(09-14-2021 07:50 AM)Bogg Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 07:37 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 07:18 AM)Rob3338 Wrote:  

(09-11-2021 05:27 PM)WhoseHouse? Wrote:  Look every reasonable/knowledgeable fan knew that the move to the BE was going to result in the football program going back to FCS. UConn did what it had to do to save its hoops. Not what I would've wanted from my Alma but I can understand the thinking given how bad their football is/has been.

Makes sense and I understand the pressure the BB fans put on the administration however this is the exact opposite of what every other college/university with a football team would do.

However they made their bed and should go back to FCS or simply drop FB completely.

The funny thing is there were people on this message board (who oddly enough are not even UConn alums) who were predicting UCONN was going to become an eastern Indy powerhouse in FB (as they would tell you, because they are a state flagship, a good academic school and a strong brand through hoops). They obviously weren't watching as closely as the rest of us who have seen the issues with that product, both in terms of on and off the field.

Given that this is the first month of games played after leaving the American, and how the stint in the American went, I'm not sure that conference does anything to insulate UConn from being bad. If the football team's going to be bad in the American or bad in a BE+indy arrangement, better for it to be bad as an independent and not take the rest of the AD with it.

At least you admit its bad. For the past 8 years or so many blamed UConn's woes in football on the AAC-- including journalists.

To summarize this thread: jilted AAC fanbois piling it on UConn

(09-14-2021 07:54 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  At least you admit its bad. For the past 8 years or so many blamed UConn's woes in football on the AAC-- including journalists.

I really don't remember anyone reputable (i.e. don't point me to Boneyard posts, that place is a pit) making a "UConn football is bad because the AAC" argument. The whole purpose of being in the AAC was that it was supposedly going to help the football program. Plenty of people, myself included, argued that life in the AAC made things more difficult for the basketball program, and the AAC lineup was cited when discussing attendance issues (again, primarily on the basketball side).

The closest I really remember anyone major "blaming" the AAC for football was talking about how things would theoretically have been better in the B1G or ACC, or that being in a southern conference made recruiting difficult relative to the other teams who could recruit their "home turf".

I do remember plenty of people/posters dumbing down most of the arguments in favor of UConn leaving to "UConn needs to stop blaming the AAC for their own failures!" because that was easy to argue against rather than conceding that maybe schools like SMU and Houston aren't actually giant draws in New York and New England.

With all the conference shakeup, UConn needs to do whatever it can do to get a football only into a Group of 5 conference. MAC, CUSA, wherever.

(09-13-2021 07:35 AM)No Bull Wrote:  

(09-13-2021 07:29 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-12-2021 07:59 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(09-11-2021 06:31 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  UConn is not dropping to FCS.

They built that 40k stadium in Hartford. They have to try to make use of it.

There's no reason they can't be a moderately successful program. They have a state to themselves. Biggest problem has been coaches and a conference that fits.

I agree. UConn has fixable problems. They can waste tens of millions on FBS just as easily as the typical G5 can.

USF is G5. Do you recommend USF drop football and stop wasting millions of dollars? Asking for a friend.

I know this was a poke at USF, but USF has a reasonable and legitimate chance to get into a power conference, if they can invest properly in the program and put a winning product on the field. Heck, if USF was winning right now, they might have been one of the 4 selected.

UConn has been playing football since 1896 and has only had any kind of success for maybe 15 seasons between 1986 and 2010. It has the facilities to remain in FBS for the foreseeable future. It's really not likely that UConn will drop back to FCS or drop football.

To those claiming that UConn blamed the AAC for its football struggles, there is some truth in that. The reason is the loss of power conference affiliation and regional rivalries. That should not be considered controversial.

(09-14-2021 11:43 AM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  UConn has been playing football since 1896 and has only had any kind of success for maybe 15 seasons between 1986 and 2010. It has the facilities to remain in FBS for the foreseeable future. It's really not likely that UConn will drop back to FCS or drop football.

