UConn to Big XII Imminent?

[FfldCntyFan]

I've heard this refrain on this board that the Big East won't be able to get and keep good coaches and the Big East won't be able to compete for a lot of years now and yet the Big East has the best crop of coaches and UConn and Nova have won 6 of the last 13 NCAA tournaments.

Yes, Nova & UConn have won six of the past thirteen tournaments but today's Villanova appears no closer to a deep tournament run than the 2014 UConn football team was to a Fiesta bowl invitation.

I personally believe (for a number of reasons) that most BE schools will always be able to get quality coaches. Keeping them however is a different issue and aside from the two schools that have recently won national titles, Creighton may be the only one that can say that a quality, successful coach over the past decade or more hasn't moved on to greener pastures.

Xavier has been a stepping stone from at least the Pete Gillen says. Marquette lost Crean and Buzz. Butler lost Brad Stevens and Providence lost Pitino, Barnes, Gillen and Cooley (their only coaches that didn't move on were coaches they fired).

I'm not sure there is enough gravitas among the bulk of the schools in the conference to hold on to quality coaches.

 

[CTBballfan243]

Hurley knows that, it's why he just turned down Kentucky and the Los Angelas Lakers and signed a 6 year contract with UConn.

6 years is hardly long term sustainability y. Also, Hurley can leave whenever he wants.

 

[superjohn]

Yes, Nova & UConn have won six of the past thirteen tournaments but today's Villanova appears no closer to a deep tournament run than the 2014 UConn football team was to a Fiesta bowl invitation.

I personally believe (for a number of reasons) that most BE schools will always be able to get quality coaches. Keeping them however is a different issue and aside from the two schools that have recently won national titles, Creighton may be the only one that can say that a quality, successful coach over the past decade or more hasn't moved on to greener pastures.

Xavier has been a stepping stone from at least the Pete Gillen says. Marquette lost Crean and Buzz. Butler lost Brad Stevens and Providence lost Pitino, Barnes, Gillen and Cooley (their only coaches that didn't move on were coaches they fired).

I'm not sure there is enough gravitas among the bulk of the schools in the conference to hold on to quality coaches.

And Shaka Smart quit Texas to coach Marquette.

I'm not sure what point you're making with Nova. Just about every program in the country isn't competing for a national championship. They won two of them recently, the Big 10 hasn't won one in 23 straight tournaments. I don't know why they stayed in house and hired Neptune but it's a mistake great programs seem to make over and over again. He should've been canned after this past season, if he sucks again this year he'll be canned and they'll go after the best coaches in the country.

 

[superjohn]

I don’t have a problem with that. I will continue to support UConn until my dying day. UConn won’t be playing the major programs, and it will be at a lower tier of athletics, but I won’t have a problem with that.

UConn basketball won't be playing the major programs and it will be at a lower tier of athletics?

 

[JohnFSilver]

If the p3 breaks away for football they’ll make all the money they ever dreamed of and there would be no need to mess with March madness. nothing beyond tourney expansion has ever been uttered and doing so would hurt themselves in the long run. No one wants a p3 only tourney. Id boycott watching that even if UConn were included.

The big money schools do not care whether central Connecticut state gets a big dance invite.

The groups in charge just killed off the pac 12, the home of the rose bowl and ucla basketball.

they got no problem killing the big east and all the mid major programs. Yormark is going to touch off another raid of big East. If it isn’t UConn, St. John and Villanova are next in line to conferences who want to add markets and basketball.

 

[superjohn]

6 years is hardly long term sustainability y. Also, Hurley can leave whenever he wants.

Any coach can leave whenever they want.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

And Shaka Smart quit Texas to coach Marquette.

I'm not sure what point you're making with Nova. Just about every program in the country isn't competing for a national championship. They won two of them recently, the Big 10 hasn't won one in 23 straight tournaments. I don't know why they stayed in house and hired Neptune but it's a mistake great programs seem to make over and over again. He should've been canned after this past season, if he sucks again this year he'll be canned and they'll go after the best coaches in the country.

Shaka quit?

