UConn “Telling Our Story” CT Insider Article

[August_West]

I'm kind of with August on this one... It seems that every time we hear a "reason" for not getting the call, it's a reason that only applies to us. I'm pretty sure that the unspoken reasons we don't get any invites are because a) we're arrogant Connecticut people; and b) we'd end up dominating.

a) might but its specious.
b) will never happen and contrary to belief here, its not because Im "against" UConn football.

The one thing that DOES apply to us is we are in the Northeast with zero recruiting ground and zero cultural fit .

Holy hell Im the tailgate king. If we had a successful football program Id be setting a food truck in the lot and make 10k every saturday. Like I used to do 5 days a week in the Grateful Dead parking lots.

 

[August_West]

We need football to bring money to the school to support other athletic programs.

We don't. Thats been proven. Neither does any other school in the Big East and look at the coaches salaries.

 

[Forte]

Football can find success. If Wyomings and other G5s can find success and rise, then so can we. Keep a good coach who can recruit, knowing we won't win them all but can land respectable actual D1 players, keep subsidizing football and the rest will work itself out. We aren't asking for or expecting a national champion top 10 program, just a respectable over .500 program which when paired with our BBall success will open more eyes than other similar respectable football programs... especially as the TV models and realignment goals shift. Just avoid being the laughing stock.

 

[August_West]

Football can find success. If Wyomings and other G5s can find success and rise, then so can we. Keep a good coach who can recruit, knowing we won't win them all but can land respectable actual D1 players, keep subsidizing football and the rest will work itself out. We aren't asking for or expecting a national champion top 10 program, just a respectable over .500 program which when paired with our BBall success will open more eyes than other similar respectable football programs... especially as the TV models and realignment goals shift. Just avoid being the laughing stock.

Hows Wyoming's hoops programs?

 

[Forte]

Hows Wyoming's hoops programs?

That's my point ... take mediocre programs like SMU etc, with respectable football but lesser bball, and all of a sudden UConn with respectable (not world beater but respectable football) paired with power house ball is the most desirable non-Power option available... over SDSU too. We just have to avoid laughing stock status... we worked really hard to be absolutely awful and are currently paying for it.

 

[upstater]

That's my point... we're in a bag with Rhode Island and Mass and don't really merit any thought beyond that. And these are misperceptions that people are quite comfortable with.. they're not really interested in being illuminated.

How is that your point?
Rhode Island and Mass don't have 2 teams.
Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah, etc. These are the states with 2 teams. States that have similar # of people as Connecticut

 

[RedStickHusky]

How is that your point?
Rhode Island and Mass don't have 2 teams.
Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah, etc. These are the states with 2 teams. States that have similar # of people as Connecticut

You're talking facts; I'm talking about what the rest of the country happily believes despite any/all contrary evidence.

 

[August_West]

paired with power house ball is the most desirable non-Power option available... over SDSU

The fact that we are even mentioned in the same breath in 2023 as SMU (who had a program death penalty in the modern era) and SDSU (because who the HELL are they?!) and not just same breath, but BEHIND them in this twisted "Game of Thrones" should make any person with just one iota of reasoning in their DNA tap out of this whole mess considering we are 16 time National champions in the last 28 years in Mens and womens hoops. And forget the women for a second. We have won FIVE mens titles is 24 years. Lean into THAT.

 

[RedStickHusky]

a) might but its specious.
b) will never happen and contrary to belief here, its not because Im "against" UConn football.

The one thing that DOES apply to us is we are in the Northeast with zero recruiting ground and zero cultural fit .

Holy hell Im the tailgate king. If we had a successful football program Id be setting a food truck in the lot and make 10k every saturday. Like I used to do 5 days a week in the Grateful Dead parking lots.

I left Ct in my 20s, the better part of 50 years ago. I spent 20 years on active duty and another 20 as a DoD civilian. If I had a nickel for every time some Georgia or VMI or Ohio St (or just about any other school) fan gave my an eye roll and a sympathetic chuckle when I outed myself as a fan of UConn football... I might've retired a little earlier. Looking down on UConn football lets them feel good about themselves - they don't want to hear any differently. We aren't held back because we can't compete, we're held back because no one wants us to compete (IMO, of course).

