Mike Demauro
The Day
Senior Sports Columnist
January 8, 2016
"The Big 12 may be in play for UConn in the future.
Athletic department sources said recently that UConn president Susan Herbst has sought counsel from former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese. Herbst asked him to use his contacts and expertise to see exactly when and where UConn might fit in conference realignment.
Athletic department sources said that UConn may be on the Big 12’s radar because of its presence in New York, to the degree that the
UConn-Texas basketball series may continue in the future at Madison Square Garden and
UConn-Texas may play football in the future at Yankee Stadium. What is fact and what is fiction is unclear, but there’s no denying that UConn will be in the conversation, if the Big 12 expands...UConn will be a candidate.
http://www.theday.com/sports-columns/201...mess-first
Mike Tranghese is the former Big East commissioner. Lately, he has been a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.
Tranghese in the New York Times, March 11, 2013:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/sports....html?_r=0
Rutgers was accepted into the Big Ten last fall, with the widespread belief that the conference wanted a foothold in the New York metropolitan area. But while intending no disrespect to Rutgers, Tranghese said: “A lot of people don’t understand what makes New York tick. The two schools with the biggest impact in the New York market have been Syracuse and Connecticut.”
This engagement comes at the time this was published:
UConn's Ticket To Power Five Conference Goes Through New York
http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-husk...olumn.html
UConn has become a prime subject of Big 12 expansion chatter
http://www.centralctcommunications.com/b...l?mode=jqm
It looks like UConn is looking at the Big 12 and the Big 12 at UConn in a serious manner. Pete Thamel, Tramel, almost all the Connecticut sportswriters, DeMauro of The Day, Jeff Jacobs and Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant,Jerry McGuire of the Bristol Press are hearing the same thing...