An insightful column from Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant, exploring many of the issues we have discussed here. Mr. Jacobs has the Uconn AD and President on speed dial. He is without peer when it comes to Uconn shaping opinion when it concerns About Uconn athletics. Just an incredible writer. This piece is almost written in a cathartic style.
Some snippets:
Sitting here in Connecticut, witnessing all that glitz and glamour, didn't we feel waaaaay closer to the Yankee Conference than a Power Five Conference?
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And for the first time — yes, the first time — since the state's flagship university decided to play the big boys game of Division I-A football in the late 1990s, I'm wondering if it is worth it.
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Yet as we all know, the rules changed. In 1997, we couldn't have foreseen the seismic conference shifts. So I'm in the gray area now. More than a few emails have come my way the past two years advocating that UConn either go independent or drop football so the school can get back to Big East basketball. My response has always been the same: Pshaw!
I saw the talk as either overly basketball-centric or destructive to a necessary blueprint to fuel the athletic program. Now I see it as healthy discourse, something to be debated over months and years, not weeks and days, but something no longer to be dismissed in toto.
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It strikes me that Boston College, so set against UConn joining the ACC, is getting what it wants. UConn is slowly being bled dry.
http://www.courant.com/hartnews-jeff-jac...staff.html