(07-05-2019 06:20 PM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  

(07-05-2019 05:49 PM)33laszlo99 Wrote:  

(07-02-2019 12:44 AM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  

(07-01-2019 11:36 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(06-28-2019 01:53 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  I think they will be fine as well.

Anyone who thinks UConn has given up on joining a P5 isn't thinking clearly. That's their end-goal.

I think claims of "Independence giving UConn a chance to rebuild their football" need to be attached with an explanation of how that actually works. It seems a bit of an Underpants Gnome plan.

If joining the P5 was UConn's end goal, then UConn would best serve that by showing an ability to compete at a high level in Basketball and an ability to keep their head above water in the toughest football competition outside of the P5.

That's WHY so many people are concluding that this signals UConn giving up on make a serious commitment to working toward a P5 bid ... because being in the AAC appears to be the best place to realize that goal. A school that needs to flee AAC level football competition in order for their football program to succeed does not make for the most promising P5 candidate.

there is really nothing at all that supports your argument and there is in fact a great deal that proves it is not true

1. at the formation of the AAC UConn was a much stronger and much more talked about candidate to be a member of several P5 conferences.....that has only gotten markedly worse throughout their time in the AAC

2. BYU is probably the most talked about expansion candidate out there and they are not a part of a conference and everything that everyone has said about their ability to schedule has not remotely come true

BYU has a clearly better schedule than they would have in the MWC or the AAC and that is playing out in the far west where there are a lot fewer programs in general and they are a lot further apart and where BYU is the only western (hell not eastern time zone) independent

3. some teams that are doing well right now in the AAC particularly in football were really not even final contenders when the Big 12 looked at teams

4. there is no common goal in the AAC other than to GTFO ASAP.....that is really not great for building a program that is great for a few teams that are winning in the last two years to pretend like they suddenly control what happens in the conference

5. UConn basketball and their finances were suffering in the AAC and that does not help build a program

6. Rutgers and Maryland show that there is much more to expansion than just wins on the football field (or on any field or court in he case of Rutgers)

7. with merchandise sales UConn was just below Maryland (43) (UConn 44) and way above Rutgers (56) and BYU was (49) and with licensing deals UConn (15 with their newly reported deal) is just above Maryland (16) and and Rutgers is dead last (65)

there are no numbers for the BYU/Nike deal signed in March, but all sides seem very happy with it and BYU has been with Nike a long time and gets some special considerations from them for custom merchandise....no reason to think UConn cannot get the same....and sure plenty of programs in a conference could possibly get that, but not being in a conference does not seem to make that harder at all

8. many of the AAC/CUSA 2.75 fan girls are already talking about how crappy Army was in CUSA 2.0 and how bad they would be in 2.75 and even more so talking about how Navy is falling off a cliff in 2.75 (of course many of them also talked about hos "it's OvEr" for Boise while their own programs have had crappier seasons recently than Boise, but that just shows you what a crappy overall conference the AAC is......it is filled with teams pushing poor longer term decisions because they think it helps their team GTFO sooner while they also talk about who they would kick out of the conference if the could and who is dragging the conference down (often times forgetting their own program has a history of crapping the bed to some of those programs dragging the conference down)


UConn looked out for their own best interest it may work out poorly for them, maybe just OK or it may work out better than most expect, but things were just going badly for them in the AAC and there is nothing that the AAC offers them that they cannot get on their own other than a long term crappy media deal and a lot of instability and dissimilar goals for the conference

So many reasons that UConn coulda, shoulda, woulda... and really still might, if only...

Put yourselves in the shoes of the UConn trustees and look at the recent past, the current situation and the likely future. How might you instruct the university president to proceed? ( -$ 42 million per year)

I would instruct them to not get caught up in a conference filled with programs that are either willing to just take what they get and be dictated to or programs that have a very short term view because they believe (for most falsely) that they will not be in that conference in a few years

sitting around pretending that realignment is eminent or will happen when predicted is not a smart thing to do

sitting around thinking that you can try and structure your CONFERENCE agreements to have your program right at the best position to move up based on when you believe that will happen can become a very bad plan if the end result of that movement not happening when you think it will happen is your program being caught off guard and suddenly in a bad position for itself or locked into a bad position for the conference as a whole

there are no guarantees that UConn will be better off independent in football or that basketball will improve in the BE

but it is clear that neither were advancing in the AAC and it is pretty clear that the other teams in the AAC were really not thinking long term with their new deal there were those just taking what came their way and those trying to hit a mark when they believe they will be exiting and leaving a bad contract behind

very doubtful it works well in the long term for many if not all of those that think they will be leaving for something better

Just my imagination, butl I'll guess the trustees were much more concise and mentioned a dollar amount.