UNC also.
I live 35 miles from Rutgers and the former AD lives in my town, yet they are ties with Penn St and ND (lot of Catholics in my town) at 9 %. As a FYI, Army is only 25 miles away.
Brass of the B1G and RU fans like to tout the study that says X amount of people in NYC are RU fans and it is so much higher than than anyone else and UConn is like fourth. According to this, RU isn't even top 3 in any NY zip code and isn't >44% in even North Jersey which to be fair has a lot of transplants and is as densely populated as some Indian ghettos. UConn of course owns all of CT and ranks throughout Eastern NY, Long Island, Rhode Island, and Mass. Not saying one is better than the other, just saying we are better that Rutgers no matter what confernece they are in.
That map tells you all you need to know about why Delany focuses on state flagships and why Swofford's expansion strategy is/was nothing short of nuts.
A case can be made that Swofford is a realist but I think he's more coward than realist. He acts through fear rather than vision. I've asked our ACC friends for a statement of the ACC's goals in re-alignment that explain BC, Miami, VaTech, Cuse, Pitt, ND, and Louisville and thus far nobody has offered anything of sense. His only goal I can detect was the destruction of the Big East. And he did that out of fear. He succeeded but big deal. Mostly what he's accomplished is to saddle his conference with deadwood. Worse than deadwood really...institutions with, for the most part, a downward trajectory and little prospect of a turnaround. Excluding VaTech, what state will any of those schools own?While we would jump at an offer from the ACC, you are correct. The B1G is more systematic then the ACC - pure and simple. The ACC process seems haphazard and reactionary. Any process that resulted in Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville and ND (on a half-ass basis) invited before UConn is patently effed up!
Two totally different approaches. The B1G knows exactly what it is and sticks to it. The ACC just seemed to raid the Big East schools who play football. If we somehow end up in that mess, the best part would be takin names.While we would jump at an offer from the ACC, you are correct. The B1G is more systematic then the ACC - pure and simple. The ACC process seems haphazard and reactionary. Any process that resulted in Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville and ND (on a half-ass basis) invited before UConn is patently effed up!
Per LinkedIn, after Connecticut, New York City has the most UConn grads. Boston is third on the list.
A case can be made that Swofford is a realist but I think he's more coward than realist. He acts through fear rather than vision. I've asked our ACC friends for a statement of the ACC's goals in re-alignment that explain BC, Miami, VaTech, Cuse, Pitt, ND, and Louisville and thus far nobody has offered anything of sense. His only goal I can detect was the destruction of the Big East. And he did that out of fear. He succeeded but big deal. Mostly what he's accomplished is to saddle his conference with deadwood. Worse than deadwood really...institutions with, for the most part, a downward trajectory and little prospect of a turnaround. Excluding VaTech, what state will any of those schools own?
If our football team was coming off of or having a good year we would have more of a presence in "Facebook likes" in the NYC area. This map represents a what have you done for me lately point of view and not necessarily fan or alumn market penetration. Give us a good year in football and then take another look.
It probably goes without saying, but that map would be much more favorable for UConn if you look at basketball.
Well his conference survived while ours didn't. Scoreboard.A case can be made that Swofford is a realist but I think he's more coward than realist. He acts through fear rather than vision. I've asked our ACC friends for a statement of the ACC's goals in re-alignment that explain BC, Miami, VaTech, Cuse, Pitt, ND, and Louisville and thus far nobody has offered anything of sense. His only goal I can detect was the destruction of the Big East. And he did that out of fear. He succeeded but big deal. Mostly what he's accomplished is to saddle his conference with deadwood. Worse than deadwood really...institutions with, for the most part, a downward trajectory and little prospect of a turnaround. Excluding VaTech, what state will any of those schools own?
A case can be made that Swofford is a realist but I think he's more coward than realist. He acts through fear rather than vision. I've asked our ACC friends for a statement of the ACC's goals in re-alignment that explain BC, Miami, VaTech, Cuse, Pitt, ND, and Louisville and thus far nobody has offered anything of sense. His only goal I can detect was the destruction of the Big East. And he did that out of fear. He succeeded but big deal. Mostly what he's accomplished is to saddle his conference with deadwood. Worse than deadwood really...institutions with, for the most part, a downward trajectory and little prospect of a turnaround. Excluding VaTech, what state will any of those schools own?
To be fair (and I say this as a Big Ten guy), the only truly reactionary move that Swofford made was adding Louisville (and that inherently was a reaction to Maryland defecting). Everything else was *extremely* calculated. He saw back in 2003 (before it become common knowledge that football and TV markets truly ruled everything in college athletics revenue-wise) that the ACC needed to become both less basketball-focused and less-Southern and addressed both fronts in the first Big East raid. I'll give immense credit to Swofford for that vision - it's easy to forget that the other old line conferences (even the Big Ten) were still looking at the college sports world as regional fiefdoms instead of national entities at that point. The ACC's moves in 2003 completely changed the thinking at the Big Ten (who in turn changed the thinking of the SEC) - the fact that TV markets became more critical and the acknowledgment of arguably the most tradition-rich basketball league that football ruled the roost completely tightened the focus of conference realignment that began in 2010. It might comfort the schools left in AAC to tell themselves that Swofford doesn't know what he's doing, but I absolutely believe that he's as savvy as any other conference commissioner. I'd honestly put him ahead of Mike Slive (who was given a lot more to work with in the SEC) and only behind Jim Delany in terms of power conference commissioners that understand the big picture and are forward-thinking.
Even if Swofford possessed the vision you attribute to him he has to receive a failing grade for communication and execution. I agree, the northeast was open for the taking at the time Swofford first moved. It was still open when he moved a second time. He whiffed twice and, as a result, he's left with little possibility of controlling that he envisioned. Of what value was his original vision?To be fair (and I say this as a Big Ten guy), the only truly reactionary move that Swofford made was adding Louisville (and that inherently was a reaction to Maryland defecting). Everything else was *extremely* calculated. He saw back in 2003 (before it become common knowledge that football and TV markets truly ruled everything in college athletics revenue-wise) that the ACC needed to become both less basketball-focused and less-Southern and addressed both fronts in the first Big East raid. I'll give immense credit to Swofford for that vision - it's easy to forget that the other old line conferences (even the Big Ten) were still looking at the college sports world as regional fiefdoms instead of national entities at that point. The ACC's moves in 2003 completely changed the thinking at the Big Ten (who in turn changed the thinking of the SEC) - the fact that TV markets became more critical and the acknowledgment of arguably the most tradition-rich basketball league that football ruled the roost completely tightened the focus of conference realignment that began in 2010. It might comfort the schools left in AAC to tell themselves that Swofford doesn't know what he's doing, but I absolutely believe that he's as savvy as any other conference commissioner. I'd honestly put him ahead of Mike Slive (who was given a lot more to work with in the SEC) and only behind Jim Delany in terms of power conference commissioners that understand the big picture and are forward-thinking.
Swofford's first poaching of the Big East was reactionary. When he took over the ACC in 1997 he was looking at a Big East Conference that was quickly becoming the Football Conference on the East Coast with Miami, Virginia Tech, and others frequenting the top ten. Even Syracuse was making some noise. The ACC was playing a game of catch up and needed to undermine the progress being made by the Big East. In that sense, Swofford was less of a visionary and more of an opportunist that exploited the disruptive dynamic of basketball schools vs. football schools, which was ham stringing the Big East. It was a good move, but it was very much in the interest of, and reaction to, the emergence of the Big East as a football and conference power.