The Athletic will be featuring us shortly in their Realignment series...

[pepband99]

The Athletic

Finally, someone gets it...

We look back at two of this century’s earlier realignment trendsetters, Miami (by Manny Navarro) and Virginia Tech (Andy Bitter). We crown the most recent wave’s biggest winner, TCU (by Ubben). And Matt Fortuna delivers a postmortem on its biggest loser — Connecticut football.
Speaking of which …
The planning and reporting for this series began long before last month’s news that the Huskies would be leaving the American to return to their Big East roots for basketball, leaving football to fend for itself as an independent. It does not appear there will be any immediate ripple effect from UConn’s move, but the fact that new realignment news abruptly dropped in the middle of preparing a retrospective on realignment reinforced exactly why we’re doing this: The subject never truly goes away.

 

[noeynox]

Just finished two articles. The Navy one joining the American is a good one.

 

[huskymedic]

A bit of of disappointment- very little first-hand reporting and more of a weaving together of past articles/opinions from a variety of sources.

The team realignment forgot: No program lost more than UConn football

>>“It will have a much better shot at being a consistent winner in the MAC or FCS,” a former UConn assistant coach told The Athletic. “I’ve always said it’s too much of a tweener in too many areas for football to thrive. It’s a good school, but not a great school. So you’re still competing against Ivy League schools and (Boston College) regionally for some kids and you’ll lose that battle for academics. It’s FBS, but it’s not Power 5, so who’s going to want to go to UConn instead of Syracuse or BC or Virginia in the region?”<<

>>“Football is just not as big of a deal in the Northeast; never has been, never will,” a former Boston College administrator told The Athletic. “I saw it at BC, man. I lived it. We had Matt Ryan, we were No. 2 in the country, we were playing Florida State. The Red Sox are winning the World Series, the Patriots are playing for a Super Bowl and we’re on the fifth page of the sports page.

“And that’s when everything was cranking the right way.”<<

 

[huskymedic]

Good view of scheduling challenges;

 

[huskyrob1]

A bit of of disappointment- very little first-hand reporting and more of a weaving together of past articles/opinions from a variety of sources.

The team realignment forgot: No program lost more than UConn football

>>“It will have a much better shot at being a consistent winner in the MAC or FCS,” a former UConn assistant coach told The Athletic. “I’ve always said it’s too much of a tweener in too many areas for football to thrive. It’s a good school, but not a great school. So you’re still competing against Ivy League schools and (Boston College) regionally for some kids and you’ll lose that battle for academics. It’s FBS, but it’s not Power 5, so who’s going to want to go to UConn instead of Syracuse or BC or Virginia in the region?”<<

>>“Football is just not as big of a deal in the Northeast; never has been, never will,” a former Boston College administrator told The Athletic. “I saw it at BC, man. I lived it. We had Matt Ryan, we were No. 2 in the country, we were playing Florida State. The Red Sox are winning the World Series, the Patriots are playing for a Super Bowl and we’re on the fifth page of the sports page.

“And that’s when everything was cranking the right way.”<<

Uconn's academics may not be quite up to Ivy League standards, but they are pretty damn good. As for UConn football, it's practice facilities, stadium, local sports coverage, if I'm a local kid deciding between the Ivy League and Uconn, it's an easy choice given future competition.

It also noteworthy that the author purposely left out Rutgers in his stupid "who would want to go to" argument. Maybe he should ask Dillon Harris and Jasen Rose why they chose UConn over BC.

 

[Guapo]

Uconn's academics may not be quite up to Ivy League standards, but they are pretty damn good. As for UConn football, it's practice facilities, stadium, local sports coverage, if I'm a local kid deciding between the Ivy League and Uconn, it's an easy choice given future competition.

It also noteworthy that the author purposely left out Rutgers in his stupid "who would want to go to" argument. Maybe he should ask Dillon Harris and Jasen Rose why they chose UConn over BC.

I’m as big of a UConn fan as there is...but if im
not looking at a future NFL career and Yale or Harvard is offering me a full ride; that’s really hard to pass up, man.

 

[gioff2323]

if im not looking at a future NFL career and Yale or Harvard is offering me a full ride; that’s really hard to pass up, man.

Don't pick a school for the next 4, pick one for the next 40

 

[Guapo]

if im not looking at a future NFL career and Yale or Harvard is offering me a full ride; that’s really hard to pass up, man.

Don't pick a school for the next 4, pick one for the next 40

Fair enough!

 

[Adios]

Wow, BS article already.

 

[huskyrob1]

I’m as big of a UConn fan as there is...but if im
not looking at a future NFL career and Yale or Harvard is offering me a full ride; that’s really hard to pass up, man.

