re advocating staying with them

As a matter of fact, the vast majority of the current league was added to the Big East from a “low major” (CUSA, Horizon, MVC, A10). But we won’t talk about that

Damn. That is a fine overlooked point.

 

[aburks41]

I don't disagree with your larger point, that the NCAA being funded via March madness revenues effectively devalues basketball schools and I absolutely agree that ticket revenue stays with the home schools, but it is still revenue. A key, in my opinion, to correcting the sizable deficits of our athletic department is filling the Rent. Even at $25 on average per seat, that works out to $1 million a game, which is 150% of the current biggest media distribution. And, if we are selling out, average ticket price would be more than $25 per game.

I'd love to see the Rent sold out, but even $1M per home game isn't make a huge dent in our deficit. That's $6M per year on a deficit of $45M.

I know the state kicks in money to cover the deficit, but what happens if a few years down the road we get politicians in office who have no connection to UConn, and therefore no desire to keep funding a massive deficit? That's my biggest fear. The state has zero obligation to cover UConn AD's deficit the way they currently are

 

[CaptainRon]

The most ironic part of this is the Big East added members from the Missouri Valley, Atlantic 10 and HORIZON LEAGUE and you’re advocating staying with them

As a matter of fact, the majority of the current league was added to the Big East from a “low major” (CUSA, Horizon, MVC, A10). But we won’t talk about that

Ok, Catholic 7, plus UConn equals 8 and there are 11 teams. Vast majority? Must be that new math.

 

[Marbles90]

I think the common denominator on basketball programs leaving the BE and then deteriorating was a coaching issue. Bad coaching leads to weakened recruiting and poor performance. 4 and 5 stars wanna play for a top program with coaching that can win titles and get them to the NBA. It happened with Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, BC, and UConn. UConn brings the right coach in and they're right back to the top. The other programs - nope!!

Yeah. With the exception of Pitt, who did seem to lose something going to the ACC, I don't agree with the others. BC never did anything before the move to the ACC so that is a wash. Louisville did fine until the Pitino scandals knocked him out and Mack was a bad hire for them. And as much as we like to mock Syracuse, they made a final four and two Sweet 16's before Boeheim decided to drag down the program.

 

[John]

Yeah. With the exception of Pitt, who did seem to lose something going to the ACC, I don't agree with the others. BC never did anything before the move to the ACC so that is a wash. Louisville did fine until the Pitino scandals knocked him out and Mack was a bad hire for them. And as much as we like to mock Syracuse, they made a final four and two Sweet 16's before Boeheim decided to drag down the program.

Pitts slide might be more so the loss of Jamie Dixon. He coached three years of Pitt being in the ACC, and had tournament teams in two of them.

as an aside, I had forgotten how badly Pitt screwed the pooch on the entire Dixon affair:

Pitt basketball's bungling of Jamie Dixon and Kevin Stallings gets dumber by the day

Former AD Scott Barnes, now at Oregon State, was responsible for the move

www.cbssports.com

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'd love to see the Rent sold out, but even $1M per home game isn't make a huge dent in our deficit. That's $6M per year on a deficit of $45M.

I know the state kicks in money to cover the deficit, but what happens if a few years down the road we get politicians in office who have no connection to UConn, and therefore no desire to keep funding a massive deficit? That's my biggest fear. The state has zero obligation to cover UConn AD's deficit the way they currently are

Wouldn't that be more reason to strongly consider moving to a conference where revenues would be massively higher?

 

[John]

Could Gampel renovations (or an entirely new arena) be funded with Big 12 money?

 

[aburks41]

Wouldn't that be more reason to strongly consider moving to a conference where revenues would be massively higher?

Yes...that's why I am pro-B12. I love the Big East and it would suck to leave, but it's a move that would put UConn in a position that we have literally never been before, which is in the drivers seat for realignment when the ACC explodes - either in 2036 when they meet their expiration date, or in a few years. We need to already have a seat at the table when Cuse, Pitt, Louisville, GA Tech, Miami, Wake, etc are looking for a new home.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Taking football out of the equation, the Big East is the ideal conference for UConn sports. Does anyone disagree?

