Reunited and It Feels So Good!
The Story: UConn has taken a gamble that it would be better off emphasizing its historically strong basketball programs and will move all of its teams to the Big East beginning with the 2020-21 season, according to multiple reports emerging over the weekend. The football program will have to find another conference or, more likely, will go independent as the Huskies will leave the AAC entirely.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn will move all sports to the reconstituted Big East, becoming the conference’s 11th full-time member. Football’s future is murky, with the school trying to find a way to continue playing major college football. There is no plan right now for the Huskies, according to reports, to consider dropping to FCS (horrible move) or to axe the program altogether (very horrible move).
Big East presidents are expected to vote on adding UConn later this week, with the invites and acceptance expected shortly thereafter. To exit the AAC, there is a $10 million exit penalty and a 27-month wait. These things will be negotiated.
THE LONG ROAD BACK HOME! For a large segment of UConn Nation, this will be a welcome relief to a dying men’s basketball program that didn’t succeed much and floundered with only one top-four finish in the AAC in six years. UConn won the national title in the league’s second year but typically struggled to finish in the upper half of the geographically ridiculous league. The men’s basketball team has not made the NCAA tournament in three years. UConn will now join old Big East friends in Georgetown, Seton Hall, Providence, Villanova, St. John’s, DePaul and Marquette. New(er) Big East members include Creighton, Xavier and Butler — all strong basketball programs in their own right.
It’s 1994 all over again! The Big East isn’t as good as it was in the ’80s, ’90s and certainly not as good as when it had Louisville, Syracuse and Pittsburgh in it. Still, the travel will be better, the game times will be better, and it is absolutely going to help Dan Hurley recruit. UConn expects to be a top-10 program nationally and in the mix for the Final Four a handful of times each decade. This is possible in the Big East. The brand is strong and UConn knows the school and leagues.
GREAT FOR BASKETBALL: We didn’t like the AAC as a hoops conference. The quality was good, especially in the upper half, but it has no sizzle. Memphis is a rising power under Penny Hardaway, but UConn never found its legs playing East Carolina on Tuesday or Sunday nights. The Huskies were supposed to be the standard bearers of the conference in men’s basketball but were mediocre in its short existence. The basketball fanbase has eroded and apathy has set in, though Hurley is coming off a 16-17 season in which he injected new life into the program.
HURLEY IN HEAVEN: This is big for the basketball teams. This is going to help the beloved hoops teams, especially Hurley’s recruiting. It should bring in more fans and more buzz for the men’s and women’s programs, which summarily rejected the AAC. They also get to go back to MSG for the Big East tournament. Hurley was going to have a top-25 team eventually, but getting UConn back to more regional rivalries will elevate the Big East and the Huskies. For basketball, and probably other sports, this is the right move. Men’s hoops should have done better in the AAC. For football? We’ll get to that later.
WOMEN’S TEAM THANKFUL: The women’s basketball team should see some more competition, and it will be more fun for fans to see UConn on the road. The UConn women have never lost an AAC game. It is embarrassing how bad the league has been, outside of maybe USF.
It will probably keep the women’s games off of ESPN+, too, which is good for the program and its rabid fans. According to reports, Geno Auriemma has been advocating this move behind the scenes. We do trust that Geno will do what he thinks is best for the university and athletic department and not throw football under the bus with no strategy.
Football is an Orphan
The Story: Now for the part that gives us heartburn and pause: This is bad for the football team and potentially catastrophic for the athletic department. That is not hyperbole. Can UConn survive without a league in football?
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: UConn is forfeiting any chance at the College Football Playoff, any revenues from AAC football and the CFP, and any chance at getting into a Power 5 conference such as the ACC, Big Ten or Big 12 for the foreseeable future. UConn is also sacrificing any chance at a big payday for football or the athletic department down the road and is seemingly willing to leave its seat as a power athletic program in college athletics. It’s stunning in its long-term effect on the athletic department and is not reversible.
