UConn to new Big East? What happens to Husky football?

[B12]

[/QUOTE]

BYU and Liberty can’t be in a Catholic league.

If the Big East wants 12... it’s St Louis.
[/QUOTE]
Anything is possible these days my man. Even a flagship in a Catholic league. Never say never.

Who would have predicted both ND and Louisville in the ACC? Nobody.

Wichita is not that far from Omaha. Wichita St is one of the best BB programs available. Easy to see them in a West division but they likely prefer playing Tulsa, SMU, Houston, Tulane,Memphis.

What about VCU?

 

[B12]

Air Force would need to beg the WCC to take their other teams like BYU. For what? A marginally better schedule they can’t win against?

AAC will end up with Air Force, Boise, SDSU, and more at some point. Combine the service academies with the best commuter school AD's and you have a solid conference.

Service academies are a perfect fit in the AAC.

 

[ScottVib]

This is just the wrong move all the way around. A silly nostalgia play to rejoin a conference that we all have fond memories of. The problem is it's not the mid-90s.. or even the rebuilt 2000s Big East. This is the Big East of Creighton, Butler, and DePaul; not UConn, Syracuse, and Pitt. Sure there are a few names still in the league, but this isn't the salvation play that the basketball fan base seems to think and it's entirely likely that within 5 years the AAC is the deeper basketball league.

Less money for a broke athletic department and a deemphasized football program that just torpedoed the last slim glimmer of hope to a major conference salvation. While way too many have celebrated today, this is a terrible day for the Huskies.

 

[junglehusky]

Many of my friends who claim to be Uconn fans love this idea. What they fail to realize is we have zero in common with the NBE schools. I would hate this and to me signal the ultimate demise of all Uconn sports.

How about the hoops team win the aac a couple of times before bitching about how bad it is.

My former boss was a Providence alumna. People from my high school attended Nova, Hall, Georgetown. I have never in my life met a single alum of SMU or Houston or friggin' Tulsa.

 

[junglehusky]

Trust me UConn football is in a good place right where they are. They are in a position where, with improvement, they can start surprising some schools and turning heads. Just like Houston or UCF.

LMAO

 

[UCFBfan]

Maybe *now* UConn Football has hit rock bottom???

I keep saying that just when we think we've hit rock bottom we find a lower hole. However, I can't see how there can be much more of a rock bottom then having the program abandoned to rot away somewhere

 

[B12]

My former boss was a Providence alumna. People from my high school attended Nova, Hall, Georgetown. I have never in my life met a single alum of SMU or Houston or friggin' Tulsa.

Academically how well do the religious schools compare to those 3 you mentioned?

I know Tulsa is fairly hard to get into. SMU is for spoiled brats. And Houston has some pretty solid academics.
Outside the Northeast most people probably don't even know what schools are in the NBE, and in many cases if you told them likely could not name the town they are located in.

 

[Northbound]

The current BE has 7 teams that were in the old version of the conference. Christ there more shared history with the NBE than the AAC.

For those of you complaining about going backward to the NBE to recapture glory - the football program is the epitome of that idea - it re-hired a guy that said adios to the program and then was essentially unemployable as a head man for major colleges after his Maryland stint - he was running film or something equally mundane for the powerhouse Lions before UConn called.

I wish to heck someone had the foresight to get the coin needed to attract a head man and staff that would have made a positive difference in the fortunes of the program with this last hire because as all here knew it was a critical one.

How the athletic department had little foresight and mismanaged everything is going to be a feature in Harvard Business Review at some point as an example in how not to run a major college athletic department.

What a turd sandwich.

 

[champs99and04]

As someone who views the school and the state predominantly through the lens of men's hoops, this was kind of the outcome I'd selfishly always wanted. The Big East might not be what it once was, but from a marketing and recruiting standpoint it's still in a completely different class than the AAC. In a vacuum that obviously makes basketball more fun.

But unfortunately my basketball fandom did not survive long enough to live that dream, and I suspect it's for largely the same reason that the football program struggled to progress as far as some here had hoped: UConn basketball fans.

They're just really thirsty for good basketball to the point that they'll trample any and every civilian standing in the way. Part of me doesn't blame them given how rough the last three years have been. More of me thinks they're too caught up in letting other people define their standards.

So even as someone who will acknowledge that we all have frontrunning tendencies, I really appreciate the spirit of this board and I think college sports in New England would be a lot better if we were all this way.

 

[Adios]

This is just the wrong move all the way around. A silly nostalgia play to rejoin a conference that we all have fond memories of. The problem is it's not the mid-90s.. or even the rebuilt 2000s Big East. This is the Big East of Creighton, Butler, and DePaul; not UConn, Syracuse, and Pitt. Sure there are a few names still in the league, but this isn't the salvation play that the basketball fan base seems to think and it's entirely likely that within 5 years the AAC is the deeper basketball league.

Less money for a broke athletic department and a deemphasized football program that just torpedoed the last slim glimmer of hope to a major conference salvation. While way too many have celebrated today, this is a terrible day for the Huskies.

Jim Calhoun's response offers some hope.

