Before 1978 (I think was the correct date, might have been 76 or 77) there was much less of a hard line between "big time" and non-big time football. The NCAA classified teams as University Division and College Division. UConn was College Division, but the line was crossed a fair amount and was sort of fuzzy at the margins. As I noted (and by the way coachcap is wrong, UConn did consider an upgrade in the mid-70s) what eventually made up the bulk of the Patriot League, Holy Cross, Colgate, Lehigh, Laffayette, Bucknell, as well as the Ivy league were all University Division and were originally included in Division 1A when it was first established. That was the group of schools UConn hoped to join. They mostly played each other and the Ivies but it wasn't too surprising to see Colgate, for example, show up on Penn State's schedule (1980) or Syracuse's schedule (1982). They regularly played Rutgers. William & Mary, another one of those borderline programs regularly played a couple of ACC opponents, Pitt, Navy, Army, along with its traditional rivals like James Madison and Richmond. The reclassification went into effect in 1981 and all those programs ended up being moved to 1AA. That was really when the hard and fast line went into effect.
This is close to my understanding. BASed on memory, haven't read up on any of this in a long time, it was the early 1970s when the "university" and "college" divisions of football ended. UCONN was considered "college" and not "university", and the division was basically based on (much like now) what schools would be invited to post season bowl games that existed at the time. There were many, many independents in college football in what became division 1.
I think it was 1973 when divisions 1, 2 and 3 were created, and they were all created based on football budgets really. If I remember correctly, the Yankee Conference stayed classified as division 1 (which is where I think coachcap was wrong), and Vermont was the first to bow out, unable to meet the financial football requirements. It was during this time that all of the eastern based programs you mention were trying to figure out what the hell to do with their programs, and how to schedule and align themselves.
The thought process of further dividing division 1 into 1-AA was the solution for all those programs you mention. I believe that the Yankee Conference would have remained division 1A as well as the Ivy's IF - in the creation of 1-AA football, the clause was not inserted that mandated a minimum stadium seating requirement. That statement was put in there, advocated for, by Joe Paterno. By getting that statement in, to the classification criteria for 1A football, in one quick move, Paterno eliminated the entire Ivy League (except for Yale with the Yale Bowl) and essentially every other northeastern/atlantic football program other than PSU, Syracuse and Boston College. It's not coincidence that Paterno's first national chamiponships came after being able to recruit the northeast, after 1978.
Yale hung on to 1A status until 1983 I believe, when they were basically presented with the optinos of either leaving the Ivy league, or down grading. I believe Yale was a top 25 program in 1982.
The Yankee conference stopped functioning as an all sports league at about the same time, and became a 1-AA league for football only, and Toner, as stated, was more than happy to have UCONN classified 1-AA football.
The Big EAst basketball conference was formed in 1979, as all kinds of schools in the northeast were looking for homes for their sports, and UCONN found a home there, and the Big East started all sports in I believe 1983 as well. (except football) - and infamously voted to keep Penn State out..........and begrudgingly formed a football conference in 1991, when Syracuse, BC, PItt were ready to leave and join the Metro Conference as a new Raycom sponsored 16 team conference.
BY 1993, there were only 3 independants left in college football, if I'm not mistaken, down from about 30 independants in 1989.
All happening because of what happened around the TV money around college football in 1984-85, while the Big East basketball leadership had their heads in clouds with the 1984-1985 season and final four.