 

[August_West]

I left Ct in my 20s, the better part of 50 years ago. I spent 20 years on active duty and another 20 as a DoD civilian. If I had a nickel for every time some Georgia or VMI or Ohio St (or just about any other school) fan gave my an eye roll and a sympathetic chuckle when I outed myself as a fan of UConn football... I might've retired a little earlier. Looking down on UConn football lets them feel good about themselves - they don't want to hear any differently. We aren't held back because we can't compete, we're held back because no one wants us to compete (IMO, of course).

1) thank you for your service
2) Yeah we differ on that but I guess we could split hairs on the definition of "compete" Is Rutgers competing in B1G?

 

[RedStickHusky]

Is Rutgers competing in B1G?

Rutgers, Indiana, Minnesota, NWestern (most years), Iowa, Maryland? Maybe we're never going to be Ohio State, but there's no reason we couldn't be competitive given a level playing field.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

How is that your point?
Rhode Island and Mass don't have 2 teams.
Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah, etc. These are the states with 2 teams. States that have similar # of people as Connecticut

The problem comparing CT and its population to other states is that CT (and other northeast states) has so many more private schools in-state and across the northeast region which splits people's allegiances and attention as opposed to states with one or two major state schools and little to no private schools of any repute.

 

[upstater]

The problem comparing CT and its population to other states is that CT (and other northeast states) has so many more private schools in-state and across the northeast region which splits people's allegiances and attention as opposed to states with one or two major state schools and little to no private schools of any repute.

Does Conn. have more private schools? I don't think it does.

And even if it did, there are other comparisons to make. For instance, 40% of the population of Connecticut has college degrees. In some of these states, like Arizona, only 20% go to college.

But, if you grow up rooting for UConn, it doesn't mean your allegiances change when you go to a private school like Trinity. I didn't go to UConn, I'm sure a lot of others didn't either.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Does Conn. have more private schools? I don't think it does.

And even if it did, there are other comparisons to make. For instance, 40% of the population of Connecticut has college degrees. In some of these states, like Arizona, only 20% go to college.

But, if you grow up rooting for UConn, it doesn't mean your allegiances change when you go to a private school like Trinity. I didn't go to UConn, I'm sure a lot of others didn't either.

I think CT has its fair share of private schools, kids that grow up here go to out of state schools at a higher clip than most of the large area/fly over states due to our focus on higher/highest education, private schools are certainly a larger part of the culture here than flyover states partly due to the cross-border accessibility that CT has due to our small size as opposed to some states where counties rival the size of the entirety of CT, etc. It'd be interesting to see the data.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'm stunned by the limited thought process of anyone who believes that a school can only be competitive in one major sport or another.

It wasn't even twenty years ago that Florida won titles on both football and men's basketball. When we won our second national title we has to get through Alabama in the regional finals. Michigan has made it to both a national title game in men's basketball and the CFP in recent years.

We have demonstrated that we can build something in football. Like all sports, deficient management can destroy the product (if you try to claim basketball is immune I'll point you to the end of the Kevin Ollie years). If we had competent leadership when RE left after the Fiesta Bowl we would have been able to continue building the program to the point where we would have been a fixture in the top 25 and the Rent would have been expanded a half dozen years ago.

The small minded mopes who believe that we would have to sacrifice basketball to field a competitive football program need to find a way to get more oxygen to their collective brains. It can be done. It won't be easy but few things worth accomplishing are.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Your describing Paul Pendergrass who while not from Fairfield County, fund raising was his forte. He did not stay for very long.

Friendly guy but I wouldn’t feel comfortable with him in the position

 

[Bongo Fury]

He dug his heels in and has chosen to die on this hill no matter what. Of course he knows it was the wrong decision as everyone else in the country played and the players were just fine. I guess it makes him feel better to say it was all about greed from all the dumbf^^k regions in the country.

I think he appeased to some of the players and their parents who had NFL aspirations. Lucien and Vandermark come to mind. Holy Cross and UMass both played some games and beat UConn

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I'm stunned by the limited thought process of anyone who believes that a school can only be competitive in one major sport or another.

It wasn't even twenty years ago that Florida won titles on both football and men's basketball. When we won our second national title we has to get through Alabama in the regional finals. Michigan has made it to both a national title game in men's basketball and the CFP in recent years.

We have demonstrated that we can build something in football. Like all sports, deficient management can destroy the product (if you try to claim basketball is immune I'll point you to the end of the Kevin Ollie years). If we had competent leadership when RE left after the Fiesta Bowl we would have been able to continue building the program to the point where we would have been a fixture in the top 25 and the Rent would have been expanded a half dozen years ago.

