UConn's FBS Football Program - what is our mission?

[jostar1]

My point was that powerhouse football programs and/or programs with a long history can do whatever they want. UCLA can play in the Rose Bowl. Notre Dame can remain independent. USC and Miami can play wherever they want to. UConn has no such luxury and should stick to what most college football programs do and play on campus. The off-campus stadium is a big negative to the program.

This is beating a dead horse. There is no money for an on-campus stadium. It's a miracle UConn does what it does with the pittance we get from being in the Big East.

 

[Patman]

Still say the smart pull would be to move uconn itself to east Hartford. Gotta be enough land there.

 

[Kolumbo]

This is beating a dead horse. There is no money for an on-campus stadium. It's a miracle UConn does what it does with the pittance we get from being in the Big East.

It is beating a dead horse if you think the football program is dead in the water. If people want the program to thrive long-term, then conference affiliation is a major factor, as is the football stadium. Or take the first bullet, so to speak, drop to D III, and play in the soccer stadium on campus so the students have easy access. USF plays in an NFL stadium just 10 miles away from campus and is still building a new on-campus stadium.

• Are we to prioritize an authentic student athlete experience (emphasis on STUDENT), over on-field success?

 

[Kolumbo]

I think the agreement with Pratt & Whitney included 10 acres of land donated by UTC to the state of CT.

this is from 12/2024

 

[Zerostatic]

If it was up to me, I would try to engineer a big fish in a small pond scenario where we schedule exclusively G5 schools (no P4's on the schedule whatsoever) and then put in enough resources where we have an advantage over those teams and consistently beat them. If a G5 conference offers a football only invite with an easy out if a P4 offer comes our way I would jump on it.

Best case scenario, when conference realignment happens we should be a prime candidate to backfill some conferences loss.

Worst case scenario, the state has a good winning FBS program that gets into a bowl game consistently and that is always good for attendance at the games, fandom in general, retention of players and staff, etc.

 

[Patman]

If it was up to me, I would try to engineer a big fish in a small pond scenario where we schedule exclusively G5 schools (no P4's on the schedule whatsoever) and then put in enough resources where we have an advantage over those teams and consistently beat them. If a G5 conference offers a football only invite with an easy out if a P4 offer comes our way I would jump on it.

Best case scenario, when conference realignment happens we should be a prime candidate to backfill some conferences loss.

Worst case scenario, the state has a good winning FBS program that gets into a bowl game consistently and that is always good for attendance at the games, fandom in general, retention of players and staff, etc.

Thing is p4 draws seats and players do want to play against big schools

 

[JellyBean]

Keep recruiting and developing players so that we can field a decently competitive football program.

As fans, we don't have any grand illusion that our UConn football program is going to turn into Alabama or Georgia of the Northeast. Or a Ohio State/Michigan of the Northeast. We never get those elite type of talented players. What we do get is some solid 3- and 4-star players that develop and play with that edge which in the end helps the program, brings in fans, and then creates national interest, a little.

As long as we are decently competitive, I would say that is our mission. Keep finding and developing players and build a decently competitive program,

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Miami Gardens is not Miami (in all candor they should just view it as part of Sunrise).

Again, the location of the Rent is an excuse that gets piled on to why we continually get overlooked. In the time frame where college football has been important (for the sake of argument let's say the past sixty years, although adding another decade or so wouldn't be unreasonable) we've had about a half dozen years that could be placed within what a reasonable P level school should view as competent.

We need to do enough over the next few years to give people outside of our school and fan base reason to believe we can and will sustain at a minimum a competent level of football going forward.

An abandoned WW2 airfield with god knows what, buried underneath.

 

[Rdkid]

Win as many games as possible, put more butts in the seats, more sponsorship, NIL, investment, rinse, repeat. Gotta win and make money to run with the big or biggish boys.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

An abandoned WW2 airfield with god knows what, buried underneath.

Here we go, digging up another argument that died years ago.

Would I prefer that we had an on campus football stadium that could hold about 45k and be expanded when that becomes necessary? Yes, without question.

Is there any chance outside of private donations that the school would be able to sink $600+ million to put a football stadium on campus? I personally don't see it as a possibility.

Is there a chance some benevolent billionaire(s) will donate the money? I don't see that happening.

