UConn never had a chance for the ACC....

[upstater]

They get better scaps than we do.They are in the South. We were also blown out by Syracuse. The perception at FSU was that Louisville has a better football program otherwise they wouldn't have opposed us and in the end FSU prevailed. Maybe the fact that Uconn plays really ugly football had something to do with it. Uconn hasn't had a passing game since the Dan O. years.

I know we were blown out by Cuse. We also beat Louisville however. The point is, that in their best season in a decade, Louisville is totally underwhelming. And, no, I don't agree about FSU's reasoning. FSU is at war with UNC. That's their only reasoning. Nothing else matters.

I mean, you say UConn plays ugly football and I didn't say otherwise. What I want to know is what in the world has impressed you about Louisville?

That school is a total joke in football.

 

[Danzz]

I know we were blown out by Cuse. We also beat Louisville however. The point is, that in their best season in a decade, Louisville is totally underwhelming. And, no, I don't agree about FSU's reasoning. FSU is at war with UNC. That's their only reasoning. Nothing else matters.

I mean, you say UConn plays ugly football and I didn't say otherwise. What I want to know is what in the world has impressed you about Louisville?

That school is a total joke in football.

What does any problem that FSU has with UNC have to do with the ACC taking Louisville over Uconn? I'm not impressed with Louisville and I'm also not impressed with Cuse and Pitt but the ACC also took them over Uconn. The ACC took 6 schools from the BE, the BIG took 1 and none of them were Uconn. Notre Dame also left the BE.
We have a problem at Uconn and it doesn't matter whether the problem (s) are real or perceived.

 

[upstater]

What does any problem that FSU has with UNC have to do with the ACC taking Louisville over Uconn? I'm not impressed with Louisville and I'm also not impressed with Cuse and Pitt but the ACC also took them over Uconn. The ACC took 6 schools from the BE, the BIG took 1 and none of them were Uconn. Notre Dame also left the BE.
We have a problem at Uconn and it doesn't matter whether the problem (s) are real or perceived.

It has everything to do with it. FSU forced them to eat a snow sandwich a year after WV was rejected for academics. Why do you think the UNC Prez mad a joke of himself after they admitted Louisville? It's because they were on the bad end of a power play. As for the earlier entries, it depends on who you believe. If you believe Defilippo, we were the first choice there.

 

[uconnfan68]

What's he gonna do? Say we didn't really want Louisville? If it's about fans in the seats, then Rutgers and Maryland don't get to B1G. So it's not about that.

UNC literally stole money from FSU. When FSU realized that UL could be fashioned into a good shiv, they used them as a pawn. Both UL and UConn were bystanders.

The only utterances we heard from FSU and UNC in all this is that FSU's BOT claimed that UNC stole money from FSU and that UNC said adding UL had nothing to do with academics. Pretty telling and galling from UNC.

It's not about RU and MD, it's about UL and the ACC. The B1G really didn't care what game RU and MD had. They think their cable game will lead to riches.

 

[mauconnfan]

Isn't it the UConn administrations responsibility to close that gap? It's no secret we have had arguably the worst public relations in NCAA history the last few years. Jurich even sold Louisville's women's basketball program long term over ours. He's a hustler and deserves this victory. Warde is quoted as saying he isn't sure if someone with his title can have much of an impact. The facts are that UConn was a lock on paper, and Warde went to the Paradise Jam while Jurich cancelled his Atlantis trip and went full press. #LobbiedHarder

UConn being a "lock on paper" is not a fact as no one even knows the facts related to who the ACC was leaning towards. But if you believe Jurich sold the Louisville women's program over the Huskies then you're nuts and to take it a step further I doubt anyone cared about the women's programs in these discussions!!

 

[Chief00]

UConn being a "lock on paper" is not a fact as no one even knows the facts related to who the ACC was leaning towards. But if you believe Jurich sold the Louisville women's program over the Huskies then you're nuts and to take it a step further I doubt anyone cared about the women's programs in these discussions!!

