Connecticut Cuts Men’s XC

Unfortunately all athletic departments strive to get into a big football and basketball conference. Nearly a decade ago UConn was the big East football champion and played in one of the Bcs bowl games - I think it was against Kansas and lost by about 30 points. They also lost over 2 million on the game because they had to guarantee a large number of tickets and UConn had to pay for thousands that were not bought by there fans. Shortly after that the big East as it was known disbanded when Syracuse, BC , West Virginia and Pitt left for other power 5 conferences. UConn was left in the cold and ended up in the aac. That meant a lot more travel for all teams. Their conference meet was at Memphis last year and that travel costs more than our entire season travel when I ran for UConn in the 1980s. We were in the big East but the big East had nearly all teams within a short distance. When we ran our conference championship at franklin park in Boston we drove up the morning of the race just like BC, and Providence. Syracuse, Pitt, seton hall, St. John's and Villanova likely took vans and stayed overnight. Georgetown was probably the only Team that either flew or took a long train ride. In the 1980s all our meets were a morning drive. Only the NCAA qualifier At Lehigh was an overnight. Only time team travelled by plane was to go to nationals. Had friends on the baseball team and they had a spring trip down south. Nearly all other games were day trips. Last year baseball team probably had to fly to 10-12 games to play conference games In Houston, Tulane, Tulsa, Memphis, etc. not cheap when transporting 20 people. My solution would be to let football and basketball join power conferences but have other sports have regional meets/games with nearby colleges before regional championships. Would save a ton of money and not change the experience for the athletes. Don't know how some athletes handle all the travel and school work if they are on sports that play 30+ games like baseball and basketball.

Interesting perspective. UConn football went to Memphis 2 years ago - the result 14-55. XC finished 3rd at conference last year, yet the 13 million dollar loser last season football team is the one they want to keep. Maybe the savings will help them come within 40 points in their next football loss.

XC could cost less if they were in a conference which competed closer to home and football definitely shouldn't be paying to fly to memphis for a whooping like that. Surely they could find a school closer to home to steamroll the football team? What would it matter if it were Harvard or Memphis after they were down 20+.

Stange decision to pump more money into a dying sport.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielke/2020/01/28/the-decline-of-football-is-real-and-its-accelerating/#25b7d43d2f37

Coaching Salary wrote:

What's the difference between a $1.5 million coach and a $250K coach?

In the case of UConn football, the difference is the millions of dollars that the athletic department & university were forced to pay out when they fired the long list of crap coaches that they hired with bloated, guaranteed contracts.

Just to be an equal opportunity insulter, I should mention that this payout BS also happened with UConn basketball recently as well.

Anybody know how much of the debt that is mentioned so prominently in the articles about the sport cuts is accounted for the payoffs for FORMER coaches? I would bet that it is a big chunk. Mismanagement at its finest.

Wrong. Football had a deficit of 13 million last year and that includes tv money coming in which is not much if you are not power 5. Appachian just cut indoor and their football team lost 3 million. Seems like schools are cutting the wrong sports if money is the reason.

You are talking about a school, who's #1 sport is GIRLS BASKETBALL!!!

Exactly5 wrote:

You are talking about a school, who's #1 sport is GIRLS BASKETBALL!!!

Wrong. UConn's #1 sport is basketball: both men and women. Since 1999, the UConn men's team has won more national championships (4) than any other school. The UConn women's team has won 11 national championships.

people are now watching real sports wrote:

Stange decision to pump more money into a dying sport.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerpielke/2020/01/28/the-decline-of-football-is-real-and-its-accelerating/#25b7d43d2f37

Yep, people are paying to watch the sports they want on streaming services. I myself am subscribed to one (nbc sports gold) even though I like to complain about them. Fewer are watching football just because its on. However, ADs are boomers who haven't kept up with the times. Sooner or later some of them are going to be held accountable for the large amount of money they cost their colleges for losing teams.

UConn XC wrote:

Exactly5 wrote:

You are talking about a school, who's #1 sport is GIRLS BASKETBALL!!!

Wrong. UConn's #1 sport is basketball: both men and women. Since 1999, the UConn men's team has won more national championships (4) than any other school. The UConn women's team has won 11 national championships.

Awesome job proving his point.