B12 and ACC on the clock! | The Boneyard

B12 and ACC on the clock!

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Having more titles than UNC and Kansas combined is pretty damn cool. I wish that B1G Leadership was more open minded to The Huskies.
B1G would be the best fit for us as a northern state flagship land grant school. We're not great in football right now, but our coach was a contender for coach of the year last season, and there's no reason we can't eventually be respectable even in a power conference. We've done it before in the old Big East. We'd bring our top basketball teams, a couple of very good hockey programs, and we're also very good in some other sports. Someone's gonna snap us up soon I think, and it'll be a home run for whatever conference is bold enough to make that move.
 
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B1G would be the best fit for us as a northern state flagship land grant school. We're not great in football right now, but our coach was a contender for coach of the year last season, and there's no reason we can't eventually be respectable even in a power conference. We've done it before in the old Big East. We'd bring our top basketball teams, a couple of very good hockey programs, and we're also very good in some other sports. Someone's gonna snap us up soon I think, and it'll be a home run for whatever conference is bold enough to make that move.
Big 12 doesn’t have hockey.
 
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ACC is not happing for years as they figure out how to hold the conference together. When the ACC implodes, the remnants might not be as attractive as the Big East. The Big 12 isn't happening as they may be able to grab Pac 12 schools.
 
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I would love to be a fly on AD Benedict's wall just to hear the conversations. Who the heck knows what will happen with CR but the UCONN athletic department is having a tremendous year. If opportunities present themselves, tough decisions will need to be made. In the meantime, it's great to be in the Big East, so enjoy!!

 
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I would love to be a fly on AD Benedict's wall just to hear the conversations. Who the heck knows what will happen with CR but the UCONN athletic department is having a tremendous year. If opportunities present themselves, tough decisions will need to be made. In the meantime, it's great to be in the Big East, so enjoy!!

Kind of how I feel. Right now this feels like the sweet spot if football can stabilize and remain respectable despite independence. Obviously there's the financial ramification, but I say stand pat and see how things progress over the next 5-10 years. Have a feeling things are going to look a lot different in a decade from now.
 

Husky25

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I would love to be a fly on AD Benedict's wall just to hear the conversations. Who the heck knows what will happen with CR but the UCONN athletic department is having a tremendous year. If opportunities present themselves, tough decisions will need to be made. In the meantime, it's great to be in the Big East, so enjoy!!


Pretty decent article, but I think Wolken is mistaken on the, "at the expense of Football," premise.

I'm sure it hasn't been, nor will it continue to be, easy, but AD Dave has done an extraordinary job with football and pieced together a revenue model that at least approaches an amount commensurate with the AAC payout, with professional content on linear cable vs. high school A/V club production behind a paywall.
 
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Pretty decent article, but I think Wolken is mistaken on the, "at the expense of Football," premise.

I'm sure it hasn't been, nor will it continue to be, easy, but AD Dave has done an extraordinary job with football and pieced together a revenue model that at least approaches an amount commensurate with the AAC payout, with professional content on linear cable vs. high school A/V club production behind a paywall.
The cost was not having access to playoffs.

"It came at some cost, of course. Connecticut football, which had reached its pinnacle by making the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, was forced to go independent. That’s no easy road. Being in the AAC meant that UConn with the right coach could realistically have access to the College Football Playoff.

"Without a conference, that’s over. UConn football will play a lot of road games to pay the bills and hope to cobble together enough wins against bad teams to make a minor bowl game.

"But if that’s the cost of being in a league that fits the school, it was worth it - even before what happened Monday. Whereas most of college sports has spent the last decade chasing something that makes them richer financially but poorer competitively, UConn said that the most important thing was to be great at basketball. So it went to a league where that was possible."
 
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The cost was not having access to playoffs.

"It came at some cost, of course. Connecticut football, which had reached its pinnacle by making the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, was forced to go independent. That’s no easy road. Being in the AAC meant that UConn with the right coach could realistically have access to the College Football Playoff.

"Without a conference, that’s over. UConn football will play a lot of road games to pay the bills and hope to cobble together enough wins against bad teams to make a minor bowl game.

"But if that’s the cost of being in a league that fits the school, it was worth it - even before what happened Monday. Whereas most of college sports has spent the last decade chasing something that makes them richer financially but poorer competitively, UConn said that the most important thing was to be great at basketball. So it went to a league where that was possible."
Access to a playoff we were never gonna make out of the AAC is overrated. Being in that confenrece just made the fan base apathetic. Now if football had done its part and won, the stadium was packed, and we decided to go back to the Big East there would be something to bitch about. That just wasn't the reality of what was going on. FB sucked. We were having trouble recruiting in MBB and fans of the 2 major sports were losing interest in showing up.
 
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The single most important event that occurred this week to improve the odds of us one day joining a major conference that includes football was not winning the championship. Obviously that was a huge positive, and is what we play sports for in any event (no one goes into college sports just to generate more revenue, since they all spend at least what they make anyway), but the year over year women's final TV ratings literally doubling probably did more to increase our value.
 
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The single most important event that occurred this week to improve the odds of us one day joining a major conference that includes football was not winning the championship. Obviously that was a huge positive, and is what we play sports for in any event (no one goes into college sports just to generate more revenue, since they all spend at least what they make anyway), but the year over year women's final TV ratings literally doubling probably did more to increase our value.
If the women stay healthy, we'll be watching them cut down the nets a year from now. The basketball capital will have another national TV spotlight moment if all goes right in bringing home title #17 in the last 30 seasons.
 
