Thoughts on latest Jacobs column

[Ha Who]

Not a fan of him but........

 

[CONN Ed]

Not a fan of him but...

Link?

 

[Ha Who]

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...ball-0114-20150113-column.html#navtype=outfit

 

[uconndennis]

This crap....

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...onn-football-0114-20150113-column.html#page=1

No kidding, we are in terrible situation, but there is ZERO chance of just throwing it all away 15 years into it. I get it that this type of discussion will draw views and tons of idiotic comments on the Courant website but its just stupid.

 

[jostar1]

He is right, though. UConn is being bled dry. How long can we last? Five years?

 

[CONN Ed]

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...ball-0114-20150113-column.html#navtype=outfit

Not familiar with Jacobs - thanks for the link. Thought the article was a fairly well-balanced presentation of the facts. His sense that much is wrong seems reasonable, but so did his call for patience. UCONN football is a mess, and the program will never be among the ‘Royals’ (his word). However, UCONN can be consistently good, occasionally great, and suffer the same fate all programs suffer…go through a down period. Everyone is depressed. Very bad season. Be patient. Unlike many, you have marketable assets. Things will look much different in the ACC. Boston College cannot stop what the rest of the conference desires (in time).

Good article.

 

[1999.2004.2011]

Where did Jacobs get that deficit number? Is that just football, because there is no way the AD is $19 mil in the red after having two national championship wins in 2014

 

[huskymedic]

Where did Jacobs get that deficit number? Is that just football, because there is no way the AD is $19 mil in the red after having two national championship wins in 2014

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...lone-in-losing-money-for-athletic-departments

 

[Fishy]

Where did Jacobs get that deficit number? Is that just football, because there is no way the AD is $19 mil in the red after having two national championship wins in 2014

Those numbers pre-date the championships, but they'll essentially be the same for the 2014 year.

No one hands you a big pot of money just because you win a couple of hoop titles, especially when you're in the American.

That number is the subsidy the university gives the athletic department. It's not a straight deficit as there's money that goes back and forth for scholarships and such.

Our unsubsidized revenue is likely higher than any other school in the G5 as is our athletic department budget. The problem is, of course, is that everyone above the G5 has seen a huge jump in their own revenues and we can't keep pace.

Tonight was a scary glimpse of the future - we're the defending national champions in hoop, but we played a 9:30 PM game in Tulsa, Oklahoma in front of 6,000 fans on CBS Sports Net. That sort of drag is starting to have an effect....as was hoped by those who fervently worked against our interests in realignment.

 

[Kolumbo]

"UConn was in The Game, the money game, the one that makes the investment worth it. Tell me how that's happening now? Tell me how it's going to happen?"
That's really the basis of this entire board. How are we going to get back in the game?

 

[coachcap]

What is it about this University's alumni that cyclically wants to bury the football program? When I was a student in the '70's, it was the soccer crowd. After the Huskies played then perennial power St. Louis U. on the Memorial Stadium "pitch" there was a clamor to deep six football & move the soccer team to Memorial permanently. These sentiments went on the back burner when UConn was invited to play Big East football, but I'm convinced they played a major factor in the decision making by the politicos to build the RENT at its current 40K configuration. When I joined the Boneyard as the RENT was being built we would get visitors (Thunder chicken, Fruit, Snookie types) who said that it would take over a decade for UConn to be competitive at 1-A level. Now we have denizens of the hoops board who want to kill the gridiron program to "save the basketball teams". God Almighty, where do these cannibalistic jackasses come from? Hasn't history taught them anything? Take a lesson from Coach Ollie: "We are UConn, championships are what we do!" With the right coach who has the right vision, UConn Football can right itself. It's up to Pres. Herbst & the A.D. to work the back rooms to get the University to a better place.
Don't get me started on Gov. Molloy strongarming ESPN. That's another ball of wax.

 

[pj]

Jacobs: "It's fun to play mind games.'

Why is it that Jacobs's mind games have never been fun for me?

 

[MASSconn]

I perceive this article as more of an SOS. The negative press isn't necessarily a bad thing. The UCONN community needs to be informed on our situation. We're being bled dry.

It's going to take a full community effort to get us into the Big 10. It starts with our donors, foundation and administration. But the faculty, students and fans have a big role as well. These next 3 years are easily the most critical in the history of our sports program. Everything depends on the new tv contract.

3 year Goals:
-Crack the Top-15 US News Public University ranking (this includes improved freshmen classes each year)
-AAC Football Title by 2016
-Season ticket sell-out before 2016 season
-Get our endowment up to $600 Million
-Publish plans to expand Rent past 50,000 seats
-Top 50 Faculty
-Finish Stem Facilities and other relevant construction

Add any more you see fit

 

[Kolumbo]

All very good goals. Our current ranking is exceptional so I am not sure if we can crack top 15. UNC is a likely candidate to drop by. Clemson is top 20 yet wasn't even ranked on that world ranking someone posted so these rankings have their own pros and cons. Diaco really has to do something very special over the next two years which is extremely difficult to do with CR. We'll see. These goals all seem to be in-line with getting into the B1G but I just don't see it happening.
64 teams in 4 or 5 conferences is the way I see it. Some Big 12 schools need to get bumped if UCONN is to get a seat.

