I feel that there is more than just conference realignment going on when talking about the decline of UConn women’s soccer on the national level. However, first off from what I’ve seen there are certain NCAA sports than others that are more dominated by schools in the power conferences. From what I have seen, women’s soccer is definitely one of the sports that that is more dominated by the power conferences. Long time women soccer powers like Santa Clara (which is still a good women’s soccer school) and Portland are not on the level that they were once on as well.
However, while conference realignment is no doubt a factor in the decline of UConn women’s soccer, it should not be used as a one size fits all type of explanation for the programs decline. UConn women’s soccer was in a national decline throughout the first decade of the 21st century, long before the breakup of the Big East. The problem with laying all the blame at conference realignment is that it while UConn women's was declining on a national stage, the program was also declining both in relation to other schools in the Big East and later in the AAC as well. Some may wish to place additional blame for this on former coach Tsantiris, but I’m more inclined to place the decline phase of UConn women’s soccer on the slow motion pace that it has taken to replace the badly outdated soccer facility that the school has in Morrone Stadium. Honestly, UConn should have replaced Morrone Stadium roughly around the time that outdoor lighting was installed for night time soccer around 1999.
To my eyes, the decline of UConn women’s soccer can be traced to not only more power conference schools getting involved in the sport in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, but the fact that when these schools really started to get serious about women’s soccer, they did so with bright shiny soccer facilities that offered more than their fair share of amenities. These schools with their new soccer facilities were certainly more attractive to incoming recruits than what UConn had to offer with Morrone Stadium, a soccer facility that pretty much offered no frills to potential recruits. The time for UConn to protect what it had in women’s soccer was 15 to 20 years ago. That is when UConn needed a modern facility to help protect itself against all the big time schools that were beginning to compete in women’s soccer. Well, that part is now a bit late in protecting the wonderful national reputation that UConn women’s soccer used to have.
I am hoping now that when the new soccer facility comes into use in the next couple of years, UConn women’s soccer will at least become consistently one the top programs in the AAC. Where conference realignment comes into play is that it will make it much more difficult for UConn women’s soccer to reassert itself on a national level, no question about it.
I’m inclined to think that with the new soccer facility, UConn men’s soccer is more likely to become competitive nationally than the women’s team. For one, NCAA men’s soccer is not dominated to the same degree that women’s soccer is by teams in the power conferences. There are a number of examples of non power conference schools in men’s soccer making deep runs into the NCAA tournament. It seems to be a rare season when the NCAA tournament Final Four in men's soccer does not contain a school from a non power conference. My thinking is that if a school like Akron can be a consistent top 20 program, and one that got into the Final Four last season, there is no reason why UConn men’s soccer, with its history, success, and fan interest in the program, can’t do the same.