UConn is an outlier in the Big East in that it’s the only university that has P5 level aspirations for football.

Those aspirations should never get in the way of UConn being a BB power. That is who we are…that is our identity…a basketball power. Compromise that, and we’ve lost our identity.

I like the path the football program is on right now. Continue under Mora building up the program to being nationally relevant while playing an independent schedule.

Then wait for the offers to come in from a P5 conference that’s strong and stable, the B1G, instead of jumping into a Big 12 conference thats in a state of flux that will take us either down or up with it.

Why take on that risk when we don’t need to? We’re on a path of increasing our value to all P5 conferences with each year under Mora. We have the right coach at the right time who’s going to elevate our football program.

Let’s put ourselves in a position where we have multiple suitors, not just the one whom, when you do your due diligence and look under the hood, wonder whether it’ll hold up for more than a few years.

 

[Drew]

Could Gampel renovations (or an entirely new arena) be funded with Big 12 money?

It’s an influx of roughly $40M annually so… likely. Although the school would have to make increases to support staff, coaching salaries, etc as part of that so it’s not like it’s $40M in FCF

 

[Drew]

The school really botched it not issuing debt at near 0% rates over the last few years to fund Gampel renovations. Then again, that would’ve required alignment and swift action which isn’t exactly something we’re known for

 

[businesslawyer]

I wonder how the football schools were able to negotiate basketball subsidizing everything else while they keep their entire paycheck. I don’t know the history behind that, but yeah. It’s crazy to think that if football was paying the bills instead of NCAAT, then the basketball schools like UConn would be the most sought after school in conference realignment

It's historical, not conspiratorial. When the NCAA started by using hoops tourney money to fund their own operations, rather than ask for more in dues, the money involved wasn't a fraction of what it is today. If the system was started from scratch today, it wouldn't be what it currently is.

 

[Bazz4A]

Yes...that's why I am pro-B12. I love the Big East and it would suck to leave, but it's a move that would put UConn in a position that we have literally never been before, which is in the drivers seat for realignment when the ACC explodes - either in 2036 when they meet their expiration date, or in a few years. We need to already have a seat at the table when Cuse, Pitt, Louisville, GA Tech, Miami, Wake, etc are looking for a new home.

Preface this with the fact I’m genuinely asking, not rhetorically. Isn’t there a possibility, that if/when the acc implodes, uconn can join cuse Pitt Louisville duke bc Georgia tech, and a few others and add them to the big east? Miami cares too much about football to join that. But then we could have a 10 team football league, and a 20 team total league w/ basketball? Wouldn’t that be 70% as attractive as Big 12 for football, and equally as attractive in basketball and geo? You think those former acc teams would still prefer big 12 over that? Again, genuine question.

 

[aburks41]

Preface this with the fact I’m genuinely asking, not rhetorically. Isn’t there a possibility, that if/when the acc implodes, uconn can join cuse Pitt Louisville duke bc Georgia tech, and a few others and add them to the big east? Miami cares too much about football to join that. But then we could have a 10 team football league, and a 20 team total league w/ basketball? Wouldn’t that be 70% as attractive as Big 12 for football, and equally as attractive in basketball and geo? You think those former acc teams would still prefer big 12 over that? Again, genuine question.

My entire point is that UConn would be in the drivers seat for that scenario. We would have the option of lobbying for those schools to join the B12, OR we leave the B12 and band together with those to merge with the Big East.

If we are stuck in the Big East and that day comes, we are suddenly competing with those schools to either join the B12, or praying that they all collectively decide to merge with the Big East. We would be at their mercy rather than the other way around

 

[upstater]

I'd love to see the Rent sold out, but even $1M per home game isn't make a huge dent in our deficit. That's $6M per year on a deficit of $45M.

I know the state kicks in money to cover the deficit, but what happens if a few years down the road we get politicians in office who have no connection to UConn, and therefore no desire to keep funding a massive deficit? That's my biggest fear. The state has zero obligation to cover UConn AD's deficit the way they currently are

I've never understood this point.

