The View From Section 241 -- the NBE

[Adios]

Joining the AAC got us to this point with the football program.

Our athletic directors and coaching hires did.

Go whack off to your Big East pr0n.

 

[UConnNick]

The AAC was better than the NBE this past season in men's BB and is going to continue to get better. Without football, the NBE is about to begin a slow descent toward total irrelevancy. The fact that we've signed up to go along for that ride is mind numbingly stupid and short sighted.

We just committed football suicide, apparently to appease some dumber than dirt donors, who myopically care only about men's BB.

The NBE may be better than the AAC for travel, but most of the Olympic sports teams were only traveling to half the schools in the conference because the schedule was home and away every other year. If we have to travel to Omaha, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis and Cincinnati every year in all sports, it's almost a wash travel wise, except that some of those cities are closer than many in the AAC. If we were in the ACC the travel would be just as bad as the AAC and way worse that the NBE, but if they invited us tomorrow we'd be there in less time than it takes for the ink to dry on the contract. Why? Because of the money.

Speaking of money, the NBE doesn't pay any more, and very well could pay considerably less than what we were going to be making in the AAC, especially now that football bowl revenue sharing is gone, and the likelihood of getting big payday games on the road will be considerably more problematic as an Independent. This takes away most if not all the revenue generating potential that FBS football offers.

Football programs go through down cycles. It happens to the best of programs long term. We could have gotten out of this cycle, become competitive again, and started making bowl games, which improves recruiting, and then the winning begins to build on itself. We've done it before and could have done it again.

Why be an Independent now? We'll lose even more money than we have been, we'll be playing schedules that virtually guarantee less attendance, and for what? I think we're only going through the motions because neither this, or any other school administration, wants to go down in history as having cancelled a sport we've been playing since 1896, even longer than basketball. The politicians and taxpayers in CT would have a fit if they were to keep driving by Rentschler viewing it as a 90 million dollar white elephant.

Again we are victimized by small minded, short sighted, parochial, New England style thinking. Even if we never would have made it into a P5 league, we are voluntarily giving up any chance to join one for nostalgic only reasons. The NBE schools are mostly small Catholic institutions with small alumni bases and no national following. They've been routinely beaten in their TV ratings on Fox by women's BB games in the same time slots. Very few people nationally care about NBE basketball. Their level of opposition in men's and women's BB is a wash or worse compared to the AAC, and we are giving up the potential to make more money in a football conference to join a league which is about to go on a steady decline because it can't possibly keep up with P5 leagues that make several times more money. Also, the P5s may eventually split and form their own association for sports. If that happens, there's some chance that the AAC might go along with them as the best of the G5 leagues. The NBE will be relegated to a second tier, or lower level of competition if that happens. We're hitching our wagon to the wrong horse.

 

[huskysupporter]

Do you know anyone with kids under the age of 20? Youth football participation in the northeast is dropping dramatically, and that trend will only continue. If a test is ever developed to diagnose CTE in living people, football will become a fringe sport. I think we are 5-10 years from a major high school in the state of Connecticut shutting its football program down because of head injuries.

If it is ever determined that universities knew the prevalence of CTE in their players and buried the information, university presidents and athletic directors could go to jail.

Football will not be driving the bus for much longer.

Football drives the bus. Nothing you say is going to change that fact. And unfortunately, as bizlaw opined, it is going to end up costing men’s basketball dearly when it’s shut down.

 

[Dean Wormer]

Football has been kicked to the curb.
No clearer example than that they haven’t even got an exit strategy from the AAC.
I mean how do u make this move and clearly have no idea what you’ll do with your football program?
We gave up, and that just sucks.

 

[ASweet3781]

The AAC was better than the NBE this past season in men's BB and is going to continue to get better. Without football, the NBE is about to begin a slow descent toward total irrelevancy. The fact that we've signed up to go along for that ride is mind numbingly stupid and short sighted.

We just committed football suicide, apparently to appease some dumber than dirt donors, who myopically care only about men's BB.

The NBE may be better than the AAC for travel, but most of the Olympic sports teams were only traveling to half the schools in the conference because the schedule was home and away every other year. If we have to travel to Omaha, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis and Cincinnati every year in all sports, it's almost a wash travel wise, except that some of those cities are closer than many in the AAC. If we were in the ACC the travel would be just as bad as the AAC and way worse that the NBE, but if they invited us tomorrow we'd be there in less time than it takes for the ink to dry on the contract. Why? Because of the money.

Speaking of money, the NBE doesn't pay any more, and very well could pay considerably less than what we were going to be making in the AAC, especially now that football bowl revenue sharing is gone, and the likelihood of getting big payday games on the road will be considerably more problematic as an Independent. This takes away most if not all the revenue generating potential that FBS football offers.

