The Athletic Group of 5 Mailbag Question: Will UConn's turnaround under Jim Mora get them in a conference?

[FfldCntyFan]

Have you checked out hotels there yet.Almost nothing available. all Sold out.

Really? Because we're coming to town?

 

[Waquoit]

Whatever it is they are doing we should be taking notes.

Their academic standard is "Did the check clear?" We don't need to be playing Liberty.

 

[formerlurker]

It's funny, we all knew at the time that BC was making a big mistake by sticking the shiv into UConn.

@tcf15 can you trim this down and sprinkle some UConn vs BC magic on it?

 

[pj]

Liberty is ranked with only Tulane as a non P5 ranked higher. This year Liberty scheduled Arkansas, BYU, Wake, VPI, UCONN. Next year it is going to C-USA with Bowling Green, Buffalo, ODU, and UMass on its schedule. Oooph.

What's the advantage of a conference except that it allows the AD to be lazy about scheduling and media deals? The schedule and the money and the travel are better as an independent, and the fan interest and gate receipts higher. You also have freedom/availability to move up if the conference reshuffling continues.

 

[Stinger92860]

What's the advantage of a conference except that it allows the AD to be lazy about scheduling and media deals? The schedule and the money and the travel are better as an independent, and the fan interest and gate receipts higher. You also have freedom/availability to move up if the conference reshuffling continues.

I hope ad Dave is talking to the B12. There are 30+ million reasons to make that call

 

[CL82]

I hope ad Dave is talking to the B12. There are 30+ million reasons to make that call

And plenty of other reasons not to. The AAC sucked so bad that a move to the Big 12 was a no brainer. Now? The money is still probably too much to turn down, but it’s a pretty bad fit for us. In any event I don’t see them offering an invite.

 

[Kolumbo]

And plenty of other reasons not to. The AAC sucked so bad that a move to the Big 12 was a no brainer. Now? The money is still probably too much to turn down, but it’s a pretty bad fit for us. In any event I don’t see them offering an invite.

I feel the opposite. I thought the Big 12 was an awful fit before but now I really think it would be a good option. Conferences are going coast to coast. Cincy and West Virginia are old Big East mates. It would be great if it added a couple East Coast schools but with the PAC 12 imploding, the Big 12 has many options. And the basketball is great. Big 12 should just make the jump to Big 12 x 2 and lock down the 3rd position for good. Add UCONN, Temple, ECU (to stick it to tobacco road), USF, Corner 4 . . .

An aside. WV Men's Soccer moved from the MAC to the Sun Belt this year. So I look up to see what Cincy will be doing and it ended its men's soccer program in 2020. I did not know that. Odd and sad for such a large midwestern university.

 

[CL82]

I feel the opposite. I thought the Big 12 was an awful fit before but now I really think it would be a good option. Conferences are going coast to coast. Cincy and West Virginia are old Big East mates. It would be great if it added a couple East Coast schools but with the PAC 12 imploding, the Big 12 has many options. And the basketball is great. Big 12 should just make the jump to Big 12 x 2 and lock down the 3rd position for good. Add UCONN, Temple, ECU (to stick it to tobacco road), USF, Corner 4 . . .

An aside. WV Men's Soccer moved from the MAC to the Sun Belt this year. So I look up to see what Cincy will be doing and it ended its men's soccer program in 2020. I did not know that. Odd and sad for such a large midwestern university.

[Shrugs] I think the decision would come down to the numbers in the end. If we got an immediate full share, it would be tough to walk away from. If we got less than a 50% share, and there is some talk of proposals of reduced shares for new members to the big 12 I’m not sure the differential over the biggest new contract would make it worthwhile.

It bothers me that we are in such a bad position that out best realistic upside is potentially joining a depleted ACC in 14 years. Still, that would seem better than joining the big 12, at least to me, by a fairly wide margin.

 

[Stinger92860]

And plenty of other reasons not to. The AAC sucked so bad that a move to the Big 12 was a no brainer. Now? The money is still probably too much to turn down, but it’s a pretty bad fit for us. In any event I don’t see them offering an invite.

Besides the money, baseball and womens bball will play better conference competition . I think it helps football and basketball too, but I’ll be in the minority on that.