My point is that Nova at the moment is suspect at best and in that state they are the only possibility after us as a program with any weight.

 

[How Sway?!]

The big money schools do not care whether central Connecticut state gets a big dance invite.

The groups in charge just killed off the pac 12, the home of the rose bowl and ucla basketball.

they got no problem killing the big east and all the mid major programs. Yormark is going to touch off another raid of big East. If it isn’t UConn, St. John and Villanova are next in line to conferences who want to add markets and basketball.

All due respect, if Yomark can't get the B12 presidents to agree to extend an invite to UConn, THE basketball brand, at a severe discount, he is not going to get them to extend one to St Johns or Villanova.

There's a 0.01% chance that any non UConn BE school moves conferences.

 

[UConnDan97]

This thread contains all the insanity that I thought it would. You have folks in here arguing that the Big East is effectively a P4 conference.

Folks, the thing that makes a P4 conference (or P3, or whatever number) is MONEY! I'm having a really hard time understanding why folks don't understand this. Wake Forest has more money to dump into their bball than Nova. UCF has more money to dump into their bball than Marquette. It's a simple as that, folks.

If we get an invite, we're gone. And folks should be extremely happy if we do, because it means that all our great athletic programs will maintain their competitive balance...

 

[Patman]

Well thankfully UConn is a nonprofit institution and will save over $20mill per year by cutting football and the corresponding 6 title ix women’s teams. With those savings UConn/the state can keep funding the bball programs for decades to come.

And they will enjoy being irrelevant in a power 3 world.

 

[Patman]

All due respect, if Yomark can't get the B12 presidents to agree to extend an invite to UConn, THE basketball brand, at a severe discount, he is not going to get them to extend one to St Johns or Villanova.

There's a 0.01% chance that any non UConn BE school moves conferences.

if the other BE schools were valuable the B12 would already be talking them up, they aren't.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

This thread contains all the insanity that I thought it would. You have folks in here arguing that the Big East is effectively a P4 conference.

Folks, the thing that makes a P4 conference (or P3, or whatever number) is MONEY! I'm having a really hard time understanding why folks don't understand this. Wake Forest has more money to dump into their bball than Nova. UCF has more money to dump into their bball than Marquette. It's a simple as that, folks.

If we get an invite, we're gone. And folks should be extremely happy if we do, because it means that all our great athletic programs will maintain their competitive balance...

I think you don’t understand the difference between revenue and profit, because if you did, you would understand which measure of MONEY we should be looking at.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Neptune sucks but Nova certainly isn't Georgetown bad, Georgetown was 2-18 in the league this past season.

I'll take Nova's history over Georgetown's any day. Georgetown was great in the 80's and the best Georgetown team ever lost the national championship to Nova. Georgetown never really sustained their success.

I've heard this refrain on this board that the Big East won't be able to get and keep good coaches and the Big East won't be able to compete for a lot of years now and yet the Big East has the best crop of coaches and UConn and Nova have won 6 of the last 13 NCAA tournaments. There's something to be said for a league that knows what it is and that is all about basketball. It's still very appealing to a lot of coaches and players. You ragged on Providence but look at some of the recruits they're bringing in. I want us in the Big 12 but we aren't going anywhere if we remain in the Big East. It will force us to get serious about completely dropping football and cutting some women's sports which would suck.

These Big East coaches aren't coaching for free. Dan Hurley turned down Kentucky and the Lakers and he's the second highest paid coach in college basketball, Jay Wright turned down everyone and was the fifth highest paid coach in college basketball.

Georgetown was much better than Nova for a long time. Then Wright came. I never ragged on PC, I consider them the one useful local rival in the league. I’d like to keep playing them if we go Big 12. English looks like an upgrade on Cooley. Neptune has Nova firmly out of the tournament until he’s gone.

You keep ignoring the point I responded to. Do you think the Big East is a better basketball league than the Big XII? Because that’s simply not true, with or without UConn. The Big East does a good job developing coaches. There are many good ones, and some like Shaka failed elsewhere and are comfortable. McDermott is old he won’t leave. Pitino obviously is at his last stop. Miller was fired at Arizona. Dan turned down Kentucky and the Lakers because he’s a New Jersey Hurley.

