I can't tell you how depressing it was to look in this morning's Hartford Courant and to see an article on next year's football schedule:
Towson
Maryland
Michigan
Buffalo
USF
Cincinnati
UCF
Louisville
SMU
Temple
Rutgers
Memphis
The reality of being part of a southern conference couldn't have been driven home more starkly, especially knowing that Rutgers and Louisvile Louisville will be replaced with Tulane, ECU, and Tulsa in another year. It's one thing to play a schedule outside the Northeast when it's against big time schools in a BCS conference, but I just don't see the point of playing opponents with whom we have nothing in common when they do nothing to upgrade our profile.
The only thing more depressing is the fact that this is only a preview of what our basketball schedule will be. I am not at all optimistic about a future in the ACC, which would renew our natural rivalries if an invitation ever came. I have given up on that for the foreseeable future. As bad as this schedule is for football, it is far worse for basketball, again only worsened by the loss of Rutgers and Louisville a year down the road.
I am not trying to knock our other league members. We're no football prize ourselves. I just want to have meaningful rivalries. We're now out on an island and are doomed to viewing ourselves mostly as an independent with a scheduling arrangement othe the AAC.
I wouldn't mind being part of an AAC with a South division and a Northeast division. The horrible choice of Tulsa over UMass pretty much kills that for us in the immediate future. So, her's the long term strategy I'd like to see the league pursue to create a meaningful presence in the Northeast:
1. Add UMass for basketball only with an agreement that they can be added for football if they meet certain predetermined criteria.
2. Add Army for football only.
3. Add VCU and George Mason for basketball only to fill the all sports spots that would complement Army & Navy football.
This would create a blueprint for an eventual 14 team league even though it would take time for UMass to get ther in football. Divisions could look like this:
NORTH/EAST
Cincinnati
East Carolina
Navy/George Mason
Temple
Army/VCU
UConn
UMass
SOUTH
UCF
USF
Tulane
Memphis
Tulsa
SMU
Houston
This would accomplish 2 things:
1. Significantly upgrade basketball.
2. Create a viable presence in the Northeast for both sports.
Cincinnati & ECU are clearly not Northeasr although one is north (sort of) and the other is east (with a small "e"). It makes sense for them only in that they are not particularly close to any of the schools in the southern division. ECU would have a natural non-football rivalry with VCU and Navy is reasonably close for football. Cincy should be given a protected rivalry game/cros division with Memphis and they would play Memphis every year in basketball.
Long term I'd want to aspire to a 16 team league and let the rest of the world know that. I'd want to let Buffalo and any other MAC schools know that there could be a spot for them if and only if they can upgrade bth major sports to a significant level.
Another option would be to work with the SUNY schools in the same way. That might seem crazy except it wasn't that long ago that UConn, USF, and UCF took up the challenge of upgrading to IA/FBS. If Stony Brook or Albany could make the commitment, they could be in the same place in 10 years. What they bring that no one else can bring is market potential. Long Island with it's 7 million people in particular has enormous potential with no pro or college football and no pro or college basketball in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Tere is an enormous opportunity there if Stony Brook could catch on.
That's my rant for today and my hope to see a path clear to a future that doesn't include leaving for the ACC.
I actually like that plan except for ECU playing in the North division. Also you can't have one division with BOTH the Florida and Texas schools. THat's a recipe for disaster in football.
As far as the additions go, I think you're onto something. I'd love to add Army and VCU. Kind a lukewarm from an ECU standpoint on GMU and UMass personally but they'd be good additions to the conference as a whole. I don't think Army would go for it. We've discussed this point regarding Army about a million times here.
Problem with UMass is they're even more isolated than UConn if UConn leaves the conference. Bottom line, I think we need to fill some gaps with non-FB members. That's JMHO and probably a lot of people disagree with it. We need to be as good as we possibly can be in one of the 2 revenue sports. We're basically out of options in football but there's several basketball options on the table.
(04-21-2013 11:13 AM)blunderbuss Wrote: [ -> ]I actually like that plan except for ECU playing in the North division. Also you can't have one division with BOTH the Florida and Texas schools. THat's a recipe for disaster.