Football programs go through down cycles. It happens to the best of programs long term. We could have gotten out of this cycle, become competitive again, and started making bowl games, which improves recruiting, and then the winning begins to build on itself. We've done it before and could have done it again.

Why be an Independent now? We'll lose even more money than we have been, we'll be playing schedules that virtually guarantee less attendance, and for what? I think we're only going through the motions because neither this, or any other school administration, wants to go down in history as having cancelled a sport we've been playing since 1896, even longer than basketball. The politicians and taxpayers in CT would have a fit if they were to keep driving by Rentschler viewing it as a 90 million dollar white elephant.

Again we are victimized by small minded, short sighted, parochial, New England style thinking. Even if we never would have made it into a P5 league, we are voluntarily giving up any chance to join one for nostalgic only reasons. The NBE schools are mostly small Catholic institutions with small alumni bases and no national following. They've been routinely beaten in their TV ratings on Fox by women's BB games in the same time slots. Very few people nationally care about NBE basketball. Their level of opposition in men's and women's BB is a wash or worse compared to the AAC, and we are giving up the potential to make more money in a football conference to join a league which is about to go on a steady decline because it can't possibly keep up with P5 leagues that make several times more money. Also, the P5s may eventually split and form their own association for sports. If that happens, there's some chance that the AAC might go along with them as the best of the G5 leagues. The NBE will be relegated to a second tier, or lower level of competition if that happens. We're hitching our wagon to the wrong horse.

ANytime I try to look at the bright side of this move (there are positives) I read a post like this and snaps me back into reality.

 

[Adios]

There's really no positive, except a more balanced budget sheet.

 

[John]

Joining the AAC got us to this point with the football program.

No not true.

 

[dwalks93]

This was the right move for UConn athletics and one of the saddest days I can remember for UConn.

The AAC pathway to the P5 was always sustain basketball excellence (men's and women's), grow the football program and wait for the next P5 billet. In 2013, UConn was the consensus #1 attractive P5 candidate and the path was clear....wait for an opening, we are on deck.

Fast forward 5 years and UConn athletics are in a downward spiral. Our men's basketball program is sub 500, our women's program while still elite has lost its monopoly and our football program is legitimately among the worst in the country. Our fans are abandoning the program in mass and the national brand of UConn is nearing a modern time low.

To make it worse, programs like Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF have likely moved ahead of us in P5 attractiveness. While the above teams have flourished in the AAC, UConn has dwindled. Moreover the recent AAC media deal absolutely minimized UConn's value (particularly with women's basketball and SNY) and insured UConn would not be able to brand and re-market itself.

Bottom line....UConn was losing ground and coming back was becoming systemically impossible in the AAC. The move to the BE likely dooms UConn to never being in the P5 and insures our football program will never be competitive (perhaps even FBS). It is like cutting off an infected arm to save the rest of the athletic body. I am happy UConn now has a chance to partially recover but sad we will never be a complete P5 program.

The only positive I can see is retreating now offers more hope than staying in. The AAC is a dead conference walking. Houston, Cincinnati, UCF, Memphis, etc....are likely to move to the B12 with the non-Oklahoma/Texas/Kansas teams....When that happens, what is the AAC? The only thing worse than being in the AAC is being in the AAC when the only good teams in the conference leave and we are not one of them....

Might as well go out fighting as opposed to dying a captive....UConn may be in retreat but at least its a fighting retreat.

 

[John]

Football has been kicked to the curb.
No clearer example than that they haven’t even got an exit strategy from the AAC.
I mean how do u make this move and clearly have no idea what you’ll do with your football program?
We gave up, and that just sucks.

Typical Uconn ineptitude.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Our athletic directors and coaching hires did.

Go whack off to your Big East pr0n.

Some posters, like you, said that we needed to sacrifice basketball to help football because someday we would be invited to a P5. We followed this strategy and both basketball programs were damaged and the football program is one of the worst in FBS.

Some posters, like me, were saying that the AAC would damage or destroy all 3 major athletic programs. I said this 7 years ago, and have been proven completely right.

There is a scoreboard for this stuff. I was right, and you were wrong.

 

[Adios]

This was the right move for UConn athletics and one of the saddest days I can remember for UConn.

The AAC pathway to the P5 was always sustain basketball excellent (men's and women's), grow the football program and wait for the next P5 billet. In 2013, UConn was the consensus #1 attractive P5 candidate and the path was clear....wait for an opening, we are on deck.

Fast forward 5 years and UConn athletics are in a downward spiral. Our men's basketball program is sub 500, our women's program while still elite has lost its monopoly and our football program is legitimately among the worst in the country. Our fans are abandoning the program in mass and the national brand of UConn is nearing a modern time low.

