They ruined the fanbase well before this guy. Heck we were wining with JC and wondering where the fannies were a lot. They were winners and it became big business.
Just a quick summary from my point of view. In the 80's-90's before and after JC if you went to the HCC I could find about 100 people a game from my home town of Meriden I'd pretty much run into every other game, and I'm not exaggerating. My guess is about 10-15 of these people went to UConn but they were all loyal fans from that time and many before the 80's. Years later when they started pushing back with $'s to keep your seats or else you're in 212ZZ they began to lose some for various reasons some financially. That's just Meriden can you imagine the other towns and cities in the state of CT with similar fandom?
Not blaming the university or anyone it's just reality. Many of your best fans no longer are part of the annual season ticket world and for that reason now have been habitually happy to watch on TV and not drive 30-60 minutes.