The small minded mopes who believe that we would have to sacrifice basketball to field a competitive football program need to find a way to get more oxygen to their collective brains. It can be done. It won't be easy but few things worth accomplishing are.

If NIL, Transfer Portal and Streaming had not come along, I would argue that we need to consider packing it in on football because there would be no path forward for UConn in a linear driven world that was hurtling to a P2.

But NIL and Transfer Portal’s are very real, and will continue to flatten talent, and Streaming is a freight train that is going to smash traditional conference affiliation for media companies. It appears conferences are trying to aggregate content, which makes sense on one level, but they are aggregating the wrong content. There will be another round of realignment when these big linear deals expire that could go in half a dozen different directions, and UConn has a shot at finding a home in that environment.

 

[UConnJim]

Does Conn. have more private schools? I don't think it does.

And even if it did, there are other comparisons to make. For instance, 40% of the population of Connecticut has college degrees. In some of these states, like Arizona, only 20% go to college.

But, if you grow up rooting for UConn, it doesn't mean your allegiances change when you go to a private school like Trinity. I didn't go to UConn, I'm sure a lot of others didn't either.

I posted this a couple of days ago. There are more football playing colleges and kids playing college football in New England than there are in Texas. The difference is there are more FBS schools in Texas than in New England, but New England has more FCS/D2/D3 football programs. And, New England has half the population of Texas.

Football players coming out of high school in Texas are much more developed than kids coming out of New England high schools. (Although that has changed somewhat.) That is a big reason why HS football in Texas is so good, the players are highly developed in high school. But, the Texas players are closer to their ultimate potential. As Edsall showed us during 1.0, the New England kids can be brought in and developed so you can recruit a 250 lb lineman. No P5 school in Texas would recruit a 250 lb lineman as they can recruit a 300 lb lineman

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I'm stunned by the limited thought process of anyone who believes that a school can only be competitive in one major sport or another.

It wasn't even twenty years ago that Florida won titles on both football and men's basketball. When we won our second national title we has to get through Alabama in the regional finals. Michigan has made it to both a national title game in men's basketball and the CFP in recent years.

We have demonstrated that we can build something in football. Like all sports, deficient management can destroy the product (if you try to claim basketball is immune I'll point you to the end of the Kevin Ollie years). If we had competent leadership when RE left after the Fiesta Bowl we would have been able to continue building the program to the point where we would have been a fixture in the top 25 and the Rent would have been expanded a half dozen years ago.

The small minded mopes who believe that we would have to sacrifice basketball to field a competitive football program need to find a way to get more oxygen to their collective brains. It can be done. It won't be easy but few things worth accomplishing are.

Played in the Fiesta Bowl and a for a Natty in Basketball in the same year. Went to bowl games and Elite 8s

 

[upstater]

I posted this a couple of days ago. There are more football playing colleges and kids playing college football in New England than there are in Texas. The difference is there are more FBS schools in Texas than in New England, but New England has more FCS/D2/D3 football programs. And, New England has half the population of Texas.

Football players coming out of high school in Texas are much more developed than kids coming out of New England high schools. (Although that has changed somewhat.) That is a big reason why HS football in Texas is so good, the players are highly developed in high school. But, the Texas players are closer to their ultimate potential. As Edsall showed us during 1.0, the New England kids can be brought in and developed so you can recruit a 250 lb lineman. No P5 school in Texas would recruit a 250 lb lineman as they can recruit a 300 lb lineman

As a soccer parent who often travels from our home in Buffalo to the Midwest for games, we always note that those farm kids are huge. It’s hard to under stand why until you go to the food truck for a coffee at 8 am and all the people in front of you are ordering cheeseburgers. Growth hormone advantage

 

[CL82]

I thought this was an interesting representation of how we are viewed:

 

[noeynox]

Th

I thought this was an interesting representation of how we are viewed:

The FB budgets for Temple and Colorado State are shocking. CSU 3x the budget of Tulane?

 

[ZooCougar]

I thought this was an interesting representation of how we are viewed:

Very interesting.

 

[upstater]

Th
The FB budgets for Temple and Colorado State are shocking. CSU 3x the budget of Tulane?

Schools choose different methods for reporting. You can list $$ spent on football while athletic dept employees (football coach salary) can fall under AD expenditures. Every school does it differently and the DOE is OK with that