UConn President Says No Plans To Lobby Big 12

[Fishy]

You mean to tell me we can't sell the B12 on NYC exposure and Fox Sports kicking ESPN square in the nuts. I'd love to make that pitch to Fox everyday.

Fox and ESPN basically rotate game selection for Big 12 football, but ESPN is the primary rights holder for hoop - if Fox held more basketball rights, we might be better off.

 

[Dooley]

Holy cr@p, it's actually the number 1 job for her as a University President right now. Getting us in a P5 is of paramount importance and sloppy comments like hers don't engender any confidence in her ability to get the job done. If she already knows she can't get the job done and is trying to manage fans expectations as Fishy thinks, her words were still sloppy as hell.

She is criticized for saying nothing. Then when she something, she is criticized for what she says. The woman can't win.

Can't we all just go to bed tonight safely assuming that UConn's leadership is doing everything possible to get us out of the AAC? As you said, that is her #1 job. I am confident that she is actively pursuing that even if she doesn't come right out and give our fanbase a blow-by-blow accord of the 5 Ws.

 

[superjohn]

If the ACC or even the Big 10 was expanding by two or even one, I would think we would be a mortal lock against this group.

But it's the Big 12 - what we offer - proximity to New York, academics, basketball - might not be nearly as highly-prized.

This is such nonsense. Months ago when there was talk about the Big 12 expanding it was Cincinnati and UConn. We've heard Big 12 leaders talk about how they want to expand to the East. Now it really looks like expansion is going to happen and we are starting to look like an afterthought again, as we get passed by teams like Houston and Memphis. . . . . . .I'm so sick of the excuses. Everything isn't perfect for us or any other school but we offer way more than these schools. It's a joke comparing our resumes and yet it has the same feel as the other times we were passed over. You have to sell yourself and we never seem to do that, if anything we take the approach of downplaying everything we offer. I don't get it.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

ESPN is trying to kill the B12...if they give one ish about what ESPN thinks they are as lost as SH.

How exactly can we (or anyone for that matter) use the fact that adding UConn to the B-12 will be an opportunity for Fox to kick ESPN in the nuts when ESPN is one of the two television providers (along with Fox) in this deal?

It would be like someone approaching the two of us and saying that if we both invest, I'll get a great return and you'll get screwed over. Would you really be receptive to a proposal like that?

 

[Dooley]

Part of "selling yourself" is on us too. Remember all of those passionate pleas to buy tickets, donate and 5K Donor Drive? They are all coming home to roost now.

 

[Fishy]

With the exception of one persistent knucklehead on Twitter, when exactly was UConn 'the talk' of going to the Big 12?

 

[JMick]

Part of "selling yourself" is on us too. Remember all of those passionate pleas to buy tickets, donate and 5K Donor Drive? They are all coming home to roost now.

I truly put some of the blame on them too, though. Maybe it's because I'm in Fairfield County but I never see UConn ads for basketball/football heck I never see ads for the University. I know people that don't even realize UConn plays FBS football...

 

[cttxus]

NOT!!!

 

[Dooley]

How exactly can we (or anyone for that matter) use the fact that adding UConn to the B-12 will be an opportunity for Fox to kick ESPN in the nuts when ESPN is one of the two television providers (along with Fox) in this deal?

It would be like someone approaching the two of us and saying that if we both invest, I'll get a great return and you'll get screwed over. Would you really be receptive to a proposal like that?

The B12's relationship with ESPN is dead. With all of the cost-cutting and downsizing going on in Bristol, there is only enough money and resources to devote to one more power conference. The race was between the B12 and ACC. The ACC won. If the B12 didn't immediately see that the second the ACCN announcement was made, then they're as inept as advertised. FOX + streaming. That is the B12's best playbook for 2024-beyond. UConn is very well positioned for both. FOX wants eastern markets and UConn's social media engagement and brand recognition is very good.

 

[Dooley]

I truly put some of the blame on them too, though. Maybe it's because I'm in Fairfield County but I never see UConn ads for basketball/football heck I never see ads for the University. I know people that don't even realize UConn plays FBS football...

Did you not see any of the "UConn 6th Borough" campaign?

 

[JMick]

Did you not see any of the "UConn 6th Borough" campaign?

Literally none of it unless it was posted here and the occasional facebook ad

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The B12's relationship with ESPN is dead. With all of the cost-cutting and downsizing going on in Bristol, there is only enough money and resources to devote to one more power conference. The race was between the B12 and ACC. The ACC won. If the B12 didn't immediately see that the second the ACCN announcement was made, then they're as inept as advertised. FOX + streaming. That is the B12's best playbook for 2024-beyond. UConn is very well positioned for both. FOX wants eastern markets and UConn's social media engagement and brand recognition is very good.