FOOTBALL PROGRAM LEFT HANGING: There was a strong thought to keep the basketball programs in the Big East when it split six years ago, but the leadership at the time decided it couldn’t risk its football program and had to protect that investment. Too much was at stake. The football program has struggled in the AAC and was one of the worst in the nation last year, featuring statistically the worst defense in a generation in going 1-11. UConn gave up here. There’s no other way to think about it. It looked at the landscape, the AAC and football performance and decided that basketball was more important to protect.
INDY, C-USA: WHERE DO THEY GO? There were reports on Saturday that the AAC will not allow UConn to remain as a football-only member, even though Navy is in with that distinction. This is understandable by the AAC, but it also leaves the football team with no schedule and very few future opponents. Dropping to FCS is not a viable option and eliminating the program is a non-starter for many reasons, including the total destruction of the athletic program as a national power.
The options for UConn appear to be to go independent or play in a lesser Group of 5 conference as backfill.
DID UCONN GIVE UP THE FOOTBALL DREAM? Yes. UConn’s commitment to big-time football has eroded. Past athletic directors such as Lew Perkins, Jeff Hathaway and Warde Manuel would not have recommended this path. The athletic department, under David Benedict, has struggled to sell tickets to football games and has watched the athletic subsidy soar to $41 million this past year. Perhaps this is a way to cut a dent in that subsidy, though the lack of any CFP money in the future makes it a risky financial bet. And, UConn will have to pay the AAC a $10 million exit fee.
It’s over for UConn football as a potential power program in a power conference with this move. UConn didn’t win at football lately, saw the fanbase erode in all sports and decided that it didn’t want to continue playing football in the AAC and watch its men’s basketball program atrophy. The Huskies will now go play, perhaps, an independent schedule and continue to lose money and have no access to bowl games, football revenue from playoff or access from the G5 to an access bowl.
WHAT ABOUT MONEY? The AAC signed a deal with ESPN that is worth about $7 million a year for each school. That is not nearly enough for the Huskies, who would have lost their beneficial sponsorship with SNY when the new ESPN deal kicked in. Now, UConn will be on Fox Sports and, presumably, have the ability to have more control of its content on a network like SNY. Perhaps the Big East, plus SNY money, can produce more revenue than what the AAC was delivering. We are hoping that is the case. The best avenue for the Huskies, however, is to sell as many tickets and sponsorships for all sports.
The AAC deal is worth $1 billion over 12 years. The Big East deal with Fox, signed in 2013, is worth $500 million over 12 years. The Huskies just aren’t generating enough revenue off of the new AAC deal and with the decline in exposure the Huskies were going to get after being moved onto ESPN+, it made a deal to leave easier to stomach.
AS FOR THE SCHEDULE? We have ideas, but what we do know is that instead of trying to find four games a year, Benedict now has to find 12 games a year for the football program. Scheduling the other independents in UMass, Liberty, New Mexico State, Army, BYU and Notre Dame would be a place to start.
BUT THE GOOD NEWS…: Hey, at least the football team has a new locker room and new uniforms for next season!
Morning Reads
* Jeff Jacobs argues the move back to the Big East is the right call, but there are still several harsh realities the school must confront in doing so. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
* Make no mistake: The move back to the Big East was all about protecting the Huskies’ tarnishing basketball brand, Mike Anthony writes. (Hartford Courant)
* Aside from the basketball and football programs, a number of other teams, leagues and schools that will be helped and harmed by this decision. (Hartford Courant)
* Even though UConn tried for two decades, making the move to the Big East is an acknowledgement the football experiment has failed. (USA Today)
* The football team’s most famous alumni, Dan Orlovsky, said he’s disappointed by the move and blames the decisions made a decade ago for the ones the school must face today. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
* A return to the Big East will be “a game-changer” for Dan Hurley when it comes to recruiting, several top high school and AAU coaches believe. (ZagsBlog.com)
* With UConn set to leave, where does the AAC go from here? (The Athletic)
* The Big East will be much better off once UConn is back in the fold. (The Athletic)