The Big East is a good league. It will remain that. It’s not the best league.

 

[Slasher]

The Big East is sustainable until it isn't. The problem becomes when the house settlement is finalized and schools will be allowed to pay players. The current cap # is a payroll of around $22M annually. UConn can't afford $22M annually on their current TV contract and revenues. It's going to hurt UConn more than others because UConn also has to pay football players. Villanova and Providence may be able to get away with $5-$8M because they don't have FBS football.

 

[ScottVib]

If the p3 breaks away for football they’ll make all the money they ever dreamed of and there would be no need to mess with March madness. nothing beyond tourney expansion has ever been uttered and doing so would hurt themselves in the long run. No one wants a p3 only tourney. Id boycott watching that even if UConn were included.

Because if there is one thing that people who chase money think…. It’s you know what I think that’s enough… I don’t need anymore.

The reason power conferences support tournament expansion is to soak up more bids and a larger portion of the money.

You keep talking about using the savings from cutting football and the corresponding title ix sports as the vehicle to keep funding mens and women’s basketball indefinitely except between the two programs they lost 9 million themselves, before signing the coaching staffs to new contracts and before dealing with revenue splitting. With or without football they need more revenue.

Ultimately the athletic department as a whole needs to make more money to continue to fund any of its sports at the championship level… the path to those level of revenues (and the continued exposure that ultimately led to the universities growth) depends on finding a new conference home. The move to the Big East was the right move for UConn at the time but a world where the MWC gets 6 bids and the Big East gets 3 should sound warning bells about the willingness to diminish the conference… and the realities of greed among the power conferences should be the alarm about needing to find a higher revenue home.

 

[Bongo Fury]

The P vs G designation is for football only.

The P4 and media may not agree. They feel entitled to a bigger share in BB as well.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Well thankfully UConn is a nonprofit institution and will save over $20mill per year by cutting football and the corresponding 6 title ix women’s teams. With those savings UConn/the state can keep funding the bball programs for decades to come.

Is this what Vermont did? Is there another state university that does not have football?

 

[WrenchFan69]

Is this what Vermont did? Is there another state university that does not have football?

Plenty of state universities don't have football but I'm pretty certain the only other state flagship university that doesn't have football is Alaska.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Anyone using historical data points to validate their opinion on what UConn needs to do moving forward, hasn't been paying attention.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Great statement by the Husky gridiron warriors today to look attractive to the BIG 12. Just another completely embarrassing performance. SMH.

Almost like they were intentionally trying to kill a deal In the works.
If it was Ohio State, okay but Maryland is not much different than a good G5 program
Frankly I was hoping for 28-14 with a a late Terp TD to ice it . That score was more embarrassing than the L . .

 

[LoyalFanCT]

Plenty of state universities don't have football but I'm pretty certain the only other state flagship university that doesn't have football is Alaska.

What about University of Vermont?

 

[huskidork]

Almost like they were intentionally trying to kill a deal In the works.
If it was Ohio State, okay but Maryland is not much different than a good G5 program
Frankly I was hoping for 28-14 with a a late Terp TD to ice it . That score was more embarrassing than the L . .

we better beat or compete with Duke and Wake Forest, no way they saw that and said "UConn football CAN compete with the Big 12"

 

[metsfan2323]

If it was Ohio State, okay but Maryland is not much different than a good G5 program

Uhm, we shall see. It's also possible that Maryland will be good. They lost to national champion Michigan by only 7 last year so i'm not sure your opinion here is up to date. There is a growing chasm between the P4 and the G5.

 

[mike012]

we better beat or compete with Duke and Wake Forest, no way they saw that and said "UConn football CAN compete with the Big 12"

I think the Big12 is aware of our football and that is why the 5 year plan was introduced. So us losing by 60 to Maryland didn’t really change much since football is a few years away anyway.