If by some miracle we were to find the funding, what are the chances the state would let the school render Rentschler Field obsolete? None.

What the school needs to do is demonstrate that we can consistently perform at or above the level we reached last season. Once we do that we can work on the next goal.

Worrying about the location of the stadium is a waste of time and effort. Worrying about whether the remediation of the soil under the stadium (who's field and lower level were built below ground level) will become an issue if and when hazardous chemicals begin emitting from the ground. I also can't see how that would be the school's problem unless the field becomes the school's property, so this may on fact become our out that leads to an on campus stadium.

 

[jostar1]

An abandoned WW2 airfield with god knows what, buried underneath.

This is just an unsubstantiated slam against Rentschler Field.

This is from an article published in the Hartford Courant:

An environmental cleanup and a search for unexploded munitions from World War II are not expected to pose any obstacles to building a football stadium on an East Hartford site, the latest location eyed for the project.

Less than 10 percent of Pratt & Whitney’s Rentschler Field, the company’s former airport, has scattered oil and solvent contamination, which the company expects to finish cleaning up next year, said Pratt spokesman Gary Minor.

The 75 acres being eyed for a University of Connecticut football stadium have no environmental problems, and the company will guarantee that, Minor said.

A few thousand square feet of the old airfield known as the Klondike area, along the eastern end near East Hartford High School, has been the focus of an environmental cleanup that Pratt began in 1994.

“We’ve had environmental investigations on that site for years,” UTC Chairman George David said Thursday. “There was a small amount of cleanup that had to be done. We did it a few years ago.”

David was referring to the removal of beryllium-contaminated soil. But there is still more cleanup work to be done, focusing on soil and groundwater tainted with oil and solvents, Minor said.

As part of a project to clear old military sites of undiscovered hazards, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in January said it was reviewing records to determine whether any unexploded World War II-era bombs are buried at the airfield.

Minor said Pratt conducted an extensive search of the land for old bombs and found none. Records give no indication of any buried ordnance, he said.

NO SNAGS FORESEEN AT NEW STADIUM SITE

An environmental cleanup and a search for unexploded munitions from World War II are not expected to pose any obstacles to building a football stadium on an East Hartford site, the latest location …

www.courant.com

 

[giddyup]

The mission of any team endeavor is to win it all. The concept of winning a national championship in basketball in the early 80s was simply inconceivable. Always aim to take the next step on the ladder and keep climbing. Someday, it could be us. Why not.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Here we go, digging up another argument that died years ago.

Would I prefer that we had an on campus football stadium that could hold about 45k and be expanded when that becomes necessary? Yes, without question.

Is there any chance outside of private donations that the school would be able to sink $600+ million to put a football stadium on campus? I personally don't see it as a possibility.

Is there a chance some benevolent billionaire(s) will donate the money? I don't see that happening.

If by some miracle we were to find the funding, what are the chances the state would let the school render Rentschler Field obsolete? None.

What the school needs to do is demonstrate that we can consistently perform at or above the level we reached last season. Once we do that we can work on the next goal.

Worrying about the location of the stadium is a waste of time and effort. Worrying about whether the remediation of the soil under the stadium (who's field and lower level were built below ground level) will become an issue if and when hazardous chemicals begin emitting from the ground. I also can't see how that would be the school's problem unless the field becomes the school's property, so this may on fact become our out that leads to an on campus stadium.

Continue to post your opinion on the Boneyard, hopefully no one takes you seriously.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

---

This is just an unsubstantiated slam against Rentschler Field.

This is from an article published in the Hartford Courant:

An environmental cleanup and a search for unexploded munitions from World War II are not expected to pose any obstacles to building a football stadium on an East Hartford site, the latest location eyed for the project.

Less than 10 percent of Pratt & Whitney’s Rentschler Field, the company’s former airport, has scattered oil and solvent contamination, which the company expects to finish cleaning up next year, said Pratt spokesman Gary Minor.

The 75 acres being eyed for a University of Connecticut football stadium have no environmental problems, and the company will guarantee that, Minor said.

A few thousand square feet of the old airfield known as the Klondike area, along the eastern end near East Hartford High School, has been the focus of an environmental cleanup that Pratt began in 1994.

“We’ve had environmental investigations on that site for years,” UTC Chairman George David said Thursday. “There was a small amount of cleanup that had to be done. We did it a few years ago.”

