UConn leaving AAC for Big East; football future uncertain
Quick...someone give Rutgers to the AAC. We'll even agree to a Michigan game on the road at the stadium of their choice. Just get Rutgers out!
I prefer to keep the in-conference cupcake, send them the Nits.
The Nits or the knights who say ni!
Send them spartee
Rutgers is a bad team that we beat every year and brings a fertile recruiting area we capitalize on. What's to hate about that? Even with them, we're in the toughest division in CFB along with the SEC WWest.
Train wreck
Anyone sad Tyus Battle went undrafted? Lol
Anyone sad we missed out on him?
*He missed out on Michigan
At least his family got to see him “play”
sir, this is a white castle
Yeah - this is big news in the "conference realignment front."
As I see it, it's (1) a win for the Big East, (2) a TBD for UConn, and (3) a loss for the American. UConn basketball will get better in the short-term but the lack of a credible football program (none of independent/MAC/C-USA are great) will make it darn near impossible for them to ever get into the ACC. Which is probably their best longer-term scenario.
The American, meanwhile, may need to reach for their 12th football team. BYU likely says no. Army I think is comfortable with independence and doesn't want a Navy set-up. Then who? UMass has a considerably lower ceiling than UConn. Buffalo is good now but hasn't had consistent success, and they're still in a Pro Sports first town. At that point, it's a C-USA school like ODU or Marshall or MTSU or UAB.
And a 12th football team like that means that the likes of Cincinnati, USF, UCF, Memphis & Houston get restless. Their longing for Big XII expansion increases even further, particularly when the TV contracts all come up in 2025.
None of this really effects the Big Ten. But things are getting interesting again in the realignment world.
Isn’t Notre Dame a sort of halfway ACC football member? Maybe they could split the membership with UConn, sort of like Tampa and Montreal are going to split the Rays? And while I am on the subject, to hell with Notre Dame.
ND sleeps at the ACC's place six nights a week but says they're "not dating."
This is a great move for UConn basketball, which was becoming irrelevant.
It's hard to see many options for football. I can't see why Conference USA would be interested. Going independent is very hard unless you're a name program. How would UConn fill out their schedule in Oct-Nov?
Maybe the MAC is a possibility, especially if they lose a school to the AAC. I think they'd be better off just going FCS. Football is a money loser at the MAC level. UConn doesn't need it. Men's and women's basketball bring in donor money.
In all seriousness my money says they'll go get Army for football only and then pick up an A-10 school for the other sports.
Or go get Buffalo as an all-sports member. They've been good at football and basketball in the last few years.
To be fair their football future was uncertain before this announcement
The northeast/New England is a tough place for college football. They gave it a shot but without sustained success it hasn't become a part of their culture. UConn's brand will always be college basketball so a move to the Big East benefits that conference as well as UConn.
People in the Northeast have very little interest in college football. In Connecticut women's basketball has a bigger following than college football.
Do any of the big east teams field football teams? Obviously not D1 but do any of them field a varsity football team?
Villanova a little while back was a very good FCS program. Not sure how they have been recently
They've been pretty mediocre the last couple of years while transitioning out of the Andy Talley era; Talley coached them to an FCS national championship. (To be honest, I'm not sure half the student body was aware of the championship ("aware, but not fully aware")... b/c... basketball school.) The university briefly considered entering the Big East for football after the 2009 championship, back when the Big East had FBS football programs, but ultimately declined because of the strain it would put on various aspects of the institution.
They did, however, beat Temple last year.
Georgetown used to have a D3 football program. Not sure if they still have one.
Georgetown plays largely non-scholarship FCS football in the Patriot League now where they are basically uncompetitive. Villanova is a much better program, in the CAA where they allow redshirting and they provide the FCS max in scholarships.
Villanova football applied to the previous version of the Big East. Rejecting them was one of their many questionable moves.
Butler has a football program. They're in the non-scholarship Pioneer League, which spans from the University of San Diego to Davidson College. It's an odd setup.
BC has been blocking UConn from joining the acc for years. This is a good consolation prize for them
I think Syracuse as well.
It makes sense, just like Florida would never stand for FSU or Miami joining the SEC.
And we course we are one of the few schools in states with multiple big ten teams that split the state. I still think Cincinnati should join a major conference - Big 12 would be the best (considering WVU is there), but I would be fine if we added them to the Big Ten along with some other school to be named later.
It's no coincidence that Michigan has only won one National Championship since Sparty joined the B1G. There just isn't enough talent in the state to support 2 teams.
And Pitt blocking PSU from joining the Big East in the 1980s
I know Villanova does, they won the FCS championship a while ago. Butler and Georgetown both have FCS teams as well, don’t know if any of the others have lower level football teams.
EDIT: meant as a response to the question of Big East football programs.
UConn isn't relevant in football or baseball.
Enough said.
If UConn "isn't relevant" in baseball, then how did they manage to go 3-1 in the regional round of this year's NCAA Baseball Tournament, while splitting a pair of games against 9th national seed Oklahoma State? LINK
Is the UConnGoBlog board calling for their head coach to be fired? That's the true measure of relevance.
You're right. UConn has players drafted to MLB just about every year. I think one of the Mets' top prospects (Anthony Kay IIRC) is from UConn.
George Springer of the Astros went to UConn.
Man do I miss the football Big East with Miami, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia
There's always YouTube for reminiscing about those old Big East football "classics".
Now we just need PSU to join the Big East which is where they should have gone in the first place except Pitt blocked them years ago.
Smart move.... I don't think they can continue to bleed the financial resources it has been in an attempt to win a golden ticket into a major conference. Especially with the comments above about being unlikely to land in the ACC. The Big East is an excellent, natural fit.
The only conference that has sniffed is the Big XII and we already know how stable that conference is... but could you imagine the impact and costs on travel even if it went through!
I think this is a great move for UConn. Drop football, save $, and join a legit basketball-only conference.
Despite his academic credentials, it looks like Matt Brown of SBNation might've predicted this in his January 25, 2019 article, suggesting that UConn would be better off joining the Big East for basketball and other sports while dropping to the FCS level for football and joining the Northeast Conference or the stronger Colonial Athletic Association, rather than completely eliminating the football program. LINK
Big East basketball teams could move to a 20-game schedule, but adding two conference games each season to replace out-of-conference games against lower-rated opponents should be good for each team's RPI and strength-of-schedule rating.
Connecticut's problem for football will remain its having to play in a 40,000-seat stadium located 22 miles away from campus. Its old home stadium that seated about 16,000 was demolished in 2012 to make way for their new $40 million basketball practice facility. Dropping to FCS won't make it any more attractive for students to travel to Rentschler Field for home football games.
Independent UConn football seems like it would be like Ishtar in 3-D - it would still suck, but it would suck in 3-D.
They will still suck no matter what conference they jooin
Edit: meant for the Villanova discussion
My recollection is that the president solicited input from the university community and the decision was made to remain FCS. As an alum, I was supportive of staying put. Nova is great as a basketball school, but like others have said, college football in the northeast just isn’t on the radar and the school would have likely been permanently mediocre.
If UConn drops to FCS what happens to all their players?
This is a great move for UConn. Being stuck in the mediocre and irrelevant AAC was very unfortunate after the dissolution of the original Big East.
I wish they had joined the Big Ten instead of Rutgers.