UConn about to bolt. Who gets golden ticket?

Coach Bill Lewis · June 22, 2019

Several reports have been placed mentioning UConn to the BE.

DeepGreen · June 22, 2019

Are they giving up on FBS Football?

RiseUNT · June 22, 2019

Could have sworn I called this.

dml7007 · June 22, 2019

UCON most likely will play independent. The question is if we get considered to replace them.

Mean Green 93-98 · June 22, 2019

6 minutes ago, DeepGreen said:

Are they giving up on FBS Football?

Based on their record, I would say they did that years ago.

Harry · June 22, 2019

12 minutes ago, dml7007 said:

UCON most likely will play independent. The question is if we get considered to replace them.

SMU may not not allow it.

Venson · June 22, 2019

I don't see the AAC adding us because I do not see them adding another team from the DFW metro to the conference. If anyone from CUSA goes to AAC, I see it being Marshall. Not that they are better than anyone else, it just makes sense to me because of the market and location. They have some decent history and other than WVU, there is nothing else going in the market. If not them, I can see UAB, Old Dominion, or USM based on location. I just do not see AAC saturating the DFW market with another team. Our best bet out of CUSA is MWC.

Greenrex · June 22, 2019

"UConn returning to the Big East is great for college basketball

That is according to a report from Digital Sports Desk that has since been confirmed by The Athletic, Stadium and the Hartford Courtant. The plan, according to the report, is for UConn to get the basketball program back into the Big East Conference for the 2020-21 season, but that nothing can be made official until UConn finds a place for its football program to land. Stadium is reporting that the rest of UConn’s athletic programs, including their powerhouse women’s basketball team, will return to the Big East as well."

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=pty&hsimp=yhs-pty_news&param2=b04c9f74-bf71-4b58-a787-3fc3152e5d07&param3=news_~US~appfocus1&param4=d-lp0-bb8~Firefox~UConn+to+the+Big+East~D41D8CD98F00B204E9800998ECF8427E&param1=20181105&p=UConn+to+the+Big+East&type=cknone-tg061719-banner::IFVDb25uIHRvIHRoZSBCaWcgRWFzdA==::IFVDb25uIHRvIHRoZSBCaWcgRWFzdA==::t

NM Green · June 22, 2019

What about utsa? Pains me to say those letters but would give smu and Houston another rival.

GMG

NorthTexan95 · June 22, 2019

3 minutes ago, NM Green said:

What about utsa? Pains me to say those letters but would give smu and Houston another rival.

GMG

I don't see UTSA being an option at all.

Harry · June 22, 2019

UNT'19 · June 22, 2019

1 hour ago, dml7007 said:

UCON most likely will play independent. The question is if we get considered to replace them.

Our biggest case to being added is convincing them that it will enhance our rivalry with SMU. But I feel like that is unfortunately a long shot.

dmaxel · June 22, 2019

Just now, UNT'19 said:

Our biggest case to being added is convincing them that it will enhance our rivalry with SMU. But I feel like that is unfortunately a long shot.

This, plus it would free up a non-conference slot in our schedule for a new series. It would be benefits galore for us, but the AAC would only have little gain from adding us, and SMU would likely try to block anyways.

emmitt01 · June 22, 2019

Wait a minute. Don’t they know they’re leaving behind a P6 conference???!

If they can just get a few good recruiting classes together they could win the American Airlines Conference and play for a national...hahaha....I can’t even type that with a straight face

UNT'19 · June 22, 2019

3 minutes ago, dmaxel said:

This, plus it would free up a non-conference slot in our schedule for a new series. It would be benefits galore for us, but the AAC would only have little gain from adding us, and SMU would likely try to block anyways.

Yeah exactly. We would have to somehow prove that the rivalry enhancement would generate a crazy amount of revenue for the conference... as well as SMU. We would have to convince them DFW can be a Los Angeles.

i.e. USC and UCLA in the Pac-12.

Edited June 22, 2019 by UNT'19

dmaxel · June 22, 2019

Just now, UNT'19 said:

Yeah exactly. We would have to somehow prove that the rivalry enhancement would generate a crazy amount of revenue for the conference... as well as SMU.

That would require a ton of advertising from both UNT and SMU, and I don't think SMU would want to put any effort into that.

All I can say is that if Wren is able to convince the AAC and SMU it's a good idea, he deserves a lifetime contract.

southsideguy · June 22, 2019

The herd will get the bid or UTSA 😜.

MeanGreen2019 · June 22, 2019

Guys Wren is the best AD in the conference, and has ties to the AAC commissioner. I don’t think that gets us in, but I think we at least get a chance to make a pitch. That’s all you can ask for if you’re us.

