What should UConn sports do for a successful future?

[MadVlad]

With the Big Ten pushing for expansion and possibly raiding the Big East again, UConn could be left out in the cold if something doesn't happen with the Big East football schools. What do you think UConn do to position itself best for the future?

[HartfordTycoon]

With the Big Ten pushing for expansion and possibly raiding the Big East again, UConn could be left out in the cold if something doesn't happen with the Big East football schools. What do you think UConn do to position itself best for the future?

I really share your concerns on this subject, Vlad. I think the Big East really needs to expand on the football side. Ideally going up to 12 eventually but maybe going to 9 immediately by dropping DePaul and bringing in Memphis, UCF, or ECU. The conference does need to do something to show its serious about Football and there are some BBall only schools that are just not doing anything for the league right now in my opinion. Mainly DePaul and Seton Hall, but also St. John's, Providence, and even Notre Dame if they don't join for football should be looking for new homes. DePaul, Seton Hall, St. Johns, and Providence would all be fine in CUSA or the A10 IMO. If we dump those 4 and bring in UCF, ECU, and Memphis we could either look at Villanova going up to FBS or adding a Buffalo or even Temple to get us to 12 in Football.

[MadVlad]

I think 12 in football is key. The problem is this: the league continues to be run by these morons in Providence. The Big East was setup as a basketball league, and only added football as an afterthought, and that is the mindset today, and going forward, in my opinion. This really hangs the Football members out to dry; adding more members would create chaos. A 20 team conference? That would be insane. There would definitely be fat to cut, and it would come at the cost of some teams that are historical to the Big East: Seton Hall, Providence, St. John's. One of those clubs would have to be removed for the Big East to be workable. Unfortunately that won't happen and the Big East will either have to splinter into two conferences, or teams like UConn will be heavily damaged by being pigeon-holed in a basketball conference.

The other problem is this: The Big East is always mentioned as adding teams like ECU, CFU, and Memphis. Why not look into raiding another conference? Make some deals to poach Notre Dame, Penn State and BC. Give them offers that they can't refuse and get Villanova to go D-IA. Adding teams like Memphis, ECU, and CFU risks watering down the Big East even more. Who will be excited by that? That won't stop Pitt or Rutgers or Syracuse from bolting, whiule adding Penn State, Notre Dame and BC will. If more Conference USA teams get adding, then the Big East is basically Conference USA circa 2000 with UConn, Syracuse, WV, and Rutgers/Pitt added....

[HartfordTycoon]

I agree with pretty much everything you are saying. I don't really want to add C-USA teams but the money disparity between the Big East and the other BCS leagues is pretty wide. I'm not sure any team from any other BCS league would be interested. I'm not sure that a deal could be made that would be sweet enough for them. I'm not sure what the best thing for the league to do is at this point but I do feel that having 8 Football schools and 8 non-football schools is unsustainable. I think 12 football schools with an additional 4 non football schools is what I would like to see for the sake of keeping enough of the Big East history alive while moving forward enough in football. If that can't be done I think maybe the football schools need to just split off and try to add some solid programs like TCU, Boise State, Fresno State, and BYU. Make it a 12 team coast to coast powerhouse all sports conference and let the Basketball schools focus on adding more BBall only schools. The new national conference could be called the National Athletic Conference and wouldn't have to stay at 12 teams if other attractive teams came into the picture in the future.

[Spartan]

Conferences are moving towards a 12 team system because it works well for playoffs and conference championship games in football. The ACC is locked up, so unless a school wants out of that conference it won't be changing any time soon. IMO, UConn should stick with the Big East. Surely there are other athletic programs on the rise that are looking to join a BCS conference. To that end, I think Notre Dame needsd to suck it up and gets its football program in the Big East. That would add a lot of clout to Big East football in general.

Also, East Carolina would be a solid addition. IMO, they are capable of bigger and better things, but the CUSA holds them back. That would also free up a spot in the CUSA for other programs looking for D-1 status.

Oh, and Go Gamecocks

[MadVlad]

Oh, and Go Gamecocks

BOOOOO!!!!!

And you never know, BC being in the ACC can't be a fun party. They've denied wanting to come back to the Big East, but if the right offer is on the table, they'd do it in a second.