This is nothing more than self preservation damage control by Warde and Susan. Actually, we never had a chance because she has no connections with her peer group - the decision makers. And she is not particularly well liked by those who know her. So one missed it will be research and academics, another its a school that we are on par with on FB being so much better in FB than us, etc. Never underestimate likeability and connections in this club that makes the decisions.


As much as I love the guy - when you have Calhoun working the phones - you are in trouble. For all his success he had a lot of detractors fair or unfair.

 

[mauconnfan]

This is nothing more than self preservation damage control by Warde and Susan. Actually, we never had a chance because she has no connections with her peer group - the decision makers. And she is not particularly well liked by those who know her. So one missed it will be research and academics, another its a school that we are on par with on FB being so much better in FB than us, etc. Never underestimate likeability and connections in this club that makes the decisions.


As much as I love the guy - when you have Calhoun working the phones - you are in trouble. For all his success he had a lot of detractors fair or unfair.

It's funny how many "assume" he has so many detractors because he was like a bull in a China shop during his hoops season. Yet most people who we assume are his peers and detractors, see the very good side with all the great causes he stands for and are intelligent enough to see the real man rather than the fighter on the court he was..........I'm guessing you and many others overestimate the "lot of detractors" he has........I'm sure the guy coaching the Louisville hoops team has his share too and they won...........pretty sure JC stood by Pat and never had "dessert" on a resteraunt table after a game!

 

[upstater]

I'll try to break it down as simply as I possibly can:

1. While UConn isn't good at football, Louisville sucks too. No better than Pitt.
2. FSU's bigwigs accused Tobacco Road of cheating them--in the press.
3. UNC's Prez made some crazy butthurt comment after UL was added.

For me, these are the 3 major factors in all of this, and when added up I can only conclude it comes down to FSU using Ville as a pawn to stick it to UNC. All the rest of the stuff, UL's inflated budget (which was even with UConn last year), the APR (UL on probation as well), fannies in the seats at UL but no eyeballs on the set?, it doesn't figure into it anywhere near as much as 2 and 3. Really I should make the case that Ville got in BECAUSE of bad academic rather than despite them.

 

[Waquoit]

It's funny how many "assume" he has so many detractors because he was like a bull in a China shop during his hoops season. Yet most people who we assume are his peers and detractors, see the very good side with all the great causes he stands for and are intelligent enough to see the real man rather than the fighter on the court he was..........I'm guessing you and many others overestimate the "lot of detractors" he has........I'm sure the guy coaching the Louisville hoops team has his share too and they won...........pretty sure JC stood by Pat and never had "dessert" on a resteraunt table after a game!

Yeah, yeah yeah. The point is now he is not the coach anymore. UConn is still paying him millions. What is he doing for the money they are paying him? I read and hear plenty of self-serving comments coming from him. What is he doing to benefit UConn? Maybe he's making calls I haven't read about. But I hear no UConn boosting coming from him.

 

[RS9999X]

I'll try to break it down as simply as I possibly can:

1. While UConn isn't good at football, Louisville sucks too. No better than Pitt.
2. FSU's bigwigs accused Tobacco Road of cheating them--in the press.
3. UNC's Prez made some crazy butthurt comment after UL was added.

.

For the ACC one deciding factor was the revenue formula. After this year LU will have FIVE top 25 finishes to boost the ACC revenue allotment from the new media contract. UConn's Top 25 Football finishes?

Raycom is already set in the Louisville Market. They can milk the ACC brand there for all its worth. They balked at NYC. They are in Cincy, Toledo and Cleveland as well.

Take one look at the map amd think Maryland and FSU and UConn? Or Louisville -- Cincy.

http://www.raycommedia.com/locations/

 

[mauconnfan]

Yeah, yeah yeah. The point is now he is not the coach anymore. UConn is still paying him millions. What is he doing for the money they are paying him? I read and hear plenty of self-serving comments coming from him. What is he doing to benefit UConn? Maybe he's making calls I haven't read about. But I hear no UConn boosting coming from him.

