UConn to Big XII Imminent?

[CL82]

Truth of matter is once Burton was built there was a lack of investment in program…

What investments do you believe the athletic department should have made that they did not?

 

[noeynox]

What investments do you believe the athletic department should have made that they did not?

Paying good coaching salaries to attract talent for starters.

After Diaco they went into full "balling on a budget" mode.

 

[JohnFSilver]

What investments do you believe the athletic department should have made that they did not?

Recruiting budget, coaching staff salary, more help with bringing in marginal students, more creative marketing and development to enhance experience.

Also, we’ve been worst enemy. Killing the Notre Dame series. Stuff like that.

 

[CL82]

Paying good coaching salaries to attract talent for starters.

After Diaco they went into full "balling on a budget" mode.

I fully expected that to be the answer. I hate when people use the cryptic phrase "Connecticut doesn't invest in football" when what they mean to say is "Connecticut needs to pay its coaches more." The notion that we "haven't invested" in football is BuS.

We have outstanding facilities between Burton and Shenkman. The Rent, though 30 minutes too far west, is a nice facility as well, with great sightlines and outstanding tailgating. We've invested plenty in football.

But what we've also done is made some catastrophically bad coaching hires. All of them had some logic to them, but all ended up being horrific. Hopefully, we finally corrected that with Jim Mora, a former NFL and power conference school coach.

When we go out there and suggest that we "haven't invested in football" the rest of college football perceives that as a facilities issue. That's not correct and it hurts our perception as a team that's ready to step up to the P4.

 

[CL82]

Recruiting budget, coaching staff salary, more help with bringing in marginal students, more creative marketing and development to enhance experience.

Also, we’ve been worst enemy. Killing the Notre Dame series. Stuff like that.

See my reply above to @noeynox. Those are all soft operational costs. That's not the connotation when you say that "we have not invested in football." That phrase suggest a facilities issue, which we don't have (notwithstanding the need to dump a projected 175 million into the Rent.)

For what it's worth, I also hate when people analyze our football budget as a percentage of our basketball budget and compare to other schools percentages. We " invest " a eton of money in our basketball programs to make them world-class. The fact that other institutions under invest in their basketball means that their investment in football is a higher percentage compared to their investment. That's a dumb and meaningless comparison. Now, if you want to compare our football budget to a P4 football budget, that's a fair comparison.

 

[CL82]

Paying good coaching salaries to attract talent for starters.

After Diaco they went into full "balling on a budget" mode.

There was some logic to bring back Edsal, our most successful football coach, but yeah, we definitely could've done better especially with assistant's salaries. I don't disagree with the point, I just think using the cryptic phrase "Connecticut doesn't invest in football" instead of "Connecticut needs to pay its coaches more" or maybe more plainly, "Connecticut needs to make better coaching hires" does a disservice to the program because it implies that we have a bricks and mortar issue. For the most part, we do not.

 

[superjohn]

They don't have any brand names in basketball? With Kansas and Arizona? Plus Houston and Baylor? Really? We wouldn't be the biggest brand name in the conference. The biggest football name in the Big XII, #12 Utah, won 49-0 last night. Colorado did pull out a win.

While "markets" don't matter the way they did in the old cable era, what we bring is exposure to a part of the country where the Big XII has very little visibility. If I'm pitching to the Presidents, I'd show them how many ACC schools succeeded in recruiting smart, wealthy New England/NY HS students since they added BC and Syracuse. That's the real pitch. Tri-state kids, plus RI/MA kids who follow UConn deciding to consider Colorado, Kansas, Arizona and Texas Tech when making college decisions. Why did the B1G really want Rutgers and Maryland? To recruit undergrads from those regions that will pay out of state fees and consider them cheap.

UConn or Kansas would be the biggest brand name.

 

[alexd]

Recruiting budget, coaching staff salary, more help with bringing in marginal students, more creative marketing and development to enhance experience.

Also, we’ve been worst enemy. Killing the Notre Dame series. Stuff like that.

What killed the Notre Dane series was UConn winning the first game at South Bend then ND wouldn't negotiate beyond that.

