WVU gone from BE...Slive ( SEC commish) authorized to negotiate with WVU

[FluxTZ]

Here, here. Not to diminish any accomplishments by our hoops teams, they have put us on the map. But having the foresight to invest in football when we did is unspeakably huge right now.

Oh - I didn't mean for my statement to come across as not giving credit to our basketball program. We have them to thank for putting us in the national spotlight and helping build the solid foundation that our athletic identity sits on and has led to our athletic successes. But as you said, the foresight to invest heavily in upgrading football is unquestionably one of the best decisions the university has ever made - especially in regards to athletics. And I do thank Lew Perkins for everything he did to get the ball rolling.

 

[uconNYC]

Duke and WF should drop football and form a conference with the Big East basketball schools. It would be powerful enough where they could compete for top recruits/Final Fours

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Calhoun should get some credit too. He's the one who got Huskymania off the ground. They are honoring the basketball team at the Iowa State game, hopefully JC will be there and speak to the crowd.

UConn is only even in these discussions because of Calhoun and to a lesser extent Auriemma. They built the fan base, they got $2 billion from the state for upgrades on campus, and they enabled the football program to upgrade and get the stadium built. Every single building affiliated with UConn's athletic department should have their name on it.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Right now I think it is dead in the water, and I think Nova will kick themselves down the road when everything plays out. The one specific reason that was commonly given when their upgrade was discussed was that it would protect tbe basketball program.

I think we are a little ahead of ourselves. The game is not close to over yet. There is a meaningful possibility that WVU could leave for the SEC, and then realignment stop right there. The Big East would have to add one or two teams to replace WVU and satisfy Comcast's desire for more inventory.

 

[SAMCRO]

UConn is only even in these discussions because of Calhoun and to a lesser extent Auriemma. They built the fan base, they got $2 billion from the state for upgrades on campus, and they enabled the football program to upgrade and get the stadium built. Every single building affiliated with UConn's athletic department should have their name on it.

True, but once given the opportunity to compete at this level, Football has taken full advantage and played their way into relevance. So thank you Jim and Geno for creating the opportunity, and thank you Coach Gump and staff for making the most of it.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

The only reason why UConn brings more to the table right now than a school like Baylor, Iowa State, or Cincinnati is because of the basketball programs. Football has not reached the level of being a national brand, yet. The reason UConn is a national brand name is because of things like Kemba Walker going on TV shows left and right, Jim Calhoun being a regular on the ESPN.com frontpage, Auriemma being in multiple national commercials, Ray Allen winning NBA championships and being in movies, all of which are linked to UConn. Not to mention the basketball programs winning 9 championships since 1999. The women's streak last year got more UConn-specific attention on Sportscenter than anything the football team has done since its inception, save a few mentions on the BCS shows last year, mostly in passing reference to being the predicted punching bag for OU. They had breaking news stories pop up on all of their networks, and they cut into a live broadcast to tell everyone that we'd lost to Stanford.

I guarantee you if you asked some Joe on the street in any state but Connecticut, tell me the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the name UConn, 95% of the time it will be basketball related. I would venture to guess that that same Joe's first thought about the football program, tragically, would most of the time have something to do with Jazz, if he had any specific first thoughts about the football team. But the good news is, most of those people around the country, even in the far reaching states, will have something to think of, and they're more likely to keep the TV on when they see UConn on TV. That's what the network execs want. Our football team is definitely making progress and is slowly carving a name for itself, and can definitely vault itself to this status, but the brand name recognition nationwide right now is coming primarily from basketball.

 

[SAMCRO]

I guarantee you if you asked some Joe on the street in any state but Connecticut, tell me the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the name UConn, 95% of the time it will be....

....UConn, great pick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSO7iYAvoek

 

[jpm25]

The only reason why UConn brings more to the table right now than a school like Baylor, Iowa State, or Cincinnati is because of the basketball programs. Football has not reached the level of being a national brand, yet. The reason UConn is a national brand name is because of things like Kemba Walker going on TV shows left and right, Jim Calhoun being a regular on the ESPN.com frontpage, Auriemma being in multiple national commercials, Ray Allen winning NBA championships and being in movies, all of which are linked to UConn. Not to mention the basketball programs winning 9 championships since 1999. The women's streak last year got more UConn-specific attention on Sportscenter than anything the football team has done since its inception, save a few mentions on the BCS shows last year, mostly in passing reference to being the predicted punching bag for OU. They had breaking news stories pop up on all of their networks, and they cut into a live broadcast to tell everyone that we'd lost to Stanford.

I guarantee you if you asked some Joe on the street in any state but Connecticut, tell me the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the name UConn, 95% of the time it will be basketball related. I would venture to guess that that same Joe's first thought about the football program, tragically, would most of the time have something to do with Jazz, if he had any specific first thoughts about the football team. But the good news is, most of those people around the country, even in the far reaching states, will have something to think of, and they're more likely to keep the TV on when they see UConn on TV. That's what the network execs want. Our football team is definitely making progress and is slowly carving a name for itself, and can definitely vault itself to this status, but the brand name recognition nationwide right now is coming primarily from basketball.

You seem to be discounting potential and momentum, which I wouldn't be so quick to do. If I am a conference, do I look at the product today or what the product might be in 5-10 years?

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

....UConn, great pick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSO7iYAvoek

haha, sadly that may be one thing they come up with.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

You seem to be discounting potential and momentum, which I wouldn't be so quick to do. If I am a conference, do I look at the product today or what the product might be in 5-10 years?

Ultimately, it's not what the conference thinks, it's what the TV network thinks. That's who the conferences are pandering to, and what is the basis for nearly every decision made by the conferences right now. Sure, there's some potential on the football side, but so far they haven't proven anything in terms of vaulting to the status of national brand. A win over OU would have been a huge first step in that regard, but they were clearly a better team than us. Right now, you have to ask, what is the program's biggest win? The answer isn't terribly stimulating on a national level. Whereas, you look at the biggest wins for other up and coming programs like Boise and TCU, and they're against the big boys in big time bowl games, as well as some regular season wins over huge programs. We need a couple of those before the football program really can take off as a legit national brand.

 

[businesslawyer]

We are nowhere close to being a large, national brand in football.

We do, however, have more than basketball to recommend us over some of the other names you mentioned. Real presence in a mid-level TV market. Potential entree (never ownership) into the NY market. And, as someone else pointed out, a clear sign that the school is moving in the right direction to be competitive at the Top 64 level.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

We are nowhere close to being a large, national brand in football.

We do, however, have more than basketball to recommend us over some of the other names you mentioned. Real presence in a mid-level TV market. Potential entree (never ownership) into the NY market. And, as someone else pointed out, a clear sign that the school is moving in the right direction to be competitive at the Top 64 level.

Agreed, those do help bolster our profile more than the others I mentioned, those probably weren't the best overall examples. I used them simply as comparisons strictly for athletic performance.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

MSU president gave some insight into the SEC expansion discussion. It looks like they took no action regarding #14, #15 or #16. He made it sound like SEC is not aggressive in expansion. They had to take a look at A&M because the program and the market they sit in. A&M came after the SEC not the other way around. This makes me wonder where they got Missouri and WVU for the #14 rumor? I think people just making stuff up on the Internet to get more traffic. SEC is moving much slower than random bloggers on the Internet.

I personally don't think WVU is a good fit for the SEC when there are much better candidates out there including Missouri. VTECH and NCST both make more sense for the SEC than WVU. If SEC does not have that new state requirement, both FSU and Clemson also make more sense.

http://mississippistate.scout.com/2/1103873.html