Now UCONN writers are calling for leaving AAC and downgrading football

[Knight_Light]

I can't stand RU hater George O'Leary but gotta admit UCF reminds me of us ten yrs ago when we finally got some recognition but i still hope USF gets their golden ticket 1st as they repped the OBE well in OOC games against some big names therefore making us look that much better by whopping them on TV whilst they were higher ranked. All's O'Leary ever does is downplay us as overhyped even though we schooled them a few yrs ago in the St Petersburg bowl!! USF,BYU and UConn taken next in no particular order in CR musical chairs.

Go re-read the pre-post game comments from the RU vs UCF games in 2009 and 2013...O'Leary was extremely respectful of RU before/after a loss...and before/after a win.

Sounds like maybe you got him confused with Leavitt.

Or maybe you have a very unique definition of the word "hater".

 

[NickyNewark51]

Go re-read the pre-post game comments from the RU vs UCF games in 2009 and 2013...O'Leary was extremely respectful of RU before/after a loss...and before/after a win.

Sounds like maybe you got him confused with Leavitt.

Or maybe you have a very unique definition of the word "hater".

No he's a Cuse guy who was quoted saying no one cares about RU even in the east around the time of our college realignment public announcement when Neb was added and it was said outside ND NO ONE brings more value than RU ...said only we weren't worthy of a Pac5 invite in his opinion ala OBE commish and UCF is bigger around the time we beat them handily...St Petersburg bowl I believe?? Stuck with me and i never forgot!! I've followed RU since 65 so few things stick with me except the Bama meadowlands game,VT 1 point win in ninty one in last second and OLEARYs comments...I wish i could remember exactly where i heard it but take my word for it! Lied for the ND job too...never played at NH but said he did.

 

[NickyNewark51]

Anti RU talk STAYS with me...i'm more than a johnnycomelately fan and I never went here. Just proud of my home state U unashamedly unlike many locals i see and hear!

 

[JoeRU0304]

Gotcha Joe...I mistakenly thought that you meant USF was a solid program till they LOST AQ status and that USF lost that several years ago when it actually was last July.

USF getting blown out by a Div I-AA team in their first game after leaving the Big East was certainly a telling point that their program basically hit rock bottom.

USF still has a chance just because of their location (FLA) but even now their new AD has finally woken up and convinced many of their now tiny fan base that playing in front of 50,000 empty seats in an NFL off-campus stadium is not the way to go to build a college program.

USF's location can certainly give them a chance but they need to develop infrastructure- facilities, academic support, etc. The 'play in an NFL stadium' pitch only goes so far.

I have to give Are You Nuts credit- I can remember him saying USF was basically doing it with smoke and mirrors back in 2008 with the multiple hardship transfers and warehousing players at Pear River JC (I think that was the name) in Mississippi.


Joe P.

 

[Knight_Light]

...said only we weren't worthy of a Pac5 invite in his opinion ala OBE commish and UCF is bigger around the time we beat them handily...St Petersburg bowl I believe??.

FYI, there was no such thing as P5 talk about in 2009.

Again, for some (not all), memory fades.

As I stated...go back to the last time he face Rutgers in 2009 and 2013 and read his comments.

Congrats though if an Asst Coach (like O'Leary was at Syracuse in early 80's) for even getting interviewed/quoted in regards to their thoughts of any school.

If they were so outrageous and obviously rare (not many Asst Coaches got press back then..when sports media was about 5% of what it is today), 'm sure you could find them online somewhere.

 

[Knight_Light]

USF's location can certainly give them a chance but they need to develop infrastructure- facilities, academic support, etc. The 'play in an NFL stadium' pitch only goes so far.

I have to give Are You Nuts credit- I can remember him saying USF was basically doing it with smoke and mirrors back in 2008 with the multiple hardship transfers and warehousing players at Pear River JC (I think that was the name) in Mississippi.

Joe P.

Most in FLA knew that back in 2001-2002...but no one in the national media knew of USF till they entered Big East.

It was back then when USF began to artificially inflate attendance figures which obviously still goes on today.as there fan base, especially for one being in a BCS Conf for 8-9 years is almost nill...while Leavitt would grab any and all players arrested/cut from other programs...let alone many that had almost zero academic qualifications for college entrance....as the Univ finally had to pull Leavitt's authority in handing out scholarship offers as almost half at one time were not elgible for admission.

Univ had to then approve of any scholarship offer in prior to Leavitt handing them out.

