Agree with prevailing view that this move essentially puts an end to P5 hopes, but realistically, if they were to go to the P5, I think the only conference they would be invited to join would have been the B1G, but that was a longshot at best. This move does help solidify basketball going forward but we all know that in today's college athletics world, football drives the bus. Yes, you occasionally get a Villanova or a Butler that makes the Final 4 or wins outright but the overwhelming number of Final 4 teams are P5 schools. They get more money so they can hire better coaches, get better facilities, are on TV at prime time and overall are better positioned financially to compete in today's market. By heading to the BE, the basketball programs get a more permanent home and perhaps can recruit better than they have in last 5 or so years but realistically, I can't see them making the runs, especially on the men's side, that they did the past. the landscape has changed since Jim Calhoun was in his heyday and it is awfully tough to consistently compete with the one and done philosophy/business model of many P5 programs. They need FBS football revenue, at whatever level they can get it, to supplement the real sports they have chosen to ride....men's and women's basketball.
So, what does UConn do with the football team? If they decide to drop the program to FCS, they really ought to just drop the program all together. Football at the FCS level is a money loser, no one cares about it save the players, families and students on campus at the time. Most FCS programs play at least one FBS road game in order to get a payday and help supplement their athletic departments. But since they are in an FCS conference and have an 8-10 game league schedule, their opportunity to make much money off of football is pretty weak. Their best hope is to use this "disadvantage" to an advantage.
Namely, play as an independent. Yes, there will be the 4-5 "filler" games on the schedule against such luminaries as Liberty, Coastal Carolina and FAU. Got it...that sucks.....BUT, lock in a perennial game against UMass to finish off the season. Sign long term deals with BYU and Army as well. Agree to play 2-1 series against high end SEC teams, say 2 a year and get $2-3M in revenue. Play USC, UCLA, Stanford, Texas and high end B1G schools (tOSU, Nebraska, Michigan, etc.) on the cycle and pull in another $1-2M for those games. Schedule BC, Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Temple, etc in 4 game series. Agree to play anyone, anywhere. Given the change in college football playoff evaluations that is being debated (strength of schedule being one of them), market yourself to the big boys in football as a viable alternative to FCS opponents. With that approach, and the fact that there are too many bowls with too few teams to fill them, Filling out a 12 game schedule, that actually remits cash to the Athletic Department, is not an impossible task. Make the football team a marketing tool for the university and understand it will never be in the hunt for a national playoff. They were never going to make the playoffs in the AAC anyway, and the chance at a NY6 bowl was fairly remote as well. This way they can sell recruits on playing in stadiums like the Coliseum, the Big House, The Swamp and maybe the Rose Bowl, get a decent education and maybe even get to play in the Bahamas or Fenway Park at the end of the season if things fall right. Just a thought....
