Some Guy’s Exit Interview with Susan Herbst

[whaler11]

I'd go to more games if they were on campus. Its a connection you just don't get in Hartford

a handful of people here say that - but the average person doesnt care if they are parked next to a cabelas or a library. throw in the extra 90 min round trip for the populated part of the state and its a disaster.

 

[UConnNick]

What good did getting into a BCS conference do?

Money, relevance, prestige, donations, increased student applications, plus it helps other programs when you can bring recruits to attend football games.

 

[whaler11]

The responses to something that even Herbst understands shows why there is no football culture in Connecticut. People can't even imagine half the student body streaming to the on-campus football stadium, and yet this is something that happens everywhere.

it does not. join us in 2019. almost every school in the country has student attendance issues.

AL.com All-Access: Plenty of blame to go around in Alabama football student attendance controversy

Herbst doesn’t understand squat - she just uses it as another excuse for her dumpster fire. Excuses and pointing blame elsewhere. A decade of that.

 

[UConnNick]

Very soft. I still wonder why she has not been held accountable for failing in conference realignment. Other presidents were successful in selling their schools to the ACC, Big 10 or Bug 12 but she did not. The media in CT is wat too kind to her.

It's kinda hard to understand how you don't see the advantages to being in a power conference, yet you criticize the administration for not getting us there. Without our ascension into a BCS conference, there would be no opportunity to join a P5 league, either now or in the past.

 

[Ha Who]

Very soft. I still wonder why she has not been held accountable for failing in conference realignment. Other presidents were successful in selling their schools to the ACC, Big 10 or Bug 12 but she did not. The media in CT is wat too kind to her.

The media has been part of the problem. Desi Lou never wanted to ask real questions and the political/media elites in Connecticut don’t believe in the value of sports, only redistribution of the wealth

 

[upstater]

it does not. join us in 2019. almost every school in the country has student attendance issues.

AL.com All-Access: Plenty of blame to go around in Alabama football student attendance controversy

Herbst doesn’t understand squat - she just uses it as another excuse for her dumpster fire. Excuses and pointing blame elsewhere. A decade of that.

Such small-time thinking.

I also can't believe you're serious.

Students leaving early from a 56-14 blowout of an Alabama v. Lafayette game supposedly means something in all this?

Gawd--you're so lame.

Your base is the students. Everyone knows this except you. On every other state land-grant campus, the students wake-up on a Saturday morning, put on their pants, walk across campus to the tailgate, go inside for a game. Granted, UConn's student population is only 2/3rd of the midwestern land-grants, but if they can get 20k (did you seriously ask if those schools are getting 15k), UConn can get 12k.

 

[whaler11]

Such small-time thinking.

I also can't believe you're serious.

Students leaving early from a 56-14 blowout of an Alabama v. Lafayette game supposedly means something in all this?

Gawd--you're so lame.

Your base is the students. Everyone knows this except you. On every other state land-grant campus, the students wake-up on a Saturday morning, put on their pants, walk across campus to the tailgate, go inside for a game. Granted, UConn's student population is only 2/3rd of the midwestern land-grants, but if they can get 20k (did you seriously ask if those schools are getting 15k), UConn can get 12k.

You are out of your mind if you think 63% or the student body is going to attend football games.

And that’s one article of hundreds about schools all over the country. Clemson is going to oversell their student tickets because so many kids why buy them don’t show up.

Attendance sucks because it’s the worst program in the country. The. Absolute. Worst.

Her doubletalk while Edsall is paying raises out of his own salary should be offensive to anyone with even a fraction of a clue.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Why?

Seriously, with this kind of thinking, they should never have ramped up football in the first place.

So small time.

Football gets more fans everywhere because it's a one-off. Everyone knows this. From the tailgate to the after parties to people driving into town for the day.

If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all.

You both read this board enough to know damn well this fanbase is too fickle, too front-running, and just overall to inconvenienced to expect the majority of the fans who fill up the stadium (hint: not the students) to drive an extra 1+ hour (minimum with traffic) up to Storrs to watch this football program.

I don't think the general fanbase or the infrastructure in Storrs would support the more remote stadium.

And to save @upstater 1,000 words on how Penn State has a similar situation with the small roads leading into their campus, just pause for a moment and reflect that you are drawing a parallel between Penn State and UConn football fandom.