 

[rutgersal]

What derlieders analysis is missing is that UConns athletic department is either in the black or close to it. Men's and women's basketball are profitable, so they can afford football to be a loss leader. Bob Diaco is rebuilding UConn after coach P ran it into the ground. In time they will be a competitive AAC program, and I hope they get an opportunity to be in the Power 5.

 

[Virginiarufan]

Why on earth would you hope Uconn gets a P-5 invite??? It might mean more competition than we already have for recruits in NJ, NY and New England. I hope Uconn NEVER makes it to a P-5 conference, not because I don't like them or many of their fans, which I don't but because we don't need any more competition in this region than we already have. I personally doubt they ever get that P-5 invite because outside of men's and women's bball they bring nothing to the table in terms of competition, infrastructure, TV eyeballs, fertile recruiting grounds or fan base that knows how to behave like one.

 

[NickyNewark51]

FYI, there was no such thing as P5 talk about in 2009.

Again, for some (not all), memory fades.

As I stated...go back to the last time he face Rutgers in 2009 and 2013 and read his comments.

Congrats though if an Asst Coach (like O'Leary was at Syracuse in early 80's) for even getting interviewed/quoted in regards to their thoughts of any school.

If they were so outrageous and obviously rare (not many Asst Coaches got press back then..when sports media was about 5% of what it is today), 'm sure you could find them online somewhere.

I really don't need to look....it is what it is...I was indifferent about him until i heard that!! Believe what you want....I KNOW what i heard. Its no skin off me...lets see if HC KF fails if GO applies for the job?? Kinda doubt it. He still thinks like a Cuse guy in nineteen eighty something. He has NO respect for us and guys like you buy into his spiel...some smart guy will find those quotes and talk to me then. That's the problem with some Jerseyan's...we'll believe what we want when we think by a made for public consumption PR statement suits our own perceptions...He thought we weren't B1G material..I stick by it!! I'll bet you believed he was a OL player for NH too? He also fed ND that for promoting his own agenda. Should we have believed that too?

 

[JoeRU0304]

Most in FLA knew that back in 2001-2002...but no one in the national media knew of USF till they entered Big East.

It was back then when USF began to artificially inflate attendance figures which obviously still goes on today.as there fan base, especially for one being in a BCS Conf for 8-9 years is almost nill...while Leavitt would grab any and all players arrested/cut from other programs...let alone many that had almost zero academic qualifications for college entrance....as the Univ finally had to pull Leavitt's authority in handing out scholarship offers as almost half at one time were not elgible for admission.

Univ had to then approve of any scholarship offer in prior to Leavitt handing them out.

I remember seeing in 06-07 USF got a handful of 'hardship' transfers that no one could really seem figure out what the hardship was. Then I remember a bunch of kids coming from the JC in Mississippi and it just seemed odd.


Joe P.

 

[BoroKnight]

Hit the nail on the head. These Ivy pseudo-intellectuals like the author and Dowling have no grasp of public universities in 2015. They just long for their days on campus and think every school should be modeled after a small New England private college.

This has nothing to do with Dowling-esque criticisms and everything to do with reality in 2015.
The American is half-decent for basketball, but not in the way of games that would interest UConn fans. But in football? It's a disaster. Far-flung, full of teams that aren't the most popular in their markets, it's just not good.
I have argued on here for a while that UConn and UMass should return to the Colonial (stop saying Yankee Conference, people; that was at least TWO incarnations ago) and battle UMaine and UNH in football, and seek admission to the Big East for all of their other sports. That gives you Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall as local rivals and brings back Villanova and Georgetown as traditional ones. I hardly think that qualifies as Dowling-esque.

In football, sure, you would be downgrading, but if you were competitive the crowds, while not as big as a successful FBS program, would be better than they will get if they continue on this course. Not to mention at that level, their facilities would be considered very good (apart from the actual stadium, which wouldn't seem as bad there either) and they should be able to out-recruit their New England rivals and contend for a playoff spot. I doubt the American's TV money is so awesome that they will screw themselves by leaving, and the Big East's basketball deal is not bad at all and would get better with UConn in it.

Branding people who are looking at ECONOMICS as "Ivy pseudo-intellectuals" who don't "grasp" public universities ignores so many things, but mainly one: Universities are NOT sports franchises, and not all of them are destined to be big-time players in athletics. We have been saying all along UConn is screwed by realignment, so you can't go and say that someone looking at the situation and realizing that and sensing they need to shift their vision is somehow tied to their desire for every school to be a "small New England private college." It's called reality, and what this board has been saying since the Big East broke up: UConn is in trouble. Staying the course is not viable.

Downgrading football while upgrading basketball is exactly what a school in UConn's position should do. Accepting that the investment is gone is far wiser than throwing good money after bad.