Those of you want big time football at UCONN - help me understand why

[NHRich]

I can tell you first hand why. I was at Uconn in the 1970s, one of relatively few football fans back then. I enjoyed the games at Memorial Stadium, They were a nice diversion from the 6 difficult engineering courses per semester.

I stayed on after an EECS degree for a Masters degree in Computer Science. I still went to football games. Turns out Bell Labs recruited quite a few of us. They had a facility in Colorado only 20 minutes from Boulder, which I jumped at.
I loved living in Boulder, some of the best days of my life were spent there. Of course I bought season tickets to CU football. I was very excited that both Nebraska and Oklahoma would be home games that year. Well, go to one of those games and you will understand. I am still a CU fan as well by the way.

if you are not a football fan, maybe you’d understand why someone would want to see the Rolling Stones or maybe the Eagles live in the same stadium? Those were the top two concerts I’ve ever seen, and a very similar atmosphere to the football games.

There is very little that is more exciting to a sports fan than big time college football.

And, there was just as much excitement in the stands at the Michigan game in East Hartford as any of the CU games in Boulder.

 

[ATLDYKA]

I have been to many DIV III games between top teams in that division. I find them just as exciting as any other game.
Many of the best Div III schools are also ranked among the top academic colleges.
That's just me. Help me understand why you want UCONN to keep pursuing the big time.

Thanks,

My goodness this drives me nuts. Do people forget that just 6 or 7 years into FBS football we were beating the likes of Notre Dame, South Carolina, Baylor, Big Ten schools, ACC schools, playing Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Now we have a few bad years because of some questionable coaching hires and now the basketball only lovers think we should just drop football. Almost all teams go through down years, ask Florida State and Nebraska how they have done the last several years. And their fall as blue bloods is 10 times as bad. Should they give up and drop football? Those teams 10 years ago were so fun to watch and follow and there's no reason to believe that with one good hire we can't be competing and beating the likes of those teams again. It sure is fun to me and we have the likes of Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio State on future schedules. Why would I want to give that up. A major state university needs to have a FBS football team. If you only care about basketball then stick to the basket ball board with your crazy opinions.

 

[Palatine]

Until the last couple of decades UConn didn't need an endowment as the state covered their costs. UConn only recently began to build their endowment.

So virtually almost private school has a larger endowment because they started long ago (and compound interest). And state schools in less prosperous state (pre Lowell Weicker), needed help and took their endowments seriously while UConn didn't need to or care to.

 

[Bobol]

Lower level football cost money too.

1. Yep, but a FCS football program costs a whole lot less money than a FBS program.

2. Question: how much more money do you want UConn to spend to achieve meaningless losing records as a FBS team ?

 

[Pudge]

1. Yep, but a FCS football program costs a whole lot less money than a FBS program.

2. Question: how much more money do you want UConn to spend to achieve meaningless losing records as a FBS team ?

let me pose you to question succinctly that nobody else holding your kinda elusive position maintains? If it was purely a Cost and Operating Statement type thing ... why has ONLY Idaho ever dropped to FCS from FBS ... and 30 Universities have advanced from FCS to FBS?

It is clearly far more than purely your view? Universities - as led by Presidents, BOT, Boosters - know that the monetary and intangible benefits far outweigh your concerns of costs.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I have been to many DIV III games between top teams in that division. I find them just as exciting as any other game.
Many of the best Div III schools are also ranked among the top academic colleges.
That's just me. Help me understand why you want UCONN to keep pursuing the big time.

Thanks,

I have seen some grear D III Basketball games.....would you be happy if we dropped to D III for basketball? Of course not.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I have been to many DIV III games between top teams in that division. I find them just as exciting as any other game.
Many of the best Div III schools are also ranked among the top academic colleges.
That's just me. Help me understand why you want UCONN to keep pursuing the big time.

Thanks,

I think it is time to bury football. Lacrosse will be the sport and we are in the area where lacrosse is the strongest. We should close down football and upgrade lacrosse. Florida's high schools are jumping on the lax bandwagon... In football we don't have the tradition of big time FB...We can be a winner in lax...

 

[Jimdish255]

I have been to many DIV III games between top teams in that division. I find them just as exciting as any other game.
Many of the best Div III schools are also ranked among the top academic colleges.
That's just me. Help me understand why you want UCONN to keep pursuing the big time.

Thanks,

Let me try to help you here. Should we drop down in all our other sports? Why not?