True but the payout (equal money per school for additions of two or four new members) is within the current contract that both Fox & ESPN hold. Kicking ESPN as a selling point (as was suggested) won't work as % of that bill will be paid by ESPN. Where this hurts our chances (and it seems there is always some stray item lingering that hurts our chances) is that ESPN will not be eager to defray some of Fox's costs on a move that will benefit Fox (more eastern programming).

If BYU can do enough (and I don't believe it will take anything extraordinary) to show they will attempt to modernized their 1870's moral philosophy, their football pedigree is far too valuable to be overlooked. Cincinnati is far more consistent in football than we've been and they are much less of a geographic misfit. The wildcard is Houston due to a)Texas politics and b) how badly UT wants an uncontested move into Houston. I personally believe this will actually help us as the television providers will view adding Houston as being of zero value to them and an offset (BYU and UConn) will need to be added in order for them to go along. If Houston gets added it is only as one of four new b-12 members.

 

[UConnNick]

Is it really too much to ask that our football coach and President keep their feet out of theit mouths? They hate any positive buzz. A false news report that makes us look like a contender...squash it. What do we think about playing in the Midwest...it's too far. Why do we participate in sports...the fun of it. Enough already.

I'm really beginning to think that Herbst is the second coming of Homer Babbidge, whose vision for UCONN was that it would become a public Ivy. Let's de-emphasize big time college athletics and get back to playing sports as a fun extra curricular activity. If we refuse to go to bowl games we are pure and better than everybody else, like the Ivy League chose to do when it was formed in the mid-1950's.

In principle, I agree that money has corrupted college athletics, and maybe it would be more fun if the athletes only participated for the joys of athletic competition, with no other motives. But you don't spend 71 million per year on athletics if you're moving toward a berth in the Patriot League. And what do you tell the taxpayers of Conn. that footed the bill for a 90 million dollar football stadium that's about to become the largest white elephant in Conn. history?

If your vision for the future of UCONN athletics is the Patriot League, that's fine, just come out and announce it. But if there was any true understanding by the current administration of what the 25 year meteoric rise of UCONN athletics has meant to the entire university in terms of overall funding, infrastructure improvements and new on campus construction, do you really want to turn back the clock to the 1960's and be satisfied with a small time athletics program in a small time conference? You pull the rug out from under your fanbase, and far more importantly, your donors.

It's kinda like the argument about people never having had any money vs. people who have had money but lost it all. Some argue it's worse to have had it and then lost it. That's what we have going on here. We had it for quite a while, from 1979 to 2014. Now we don't have it anymore, however if you truly understand the overall history of all facets of the university, the rise of the athletic program directly corresponded with the UCONN 2000 and other initiatives to rebuild the campus and make UCONN the envy of every other New England flagship state U. I don't have a warm feeling that the current school administration truly gets how that all worked. I hope I turn out to be way wrong, but that's how it looks. We seem more aligned with the Knight Commission than the P5.

 

[sportsart]

Type this into Google.

uconn 6th borough nyc billboards

 

[LongTimeHusky]

Depression level is rapidly rising on this board. I'm not there yet. Dooley seems to be one of the few who uses 'facts' to keep our hopes up. I'm in his camp until I hear the 'Big' Donors complain about UConn's leadership and tactics on solving our conference problems. They are Very Silent!! I'm sure they know a lot more than any of us, the press, or the twitter folks on what's happening.

 

[junglehusky]

My take of the night: It's not a matter of convincing the Big 12 to take UConn over, say, Memphis. It's a matter of convincing ESPN/Fox to pay an extra billion dollars for four schools that might be worth half that, at best, and with that comes Oklahoma and Texas probably bailing towards the end of that deal. The Big 12 expansion train is already off the rails, it's going to either crash completely (stay at ten) or maybe the lead car will stay on the rails (add two). There is nobody who can get the train cars back on the track, even if you could turn back the clock. (If you think that magical person exists, please go ahead and vote for Trump). And I haven't even mentioned the LHN which is another obstruction.

But yeah, easier to concentrate on a headline.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Depression level is rapidly rising on this board. I'm not there yet. Dooley seems to be one of the few who uses 'facts' to keep our hopes up. I'm in his camp until I hear the 'Big' Donors complain about UConn's leadership and tactics on solving our conference problems. They are Very Silent!! I'm sure they know a lot more than any of us, the press, or the twitter folks on what's happening.

Who are they?