David was referring to the removal of beryllium-contaminated soil. But there is still more cleanup work to be done, focusing on soil and groundwater tainted with oil and solvents, Minor said.

As part of a project to clear old military sites of undiscovered hazards, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in January said it was reviewing records to determine whether any unexploded World War II-era bombs are buried at the airfield.

Minor said Pratt conducted an extensive search of the land for old bombs and found none. Records give no indication of any buried ordnance, he said.

NO SNAGS FORESEEN AT NEW STADIUM SITE

An environmental cleanup and a search for unexploded munitions from World War II are not expected to pose any obstacles to building a football stadium on an East Hartford site, the latest location …

www.courant.com

Ask yourself why all that land was donated rather than sold to developers for residential construction.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

This is just an unsubstantiated slam against Rentschler Field.

This is from an article published in the Hartford Courant:

An environmental cleanup and a search for unexploded munitions from World War II are not expected to pose any obstacles to building a football stadium on an East Hartford site, the latest location eyed for the project.

Less than 10 percent of Pratt & Whitney’s Rentschler Field, the company’s former airport, has scattered oil and solvent contamination, which the company expects to finish cleaning up next year, said Pratt spokesman Gary Minor.

The 75 acres being eyed for a University of Connecticut football stadium have no environmental problems, and the company will guarantee that, Minor said.

A few thousand square feet of the old airfield known as the Klondike area, along the eastern end near East Hartford High School, has been the focus of an environmental cleanup that Pratt began in 1994.

“We’ve had environmental investigations on that site for years,” UTC Chairman George David said Thursday. “There was a small amount of cleanup that had to be done. We did it a few years ago.”

David was referring to the removal of beryllium-contaminated soil. But there is still more cleanup work to be done, focusing on soil and groundwater tainted with oil and solvents, Minor said.

As part of a project to clear old military sites of undiscovered hazards, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in January said it was reviewing records to determine whether any unexploded World War II-era bombs are buried at the airfield.

Minor said Pratt conducted an extensive search of the land for old bombs and found none. Records give no indication of any buried ordnance, he said.

NO SNAGS FORESEEN AT NEW STADIUM SITE

An environmental cleanup and a search for unexploded munitions from World War II are not expected to pose any obstacles to building a football stadium on an East Hartford site, the latest location …

www.courant.com

lol…..try getting a permit to drill some wells there for drinking water.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

---

Ask yourself why all that land was donated rather than sold to developers for residential construction.

In 1993, and (expansion) in 2002 the government began reimbursing for costs in removal of contaminated soil in revitalization projects.

Over the past quarter century, with two different major development firms (which included a massive amount of residential properties) we incurred roughly $60 million in costs for contaminated soil removal, with federal and state reimbursements if roughly $42 million

I have no idea what steps were taken while building the stadium at Rentschler Field but the depth they needed to reach for the field/lower bowl would have had to gave exceeded wherever contamination could have reached (unless a bunker had been built). As far as the remaining areas, if remediation/removal hadn't been properly completed, whoever was construction manager of the project was negligent (likely criminal negligence as it occurred after 1994) for not bringing in a firm to take core samples for testing.

If there was negligence, personnel within local inspection and DEEP would have needed to be complicit.

I don't know what did or did not happen with remediation but it would be an easy way to get an on campus stadium if this was overlooked.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

In 1993, and (expansion) in 2002 the government began reimbursing for costs in removal of contaminated soil in revitalization projects.

Over the past quarter century, with two different major development firms (which included a massive amount of residential properties) we incurred roughly $60 million in costs for contaminated soil removal, with federal and state reimbursements if roughly $42 million

I have no idea what steps were taken while building the stadium at Rentschler Field but the depth they needed to reach for the field/lower bowl would have had to gave exceeded wherever contamination could have reached (unless a bunker had been built). As far as the remaining areas, if remediation/removal hadn't been properly completed, whoever was construction manager of the project was negligent (likely criminal negligence as it occurred after 1994) for not bringing in a firm to take core samples for testing.

If there was negligence, personnel within local inspection and DEEP would have needed to be complicit.

I don't know what did or did not happen with remediation but it would be an easy way to get an on campus stadium if this was overlooked.