 

[Jimdish255]

My goodness this drives me nuts. Do people forget that just 6 or 7 years into FBS football we were beating the likes of Notre Dame, South Carolina, Baylor, Big Ten schools, ACC schools, playing Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Now we have a few bad years because of some questionable coaching hires and now the basketball only lovers think we should just drop football. Almost all teams go through down years, ask Florida State and Nebraska how they have done the last several years. And their fall as blue bloods is 10 times as bad. Should they give up and drop football? Those teams 10 years ago were so fun to watch and follow and there's no reason to believe that with one good hire we can't be competing and beating the likes of those teams again. It sure is fun to me and we have the likes of Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio State on future schedules. Why would I want to give that up. A major state university needs to have a FBS football team. If you only care about basketball then stick to the basket ball board with your crazy opinions.

The basketball tunnel vision crew better wake up to the fact that the gap in women's hoops is shrinking and when Geno retires we're no longer going to be automatic for the Final Four or even the Elite 8. Consolidation in Football threatens recruiting in basketball as well. The good news is that if we slip even further I promise not to run to the women's board and call for a drop to D2.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Let me try to help you here. Should we drop down in all our other sports? Why not?

I think we should upgrade the sport of the future lacrosse. D1 in all sport... Division 0 in football.

 

[oldanintheway]

We should send every Freshman on a two year mission going door to door selling FB tickets. That way we can have 25 year olds playing too.

Thanks, Had a nice chuckle....

 

[BlueDogs]

That you think it's that simple shows you have no understanding of the situation UConn was in.

The situation is a man made disaster. There is nothing wrong with this university. It sits in a very good media market, it has a very nice campus, has top notch facilities, and is a top 25 public university. We project our own CT inferiority neurosis about everything under the sun on a fine institution, as if crap holes like the Midwest and South have some kind of magical environment. They don’t. They just have people invested in success making good decisions. We have penny wise, pound foolish nit wits that can’t get their heads around what it takes to be in the game. The economic value of a P5 university is through the roof and extends well beyond inbound revenue share. But, we specialize in small time mentality in nearly everything we do. Aligning with a bunch of schools like Providence, Seton Hall, DePaul, etc.. is product of not knowing who you are and who can be. I stand by the view the NBE was a huge mistake.

 

[ScottVib]

Based on the logic in this thread... I think we should follow UHart and move to D3. I mean they figure they're going to make money by increasing roster sizes and charging the players tuition. Clearly the business model says we should do similar and there are tons of exciting D3 games in football and basketball that we all could still enjoy... and we'll be with other excellent academic institutions.

Ultimately even after a decade of disastrous performance and multiple bad hires, the football team just got a paid attendance of over 18,782 for the equivalent of an early November hoops game (the likes of which draw under 10k on a weekend afternoon in Hartford). There is still an appetite for the big time experience at UConn (by comparison CCSU draws sub 5k; Yale under 6k).

Sports is the most effective advertising for the university. It's not a coincidence that UConn became more selective as the athletics programs (led by the Mens and Womens Basketball programs) had more success. That said, basketball is just a fraction of the attention spent on athletics. While multiple disastrous hires have made it a long-shot for UConn, the fact is, the excessive money coming through for the P4 programs is currently fueling an arms race in football, it's only a matter of time before more of it pushes into basketball. If you want to be able to keep pace with the likes of Duke, Kentucky & Michigan State, UConn is going to need to maximize it's income to the greatest extent possible and (successful) major college football will be necessary to do it.

Had UConn football made a better hire after the Fiesta Bowl.. this probably isn't even a question now as UConn is in a power conference. Hell if Kevin Ollie turned out to be a better coach than he was, UConn probably never bails on the AAC (not a rehash of the decision as I think the ticket sales bear out that initial returns on the Big East move are positive). It took a confluence of events to get to this point. It'll take good hires to get back to that point where both programs are successful, basketball looks to be on the right track now under Hurley. Football gets another shot at getting it right this season.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

That's just me. Help me understand why you want UCONN to keep pursuing the big time.

Thanks,

Because it's more inclusive. Because I can attend Trinity or Wesleyan and as a Connecticut resident be fan of UConn and root for its success also. Unless you are an alum or perhaps nearby resident you really have no association with an elite small private college. By its nature its more exclusionary. I think that inclusiveness was part of the early success of professional sports. It encompassed fans of all types regardless of social standing. It represented a city, metropolitan area and region.

 

[storrsroars]

Geezus, I'm aware of that. Why don't you give me Harvard and Yale's endowment too. Our endowment sucks, I've said that forever. A list of small elite liberal arts schools endowments compared to a large state University endowment is dumb, that's all I was saying.

