We all share the blame on this one.

[EdgewoodNHV]

I'm tired of people blaming Susan Herbst and Warde Manuel for this mess. I'm tired of people blaming the ACC or FSU or Miami.

We've known something quite simple for a long time now: football drives the expansion bus. If you were the ACC, why on Earth would you take UConn over Louisville? There are two obvious explanations as to why Louisville got the nod over UConn:

1. Despite a large population and great TV market, we can't pack a 40,000 person stadium with any level of consistency.
2. Our basketball future is wildly uncertain at this time.

Louisville's attendance and traveling far exceeds ours, as does the consistency of their program over the last 10 years. They have Rick Pitino as coach and he'll probably be there for awhile yet. Why not?

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, we can't even manage to pack a small little stadium. Heck, half the people who show up don't even make it inside, and if they do, they sure as heck don't make kickoff.

Meanwhile, Calhoun put Manuel in a terrible position by basically forcing him to choose a successor without allowing the AD to do a nationwide search. What was Manuel to do? Give a man with no head coaching experience the keys to a storied program? Maybe he is a great coach, but nobody knows that, and the ACC sure as hell don't want to bet their future on it.

Heck, this whole APR mess is in Calhoun's head. As others have stated, plenty of people have managed to get through this APR and manage okay, including Louisville, who have has consistently derided as unmatched in education.

However, one point remains:

We can succeed as a football program if people continue to support the program even in tough times.

Now isn't the time to give up and throw in the towel. You want to tell me that programs like Boise State, Houston, TCU, and Utah can succeed in smaller conferences and we can't? We're just a bunch of lap dogs without the ACC or Syracuse or Pitt or Louisville?

duck that .

I'm gonna keep showing up and screaming my head off. I don't care if it's against ECU or Tulane or anybody else. We have to support this program.

Because at the end of the day, Louisville didn't get the nod over us because they have a long history of football success or because they have a great TV market. They succeeded because they supported their program through thick and thin while we sat on our couches and complained about the evil ACC.

Their fans actually show up to basketball and football games. Novel idea, right?

Get off your butt and support your program. And for duck's sake, give Herbst and Manuel a break. They were handed a situation and they're going to do the best they can. And if you think blowing up the Twitsphere is going to make the difference, I don't know what to tell you.

But if you want to give up, then I don't know what to tell ya. The UConn Athletic Program needs us now more than ever.

I'll see all of you real fans on Saturday.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Nice rant. Let's all take it to the field. I'll be there too irish loopy.

 

[amory]

Oh so it's our fault. Ok, gotcha.

With how exciting the football team has been to watch recently, they're pretty lucky to get the support they do.

 

[junglehusky]

Well said.

It'll be really hard to overcome that perception that we "deserve" to be in a better league, but if you're an alum or a fan of UConn you have to swallow your distaste and get your butt in the seat. We have to actively STOP the vicious cycle that would come if fans decide to stay at home, leading to lower revenues, leading to less wins. Fan apathy guarantees a longer stay in CUSA/NNBE purgatory.

Now having said that, today is a day to vent as well.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Oh so it's our fault. Ok, gotcha.

With how exciting the football team has been to watch recently, they're pretty lucky to get the support they do.

Auburn's average attendance blows ours out of the water and they are absolutely terrible. Fans support their programs even in hard times. You are not entitled to national championships.

 

[ZooCougar]

I am not sure where the fault lies.

But I would sure like to hear and explanation from the President and the AD.

 

[amory]

Auburn's average attendance blows ours out of the water and they are absolutely terrible. Fans support their programs even in hard times. You are not entitled to national championships.

We've only been an FBS program for 8 years, and we're primarily a basketball school. For the football team to gain a bigger following than they have now, they're going to have to perform better. That's just reality.

 

[businesslawyer]

I don't know how many times I have said it, but this is what we control as fans: buy tickets, make donations, travel with the team. How well are fan base does that is not unrelated to how our programs are perceived.

That having been said, and while I'm willing to give them a little time for the dust to settle on things, falling behind LV in a race to the "big time" is a material failure of the current administration. Period.