To those claiming that UConn blamed the AAC for its football struggles, there is some truth in that. The reason is the loss of power conference affiliation and regional rivalries. That should not be considered controversial.

Keep on keeping on then. As I stated earlier I looked at your schedule through 2028 and as your program stands right now there my be 2 wins. And the way that Holy Cross game went those 2 games aren't gimmies.

Having a winning season every 6-7 years and having a big season ever generation doesn't make you a program.

(09-14-2021 12:28 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  Keep on keeping on then. As I stated earlier I looked at your schedule through 2028 and as your program stands right now there my be 2 wins.

I mean, obviously "as the program stands right now" isn't the intention for the next decade. That's not really a meaningful argument.

(09-14-2021 11:43 AM)HartfordHusky Wrote:  UConn has been playing football since 1896 and has only had any kind of success for maybe 15 seasons between 1986 and 2010. It has the facilities to remain in FBS for the foreseeable future. It's really not likely that UConn will drop back to FCS or drop football.

To those claiming that UConn blamed the AAC for its football struggles, there is some truth in that. The reason is the loss of power conference affiliation and regional rivalries. That should not be considered controversial.

Absolutely, the northeast only has so many quality FB players and being G5 as opposed to P5 hurts your chances at getting the good ones.

Someone wants to be the guy to turn UConn football around. Multiple someones, I'd be willing to wager. Whether they're serious about it or whether they have the ability to match their ambition, or whether the person making the hire can identify them, is another matter. But someone wants to go down in history as the one who built UConn back up from the ashes. Ditto Kansas. Ditto Vanderbilt.

Hire the right coach, recruit the right kids and watch the results turn.

That's why trying to divine conference realignment exclusively through the prism of recent football success is a fool's folly. Obviously school presidents have different priorities than fans, but even putting that aside, on-field performance is a variable that you can't always define for the coming year, much less five or 10 or 20 years down the road. UConn going winless this year doesn't say anything other than that they sucked this year and have sucked for the past few years, but it's not a sentence to a century of sucking. Not paying the coaches a competitive salary, not keeping up with facilities, not aggressively scheduling -- that all speaks to a deeper cultural issue and that's what would cause a UConn (or any other similar program) not to be considered for a better home.

Whoever said we will learn alot about how serious UCONN is about football program with their next HC hire was spot on.

If the hire is a football coach with decent $$$ supported by a good $$$ budget for assistants, maybe UCONN is serious about making a commitment to football. If its some no name with piss poor assistants budget, the clear message being sent by UCONN is that they are okay with a doormat football program.

For me, UCONN's departure from the AAC was to help their basketball program and it clearly has. But it also hurt their football program, and I'm not sure most ppl care in Connecticut or at UCONN about the declining performance of football. Basketball is and always will be more important at UCONN. I don't think the next head coach football hire will show a major commitment by UCONN to football.

Agreed, but if UConn really wanted to help out their football program, while simultaneously helping out their basketball programs (men & women's basketball), I think UConn should seriously consider MAC membership. AAC membership required that their basketball teams join as well, and UConn claims that damaged their basketball programs, so the AAC is a no-go. UConn would probably have to play some MAC teams OOC in men & women's basketball, but to me that would be a small price for helping out the football team.

(09-14-2021 06:23 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  Agreed, but if UConn really wanted to help out their football program, while simultaneously helping out their basketball programs (men & women's basketball), I think UConn should seriously consider MAC membership. AAC membership required that their basketball teams join as well, and UConn claims that damaged their basketball programs, so the AAC is a no-go. UConn would probably have to play some MAC teams OOC in men & women's basketball, but to me that would be a small price for helping out the football team.

Mathematically, it makes no sense for UConn to play in the MAC. With regards to basketball scheduling, we only get 11 non-conference games a year. At least 5 of them have to be big-name opponents. For instance, we play three games in Battle 4 Atlantis, one game in the Big 12-Big East challenge against WVU, and St. Bonaventure's (the best A-10 team) at a neutral site. That leaves six games. Every UConn fan's biggest issue with this year's schedule was the lack of a major home game OOC. There is no way that UConn could play even two MAC schools a year (one home and one away) and get the regular minimum of 16 home games a year.