You're the one that made the inference that publicly-funded universities don't get decent endowments compared to private colleges. I simply listed comparable public universities to UConn that have double the endowments or more - and mostly with fewer alumni.

I don't know about you, but I take that as Exhibit A that UConn alumni don't give much of a rat's ass for big time football. If they did, there would be checks in the mail. If that's the point you were trying to make, then simply say that.

As Parcells said, "You are what your record says you are." And the record of UConn alumni supporting big time football stinks.

And with all due respect to Native Americans who invented the thing, I've never watched more than a few minutes of lacrosse and will likely never attend a game, and I certainly wouldn't pay for it. And comments about dropping football for lacrosse are about the most idiotic comments I've ever read on the BY, and that's a very, very, high bar.

 

[npignatjr]

The fanbase could barely stomach the AAC, yet you want people to accept the Colonial Athletic Conference?

I, for one, will forever stop following the program if they drop to FCS.

We've seen Temple and Buffalo have levels of success in recent years, there's no way a decent hire couldn't do something similar here.

The AAC every year had more than one team ranked in top 25 usually 1 in the top 10. The move to the Big East doomed football forever in FBS.

 

[CTFIRERETIRED]

Dropping to a lower level would do nothing. The program would continue to suck. It is the Administration that must change. It has never shown the desire for excellence. When Randy left they should have doubled down on a head coach, coordinators and assistant coaches not a "safe hire". UConn is demonstrating that they do not have faculties to operate a D1 football program.

Anyone that is as old as me, can remember. In the middle to late 60's men's basketball had a one game playoff with URI, for Yankee Conference championship, and automatic berth in NCAA tourney. Fred Shabel was coach. UC lost to URI. After game the NIT reps made invitation to UC. AD, J. Orlean Christiansen rejected it saying the NIT was a second rate tournament. Shabel, after hearing that, left UC to go to Penn, saying that UC would never be a first class operation, if they still had backward thinking like this. My point is, as long as the administration and athletic department can't get their collective heads out of their collective azzes, UC will still be a moribund football program, and we will still have posters demanding that UC drops football or moves to a lower division. Me, I just look at the results since Edsal's return. Since 2017, they are 6-32. That in an of itself is enough to do serious rethinking of the football program. Face it, they will never EVER approach the level of other football factories. It's a given. Will they ever even approach mediocrity? That would be an improvement. For years many have said, something must be done. Wishing and hoping to be invited into the ACC is still a long shot at best. How many more years will the fans, alumni, administration accept this abysmal results? I think it's time to realize that there is no pony in that room, that's filled with horse dung.

 

[storrsroars]

The AAC every year had more than one team ranked in top 25 usually 1 in the top 10. The move to the Big East doomed football forever in FBS.

Since the American was created in 2013, every team except Tulane and UConn was ranked at least once. So yeah, it was an OK football conference. But nobody gave a crap. Fans didn't show up. Viewers didn't watch. TV contracts sucked. Bowl invites were 2nd tier. It was a manufactured out of desperation and was a mess from the get-go. And UConn had the worst home attendance in a conference where half the teams struggled to average 25K at home.

I personally don't think independence has doomed FBS football for UConn. With the way things are starting to shake out, I can easily see us in a football conference with the likes of BC, Wake, Duke, Rutgers and others within the next decade.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

You're the one that made the inference that publicly-funded universities don't get decent endowments compared to private colleges. I simply listed comparable public universities to UConn that have double the endowments or more - and mostly with fewer alumni.

I don't know about you, but I take that as Exhibit A that UConn alumni don't give much of a rat's ass for big time football. If they did, there would be checks in the mail. If that's the point you were trying to make, then simply say that.

As Parcells said, "You are what your record says you are." And the record of UConn alumni supporting big time football stinks.

And with all due respect to Native Americans who invented the thing, I've never watched more than a few minutes of lacrosse and will likely never attend a game, and I certainly wouldn't pay for it. And comments about dropping football for lacrosse are about the most idiotic comments I've ever read on the BY, and that's a very, very, high bar.

Fine, you don't like lacrosse, however in Football mad Florida, high schools are adding lacrosse (and hockey), because parents are getting concerned about concussions in FB. I just read a new high school in my area, will NOT have a FB team when it opens in 2022.

That said, I hope DB will get someone not associated with UConn FB...someone who doesn't even know what Storrs is... Maybe get an HC who can recruit the West Coast...

 

[justgoplay]

The AAC every year had more than one team ranked in top 25 usually 1 in the top 10. The move to the Big East doomed football forever in FBS.