To make it worse, programs like Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF have likely moved ahead of us in P5 attractiveness. While the above teams have flourished in the AAC, UConn has dwindled. Moreover the recent AAC media deal absolutely minimized UConn's value (particularly with women's basketball and SNY) and insured UConn would not be able to brand and re-market itself.

Bottom line....UConn was losing ground and coming back was becoming systemically impossible in the AAC. The move to the BE likely dooms UConn to never being in the P5 and insures our football program will never be competitive (perhaps even FBS). It is like cutting off an infected arm to save the rest of the athletic body. I am happy UConn now has a chance partially recover but sad we will never be a complete P5 program.

The only positive I can see is retreating now offers more hope than staying in. The AAC is a dead conference walking. Houston, Cincinnati, UCF, Memphis, etc....are likely to move to the B12 with the non-Oklahoma/Texas/Kansas teams....When that happens, what is the AAC? The only thing worse than being in the AAC is being in the AAC when the only good teams in the conference leave and we are not one of them....

Might as well go out fighting as opposed to dying a captive....UConn may be in retreat but at least its a fighting retreat.

For the 5 millionth time, all it takes is coaches to turn a program around. It was not the conference, it was the hires. KO was good for a season or 2, then took his divorce out on the school and fanbase.

 

[jbdphi]

Joining the AAC got us to this point with the football program.

Firstly, we didn't "join" the AAC but that's being petty.

Secondly, having doofus one and doofus two had far more impact than the AAC on our football program. How can you look at Temple or Cincinnati and say that UConn could never be successful in the AAC?

 

[Adios]

Some posters, like you, said that we needed to sacrifice basketball to help football because someday we would be invited to a P5. We followed this strategy and both basketball programs were damaged and the football program is one of the worst in FBS.

Some posters, like me, were saying that the AAC would damage or destroy all 3 major athletic programs. I said this 7 years ago, and have been proven completely right.

There is a scoreboard for this stuff. I was right, and you were wrong.

No, there is no major basketball sacrifice. I didn't even think we were "sacrificing" basketball. Putting words in my mouth. That's how low you gotta go to justify this?

It's weaklings like you who think we were sacrificing basketball.

 

[John]

Some posters, like you, said that we needed to sacrifice basketball to help football because someday we would be invited to a P5. We followed this strategy and both basketball programs were damaged and the football program is one of the worst in FBS.

Some posters, like me, were saying that the AAC would damage or destroy all 3 major athletic programs. I said this 7 years ago, and have been proven completely right.

There is a scoreboard for this stuff. I was right, and you were wrong.

No one claimed any programs needed to be sacrificed lol. Basketball is in trouble due to complete ineptitude and inability to compete in the AAC.

 

[ASweet3781]

There's really no positive, except a more balanced budget sheet.

Positives

- Regional basketball rivals that we have rich history with.
-BET at MSG, The AAC is playing the tournament in half empty arenas.
- can bus to 4 schools (Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova) every other school besides Creighton a plane ride ranging of 45 minutes to 90.
- save money on travel
- can absolutely recruit better basketball players in our target area (NYC/NJ/Boston).
- better basketball attendance
- better TV times
- Big East RPI is far better than the AAC. There is no ECU or Tulane. There is no guarantee that outside of Memphis that the AAC can be strong long term in hoops. UCF loses their starting 5 and how long do they keep Dawkins? How long does Houston keep Sampson? Cincinnati just lost Cronin. Besides Cincy and Memphis does the UConn fan get excited at all playing these teams in hoops?


Negatives

- We probably just gave up on football and raised the white flag on P5. If not than Suzie can kindly let us in on her master plan.

- Perhaps playing an Indie schedule can help get this program winning again. We can't compete with schools located in talent rich Texas, Florida, and Ohio in the current dynamic.

 

[huskysupporter]

Some posters, like you, said that we needed to sacrifice basketball to help football because someday we would be invited to a P5. We followed this strategy and both basketball programs were damaged and the football program is one of the worst in FBS.

Some posters, like me, were saying that the AAC would damage or destroy all 3 major athletic programs. I said this 7 years ago, and have been proven completely right.

There is a scoreboard for this stuff. I was right, and you were wrong.

Can I ask how the basketball team was damaged because of football? Looking at salaries of head coaches and assistants in basketball, I see a pretty solid commitment to the team.

Conversely, the University gave the football team an embarrassing amount towards coaching salaries. $150,000 for an offensive coordinator. That is a joke.

UCONN basketball stunk because of poor coaching and bad talent evaluation. Not because of their conference.

 

[Adios]

Firstly, we didn't "join" the AAC but that's being petty.

Secondly, having doofus one and doofus two had far more impact than the AAC on our football program. How can you look at Temple or Cincinnati and say that UConn could never be successful in the AAC?