 

[ucp990411]

It's kinda hard to understand how you don't see the advantages to being in a power conference, yet you criticize the administration for not getting us there. Without our ascension into a BCS conference, there would be no opportunity to join a P5 league, either now or in the past.

I don’t see the advantages of being in a power conference? You have got to be kidding. What I am saying is our administration did not take advantage of where we were and must be held accountable for their absolute failure of getting us into a P5 conference.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

College Students attend football games in large number at maybe 40 schools in the entire nation. On campus, off campus, or the third moon of Neptune, stadium location doesn't matter. Students have 100 entertainment options in the actual palms of their hands does. Alabama is concerned about Student attendance. They have a group working on the issue. That is a fact.

 

[whaler11]

You can be a non ingnoramous on this topic by typing ‘college football student attendance problem’ in google. you can see real facts and data. its amazing.

 

[JMick]

a handful of people here say that - but the average person doesnt care if they are parked next to a cabelas or a library. throw in the extra 90 min round trip for the populated part of the state and its a disaster.

Yeah I'm not claiming it would help solve any problems. It's just a personal preference

 

[CL82]

You both read this board enough to know damn well this fanbase is too fickle, too front-running, and just overall to inconvenienced to expect the majority of the fans who fill up the stadium (hint: not the students) to drive an extra 1+ hour (minimum with traffic) up to Storrs to watch this football program.

I don't think the general fanbase or the infrastructure in Storrs would support the more remote stadium.

And to save @upstater 1,000 words on how Penn State has a similar situation with the small roads leading into their campus, just pause for a moment and reflect that you are drawing a parallel between Penn State and UConn football fandom.

So, without getting into an 1000 word rebuttal, if you put the stadium on campus going to the game has a less of a pro feel. You are going back to campus, not out to an abandoned airfield. The notion that our program is some different than every other in America is absurd. Others drive further with equivalent, if not worse "infra structure issues. As I note frequently, that was exactly how tailgating started in the first place. Get to the stadium early and beat the crowd. Walk around campus while someone fires up the grill. Eat before the game. Enjoy some good company, and maybe an adult beverage or two. After the game same thing. Fire up the grill relax and talk about the game maybe throw a football around and play a little corn hole. All of a sudden your drive out is pretty mellow since you avoided the idiots rushing out in the third quarter. (By the way this works relatively well at the Rent.)

Penn St. should be what we aspire to be. The schools aren't all that different. (Blah, blah, blah winning tradition, blah, blah, much bigger school blah.) But if you don't like that, choose West Point or Rutgers both are northeastern schools and have "challenging infrastructure" and yet both can fill and empty their stadium effectively. I've been to games at both, if you are smart, it isn't bad at all. I get the argument if you going to a weeknight game (which are an abomination for football) and if you are coming from Fairfield County. The extra distance is tough. But on a weekend? Just not buying it.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

So, without getting into an 1000 word rebuttal, if you put the stadium on campus going to the game has a less of a pro feel. You are going back to campus, not out to an abandoned airfield. The notion that our program is some different than every other in America is absurd. Others drive further with equivalent, if not worse "infra structure issues. As I note frequently, that was exactly how tailgating started in the first place. Get to the stadium early and beat the crowd. Walk around campus while someone fires up the grill. Eat before the game. Enjoy some good company, and maybe an adult beverage or two. After the game same thing. Fire up the grill relax and talk about the game maybe throw a football around and play a little corn hole. All of a sudden your drive out is pretty mellow since you avoided the idiots rushing out in the third quarter. (By the way this works relative well at the Rent.)

Penn St. should be what we aspire to be. The schools aren't all that different. (Blah, blah, blah winning tradition, blah, blah, much bigger school blah.) But if you don't like those, choose West Point or Rutgers both are northeastern schools and have "challenging infrastructure" and yet both can fill and empty their stadium effectively. I been to games at both, if you are smart, it isn't bad at all. I get the argument if you going to a week night game (which are an abomination for football) and if you are coming from Fairfield County. The extra distance is tough. But on a weekend? Just not buying it.

Sure that all sounds great in theory, but I don't buy into the practicality of it all. We quite literally have an on campus stadium for basketball that sits less than 10,000 and fans and students alike can't be bothered to fill the arena on many nights/afternoons.

Also, not sure I would use Rutgers as a beacon of hope and they're in the Big Ten for christ sake.