How is the state covering UConn's deficit?

The deficit is paid for by the school.

UConn has been jacking up tuition at a far faster pace than most schools in its cohort.

UConn subsidy has gone from $681m in 2014, dropped to $613m in 2018, rose to $753m last year (after the act passed by congress ARPA). But UConn has been foisted with additional liabilities by the state that it never had before: $53m in liabilities in 2018 turned to $106m in 2022. Granted, everyone is seeing things like health insurance for employees shoot to the sky, BUT in terms of their fiscal balance sheet, there's no running away from the fact that although UConn has seen a $72m rise in funding over the past 10 years, it has incurred an additional $53m in state liabilities. This means it has received $19m in additional funding.

If state politicians are making the argument that part of the $753m has always been intended to fund athletics, then this naturally means that the state has effectively DEFUNDED UConn since 2014.

At the end of the day, though, it's one budget.

 

[CL82]

I'd love to see the Rent sold out, but even $1M per home game isn't make a huge dent in our deficit. That's $6M per year on a deficit of $45M.

I know the state kicks in money to cover the deficit, but what happens if a few years down the road we get politicians in office who have no connection to UConn, and therefore no desire to keep funding a massive deficit? That's my biggest fear. The state has zero obligation to cover UConn AD's deficit the way they currently are

Yeah, but that's kind of the point, right? If $6 million per year isn't making a dent in a $40 million deficit, is the $4 million a year we get for a media distribution from the big east making one?

If I recall correctly we were pretty consistently around 38,000 when we were successful. No reason to think that wouldn't happen again.

 

[Billy Jack]

He means regional in the sense that it's northeastern and midwestern.

Thank you. But isn’t every conference regional? So, how does that distinguish the Big East from anyone else? The Big East basically occupies the same footprint as the Big Ten - at least until UCLA and USC join - except that the Big East footprint extend into NY and New England while the Big Ten stops at NJ.

 

[Drew]

Taking football out of the equation, the Big East is the ideal conference for UConn sports. Does anyone disagree?

Vehemently.

 

[aburks41]

Yeah, but that's kind of the point, right? If $6 million per year isn't making a dent in a $40 million deficit, is the $4 million a year we get for a media distribution from the big east making one?

If I recall correctly we were pretty consistently around 38,000 when we were successful. No reason to think that wouldn't happen again.

It will happen again if we are able to give Mora the resources he needs to stick around and build up the program. That would be a lot easier if we had an extra $50M in our pockets to do it.

The reason why football got into the mess that it got into is because we didn't have the money to spend to pay good coaches. We got bargain bin coaches and they produced garbage results

 

[Drew]

It will happen again if we are able to give Mora the resources he needs to stick around and build up the program. That would be a lot easier if we had an extra $50M in our pockets to do it.

The reason why football got into the mess that it got into is because we didn't have the money to spend to pay good coaches. We got bargain bin coaches and they produced garbage results

It’s hilarious to me to watch people blame the AAC for UConn’s issues as if we didn’t hire Randy Freaking Edsall off the bargain bin.

There was a point in time where the 4 full time basketball coaches were making more money than the entire 11 football coaching staff. That’s absolutely ABSURD.

 

[CL82]

It will happen again if we are able to give Mora the resources he needs to stick around and build up the program. That would be a lot easier if we had an extra $50M in our pockets to do it.

The reason why football got into the mess that it got into is because we didn't have the money to spend to pay good coaches. We got bargain bin coaches and they produced garbage results

I'm not so sure about that. I think it was less a matter of bargain basement couches and more a matter of bad coaching hires. Pasqualoni had success at Syracuse and in the NFL, and was a favorite of Connecticut high school coaches, but it seems like the game had passed him by a bit and he struggled to produce results. Bob Diaco was a Broyles award winner. He was a hot young coach and seemed by any reasonable standard to be a good hire. Unfortunately, he was also clinically insane which, as it turns out, is an impediment to running a successful football program.