UConn Outbound Transfers for 8/1/23>7/31/24 Cycle

[freescooter]

With all due respect, stinks for whom? Not the players, which should always be kept at the center of all of this. If UConn had bags of cash and were getting the top players in consistently to supplement winning records year over year and the Rent was packed because of it- I doubt you would be pining for change

No. I think it is on the verge of ruining the game. Really every sport. And I’m not that sure that “the kids” really benefit either.

As I’ve said, in basketball we are a hunter right now, but that certainly isn’t guarenteed to last forever. Our best player started at East Carolina and we bought him. If I were the coach at ECU I’d be pretty ticked off. Last year we rented a couple of guys and probably have for this year too.

It is getting to the point where it really isn’t that interesting to watch a bunch of nomads playing for whoever has the deepest pockets. Education has pretty much become a bigger joke than it already was. And how about guys show a bit of loyalty, understand that sometimes you need to work harder if you want to play more, and that it isn’t only about money. Crazy ideas, I know.

Mora is being ever the gentleman.

 

[Skiblets]

Hoosiers Connect, an official NIL collective of Indiana Athletics, announced Thursday a fundraising campaign called 'Back the Rock.' An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million in matching funds for all donations made to Hoosiers Connect and Hoosiers For Good through the end of the year.

This is the arms race College Athletics has become..... I don't think anyone thinks this is a good thing

It’s crazy that a Big 10 school that makes what , $70m per year? in broadcast rights has to resort to guilting private donors to pay its players since the ‘rules’ don’t allow the schools to share revenue.

Such a broken system

 

[uconnyankee]

If it's all about what schools can pay the athletes the most, then I'll just watch the NFL. There are plenty of other things I can do on a Saturday that don't involve college football.

Starting to agree.
There’s no allegiance to the school, these are not students, and if the NFL had these same rules, the owners would raise holy hell. This model isn’t sustainable and only big market teams would win.

I don’t blame the players. The adults in charge have let this get out of hand.

 

[noeynox]

Nah, UConn basketball is benefiting and I still don’t like it selfishly as a fan. It’s reality so I hope we do continue to poach good players from the transfer portal, but as a fan I’d rather we’d go back to the days you mostly relied on high school recruiting and developed guys

We don't make the rules, but as you admit, if you want UConn to continue to be a top school in BB we have to abide by these methods.

That we can't compete in FB doesn't bother me as much, because we have chosen to not compete since the dissolution of the Big East.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I think there l is a chance to get talented young players from P5. Why go to BC and sit on the bench for three years? Come here and play. You blow up? U can leave.

 

[ZooCougar]

Nah, UConn basketball is benefiting and I still don’t like it selfishly as a fan. It’s reality so I hope we do continue to poach good players from the transfer portal, but as a fan I’d rather we’d go back to the days you mostly relied on high school recruiting and developed guys

Sounds great. But Nate Carter, Aaron Turner, Marion and now Joly were develeloped by us out of high school and they moved on.

We have to be stoic about this and embrace the chaos. Guys we develop will leave and when we don’t have backfill ready we have to go to the portal to fill immediate needs.

 

[J187Money]

Love the way Mora is handling this. Will pay dividends in the long run.

And watching this happen - is going to loosen up some pockets in some of the wealthy alumni.

The downside of NIL is that you can lose players if you don't have the money.

The upside of NIL is that you can also get players if you DO have the money. Without NIL - a problem like UCONN is unsolvable without years of winning. Now this is just a math problem.

 

[UCMB88]

Hoosiers Connect, an official NIL collective of Indiana Athletics, announced Thursday a fundraising campaign called 'Back the Rock.' An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million in matching funds for all donations made to Hoosiers Connect and Hoosiers For Good through the end of the year.

This is the arms race College Athletics has become..... I don't think anyone thinks this is a good thing

The sad reality is that no matter how much money Hoosiers Connect and Hoosiers For Good comes up with and spends on football players, Indiana is never going to break into the upper echelon of the Big 10. Not as long as Michigan, Ohio St., Penn St., Michigan St. and Iowa are around.

Indiana's had 3 winning seasons in the past 30 years. They've finished no higher than tied for 4th in the B1G prior to the conference splitting into two divisions, and no higher than 4th in their division since the B1G went to divisions in 2011 (with the exception of the covid year 2020, where they ended 6-2 and in 2nd place in the East Division). With the exception of the covid year, they've finished above .500 in conference play once in 30 years. They've only been to 5 bowl games in the past 30 years, and they lost all 5.

It's an arms race that Indiana is never going to win, or never even come close to being in the upper echelon. Yet, their supporters are going to shell out millions over the next few years. At what point in the next few years are those supporters going to say "why are we doing this?" It's just not a sustainable model.

And I'm not picking on Indiana, just responding to the post about IU. You can substitute any lower level team in a P4 conference - Rutgers, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Boston College, Arizona St., etc.

