No Majority for UConn or Ville from ACC

[Upstate]

http://www.theuconnblog.com/2012/11/27/3698772/uconn-louisville-acc-expansion-realignment

 

[cuseguy]

When the ACC grabbed SU and Pitt and convinced ND to be a partial member, I thought they were on the right track.

Now I'm less convinced the ACC knows what's it's doing.

 

[kingottoiii]

The is no rush for the ACC to add another team. So isn't it in the best interest for all to wait things out a bit? If the ACC blows up and SU is left behind I do not want to be stuck with UL or Cincy. At that point I want the ACC to have like minded schools and go all in for BBall. We will be G5 so going FB like the BE is currently doing, would be silly. A G5 is a G5 so you might as well have peer schools in your G5 and not a cluster like the BE.

 

[JeremyCuse]

When the ACC grabbed SU and Pitt and convinced ND to be a partial member, I thought they were on the right track.

Now I'm less convinced the ACC knows what's it's doing.

Honestly its not an easy decision because your trying to apease two different groups with two schools that each have there own issues. Honestly it probably would have been Uconn in a hearbeat but that athletic dept is such a disaster right now the waters are muddled.

 

[Crusty]

Who knows if this is really accurate? For all we know something else is going on.

 

[cuseguy]

Honestly its not an easy decision because your trying to apease two different groups with two schools that each have there own issues. Honestly it probably would have been Uconn in a hearbeat but that athletic dept is such a disaster right now the waters are muddled.

Jeremy, do you really think this is about UConn's athletic department? I read UConn stuff every day. I don't see the mess.

The ACC portends itself as a smart-minded group of schools. Let's see if that's true.

 

[Alsacs]

I would honestly ask ND What it will take for them to join the conference. If they say nothing boot their asses and just pluck UConn and be done with it. UConn right now= Maryland right now. Maryland has WAY more growth potential, but I don't want Louisville as its not as if there football is a constant top 25 team. Petrino and Strong have made them better, but there are a rich man's Rutgers with a couple of good wins. Louisville's football isn't going to make the difference in a 1 loss Florida State playing in the playoffs it will be Florida State not scheduling 2 I-AAs schools and scheduling 2 BCS schools a year 1 being Florida obviously.

 

[Crusty]

ND is a partnership of convenience at the moment and there is no reason to bust it up. Better to have them where they are and see what happens down the road.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Honestly its not an easy decision because your trying to apease two different groups with two schools that each have there own issues. Honestly it probably would have been Uconn in a hearbeat but that athletic dept is such a disaster right now the waters are muddled.

Well, let's be honest. UConn has a basketball coach that the AD didn't want to hire. They are on probation for bad grades. They don't really have a home gym for basketball that is contemporary / competitive. Gampel is a tiny little place the size of Manley, and Hartford is 45 minutes away from campus. That's like driving to Utica for a home game. They lack a nice state-of-the-art practice facility. Their 3 national titles are damn impressive, but how good are they going to be with Calhoun gone?

On the football side of things, they have no tradition, although they do have a nice new stadium. They have made a step up in their scheduling the past couple years, adding Michigan and Notre Dame, but it takes at least 10-15 years of scheduling good teams and beating them to build up a brand. They don't have that, and they don't have the luxury of time.

I think it sucks that Maryland has left the ACC. Maybe if they can't get that $50M exit fee reduced, maybe they won't be leaving. Did you see that the ACC filed suit against them (presumably) to hold them to the full payout? We'll see if the Big 10 simply lends them the money like the Big 12 (and ESPN) did for West Virginia. I liked UConn for the ACC originally, but with Florida State threatening to leave if it's UConn, and the Big 10 poking around, well, hell, I could live with Louisville.