IF Yale or Harvard are offering a free ride, and if that NFL dream is still in the back of your head, do you want to play Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell, Brown and Penn for four years to help that dream or do you want to play ND, Auburn, BYU, Clemson, BC, Duke, and NC State? Uconn's record at producing NFL players is pretty good, recruits will know that. Heck, if you want to get both then play four years at UConn and do your grad work at Harvard or Yale.

BTW.....there are some schools at UConn that are almost as good as what Harvard or Yale might offer.

 

[huskymedic]

It also noteworthy that the author purposely left out Rutgers in his stupid "who would want to go to" argument.

Ummm... the “author” didn’t make that argument - that was a quote from “a former UConn assistant coach”.

 

[HartfordHank]

...or do you want to play ND, Auburn, BYU, Clemson, BC, Duke, and NC State?

I didn't know that UConn will be playing games with ND and Auburn? Very likely you will play BYU but they aren't on the schedule either.

 

[AD DB Burner]

I’d really like to know who the former assistant was

 

[huskyrob1]

Ummm... the “author” didn’t make that argument - that was a quite from “a former UConn assistant coach”.

Ummmm....how do you know the original quote didn't include Rutgers, and the "Athletic" left it out? I mean, why leave Rutger's which is part of that group, out of a quote like that?

Now if the original quote had been "Syracuse, BC, and Rutger's" then his comment carries a lot less weight. You can pretend Virginia is in the Northeast region, but it's not, at least Grant and Lee didn't think so.

 

[huskyrob1]

I didn't know that UConn will be playing games with ND and Auburn? Very likely you will play BYU but they aren't on the schedule either.

Have they played them recently? When's the last time Dartmouth played Auburn? Lol

Redirect Notice

 

[whaler11]

IF Yale or Harvard are offering a free ride, and if that NFL dream is still in the back of your head, do you want to play Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell, Brown and Penn for four years to help that dream or do you want to play ND, Auburn, BYU, Clemson, BC, Duke, and NC State? Uconn's record at producing NFL players is pretty good, recruits will know that. Heck, if you want to get both then play four years at UConn and do your grad work at Harvard or Yale.

BTW.....there are some schools at UConn that are almost as good as what Harvard or Yale might offer.

lay off the crack pipe.

 

[HartfordHank]

Have they played them recently?

Has who played who recently?

 

[huskyrob1]

lay off the crack pipe.

Wow, that didn't take long at all. Why don't you go..........................

 

[huskyrob1]

Has who played who recently?

I don't know, maybe you should go ask Bud or Lou.

 

[noeynox]

I really think if Navy doesn't turn it around, they will revisit Independence.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Ummmm....how do you know the original quote didn't include Rutgers, and the "Athletic" left it out? I mean, why leave Rutger's which is part of that group, out of a quote like that?

Now if the original quote had been "Syracuse, BC, and Rutger's" then his comment carries a lot less weight. You can pretend Virginia is in the Northeast region, but it's not, at least Grant and Lee didn't think so.

If I had pro potential and was able to go to ivies, I am looking at Stanford, ND, maybe Vandy.

 

[huskymedic]

Ummmm....how do you know the original quote didn't include Rutgers, and the "Athletic" left it out? I mean, why leave Rutger's which is part of that group, out of a quote like that?

Now if the original quote had been "Syracuse, BC, and Rutger's" then his comment carries a lot less weight. You can pretend Virginia is in the Northeast region, but it's not, at least Grant and Lee didn't think so.

I’m not sure why I’m bothering but you believe Fortuna goes out of his way and gets a direct quote from a former UConn assistant but edits outs Rutgers to make some obscure point??

@whaler11 ’s right.

(BTW - It would have been much easier/believable to just say you missed that the comment was from a former UConn coach).

 

[huskyrob1]

I’m not sure why I’m bothering but you believe Fortuna goes out of his way and gets a direct quote from a former UConn assistant but edits outs Rutgers to make some obscure point??

@whaler11 ’s right.

(BTW - It would have been much easier/believable to just say you missed that the comment was from a former UConn coach).

Ummmm.....ok

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

If I had pro potential and was able to go to ivies, I am looking at Stanford, ND, maybe Vandy.

If academics was the primary driving force, I’d be in the most selective school in Palo Alto in a NY second, Then, the 2nd most challenging school with the best conference and in a city, Nashville. ND’s popularity makes it quite selective, but as close to an Ivy as the Tree and Vandy? Don’t believe so, but 5 years in NW Indiana ... best to ignore the winters and milk the actual and subway alumni connections.

 

[huskyrob1]

If I had pro potential and was able to go to ivies, I am looking at Stanford, ND, maybe Vandy.

I think the discussion was about Northeastern schools, but yes those would be good alternatives to the Ivies for one with pro potential.