 

[ScottVib]

Liberty took the C-USA offer because they’ve been desperately searching for one since they announced their upgrade. They were ready to sue the NCAA over the rule that required conference affiliation to upgrade. They struggled to fill their schedules to the point where they played New Mexico State (soon to be one of their new conference opponents) twice home and home one season. Despite their on field success the non-athletic parts of the university made them so undesirable that it took a C-USA conference desperately fighting for survival for them to finally get a sniff.

Joining C-USA is an even worse idea now than it was when UConn said “pass” last year. If you want to bring back the days of 7k in house for games line up the the C-USA Tuesday night games. The all-sports deal not only consigns your to crap attendance, but also to less money. Furthermore it makes your ‘peers’ Liberty, Jacksonville State, Stephen F. Austin, La. Tech, FIU, UTEP, NMSU, etc.

There is a reason to consider a football only membership to some conference, but C-USA isn’t that conference. If anything it’s become less attractive since UConn said no thank you last.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

I feel the opposite. I thought the Big 12 was an awful fit before but now I really think it would be a good option. Conferences are going coast to coast. Cincy and West Virginia are old Big East mates. It would be great if it added a couple East Coast schools but with the PAC 12 imploding, the Big 12 has many options. And the basketball is great. Big 12 should just make the jump to Big 12 x 2 and lock down the 3rd position for good. Add UCONN, Temple, ECU (to stick it to tobacco road), USF, Corner 4 . . .

An aside. WV Men's Soccer moved from the MAC to the Sun Belt this year. So I look up to see what Cincy will be doing and it ended its men's soccer program in 2020. I did not know that. Odd and sad for such a large midwestern university.

'I feel the opposite. I thought the Big 12 was an awful fit before but now I really think it would be a good option. '
too easy.

signed, just walking all around up in here, picking up the loose change.

 

[dvegas]

Have you checked out hotels there yet.Almost nothing available. all Sold out.

If it works in Knoxville like it does in State College, people have a standing hotel reservation "first home game" or third home game" They make it every year, and pay for the next year when they check out after the game the previous year. Doesn't matter who the opponent is. Some years you get lucky (say UM or Alabama), other years not so much (Temple or UConn). Tons of demand, not much supply in those towns. Thats why flying in and renting an RV isnt a bad idea. Personally, I'd get a boat for the Tennessee game if I could afford it!

 

[huskymedic]

C-USA Media Deal > no $$ noted (no surprise):

So how good is the Conference USA TV deal?

The increased exposure is a real benefit. But boy, it also comes at a cost.

www.extrapointsmb.com

 

[gars44]

It bothers me that we are in such a bad position that out best realistic upside is potentially joining a depleted ACC in 14 years.

The other hope I have is that Clemson and FSU just get so sick of the reduced payout in the ACC that they worm their way into the Power 2. That can happen if they continue to lose higher recruits to the SEC (mostly) and the B1G. With the addition of TX and OKLA in a couple of years there will just be too many high-talent teams in the SEC and B1G to keep a two-loss Power 2 team out of the 8 team playoffs. They will all be making about $100,000,000 per year, attracting the vast majority of the higher quality recruits. Even now, I don't see how you can keep 3 SEC teams out of the 4 team playoff, but that's another issue. Clem and FSU will not continue to be happy getting $35MM/yr or so for the next 14 years. Not gonna happen. Losing out on top recruits. They are going to have to join up with the Power 2, or their programs will enter a slow deterioration to the level of North Carolina, Miami, Syracuse, Pitt. All good top 25 teams, but not what Clem and FSU signed up for. Not at their energy level. That's kind of what has happened over the last few years to TX and OKLA. Slow rot. And they don't like it. They wanted out and they got out. See, UCLA and USC for additional citation.

So, when Clemmy and FSU get out, it leaves a big hole in the ACC. There will be no more "football" schools to add. The best move will be to bring in UConn, maybe WVU, No inside info, but if you were running the show at Clem and FSU, what would be on your mind right now?

 

[CL82]

Besides the money, baseball and womens bball will play better conference competition . I think it helps football and basketball too, but I’ll be in the minority on that.

Yeah I don’t disagree about that, especially as to baseball. but the trade-off is travel becomes dramatically worse not only for those sports but also for Olympic sports. It was a real grind in the American, which was better for us geographically than the big 12.

 

[CL82]

So how good is the Conference USA TV deal?

The increased exposure is a real benefit. But boy, it also comes at a cost.

www.extrapointsmb.com

By way of comparison, our CBS SN deal, for football only, is $500,000 a year. keep in mind that that was negotiated at a time that we were in the middle of our decade of epic suck that only now seems to be ending. Coosa is getting another $250-$300,000 for the rights for all of their sports. It isn’t a particularly good deal and is certainly worthless, far less, and has far less exposure than our existing circumstances.