I agree with you about ECU which is why I'm proposing an even longer term plan that would encourage northern schools to invest in the development of their programs. Funding upgrades in college sports is a chicken and egg thing. You can't get to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if you don't investment but there's no point in investing if it's hopeless to ever be included in a major conference.
That's been the push-pull at UMass for a long time now. These institutions need to have some hope so that the pro-development forces have some ammunition against the fiscal conservatives who are legitimately concerned about throwing money away on a boondoggle. The only flagships available out there are UMass and the SUNYs. The only undeveloped college markets out there are in the Northeast. Offering incentives to these schools would be in the AACs self-interest.
I don't get your point with the problem of putting the Florida and Texas schools together in the same division.
Facilities are great and everything but they aren't really doing a whole lot for the other members of the conference. The problem in the divisions is in the area of recruiting. That's just not a good idea at all for football, especially if you're going to a 14 team football conference where you have even less cross divisional games. The southern division schools would have all their games in recruiting hotbeds, even Memphis has a lot of good football recruits. Contrast that to a north division of Army (NY), CT, MA, an oversaturated Ohio and Philadelphia who doesn't care about college football. There's just a LOT more talent in that south division.
I love ECU playing in the north. I love the idea of being the only southern school in a division. On Army we would add them if they wanted to be part of a league.
In the AAC, UConn is in the "best of the rest" conference. We need to make the best of it. That means consistently winning in FB and BB, and making sure that attendance at games doesn't fall off. It also means scheduling as many Northeastern OOC schools as humanly possible (Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, Georgetown, St. John's, etc.). Getting an annual game with BC would be huge.
As the state's flagship school, UConn has received an incredible amount of financial support over the last 20 years. Our facilities are first class. This must translate into results. We have to dominate this conference in BB to keep our brand relevant. And we must consistently be a top 3 or 4 team in FB.
I'm ambivalent about expanding the conference. I could accept adding schools like UMass, Army, Southern Miss if it makes financial sense. Then for BB only, possibly VCU and Wichita State. But expanding the conference is a much lower priority than winning and scheduling local games.
We can survive in this conference, but we're going to have to be smart. Our margin for error is small; we can't just show up and cash big checks as if we were in the B1G. We need to be creative, aggressive, focused, and committed. If we slack off, we're dead. The people of Connecticut won't support UConn if we're a loser in this conference; our professional sports competition (Giants, Patriots, Knicks, Celtics) will just eat us alive.
UConn's schedule for 2013
Home: Towson, Michigan, Maryland, Louisville, USF, Rutgers, Memphis
Away: Buffalo, UC, UCF, Temple, SMU
Thats a pretty good schedule. There are not enough strong northeastern programs to begin with anyway. The ACC has Boston College, Syracuse, and Pitt, the Big Ten has Rutgers, Penn State, and Maryland, and the American Athletic Conference who currently has UConn and Temple and will add Navy. Those three leagues have split up the east. Cincinnati and ECU are by association historical eastern independents which helps the AAC.
I am not against your plan of adding northeastern schools but right now the current group of UMass, Army, and Buffalo are either too weak or not looking to join a new conference. UConn will either be a northern school in southern conference or an eastern school in a midwestern conference.
Look at the regional teams on Cincinnati's non conference schedule over the next decade, this doesn't even include the potential of continuing the Louisville series.
Home: Purdue, Toledo, Miami Ohio (x3), Ohio
Road: Illinois, Miami Ohio (x3), Ohio State (x2), Purdue, Michigan
We also have have a BYU series but I expect an all out effort made to keep the Keg of Nails game with the UofL before scheduling other national series. Cincinnati lost easy road trips to WVU, Pitt, and potentially Louisville thankfully those have been replaced with Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, and Ohio. The home schedule needs an upgrade because when I compare it to UConn's home schedule there are more national names traveling to up north.
Adding more schools to this dumpster fire of a conference isn't going to do much of anything. All Cincinnati and UConn can do is wait for the next round of major conference realignment, hopefully it starts soon after the ACC-Maryland settlement.