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We really don't fit the B12 model. UConn is much more of an ACC school. By getting into either, we could eventually make our way into the B10, especially if FB makes it to top 25 and we qualify as an AAU research university. But that is a few years ahead.
 

FfldCntyFan

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If the women stay healthy, we'll be watching them cut down the nets a year from now. The basketball capital will have another national TV spotlight moment if all goes right in bringing home title #17 in the last 30 seasons.
Just a quick bit of info:

In 2004, the men won an even numbered (2nd) title and the school was able to hoist both the men's and women's trophies. In 2014, the men won an even numbered title (4th) and again, both trophies ended up in our trophy case.

Next year is 2024 and men's trophy #6 is on the clock. The stars may be aligning for us to complete the triple double.
 
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The Wire Roland Brice GIF
 

Husky25

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The cost was not having access to playoffs.

"It came at some cost, of course. Connecticut football, which had reached its pinnacle by making the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, was forced to go independent. That’s no easy road. Being in the AAC meant that UConn with the right coach could realistically theoretically have access to the College Football Playoff.

"Without a conference, that’s over. UConn football will play a lot of road games to pay the bills and hope to cobble together enough wins against bad teams to make a minor bowl game.

"But if that’s the cost of being in a league that fits the school, it was worth it - even before what happened Monday. Whereas most of college sports has spent the last decade chasing something that makes them richer financially but poorer competitively, UConn said that the most important thing was to be great at basketball. So it went to a league where that was possible."

It's been only 12 years, but good lord does 2011 feel like a lifetime ago.

I was blind to it at the time, but I thought any conference with UConn's national brand at the very least would be major in non-football sports. Particularly considering the coaching pedigree, where Larry Brown and Fran Dunphy were certainly established and known, Pastner was up and coming, and Cronin was still at Cinci. Alas, hindsight is 20/20, the AAC turned out to be a three bid league and the majority of UConn Sports (save maybe baseball), were dying on the vine. Some quicker, some more than others, but the atrophy was evident across the athletic department.

Sure UConn made some horrific football coaching hires, but I don't think losing access to to the CFP was a real cost in the moment and still may not be. At 4 teams, a G5 program needed to go undefeated over at least two seasons for all practical purposes to sniff the CFP. Even now, It may still not be a true cost. The 12 team playoff format will include six conference champs (Five presumably from P-5 conferences) and six at large teams. Ranked #16, Tulane would have been the only 2022 G5 school invited and would have played Alabama as the 12 seed.

Losing the guaranteed conference bowl bid was a calculated risk. OTOH, AAC bowl exposure and payouts were/are comparatively pathetic and proceeds are spread among conference members. So while the extra three weeks of practice is nice from an on-field perspective, UConn was better off not making a bowl on paper.

That said, there is really little difference between a mid-tier and minor bowl in terms of exposure. Given the recent rule change regarding records and the number of bowl slots available, UConn's status should get them a decent bid and keep their net payout, provided they get 6 qualifying wins.

After all, commoners and blue bloods alike enjoy rooting against the nouveau riche.
 

Husky25

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Just a quick bit of info:

In 2004, the men won an even numbered (2nd) title and the school was able to hoist both the men's and women's trophies. In 2014, the men won an even numbered title (4th) and again, both trophies ended up in our trophy case.

Next year is 2024 and men's trophy #6 is on the clock. The stars may be aligning for us to complete the triple double.
Figured this one out last night:

5 years elapsed between 2004 and 99.
7 years elapsed between 2011 and 2004.
3 years elapsed between 2014 and 2011.
9 years have elapsed between 2023 and 2014.

UConn is only missing the 1 year time frame to complete the odd number set.

Considering your tidbit, the projected quality of the recruiting class, as well as my totally arbitrary observation fit for A Beautiful Mind, I think one can log onto Draft Kings and feel reasonably comfortable with their investment.
 
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the majority of UConn Sports (save maybe baseball), were dying on the vine. Some quicker, some more than others, but the atrophy was evident across the athletic department.
I like that UConn moved from the AAC to the Big East, but what sports were dying on the vine due to the AAC? Sure, fans were not excited which was a LT problem financially, but most teams were doing OK. Football should have been better, but UConn botched 2 coaching hires. Think about this. Temple passed UConn in football! Men's basketball was failing due to Ollie's problems. That said, moving to the Big East made the turnaround in men's basketball easier. Women's basketball won 3 NCAA championships and made 3 other Final Fours. Field Hockey remained in the Big East and won 2 NCAA championships. Baseball was doing fine. Men's and women's hockey are in Hockey East. Men's and Women's soccer played in the AAC, but most of their games were out of conference. The men have not won a conference tournament since 2007 (can you believe that?!) and their issues were related to coaching issues. The women won the AAC conference tournament 2x. I don't think the AAC had much impact on the other sports.

The real LT problem with the AAC happened after UConn left: the loss of Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston. Thank God UConn left the AAC before it blew up.

I don't blame the AAC for the problems with football, I blame the UConn administration. UConn hired Diaco when it seems nobody would hire him as a head coach even though he was the Broyles Award winner. What did the other schools know that UConn didn't? I thought Edsall was a better hire than Diaco and I was wrong. It seemed like he didn't think UConn could win and he opposed independence. He should have been fired on the spot when he didn't embrace independence. The administration, with Edsall, decided to shut down the program in 2020. And, UConn's administration was "monitoring the situation" when the ACC expanded with Louisville which was another failure of the administration.
 

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