Forbes: UConn should join Big East as hoops affiliate

[SJHooper]

UConn went from major Big East blue blood being a big fish in a big ocean to being a blue blood program in a mid major conference as a big fish in a pond. They are too good for the AAC. To the UConn fan: I'm sure there is a push to put basketball as the top priority over there in Storrs. Why don't the students push for the Big East? Forget Dayton and STL…those are Honda's. UConn is a Mercedes. We need UConn as much as UConn needs us. This would make complete sense financially, geographically, and basketball wise.

[pirateguy80]

Forget the backstabbing that took place prior to the old BE breakup. If the $$$ makes sense for UCONN and there is no open window to the ACC, they will be back faster than you can say Calhoun.

[Bill Marsh]

Forget the backstabbing that took place prior to the old BE breakup. If the $$$ makes sense for UCONN and there is no open window to the ACC, they will be back faster than you can say Calhoun.

backstabbing?

[itsmejpt]

IF they joined as an affiliate they'd still bolt the second the ACC came calling. UConn can sit on it and spin.

[Bill Marsh]

IF they joined as an affiliate they'd still bolt the second the ACC came calling. UConn can sit on it and spin.

You're rejecting a school that has no interest in joining, has expressed no interest in joining and would turn done an offer it extended. Getting ahead of yourself a little bit?

[SJUREDMEN85]

IF they joined as an affiliate they'd still bolt the second the ACC came calling. UConn can sit on it and spin.

You're rejecting a school that has no interest in joining, has expressed no interest in joining and would turn done an offer it extended. Getting ahead of yourself a little bit?

Have you seen any school president express an interest in adding them? No
The only ones who want them are some fans on here.

The feeling is mutual.

[Michael in Raleigh]

To even consider the notion of UConn joining the Big East in everything but football, whether they'd be in the league for the next thirty years or just for five years before ditching it for the ACC, Big Ten, or Big 12, the number one question that has to be answered is, "What happens to its football program?" If that question cannot be answered satisfactorily in the eyes of the UConn administration, the whole idea is completely moot.

Whether Big East fans or UConn fans themselves agree with UConn's decision to pursue big-time football or not, they're in too deep not to do whatever they can to protect what they've invested. They didn't put in hundreds of millions of dollars towards a stadium, facilities, additional scholarships, vastly increased coaching salaries, and other expenses like academic support just to turn around and stop making football a priority.

I think it's a given that basketball and pretty much all sports besides football would be better served if UConn was in the Big East instead of the American. Travel demands, lack of history, lack of an emotional connection, etc. take a toll on non-revenue sports in particular. The Big East, meanwhile, has five schools within 5 hours or so and around 35 years of shared history. It has the tournament at MSG every year. But even then, it's much easier to envision UConn men's and women's basketball retaining its position as a powerful force in hoops by remaining in the American than it is to envision the football program taking anything besides a gigantic, potentially devastating step back by leaving the American.

Nevermind that UConn would be forgoing all the NCAA tournament credits and exit fees from previously departed league members due to them. Let's just pretend UConn did decide to depart the American in favor of the Big East, and assume the Big East is okay with that, too. What are the options for UConn football?

1) Remain as a football-only affiliate in the American, and have an arrangement like Temple and UMass did with the MAC where it agrees to play American schools in basketball. The problem is that the American wouldn't go for that. They were willing to do that for Navy because Navy has a national following and obviously couldn't hang with a major conference in other sports (given height restrictions, etc.; they're a better fit for the Patriot League, and the AAC is better fit without them in non-football sports, too.) But UConn would not provide nearly enough in football for the American to be willing to keep them. As far as the other members would be concerned, with no UConn basketball, Southern Miss, Rice, or heck, full membership from UMass would all be more attractive than football-only UConn. UConn has to be all-in or all-out for the American.

2) Join the MAC as a football-only affiliate, with an arrangement similar to UMass' and Temple's. The MAC might be more willing to work with UConn on this than it was with UMass because UConn is far more established as a football program, in terms of facilities, infrastructure, etc. than is UMass. UConn would be the biggest name in that league immediately. On the other hand, how much would attendance suffer for UConn when not only are home games against WVU, Louisville, Syracuse, and Pitt gone, but so are the at least halfway compelling games against Cincinnati, UCF, Houston, and USF? I think it would be pretty devastating. Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Kent State... those would be the BEST games on the UConn schedule. This is what those hundreds of millions were invested for?