AustinFromUNT · June 22, 2019

UNT has a good case (good budget, football committed, recent success in football/basketball, in DFW, good facilities, etc.) but I am going to be honest and tell you UNT’s 3 biggest things hurting our chances of getting the promotion right now:
1) Proximity to SMU. SMU doesn’t like us (especially after last year) so they would likely lobby against us. Also, SMU is also in DFW so there’s a question of how many eyes could be gained by adding another DFW member.
2) UNT doesn’t have baseball right now. Yeah it’s in the master plan sure, but lots of schools have lots of stuff in their master plan. Baseball is about 5 years away for us at this point.
3) How sustainable is UNT’s current success? The last 3-4 years have been some of the best in UNT athletic’s history with an AD who loves sports, a president who loves sports, and a BoR who love sports. This hasn’t happened before at UNT. So is this the new norm or is this a blip in time where athletics is just getting very well funded and won’t in the future?
I would say those are probably the 3 biggest marks against UNT, if you disagree or think of something else, I’m always open to feedback, but I think that’s my best unbiased opinion. I do think UNT would be a good overall addition for the AAC, but can definitely understand why they would be apprehensive and say no.

NM Green · June 22, 2019

I am just wondering if this triggers more. For example, would Temple consider going back to the Big East? UCONN playing Villanova, Providence...it just sounds right and makes sense. If they do the Indy thing would Temple consider the same. This could cause some serious upheaval in the AAC which leads to upheaval in CUSA.

It is serious time to reset a new Texas/Southeast based league.

GMG

EagleTech · June 22, 2019

14 minutes ago, AustinFromUNT said:

UNT has a good case (good budget, football committed, recent success in football/basketball, in DFW, good facilities, etc.) but I am going to be honest and tell you UNT’s 3 biggest things hurting our chances of getting the promotion right now:
1) Proximity to SMU. SMU doesn’t like us (especially after last year) so they would likely lobby against us. Also, SMU is also in DFW so there’s a question of how many eyes could be gained by adding another DFW member.
2) UNT doesn’t have baseball right now. Yeah it’s in the master plan sure, but lots of schools have lots of stuff in their master plan. Baseball is about 5 years away for us at this point.
3) How sustainable is UNT’s current success? The last 3-4 years have been some of the best in UNT athletic’s history with an AD who loves sports, a president who loves sports, and a BoR who love sports. This hasn’t happened before at UNT. So is this the new norm or is this a blip in time where athletics is just getting very well funded and won’t in the future?
I would say those are probably the 3 biggest marks against UNT, if you disagree or think of something else, I’m always open to feedback, but I think that’s my best unbiased opinion. I do think UNT would be a good overall addition for the AAC, but can definitely understand why they would be apprehensive and say no.

Expansion may not happen until 5-10 year time frame anyway. The AAC may be fine with 11 members for now and not rushing in to a decision. This could help a school like UNT which is trending upwards in all sports and as university.

RiseUNT · June 22, 2019

Temple will be on an island for all Olympic sports.

Tulsa is going down the money pit.

ECU is not performing as expected.

EagleTech · June 22, 2019

2 hours ago, Venson said:

I don't see the AAC adding us because I do not see them adding another team from the DFW metro to the conference. If anyone from CUSA goes to AAC, I see it being Marshall. Not that they are better than anyone else, it just makes sense to me because of the market and location. They have some decent history and other than WVU, there is nothing else going in the market. If not them, I can see UAB, Old Dominion, or USM based on location. I just do not see AAC saturating the DFW market with another team. Our best bet out of CUSA is MWC.

Regarding the MWC, it is probably more likely that the MWC loses a member to the AAC and UNT gets invited as a replacement. Not sure how attractive the already top heavy MWC would be losing one of it’s top programs.In 5-10 years, CUSA may be better than the MWC.

Edited June 22, 2019 by EagleTech

untjim1995 · June 22, 2019

Army as football only—add in VCU for all sports

Mean Green 93-98 · June 22, 2019

37 minutes ago, NM Green said:

For example, would Temple consider going back to the Big East? UCONN playing Villanova, Providence...it just sounds right and makes sense. If they do the Indy thing would Temple consider the same.

A big difference between UConn and Temple is found in their respective football programs. Temple has had pretty solid football in recent years while UConn has been terrible. Also, Temple has played their entire history at the highest level while UConn only jumped up from FCS about 10 or so years ago. For UConn, moving their football to FCS is a viable option (which I see as more likely than FBS independent)...I don't see that with Temple.

Also, UConn's men and women's basketball programs are strong enough to compensate for a lower-level football program.