What about creating a super-conference, one that can compete in both football and basketball. Imagine a conference that consists of:

UCONN

North Carolina

Florida

Ohio State

Michigan

Clemson / Syracuse

West Virginia

Pittsburgh

Cincinatti / Notre Dame

Georgia Tech

Memphis / Duke

LSU / Virginia Tech

That would be just ridiculous in both sports, Memphis being the only dog of any of those, and that being in football. If someone got those AD's in the same room and proposed that conference, they'd have to listen...

*edit* even add in the slash teams, and you have a crazy 16 team conference...

[Spartan]

BC is the oddity in the ACC. It doesn't make sense that they are even in the conference to start with. I think the ACC was just desperate for the 12th team for their conference. I'd like to see them go back to the Big East and find a new team for the ACC.

I doubt you'd get the perennial BCS conferences to split up to create a new one though. The regional conferences have much more to offer in terms of history, rivalries and proximity for away games (travel budgets). You just picked teams with good reputations... Duke is consistently bad at football. Clemson is consistently mediocre. UNC is usually mediocre on a good year. Does Syracuse even have a football team?

[MadVlad]

So dump Duke and Clemson. Memphis, UConn, and NC have potential in football, and bring premiere basketball programs to the table. Syracuse also brings a phenomenal basketball program to the table with some very good football history, though it is currently down. Replace Duke and Clemson with Alabama and Tennessee or Auburn...

[The Voice of Reason]

So, here is the deal in my mind.

there are 6 "BCS conferences".

ACC

Big-12

Big East

Big-10

Pac-10

SEC

These are the power conferences in college football. UConn is lucky to be in one of them, to be frank, and Basketball is the only reason it in there. They have recently grown a football program and its success is mostly due to being in a BCS conference.

In my opinion Uconn can not leave the big east. it would be sad to have the best basketball conference without geogetown st Johns etc... so it would be a shame if Uconn were no longer a member. I think it would hurt their recruiting as well, unless they moved to the ACC.

So, how about we build from where we are.

any school with a good football program AND basketball program that is not in one of the big 6 would love to join the Big east.

here is the pool to look at:

Conference USA

Mid-American

Mountain West

Sun Belt

WAC

independents

Notre Dame would be a home run and no brainer. If that happened, the football side of the conference would gain esteem and obviously all other sports would remain the same.

I do not see any WAC or Mountain West teams fitting in location wise.

The Sun Belt has nothing to offer the basketball side, and even the football side is pretty sad.

the mid american and conference USA are the only options for easy pickings.

Temple is a perrenial top basketball team in the A-10, and they have had decent football teams, so I see them as a relatively easy pick.

The other Mid American team that might be worth a look is central michigan. They have done reasonably well in basketball, but they would rank well behind temple in my minds eye.

Conference USA really is the best option.

if you look at the best basketball schools available, you should do ok. reason being is that these schools will gain in recruiting with joining a BCS conference and you can bet that they will get better at football. the basketball teams will do better in big east as well, but the big east can not add a school just because its a good football program, this eliminates the purple pirates.

Memphis (even though as a basketball school calapari had a lot to do with it)

Marshall (weak choice at best)

so thats pretty much it for easy pickins.

if the Big East could keep Pitt, or whomever from leaving, while adding Temple and Memphis, I think the football side as well as the basketball side would improve.

Now, if BC could be stolen back, that would be phenominal, as would landing Notre Dame.

I really think Temple and Memphis would be good fits right now though.

Memphis just hired the 2 time recruiter of the year as head football coach, so they will improve. The basketball program is likely to stay strong. possibly not a title contender, but certainly stronger than many older Big East teams.

Just bringing the conference up to 10 football schools would be a great move. Then, I would use this added strength to go after Notre dame and BC

thats all I got.

maybe not unique, but its logical, and I actually thought about it for a while.

Uconn is a basketball school first and foremost. it needs to stay in the Big East for that reason alone.

[MadVlad]

Villanova would block any attempt to add Temple to anything other than the football side of the Big East.

[The Voice of Reason]

Villanova would block any attempt to add Temple to anything other than the football side of the Big East.

why would they do that?

[MadVlad]

Both are located in Philly, 'Nova wants that Big east market all to itself.

[MadVlad]

The Big East could potentially pry Penn State away from the Big Ten if they get ND to come over to the light side. They'd also have to bolster themselves first with an 11th and 12th team though...