Rutgers football: As perception nosedives following Buffalo loss, fan apathy grows

How many fans actually attended Rutgers games in 2017? You'll be surprised

 

[UConnNick]

So, without getting into an 1000 word rebuttal, if you put the stadium on campus going to the game has a less of a pro feel. You are going back to campus, not out to an abandoned airfield. The notion that our program is some different than every other in America is absurd. Others drive further with equivalent, if not worse "infra structure issues. As I note frequently, that was exactly how tailgating started in the first place. Get to the stadium early and beat the crowd. Walk around campus while someone fires up the grill. Eat before the game. Enjoy some good company, and maybe an adult beverage or two. After the game same thing. Fire up the grill relax and talk about the game maybe throw a football around and play a little corn hole. All of a sudden your drive out is pretty mellow since you avoided the idiots rushing out in the third quarter. (By the way this works relative well at the Rent.)

Penn St. should be what we aspire to be. The schools aren't all that different. (Blah, blah, blah winning tradition, blah, blah, much bigger school blah.) But if you don't like those, choose West Point or Rutgers both are northeastern schools and have "challenging infrastructure" and yet both can fill and empty their stadium effectively. I been to games at both, if you are smart, it isn't bad at all. I get the argument if you going to a week night game (which are an abomination for football) and if you are coming from Fairfield County. The extra distance is tough. But on a weekend? Just not buying it.

The continual bitching and moaning about having to drive from Fairfield Co. to Storrs for games is comical. In other parts of the country, people think nothing of driving a few up to several hours to attend weekend games. If an extra half hour drive to Storrs is too much for anyone to handle, you meet Chief's definition of a casual fan.

 

[uconnphil2016]

How many schools average 15k students? None?

There are 19k undergrads in Storrs - the idea they are filling some on campus stadium is fantasy.

They’d draw a bigger crowd, and it’d be a better environment, but you’re right. 15k students would be absurd. 5k would be a ton

 

[CL82]

Sure that all sounds great in theory, but I don't buy into the practicality of it all. We quite literally have an on campus stadium for basketball that sits less than 10,000 and fans and students alike can't be bothered to fill the arena on many nights/afternoons.

Also, not sure I would use Rutgers as a beacon of hope and they're in the Big Ten for christ sake.

Rutgers football: As perception nosedives following Buffalo loss, fan apathy grows

How many fans actually attended Rutgers games in 2017? You'll be surprised

Weeknight games are tough even if the commute is easy. But footfall isn't basketball. With only 6 home games a year football games are more of an event. Again tailgating before a basketball game isn't really a thing (though I know people who do it.)

Point with RU or West Point is just the getting people in and out of the stadium is manageable. RU doesn't do much right, but they off load their stadium crowd pretty efficiently.

 

[noeynox]

That was interesting. Do i blame her for where UConn is at, outside the P5? No, but facts are facts, she arrived when UConn was in a BCS conference and leaves with it in The Group of 5. That is her legacy on the sports side.

“but we have a lot of sports, maybe too many, given our budget issues.”

No kidding.

 

[CL82]

That was interesting. Do i blame her for where UConn is at, outside the P5? No, but facts are facts, she arrived when UConn was in a BCS conference and leaves with it in The Group of 5. That is her legacy on the sports side.

“but we have a lot of sports, maybe too many, given our budget issues.”

No kidding.

Just curious, are the national championships that we won during her tenure also a part of her legacy "on the sports side?"

 

[Huskybass]

Seriously, with this kind of thinking, they should never have ramped up football in the first place.

So small time.

Football gets more fans everywhere because it's a one-off. Everyone knows this. From the tailgate to the after parties to people driving into town for the day.

If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all.

Do you really think 78% of the 19,200 undergrads would ever go to a football game? If you got half the undergrads to go that would be big. There are students who don't go to sporting events, ever. But, as others have said, attendance follows winning, especially here in CT.

 

[noeynox]

Just curious, are the national championships that we won during her tenure also a part of her legacy "on the sports side?"

Sure. Depends on what people remember. I will always remember going from BCS to group of five status, but if what sticks out to you from her time here is the national titles then sure.

The emails between her and Paul Pendergast were very telling. Caught totally flat footed.

Its not all negative. The national titles count. Remains to be seen how competitive we will be nationally as time goes by in our new reality outside the power structure of college athletics.

 

[Towney007]

The problem with football in CT is football. Not where it’s located.