And your thoughts on JC have been well documented prior to this post........not sure he could ever make you happy.

How quickly we forget......it's a shame.

"self serving" comments......can you name ALL of them and then do me a huge favor and document the one's which he throws KO on a pedestal okay....believe the number will amaze even you!

 

[upstater]

Yeah, yeah yeah. The point is now he is not the coach anymore. UConn is still paying him millions. What is he doing for the money they are paying him? I read and hear plenty of self-serving comments coming from him. What is he doing to benefit UConn? Maybe he's making calls I haven't read about. But I hear no UConn boosting coming from him.

I've heard plenty. Face it, you don't like the guy.

 

[upstater]

For the ACC one deciding factor was the revenue formula. After this year LU will have FIVE top 25 finishes to boost the ACC revenue allotment from the new media contract. UConn's Top 25 Football finishes?

Raycom is already set in the Louisville Market. They can milk the ACC brand there for all its worth. They balked at NYC. They are in Cincy, Toledo and Cleveland as well.

Take one look at the map amd think Maryland and FSU and UConn? Or Louisville -- Cincy.

http://www.raycommedia.com/locations/

That revenue formula is for the future. Louisville will not experience that success again. Why? Because it took WV leaving for them to have a good season, and even then they couldn't help getting blown out by Cuse and losing to UConn at home. Never mind their weak OOC. They've done nothing this year. I expect them to get taken to the woodshed worse than UConn lost to Oklahoma.

I mean, if the ACC really chose Toledo and Louisville over NYC, if that's the reason, then good luck to them.

 

[RS9999X]

I mean, if the ACC really chose Toledo and Louisville over NYC, if that's the reason, then good luck to them.

Swofford's son at Raycom is a coattails kinda guy......They still live the Metro Conference Dream and live for the RayCom footprint.

Blast from the past below. Raycom's attempts to create the first media conference in 1990. Then the BE stepped in and screwed up the RayCom dream.

>> THE METRO Conference has decided to pursue two variations of a superconference - a 16-team football conference and a 12-team all-sports conference. The football-only version would cover more than 35 percent of the U.S. television market. Representatives of the eight Metro schools and eight football independents discussed the proposals during a meeting in Charlotte, N.C. The proposals were selected from several expansion scenarios researched by Raycom Sports Inc.

''There was positive response to the proposals,'' said Ken Haines, executive vice president of Raycom. ''We hope to have a response from them in the next several months.'' The 16-team football league would include Metro members Cincinnati , Florida State, Louisville, Memphis, South Carolina, Southern Mississippi, Tulane. Virginia Tech and football independents Boston College, East Carolina, Miami, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple and West Virginia. Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and East Carolina would only compete in football <<

 

[ctchamps]

For the ACC one deciding factor was the revenue formula. After this year LU will have FIVE top 25 finishes to boost the ACC revenue allotment from the new media contract. UConn's Top 25 Football finishes?

Raycom is already set in the Louisville Market. They can milk the ACC brand there for all its worth. They balked at NYC. They are in Cincy, Toledo and Cleveland as well.

Take one look at the map amd think Maryland and FSU and UConn? Or Louisville -- Cincy.

http://www.raycommedia.com/locations/

Very interesting. Raycom is the regional broadcaster that Swofford's kid has a prominent position. The biggest flaw with the ACC deal is that Raycom owns the third tier rights to ACC's football deal. The universities do not get anything from their third tier rights from what people have posted on the conference realignment board. And that impacts FSU and Clemson the most. You have to wonder how much this is a company greasing the wheels. Of course they have no presence in NY, Mass or Penn and the ACC has taken schools from those states. I would have added Indiana but ND did not give the ACC football so Raycom doesn't benefit as much from ND. Raycom benefits from Ville over UConn but not the ACC.