Was it a straight kick in the nads when our conference mates went from Cuse, Pitt, WVU, and UofL and became ECU, SMU, Tulsa, and Tulane? You bet it was, but the answer was not to absolutely nuke your football program by trying to go independent. Every program goes through bad coaching hires, but you can overcome that. You can not overcome no conference championship, no bowl games, and no conference recruiting grounds. If you guys had just stayed the course with the American it would be UCONN, Cincy, UCF, and Houston headed to the BIG12. Cincinnati fans would rather be in the ACC too, but the BIG12 beats the crap out of the alternative. If Cincy's AD had done what your AD did to your football program, we would burn the joint down.

 

[amishboy]

Was it a straight kick in the nads when our conference mates went from Cuse, Pitt, WVU, and UofL and became ECU, SMU, Tulsa, and Tulane? You bet it was, but the answer was not to absolutely nuke your football program by trying to go independent. Every program goes through bad coaching hires, but you can overcome that. You can not overcome no conference championship, no bowl games, and no conference recruiting grounds. If you guys had just stayed the course with the American it would be UCONN, Cincy, UCF, and Houston headed to the BIG12. Cincinnati fans would rather be in the ACC too, but the BIG12 beats the crap out of the alternative. If Cincy's AD had done what your AD did to your football program, we would burn the joint down.

Did you ever hear the expression, “Hindsight is always 20/20”? Sure, if we’d stayed in the AAC, maybe we’d be headed to the Big 12, and we could get out butts kicked there for the next decade.

But is there a point of no return? In my mind, we have minimal chance of ever playing competitively at FBS level, and continuing is like buying Powerball tickets that we can’t afford, because we just know that someone has to win, so why not us, damn the odds!

Sure, it would be great to be a major player in the FBS football world, because we’re a state public university, etc., but how does a great coach with state of the art facilities pry prospects away from competitors? “Hey, kid, wanna join a program with no national pedigree, and hang out in Storrs for 4 years, because I have a vision, which will either get me canned or promoted to a bigger name school?”

Unfortunately, we were barely hanging on to respectability when we got blown out in the Orange Bowl, but the handwriting has been on the wall since we got passed over by the ACC, thanks to BC.

 

[Jimdish255]

Was it a straight kick in the nads when our conference mates went from Cuse, Pitt, WVU, and UofL and became ECU, SMU, Tulsa, and Tulane? You bet it was, but the answer was not to absolutely nuke your football program by trying to go independent. Every program goes through bad coaching hires, but you can overcome that. You can not overcome no conference championship, no bowl games, and no conference recruiting grounds. If you guys had just stayed the course with the American it would be UCONN, Cincy, UCF, and Houston headed to the BIG12. Cincinnati fans would rather be in the ACC too, but the BIG12 beats the crap out of the alternative. If Cincy's AD had done what your AD did to your football program, we would burn the joint down.

Anyone over .500 plays in a Bowl nowadays. Beyond that the AAC contract was going to lock us into purgatory for a decade with no guarantee of going anywhere. We need to win. That is all.

 

[CL82]

I just read a new high school in my area, will NOT have a FB team when it opens in 2022.

Hmmp… casual high school.

 

[BlueDogs]

The AAC every year had more than one team ranked in top 25 usually 1 in the top 10. The move to the Big East doomed football forever in FBS.

Nope. The Big East is better cause we get to ball in Madison Square Garden which is like the pinnacle of ballin…and UConn doesn’t fit with teams like Houston, Memphis, and Cincy… it fits with Providence, Creighton and DePaul .. cause that’s the way it used to be… well not really exactly but… the Big East is a beast…well it’s the best non-power conference league by a slight margin over the AAC…all that doesn’t matter it’s about the saving on travel costs once we pay the $17M to change conference …plus we get $4M instead of $6M because the $6M was crap.

That’s all tongue in cheek for the tonally challenged. I love UConn basketball and the school owes its rise to it. But, I love all UConn sports more than it’s basketball program. The NBE decision will prove to be a regression and very bad decision that pulls down everything.

 

[Purple Stein]

The fanbase could barely stomach the AAC, yet you want people to accept the Colonial Athletic Conference?

I, for one, will forever stop following the program if they drop to FCS.

We've seen Temple and Buffalo have levels of success in recent years, there's no way a decent hire couldn't do something similar here.

The best part about the CAA is that all the games are on Flosports. The BY thread about whether we should or should not subscribe to Flosports to watch our FCS football team would be epic.