 

[djct1999]

If President Herbst doesn't care about sports and is building up her resume for a "non-athletic" school, she will have a very hard time explaining the following in her next interview:

1. authorizing all of the money spent on hiring Mike Tranghese to lobby power conferences on our behalf;
2. marketing expenditures for "UConn 6th Borough";
3. hiring not 1, not 2, but 3 qualified Athletic Directors;
4. acquiring land (not money) in a stadium naming contract with the sole expectation that the stadium will require additional land to park additional cars carrying additional fans to said stadium;
5. proceeding with plans to upgrade baseball, soccer and hockey campus facilities, in addition to expanding the campus football training facility;
6. authorizing a move to partner with The Aspire Group to help handle an expected increase in volume of ticket sales in the coming year(s)

If President Herbst hates sports as much as this thread suggest, she sure has a very odd way of showing it.

Dooley, you are honestly the one poster I go to with this. Did you not find what she said discouraging?

 

[BUConn10]

I'm really beginning to think that Herbst is the second coming of Homer Babbidge, whose vision for UCONN was that it would become a public Ivy. Let's de-emphasize big time college athletics and get back to playing sports as a fun extra curricular activity. If we refuse to go to bowl games we are pure and better than everybody else, like the Ivy League chose to do when it was formed in the mid-1950's.

In principle, I agree that money has corrupted college athletics, and maybe it would be more fun if the athletes only participated for the joys of athletic competition, with no other motives. But you don't spend 71 million per year on athletics if you're moving toward a berth in the Patriot League. And what do you tell the taxpayers of Conn. that footed the bill for a 90 million dollar football stadium that's about to become the largest white elephant in Conn. history?

If your vision for the future of UCONN athletics is the Patriot League, that's fine, just come out and announce it. But if there was any true understanding by the current administration of what the 25 year meteoric rise of UCONN athletics has meant to the entire university in terms of overall funding, infrastructure improvements and new on campus construction, do you really want to turn back the clock to the 1960's and be satisfied with a small time athletics program in a small time conference? You pull the rug out from under your fanbase, and far more importantly, your donors.

It's kinda like the argument about people never having had any money vs. people who have had money but lost it all. Some argue it's worse to have had it and then lost it. That's what we have going on here. We had it for quite a while, from 1979 to 2014. Now we don't have it anymore, however if you truly understand the overall history of all facets of the university, the rise of the athletic program directly corresponded with the UCONN 2000 and other initiatives to rebuild the campus and make UCONN the envy of every other New England flagship state U. I don't have a warm feeling that the current school administration truly gets how that all worked. I hope I turn out to be way wrong, but that's how it looks. We seem more aligned with the Knight Commission than the P5.

Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma are both directly responsible for making UConn the institution it is today, both aesthetically and academically. Fact.

When I went to UConn from '10-'14 I had friends who were from Los Angeles. Now tell me, why in the world would rich LA kids ever come to a state school in CT? Because of the brand and marketing achieved by our university through athletic achievement spanned the entire nation. Winning at the highest level in college athletics gives the air or perception of eliteness, even when its not there (see Louisville and Alabama whose enrollment are both desperately tied to their athletic performance).

The only proof you need is to go look up enrollment numbers the year before and after we win one of our titles.It's a night and day difference.

 

[amory]

"The Big 12 just has to take their time, make their decisions and they will. And whatever happens, we continue to try to win. To make sure our student athletes are having a great experience, academically and socially."

"We are UConn and we are champions. We have unbelievably great … sports that are just the envy of presidents across the country … and our great compelling fan base, the UConn Nation, is there for us no matter what happens."

Ah, an early rendition of the winning winners who like to win speech.

Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Dizzy21]

Pretty sure I don't see BYU's President out there saying much or begging.

 

[BUConn10]

Pretty sure I don't see BYU's President out there saying much or begging.

Yea, and he's also not going out there and literally saying "We are making no active effort to join the Big 12, if they take us they take us". That's what people are upset about. It would have been 100x better had she stuck with the "quiet campaign" motif and stayed absolutely silent on the issue, but she went and basically confirmed the fears of many.

 

[Dizzy21]

Yea, and he's also not going out there and literally saying "We are making no active effort to join the Big 12, if they take us they take us". That's what people are upset about. It would have been 100x better had she stuck with the "quiet campaign" motif and stayed absolutely silent on the issue, but she went and basically confirmed the fears of many.

We could debate about the meaning of her comment, but if the Big12 presidents are reading the Courant to see that comment, then she was correct, they are actively pursuing UCONN and her process is working. If they don't read it, well who cares what she said then.

 

[whaler11]

Pretty sure I don't see BYU's President out there saying much or begging.

Is every sales person in the world just begging? There are 500 things she could say about the school or athletic program that aren't anything even approaching begging.

Her goal is to build the endowment? Guess what - that's a sales job.

 

[Dizzy21]

Is every sales person in the world just begging? There are 500 things she could say about the school or athletic program that aren't anything even approaching begging.

Her goal is to build the endowment? Guess what - that's a sales job.

My point was that BYU is a "favorite" and you don't see their president saying anything, is their president an idiot too?