As much as I believe there is going on with underhanded business deals, I still can only come up with one answer. This is a power play by FSU. Ville's football is perceived as better than Uconn but with analysis it isn't significantly greater. And their market is much weaker than UConn's so they are not giving the ACC a market share advantage that UConn could have given them.

FSU is flexing their muscles. They lost WV in the last battle. WV is a legitimate football power with history and current success. It has better academics than Ville. It has a local market disadvantage compared to Ville but WV's addition to the ACC would have balanced the northern and southern leagues. It is a stretch to expect that from Ville. Ville is a wannabe. But why take Ville this time? The only conclusion is FSU wanted to make a statement and not a football or bb statement but a statement to tobacco road, to Swofford and the media that has deals with the ACC. I expect one of two things to happen. The ACC gets a change in the media contracts with ESPN and Raycom. Or FSU bolts to the B12. If that happens the ACC will go the way of the BE. Of course the SEC and the B!G could be catalysts in this process.

 

[RS9999X]

FSU's interest and the southern bias which includes RayCom's business territory were mutual.

Fans like the Charlotte Mafia angle with UNC screwing FSU but FSU knows their Tier 3 isn't worth that much for that one lousy game a year against a hair dressing school. The RayCom portion of the ESPN contract was revealed to be ~ $4.5 million and now higher with Louisville for which RayCom would pay more into the contract ~ $5.0 mil per team. RayCom can produce Louisville games with little or no additional expense.

 

[Waquoit]

I've heard plenty. Face it, you don't like the guy.

I love the guy. I've fought battles (metaphorically speaking) for the guy. Funny saying this the day after Arnold Dean died, but I used the call that show all the time saying we ought to fire Perno and hire Calhoun. I was happily stunned when they listened to me. I was quoted in the Courant saying that Calhoun was the guy to take us to the promised land. When people said that JC could never win the big one, I told them they were full of . I was all-in for JC and it paid off. But UConn is in a bad spot now because of him. And he hasn't been doing all he can do to make it right. And that might not bother me as much if I wasn't as all-in as I was. I don't like being the fan of an outlaw program.

 

[ctchamps]

FSU's interest and the southern bias which includes RayCom's business territory were mutual.

Fans like the Charlotte Mafia angle with UNC screwing FSU but FSU knows their Tier 3 isn't worth that much for that one lousy game a year against a hair dressing school. The RayCom portion of the ESPN contract was revealed to be ~ $4.5 million and now higher with Louisville for which RayCom would pay more into the contract ~ $5.0 mil per team. RayCom can produce Louisville games with little or no additional expense.

Hard to believe the ACC would want Ville for $500 thousand a year when they could have parlayed WV last year into a much bigger contract with ESPN.

 

[RS9999X]

Hard to believe the ACC would want Ville for $500 thousand a year when they could have parlayed WV last year into a much bigger contract with ESPN.

I think that woke them up. The irony is they clearly see the BiG and SEC and Big 12 as poachers

 

[ctchamps]

I think that woke them up. The irony is they clearly see the BiG and SEC and Big 12 as poachers

The irony being they explored entry into the SEC and B12? And they being FSU?

 

[upstater]

FSU's interest and the southern bias which includes RayCom's business territory were mutual.

Fans like the Charlotte Mafia angle with UNC screwing FSU but FSU knows their Tier 3 isn't worth that much for that one lousy game a year against a hair dressing school. The RayCom portion of the ESPN contract was revealed to be ~ $4.5 million and now higher with Louisville for which RayCom would pay more into the contract ~ $5.0 mil per team. RayCom can produce Louisville games with little or no additional expense.

How much do you think 1 or 2 FSU games are worth to FSU? Just estimate what those rights are worth.

It was 2 games this year that never made it to a national cable network. How much $$ is that for a school that just lost $15 million last year to athletics? Then take the basketball money that UNC is pocketing (through Raycom?) and subtract the amount FSU is pocketing for its basketball.

That's how much FSU is losing because of UNC's greed.