 

[Alsacs]

I would actually prefer Cincinnati to both Louisville and UConn. Andy Katz article makes good points for them over UConn and Louisville and that would be hilarious. I believe Cincy has better sustainablity in football because of the Ohio fertile recruiting grounds where they can get 2nd tier recruits and be better than Louisville and UConn. Mick Cronin has Cincy basketball rising and the reaction of Rick Pitino if Cincinnati went to the ACC and Louisville didn't would be priceless and be worth the price of choosing Cincinnati.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...i-bearcats-making-strong-push-join-acc-source

 

[IthacaMatt]

ND is a partnership of convenience at the moment and there is no reason to bust it up. Better to have them where they are and see what happens down the road.

This was the worst possible time from the ACC's perspective for Notre Dame to have an undefeated season and be playing for a national championship. If they had continued to struggle along at 8 wins a year, they would have been much more likely to join the ACC all-in within a few years. Now, it probably won't happen unless their football falls off a cliff. But the NBC ratings have to be way up, at least for the 2nd part of this season as they moved up in the rankings.

 

[KaiserUEO]

sigh, sorry townie but if the ACC had just grabbed rutgers last month or whatever, maryland would likely still be in the ACC or there would be no need to go dreg fishing for theyd now be at 14.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I would honestly ask ND What it will take for them to join the conference. If they say nothing boot their asses and just pluck UConn and be done with it. UConn right now= Maryland right now. Maryland has WAY more growth potential, but I don't want Louisville as its not as if there football is a constant top 25 team. Petrino and Strong have made them better, but there are a rich man's Rutgers with a couple of good wins. Louisville's football isn't going to make the difference in a 1 loss Florida State playing in the playoffs it will be Florida State not scheduling 2 I-AAs schools and scheduling 2 BCS schools a year 1 being Florida obviously.

Louisville has played in 11 bowl games [edit: actually 16], including 9 straight. They were twice ranked as high as #6 (2004 and 2006). They do have some history, with Howard Schnellenberger and Lee Corso coaching them in the past.

UConn has a total of 3 bowl wins, and 2 of those were against Buffalo and Toledo.

 

[Alsacs]

Louisville has played in 11 bowl games, including 9 straight. They were twice ranked as high as #6 (2004 and 2006). They do have some history, with Howard Schnellenberger and Lee Corso coaching them in the past.

UConn has a total of 3 bowl wins, and 2 of those were against Buffalo and Toledo.

Yeah, Louisville hired Steve Kragthorpe in 2007. So how exactly have they gone to 9 straight when good ole' Krags didn't take them to even one bowl game in his 3 years.
Kragthorpe record
2007 Louisville 6–6 3–4 T-5th

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2008 Louisville 5–7 1–6 8th

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2009 Louisville 4–8 1–6 7th

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​

Louisville was good under Petrino for sure, and Petrino left them Brian Brohm for his Sr. year, and they crattered as a program before Charlie Strong had Teddy Bridgewater fall into his lap after Miami fired Randy Shannon. Cincinnati has the best sustainability because of the Ohio HS recruits they can get and it would open Ohio HS recruiting up to the ACC. Cincinnati > UConn > Louisville.

 

[cuseguy]

Well, let's be honest. UConn has a basketball coach that the AD didn't want to hire. They are on probation for bad grades. They don't really have a home gym for basketball that is contemporary / competitive. Gampel is a tiny little place the size of Manley, and Hartford is 45 minutes away from campus. That's like driving to Utica for a home game. They lack a nice state-of-the-art practice facility. Their 3 national titles are damn impressive, but how good are they going to be with Calhoun gone?

On the football side of things, they have no tradition, although they do have a nice new stadium. They have made a step up in their scheduling the past couple years, adding Michigan and Notre Dame, but it takes at least 10-15 years of scheduling good teams and beating them to build up a brand. They don't have that, and they don't have the luxury of time.

I think it sucks that Maryland has left the ACC. Maybe if they can't get that $50M exit fee reduced, maybe they won't be leaving. Did you see that the ACC filed suit against them (presumably) to hold them to the full payout? We'll see if the Big 10 simply lends them the money like the Big 12 (and ESPN) did for West Virginia. I liked UConn for the ACC originally, but with Florida State threatening to leave if it's UConn, and the Big 10 poking around, well, hell, I could live with Louisville.

