Herbst Spoke w/ BC Pres. re: Block

[nelsonmuntz]

So you really think Jurich woudn't be on the next train out of here if the Big 12 offered?

I don't think anyone wants to join the Big 12 if they can trust that the Big East would hold together. The Big 12 may not make it to next month, much less next season, much less 10 years from now, even if they all held hands and sang kumbaya. I think most of the Big 12 north teams would join the Big East right now if they could figure a way out from under the departure penalty and they thought the Big East would hold together.

Texas is universally hated, and none of those schools want anything to do with Texas. Oklahoma likely thinks the Big East beneath them, but Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor know that the hammer will drop, and it is a matter of when, not if.

 

[noeynox]

Weak.

Common sense would say that you don't want everyone to know what you are saying in a situation like this. So why is UConn telling everyone? Just shut up to the press. It is unprofessional, insulting to the other members of the conference, and makes UConn look desperate. Desperation doesn't help in closing a sale.

What if someone at BC leaked this?

 

[The Funster]

5 schools circled the wagons, and the next 5 years were great for the conference and the individual schools, including UConn.

What do you expect from the conference? I want a schedule and enough quality to make for good games and a decent national reputation. In football, being in a super-tough conference is not an advantage. In basketball, I would argue otherwise.

Great? I don't know about you but most people were just wondering when, rather than if, this day would come. Yeah, they were good years but if anyone thought the break up wasn't inevitable, they've had their head in the sand.

 

[gars44]

What if someone at BC leaked this?

Maybe is she doesn't say anything people won't know how bad things are right now. Or maybe they just won't even remember that there used to be a big east conference.

 

[06029]

The ACC is a 75% vote league with the current 12 teams having equal votes. There is no way BC is blocking Uconn by itself. The push for Uconn is coming from K/Duke and Roy/UNC. Both Duke and UNC went for this round (they voted NO every time last time around) because they view this as strengthening BB which is the only sport those two schools like. Joining them would be VA and likely MD. The schools likely against expansion (excluding BC) would be FSU, Miami, VT and Clemson for FB reasons. NC State, Wake, and GT are probably on the no side due to a potential dilution of revenue and potential loss of their annual home/home games in BB with UNC/Duke. If there was significant enough change in revenue, they could all move to the yes side. Right now, Uconn by itself or Uconn/Rutgers does not get it done. You need the whale plus Uconn.

All this talk about kissing and making up is probably much more about getting games scheduled in the major sports to fill the holes left by Cuse and Pitt leaving.

 

[1husky]

I would check to see if Herbst's plane is heading for Big 10 Country. Yes she reaches out to BC, perhaps to discuss the ACC blockage issue, but perhaps to gain some insight and mend some fences and set the platform for future dealings. Then she heads on over to the Big10 for lunch.

Got some inside info you would care to share?

 

[Carl Spackler]

I'm not sure if it got lost in this silly argument that's developed, or if nobody actually focused on it, but what the reporter's statement says is actually very huge. He is a staff sports writer for the Waterbury Rep-Am and has covered UConn football.

I personally would hope that Ms. Herbst is in contact and pursuing contacts with the presidents of every university in the country that is of interest to UConn in moving forward in this intercollegiate athletics landscape. That's not the news - the news is that according to the reporter's statement, BC has actively blocked UConn from entering the ACC. So very much info around a single sentence.

I hope his statement was accurate, because I've read it about a dozen times, and I'm sure I'm not misinterpreting it.

http://twitter.com/#!/EdDaigneault/status/116897899748667392


Source: #UConn president Susan Herbst has spoken recently to BC president Fr. William P. Leahy regarding BC's block of UConn to the ACC.

 

[HuskyNan]

What if someone at BC leaked this?

Daigneault could have gotten it from ACC contacts, too.

Daigneault went to Springfield College, where he played baseball for a year. "I found out pretty quickly that I had been a big fish in a small pond in high school," he said.

He graduated from Springfield College in 1990 with a degree in English and a concentration in sports journalism.

"I had hoped to get a job in Massachusetts after graduating from college, but the economy was terrible," Daigneault said. "On a whim, I moved to North Carolina and worked in hotels for 4-5 months."

