UConn as a mid-major

[freescooter]

Oh good God, will you stop. Do you wake up every morning worried that a flower pot is going to fall off someone's balcony and cold rooster you?

The last conference shift ended less than 72 hours ago. Not months. Not even days. Hours. Yes, if everything now holds long term, and this is where we play for the next five years, we will be damaged. I agree. Having said that, it is so far beyond rational to think that you know that realignment has settled down now for the next few years that either you have an issue with logic or you just prefer going on message boards to upset people.

I said when Syracuse and Pitt left that I believed that, by the time they were originally scheduled to depart (June 30 of 2014), we would either be in another league or have at least announced that we were heading to another league. Even with this week's disappointment, I think the odds are greater today of me being right than they were 15 months ago because of the size of shifts in the system that are coming. Not just twitter and blog posts but the change in the BCS system and TV economics.

You, however, insist on wanting to devalue the program by pretending that we should assume we are stuck here for the long term. Should someone be planning for it? Heck yes. But to call us a miidmajor program because we have been in a mid major conference for three friggin days is merely an attempt to perpetuate our negative perceptions and do harm to this program.

At least have the guts to own it and not pretend that you want something else.

Facts are facts. the rest is just wishful thinking until something changes. And given that we've been reported as the ACC's favorite twice, and are still in the Big East, beaten out by schools that have not even come close to our level of success athletically, and once by a glorified community college which wasn't even under consideration when the slot opened, I'm not sure that we have all that much reason to be hopeful going forward. Between incompetence/disinterest on this issue from our leadership (maybe if Georgia Tech goes to the B-10 they can monitor the situation from Barbados or someplace) to certain number of opponents among influential schools in other leagues, I've become very pessimistic about our athletic future. Glad you and Carl are so upbeat, and I really do hope you're right. Just don't see any reason to think so right now.

 

[businesslawyer]

Facts are facts. the rest is just wishful thinking until something changes. And given that we've been reported as the ACC's favorite twice, and are still in the Big East, beaten out by schools that have not even come close to our level of success athletically, and once by a glorified community college which wasn't even under consideration when the slot opened, I'm not sure that we have all that much reason to be hopeful going forward. Between incompetence/disinterest on this issue from our leadership (maybe if Georgia Tech goes to the B-10 they can monitor the situation from Barbados or someplace) to certain number of opponents among influential schools in other leagues, I've become very pessimistic about our athletic future. Glad you and Carl are so upbeat, and I really do hope you're right. Just don't see any reason to think so right now.

Sorry, FS, but you're not escaping my wrath that easily (not that I pretend you have to care). You think we're stuck here long term -- that is fine. You are entitled to your opinion. And I certainly don't pretend I know anything more than you.

But having an opinion that we are stuck in this position long term does not give you the right to make pejorative statements that continue to foster the biggest problem this program has -- which is outside perception -- without admitting that you don't care whether or not you harm the program because you just want the right to whine regardless of the cost.

So either stop it or have the guts to come out and admit that you don't care if you're part of the problem rather than part of the solution -- you just want to be able to complain.

 

[mattp]

Facts are facts. the rest is just wishful thinking until something changes. And given that we've been reported as the ACC's favorite twice, and are still in the Big East, beaten out by schools that have not even come close to our level of success athletically, and once by a glorified community college which wasn't even under consideration when the slot opened, I'm not sure that we have all that much reason to be hopeful going forward. Between incompetence/disinterest on this issue from our leadership (maybe if Georgia Tech goes to the B-10 they can monitor the situation from Barbados or someplace) to certain number of opponents among influential schools in other leagues, I've become very pessimistic about our athletic future. Glad you and Carl are so upbeat, and I really do hope you're right. Just don't see any reason to think so right now.

Speaking of facts, stop making up your own. We're been reported as favorite to the ACC once, not twice. Who did we lost out to that doesn't come close to our success athletically? Is it Louisville whose bball program has more revenues than Kentucky, or any other team in the country? Also Louisville is obviously not as highly regarded as we are academically, but to call them a glorified community college is ridiculous and saying that they were not even under consideration when the slot opened is pure fiction.

You think some of us are being overly upbeat, maybe that's because two minutes of thought on the matter will determine that expansion is not over by a long shot. Why do I have a feeling you're one of those guys crying "oh woe is me, we'll never win another game" every time your team is down at halftime?

 

[freescooter]

Maybe I'm beat down. I've been the one who for 3 years has been saying we don't have to settle for an inexperienced head basketball coach when Calhoun retires. We UConn and most coaches would lick the yellow line up 195 just to get an interview. and I've been posting for a while that we need to make our case since saying Lousiville has a better athletic program than UConn, or before that the Syracuse does or the Pitt does, those are absolutely absurd statement. Factually incorect. Or that our football program is lousy. We've had a couple of years of adjustment to a new coach and new system but UConn football is on a pretty impressive trajectory, or was, and you're always going to have difficult periods where you pick the wrong coach or you need to rebuild or you have injuries or whatnot...hell, our "lousy" team just got back from knocking off this century's apparent super team from Louisville. Still, we seem to have an administration that either doesn't want, doesn't care enough, or doesn't know how to play the inside game to get us into a major conference. The idea that they let some of the utter nonsense about how good Louisville's athletic program is go unchallenged publicly (I mean come on...they went to a final four in both mens and womens basketball? Hello?) is enough to make me sick to my stomach. But since we are where we are, the question, and the opening post in this thread, dealt with what are the next steps to get the best out of the situation. When you look at the mid-majors who have succeeded, they tend to rely heavily on JUCO players (Bosie for example has 11, East Carolina has 12, we have 2), and more marginal academic types. My hope is we can limit the academic ones. From a scheduling perspective, we'll likely be going to 8 or 9 conference games anyway, so given our position outside the Big 5 auto bid leagues, we should drop 1AA games. We need to drop a game anyway. Might as well be the one that doesn't give you any "points" in the standings.