 

[Hoophound]

They don't have any brand names in basketball? With Kansas and Arizona? Plus Houston and Baylor? Really? We wouldn't be the biggest brand name in the conference. The biggest football name in the Big XII, #12 Utah, won 49-0 last night. Colorado did pull out a win.

While "markets" don't matter the way they did in the old cable era, what we bring is exposure to a part of the country where the Big XII has very little visibility. If I'm pitching to the Presidents, I'd show them how many ACC schools succeeded in recruiting smart, wealthy New England/NY HS students since they added BC and Syracuse. That's the real pitch. Tri-state kids, plus RI/MA kids who follow UConn deciding to consider Colorado, Kansas, Arizona and Texas Tech when making college decisions. Why did the B1G really want Rutgers and Maryland? To recruit undergrads from those regions that will pay out of state fees and consider them cheap.

Yeah. I wasn’t being literal. However, there’s no arguing that the B12 is light on brands that are really good at anything. KU is very good at basketball. Utah is good at football but that’s not a brand with many fans outside Utah. Arizona is pretty good in basketball, but it’s a tremendously overhyped program. I’ve never understood why they get treated like royalty sometimes.

 

[billybud]

UConn needs a come back...Thirteen straight seasons of no + .500 seasons.

Duke once went 17 consecutive sub 500 seasons...with nine of them with less than 3 wins...

They played a respectable 8 win season last year and a nine win season the year before that.

UConn now has a good coach...get the right roster, spend for a good QB, recuit well...and it will turn around.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I fully expected that to be the answer. I hate when people use the cryptic phrase "Connecticut doesn't invest in football" when what they mean to say is "Connecticut needs to pay its coaches more." The notion that we "haven't invested" in football is BuS.

We have outstanding facilities between Burton and Shenkman. The Rent, though 30 minutes too far west, is a nice facility as well, with great sightlines and outstanding tailgating. We've invested plenty in football.

But what we've also done is made some catastrophically bad coaching hires. All of them had some logic to them, but all ended up being horrific. Hopefully, we finally corrected that with Jim Mora, a former NFL and power conference school coach.

When we go out there and suggest that we "haven't invested in football" the rest of college football perceives that as a facilities issue. That's not correct and it hurts our perception as a team that's ready to step up to the P4.

We haven’t invested. Marketing, updates, training programs, recruiting budgets…

The rentschler field experience is identical to what it was back in 2003 - and I was at that game. That is part CRDA, part UConn just willing to say you got a building , enough.

 

[noeynox]

There was some logic to bring back Edsal, our most successful football coach, but yeah, we definitely could've done better especially with assistant's salaries. I don't disagree with the point, I just think using the cryptic phrase "Connecticut doesn't invest in football" instead of "Connecticut needs to pay its coaches more" or maybe more plainly, "Connecticut needs to make better coaching hires" does a disservice to the program because it implies that we have a bricks and mortar issue. For the most part, we do not.

You interpret it as facilities, but the truth is everyone in the P4 has dope facilities. Syracuse has new facilities that look amazing (think ours are nicer) but facilities investments are like bare minimum requirements. The things @JohnFSilver said are what people really mean when they say "investment" in a sport. Mora was a good hire but it also came on the cheap. Last time we tried competing for a coach that would seem in demand we got Diaco after Narduzzi turned us down because he didn't see the money being there to competecin terms of paying assistants and the like. Like it or not, THAT is the perception of our commitment toward FB.

 

[JohnFSilver]

What killed the Notre Dane series was UConn winning the first game at South Bend then ND wouldn't negotiate beyond that.

Not true at all.

 

[Kolumbo]

I want to know where they are in the process and what are the major negotiating points. I know we need a football conference but we also can't shortchange ourselves. UConn is absolutely better than that.

Would Benedict turn down any offer if it wasn't beneficial enough?