 

[ScottVib]

Uhm, we shall see. It's also possible that Maryland will be good. They lost to national champion Michigan by only 7 last year so i'm not sure your opinion here is up to date. There is a growing chasm between the P4 and the G5.

There’s a growing chasm between the SEC/Big Ten and the ACC/Big XII let alone the gap between the P4 and the G4

 

[metsfan2323]

There’s a growing chasm between the SEC/Big Ten and the ACC/Big XII let alone the gap between the P4 and the G4

Yeah, a lot of people on this board need a big dose of reality. For now our important football games are against the G5 and Merrimack. Everything should be judged based on our results in those games. It is a shame we have to schedule any P games, those will be losses until we get upgraded, the BC game was a fluke.

 

[bendm]

You keep talking about using the savings from cutting football and the corresponding title ix sports as the vehicle to keep funding mens and women’s basketball indefinitely except between the two programs they lost 9 million themselves, before signing the coaching staffs to new contracts and before dealing with revenue splitting. With or without football they need more revenue.

Ultimately the athletic department as a whole needs to make more money to continue to fund any of its sports at the championship level… the path to those level of revenues (and the continued exposure that ultimately led to the universities growth) depends on finding a new conference home. The move to the Big East was the right move for UConn at the time but a world where the MWC gets 6 bids and the Big East gets 3 should sound warning bells about the willingness to diminish the conference… and the realities of greed among the power conferences should be the alarm about needing to find a higher revenue home.

everyone agrees we'd go to a power conference versus staying in the BE. the issue i'm discussing is what happens if we dont get invited....football and 6 women's sports have to get cut but what happens to bball? that's what i'm discussing.

the MWC is not a power conference so i think it was a great sign that they got 6 bids last year.

the UConn athletic department has lost money every year since its inception but it's part of a nonprofit, state funded institution. almost all school athletic departments lose money every year but that does not make them unsustainable. the issue is how much money can they lose each year and the answer to that depends on how much the school/state is willing to cover.

to that end, UConn has covered ~$20 million in losses from football and the 6 corresponding title ix women's teams for 5 years now in addition to the losses from every other sport. it was a prudent investment we hoped would result in a P3 invite. HOWEVER keeping the bball programs funded is not the same short term investment. the school can and should continue offsetting ~$15mill in annual losses from the 2 best bball programs in the country. that's really not much and the intangible benefits they bring to the state are more than worth it.

it's funny how scared of UConn's bottom line everyone here is but it's not your money so dont worry so much.

 

[Kolumbo]

I think the Big12 is aware of our football and that is why the 5 year plan was introduced. So us losing by 60 to Maryland didn’t really change much since football is a few years away anyway.

Easy there. That's 10 touchdowns. UConn only lost by 7 touchdowns.

 

[FearThePups]

You want UConn to be like Gonzaga? I want UConn to compete with other state flagship schools.

UConn already does compete with other stellar programs except for football. We will never be competitive at that level. Did you all see the terms of the potential offer? No football in the B2 for 7 years. Meaning no football sharing revenue until then. Those who say we need to get a seat at the table now are missing key realities. Shall I list them? 1. Whats really in it for us to join a B12 if we can’t benefit from their football revenue now? 7 years of not seeing $25M per year. How is this different than where we are now? 2. The college conference probably will look very different from today. Who says the B12 doesn’t renege/change their collective mind over a 7 year period. 3. Someone please explain to me how our football program competes in the B12? Again, flashback to losses against Michigan, Tennessee and Maryland. Do you all want to be the DePaul of the B12? We will be 3-9 or 4-8 this year with likely wins over Marymount, UMass and some other nothing school. 4. Who’s going to pay for a new stadium? The B12 won’t allow us to play in our embarrassment of a football stadium. Yormark is the smart one. He obtains the 2 best men’s and women’s basketball programs in the country in return for nothing. If we ever get an offer, I hope to hell someone here knows how to negotiate because no league deserves our brand/cache, without paying a premium.

 

[FearThePups]

btw anyone who thinks our loss to Maryland matters in this is dead wrong. It was literally one single game, the total final record is what will matter.

Disagree it’s many games and we won’t have a winning record this year again.