 

[businesslawyer]

The sad reality is that no matter how much money Hoosiers Connect and Hoosiers For Good comes up with and spends on football players, Indiana is never going to break into the upper echelon of the Big 10. Not as long as Michigan, Ohio St., Penn St., Michigan St. and Iowa are around.

Indiana's had 3 winning seasons in the past 30 years. They've finished no higher than tied for 4th in the B1G prior to the conference splitting into two divisions, and no higher than 4th in their division since the B1G went to divisions in 2011 (with the exception of the covid year 2020, where they ended 6-2 and in 2nd place in the East Division). With the exception of the covid year, they've finished above .500 in conference play once in 30 years. They've only been to 5 bowl games in the past 30 years, and they lost all 5.

It's an arms race that Indiana is never going to win, or never even come close to being in the upper echelon. Yet, their supporters are going to shell out millions over the next few years. At what point in the next few years are those supporters going to say "why are we doing this?" It's just not a sustainable model.

And I'm not picking on Indiana, just responding to the post about IU. You can substitute any lower level team in a P4 conference - Rutgers, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Boston College, Arizona St., etc.

A lot of logic there, but you're acting as if IU's donors haven't been contributing to the school's athletic department for generations notwithstanding all the losing. As J-Money just said, the core of this isn't new. Schools with donors who give a lot of money will have more ways to attract players than schools that don't. The only difference with the coming of NIL is how much money and to whom you write the check.

 

[freescooter]

I think there l is a chance to get talented young players from P5. Why go to BC and sit on the bench for three years? Come here and play. You blow up? U can leave.

Maybe. But in many ways this system hurts players, especially high school kids. There is evidence of this in basketball already. Guys who once would go to, say, Manhattan, end up not playing or at non-scholarship D3 places because the spots are taken by portal guys from UMass.

I’m guessing football is similar. Instead of recruiting 20 freshman teams are now bringing in 12-24 and filling other slots with portal guys. Colorado hasn’t recruited any! Though It especially hurts the G5 recruits I suspect.

 

[Go Dogs!!]

Beginning to see the end of College Football. We are the minor leagues and the big boys just buy the players. It's no longer a level playing field, the have and the have nots. Rich get richer! This has been horrible day to be a UConn football fan and I can't even imagine what the UConn coaches and staff are feeling! I hope we survive this crappy NIL and portal mess!

 

[Huskyforlife]

People embracing the idea of becoming Alabama’s development league team is disgusting. Why don’t we just rebrand the university as “Alabama Jr” at that point? Cowards.

 

[BigTenFan]

The sad reality is that no matter how much money Hoosiers Connect and Hoosiers For Good comes up with and spends on football players, Indiana is never going to break into the upper echelon of the Big 10. Not as long as Michigan, Ohio St., Penn St., Michigan St. and Iowa are around.

Indiana's had 3 winning seasons in the past 30 years. They've finished no higher than tied for 4th in the B1G prior to the conference splitting into two divisions, and no higher than 4th in their division since the B1G went to divisions in 2011 (with the exception of the covid year 2020, where they ended 6-2 and in 2nd place in the East Division). With the exception of the covid year, they've finished above .500 in conference play once in 30 years. They've only been to 5 bowl games in the past 30 years, and they lost all 5.

It's an arms race that Indiana is never going to win, or never even come close to being in the upper echelon. Yet, their supporters are going to shell out millions over the next few years. At what point in the next few years are those supporters going to say "why are we doing this?" It's just not a sustainable model.

And I'm not picking on Indiana, just responding to the post about IU. You can substitute any lower level team in a P4 conference - Rutgers, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Boston College, Arizona St., etc.

I agree 100 percent. The top tier teams will continue to excel and add in 4 Pac 10 teams and the gauntlet gets tougher. Iowa, Wisconsin will have winning records most years

My point is - if B1G Ten teams pour millions and millions of dollars into their football programs- how does a University like UConn attract any attention from players or coaches for its football program? As stated- it's just not a sustainable model for 90 percent of schools

 

[CL82]

With all due respect, stinks for whom? Not the players, which should always be kept at the center of all of this. If UConn had bags of cash and were getting the top players in consistently to supplement winning records year over year and the Rent was packed because of it- I doubt you would be pining for change

True, but that isn't the case.

 

[CL82]

Love the way Mora is handling this. Will pay dividends in the long run.

agree, but what else is he really going to do? Crap all over about a dozen players leaving? This is his best play, but, believe me our best players leaving in droves is not a good look. It has me worried.

 

[Bubba1957]

A few thoughts:

• The overall quality of play is going to take a big hit across the board with a lot of guys coming and going every year.
• A lot of guys leaving for NIL money will be riding the pine at their new home.
• At what point to boosters pressure coaches to play guys that they've invested as opposed to the best man?
• Leaving UConn for a bigger football school as away of being noticed by the NFL is just not true. First you have to get on the field, then play well. If you are starring at UConn (Joly, Aaron Turner, Carter), its a real gamble to leave and potentially not be seen again.

