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

[SubbaBub]

Because we lived it for a few years. Attending big time FB games is a blast. Attending games with only with friends and family against teams you never heard of is not a good use of time. If you are only in it for the tailgating, you should just do it in your backyard.

I don't attend HS games either.

 

[SubbaBub]

I used BYU as an example of being an Indy and making a bowl game every year. They've been an indy for like a decade and they've been successful. Our expectations shouldn't be to become Notre Dame - that's unrealistic. Becoming BYU level of successful is realistic

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.

 

[UCTitleTown]

New England should be able to support at least one D1 football program. Don't count BC.... If we could've ever brought I'm a big time coach years ago who had name recognition, he could've owned recruiting in the Northeast. Remember when many thought the Penn State scandal would link them and UConn would benefit? That never happened.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

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,

Guessing you haven't been to a former Big East Basketball Championship game or NCAA Regional vs Michigan State at MSG either.

 

[Vuce]

Idk what the math is but I doubt this. UConn just does an awful fundraising and creating an alumni culture.

If you go to a big time football football school there is a reason why the alumni cares so much the school basically brain washes them.

Yeah they WIN games

 

[polycom]

I used BYU as an example of being an Indy and making a bowl game every year. They've been an indy for like a decade and they've been successful. Our expectations shouldn't be to become Notre Dame - that's unrealistic. Becoming BYU level of successful is realistic

It’s not, it’s not even close.

 

[polycom]

Yeah they WIN games

Nebraska would like a word

 

[Vuce]

Nebraska would like a word

Oh you mean a program that has won multiple National Championships? Yes I agree

 

[aburks41]

Nebraska would like a word

Nebraska is a college football blue blood

 

[southernfan]

UConn endowment is sad but you're comparing small wealthy liberal arts colleges to a large public state run University who has received billions from the state.

UNC endowment (also a state school) 3.6 Billion with a B. State school argument does not hold water.

 

[CL82]

Because schools in the P5, now P4, conferences get per school distributions in the vicinity of 35M to 55M per school. The Big East media distribution is 4 million per school. Eventually the “big time football schools“ will price out all the non-“big-time football schools“ for coaches and infrastructure for all sports, including women’s basketball.

Do you like winning national championships? Do you like competing at the highest level of sports? “Big-time football” is the price of admission to that.

 

[superjohn]

UNC endowment (also a state school) 3.6 Billion with a B. State school argument does not hold water.

I wasn't making an argument about our endowment being adequate, I said it was sad. I was making an argument that it's dumb to compare elite small liberal arts colleges to state schools who get billions from the gov't.

 

[Pudge]

I am not going entertain any conversation about dropping the Program or going to FCS. As in a previous series of posts, I don't buy the idea that FBS doesn't make business sense. When you have a line drawn ... Idaho went to FCS and 30 Universities advanced to FBS. I think that is pretty loudly stated. There are money and BRAND reasons and other benefits that ALL these schools found. And UCONN? Came in to this at a high level with BE membership.

Then. I am telling you NO real estate developer or institutional investor (or big family money) walks away from a $300m investment. that discussion is silly ... as is the decades long crap of an on-campus stadium.

I love Challenges in Life. Someone is gonna love taking on this UCONN football. Make the right choice

 

[storrsroars]

I wasn't making an argument about our endowment being adequate, I said it was sad. I was making an argument that it's dumb to compare elite small liberal arts colleges to state schools who get billions from the gov't.

There are something like 46 public universities (mostly state schools) that have endowments >$1 billion.

Some of our old BE/AAC friends are on that list:
Pittsburgh - $4.17 billion (just last week got a $20 million gift from a 1997 grad)
Houston - $1.01 billion
Rutgers - $1.48 billion
Cincinnati - $1.4 billion

On the private side, "elite academic" institutions like BC, SMU, Tulsa, Tulane and Syracuse also comfortably top a billion.

 

[uconnric]

Sometimes I daydream too

That’s a really uninformed comment. We’ve done it before and there is no reason we can’t be competitive on FBS.

 

[superjohn]

There are something like 46 public universities (mostly state schools) that have endowments >$1 billion.

Some of our old BE/AAC friends are on that list:
Pittsburgh - $4.17 billion (just last week got a $20 million gift from a 1997 grad)
Houston - $1.01 billion
Rutgers - $1.48 billion
Cincinnati - $1.4 billion

On the private side, "elite academic" institutions like BC, SMU, Tulsa, Tulane and Syracuse also comfortably top a billion.

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.

 

[TheDoggPound]

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,

This is akin to saying the Whalers and Wolf Pack are equally exciting. When you have tasted ribeye you don't settle for hamburger. Do we really view ourselves that lowly? Very sad on your part that you'd even advocate for such ridiculously asinine ideas.

 

[NY Crusader]

BYU has an international following with the Mormon religion.

BYU also built their success as a WAC institution, and later the MWC. Their indy experiement represented a very minute (mostly unsuccessful) window in their history.

Now they are P5. The goal for them was always to get into a P5 conference.

This week BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, and Houston get their golden tickets.

BYU recently played a road game at McGuirk. That tells you everything you need to know about how their "indy" experiment was going. Good for them getting into the Big XII -- but not sure it's P5 any more. I think you basically have 3 tiers now in FBS alone:

1) SEC/PAC/BIG/ACC
2) Big XII/AAC/MWC
3) Sun Belt/CUSA/MAC

 

[Griggs]

Because schools in the P5, now P4, conferences get per school distributions in the vicinity of 35M to 55M per school. The Big East media distribution is 4 million per school. Eventually the “big time football schools“ will price out all the non-“big-time football schools“ for coaches and infrastructure for all sports, including women’s basketball.

Do you like winning national championships? Do you like competing at the highest level of sports? “Big-time football” is the price of admission to that.

Well said!
I do believe that the pills that will cure our ills are getting into ACC, and hiring the right football coach. Football is where the money is. Dropping down to FCS is not the answer. We have seen success at the highest level, and , even staying as an independent, that can happen with the right coach, even if that coach is using Uconn as a stepping stone to a better job. I do believe that coach is out there.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

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 a question for you, why are you opposed to UConn playing big-time football? I've heard people (many who actually were in positions where they could influence the decision) for more than four decades state that we shouldn't pursue it and I am baffled as to why they feel this way.

 

[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.