UConn is dumb and so are the BC analogies

UConn is leaving the AAC to return to its roots in the Big East. This has been met with applause and head scratching in the college sports world. I am firmly in the head scratching camp. In my opinion, this move is risky and borderline nonsensical. I predict that UConn, in trying to reclaim past glory, will only sink all their future endeavours. I also think that anyone saying BC should do the same should also realize how silly that would be.

The Big East is dead
Whatever UConn thinks it is going to find in the Big East doesn't exist anymore. Yes there is still a tournament in Madison Square Garden and yes many of the teams they play are familiar, but the Big East is not the Big East of the '80s or even the Big East of the 2000s. TV audiences are smaller. There are fewer elite teams. The geography is spread out to the Midwest. Are the UConn fans who were disinterested in Memphis or Tulane going to turn out for Butler or Creighton?

It is coaching
While Villanova's success shows that you can win National Championships out of the Big East, UConn already won a title out of the AAC. Villanova's success was driven by Jay Wright. UConn's struggles post-Calhoun were just as easily attributed to coaching as conference. The AAC has legit basketball programs in Memphis, Cincinnati and Central Florida. UConn couldn't have beaten any of them lately. That's not because their players and fans long for the Big East. It is because their teams were bad. Maybe coaching will fix this, but changing conferences won't.

Giving up on Football will drag all sports
While their fans seems to think this move will give their programs new life, I think it will kill all their sports. Every coach who is recruiting against UConn can say, "they killed their football program. What will they kill next?" While I don't have a clear look into their books, I can't imagine this will improve athletic department revenues. We know the Big East TV deal is small. We know that football will be lucky not to lose a ton of money as an independent. Plus they have a $10 million AAC exit fee. Will ticket revenue from basketball and donations be enough to offset those decision?

Don't talk about BC and UConn
Predictably UConn's decision sparked talk from the pundits that BC should consider the same move. This is stupid beyond so many levels, namely the money, but also because the ACC is an entirely different group of schools. BC wants to be associated with Duke, Syracuse, Notre Dame, etc. Even those who don't care about sports realize that benefit to BC. Plus unlike UConn -- which declared itself a basketball school to the world -- BC is a football school. Our most public moments have been football related. Our fans and alums care more about football than any of our other sports. And football has given us an identity.

As has been proven out time and again in college sports, any team can compete from any conference. The key is always finding the right coach and giving that coach the right time and support to turn things around. Whatever failings BC or UConn have had in the last decade have not been one of conference affiliations. They've been bad hires or bad decisions. Both schools have challenges. I hope that BC is on the right path to fix ours. I am pretty sure UConn just made their problems worse.

More college football dominoes: strange Big XII expansion news

Long story short, the Big XII Expansion is a big mess. Oklahoma doesn't want it and that may be enough to kill the whole effort. That's great news for the ACC and BC.

No promotion of UConn and UMass
Our nearest football neighbors, UConn and UMass, are both hoping to improve their football standings. If there is no Big XII expansion, UConn remains a mid-major in football in the American Athletic Conference. UMass wants to join the AAC, but if a UConn or Cincinnati doesn't join the Big XII, there is less likely to be a backfill slot for the Minutemen in the AAC. It is petty of me to want to keep those schools in their respective places, but I do think it helps BC. We already battle elite schools for the best prospects in New England. We don't need added local competition from the two state universities. Remaining the only Power 5 program in the area is one of our slight advantages.

The ACC is okay
As long as the Big XII continues flip flopping and infighting, the ACC looks better. We are less likely to get poached and remain a good landing spot for Texas (due to their shared deal with ESPN). That position means we will get more slots in the playoff and have more bargaining power in the playoff discussion. If the Power 5 ever becomes the Power 4, the ACC is in a good position.

BC has a host of challenges and needs to decide many things related to athletics, but for now it is nice to know that conferences issues are not one of our challenges.