UConn is building a state-of-the-art practice facility. UConn is in this for the long haul. They were ahead of Syracuse with a new football practice facility.

Gampel is a tad small but it's a nice facility. When UConn is good - and they have been more often than not - the XL Center works well for them.

The new practice facility and UConn's reputation will keep them on solid ground for years to come. Will SU be good after JB is gone?

The ACC can take Louisville. They can take Cincy.

But I have hunch that if the ACC passes on UConn, the B1G will eventually take UConn. That would just about lock up the NY market and give the conference Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers and UConn in the northeast.

Many thought that Rutgers and UConn would die in the NBE.

Rutgers has already found a way out.

And UConn will, too. It's just a matter of who's smart enough to take them.

 

[texascpa]

eh, stay with 13 and split Maryland's TV money amongst the rest of the teams. That's another $1M+ per school. Yeah, I know, scheduling issues. So what, that can be overlooked with some more change in the pocket.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yeah, Louisville hired Steve Kragthorpe in 2007. So how exactly have they gone to 9 straight when good ole' Krags didn't take them to even one bowl game in his 3 years.
Kragthorpe record
2007 Louisville 6–6 3–4 T-5th

​

​

2008 Louisville 5–7 1–6 8th

​

​

2009 Louisville 4–8 1–6 7th

​

​

​

Louisville was good under Petrino for sure, and Petrino left them Brian Brohm for his Sr. year, and they crattered as a program before Charlie Strong had Teddy Bridgewater fall into his lap after Miami fired Randy Shannon. Cincinnati has the best sustainability because of the Ohio HS recruits they can get and it would open Ohio HS recruiting up to the ACC. Cincinnati > UConn > Louisville.

Nine straight was from 1998 through 2007. I have their total wrong - they've been to 16 bowls in their history. Their coach before Kragthorpe was John Smith, who took L'ville to 5 straight bowls and then left to become head coach at Michigan State, where he lasted for 4 years. Smith came back to be interim coach after Petrino lost his job at Arkansas. He is not returning for next year.

Best bowl wins - Fiesta Bowl 34-7 over Alabama (1991), Liberty Bowl 18-7 over Michigan State (1993), Liberty Bowl 28-10 over BYU (2001), 44-40 over Boise State in the 2004 Liberty Bowl, and they've played Virginia Tech and some other ACC and SEC schools who they lost to.

 

[Townie72]

sigh, sorry townie but if the ACC had just grabbed rutgers last month or whatever, maryland would likely still be in the ACC or there would be no need to go dreg fishing for theyd now be at 14.

I'm not sure your crystal ball is quite clear enough. The Big Ten might have been just as interested in Maryland without having Rutgers to go with them. They could have also offered membership to UConn to go with Maryland.

The problem is that the ACC didn't want Rutgers.

The Big Ten didn't want Rutgers either.

What the Big Ten wanted and got were a lot of local cable subscribers.

The ACC didn't care about local cable subscribers, so they didn't offer a school they didn't want to get a lot of cable subscribers that had no value to them.

Offering Rutgers an ACC invite to stop the Big Ten from getting them seems to me a daft strategy.

 

[tep624]

Maybe there is a more attractive option out there that the ACC is exploring?

 

[IthacaMatt]

UConn is building a state-of-the-art practice facility. UConn is in this for the long haul. They were ahead of Syracuse with a new football practice facility.

Gampel is a tad small but it's a nice facility. When UConn is good - and they have been more often than not - the XL Center works well for them.

The new practice facility and UConn's reputation will keep them on solid ground for years to come. Will SU be good after JB is gone?

The ACC can take Louisville. They can take Cincy.

But I have hunch that if the ACC passes on UConn, the B1G will eventually take UConn. That would just about lock up the NY market and give the conference Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers and UConn in the northeast.

Many thought that Rutgers and UConn would die in the NBE.

Rutgers has already found a way out.

And UConn will, too. It's just a matter of who's smart enough to take them.

