The school that realignment left behind: Inside UConn football's collapse - Adelson @ ESPN

[nycscooby]

Agreed. Dream isn't over. But crazy to hear those quotes from our coaches and admin of what it was like leading up to the realignment selection.

They really what was on the line in real-time, and could foresee how screwed we would be when we didn't get in.

Extremely devastating for a department that was busting their butt to get in.

Just confirms how out of touch our administration was, not picking up on the signs. Letting JC’s then NCAA infractions become something material! They wouldn’t even be infractions today. No sense of urgency because they were asleep at the wheel is what stands out to me. And, we might never recover from it.

 

[UCMB88]

Get this ESPN narcissistic passage, "With a lucrative television deal on the table from ESPN, the conference had a chance to solidify its future. But some in the room felt the league could gain more in the open market. So the Big East turned the deal down. Shortly thereafter, the ACC started showing interest in multiple Big East teams."

How dare the Big East turn down the almighty World Wide Leader's money?! That last line should read, "Shortly thereafter, a butt hurt ESPN conspired with the ACC to destroy the Big East."

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Integrity? Diaco gets A+. Edsall gets a F. The only defense I can offer for Randy is that he never should have been hired the second time. He was absolutely the worst case hire.

 

[BigEastCT]

good article, thought they would have mentioned the DB lawsuit

 

[Kolumbo]

The only thing worse than espn's involvement in contributing to UCONN's struggles is an espn assclown writing about it.

The success of any university in academics or athletics shouldn't revolve around which program was invited into a conference. The only positive from this article is that it explains, again, how UCONN took the biggest kick to the cajones. UCONN is in about as critical a situation as it gets for football. Benedict knows it. Mora has to know it. And I have to believe they have a plan to build a solid program putting UCONN far above many P5 programs.

 

[noeynox]

Well..it was his failures in those areas that led to losing games. He doesn't have to get into specifics...we all know what goes into winning.

I have said this before...the one thing I always thought was a core Edsall strength was integrity. Wow was I wrong.

Diaco is proving to be a much more genuine person than Edsall. And 5 years ago I would have thought you were nuts if you said that.

Nothing but kudos to Diaco for being forthright. Maybe in time Edsall will be more honest about what happened.

Don't hold your breath on Edsall.

 

[gioff2323]

Integrity? Diaco gets A+. Edsall gets a F. The only defense I can offer for Randy is that he never should have been hired the second time. He was absolutely the worst case hire.

Good lord, the disco-apologistas are out. That frigging guy destroyed the program. Read Dan Os quote about the players he left behind. But, he’s an RKG. Frigging unbelievable. I guess he won breakfast today

 

[hardcorehusky]

Diaco was about Diaco. He had no integrity, no skills as a leader. He was a total and I can say that after dealing with him. He always thought he knew more than anyone else and didn't care what anyone- above him, outside of his circle or those who could help him, would say. Forget Randy, Forget Red Pants, Forget PP- it doesn't matter anymore. It is now about Mora!!

 

[ASweet3781]

2 things.

Discos buyout includes a non-disparagement clause. Let’s not give him too much credit

Article underscores how FCS our trustees are. They alone give me zero confidence. How there was no blowback on them is incomprehensible. They should have all submitted their resignation.

What? You don't trust Rebecca Lobo?

 

[Goatmeat]

"I remember going in his office, shutting the door and being like, 'What happened?' I did not know the program talentwise had fallen off that much," Orlovsky said.

This just hits different.

 

[Hoophound]

"I remember going in his office, shutting the door and being like, 'What happened?' I did not know the program talentwise had fallen off that much," Orlovsky said.

This just hits different.

Meh. I wonder if he walked into Edsall’s office and asked him what happened. Diaco won a lot more games than Randy 2.0.

Dan is a little bit of a loose canon. I don’t really take much he says seriously.

 

[UCFBfan]

Then there's this line.