As for all the kvetching about UConn losing enthusiasm for sports, check this out from 2 years ago: http://jacksonville.com/sports/coll...09-30/story/no-longer-elite-buzz-fsu-football

 

[upstater]

I love the guy. I've fought battles (metaphorically speaking) for the guy. Funny saying this the day after Arnold Dean died, but I used the call that show all the time saying we ought to fire Perno and hire Calhoun. I was happily stunned when they listened to me. I was quoted in the Courant saying that Calhoun was the guy to take us to the promised land. When people said that JC could never win the big one, I told them they were full of . I was all-in for JC and it paid off. But UConn is in a bad spot now because of him. And he hasn't been doing all he can do to make it right. And that might not bother me as much if I wasn't as all-in as I was. I don't like being the fan of an outlaw program.

If you think UConn is an outlaw program, I'd seriously suggest finding another pasttime. I don't like the ugly part of college ball anymore than you do, and I can easily see a point in the near future when I will not watch ANY college sports, but if you think UConn is an outlier, you're mistaken.

 

[upstater]

Very interesting. Raycom is the regional broadcaster that Swofford's kid has a prominent position. The biggest flaw with the ACC deal is that Raycom owns the third tier rights to ACC's football deal. The universities do not get anything from their third tier rights from what people have posted on the conference realignment board. And that impacts FSU and Clemson the most. You have to wonder how much this is a company greasing the wheels. Of course they have no presence in NY, Mass or Penn and the ACC has taken schools from those states. I would have added Indiana but ND did not give the ACC football so Raycom doesn't benefit as much from ND. Raycom benefits from Ville over UConn but not the ACC.

As much as I believe there is going on with underhanded business deals, I still can only come up with one answer. This is a power play by FSU. Ville's football is perceived as better than Uconn but with analysis it isn't significantly greater. And their market is much weaker than UConn's so they are not giving the ACC a market share advantage that UConn could have given them.

FSU is flexing their muscles. They lost WV in the last battle. WV is a legitimate football power with history and current success. It has better academics than Ville. It has a local market disadvantage compared to Ville but WV's addition to the ACC would have balanced the northern and southern leagues. It is a stretch to expect that from Ville. Ville is a wannabe. But why take Ville this time? The only conclusion is FSU wanted to make a statement and not a football or bb statement but a statement to tobacco road, to Swofford and the media that has deals with the ACC. I expect one of two things to happen. The ACC gets a change in the media contracts with ESPN and Raycom. Or FSU bolts to the B12. If that happens the ACC will go the way of the BE. Of course the SEC and the B!G could be catalysts in this process.

And you have a lot of evidence to support you here. Again, in all the craziness of realignment, we've only gone behind the scenes with public statements three times.

1. Gene DeFilippo's crazy boasts about blackballing UConn
2. FSU's board blasting Tobacco Road for stealing money from them
3. UNC--humiliated--comes out with a ridiculously hypocritical comment about academics.

Schools don't issue such public pronouncements lightly, and when they come out, you pay attention. The rest of the public announcements (for instance, UL's comment about pen versus pencil) have PR agendas. But I look at what BC and FSU and UNC have said, and I think: what the hell is the public relations value to those comments? Almost zero. Why is Gene D. bragging? Whi is UNC boohooing about academics?

 

[ctchamps]

How much do you think 1 or 2 FSU games are worth to FSU? Just estimate what those rights are worth.

It was 2 games this year that never made it to a national cable network. How much $$ is that for a school that just lost $15 million last year to athletics? Then take the basketball money that UNC is pocketing (through Raycom?) and subtract the amount FSU is pocketing for its basketball.

That's how much FSU is losing because of UNC's greed.

As for all the kvetching about UConn losing enthusiasm for sports, check this out from 2 years ago: http://jacksonville.com/sports/coll...09-30/story/no-longer-elite-buzz-fsu-football

And there is the issue. The Raycom deal distributed the football rights evenly to all the ACC schools which impacted the better football schools negatively and the weaker football schools (Wake, NCS, NC and Duke) came out ahead. And the converse was true in that the schools kept their bb third tier rights. So Duke and NC come out way ahead over FSU.