I agree that once the Big 10 decided they didn't care about the quality of the program, then UConn became a natural fit. If you're only interested in TV sets at this point (as the Big 10 demonstrated with their last 2 selections), then why not UConn? Plus UConn's hoops will be an upgrade for the Big 10. The ACC has enough hoops teams already. Being a state school with lots of TV sets, I think UConn makes a lot of sense to the Big 10.

 

[bothsocksup]

Who knows if this is really accurate? For all we know something else is going on.

i agree, we could all be so off about this..nobdoy has any idea what is really happening,

 

[Bayside44]

Nine straight was from 1998 through 2007. I have their total wrong - they've been to 16 bowls in their history. Their coach before Kragthorpe was John Smith, who took L'ville to 5 straight bowls and then left to become head coach at Michigan State, where he lasted for 4 years. Smith came back to be interim coach after Petrino lost his job at Arkansas. He is not returning for next year.

Best bowl wins - Fiesta Bowl 34-7 over Alabama (1991), Liberty Bowl 18-7 over Michigan State (1993), Liberty Bowl 28-10 over BYU (2001), 44-40 over Boise State in the 2004 Liberty Bowl, and they've played Virginia Tech and some other ACC and SEC schools who they lost to.

They beat up VT in the Orange.

 

[KaiserUEO]

I'm not sure your crystal ball is quite clear enough. The Big Ten might have been just as interested in Maryland without having Rutgers to go with them. They could have also offered membership to UConn to go with Maryland.

The problem is that the ACC didn't want Rutgers.

The Big Ten didn't want Rutgers either.

What the Big Ten wanted and got were a lot of local cable subscribers.

The ACC didn't care about local cable subscribers, so they didn't offer a school they didn't want to get a lot of cable subscribers that had no value to them.

Offering Rutgers an ACC invite to stop the Big Ten from getting them seems to me a daft strategy.

the b1g wouldnt have offered storz, they dont bring anything. with rutgers, yeah id say they would now help surround NYC and they could be forced to play michigan at Giants Stadium if need be.

ive always looked at expansion as being eyeball driven. hell, even nebraska brings eyeballs, who doesnt want to watch a major power play other major powers??

i think the ACC & Swofford Fd up. they thought nobody wanted rutgers, and hey maybe they didnt. but they wanted the eyeballs. the ACC wasnt thinking that the b1g was looking to take over the northeast or at least be the NFC to everyone elses AFC there.

swofford tore up the bigeast till there was nothing left, and then the b1g said...'ok, thank you. we will take NYC and what the hell... sorry ACC, we are taking baltimore/DC as well.'

check.

i didnt say checkmate, because we have a couple of rocks for the slingshot in our backpocket...ND for all, and texas.

but i think we both know where the odds on those fall.

 

[arbitragegls]

From what I am hearing...there is an academic issue with Louisville on tobacco road; a BC issue and football issue with FSU and Clemson with Uconn...there has been no definitive NO from Notre DAME...that is why Navy being considered and may partner with a bball school...Notre Dame is a win for both academics and sports..otherwise getting voted in is going to be tough...additionally, Cincy is making a major push as you know...Cincy actually has the academic ranking as well as a good athletic ranking recently...so everything is on a somewhat hold for more discussions...going to be a roller coaster ride...hang on!

 

[KaiserUEO]

From what I am hearing...there is an academic issue with Louisville on tobacco road; a BC issue and football issue with FSU and Clemson with Uconn...there has been no definitive NO from Notre DAME...that is why Navy being considered and may partner with a bball school...Notre Dame is a win for both academics and sports..otherwise getting voted in is going to be tough...additionally, Cincy is making a major push as you know...Cincy actually has the academic ranking as well as a good athletic ranking recently...so everything is on a somewhat hold for more discussions...going to be a roller coaster ride...hang on!

get navy, but tell ND they play them every year and it doesnt count towards the 5.

then convince them that the BC series will be every year, but that also doesnt count towards the 5.

now we are at 7, tell them if they play 1 more ACC team a year...6 overall, plus navy and BC, they can keep the tv rights for those 3 games.

thats 8 and they are now eligible for the ACC Champ game too.