• We need to be guaranteed a football invite at some point and it should be sooner than 2031. There can't be any wiggle room where the XII welches out of it because we didn't "invest" enough. 2031 is essentially a basketball only invite because the future is too uncertain
• UConn should have a get out of jail free card if necessary. If UConn were to agree to the XII without football but then the ACC came in later with a full invite, UConn better be able to choose for itself with no financial penalty. Can't get locked into something holding UConn back in any way. UConn's been shafted for far too long already to have to pay penalties
• We can still ride the Big East because if it is going to be broken in the future, it isn't broken yet. I am starting to lean towards staying in the Big East for now, until we start to lose. Purely based on the disrespect we get from other conferences

I honestly think the XII should invite UConn and USF today. USF is going to get an invite someday and locking down the 2 high growth universities in Central Florida would be a smart move.

 

[buddy]

Not true at all.

Hathaway's hubris killed it.

 

[KryHavok]

What killed the Notre Dane series was UConn winning the first game at South Bend then ND wouldn't negotiate beyond that.

One would figure the golden domers would be salivating at the chance to even up the score and prove their loss against UConn was a fluke. Alas, I'm okay with that 1 game and UConn saying they are undefeated against ND football.

 

[KryHavok]

I want to know where they are in the process and what are the major negotiating points. I know we need a football conference but we also can't shortchange ourselves. UConn is absolutely better than that.

Would Benedict turn down any offer if it wasn't beneficial enough?

• We need to be guaranteed a football invite at some point and it should be sooner than 2031. There can't be any wiggle room where the XII welches out of it because we didn't "invest" enough. 2031 is essentially a basketball only invite because the future is too uncertain
• UConn should have a get out of jail free card if necessary. If UConn were to agree to the XII without football but then the ACC came in later with a full invite, UConn better be able to choose for itself with no financial penalty. Can't get locked into something holding UConn back in any way. UConn's been shafted for far too long already to have to pay penalties
• We can still ride the Big East because if it is going to be broken in the future, it isn't broken yet. I am starting to lean towards staying in the Big East for now, until we start to lose. Purely based on the disrespect we get from other conferences

I honestly think the XII should invite UConn and USF today. USF is going to get an invite someday and locking down the 2 high growth universities in Central Florida would be a smart move.

Solid on all points mate, and I couldn't agree more. The probability of getting a football invite from another conference may be slim, but it's not zero. So then why lock ourselves to an agreement that gives us a partial home when what we're looking for is a long-term home for all sports?

 

[BlueMAB]

We haven’t invested. Marketing, updates, training programs, recruiting budgets…

The rentschler field experience is identical to what it was back in 2003 - and I was at that game. That is part CRDA, part UConn just willing to say you got a building , enough.

We're running a $50MM+ deficit.

Broke =/= cheap.

People are criticizing UConn for not pulling itself up by the bootstraps, when we have no boots and no straps.

 

[cellocgg]

Don't we have any Boneyardigans close to Benedict? I would love to hear his opinions

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I want to know where they are in the process and what are the major negotiating points. I know we need a football conference but we also can't shortchange ourselves. UConn is absolutely better than that.

Would Benedict turn down any offer if it wasn't beneficial enough?

• We need to be guaranteed a football invite at some point and it should be sooner than 2031. There can't be any wiggle room where the XII welches out of it because we didn't "invest" enough. 2031 is essentially a basketball only invite because the future is too uncertain
• UConn should have a get out of jail free card if necessary. If UConn were to agree to the XII without football but then the ACC came in later with a full invite, UConn better be able to choose for itself with no financial penalty. Can't get locked into something holding UConn back in any way. UConn's been shafted for far too long already to have to pay penalties
• We can still ride the Big East because if it is going to be broken in the future, it isn't broken yet. I am starting to lean towards staying in the Big East for now, until we start to lose. Purely based on the disrespect we get from other conferences

I honestly think the XII should invite UConn and USF today. USF is going to get an invite someday and locking down the 2 high growth universities in Central Florida would be a smart move.

I think there is a shock to the system coming that would be bigger than the FSU/Clemson ACC Breakup pipe dream. I stand by my prediction that several of the top academic schools will not want to be part of a professional sports minor league.