Also, the MAC plays on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Attendance is already bad and would get way worse on a week night. Right now, every UConn game is on cable in CT, NY, and New England. Every basketball, women's basketball, or football game is either on a major national sports cable network or on SNY, NESN, ACC Network, or SEC Network. Why would UConn give that up to play football in the MAC, AAC, or any other G5 league? That's the real reason why UConn left. UConn was getting better ratings for women's basketball than Red Sox baseball in CT and ESPN and the AAC wanted to put their games and a lot of the football and basketball games on ESPN+. UConn said no.

With regards to the direction of the program: UConn stinks because they thought they could hire the guy that was successful before to resurrect the program-they thought wrong.

UConn will not be dropping to FCS or dropping the program. The proof of this is in our scheduling. We are scheduling teams like Ole Miss, UNC, NC State, Syracuse, BC, Army, etc. HOME and HOME. The fact that we can schedule these types of games says two things: 1) UConn has the brand to be FBS and 2) most of the ACC and a good portion of the B1G sees UConn as a peer school. You don't schedule those schools because you want to drop the sport.

The fix won't be easy but paying 5-6 million for a staff will get a lot of people interested in the head coaching position. UConn has a few big time donors that will help with that effort.

All in all, I think the reason that people want to see UConn out of the picture is twofold: 1) there is probably a lot of jealousy among G5 schools that UConn got promoted straight from FCS to a BCS conference ahead of all of them and 2) they are afraid UConn will be competitive again when they make a good hire and will be a top 40-50 program like they were in the Big East days.

(09-14-2021 06:57 PM)shizzle787 Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 06:23 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  Agreed, but if UConn really wanted to help out their football program, while simultaneously helping out their basketball programs (men & women's basketball), I think UConn should seriously consider MAC membership. AAC membership required that their basketball teams join as well, and UConn claims that damaged their basketball programs, so the AAC is a no-go. UConn would probably have to play some MAC teams OOC in men & women's basketball, but to me that would be a small price for helping out the football team.

Mathematically, it makes no sense for UConn to play in the MAC. With regards to basketball scheduling, we only get 11 non-conference games a year. At least 5 of them have to be big-name opponents. For instance, we play three games in Battle 4 Atlantis, one game in the Big 12-Big East challenge against WVU, and St. Bonaventure's (the best A-10 team) at a neutral site. That leaves six games. Every UConn fan's biggest issue with this year's schedule was the lack of a major home game OOC. There is no way that UConn could play even two MAC schools a year (one home and one away) and get the regular minimum of 16 home games a year.

Also, the MAC plays on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Attendance is already bad and would get way worse on a week night. Right now, every UConn game is on cable in CT, NY, and New England. Every basketball, women's basketball, or football game is either on a major national sports cable network or on SNY, NESN, ACC Network, or SEC Network. Why would UConn give that up to play football in the MAC, AAC, or any other G5 league? That's the real reason why UConn left. UConn was getting better ratings for women's basketball than Red Sox baseball in CT and ESPN and the AAC wanted to put their games and a lot of the football and basketball games on ESPN+. UConn said no.

With regards to the direction of the program: UConn stinks because they thought they could hire the guy that was successful before to resurrect the program-they thought wrong.

UConn will not be dropping to FCS or dropping the program. The proof of this is in our scheduling. We are scheduling teams like Ole Miss, UNC, NC State, Syracuse, BC, Army, etc. HOME and HOME. The fact that we can schedule these types of games says two things: 1) UConn has the brand to be FBS and 2) most of the ACC and a good portion of the B1G sees UConn as a peer school. You don't schedule those schools because you want to drop the sport.