I like laughing at UConn too...but we should still play them

UConn created a rivalry with UCF and didn't even bother to tell anyone, including Central Florida. This is funny and pathetic on many levels. The best part is that Central Florida disowned the rivalry publicly. Even UConn's conference foes want nothing to do with them. Considering UConn's fans and leadership spent the past decade trashing and suing BC, this is fun for me. But even after all the ridicule and bad blood, BC should work to get UConn back on the football schedule.

Like the UMass game, the UConn game makes too much sense not to play. It is a relatively inexpensive game -- either as a road or home game. It will be winnable in most years. While it won't generate massive interest, there will be more local excitement than our varied games against mid-majors from the MAC.

I don't think BC should or even could make UConn an annual game. With the looming Power 5 mandate for at least one non-conference game and the annual FCS game, there isn't much room for another annual opponent. But over a ten year period BC should play UConn around four times.

Father Leahy is the last player from the lawsuits still in a power position at BC. As long as he's part of BC's leadership, playing UConn is probably a non-starter. Since Connecticut named him in one of the lawsuits, I don't blame him for wanting to avoid the Huskies. Yet once he retires or steps down from BC, it will be time to consider a series again. It will be good for BC, good for football in the region, and be fun to pound them again.

A competent UConn is good for BC Football

I tend to mock UConn whenever I can and revel in their woes. Grudges will make you do that. My disdain goes back to Calhoun's condescension, but really manifested itself when the State of Conneticut sued BC during the ACC expansion. I want nothing to do with them as a sports program and really cannot get enough of bad things happening to them on the field. As with most grudges, this stance is not healthy and not supported by logic. UConn is now in the process of finding a new coach, and as a BC fan, it is probably best that they hire a decent one.

There are a couple of reasons why a decent UConn program is good for BC. The first being that it raises interest in football in New England. The region will never be Florida or Ohio or even New Jersey as a source of talent, but there is still room for the sport to grow. If Connecticut is a joke of a program, fewer kids attend their camps, fewer dollars are put into football, media perception takes a hit, etc. If they are consistently above .500 and going to lower-tier bowls, their expectations and success will help football develop.

I also want UConn to hire a young coordinator because that guy could end up being a good BC Head Coach. Let them be the place where a coach learns how to build a program, recruit players and manage games. Then one day, if BC needs to hire a new coach, there could be a perfectly acceptable candidate who knows the region right down the road. Think of it like another Randy Edsall. We never hired him but he was always there if we needed or wanted him.

Finally, there will come a day when it makes sense to play UConn in football. The travel expenses are minimal, there would be interest and we will need games against mid-majors. A win over a decent UConn would help more than a win over a terrible football program.

I will always have enough animosity against UConn that I don't want them to be great. It kills me that they played in a BCS game before us. But having them as bottom-dwellers does nothing for us. What we need is for them to hire another Randy Edsall. Then once he has some success, we can sit back and enjoy the Huskies fans getting all riled up anytime someone speculates that their coach might want to be at BC one day.

A double Eagle plays peacemaker between BC-UConn

They said "only Nixon could go to China" so perhaps only a BC guy could solve UConn's BC problem. Connecticut's Governor Dan Malloy (a BC and BC Law Grad) reached out to Father Leahy to help resolve the longtime feud between BC and his homestate's University of Connecticut. Malloy claims he wants the two schools to start playing each other again. Because of our expanded ACC schedule, there just aren't that many opportunities for the two schools to play. BC knows this. UConn knows this. Malloy is a smart guy (obviously!). He must realize that the schedules are crowded. Given he's smart guy and all that's happened in college sports the past few months, I think Malloy's olive branch is less about scheduling and more about future ACC expansion.

The ACC is saving a spot for Notre Dame. IF the Irish ever come to the ACC, the conference would need one more team for scheduling purposes. On paper the most likely candidates for the last spot are UConn and Rutgers. Rutgers has the better recruiting and marketing demographics. UConn has the better athletic tradition...and more enemies. Their biggest enemy has been Gene and BC. If UConn ever wants to get into the ACC, they need to turn BC from an enemy to an advocate.

I am sure Malloy loves both schools, but this isn't about good games. It's about protecting UConn's athletic future and Malloy is probably just thinking ahead.