 

[DoctorWho85]

Why is Chris Murphy speaking out against this move? You'd think he'd have a better handle on why this makes a better financial idea for the school and state overall. I mean a lot of the Big 12 schools travel very well so that brings in more revenue for Hartford, Manchester and surrounding areas through tourism. Plus I'm sure they can get neutral site games to really get some interest drummed up for the program

 

[AllHusky]

There was some logic to bring back Edsal, our most successful football coach, but yeah, we definitely could've done better especially with assistant's salaries. I don't disagree with the point, I just think using the cryptic phrase "Connecticut doesn't invest in football" instead of "Connecticut needs to pay its coaches more" or maybe more plainly, "Connecticut needs to make better coaching hires" does a disservice to the program because it implies that we have a bricks and mortar issue. For the most part, we do not.

Edsall 1.0 was the right guy for that moment in time. The hire who wasn't the right guy came after Lew Perkins went to Kansas. I think Lew knew what UConn wasn't and wouldn't do to grow the FB program, leaving behind a legacy of "He got us into IA Football" and probably credit for Rentschler as well.

1990 Lew Hired
1993 Skip Holtz hired, Jackson era over
1998 UConn makes IAA playoffs 1st time ever
Skip leaves to coach with Dad at USCe
Randy Edsall hired from GA Tech(?)
2001 Jeff Hathaway leaves to become AD at Colorado State
2003 Lew leaves for Kansas
Hathaway hired from Co State to be AD
2010 Edsall leaves for MD

The investment UConn needed was to keep Lew, who knew what it took to compete. Randy compalined bitterly that Jeff wouldn't support him on the things necessary to go to the next level. We had pretty much straight line progress in IA up until Randy left.

The Soft Operational costs CL82 refers to includes admitting and retaining at risk athletes, which was one of Randys biggest complaints. That and all the other staffing bells and whistles might have been handled had Lew been around, as Lew was a do whatever it takes, however you want to kind of guy. UConn wasn't built that way, and most people couldn't wrap their head around being mentioned in the same breath as the SEC or the "Pony Express" SMU Mustangs. Jeff Hathaway was all too happy to adopt a Pollyanna Purebred attitude when dealing with UConn Administration, when Edsall knew what things he faced competitively(ie Jurich and Louisville).

And here we are.

In the time it took me to write this post, I see others have said much the same as I have in different ways.

 

[Bongo Fury]

You interpret it as facilities, but the truth is everyone in the P4 has dope facilities. Syracuse has new facilities that look amazing (think ours are nicer) but facilities investments are like bare minimum requirements. The things @JohnFSilver said are what people really mean when they say "investment" in a sport. Mora was a good hire but it also came on the cheap. Last time we tried competing for a coach that would seem in demand we got Diaco after Narduzzi turned us down because he didn't see the money being there to competecin terms of paying assistants and the like. Like it or not, THAT is the perception of our commitment toward FB.

It’s more than money. Narduzzi didn’t see UConn as a good opportunity. They need a good coach not necessarily an expensive coach. Mora I believe is incentivized and with success UConn will pay to keep him. Is he a better coach than Moorhead? At the time of hiring who knows but he appears to be the right person to navigate the pro/am environment. Hopefully UConn is successful. They are do.

 

[huskymedic]

It’s more than money. Narduzzi didn’t see UConn as a good opportunity. They need a good coach not necessarily an expensive coach. Mora I believe is incentivized and with success UConn will pay to keep him. Is he a better coach than Moorhead? At the time of hiring who knows but he appears to be the right person to navigate the pro/am environment. Hopefully UConn is successful. They are do.

Agree on Coach navigating the pro/am environment- time to invest in that Player Personnel staff.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think there is a shock to the system coming that would be bigger than the FSU/Clemson ACC Breakup pipe dream. I stand by my prediction that several of the top academic schools will not want to be part of a professional sports minor league.

If the payment of players shakes out as some think it will, then you are probably right. A lot of institutions will opt out of trying to compete at those higher levels.

The question is whether that is really coming or not. Most P4 schools still lose money on athletics. The belief that this is some mega industry that can actually afford to make these payments to players, plus NIL, coaches, facilities, travel, etc. is just wrong. So will Congress step in and save college football? Because that will be the death of it.