 

[mike012]

LOL I would rather watch Yale and Penn over Uconn Tulane. At least Yale and Penn has some history. The Yale Harvard games blows any nbe game out of the water for interest.

 

[TrueBlueHusky]

I don't post often and this my first in the conference realignment forum, but I think rallying behind a team through thick and thin is just not in the DNA of the CT fan.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Speak for yourself, others, including season ticket holders (√), alumni donors (√), and avid fans [students, alumni (√), and unaffiliated alike], do not feel nor have reason to feel a personal sense of guilt. Plain and simple, no, incorrect!

 

[Dooley]

I agree with your premise but call BS. Look at game day shots of Heinz Field, Carrier Dome, and Alumni Field and tell me that Pitt, Syracuse and BC pack their own houses. Far from it. This has nothing to do home attendance and everything to do with the ACC's belief that we are not in play for any other conference. Let's prove them wrong, pack the house and send out our seniors with a bowl game. Get some momentum back. #B1GHARDER

 

[BlueMAB]

Don't blame me.

I've been to every bowl game. Michigan, Notre Dame, many away games including Louisville this weekend.

Many here have been to all of those and more, and some here would have if they didn't live in other countries.

 

[Vuce]

The thing that sucks with all of this is that Syracuse, Pitt and BCU don't travel well, they don't pack their stadiums, they aren't "crazy" about their football programs. The only advantage they have is that they played (formerly) 1-A football decades before we did.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

That having been said, and while I'm willing to give them a little time for the dust to settle on things, falling behind LV in a race to the "big time" is a material failure of the current administration. Period.

Really? None of this is on Hathaway's head? The hiring of Coach P? What was WM supposed to do? Can Pasqualoni halfway through season 2? Un-retire Calhoun? Make Edscall come back?

I'm trying to understand what, exactly, Herbst/Manuel were supposed to do to un-duck the situation left behind from the last administration, but if you have an idea, I'm all ears.

 

[Jimdish255]

I am not sure where the fault lies.

But I would sure like to hear and explanation from the President and the AD.

I'm trying to think of something they could say that would adequately explain the complete misreading of the situation and failure to mount a campaign to respond to the public lobbying from FSU an Ville. Inability to market the university when all the criteria seemed to be on our side. Loop blames the fans maybe that's the way to go.

 

[UConnJim]

UConn football is new. We have averaged 35k fans +/- since we joined the BE, which is where BC and Syracuse are today. Personally, i think what has been lacking is leadership. We need the President, AD, and politicians to make UConn athletics a focal point and to make them fun and exciting for the fans. They need to provide the vision, the marketing, and put out a good product. The focus over the last 10 years for football should have been on building a long term fan base, not trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the fan base. Same holds true for basketball.

 

[businesslawyer]

You are entirely misinterpreting me if you think I am giving Hathaway or prior Presidents a pass. Where did I say that? Where did I say anything like that? But they are gone -- the only people worth judging are the ones still here.

I do not know exactly what happened here, but I would give you at least 10 to 1 that UConn (meaning Herbst and Manual) told the Big East it was out. Since we aren't, I don't think it's absurd to think something has happened in the last week.

 

[ZooCougar]

We got passed somehow. You can look back and probably identify the point in which we lost the lead, I think I mentioned this in our other discussion.

The smartest thing that anyone may have done? Possibly convincing our leaders that they were in good shape right up until the end.

Idiot sportswriters keep using the term "outflanked". That doesn't even make sense.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Don't blame me. I've been to every bowl game. Michigan, Notre Dame, many away games including Louisville this weekend. Many here have been to all of those and more, and some here would have if they didn't live in other countries.

And, maybe some who live in other countries still hold on to their season tickets, find users for the tickets (even if giving them away), made it to South Bend, the Fiesta Bowl, etc.

 

[UCFBfan]

Shouldn't ECU have been given consideration by someone other than the BE if it's about supporting your ream? They supposedly avg 50k and travel well yet they get snubbed by everyone. Fan support is a BS excuse. Sorry I'm not buying that argument here.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[huskymedic]

LOL I would rather watch Yale and Penn over Uconn Tulane. At least Yale and Penn has some history. The Yale Harvard games blows any nbe game out of the water for interest.

We won't miss you...