 

[uconnfan68]

I hope ad Dave is talking to the B12. There are 30+ million reasons to make that call

We'd still be the outlier in the revamped new AAC. Without Texas and Oklahoma, the B12 isn't anymore.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

No inside info, but if you were running the show at Clem and FSU, what would be on your mind right now?

What is on their mind is "how do we get out of the GOR we agreed to?". Otherwise....they are stuck in the ACC for 14 years....and that's a long time for UConn to wait.

I agree that's the best path for UConn getting an ACC invite...but the GOR hurdle is significant.

 

[metsfan2323]

Without Texas and Oklahoma, the B12 isn't anymore.

The new B12 television payout keeps them at "Power" status, they will continue to make roughly the same as the ACC, so your statement isn't true.

Can you imagine this boards reaction if we turned down a B12 invite and they instead offered Temple? any P5 offer must be accepted.

 

[NE Football]

We missed the boat when we left the AAC, huge mistake. There is nothing left in the G5 to go back to at this point.

I don’t see the SEC or the B1G expanding any time soon. They will go to 10 conference games in the new lineup to get the TV match-ups that the 3 networks want. The numbers just don’t work to add more teams without ND. The next shoe to drop is player payrolls. The B1G and the SEC will have the most amount of money to have the largest payrolls. They don’t need more than the 32 teams they already have.

I would think that the ACC, Big 12 and PAC 12 would merge to form a 32 team conference. Add in ND and San Diego St to get to 34 teams. They could negotiate a much bigger per school payout in the next cycle.

 

[Hoophound]

We missed the boat when we left the AAC, huge mistake. There is nothing left in the G5 to go back to at this point.

I don’t see the SEC or the B1G expanding any time soon. They will go to 10 conference games in the new lineup to get the TV match-ups that the 3 networks want. The numbers just don’t work to add more teams without ND. The next shoe to drop is player payrolls. The B1G and the SEC will have the most amount of money to have the largest payrolls. They don’t need more than the 32 teams they already have.

I would think that the ACC, Big 12 and PAC 12 would merge to form a 32 team conference. Add in ND and San Diego St to get to 34 teams. They could negotiate a much bigger per school payout in the next cycle.

Lol. We can go back to the AAC whenever we want. Are you serious?
Some of you guys want to fail. It’s unreal.

 

[pepband99]

No offense but that is an absurd and delusional statement to make.

Liberty is ranked, and have in recent seasons been extremely successful and they play their home games in a nearly sold out stadium. Whatever it is they are doing we should be taking notes.

Notes:

They have a corrupt academic mission, a famous cheater as a head coach, and just "upgraded" to a terrible conference. We shouldn't even agree to play them, much less emulate them.

Liberty's football "blip" will come crashing down spectacularly soon enough.

 

[Kolumbo]

Notes:

They have a corrupt academic mission, a famous cheater as a head coach, and just "upgraded" to a terrible conference. We shouldn't even agree to play them, much less emulate them.

Liberty's football "blip" will come crashing down spectacularly soon enough.

I am not overly concerned about LU itself, but what it has accomplished is pretty amazing
Academic: It is a member of the NAICU which has to mean something since NAICU includes the Ivies, Northwestern, Vandy, Duke, Stanford
Coach: It's aiming to be SEC-like
Conference: It's only been FBS for 5 years and is now ranked

like LU or not, it is getting it done

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Notes:

They have a corrupt academic mission, a famous cheater as a head coach, and just "upgraded" to a terrible conference. We shouldn't even agree to play them, much less emulate them.

Liberty's football "blip" will come crashing down spectacularly soon enough.

They have a corrupt academic mission,
ok, i'll play.
what exactly do u mean by this?
am i now supposed to add them to 'the must hate' list?
all i know is, like Kolumbo said,
It's only been FBS for 5 years and is now ranked.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Notes:

They have a corrupt academic mission, a famous cheater as a head coach, and just "upgraded" to a terrible conference. We shouldn't even agree to play them, much less emulate them.

Liberty's football "blip" will come crashing down spectacularly soon enough.

I wouldn’t call it corrupt but maybe describe it as not very popular amongst other institutions. Be that as it may they’re going to be a tough out this afternoon.