[HartfordTycoon]

The Big East could potentially pry Penn State away from the Big Ten if they get ND to come over to the light side. They'd also have to bolster themselves first with an 11th and 12th team though...

I've seen rumblings that Villanova is considering moving up and using the new MLS Stadium being constructed in Chester, PA for home games. It there's any truth to that it would be great since I think that the Philly area can support College Football but it aint gonna happen with Temple. I think even if we could just add Villanova and get Notre Dame to crap or get off the pot I would pretty happy with a 10 FB 6 NON FB schools in the league with or without Notre Dame.

However, like you said, if Notre Dame does see the light we would have a very real chance at getting Penn State and then the question is who is going to the 12th football school. I say that with 11 teams including ND and PSU it would not be hard to swipe Maryland or get BC to come back. If ND leaves the Big East then most likely we will end up with Villanova moving up and adding a school like Memphis, ECU, or UCF, or even Buffalo. I know you don't like those options and neither do I but I think those are the options. It's possible that we could add football only members like Army and Navy but I honestly don't see it happening.

ESPN Interview with Big East Commissioner

So we shouldn't expect a public announcement that you're looking at expansion like the Big Ten made?

JM: Right.

Villanova just won the FCS championship. This has been talked about before, but do you get any sense that the Wildcats are interested in moving up a level?

JM: What Villanova has been able to do is phenomenal. Our people are very supportive of Villanova and encourage them to do everything they can to improve their program and move it forward. I don't think I can publicly get into any specifics, but I know our people have always been very supportive, as they were of Connecticut years ago, in encouraging Connecticut to do everything they've done. As you know, Connecticut does everything first class and they do it well, and I think people feel the same way about Villanova. We'll explore every option and keep everything alive on the table, and in the right place and at the right time on all of these issues, we'll act.

[MadVlad]

yeah, yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. These dummy commissioners from Providence are going to be the death of this league, the best way to make sure that teams bolt is to brush expansion under the rug and treat it as a basketball-first conference. Also, I'm the guy that posts there under the tag "Whalersliveon"...

[HartfordTycoon]

I definitely support the creation of a CT Sports Authority that can help implement a cohesive effort to strenghthen and raise the profile of CT Sporting Events.

Hartford Courant

Sports are big business: Professional, college and amateur sports all generate great fan interest and loyalty along with commercial support and revenue. What Connecticut needs is a coordinated plan to take advantage of its broad array of sports events to bring greater benefits to our state.

[The Voice of Reason]

I definitely support the creation of a CT Sports Authority that can help implement a cohesive effort to strenghthen and raise the profile of CT Sporting Events.

Hartford Courant

Sports are big business: Professional, college and amateur sports all generate great fan interest and loyalty along with commercial support and revenue. What Connecticut needs is a coordinated plan to take advantage of its broad array of sports events to bring greater benefits to our state.

Dude stole my idea.

just as well, because It needs to get out there.

I sent my ideas to CCROG on this subject a while back, and think they have the best chance of getting anything like this done.

I sent it to quite a few places in fact. I mainly want to see a new arena for downtown hartford, and a professional team to live in it, but I think a sports authority and a transit authority do well to make the area much more regional, and much more successful.

I am glad that someone is publicly pushing this though.

damn this area needs regionalism

the huskies need to have all home games in hartford, and the university needs hourly busses to and from downtown to campus free for students. HOURLY at least!

this would help the city and help the school.

The rockcats should be moved to a location that is actually people friendly. ideally downtown hartford, but if need be, downtown NB.

the commuter rail needs to be built and a new arena built.

just imagine if people from springfield could hop the commuter rail to downtown hartford, walk to a baseball game or Uconn Game, or even maybe a pro hockey or basketball game.

in a downtown filled with students because there is nothing to do in Storrs!

[HartfordTycoon]

Dude stole my idea.

just as well, because It needs to get out there.

I sent my ideas to CCROG on this subject a while back, and think they have the best chance of getting anything like this done.

I sent it to quite a few places in fact. I mainly want to see a new arena for downtown hartford, and a professional team to live in it, but I think a sports authority and a transit authority do well to make the area much more regional, and much more successful.

I am glad that someone is publicly pushing this though.

damn this area needs regionalism

the huskies need to have all home games in hartford, and the university needs hourly busses to and from downtown to campus free for students. HOURLY at least!

this would help the city and help the school.

