The stars have aligned. Now is the time to be bold and aggressive.

[Zerostatic]

Every previous round of conference realignment seemed to hit us at the wrong time, with a major program slumping or in transition and suddenly we are on the outside looking in.

But right now the stars are actually aligned. Both basketball teams just made the Final Four, football has stacked back to back nine win seasons (not to mention the success of men's and women's hockey as well as baseball and soccer). Publicly and in the media, UConn looks like a flagship athletic brand again.

That is exactly why we should be pushing hard this summer, reopening Big 12 conversations, floating similar terms to the ACC, whatever it takes to get a real seat at the table.

My worry is that windows like this do not stay open forever. A Geno retirement, Hurley jumping to the NBA, or a rocky football coaching transition could easily knock us back into limbo.

If we want long term stability, this feels like the time to be bold and get into the a Power 4 conference. Thoughts?

 

[JwittersPAC]

Every previous round of conference realignment seemed to hit us at the wrong time, with a major program slumping or in transition and suddenly we are on the outside looking in.

But right now the stars are actually aligned. Both basketball teams just made the Final Four, football has stacked back to back nine win seasons (not to mention the success of men's and women's hockey as well as baseball and soccer). Publicly and in the media, UConn looks like a flagship athletic brand again.

That is exactly why we should be pushing hard this summer, reopening Big 12 conversations, floating similar terms to the ACC, whatever it takes to get a real seat at the table.

My worry is that windows like this do not stay open forever. A Geno retirement, Hurley jumping to the NBA, or a rocky football coaching transition could easily knock us back into limbo.

If we want long term stability, this feels like the time to be bold and get into the a Power 4 conference. Thoughts?

I think nothing is happening until we get closer to 2030.

 

[Hoophound]

Every previous round of conference realignment seemed to hit us at the wrong time, with a major program slumping or in transition and suddenly we are on the outside looking in.

But right now the stars are actually aligned. Both basketball teams just made the Final Four, football has stacked back to back nine win seasons (not to mention the success of men's and women's hockey as well as baseball and soccer). Publicly and in the media, UConn looks like a flagship athletic brand again.

That is exactly why we should be pushing hard this summer, reopening Big 12 conversations, floating similar terms to the ACC, whatever it takes to get a real seat at the table.

My worry is that windows like this do not stay open forever. A Geno retirement, Hurley jumping to the NBA, or a rocky football coaching transition could easily knock us back into limbo.

If we want long term stability, this feels like the time to be bold and get into the a Power 4 conference. Thoughts?

We’re trying.

Football recruiting is actually better with Candle.

Great basketball doesn’t seem to be enough, but neither Geno or Hurley is going anywhere for now.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Every previous round of conference realignment seemed to hit us at the wrong time, with a major program slumping or in transition and suddenly we are on the outside looking in.

But right now the stars are actually aligned. Both basketball teams just made the Final Four, football has stacked back to back nine win seasons (not to mention the success of men's and women's hockey as well as baseball and soccer). Publicly and in the media, UConn looks like a flagship athletic brand again.

That is exactly why we should be pushing hard this summer, reopening Big 12 conversations, floating similar terms to the ACC, whatever it takes to get a real seat at the table.

My worry is that windows like this do not stay open forever. A Geno retirement, Hurley jumping to the NBA, or a rocky football coaching transition could easily knock us back into limbo.

If we want long term stability, this feels like the time to be bold and get into the a Power 4 conference. Thoughts?

We could win dual national championships for 5 straight years in basketball and not get into a Power 4 conference. The only way to get in the club is to provide more revenue for hegemonic schools. We have no pathway to doing so, and as such, have no pathway to an invite. I encourage you to enjoy the time we have left as a real competitor in D1 college athletics

 

[CL82]

The only way to get in the club is to provide more revenue for hegemonic schools

Every other metric is meaningless. If media companies decide that we bring enough value that they're willing to pony up to pay for our share, plus money to increase every other school share, we will get in. If they don't, we will be on the outside looking in. It really is just that simple.