The bottom line on all this is the ACC, Big 12 or Big Ten would view a move by UConn in light of past environmental concerns to at least explore moving the football program on campus in a very favorable light.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The bottom line on all this is the ACC, Big 12 or Big Ten would view a move by UConn in light of past environmental concerns to at least explore moving the football program on campus in a very favorable light.

An on campus stadium would be a fantastic outcome. I'm not sure we could raise sufficient support (financially or politically) to get anyone to take the idea seriously.

 

[Rich]

7-9 wins per year and a bowl game?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

An abandoned WW2 airfield with god knows what, buried underneath.

Did you attend games during its first 10 years?

 

[Kolumbo]

An on campus stadium would be a fantastic outcome. I'm not sure we could raise sufficient support (financially or politically) to get anyone to take the idea seriously.

That may be what holds UConn back. USF is making the commitment. We want UConn to be included but we are trying to get there on the cheap.

"When Weatherford sought final financing approval from the state, he highlighted the Bulls’ four American Athletic Conference peers — Houston, Cincinnati, SMU and rival UCF — that earned spots in the Big 12 or ACC."

"“It’s no coincidence that every one of these universities also made a significant investment in their athletic facilities, either through a new stadium or making tremendous renovations to their existing one,” Weatherford said in 2023."

"“And it starts with, does a school have the commitment to the program and value the program in order to compete at that level?” Parsons said."

"If a school is spending nine figures on its stadium, the answer is a clear yes. Especially against these headwinds."

Can a new college football stadium buy a seat at the table? Inside USF’s $340 million bet

USF is spending more than $340 million on a college football stadium. Is it the Bulls' ticket to the big time in a rapidly shifting sport?

www.nytimes.com

 

[Waquoit]

An abandoned WW2 airfield with god knows what, buried underneath.

So what?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

That may be what holds UConn back. USF is making the commitment. We want UConn to be included but we are trying to get there on the cheap.

I doubt the final decision will be whether we do or do not have an on campus football stadium. I'll go so far as to say that if we accomplish in football what Mora/Benedict are working for, we will land one of the P-4 within six to eight years, even if every other sports program took a step backwards (they won't).

 

[Jetskies]

That may be what holds UConn back. USF is making the commitment. We want UConn to be included but we are trying to get there on the cheap.

"When Weatherford sought final financing approval from the state, he highlighted the Bulls’ four American Athletic Conference peers — Houston, Cincinnati, SMU and rival UCF — that earned spots in the Big 12 or ACC."

"“It’s no coincidence that every one of these universities also made a significant investment in their athletic facilities, either through a new stadium or making tremendous renovations to their existing one,” Weatherford said in 2023."

"“And it starts with, does a school have the commitment to the program and value the program in order to compete at that level?” Parsons said."

"If a school is spending nine figures on its stadium, the answer is a clear yes. Especially against these headwinds."

Can a new college football stadium buy a seat at the table? Inside USF’s $340 million bet

USF is spending more than $340 million on a college football stadium. Is it the Bulls' ticket to the big time in a rapidly shifting sport?

www.nytimes.com

I'm sure the uconn athletic dept knows all of this ^ and infinitely more.
And purely conjecture here, but I do really believe that UConn secretly knows already (under the table, private convos) what Big 12's conditions are for the invite we want. Maybe ACC, too. There's too much at stake for all parties, to not have clear terms already dictated for the path to an invite, off the record. Again, maybe i'm phoney baloney, but I can't imagine otherwise.

so then, I wonder - is this "stadium issue", the area where uconn basketball is helping our candidacy? ie. we have something that none of those 5 schools above have; blue blood basketball, which while not enough to get us the invite as-is, may be enough to get us the invite as long as football improves enough, WITHOUT the need for a $500M stadium in Storrs (or at least not one that exists at the time of the invite).

 

[Hoophound]

We already have great facilities and a pretty nice stadium with a great tailgating scene. Winning football games gives us an excellent profile. I don’t think our stadium is the issue at all.

I don’t know about Houston, but UCF had been playing in an erector set, Cincy’s stadium was small and ancient and SMU didn’t get any revenue from the ACC.

We need to pay coaches and market ourselves properly, including cleaning up our accounting practices to make the AD look better. Everyone else is doing it. We support the hell out of athletics yet somehow even that gets used against us.