(01-17-2019 01:01 PM)stever20 Wrote: I lol at folks who use the recruiting ranks to say UConn in the AAC is killing them....
When the period before Ollie became a coach, and the period after he left, they had avg recruiting class of 19.5(including #17 this season so far).
With Ollie as a coach though, their avg recruiting class was 56.5
Sorry but it was Ollie that was the problem and not the AAC. If the AAC sucked so much and is hurting UConn so much, how exactly does Hurley have a top 20 class this year? Better than all but 2 years in the OBE.
In 1996, when Houston got left behind from the SWC break-up, they were expected to be the top football program in reformed C-USA (due to their history and success within the SWC). Southern Mississippi had only one bowl appearance the previous ten years. Tulane wasn't any good. ECU had some recent momentum. Louisville and Memphis had been up-and-down. UAB was transitioning into D1. Well, Houston struggled mightily the first few years in C-USA - and it gave rise to each of the other programs (especially Louisville and Cincinnati, both of whom would get BE invites). Houston was an outlier in C-USA, geographically, as well (Tulane was only close school) until TCU (2001), SMU (2005) and Rice (2005) were added. While Houston, today, is a prime target for P5 expansion (within the G5), make no mistake - their exclusion from the Big 12 in the 90's and being regulated to an inferior conference affected its program for the long-haul.
I know you are responding to a post on the other site, but I will duplicate the data here as well.
From 247 Rankings:
2008 (BE): 7 (National), 2 (Big East)
2009 (BE): 8 (National), 1 (Big East)
2010 (BE): 23 (National), 2 (Big East)
2011 (BE): 33 (National), 2 (Big East)
2012 (BE): 29 (National), 2 (Big East)
2013 (BE): 37 (National), 5 (Big East)
2014 (AAC): 46 (National), 3 (American)
2015 (AAC): 47 (National), 3 (American)
2016 (AAC): 8 (National), 1 (American)
2017 (AAC): 84 (National), 8 (American)
2018 (AAC): 117 (National), 9 (American)
2019 (AAC) 17 (National), 2 (American)
Last Six Years in Big East Average: 24.5 (National), 2.3 (Big East)
First Six Years in American Avereage: 53.2 (National), 4.3 (American)
The recruiting levels have most definitely changed - the data proves that. Now, if Hurley continually gets top-25 recruiting classes, then yes, it proves Ollie was an exception (and not the new rule).
However, here is where perception can hurt a program: UConn was, without question, the top basketball program when the AAC formed (even with Louisville included). They still have the strongest brand of any AAC program, but other basketball programs have now risen at their expense - Houston and UCF mostly, along with SMU. One could argue their rise is the direct result of UConn's recent downturn; or perhaps UConn's recent downturn is the direct result of those program's rise. We can continue to go and forth on this subject, but I think the optics are definitely there that UConn has lost many advantages by not being in a geographically-centered conference. Now, to be clear, it is what it is, but to say that there hasn't been a dropoff, given the data, is just stubborn. UConn has never finished first in the regular season in the American; they have only won its tournament once. With a 1-4 conference start under Hurley, it looks like a rebuild will take some time - but, in that time, other programs can continue chipping away at the perception that UConn remains the AAC's top basketball program.
Bottom line, when the AAC formed, wins against UConn by AAC teams gave positive perceptions and value to those schools; however, whenever UConn defeated those programs (a majority of whom were called-up from C-USA) it did nothing to improve its own perception being in an inferior league (because they were games they should have won anyway). Long-story short, losses to teams like USF, Tulsa, UCF, Houston, SMU, Wichita State and Memphis not only help elevate those programs in status and perception, but they hurt UConn as well - as unfair as that it is.