Then, NCAA trouble that began under then-basketball coach Jim Calhoun. "College presidents are extraordinarily wary of those kinds of situations," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "As a group, the ACC presidents were a little gun-shy about Connecticut."

This legit had me laughing. After all of the stuff that went down at some of these ACC schools, the JC stuff had them gun-shy? UNC's cheating scandal wasn't an issue for college PRESIDENTS?!? Fake classes? Not a concern for a president. But UConn has a few academic issues with some basketball players, LOOK OUT! C'mon.....

Miami and everything that went along with that program didn't bother the ACC presidents? They were good with all the hookers and blow? Cool, cool.

It's a load of garbage. We all know the reality. Our FB team blew an opportunity by having bad hires at the wrong time and cratered. Then the biggest culprit was the company that pays the author of the article. However, that will never be mentioned because it's being written by ESPN. So take it for what it's worth.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

This legit had me laughing. After all of the stuff that went down at some of these ACC schools, the JC stuff had them gun-shy? UNC's cheating scandal wasn't an issue for college PRESIDENTS?!? Fake classes? Not a concern for a president. But UConn has a few academic issues with some basketball players, LOOK OUT! C'mon.....

Miami and everything that went along with that program didn't bother the ACC presidents? They were good with all the hookers and blow? Cool, cool.

It's a load of garbage. We all know the reality. Our FB team blew an opportunity by having bad hires at the wrong time and cratered. Then the biggest culprit was the company that pays the author of the article. However, that will never be mentioned because it's being written by ESPN. So take it for what it's worth.

Exactly.

Adding that part to the article was nothing more than cheap piling on. Everybody at any reasonable level in any athletic department knew the truth, that the issues were primarily administrative and insignificant (unless you wanted to single out the school). The only thing they didn't know was how far outside of the rules Louisville was going (hookers & blow) to lure recruits.

 

[CL82]

This legit had me laughing. After all of the stuff that went down at some of these ACC schools, the JC stuff had them gun-shy? UNC's cheating scandal wasn't an issue for college PRESIDENTS?!? Fake classes? Not a concern for a president. But UConn has a few academic issues with some basketball players, LOOK OUT! C'mon.....

Miami and everything that went along with that program didn't bother the ACC presidents? They were good with all the hookers and blow? Cool, cool.

It's a load of garbage. We all know the reality. Our FB team blew an opportunity by having bad hires at the wrong time and cratered. Then the biggest culprit was the company that pays the author of the article. However, that will never be mentioned because it's being written by ESPN. So take it for what it's worth.

Remember this is the same company that made a “Requiem” for the conference it killed and never noted in it that Connecticut was the Big East school with the most Big East Tournament championships and the most Big East conference (regular season) championships, Not to mention the most national championships.

Regarding the whole APR thing, the year before Syracuse had exactly the same violation and received only a loss of scholarship. In fact, Connecticut had already been punished for the violation via a loss of scholarship. The NCAA send change the rules and punished Connecticut retroactively for the same violation. Additionally, the NCAA refused to take into account current UConn grades which caused us to meet the APR targets. Let me just restate that. The NCAA violated the fundamental judicial principles of against ex post facto law and Double Jeopardy while ignoring information which would have made Connecticut compliant. The University should have taken them to court. Even though the NCAA is a private organization the random manufacture of rules and disparate treatment of its members would not have been sustainable.

That said, the notion that we were viewed as a rogue organization is complete horse crap given the school they did actually bringing in the lack of academic integrity of the other member institutions.

 

[Exit 4]

I have a condensed summary to offer; ESPN administered largely by Syracuse alumni saw an opportunity to toss UConn overboard and BC watched the deck while it happened. Everything else is just noise. CRA is driven by financials and media contracts- ESPN was more than happy to wink and nod for Louisville which was absolutely essential.