3) Try for football independence. Okay, let's make an absolute best-case scenario for a 12-game schedule.
1. Permanent series against fellow independent BYU.
2. Ditto with Army.
3. Ditto with UMass, assuming they'll never, ever join a conference, either.
4. One home game vs. an FCS school
5. One road-only, "paycheck" game vs. a major power program like Ohio State or USC.
6. Home-and-home with a MAC school.
7. Home-and-home with a MW school.
8. Home-and-home with a weaker P5 school like Wake Forest, Indiana, or Washington State.
9. Home-and-home with another G5 school.
10, 11, 12.... ??? It's unrealistic to think UConn could fill out 12 games every year as an independent. With a 62,000 seat stadium, BYU is able to do it, but UConn is no BYU. Late in the season, almost every conference is tied up either in conference games or in non-conference rivalries (Clemson vs. South Carolina, for example.) SEC teams that schedule weak programs in November, like Alabama vs. Georgia Southern, want to face REALLY weak programs from the bottom of FBS or from FCS, not teams that would force them to keep their starters late in the game like UConn would. November would be almost impossible to fill out.

4) UConn joins the Sun Belt or C-USA for football only. Really?

The most realistic option is probably independence, which would be almost completely unviable.

I think the Big East should just try to schedule non-conference games with UConn as often as possible and accept that UConn is gone as a conference member. Embrace this cool conference where everyone who's in never wants to leave. Given their lack of tradition with American schools, UConn is likely to be really receptive to Big East game, especially with the eastern five schools, for those non-conference games.

[Bill Marsh]

Michael, I have to wonder what's going to happen to UConn's programs now separated from those conference does with 35 years if shared tradition and 9 years of football history.

Look at Boston College as an example. Money has been great in the ACC. But since joining that conference, attendance has plummeted in both major sports, dropping from a peak of 42,000 to a low of 33,000 this year in football and from a peak of 7200 to a low of barely 4000 in basketball. They've had trouble keeping coaches, trouble recruiting, and trouble generating interest among their fan base. The move to the ACC was supposed to elevate their programs, but just the reverse has happened.

Rivalries are really important in college sports. Mess with them at your own risk. Isolating UConn far away from everyone else in the new AAC, cut off from all their old traditional rivals, is a formula for disaster. I don't see good things in UConn's future unless they get snapped up quickly be a P5 conference. The longer this situation languishes, the worse it is for them. Are UConn football fans really going to care about playing Central Florida, East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa? While UConn fans may get up for the occasional Cincinnati, Temple, or Memphis basketball games, are they really going to turn out in droves for SMU, Houston, or South Florida? I don't think so.

Throwing a random group of schools together with no shared history and no shared fan bases does not work. It may be great for the old CUSA schools who have a history of competing against each other, but it's not for schools like UConn and Temple. I agree with everything you've written about their situation and their investment in football, but I think that this AAC thing is completely untenable for them. The conference only made it worse when they decided to replace Rutgers with Tulsa instead of UMass, being completely tone deaf to the needs of their flag ship school. UConn and Temple need for the conference to expand with schools from the East that the fan base can care about, or they need to find another alternative fast.

[Burrito]

If the Big East (and Notre Dame in the ACC) are making approx. $4-5 million for their basketball, UConn is certainly deserving of that much. But the P5 schools are making at least $20 million. So is UConn football worth $15-16 Million per year. The answer is most likely no at this point. Unless their new coach can turn things around quickly, I don't see that changing any time soon.

[itsmejpt]

IF they joined as an affiliate they'd still bolt the second the ACC came calling. UConn can sit on it and spin.

You're rejecting a school that has no interest in joining, has expressed no interest in joining and would turn done an offer it extended. Getting ahead of yourself a little bit?

I'm sorry. I thought this was a thread about the hypothetical idea of UConn joining the Big East as an affiliate. I guess my thoughts on the matter are irrelevant.