UConn’s plan for cutting $10 million from its athletic budget will be presented Friday and could shape the department for years to come (Amore) | Page 4 | The Boneyard

UConn’s plan for cutting $10 million from its athletic budget will be presented Friday and could shape the department for years to come (Amore)

TheDoggPound said:
Those of us who support all the sports programs are definitely in the minority. The majority root solely for Men's basketball and most of those 'fans' go out of their way to drag the football team through the mud.
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This is the majority of my friends. The irony is that almost all of them were in the UCMB with me. They enjoyed watching the team and went to games after we graduated but once they caused us to have to leave the Big East, forget it. They championed the Drop the Football Program campaign. Even my in-laws agreed. It's so engrained in fans, especially those who have lived in CT for most of their lives, and I've never seen anything like it.

It's not just basketball vs football. You have Men's basketball and Women's basketball fans and many of those aren't cross over fans. Just look at the people who post on both boards and there won't be similar names. Honestly, it's mind blowing.

It's truly unique to UConn....
 
UCFBfan said:
This is the majority of my friends. The irony is that almost all of them were in the UCMB with me. They enjoyed watching the team and went to games after we graduated but once they caused us to have to leave the Big East, forget it. They championed the Drop the Football Program campaign. Even my in-laws agreed. It's so engrained in fans, especially those who have lived in CT for most of their lives, and I've never seen anything like it.

It's not just basketball vs football. You have Men's basketball and Women's basketball fans and many of those aren't cross over fans. Just look at the people who post on both boards and there won't be similar names. Honestly, it's mind blowing.

It's truly unique to UConn....
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I am a general sports fan and also enjoy going to games to see friends. During my time at UConn, I think the only teams I never saw in a competition was the Golf and Cross Country teams. Heck, I even went to club Polo and Rugby games. Like everyone, I did the lottery and went to men's basketball games. Until my Junior year, I would get out of an evening class (why were all evening classes at MSB?) and grab a lower bowl seat at Gampel to catch the second half of a women’s basketball game or even volleyball. Even went to football games at Memorial and the Yale Bowl, though I remember very little of those two trips. As I had a bunch of friends from high school who swam for other Big East schools, I caught several meets in the Wolff-Zackin steam. Since I played soccer in high school myself and even played (technically sat) at the Connecticut Soccer Stadium for a High School state title game, I went to a lot of their games, such as when I watched my old teammate and keeper get swamped 6-0 against UConn in a monsoon. As a soccer player, I also unsuccessfully tried to date half of the women’s team and thus caught many of their games, too. Once in a while coming back from a soccer game, I would watch a Tennis match or two at the old courts where Burton is today. I only caught a handful of Baseball and Softball games as seating was limited. During my senior year in the Fall and Spring as I lived in Hilltop, I would take my homework on a nice afternoon and watch a Track meet or a Field Hockey games, especially as the team Captain was also a classmate from high school. Except for football, men's basketball, and men's soccer, I think it was all free. It was great being a college student.
 
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Hoophound said:
Unseemly to succeed in other sports? I don’t get it.
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There is and has for many years been a group of basketball boosters and a group of, let’s call them middle managers, in the UConn athletic Department who oppose anything that they think might take away from the basketball program in any way. They actively opposed the football upgrade, and when HEA reaches out to UConn when Vermont joined and when Notre Dame joined they lobbied against it both times. Another time in the early 2000s they did the same. The idea was to keep the hockey program at essentially a 1aa level so “we” (ie basketball) never have to worry that someone will take the limelight or maybe more importantly, any resources, from basketball. Hence, the need for Malloy to make the call and inform the University it would be going to Hockey East. If it had passed through “normal” channels it would have been doa.
 
freescooter said:
There is and has for many years been a group of basketball boosters and a group of, let’s call them middle managers, in the UConn athletic Department who oppose anything that they think might take away from the basketball program in any way. They actively opposed the football upgrade, and when HEA reaches out to UConn when Vermont joined and when Notre Dame joined they lobbied against it both times. Another time in the early 2000s they did the same. The idea was to keep the hockey program at essentially a 1aa level so “we” (ie basketball) never have to worry that someone will take the limelight or maybe more importantly, any resources, from basketball. Hence, the need for Malloy to make the call and inform the University it would be going to Hockey East. If it had passed through “normal” channels it would have been doa.
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I have blogged on UConn hockey for 27 years and watched games for a few years before that. It comes down to political clout within the institution. Hockey doesn't have it. Football doesn't have it. Basketball does. It would be incredibly stupid to get rid of hockey. And I think it is still less than 50-50 they will go that route. But there is a significant chance still. And we have seen some incredibly stupid things out of the AD. So, do not rule it out.
 
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CTBballfan243 said:
Hockey is not getting cut. One could argue that UConn hockey is the only UConn sport that is in a power conference. Hockey East is one of (if not the top) hockey conference There is.
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I hope ice hockey is not cut. But be careful in predictions. Any capital intensive sport is high up on the chopping block just because there are more potential expenses. Some teams may be relatively immune, such as women's BB, because Gino can raise a big stink and will get attention. If the hockey coach tried, a lot less fans/media would care.
 
If UConn cuts hockey, my women's basketball season tickets will join my hockey season tickets in the dumpster.
 
Viet Vet said:
If UConn cuts hockey, my women's basketball season tickets will join my hockey season tickets in the dumpster.
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Agree! Plus my football tickets, men's basketball, and associated seat donations. Baseball too.
 
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If UConn cuts hockey at this point in history, things are much worse for the athletic department than anyone could have imagined.
 
I don't think this will save the $$$ the university is looking for, but here's what I think they cut:

- Men's Swim & Dive
- Men's Golf
- Men's Tennis
- Women's Tennis

These are not "team sports" - they focus on the individual and they don't help diversity numbers. As successful and well supported as they may be, they just don't improve the university's bottom line or provide enough fiscal and non-fiscal benefits to keep them on the books.

Of course UConn is playing with a lot more 000s in the budget, but trust me, CCSU went through this exercise more than once.

CCSU cut three sports (M/W Tennis and M Swimming) after the 2001-02 season. More recently, Central cut two more sports (M/W Golf) at the end of the 2018 season. Back in 1996, CCSU cut Wrestling after sponsoring the sport for 28 years. Just two sports - WSoccer and WLacrosse - have been added since the Blue Devils joined the Division I ranks in the 1986-87 season

Central Connecticut currently sponsor 16 NCAA D-I sports, all in the Northeast Conference (NEC), including football.
 
Again, this is a hockey market (yeah insert Whalers attendace jokes here but they were a HORRIBLE product by and large and were supported in their brief hey-day), and attendance has been good to at times GREAT for the UConn hockey program. And that's without being an upper tier program yet.

I know stranger things have happened, but that's a massive shock if they would ever do that. I just can't see it no matter how many times its mentioned in this thread.
 
Swimming & Diving is going no where but back into the pool. Lots of $$ has been raised
 
It would be brilliant if part of this public announcement by the school would be to get donations to start funneling in. I'm sure that was part of it.
 
So when do the actual details get released. Thought it got pushed from last week to yesterday ?
 
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RSTuthill said:
I would not be shocked to see Men's Hockey cut. The basketball programs see hockey as a threat and we all know that the basketball programs get what they want at UConn. Women's Ice Hockey might stay to preserve gender equity but maybe not even them.
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Per upcoming BOT agenda the new $68 million dollars hockey arena is a go. University capital construction projects are a stimulus to the Connecticut economy.
 
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