If you had a time machine I would make two changes; put the stadium on campus and be the idea guy that huddled with the ACC first (you don’t want BC, you want us!). That or made sure they pulled Penn State into the BE when they had the chance.

 

[Waquoit]

"I remember going in his office, shutting the door and being like, 'What happened?' I did not know the program talentwise had fallen off that much," Orlovsky said.

I think this says as much about Dan as it does Bob. I certainly wouldn't mind if the program and he were estranged for a bit.

 

[UConnJim]

I think the ACC has had their eye on the ultimate prize during expansion - Notre Dame. When Pitt was selected for the ACC before UConn, some people speculated that if Notre Dame was ever going to join the ACC, the ACC should try to get some traditional rivals into the conference. Pitt is the 5th most school that Notre Dame has played. That is why Navy (most games played against ND) is rumored to be the 16th school as a football only if Notre Dame joins as you could put Notre Dame in a division with Navy, Pitt, and say BC so that they play tradition rivals in conference.

As for Louisville, they had just been rejected by the Big 12 so they understood the expansion process and they did everything they could to get into the ACC. Unlike UConn's administration, they were not overconfident and left nothing to chance.

All that said, I do think the ACC made mistakes with the schools they selected. They were late to start the ACC Network and it is not carried by Xfinity which is a major loss of revenues. BC athletics don't drive the needle enough for Xfinity to carry the ACCN even though Massachusetts is a major Xfinity state. If the ACC took UConn, I would guarantee you that UConn fans (and Connecticut politicians) would not accept no ACCN in Connecticut. I think adding UConn could help drive the ACCN to be carried by Xfinity. How much revenue for the ACC would that be? Xfinity has ~19 million subscribers. Let's say the ACCN would charge Xfinity $0.50 per sub on average, that would be $114 million in total revenue and assuming the margin for the ACC is 50%, it would increase ACC revenues by ~$57 million per year which more than pays for adding UConn.

 

[freescooter]

I think what they miss is that instead of doubling down as Cincy did, Houston did, even Memphis SMU and Temple did, UConn essentially quit. Cincinnati kept going with its basketball program. Got NCAA bids almost every year. On the football side they kept building. Brought in good coaches. Basically said, ok we are here. Let’s be the best team in the AAC. UConn got all weepy and did a woe is us. Blamed the league instead of going out and showing they were too good for it.

I also think that Diaco’s second year was sort of unfortunate. 6-6 and a bowl bid created some false sense that despite his craziness he had things on the right track. Clearly he did not And in hind sight that team wasn’t good but it did have some luck.

 

[Huskygamble19]

Hey Now Hey Now don't dream its over,,,,,

 

[Blades]

Get this ESPN narcissistic passage, "With a lucrative television deal on the table from ESPN, the conference had a chance to solidify its future. But some in the room felt the league could gain more in the open market. So the Big East turned the deal down. Shortly thereafter, the ACC started showing interest in multiple Big East teams."

How dare the Big East turn down the almighty World Wide Leader's money?! That last line should read, "Shortly thereafter, a butt hurt ESPN conspired with the ACC to destroy the Big East."..... EXACTLY

ESPN and those ACC shills needs come clean, stop lying and tell truth like Flipper did. ("ESPN told us what to do" )

Did ESPN Force ACC/Big East Realignment? (UPDATED)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=R8y6DJAeolo It’s impossible for me to view the monopoly ESPN has over the sports world and the unthinkable amount of money that comes in and out of Bristol without thinking of Gordon Gekko. As more and more is revealed about the way ESPN does business at the very top...

awfulannouncing.com

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The article’s intention was entirely to limit public enthusiasm towards the Mora hire and take a few swipes (framed to appear as compliments) at us in the process. I personally like that they feel the need to do this and will explain why.