 

[freescooter]

Speaking of facts, stop making up your own. We're been reported as favorite to the ACC once, not twice. Who did we lost out to that doesn't come close to our success athletically? Is it Louisville whose bball program has more revenues than Kentucky, or any other team in the country? Also Louisville is obviously not as highly regarded as we are academically, but to call them a glorified community college is ridiculous and saying that they were not even under consideration when the slot opened is pure fiction.

You think some of us are being overly upbeat, maybe that's because two minutes of thought on the matter will determine that expansion is not over by a long shot. Why do I have a feeling you're one of those guys crying "oh woe is me, we'll never win another game" every time your team is down at halftime?

Most reports had the first ACC expansion as us and Syracuse until BC objected. this time even our own adminsistration believed it was us, and Louisville wasn't really under consideration until they began their offensive. don't know if you've heard, matt, but UConn has won 3 mens national championships since 1999. Louisville has been to a final four. Their womens team has been to a Final four. UConn has been to 13. Soccer: UConn has been to the NCAA tournament 32 times. 2 titles, 8th all-time winning percentage) . So yeah, I'm comfortable saying our athletic accomplishments are superior to Louisville's. Far superior across a wide range of programs. You're right, though calling them a glorified community college is an exaggeration. People sometimes do that to emphasize a point.

 

[mattp]

We definitely dropped the ball this time. I don't know if we were a slam dunk favorite, or even just a favorite, but it was sure as heck close enough that a good sales job could have won the day for us. Jurich's sales pitch won it for them.

 

[businesslawyer]

We definitely dropped the ball this time. I don't know if we were a slam dunk favorite, or even just a favorite, but it was sure as heck close enough that a good sales job could have won the day for us. Jurich's sales pitch won it for them.

They don't win without Jurich, but that is not what won it for them. What won it for them is the ACC sucking so much in football, and Clemson and FSU being so far down in the computer rankings with 100-1 records, that they wanted and were willing to demand that others take the quickest fix to do something so the ACC football conference was more highly regarded today. Jurich won not just because he is great at his job, but because he had something to sell that others were desperate to get.

 

[freescooter]

They don't win without Jurich, but that is not what won it for them. What won it for them is the ACC sucking so much in football, and Clemson and FSU being so far down in the computer rankings with 100-1 records, that they wanted and were willing to demand that others take the quickest fix to do something so the ACC football conference was more highly regarded today. Jurich won not just because he is great at his job, but because he had something to sell that others were desperate to get.

Yeah 'cause Florida State didn't get the bump they expected when the beat Florida, nor did Clemson get one when they beat South Carolina...oh, never mind...

 

[sdhusky]

They don't win without Jurich, but that is not what won it for them. What won it for them is the ACC sucking so much in football, and Clemson and FSU being so far down in the computer rankings with 100-1 records, that they wanted and were willing to demand that others take the quickest fix to do something so the ACC football conference was more highly regarded today. Jurich won not just because he is great at his job, but because he had something to sell that others were desperate to get.

Jurich convinced them that UofL was hungry and would do what it takes to be successful in football.

UCONN's AD munched on donuts.

 

[sdhusky]

Jurich convinced them that UofL was hungry and would do what it takes to be successful in football.

UCONN's AD convinced that he was hungry and then munched on donuts.

 

[wolfman61]

Never surrender, if the so called super conferences treat us as a mid major, beat them on the field, beat them on the basketball court,beat them at any athletic venue you choose. And if they say "Hey you're pretty good for a mid major." Just extend your middle finger at them and say "Mid major this."

 

[jbdphi]

Jurich convinced them that UofL was hungry and would do what it takes to be successful in football.

UCONN's AD munched on donuts.

How many weight jokes do we need about WM? It just demeans the message. Make fun of the guy for not getting results, not for his weight.

On a separate note, one of the reasons I have read about with respect to Louisville over UConn was a simple matter of geographic perception. Louisville is perceived to be more of a southern school and with the recent additions of Syracuse and Pitt, ACC southern members did not want another "northern" school.

 

[uconNYC]

How many weight jokes do we need about WM? It just demeans the message. Make fun of the guy for not getting results, not for his weight.

On a separate note, one of the reasons I have read about with respect to Louisville over UConn was a simple matter of geographic perception. Louisville is perceived to be more of a southern school and with the recent additions of Syracuse and Pitt, ACC southern members did not want another "northern" school.

I hate it that we got passed over, but I think the ACC just really felt this time around that they needed to strengthen their football. I believe they saw in UL a program that could become similar to Virginia Tech.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

As to nelson's original point, you know back before this thread degenerated into a pissing match, I do think that we need to think differently about the program now. In basketball terms, UConn is a high mid-major from here on out. Much as it pains me to say it, we need to take more marginal kids, we need to comb the JUCO ranks more closely for guys who can play at this level. I've been opposed to all those ideas in the past, but we are what we are now. As far as scheduling we need to take games if we can with better programs even if they are one offs and forget about FCS/1AA games going forward. If we're only playing 3 or 4 which is likely, that would be what I'd drop. Same with MAC teams, though some of them are pretty good from time to time. Re-up with Vandy, Baylor teams like that. I do think with the new playoff system, UConn can be pretty attractive. We'll be like playing an A-10 opponent in basketball...you won't get killed in RPI even if you lose.

In basketball you are dead wrong. Xavier, Gonzaga and Butler take much higher quality students than 95% of the major programs.

I agree on football scheduling.