The fix won't be easy but paying 5-6 million for a staff will get a lot of people interested in the head coaching position. UConn has a few big time donors that will help with that effort.

All in all, I think the reason that people want to see UConn out of the picture is twofold: 1) there is probably a lot of jealousy among G5 schools that UConn got promoted straight from FCS to a BCS conference ahead of all of them and 2) they are afraid UConn will be competitive again when they make a good hire and will be a top 40-50 program like they were in the Big East days.

Is UConn playing WVU home or away this year in the challenge?? Why is UConn playing St. Bonaventure at a neutral site?? Also, you can't make an omelet if you don't want break any eggs (i.e. agreeing to play some MAC teams in basketball so the conference will take the football team). Therefore I disagree with you about not playing two MAC teams a year OOC.

Second, as it relates to weekday football games, Conference USA was given this same setup, and rejected it!!! The SunBelt took this very same setup, and accepted it. Now look who is going places, and who isn't!!!! Yes, weekday games are bad for attendance, but E$PN has reportedly told the G5 (which is what UConn is right now, at least for football), if you want to be in the big leagues, play on weekdays, or else!!!!! If you have a problem with it, take it up with E$PN, which is located in your state, btw!!!

Am I jealous of UConn at all? Nope, not in the slightest where football is concerned. Basketball, yes, I am jealous of that, but there's nothing I can do, and therefore I don't hold it over UConn's head (i.e. I'm not making recommendations for spite. If I were to do that, I would tell UConn to put all of its teams in the Gulf South Conference. ) I would love for the Gulf South Conference to be like the Big East, but I seriously doubt that will ever happen. I seriously even doubt the GSC will ever even be like the A10 either!! Montevallo will never be a state flagship or land grant, or even a sea grant!!! Could we be a sun grant or space grant in the future? Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath.

(09-14-2021 07:57 AM)esayem Wrote:  To summarize this thread: jilted AAC fanbois piling it on UConn

Isn't that what these threads are all about. To increase conversation.

(09-13-2021 07:29 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-12-2021 07:59 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(09-11-2021 06:31 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  UConn is not dropping to FCS.

They built that 40k stadium in Hartford. They have to try to make use of it.

There's no reason they can't be a moderately successful program. They have a state to themselves. Biggest problem has been coaches and a conference that fits.

I agree. UConn has fixable problems. They can waste tens of millions on FBS just as easily as the typical G5 can.

How? With the NIL and the court cases coming forward and the debt UConn has and that does not include if scholarships are raised. Unless UConn actually believes the ACC is going to save them, tough decisions need to be made.

(09-14-2021 09:10 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  How? With the NIL and the court cases coming forward and the debt UConn has and that does not include if scholarships are raised.

What debt?

(09-14-2021 09:12 PM)Bogg Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 09:10 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  How? With the NIL and the court cases coming forward and the debt UConn has and that does not include if scholarships are raised.

What debt?

https://www.nhregister.com/uconn/article...885246.php

This article is outdated or incorrect?

(09-14-2021 09:17 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 09:12 PM)Bogg Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 09:10 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  How? With the NIL and the court cases coming forward and the debt UConn has and that does not include if scholarships are raised.

What debt?

https://www.nhregister.com/uconn/article...885246.php

This article is outdated or incorrect?

That's not debt. It's paid in full every year. UConn did the same thing UCF did - funding sports with "athletics fees" or something similarly named that are baked into tuition.

(09-14-2021 09:24 PM)Bogg Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 09:17 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 09:12 PM)Bogg Wrote:  

(09-14-2021 09:10 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  How? With the NIL and the court cases coming forward and the debt UConn has and that does not include if scholarships are raised.

What debt?

https://www.nhregister.com/uconn/article...885246.php

This article is outdated or incorrect?

That's not debt. It's paid in full every year. UConn did the same thing UCF did - funding sports with "athletics fees" or something similarly named that are baked into tuition.

Will that be sustainable in the future in football at $500,000 in UConn's present situation?