He got his first job as a sports writer in Rocky Mountain, N.C. and remained there for 18 months. Daigneault eventually moved on to the Burlington (North Carolina) Times-News and covered the Atlantic Coast Conference for the paper for six years.

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/archive/x740859110/Whatever-Happened-To-Ed-Daigneault-Hudson-Catholic-Springfield-College#ixzz1YhxoyGUf​

 

[whaler11]

Good point. We should make another "leak" that we think the rest of the Big East sucks. Make sure we have the reporter call Luck and Jurich and see what they think about the leak.

You don't need to leak what everyone already knows. Luck and Jurich know damn well this sucks and would jump in a heartbeat to anything better.

 

[Rumrunner]

Put your thinking caps on for a moment. If the ACC had no intention of adding two teams relatively quickly, how long do you think it would take them to get the word out, and stop this madness
? 10 seconds.

Yet they haven't.

 

[1husky]

You have to play the cards you are dealt. We are drawing 3 cards on an inside straight right now. It is a bad play.

I'd say you gotta know when to fold em and find a new game.

 

[Yonick]

ACC requires 4 votes to "block." I would imagine FSU and VT or Clemson are the others but I see only three of the four anyway and they will not object of the other entrant is a FB school (ND?).

I doubt VT would block us. We've always had a good relationship with them. My guess is Miami & bcu for past indifferences. FSU for want of a big football power.

 

[Rumrunner]

Moreover, what was a result of this conversation?

I'm not sure if it got lost in this silly argument that's developed, or if nobody actually focused on it, but what the reporter's statement says is actually very huge. He is a staff sports writer for the Waterbury Rep-Am and has covered UConn football.

I personally would hope that Ms. Herbst is in contact and pursuing contacts with the presidents of every university in the country that is of interest to UConn in moving forward in this intercollegiate athletics landscape. That's not the news - the news is that according to the reporter's statement, BC has actively blocked UConn from entering the ACC. So very much info around a single sentence.

I hope his statement was accurate, because I've read it about a dozen times, and I'm sure I'm not misinterpreting it.

http://twitter.com/#!/EdDaigneault/status/116897899748667392


Source: #UConn president Susan Herbst has spoken recently to BC president Fr. William P. Leahy regarding BC's block of UConn to the ACC.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

We don't have 6 votes in the ACC right now, because they see no reason to take us. We will just whither and die, and they will get our market without spending a nickel. We need to make them think we are sticking around.

 

[HuskyNan]

I personally would hope that Ms. Herbst is in contact and pursuing contacts with the presidents of every university in the country that is of interest to UConn in moving forward in this intercollegiate athletics landscape.

Isn't former UConn President Hogan now in holding that same position at a Big 10 school - Illinois?

 

[mattp]

Other then her statement of yesterday, where do you see a quote from her. Don't attribute every "source" to being a comment from her. C'mon now.

it's amazing to me that anyone lends any credence at all to all the B-S being twittered from "unnamed sources". i have a hint for anyone following this at home: "unnamed source" = made up B-S that sounds feasible. these idiots make money by how much people follow their twitters and blogs, not for being accurate. the sooner some of you realize this the easier your lives will be.

 

[RS9999X]

He went to a Catholic HS outside Framingham and was a sports star there. I doubt it was fabrication by him and likely he knows some old buddy with decent insight. That's a fertile pool for BC student recruiting (not just athletic)

 

[2Infinity]

5 schools circled the wagons, and the next 5 years were great for the conference and the individual schools, including UConn.

What do you expect from the conference? I want a schedule and enough quality to make for good games and a decent national reputation. In football, being in a super-tough conference is not an advantage. In basketball, I would argue otherwise.

Please Mr. Muntz ....let's not let the actual facts get in the way of our opinion!