The rockcats should be moved to a location that is actually people friendly. ideally downtown hartford, but if need be, downtown NB.

the commuter rail needs to be built and a new arena built.

just imagine if people from springfield could hop the commuter rail to downtown hartford, walk to a baseball game or Uconn Game, or even maybe a pro hockey or basketball game.

in a downtown filled with students because there is nothing to do in Storrs!

I am a die hard Hartford and Husky fan and I don't think all home games should be in Hartford. You just have to have some games and even some marquee match ups on campus. College Sports is too corporate as it is and there is still something to be said for playing games on campus and getting the true on campus feeling for the home and visiting fans. It would be a shame if visiting fans never got a chance to go up to Storrs IMO.

[The Voice of Reason]

I am a die hard Hartford and Husky fan and I don't think all home games should be in Hartford. You just have to have some games and even some marquee match ups on campus. College Sports is too corporate as it is and there is still something to be said for playing games on campus and getting the true on campus feeling for the home and visiting fans. It would be a shame if visiting fans never got a chance to go up to Storrs IMO.

ok, fair enough, but i suppose I feel as though Hartford should endeavor to be part of campus.

[MadVlad]

The dominoes are starting to fall, the Big East IS going to implode, at least the football teams will, so what now? Does UConn try to lobby to get into the ACC? Would the Big10 take them?

[HartfordTycoon]

Villanova is a decent fit for football but it should not stop there. We should simply boot St. John's, Seton Hall, and DePaul and invite UCF, Memphis, and ECU with the addition of adding Villanova for fooball. IMO this is the best way forward and would maintain the Big East legacy in Basketball while significantly raising the bar for football. I think Villanova should be playing home games at the Linc and just share with Temple. Try to get that rivalry to heat up to get Philly more into College Football and it could all work pretty well.

Big East Football

Connecticut

West Virginia

Pittsburgh

Syracuse

Rutgers

South Florida

Cincinnati

Louisville

Villanova

Memphis

East Carolina

Central Florida

Plus Notre Dame, Georgetown, Marquette and Providence as BBall only.

Looks pretty good to me. Much better than what we have now. Let's do it.

[The Voice of Reason]

Villanova is a decent fit for football but it should not stop there. We should simply boot St. John's, Seton Hall, and DePaul and invite UCF, Memphis, and ECU with the addition of adding Villanova for fooball. IMO this is the best way forward and would maintain the Big East legacy in Basketball while significantly raising the bar for football. I think Villanova should be playing home games at the Linc and just share with Temple. Try to get that rivalry to heat up to get Philly more into College Football and it could all work pretty well.

Big East Football

Connecticut

West Virginia

Pittsburgh

Syracuse

Rutgers

South Florida

Cincinnati

Louisville

Villanova

Memphis

East Carolina

Central Florida

Plus Notre Dame, Georgetown, Marquette and Providence as BBall only.

Looks pretty good to me. Much better than what we have now. Let's do it.

Booting St Johns and Seton Hall out of the Big East is like..... Booting Hartford out of CT.

The big East is a historicly NYC oriented conference, and has only grown to include footbal scools and a larger footprint more recently.

If anything, I would boot Marquette to keep those two old stallwart basketball members

Heck, in 2005, the conference added most of the teams that are more than a short drive from NYC

Cincinnati, De Paul, Louisville, Marquette, USF.

ask yourself what Marquette and De Paul bring to the conference that historical members like St Johns and Seton Hall do not?

I do not believe is expanding footprint just to expand footprint.

especially at the expense of teams that helped define the conference.

De Paul should be encouraged to have a football program though, its got 16k students, and could surely support one

[HartfordTycoon]

Booting St Johns and Seton Hall out of the Big East is like..... Booting Hartford out of CT.

The big East is a historicly NYC oriented conference, and has only grown to include footbal scools and a larger footprint more recently.

If anything, I would boot Marquette to keep those two old stallwart basketball members

Heck, in 2005, the conference added most of the teams that are more than a short drive from NYC

Cincinnati, De Paul, Louisville, Marquette, USF.

ask yourself what Marquette and De Paul bring to the conference that historical members like St Johns and Seton Hall do not?

I do not believe is expanding footprint just to expand footprint.

especially at the expense of teams that helped define the conference.

