UConnDan97
predicting undefeated seasons since 1983
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2012
- Messages
- 12,337
- Reaction Score
- 45,985
After having thought about the news from the last 24 hours, I've come to the conclusion that so long as certain caveats are met, this move could be a positive thing not just for all the olympic sports but for football as well. Here's the thought process around the news:
1) We got paid 25 million dollars to use the name of a conference that we will re-enter anyways, and a name that most people in the country assumed we had always belonged to during our AAC stay. I hope you all get a little chuckle out of that, because I did!
2) If this move strengthens the men's basketball team, which it undoubtedly will, we can leverage the scheduling of our men's program to assist in OOC scheduling for football. (And yes.....I'm aware that all games for an Independent team are "OOC"...)
3) If we are able to schedule or continue to schedule our regional rivals (Rutgers, BC, Syracuse, UMass, Temple) then we will actually maintain or even increase our interest in our football team. Of course, we have to start to do things like win games, but that was always the assumption if you want to keep football.
4) FOX as a new partner may have a vested interest in helping out in scheduling with some of their other member schools (i.e., Big12), assuming they can get a further piece of the UConn Tier 3 pie there when the games are at The Rent, etc.
5) SNY almost certainly re-enters the fold, and I'm guessing that they will also have a vested interest in televising some of our football games as they have in years past.
I was always a believer in the "don't go Independent" philosophy, and I'm not much different today because of the inherent scheduling difficulties, but we cannot ignore that the most recent AAC contract really hurt us six ways to Sunday. There's no way around that fact. We had to get out of it. I hope there is already a plan in place for football that isn't yet being discussed, but I'm also hopeful that there may be a fruitful path going forward. And if we start winning again, some of the scheduling will take care of itself.
Pride. Heart. UConn.
1) We got paid 25 million dollars to use the name of a conference that we will re-enter anyways, and a name that most people in the country assumed we had always belonged to during our AAC stay. I hope you all get a little chuckle out of that, because I did!
2) If this move strengthens the men's basketball team, which it undoubtedly will, we can leverage the scheduling of our men's program to assist in OOC scheduling for football. (And yes.....I'm aware that all games for an Independent team are "OOC"...)
3) If we are able to schedule or continue to schedule our regional rivals (Rutgers, BC, Syracuse, UMass, Temple) then we will actually maintain or even increase our interest in our football team. Of course, we have to start to do things like win games, but that was always the assumption if you want to keep football.
4) FOX as a new partner may have a vested interest in helping out in scheduling with some of their other member schools (i.e., Big12), assuming they can get a further piece of the UConn Tier 3 pie there when the games are at The Rent, etc.
5) SNY almost certainly re-enters the fold, and I'm guessing that they will also have a vested interest in televising some of our football games as they have in years past.
I was always a believer in the "don't go Independent" philosophy, and I'm not much different today because of the inherent scheduling difficulties, but we cannot ignore that the most recent AAC contract really hurt us six ways to Sunday. There's no way around that fact. We had to get out of it. I hope there is already a plan in place for football that isn't yet being discussed, but I'm also hopeful that there may be a fruitful path going forward. And if we start winning again, some of the scheduling will take care of itself.
Pride. Heart. UConn.