(June 2003) As you can see from this first link, Boston College fully expected an invite and most likely would be leaving the BE, along with Miami. The invite came for Miami, but not for BC.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/02/sports/plus-colleges-boston-college-meeting-with-acc.html

(Aug 2003) BC's AD GD is quoted in this second link regarding BC's pledge to make the BE the strongest possible conference it can be.
http://bceagles.cstv.com/genrel/defilippo-colm18.html

(Oct. 2003) Finally, this last link announces that the invitation was eventually extended to BC..and immediately accepted!
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/20...ston-college-miami-and-virginia-virginia-tech

After being rejected for an expected invite from the ACC and then pledging to essentially help the BE in "circling the wagons", they then bolted the conference just two short months later. I don't think I'd call that loyalty and integrity...would you?

 

[ctchamps]

I'm not sure if it got lost in this silly argument that's developed, or if nobody actually focused on it, but what the reporter's statement says is actually very huge. He is a staff sports writer for the Waterbury Rep-Am and has covered UConn football.

I personally would hope that Ms. Herbst is in contact and pursuing contacts with the presidents of every university in the country that is of interest to UConn in moving forward in this intercollegiate athletics landscape. That's not the news - the news is that according to the reporter's statement, BC has actively blocked UConn from entering the ACC. So very much info around a single sentence.

I hope his statement was accurate, because I've read it about a dozen times, and I'm sure I'm not misinterpreting it.

http://twitter.com/#!/EdDaigneault/status/116897899748667392

Source: #UConn president Susan Herbst has spoken recently to BC president Fr. William P. Leahy regarding BC's block of UConn to the ACC.

She has no way of knowing if it is a rumor or accurate. Either case it is important for her to develop relationships. The one thing most os us realize is that UConn does not control its fate in these matters. I'm happy to hear she is out speaking with other Presidents. If UConn has any chance to come out ok she is the wild card to deliver that chance. I believe she makes quite an impression on most people not named nelson, waquoit and rumrunner. And my feeling is she is the perfect person to represent UConn. I have no illusions that relationships can overcome other concerns of ACC schools such as a concern over UConn's football. But if she can impress her peers the way she impresses us, it could move the presidents who are flexible Uconn's way.

 

[kibblesnbits]

We don't have 6 votes in the ACC right now, because they see no reason to take us. We will just whither and die, and they will get our market without spending a nickel. We need to make them think we are sticking around.

We probably don't because they are waiting on bigger fish, but I don't think they honestly believe they'll get our market and RU's just by waiting for us to die. They need to expand the ACC network. I looked at the TV stations carrying the BC-Wake Forest game on October 1st. There is one in MA, none in the rest of NE, none in NY south of Albany/Bingo (where 80+% of the state's population resides), none in NJ, one in PA (and it's just a secondary digital channel out of Philly, 10.2 - does anyone even watch those?), etc. Adding Syracuse and Pittsburgh will do absolutely nothing to fill in those gaps except perhaps picking up one or two stations west of Altoona.

 

[coachcap]

Isn't former UConn President Hogan now in holding that same position at a Big 10 school - Illinois?

Um, Yeah. And another former UConn President went on to the same position at a Big-10 school in the Motor State (he may be retired by now though).

 

[Vowelguy]

Put your thinking caps on for a moment. If the ACC had no intention of adding two teams relatively quickly, how long do you think it would take them to get the word out, and stop this madness
? 10 seconds.

Yet they haven't.

What is the downside to them?
As long as there is uncertainty, more & more schools have to put their cards on the table. How exactly is that bad for the ACC?

You may have no intention of leaving your job, but are you going to put up a billboard announcing that? Of course not, because there's no advantage to doing so, and on the downside you could foreclose some great offer might possibly come your way.

 

[huskymedic]

You go, Herbst!

She lives up to CL82's bad-arse avatar more every day. haha.

I hope she told the good Father that if they don"t knock it off she'll personally kick Flippers all over the Quad!

 

[SAMCRO]

A source close to the situation said there were no words exchanged, she merely showed the good reverend a number of polaroid pictures. At the sight of them, perspiration began forming on his brow, he turned red. He nodded, and she glided off with a "don't f' with me" grin on her face.

 

[Waquoit]

Um, Yeah. And another former UConn President went on to the same position at a Big-10 school in the Motor State (he may be retired by now though).

I believe you are talking about John DiBiaggio, the UConn prez when they joined the Big East. He left MSU in 1992.