De Paul should be encouraged to have a football program though, its got 16k students, and could surely support one

Marquette has been MUCH better in BBall recently but I also have an alternate proposal for those averse to tossing anyone overboard. St. John's and Seton Hall stay and we retain a BBall presence in NYC and DePaul gets the privilege of sticking around. They should still have Nova move up for FB and bring in UCF, Memphis, and ECU for all sports but then also add a large state school to the BBall only side like UMass, URI, or Delaware that could potentially move up to FBS in the future. That would create a 20 team super conference for BBall with two 10 team divisions covering some of the best media markets in the nation and a pretty respectable 12 member Football conference. There is no way that is not a BCS League. Nobody could even argue that it shouldn't be.

Big East Football

Connecticut

West Virginia

Pittsburgh

Syracuse

Rutgers

South Florida

Cincinnati

Louisville

Villanova

Memphis

East Carolina

Central Florida

Plus

Notre Dame

Georgetown

Marquette

Providence

St John's

Seton Hall

DePaul

UMass/URI/Delaware

as BBall only. There is no way that is not a BCS League. Nobody could even argue that it shouldn't be.

BBall Divisions could be

East

Connecticut

Georgetown

Providence

St John's

Seton Hall

Syracuse

Rutgers

South Florida

Villanova

UMass/URI/Delaware

West

Cincinnati

Louisville

West Virginia

Pittsburgh

Notre Dame

Marquette

DePaul

Memphis

Central Florida

East Carolina (Doesn't make sense geographically but oh well)

[The Voice of Reason]

we could go back and fourth really, so Ill just say, I do not think a 20 team conference is sustainable.

and since its kinda fun, heres a thought.

in NCAA land, you are either a D1A football conference or you are not. Big east seems to be the only exception.

the reason this subject comes up is because being a hybrid is not sustainable.

in the North East, the basketball only conference is the A-10. these schools are pure mid majors, and occasionally have a title contendor or at least a top 10 team (thinking UMass back in the early 90's)

The Big East, USED TO BE the basketball conference, and it is still the best basketball conference in the North East, but it now wants to be everything top everyone.

The conference can not give up its basketball roots, but it needs to grow its pointy ball programs.

The football side is so much weaker than it was back in 2005, and sure some programs have stepped up like Uconn, but Uconn is not and may never be "the Gators"

even though big East added a few decent teams to make up for their losses, they still lost quite a bit of heft in the football side.

If the Big East is able to grow to 12 teams it would be by again adding weaker football programs to the conference. now you can hope that those programs would step up

There are at this point only a few conferences that are at risk of a big east poaching.

mid-american and conference USA and sun belt are the only ones with geographic relevence

Conference USA is the only one with OK football schools.

at this point its kinda a bad spot, and I do not see it getting too much better very easily.

The East coast has 3 major conferences. ACC, SEC, Big East. at this time it sems the coast is a few programs shy of having 3 strong football conferences.

best case scenerio, would be C-USA imploding, and then have the Big East and the A-10 gobble up the east members and swap some existing members.

I see those 3 conferences creating 2 very good balanced conferences, but only 1 would be a footbal conference.

the West part of C-USA would end up divided into Mountain West and friends.

but loyalty is a funny thing and the monies involved are really the motivator.

I think if I were personally dreaming up a new atheletic conference, i would care that the football team was good, but the most important thing for me would be the AD Cup. I would want programs that were good at every sport. To me Stamford is the best sports school in the country. it does not hurt that its also ranked the 4th best acedemic school in the World!

[MadVlad]

Well, unfortunately, the genius' in Providence have positioned the Big East to not be in control of their own destiny. They should have initially handled the concerns of the football schools and added teams to get to a 12 school football conference (and even potentially raided another BCS conference), which would have looked like:

Miami

Virginia Tech

Boston College

Connecticut

West Virginia

Rutgers

Syracuse

Pittsburgh

Cincinnati

Louisville

South Florida

Memphis/Florida State/Clemson/Maryland/Villanova/Notre Dame

After the raid, here is what should have happened:

Connecticut

Louisville

Rutgers

West Virginia

Cincinnati

South Florida

Syracuse

Pittsburgh

Memphis

East Carolina

Central Florida

Villanova/Notre Dame/Temple

One way or the other, Notre Dame should be given an ultimatum, 'Nova and Georgetown should have been given financial incentive to upgrade, and the Big East should have been very aggressive to get to 12 teams. It's a travesty that the Big East added teams like DePaul and Marquette when football schools are what was needed...