(04-21-2013 11:55 AM)UConn-SMU Wrote: [ -> ]In the AAC, UConn is in the "best of the rest" conference. We need to make the best of it. That means consistently winning in FB and BB, and making sure that attendance at games doesn't fall off. It also means scheduling as many Northeastern OOC schools as humanly possible (Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, Georgetown, St. John's, etc.). Getting an annual game with BC would be huge.
As the state's flagship school, UConn has received an incredible amount of financial support over the last 20 years. Our facilities are first class. This must translate into results. We have to dominate this conference in BB to keep our brand relevant. And we must consistently be a top 3 or 4 team in FB.
I'm ambivalent about expanding the conference. I could accept adding schools like UMass, Army, Southern Miss if it makes financial sense. Then for BB only, possibly VCU and Wichita State. But expanding the conference is a much lower priority than winning and scheduling local games.
We can survive in this conference, but we're going to have to be smart. Our margin for error is small; we can't just show up and cash big checks as if we were in the B1G. We need to be creative, aggressive, focused, and committed. If we slack off, we're dead. The people of Connecticut won't support UConn if we're a loser in this conference; our professional sports competition (Giants, Patriots, Knicks, Celtics) will just eat us alive.
I agree with everything you wrote. Makes complete sense.
None of that changes two basic facts:
1. On an emotional level, this schedule does absolutely nothing for me. They are games that I don't care the least bit about. I suspect that I'm not the only one who feels that way here in Connecticut. As a practical matter, it's very,very hard to market this schedule here instate. Temple is the closest team and no one cares about them for football. It doesn't have the makings of a rivalry. Fans would be more fired up to drive over to West Point to attend an Army game. Maybe fans SHOULD feel differently and SHOULD support the state university bit I don't hint they will support this schedule unless the team is going undefeated. They'll find better things to do with a Saturday afternoon and better ways to spend their money.
2. For the long term, this league sucks for basketball, which is the first priority here at UConn. Not only ate there no rivalries, there are very few good games. In the Big East, we always knew we were going to get a good game from Providence even if they were down. This is simply not the case with the lower half of this league.
I have given up on the ACC, so I am committing to the AAC. But the league has to commit to us. Adding a school like Tulsa was a slap in the face. They are a tiny private school with low attendance. They do nothing for us and very little for the league as a whole. UMass would have been a far better choice for the future and for us immediately. When I see the league operate like that, it is very discouraging. Now I know how the Catholic schools felt when the league added Tulane. they completely ignored our needs. Unfortunately we don't have the option that the Catholic schools did.
(04-21-2013 12:14 PM)UCbball21 Wrote: [ -> ]Adding more schools to this dumpster fire of a conference isn't going to do much of anything. All Cincinnati and UConn can do is wait for the next round of major conference realignment, hopefully it starts soon after the ACC-Maryland settlement.
Unlikely IMO.
Adding schools in the Northeast actually would do several things for UConn and Temple:
1. Create rivalries
2. Give the fans games we can travel to.
3. Upgrade the basketball side which is pitiful right now.
4. Create a long term plan to establish a major conference presence in the Northeast, which is badly underdeveloped in college sports.
All of those are glaring needs. I am not optimistic at all regarding hopes for UConn & Cincy in future conference realignment. I'd rather work with what is as best we can.
This conference is obviously not going to make a lot of money the way it is right now. So, any concerns about watering it down are meaningless. There are other factors in making for a good conference - rivalries, travel, institutional fit, etc.
On the bright side of the TV revenue issue, we actually could improve revenue by addressing the basketball side of the equation, which has largely been ignored during the football-centric planning that has dominated the conference's expansion planning. VCU and George Mason are two large public universities with recent Final Four success who have been passed over by the C7. We should grab them while we have the chance. They fit well with the rest of the league and their presence would complement Army & Navy football. The C7 has demonstrated that basketball actually can make some money, so why ignore an opportunity to grade that side of the conference? Especially when there's no one out there who can upgrade the football side. Tulsa was certainly not the answer there. TCU and Boise were the only viable options out there for football and that strategy was tried and failed.