 

[AndOne]

Wow, this escalated quickly on Saturday. I think most expected UConn football to make the best of the CR situation and treat the AAC as a long term home, even if it meant treading water in the bottom half of the league. Football stinks right now, but this move to the BE will probably turn the lights out forever. Not good. Hopefully UConn football stays in the AAC. All other realistic options are horrible.

 

[Redding Husky]

From a marketing stand point UConn joining the Big East reminds the public of the high water mark of both institutions. UConn doubles down on its goal to be the top the NE program and now plays in the markets where its targeted recruits live.

You can be critical of the move 8 ways to Sunday, but from a marketing prospective its gold.

Not really. We’re known nationally as quitters. That tars the entire school, athletic department and all.

 

[Redding Husky]

My former boss was a Providence alumna. People from my high school attended Nova, Hall, Georgetown. I have never in my life met a single alum of SMU or Houston or friggin' Tulsa.

I’m an alum of UConn and SMU.

I just flipped my allegiance from: 1) UConn, 2) SMU to 1) SMU, 2) UConn.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

They'd both fit in. Navy is already there so a second service academy would complement them. Especially Army. Air Force plays in the midwest where a few AAC schools already reside so they'd work too.

Huh, Colorado Springs-based USAFA plays football in the MWC and most other Air Force sports in the WCC. Midwest?

Quite frankly, USNA, USMA and/or USAFA present challenges, e.g., typical Army-Navy game scheduling, Commander-in-Chief trophy games versus potential for more than one military academy rivalry game in a single season, Army hated conference play and has arrived at s workable and successful independent alternative, etc

 

[HuskyHawk]

From a marketing perspective, leaving the AAC will brand UConn as a “loser” and a “quitter”. It will be a long, long, time before that stench goes away.

Disagree with that. Marketing wise this is great. We look like a school with the power and cajones to screw the AAC after it screwed us. ESPN is going to cut their deal.

If we can get an actual TV deal and a schedule with help from Fox, we might become like 2/3 BYU in football with much stronger basketball. They had to be the goal right now.

 

[UCFBfan]

Man I'm really enjoying all the basketball fans coming over to this board to basically say f off we're glad to see this football program finally die. It basically epitomizes everything that's wrong with this fanbase. I cannot think of any other school where their fans don't see their athletic teams as a whole. UConn might be the only school where it's fans believe that you can be a basketball fan and hope their Universities football program blows up. It's disappointing and the biggest thing I hate about our fans..... yesterday just made that rift even larger and more evident.

 

[Hoophound]

Man I'm really enjoying all the basketball fans coming over to this board to basically say f off we're glad to see this football program finally die. It basically epitomizes everything that's wrong with this fanbase. I cannot think of any other school where their fans don't see their athletic teams as a whole. UConn might be the only school where it's fans believe that you can be a basketball fan and hope their Universities football program blows up. It's disappointing and the biggest thing I hate about our fans..... yesterday just made that rift even larger and more evident.

They are so bad I want to change my handle. I love football too.

I’m just praying this is the time UConn finally pulls a rabbit out of the hat. When the AAC screwed us on SNY, I actually felt that it marked the end for us anyway. They basically said, “Even though you are the only school in the conference with any value on your own, we aren’t helping you out with one red cent”. I think the administration felt that way too. They were up against the wall and they realized, we need to at minimum get back in control of our destiny and take a shot. In the AAC, we were being pushed down. Our hard earned brand value was being stolen for the benefit of everyone else. It is a tough spot to be in. We are running out of time to parlay that brand into something better before the brand value just disappears. This move at least allows us to maneuver and negotiate.

 

[Redding Husky]

Disagree with that. Marketing wise this is great. We look like a school with the power and cajones to screw the AAC after it screwed us. ESPN is going to cut their deal.

If we can get an actual TV deal and a schedule with help from Fox, we might become like 2/3 BYU in football with much stronger basketball. They had to be the goal right now.

98% of all fans know nothing about how "ESPN screwed us". They just know we gave up and walked away.

 

[Waquoit]

For those of you complaining about going backward to the NBE to recapture glory - the football program is the epitome of that idea - it re-hired a guy that said adios to the program and then was essentially unemployable as a head man for major colleges after his Maryland stint

That's when I knew it was over. What self-respecting program would bring back a guy who's duplicity sent it into a tailspin?

 

[Waquoit]

I’m an alum of UConn and SMU.

I just flipped my allegiance from: 1) UConn, 2) SMU to 1) SMU, 2) UConn.

So noted

 

[huskymedic]

 

[JMick]

I really hate Dan's opinions on just about everything.

 

[ScottBonz]

Randy just retweeted this...WTF is going on.

 

[VAHuskyFan]

Hold on, something happened after that Fiesta Bowl game involving Randy Edsall, right? We’re supposed to feel bad for Edsall specifically here?

 

[huskymedic]

Hold on, something happened after that Fiesta Bowl game involving Randy Edsall, right? We’re supposed to feel bad for Edsall specifically here?

No - you don't have to but the Edsall/Orlovsky relationship is different than yours and Randy.