It's human nature to feel we are undervalued and someone is overvalued. I'm sure FSU has felt undervalued for a long time. They may have expressed this in the past, but FSU's preference for the ACC prevented them from taking action. I don't believe they reached out to the B12 last round although I feel they were approached by that conference. Everything changed when Md bolted. Now the ACC, always thought to be vulnerable, was proven to be vulnerable. So FSU which had been accommodating to the conference is no longer willing to do so. Either things change significantly to stabilize the conference (big $$$ increases to put the ACC on par with the SEC, PAC, B12 and B!G) or they take the offer from the B12 if they can't get into the SEC.

 

[ctchamps]

upstater you and I are beginning to sound like Mulder on the x files. The problem is this isn't science fiction. People have two faces - the one they want the public to believe is who they are and the one they keep from the public. There is a lot of fire to this smoke that people are ignoring in just licking their wounds about UConn's predicament.

 

[upstater]

upstater you and I are beginning to sound like Mulder on the x files. The problem is this isn't science fiction. People have two faces - the one they want the public to believe is who they are and the one they keep from the public. There is a lot of fire to this smoke that people are ignoring in just licking their wounds about UConn's predicament.

I was a big X-Files fan. I don't think Mulder though had public pronouncements from the horse's mouth in the newspaper. Or maybe he did. In another field (economics), I've been doing some reading that shows not only are journalists and elite policy-makers unwilling to do any research or fact-checking, but the very journalists who wrote exposes and uncovered scandals in the past later develop a severe case of amnesia bout what they themselves have written. I expect journalists to do no research these days, but it's hard to believe they would totally forget what they themselves have written.

 

[ctchamps]

I was a big X-Files fan. I don't think Mulder though had public pronouncements from the horse's mouth in the newspaper. Or maybe he did. In another field (economics), I've been doing some reading that shows not only are journalists and elite policy-makers unwilling to do any research or fact-checking, but the very journalists who wrote exposes and uncovered scandals in the past later develop a severe case of amnesia bout what they themselves have written. I expect journalists to do no research these days, but it's hard to believe they would totally forget what they themselves have written.

People don't need to remember if they aren't held accountable. Freedom of speech is great and I'll fight for it 24/7 but the downside is ........

 

[baggerbob]

You keep saying they gave away football 3rd tier and not basketball, all 3rd tier rights were given away, that's the problem with Raycom. Swofford needs to find a way to correct the problems he created, with the new additions to the league his days may be numbered otherwise. Its safe to say Florida St, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Boston College will vote as a block which means North Carolina no longer rules. You might even get Georgia Tech to vote with them, plus Notre Dame will agree with the football schools, even if they don't have a vote.

 

[ctchamps]

You keep saying they gave away football 3rd tier and not basketball, all 3rd tier rights were given away, that's the problem with Raycom. Swofford needs to find a way to correct the problems he created, with the new additions to the league his days may be numbered otherwise. Its safe to say Florida St, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Boston College will vote as a block which means North Carolina no longer rules. You might even get Georgia Tech to vote with them, plus Notre Dame will agree with the football schools, even if they don't have a vote.

Do you have a link showing third tier rights for the ACC? upstater is such of font of knowledge I just accept his contention. But even if you are correct, the issue is still the same - FSU gave up far more in the contract than North Carolina or Duke. The BE distribution show how much more monies are given for football than bb.

 

[upstater]

You keep saying they gave away football 3rd tier and not basketball, all 3rd tier rights were given away, that's the problem with Raycom. Swofford needs to find a way to correct the problems he created, with the new additions to the league his days may be numbered otherwise. Its safe to say Florida St, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Boston College will vote as a block which means North Carolina no longer rules. You might even get Georgia Tech to vote with them, plus Notre Dame will agree with the football schools, even if they don't have a vote.

This is incorrect. They gave away 3rd tier for football, but not for basketball.