Obviously this dumpster fire - as you so aptly put it - has no hopes for the short term. So why not think long term? UMass is a state flag ship in a reasonably large state. Regardless of anything else about the state of their program. Schools like that don't grow on trees. They simply don't exist. Sure, UMass would be a "fixer upper" but after the renovation, they could be something special. It's not much different than the move that the B1G made with Rutgers and Maryland. If nothing else, it adds a big market. A team can grade basketball a lot quicker than football, so bring them in for hoops & Olympic sports and give them targets to meet in football, which would provide them with the incentives that they need for fundraising. SUNY Stony Brook offers much of the same kind of potential.
I could cry in my beer over this dumpster fire and hope for a knight on a white horse to ride in an disable the day. OT the conference could actually take some constructive steps toward building something special.
(04-21-2013 12:26 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote: [ -> ] (04-21-2013 11:55 AM)UConn-SMU Wrote: [ -> ]In the AAC, UConn is in the "best of the rest" conference. We need to make the best of it. That means consistently winning in FB and BB, and making sure that attendance at games doesn't fall off. It also means scheduling as many Northeastern OOC schools as humanly possible (Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt, Georgetown, St. John's, etc.). Getting an annual game with BC would be huge.
As the state's flagship school, UConn has received an incredible amount of financial support over the last 20 years. Our facilities are first class. This must translate into results. We have to dominate this conference in BB to keep our brand relevant. And we must consistently be a top 3 or 4 team in FB.
I'm ambivalent about expanding the conference. I could accept adding schools like UMass, Army, Southern Miss if it makes financial sense. Then for BB only, possibly VCU and Wichita State. But expanding the conference is a much lower priority than winning and scheduling local games.
We can survive in this conference, but we're going to have to be smart. Our margin for error is small; we can't just show up and cash big checks as if we were in the B1G. We need to be creative, aggressive, focused, and committed. If we slack off, we're dead. The people of Connecticut won't support UConn if we're a loser in this conference; our professional sports competition (Giants, Patriots, Knicks, Celtics) will just eat us alive.
I agree with everything you wrote. Makes complete sense.
None of that changes two basic facts:
1. On an emotional level, this schedule does absolutely nothing for me. They are games that I don't care the least bit about. I suspect that I'm not the only one who feels that way here in Connecticut. As a practical matter, it's very,very hard to market this schedule here instate. Temple is the closest team and no one cares about them for football. It doesn't have the makings of a rivalry. Fans would be more fired up to drive over to West Point to attend an Army game. Maybe fans SHOULD feel differently and SHOULD support the state university bit I don't hint they will support this schedule unless the team is going undefeated. They'll find better things to do with a Saturday afternoon and better ways to spend their money.
2. For the long term, this league sucks for basketball, which is the first priority here at UConn. Not only ate there no rivalries, there are very few good games. In the Big East, we always knew we were going to get a good game from Providence even if they were down. This is simply not the case with the lower half of this league.
I have given up on the ACC, so I am committing to the AAC. But the league has to commit to us. Adding a school like Tulsa was a slap in the face. They are a tiny private school with low attendance. They do nothing for us and very little for the league as a whole. UMass would have been a far better choice for the future and for us immediately. When I see the league operate like that, it is very discouraging. Now I know how the Catholic schools felt when the league added Tulane. they completely ignored our needs. Unfortunately we don't have the option that the Catholic schools did.
Let me be brutally frank ....
One problem is that New Englanders (like Texans) can be a little parochial. They sometimes suffer from the
"anything west of the Hudson River sucks" syndrome.
UConn needs to educate its fans about the cities & schools in this conference. I'm from the NYC metro area, so I know how the people there think:
1) Many easterners have no idea that Dallas & Houston are the 4th & 5th largest metro areas. And they certainly don't know that Tulsa is almost as large as Hartford (and growing at a much faster rate). There are no cows walking down dirt streets in Dallas, Houston, or Tulsa.
2) I bet less than 20% of the UConn fans know that SMU was playing for national championships in FB while UConn was playing powerhouses like "Cooper Union" and "Wesleyan". And not many of them know that Tulsa has a quality FB program (decades ahead of UMass, and ranked 42 spots ahead of UConn in the final 2012 rankings).
Are there any natural rivals for UConn in this conference? Not really. Does this conference include any of UConn's "peer institutions"? Probably not. But this conference has a lot going for it. UConn can survive and thrive in this conference if we take care of our business and get some good OOC schedules.