The firm I worked for in the late 1990’s had among their clients Ben & Jerry’s and at our annual conference/dinner in January 1999, asked Ben and Jerry to appear as guest speakers. Jerry started with a humorous story on how they met {the two laziest kids in gym class found each other) and went on to how, once they began selling their product in grocery stores, a major distributor attempted to force those stores to stop carrying their product. Jerry said he was worried that this would put them out of business, but Ben was smart enough to realize that if they were so frightened of Ben & Jerry’s product, it was time to expand.

They (northern ACC schools, ESPN, perhaps the ACC itself) is worried about what we can become and what it will do to them if we get there. The article did reopen a number of old wounds (I still feel Hathaway did more damage than P or Diaco, cringe at the misfortune of BC being on the limited committee that decided in September 2011 to add two BE schools and wish the B-12 would be given the opportunity to reconsider remaining at ten members when UT, OU et al decided to decline the P-12 invitation) but we need to put that behind us.

If Mora succeeds, brings us to where we were the past few years of RE 1.0, some of those schools will be shaking in their boots as from that point, with the people we have in place, we will be able to take the next step forward. If we do that, the schools that the ACC selected instead of us will be in our rear view mirror.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I think the ACC has had their eye on the ultimate prize during expansion - Notre Dame. When Pitt was selected for the ACC before UConn, some people speculated that if Notre Dame was ever going to join the ACC, the ACC should try to get some traditional rivals into the conference. Pitt is the 5th most school that Notre Dame has played. That is why Navy (most games played against ND) is rumored to be the 16th school as a football only if Notre Dame joins as you could put Notre Dame in a division with Navy, Pitt, and say BC so that they play tradition rivals in conference.

As for Louisville, they had just been rejected by the Big 12 so they understood the expansion process and they did everything they could to get into the ACC. Unlike UConn's administration, they were not overconfident and left nothing to chance.

All that said, I do think the ACC made mistakes with the schools they selected. They were late to start the ACC Network and it is not carried by Xfinity which is a major loss of revenues. BC athletics don't drive the needle enough for Xfinity to carry the ACCN even though Massachusetts is a major Xfinity state. If the ACC took UConn, I would guarantee you that UConn fans (and Connecticut politicians) would not accept no ACCN in Connecticut. I think adding UConn could help drive the ACCN to be carried by Xfinity. How much revenue for the ACC would that be? Xfinity has ~19 million subscribers. Let's say the ACCN would charge Xfinity $0.50 per sub on average, that would be $114 million in total revenue and assuming the margin for the ACC is 50%, it would increase ACC revenues by ~$57 million per year which more than pays for adding UConn.

You could be correct but I personally believe that it was ND that approached the ACC. While the C-7 always felt that once the split (which was designed when the conference expanded to 16 after the first ACC raid but never set in stone as \to when it would happen) occurred, ND would remain with the catholic schools, ND had made some comments that would lead one to believe they were trying to align with the football playing members, hoping to be included as a not football participant. Once the BE lost Syracuse and Pitt, the remaining football schools wouldn't be significant enough of a conference and ND still viewed themselves above the other catholic members so they approached the ACC with the idea of adding ND, which would (and did) finally rip the BE apart. Nova (every current BE school owes them a debt of gratitude) had enough success to keep the conference at a high level in the public's eye, which I imagine the ACC never anticipated, but the ND betrayal is something the C-7 never anticipated.

 

[coachcap]

Andrea A$$inine doesn't have the mental capability to have written this tripe overnight. It has been sitting in her desk drawer for a while until she could insert Coach. Mora's name at the time of the hiring announcement. She is just an ESPN Shill & incapable of original thought.

 

[huskymedic]

Andrea A$$inine doesn't have the mental capability to have written this tripe overnight. It has been sitting in her desk drawer for a while until she could insert Coach. Mora's name at the time of the hiring announcement. She is just an ESPN Shill & incapable of original thought.

Geez Coach… you’ve gotten quite ornery lately

 

[coachcap]

Geez Coach… you’ve gotten quite ornery lately

Cantankerous curmudgeon, I've been told that I resemble thT description...lol