Also they’re having huge student attendance issues everywhere. Not just here. UMass actually has a great tailgate scene and you can’t get anyone in the stadium. The market is saturated and students are priced out.

There’s also zero football culture in this region.

 

[Towney007]

The continual bitching and moaning about having to drive from Fairfield Co. to Storrs for games is comical. In other parts of the country, people think nothing of driving a few up to several hours to attend weekend games. If an extra half hour drive to Storrs is too much for anyone to handle, you meet Chief's definition of a casual fan.

Good luck telling them they’re all just lazy and
That if they were real fans they’d drive four hours to games like they do in Iowa

 

[SubbaBub]

I like your thinking, but unfortunately a lot of those 15,000 students wouldn't be interested in football or would have other things going on. That said, having your football field 30 minutes from campus is certainly not helping student attendance.

This. Alumni and locals fill FB stadiums. How many students attend BB games?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Weeknight games are tough even if the commute is easy. But footfall isn't basketball. With only 6 home games a year football games are more of an event. Again tailgating before a basketball game isn't really a thing (though I know people who do it.)

Point with RU or West Point is just the getting people in and out of the stadium is manageable. RU doesn't do much right, but they off load their stadium crowd pretty efficiently.

Rutgers has the benefit of the stadium being dab in the middle of two major highways (95/287) which is the same as The Rent (84/95). I've been to Rutgers games and the feel to me, is pretty much the same as for as a collegiate atmosphere. Rutgers NB is so segmented and spread out that a parking lot in East Hartford feels the same as one of Busch Campus in Piscataway.

 

[Kathy]

I like your thinking, but unfortunately a lot of those 15,000 students wouldn't be interested in football or would have other things going on. That said, having your football field 30 minutes from campus is certainly not helping student attendance.

Not a huge football fan, but when I went to UConn and games were in campus I went to alot for the social aspect. Would have never gotten on a bus and travel 30+ minutes each way

 

[CL82]

Sure. Depends on what people remember. I will always remember going from BCS to group of five status, but if what sticks out to you from her time here is the national titles then sure.

The emails between her and Paul Pendergast were very telling. Caught totally flat footed.

Its not all negative. The national titles count. Remains to be seen how competitive we will be nationally as time goes by in our new reality outside the power structure of college athletics.

Lol, I think it is fair to say I will remember both the nation championships in multiple sports, the end of the BCS system and the evisceration of the Big East. The thing is I'm not sure we can say she much impact on any of it. Yeah as a new president she "was caught flatfooted by BE departures a process which began before her tenure. I'm curious though, if you believe it was in her power to change that. While I'll agree there are moments, with the benefit of hindsight, that I would have preferred she be more (sometimes) or less (sometimes) proactive but I strongly doubt the outcome would have changed.

I'm not sure where things will go from here. I do not see a path for us to gain P5 status. Our best hope is a breakaway from the NCAA of the top 100 football school, which I presume would include the AAC.

 

[CL82]

Rutgers has the benefit of the stadium being dab in the middle of two major highways (95/287) which is the same as The Rent (84/95). I've been to Rutgers games and the feel to me, is pretty much the same as for as a collegiate atmosphere. Rutgers NB is so segmented and spread out that a parking lot in East Hartford feels the same as one of Busch Campus in Piscataway.

Rutgers Stadium is on River Road, not 95 or 287. If you ever exited a game there you will remember that they designate certain back roads as exit routes and convert traffic there as one way using both lanes. The same could work us in Storrs. Not that it is going to happen in the near future.

 

[ucp990411]

Just curious, are the national championships that we won during her tenure also a part of her legacy "on the sports side?"

It is not the wins and losses that I criticize or complement her for. It is the financial hardships placed on the University during her tenure. There was an opportunity to join a P5 conference which did not happen. This incompetence cost millions and as head of the school she ultimately should be held accountable.

 

[CL82]

It is not the wins and losses that I criticize or complement her for. It is the financial hardships placed on the University during her tenure. There was an opportunity to join a P5 conference which did not happen. This incompetence cost millions and as head of the school she ultimately should be held accountable.

Okay so what did she do or fail to do that resulted in our status as top G5 school. If you say she didn't get us a P5 slot, you aren't really saying anything are you.

As I noted above I don't think there was any single action she could have taken that would have changed on current status. I understand you frustration but I think it is misdirected.