I'd like to add my two cents Melky.
When you think of NorthEast football (leaving basketball aside for the time being) can you think of any power programs? Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt... when was the last time any of those teams were relevant? One could argue UConn being the most recent team to go to a BCS bowl of that group would be the most premier football team of that list. What if, by being a Northeastern team in a southern conference, you could be an ambassador of Southern football IN the Northeast? I.e. what if Southern recruits and Southern mentality (in regards to football) allows you to expand rivalries and interest with the tools to be the most successful New England college football team out there?
You said yourself, the teams with the most interest in the NorthEast are already locked up, and that the only other additions would be two steps backwards and are not guaranteed to garnish interest. If you think that regional and easy to get to road games equals rivalries you need only look at the MAC to see that is not the case.
ECU, Temple, Navy are all driving distance away from Hartford. If anything, the Florida schools are the most isolated. I'm not saying that should diminish your reasons, but it is food for thought.
Also, who's to say there won't be interest generated in this conference? Look at the case with ECU and UCF... before our C-USA time, these two teams could not have cared less for one another, and now we are bitter conference rivals. ECU's #1 rivals will always be in state, and UCF's will always be USF, but in a short 7-8 years UCF has wagered excellent interest in games one would not normally think, simply by being a contender.
UConn will be fine, but understand that the most likely scenario in expansion provides an all or nothing in regards to the ACC. Either no one moves, or every one moves.
Well ... BC and Syracuse bring Southeastern teams up north. What's unique about UConn in the Northeast is that we'll be bringing teams from the Southwest or South-Central regions (Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma).
First time poster and Uconn fan.
I'm not that depressed by the schedule, to be honest...Syracuse, Rutgers and Pitt aren't exactly football powerhouses (not claiming Uconn is), so losing them from the schedule in that sense isn't that big of a deal. It's more losing the rivalry and totally feeling like we're now on an island up North by our lonesome.
I respect many of our new conference mates...SMU and Houston have great college football history's, ECU has a rabid fanbase, Tulsa is in a football hotbed and UCF is one of the largest public schools in the nation now and investing in their facilities. But, none of those schools resonate with people in the Northeast, so its hard to build excitement because of that.
But, all we can do is win and not whine about it. We are where we are, not much us regular fans can do about it.
The basketball schedule will depress me 10x more then the football schedule though. Our basketball teams (along with Memphis) will be totally carrying this conference for awhile.
(04-21-2013 12:26 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote: [ -> ]UMass would have been a far better choice for the future and for us immediately. When I see the league operate like that, it is very discouraging. Now I know how the Catholic schools felt when the league added Tulane. they completely ignored our needs. Unfortunately we don't have the option that the Catholic schools did.
I don't care one way or the other but honestly, how many UConn fans would actually be FOR adding UMass? I just find it hard to believe UConn would be FOR adding somebody in "their turf" (a la BCU) but maybe I'm completely wrong.
And how the hell do you think Tulane got in? They HAD TO be voted in as mind-boggling as that is for me.
Just a wild guess .... I would say a little more than half of UConn fans would be for adding UMass if they could pull their own weight. By that I mean:
1) not being a consistent bottom-feeder in FB,
2) boosting FB attendance to 30,000 or so, and
3) drawing a big chunk of fan interest in Boston (possibly stealing some from BC).
At least you will only have to get beaten by Tulsa twice every four years.
Adding UMASS would help basketball and give UCONN ,Temple and Navy another team up north. Then we could add Southern Miss to make it 14
(04-21-2013 06:14 PM)Bleeds_Purple Wrote: [ -> ]Adding UMASS would help basketball and give UCONN ,Temple and Navy another team up north. Then we could add Southern Miss to make it 14
Don't forget about the playoff revenue distribution. There is no incentive to go past 12 on those grounds.
Not only would an addition have to increase tv revenue generation and exposure, it would also have to account for the loss incurred by splitting post season revenue 14 ways instead of 12.
uconn wont be around much longer anyway. whats the point of catering to them.
UCONN fans arent going to care anymore about playing Army than they will about ECU.