For what it's worth, given the extraordinary distributions for the Big Ten and the SEC, it would be much more expensive to add us to one of those conferences than either the big 12 or the ACC. Thus are going to the Big Ten will never happen. Getting into either of the runner-up conferences is unlikely as well, except as backfill for other departing schools.

 

[ZooCougar]

Every previous round of conference realignment seemed to hit us at the wrong time, with a major program slumping or in transition and suddenly we are on the outside looking in.

But right now the stars are actually aligned. Both basketball teams just made the Final Four, football has stacked back to back nine win seasons (not to mention the success of men's and women's hockey as well as baseball and soccer). Publicly and in the media, UConn looks like a flagship athletic brand again.

That is exactly why we should be pushing hard this summer, reopening Big 12 conversations, floating similar terms to the ACC, whatever it takes to get a real seat at the table.

My worry is that windows like this do not stay open forever. A Geno retirement, Hurley jumping to the NBA, or a rocky football coaching transition could easily knock us back into limbo.

If we want long term stability, this feels like the time to be bold and get into the a Power 4 conference. Thoughts?

I think you are on top of it.

 

[Ldandy]

Every previous round of conference realignment seemed to hit us at the wrong time, with a major program slumping or in transition and suddenly we are on the outside looking in.

But right now the stars are actually aligned. Both basketball teams just made the Final Four, football has stacked back to back nine win seasons (not to mention the success of men's and women's hockey as well as baseball and soccer). Publicly and in the media, UConn looks like a flagship athletic brand again.

That is exactly why we should be pushing hard this summer, reopening Big 12 conversations, floating similar terms to the ACC, whatever it takes to get a real seat at the table.

My worry is that windows like this do not stay open forever. A Geno retirement, Hurley jumping to the NBA, or a rocky football coaching transition could easily knock us back into limbo.

If we want long term stability, this feels like the time to be bold and get into the a Power 4 conference. Thoughts?

Everything you said about UConn is true. If it was up to me, you would be in The Big 10 right now. Unfortunately, I'm just a schlub posting on a message board, and SMU showed us what the terms were for joining a non-decimated ACC. I think all that UConn can do right now is hold on until 2030. If something happens with the ACC be readily available as a backfill option.

 

[Fishy]

I'm not even sure there's going to be anything dramatic in 2030.

The Big Ten and perhaps the SEC will be distributing around $100M to members and even if they get over the "bigger has not been better" issues they're having, they would need to convince a network that paying an extra $100m per school is a good idea.

Is ESPN drooling at the prospect of give UNC $100m instead of $45m? Doubt it. Does Fox want to pay the Big Ten an extra $200m a year for two schools? Doubt it.

It could happen, but it's certainly not the way things are heading.

I can, however, see UConn getting an invite to the B12 before it goes to market to renegotiate. It's a long shot and honestly, not an exciting prospect, but I can see it happening.

 

[Hoophound]

I know we need an invite, but at this point I struggle to find an invite anywhere exciting. I’ve actually grown to like the Big East more because we have rivalries and history here. I think it would be exciting to go to the B1G for football. I don’t really care about playing them in basketball. It’s a good conference but it just doesn’t have any familiarity.

The whole college sports climate has become a turnoff. I’m particularly disheartened by the situation we seem to face with refs in both football and basketball. We’ve been getting screwed by ACC refs in football for years now and we even get screwed by Big East refs in basketball. It’s very pronounced and disheartening. Maybe, there is no good place for us.

 

[JwittersPAC]

We could win dual national championships for 5 straight years in basketball and not get into a Power 4 conference. The only way to get in the club is to provide more revenue for hegemonic schools. We have no pathway to doing so, and as such, have no pathway to an invite. I encourage you to enjoy the time we have left as a real competitor in D1 college athletics

This fatalism language is tiring. As long as there are boosters, fans and the state are willing to support UConn basketball, UConn will continue to be great in basketball.