These people are that obtuse to get what they want. Quite indicative of humanity. How we'll sacrifice future success for instant gratification.

 

[Adios]

Positives

- Regional basketball rivals that we have rich history with.
-BET at MSG, The AAC is playing the tournament in half empty arenas.
- can bus to 4 schools (Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova) every other school besides Creighton a plane ride ranging of 45 minutes to 90.
- save money on travel
- can absolutely recruit better basketball players in our target area (NYC/NJ/Boston).
- better basketball attendance
- better TV times
- Big East RPI is far better than the AAC. There is no ECU or Tulane. There is no guarantee that outside of Memphis that the AAC can be strong long term in hoops. UCF loses their starting 5 and how long do they keep Dawkins? How long does Houston keep Sampson? Cincinnati just lost Cronin. Besides Cincy and Memphis does the UConn fan get excited at all playing these teams in hoops?


Negatives

- We probably just gave up on football and raised the white flag on P5. If not than Suzie can kindly let us in on her master plan.

- Perhaps playing an Indie schedule can help get this program winning again. We can't compete with schools located in talent rich Texas, Florida, and Ohio in the current dynamic.

There's no positive in going small time. We had to run back to smaller schools to feel better about ourselves?

 

[Adios]

Can I ask how the basketball team was damaged because of football? Looking at salaries of head coaches and assistants in basketball, I see a pretty solid commitment to the team.

Conversely, the University gave the football team an embarrassing amount towards coaching salaries. $150,000 for an offensive coordinator. That is a joke.

UCONN basketball stunk because of poor coaching and bad talent evaluation. Not because of their conference.

Their arguments are really sad. I am not saying the AAC is a better basketball conference but certainly one that can be easily advanced. Or could have been on the women's side. Women's recruiting was getting better for other schools.

 

[storrsroars]

Excellent 241 post as usual. I agree with a lot of it, although I am probably more pessimistic, and yours was a pessimistic post.

This is what I 100% agree with and feel people just aren’t seeing:

“And without football, I fear one day basketball will die anyway.”

I said it and will say it again: Football Drives The Bus.

Does the football team reek? Yep. Does that mean we cast it aside like we just did? Heck no. Football should have been priority 1, 2, and 3 for the University. Coaching salaries should have been above conference level norms. Recruiting budget should have been plentiful. Instead we have a head coach taking money out of his salary in an attempt to raise his offensive coordinators salary from abysmal to just poor.

Short term this is is a boost to men’s basketball. Long term this was a horrible financial and strategic decision. And like many here it makes me sad. . . and angry. I refuse to support this university financially any longer. Why reward ineptitude?

And you want to pay for this how?

 

[ASweet3781]

There's no positive in going small time. We had to run back to smaller schools to feel better about ourselves?

It's not about "feeling better" about ourselves.

A school in Connecticut cannot recruit in a league of Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Ohio, etc. Not in men's basketball. Not in football. If Hurley is the savior the men's board think he is (I still have some doubts) he should be able to recruit like gangbusters now.

The alternative was to have the same dynamic of terrible football team and a mediocre basketball team.

 

[CL82]

Ah, well... it was a hell of a run for a while.

 

[Adios]

It's not about "feeling better" about ourselves.

A school in Connecticut cannot recruit in a league of Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Ohio, etc. Not in men's basketball. Not in football. If Hurley is the savior the men's board think he is (I still have some doubts) he should be able to recruit like gangbusters now.

The alternative was to have the same dynamic of terrible football team and a mediocre basketball team.

Knowing you've been a pessimistic person, I beg to differ. Let's just leave it at that.

I know Hurley can recruit better in the Big East. But we have to operate as a whole AD in one conference to succeed. Like the big boys. And we've been on the rebound, only to jump ship?

 

[ScottVib]

Basketball’s problem, like football was a coaching one. The AAC didn’t prevent Ollie from pulling in a top-25 recruiting class and it certainly didn’t cause him to alienate the class such that the majority left. Hurley is a good coach and I have no doubt that he will right the ship, regardless of conference.

The long-term concern is a revenue one and the curious choice to again realign the school with ten institutions that have entirely different missions academically and much smaller budgets athletically.

I really hope it works and every team comes out better, but I’m very fearful that this isn’t only footballs death sentence, but the start of a slow decline across the board, first as UConn falls out of the FBS club and then as more and more of the attention is focused on the top tier (old 1A, without football we’d fall back to the old 1AAA group).

 

[d1reality]

can bus to 4 schools (Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova) every other school besides Creighton a plane ride ranging of 45 minutes to 90.

Yeah, I'll bet recruits will be all aglow with the prospect of bus rides to Providence and New Jersey, instead of flying on those jets to the warm havens of Florida, Texas, Tennessee and Carolina in the icy winter months.