Bad blood with UConn spills over into basketball transfers

Eric Hoffes is reporting that UConn will not allow Alex Oriakhi to transfer to BC. Unfortunately there is little BC or Oriakhi can do about it. I've been told the interest was mutual, and Oriakhi liked the idea of playing close to home in the ACC and on a team that needed a big man. Unless public pressure forces UConn to change its stance, he will move on to some other opportunity. What's curious about the whole thing is that he is still available to major programs like North Carolina and Kentucky. UConn doesn't seem bothered by the rich getting richer. But a school like BC -- which just finished last in the ACC -- is not allowed.

We know the history, but clearly the UConn leadership doesn't believe in bridge building or looking out for a player's best interest. The only reason Oriakhi is immediately available is because of UConn's violations. They flaunted the rules. But they are taking the players down with them by limiting his choices.

For any wondering, this is not about Steve Donahue. For all I know he has a good working relationship with Jim Calhoun. This is more about the BC-UConn pissing match.

The mistake UConn leaders are making is that this sort of move won't be forgotten. When Gene is retired and an expanded ACC comes up for proposal, do they think we will be supporting them or Rutgers? This will not end well but UConn has never been one to see the big picture.

Gene's Big East ESPN comment is snowballing

Mark Blaudschun wrote another love letter to the Big East this weekend. His premise -- that the ACC's expansion was all about basketball -- was pretty flimsy. So flimsy that Gene had no problem going on record to refute it. The only problem was that in refuting one theory, Gene sparked an entirely different controversy. Here is the quote:

"We always keep our television partners close to us," he said. “You don’t get extra money for basketball. It’s 85 percent football money. TV - ESPN - is the one who told us what to do. This was football; it had nothing to do with basketball."

The "ESPN told us what to do" line has sent conspiracy theorists over the edge. Everyone knows ESPN is the bully and power behind college sports, but very few will say it. Now Gene has. In addition to the Big East fans and administrators going nuts, he's also pissed off other schools within the ACC. Of course no one at ESPN Headquarters is too happy with him either.

The people loving it though are the media. CBS, Deadspin, The New York Times, The Daily News, The Big Lead, and Business Journals have jumped on the story. I expect a few more news outlets will join the story soon. ESPN is obviously silent.

Unless this becomes a legal issue -- and you never know when UConn is involved -- I don't see this creating any real pain for BC, Gene, the ACC or ESPN. But he has made himself a target of criticism and ridicule again. BC doesn't need that and he doesn't need that. If our losses keep piling up, look for many to take glee in his failings. I guess my only hope from this is that more checks are put in place to balance out Gene's power regarding the direction of our athletic department.

New blogs, new BC names for UConn and other links

Welcome Around the Res to the BC blogosphere. They are off to a promising start with this interview with Codi Boek. I wish Boek had gotten a little more playing time while at BC since he embodies so much of what we want our guys to be.

Bill McGovern is getting mentioned as a candidate for the UConn opening. In the past McGovern interviewed for openings at Holy Cross and UMass. I would be surprised if he gets the job, but good for him getting in the mix. As for the other BC-UConn connection, Jags is still mentioned yet his contract was not renewed with the UFL. Of course, this being Jags it is never that simple. The UFL called it a firing and said Jags wasn't getting it done on the field. Perfect timing when you are trying to get another job. What is interesting is that the UFL's news might have derailed his UConn shot yet his UFL GM said he is hoping Jags gets the UConn job?! What a strange two years its been for him.

The Patriots put Ron Brace on the IR which means he's done for the playoffs.

In case you missed this article on Wes Davis over the weekend, it is well worth the read.

I've harped on the Chip Kelly connections in the past. With the BCS Championship approaching I think you'll see more articles like with quotes from Sean Devine.

Update on Nebrich

I broke the news via twitter that BC did have a skills camp on July 8. No one was offered out of that event. ESPN's ACC and Big East bloggers picked up on the non-story, but this is all getting a lot of attention because it is a slow news time.