I used to argue with a coworker about the value of sports at a university. He didn't like sports and claimed it was ridiculous to even offer athletic scholarships at an institution dedicated to education. I argued the opposite and talked about opportunities for kids who might not have much and the overall improved college experience for everyone. I love athletic competition, but he was never wrong.

 

[RC111]

Beginning to see the end of College Football. We are the minor leagues and the big boys just buy the players. It's no longer a level playing field, the have and the have nots. Rich get richer! This has been horrible day to be a UConn football fan and I can't even imagine what the UConn coaches and staff are feeling! I hope we survive this crappy NIL and portal mess!

Hopefully not the end but a pivot back to something many of us would still watch.

If UConn builds a 20k on-campus stadium and goes back to mostly-regional in-conference games against eastern and/ or northern schools, I'll still show out for games. I'm just as happy watching decent football against Delaware as our team getting pounded by bigger teams with greater resources.

Josh Allen started at Reedley College. Carson Wentz attended FCS North Dakota State. UConn can still catch lightening in a bottle and have some fun players and games without all the BS that D1 college football is becoming. My ONLY fear is the big boys not inviting our BBall team to a future league if BBall breaks along the same lines.

 

[UCMB88]

A lot of logic there, but you're acting as if IU's donors haven't been contributing to the school's athletic department for generations notwithstanding all the losing. As J-Money just said, the core of this isn't new. Schools with donors who give a lot of money will have more ways to attract players than schools that don't. The only difference with the coming of NIL is how much money and to whom you write the check.

I understand that donors have been contributing to school's athletic department's for generations, but athletic department funds and NIL collective funds are two entirely separate things. Athletic department funds cannot be used to pay players directly. Sure, they are used for scholarships, but they can't be used for the straight up cash that is given to players.

Is Joe Hoosier, who gives $100,000 to the athletic department every year, now going to fork over an additional $100,000 to the NIL collective for football? Maybe, but at which point does Joe question why he's doing so when the football team continues to mire in mediocrity.

 

[cthog]

I think there l is a chance to get talented young players from P5. Why go to BC and sit on the bench for three years? Come here and play. You blow up? U can leave.

When the portal just started, I thought that type of scenario would help us. But now? These kids will get paid more to sit on the bench than to play here.

 

[uconnfan68]

When the portal just started, I thought that type of scenario would help us. But now? These kids will get paid more to sit on the bench than to play here.

If they’d rather sit than play, who wants them?

 

[uconnric]

Nah, UConn basketball is benefiting and I still don’t like it selfishly as a fan. It’s reality so I hope we do continue to poach good players from the transfer portal, but as a fan I’d rather we’d go back to the days you mostly relied on high school recruiting and developed guys

Not sure if basketball is benefiting, we just lost 2 high level recruits to Duke and I’d bet NIL had something to do with it.

 

[cohenzone]

The transfer rule is way more destructive to college sports than the NIL. At one point the argument in favor of a free transfer was that if a coach could leave for greener pastures without sitting a year, why should players have to sit? So why can’t the transfer rule be changed to award one free transfer to a player only when the coach who recruited him is gone for any reason,- new job, fired, retired, whatever. Otherwise sit a year. I watched one P5 game this year where the announcers were rather nonchalantly saying where players had transferred from. A very big %. These are no longer “programs”, its just fielding a team on a yearly basis with the name of the school on the jersey. If its going to be a pro knock off, a player with an NIL deal should include a minimum 2 year contract or longer as negotiated through a max of 4 years. I even wouldn’t care if the grad student eligibility were scrapped even though it has benefitted various UConn sports. I’ll probably remain a UConn fan til i die, but a lot of the interest is diminishing.

 

[UCFBfan]

agree, but what else is he really going to do? Crap all over about a dozen players leaving? This is his best play, but, believe me our best players leaving in droves is not a good look. It has me worried.

Is it really a bad look? I think it's just the future reality for programs like us. We can't afford to drop massive NIL on a player like Joly who can't fix the offense by himself. Also, players, like coaches, will now use programs like ours and other low tier programs as a spring board to better offers/programs. It's the reality that we all need to accept. Last year these departures would have me freaking out. Now I just shrug. It's sad but true.

As a fan, there's no more rooting for players, it's just rooting for the university.

 

[Hogoff]

agree, but what else is he really going to do? Crap all over about a dozen players leaving? This is his best play, but, believe me our best players leaving in droves is not a good look. It has me worried.

He could just keep quiet about it. Although, that would be a bad look.

 

[How Sway?!]

I think the best way to move forward is to institute a solidarity system like they have in soccer. Players keep their one time transfer, they keep getting paid, and the developing school get some reward for developing the player. Something like $25k would stop a large amount of the poaching.