 

[Kevin Caliendo]

he's right. the ahtletic department is toast. in a couple years Geno and Ollie will be gone, one retired and one to greener pastures. then what? uconn as a relevant natioanl sports power is pretty much over. The AAC is a death sentence to fan interest, recruiting, notoriety and income. shutting down football or moving down saves the school a lot of $$

as i've said often on this site, Herbst has to have these options on the table as a responsible administrator

 

[Fairfield 1st]

Not familiar with Jacobs - thanks for the link. Thought the article was a fairly well-balanced presentation of the facts. His sense that much is wrong seems reasonable, but so did his call for patience. UCONN football is a mess, and the program will never be among the ‘Royals’ (his word). However, UCONN can be consistently good, occasionally great, and suffer the same fate all programs suffer…go through a down period. Everyone is depressed. Very bad season. Be patient. Unlike many, you have marketable assets. Things will look much different in the ACC. Boston College cannot stop what the rest of the conference desires (in time).

Good article.

I see you are new. Welcome..Sorry to disappoint but there is not one shred of evidence to suggest ACC will EVER take UCONN

 

[CL82]

I'm not a huge Jacobs fan either but he does point out what everyone on this site ought to know: our current situation is not sustainable in the long term. We either need a seat at the big boy table or we will have rethink the cost of football. Let me be clear, I believe dropping football is the start of the death spiral and it will certainly negatively impact our other sports, but the math is the math. We can't keep up in the big time sports arms race without revenues equivalent to other schools. Those huge TV P5 contracts will be the death of us (as a big time sport competitor) unless we get a piece of the pie.

 

[CL82]

I see you are new. Welcome..Sorry to disappoint but there is not one shred of evidence to suggest ACC will EVER take UCONN

Not sure that I agree with that Fairfield. I think the fact that we were the preferred choice over Pitt is evidence that ACC would take us on as a conference member. On the other hand, there are zero indicators right now that such a move is likely. Now if ESPN offerred to unilaterally renegotiate the ACC contract yet again and offerred to give a nominal per school increase in payout if we were added, we'd be added. I don't see it happening but I doubt many schools would pass on additional cash to keep us out.

 

[CONN Ed]

I see you are new. Welcome..Sorry to disappoint but there is not one shred of evidence to suggest ACC will EVER take UCONN

Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here.

Regarding your point about the ACC you may be correct. However, I think you better hope you are wrong. UCONN is not going to the B1G. Kind of leaves the ACC as your remaining option.

 

[MASSconn]

Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here.

Regarding your point about the ACC you may be correct. However, I think you better hope you are wrong. UCONN is not going to the B1G. Kind of leaves the ACC as your remaining option.

Who is your source? I have heard from administrators directly that the B1G is 100% our goal. We are blocked out of the ACC probably forever. We now have to impress the B1G.

 

[CONN Ed]

Who is your source? I have heard from administrators directly that the B1G is 100% our goal. We are blocked out of the ACC probably forever. We now have to impress the B1G.

I do not have a source so it would be bad form to pretend I do.

It’s good to have a goal. Now whether or not UCONN’s goals are realistic or obtainable may need to be evaluated.

 

[OkaForPrez]

I "crossed over" last night. I'm done with the American.

 

[Kolumbo]

This realignment mess is certainly making the college sports experience less enjoyable.

 

[Fairfield 1st]

Thank you. It is a pleasure to be here.

Regarding your point about the ACC you may be correct. However, I think you better hope you are wrong. UCONN is not going to the B1G. Kind of leaves the ACC as your remaining option.

I certinaly do not pretend to be a prolific poster here, as I probably troll way too much. But have followed this for a couple of years now, with many other BY'ers writing more eloquently than me, so I would add,. respectfully, that your take is a bit naive.. These issues have been vetted ad nauseum.. I am very glad that Jacobs, who I do not care for, wrote this piece. It has to be communicated to the casual fan, but more importantly stake holders like the legislature, that UCONN is very much at a cross roads.. I share feelings posted by one of our other posters in another thread.. I watched Tulsa last night, and I was sad. Not that we played badly, but because I couldn't care less about the opponent. The vibe sucked. It was not, as said by someone else, Syracuse at 7pm on ESPN, but 9:30 on the CBS sports network.

That is where we are NOW...imagine what it looks like in 2 years...Unless something dramatic happens in the next 18 months, we will slowly recede into UMASS status, or worse...

And we did nothing to deserve the predicament. The current administration knows this, and it is not their fault. If it doesn't look like we are getting out of this mess, they will leave.. why would they stay? and lesser people will come in to fill these roles...and the slide will continue.

The urgency is now...not in 2 years, let alone 3.

Oh, and keeping football is the ONLY thing keeping us alive. We dump that, we are over.

 

[ThetaZoo]

"UConn was in The Game, the money game, the one that makes the investment worth it. Tell me how that's happening now? Tell me how it's going to happen?"
That's really the basis of this entire board. How are we going to get back in the game?

I thought Jacobs should have had some answers, or maybe suggestions, as to what can be done. Like have Dick Blumenthal, Chris Murphy and Dannel Malloy march on ESPN's hq and demand justice.