- Joined
- Jan 14, 2016
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction Score
- 66
First off let me say I know its skeptical that im a first time poster here, but thats up to you to believe what im going to be telling you guys.
Some back round is that I am a Rutgers grad (dont hold it against me) and this information is coming from a very close family friend who has been a booster since the 80s and 90s, may even be the first RU football booster ever lol. Not the biggest, but hes been around a long time.
Why is that important? because a lot of the information your seeing here is twitter this with new breaking news and blah blah blah, that is not how it works in this conference shuffle.
People seem to think this was some sort of Rutgers vs Uconn decision, or Rutgers vs any other school a couple years ago for the Big ten bid. That is so untrue. The real story is, in the 1990s when PSU was added to the Big ten, Rutgers was contacted by the Big and was told that we were desired for the conference, but our program was not ready. We were given a 10 year plan by the BIG, if we met those requirements , we would likely get invited in the future. The plan included investments into football, stadium, marketing, and some academic structure. Once RU did all this, it would put itself into position. Had nothing, NOTHING, to do with schiano, pernetti, 2006, bowl games, on the field improvements, winning records, etc, etc. Those things helped with the media and fan reaction, but at the end of the day, this story was being written in the 90s.
Now what happened was the realignment craze began just as Rutgers met their requirements, and Nebraska, out of the blue, fell into the big ten and took Rutgers spot at that time. Rutgers was assured they will be the next invite once they have the right partner and the rest is history.
Why im telling you this is because you have to keep in mind, rutgers was investing and building their football and academics (the 2 things the big cares about) before uconn even decided they wanted to play ball really.
What i can say from knowledge is once the realignment craze hit, i bet 100% uconn has talked to the BIG about what they need to do to be next, because the BIG will expand again. There will be 18-20 teams one day. 4 divisions, somewhat like the NFL set up. with wildcards, playoffs, internal big ten. trust me.
so while the twitters are all like this and that, uconn is investing into what they need to be attractive for the next phase. i bet you see academic improvements, athletic investments, not with on the field success but with everything that actually matters.
another hint for you is the big ten is dead set on being a land locked conference, good thing your connected enough to nj/ny for them, unless texas or oklahoma falls into their lap, uconn is on the clock and they need to meet the timelines if they want in.
anyways, good luck to you guys.
Some back round is that I am a Rutgers grad (dont hold it against me) and this information is coming from a very close family friend who has been a booster since the 80s and 90s, may even be the first RU football booster ever lol. Not the biggest, but hes been around a long time.
Why is that important? because a lot of the information your seeing here is twitter this with new breaking news and blah blah blah, that is not how it works in this conference shuffle.
People seem to think this was some sort of Rutgers vs Uconn decision, or Rutgers vs any other school a couple years ago for the Big ten bid. That is so untrue. The real story is, in the 1990s when PSU was added to the Big ten, Rutgers was contacted by the Big and was told that we were desired for the conference, but our program was not ready. We were given a 10 year plan by the BIG, if we met those requirements , we would likely get invited in the future. The plan included investments into football, stadium, marketing, and some academic structure. Once RU did all this, it would put itself into position. Had nothing, NOTHING, to do with schiano, pernetti, 2006, bowl games, on the field improvements, winning records, etc, etc. Those things helped with the media and fan reaction, but at the end of the day, this story was being written in the 90s.
Now what happened was the realignment craze began just as Rutgers met their requirements, and Nebraska, out of the blue, fell into the big ten and took Rutgers spot at that time. Rutgers was assured they will be the next invite once they have the right partner and the rest is history.
Why im telling you this is because you have to keep in mind, rutgers was investing and building their football and academics (the 2 things the big cares about) before uconn even decided they wanted to play ball really.
What i can say from knowledge is once the realignment craze hit, i bet 100% uconn has talked to the BIG about what they need to do to be next, because the BIG will expand again. There will be 18-20 teams one day. 4 divisions, somewhat like the NFL set up. with wildcards, playoffs, internal big ten. trust me.
so while the twitters are all like this and that, uconn is investing into what they need to be attractive for the next phase. i bet you see academic improvements, athletic investments, not with on the field success but with everything that actually matters.
another hint for you is the big ten is dead set on being a land locked conference, good thing your connected enough to nj/ny for them, unless texas or oklahoma falls into their lap, uconn is on the clock and they need to meet the timelines if they want in.
anyways, good luck to you guys.
