UConn leaving the AAC. Can UB replace them?

[PromoTheRobot]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/with-uconn-likely-moving-back-to-the-big-east-where-could-the-aac-turn-for-a-replacement/

 

 

https://mattbrown.substack.com/p/heres-why-uconn-left-the-aac-and

 

[Buffalo716]

It wouldn't be a bad landing spot and they do football and basketball

 

Only downside is it's a hodgepodge of schools with nothing linking them for the most part geographically, academically or historically

[May Day 10]

This would be the most realistic jump for UB Athletics from the MAC.  I heard a rumbling a year or two ago from someone in the know in Cincinnati that the AAC was interested in the Buffalo market.  This would be a key opportunity for both sides if there is real interest.

 

Not sure i the travel situation is do-able.  You get Cincinnati, East Carolina, and Temple in the same 'region'... then a lot of Florida, Houston, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa area.  Football is one thing, but travelling for all sports on a regular basis?  That is a far leap from Ohio schools, Michigan, some Illinois.

[PromoTheRobot]

Travel budget would explode but conference revenue share would go up as well. I think it would be a great move. It would elevate UB athletics in stature. But it does cause me despair when I see schools like Middle Tennessee, Florida Atlantic and Texas San Antonio discussed after of UB.

[May Day 10]

Is there any negative for UB to jump up?  Would it blow their athletic budget?  

 

 

From the general criteria I see from the various columns, outside of cherry-picking a good basketball and another good football school, it seems like UB would be the best single-school fit for the AAC (other than maybe the wishful thinking ones like Boise St and BYU).  The only real question would be whether or not their basketball program can maintain the recent standard, and whether or not the football program can jump up a level.  I do believe attendance for football would improve with real opponents and real implications.  No more Tuesday nights in late October/November.  

 

[PromoTheRobot]

12 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

Is there any negative for UB to jump up?  Would it blow their athletic budget?  

 

 

From the general criteria I see from the various columns, outside of cherry-picking a good basketball and another good football school, it seems like UB would be the best single-school fit for the AAC (other than maybe the wishful thinking ones like Boise St and BYU).  The only real question would be whether or not their basketball program can maintain the recent standard, and whether or not the football program can jump up a level.  I do believe attendance for football would improve with real opponents and real implications.  No more Tuesday nights in late October/November.  

 

 

Boise State or BYU is frickin' nuts. You're going to fly your kids cross country in every sport for every conference road game?  If the AAC wants to maintain a Northeast presence and give schools like Temple, Navy and Cincinnati a regional rival, UB makes the most sense. But sense often has little to do with any decision.

 

As for UB's budget, it would be a burden, but slightly mitigated by the increase in conference revenue from TV etc.  I've read that East Carolina is the poor sister of the AAC (at $43MM) and UB's budget is $12MM lower than ECU. Keep in mind that AD Mark Alnutt came from Memphis, an AAC school. So he has connections to the conference. He'd know pretty quickly if Buffalo is on their radar.

Edited June 25, 2019 by PromoTheRobot

[Buffalo716]

4 hours ago, May Day 10 said:

Is there any negative for UB to jump up?  Would it blow their athletic budget?  

 

 

From the general criteria I see from the various columns, outside of cherry-picking a good basketball and another good football school, it seems like UB would be the best single-school fit for the AAC (other than maybe the wishful thinking ones like Boise St and BYU).  The only real question would be whether or not their basketball program can maintain the recent standard, and whether or not the football program can jump up a level.  I do believe attendance for football would improve with real opponents and real implications.  No more Tuesday nights in late October/November.  

 

Yes there is a negative

 

UB recruits heavily in Florida and Texas 

 

Going to the AAC would put them behind the UCFs , USFs and other and Texas schools in the conference for recruiting

 

They don't have much competition down south in the MAC

[/dev/null]

13 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

Yes there is a negative

 

UB recruits heavily in Florida and Texas 

 

Going to the AAC would put them behind the UCFs , USFs and other and Texas schools in the conference for recruiting

 

They don't have much competition down south in the MAC

 

Plus Buffalo has a very small fan base concentrated around the Great Lakes and Northeast.  Not sure how well UB will represent in the stands at road games in Florida or Texas vice Ohio and Michigan

[May Day 10]

Just a little more stuff

 

A poll of 500 AAC fans shows most want to expand to 12 full-sport teams.  

 

Shocked that Buffalo finished 2nd in preferred addition.  4th for football-only, and 3rd for hoops only

 

https://www.ohvarsity.com/blogs/2019/6/25/heres-how-500-aac-fans-want-to-expand-or-not

 

 

BYU is the only win across the board, and they’re 1,700 miles from Cincinnati and don’t play any sports on Sundays. Both of these are likely deal breakers on the AAC’s side, which assumes BYU agrees to share its football program and negotiations even get that far.

I see the upside of Buffalo. Their athletics budget is robust for a non-AAC G5 school, they’ve had balanced success in football and basketball recently, and they match the AAC’s footprint while also serving as a cultural fit. However, to use a pro sports concept, I don’t think the American is in a position to draft a player mainly based on upside. We did that with Tulane, Tulsa, and ECU, and see how that’s worked out so far. We’re in win-now mode. I don’t think we can afford to give a school a boost and wait around for them to compete regularly at a higher level.

Edited June 26, 2019 by May Day 10

[zow2]

If budget weren't a huge factor,  I'd definitely like to see UB make the jump up to a better overall athletics conference than the MAC.  Not sure it's realistic.

 

I think Buffalo would be a middling football program in the AAC with more bad years mixed in than good seasons.  Hoops would be solid though.  The AAC has had multiple bids and Buffalo would benefit from that.  In the MAC you have to win the conference tourney.

Edited June 26, 2019 by zow2

[PromoTheRobot]

9 hours ago, /dev/null said:

 

Plus Buffalo has a very small fan base concentrated around the Great Lakes and Northeast.  Not sure how well UB will represent in the stands at road games in Florida or Texas vice Ohio and Michigan

 

Yes but UB has a sizable alumni base in the NYC metro area. #1 TV market. That counts for something. It's supposedly why UConn was invited.

Edited June 26, 2019 by PromoTheRobot

[Buffalo716]

11 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Yes but UB has a sizable alumni base in the NYC metro area. #1 TV market. That counts for something. It's supposedly why UConn was invited.

I would honestly wait out on jumping to the AAC

 

It would honestly stall the football program they've been developing. Let them be consistent MAC winners and have good depth before they jump ship

 

 

[/dev/null]

20 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Yes but UB has a sizable alumni base in the NYC metro area. #1 TV market. That counts for something. It's supposedly why UConn was invited.

 

USF and Houston have alot larger alumni base and are spread out across the country.  It would be rather disheartening for UB to join the conference and be out represented in their own stadium

[KD in CA]

On 6/26/2019 at 1:01 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Yes but UB has a sizable alumni base in the NYC metro area. #1 TV market. That counts for something. It's supposedly why UConn was invited.

 

UConn was the big loser when the Big East broke up, and a coup for the AAC considering the stature of the basketball team.  They were a national TV draw in basketball.  Of course it was UConn's fault they got booted from the Big East for stupidly chasing the fantasy of being a football powerhouse, and now it's cost them as the basketball team has taken a big step back playing a lessor basketball conference.  Let's see if they still stubbornly cling to football or admit it was a huge mistake and move on.  Can't see many conferences interested in taking their 3d rate football team without the rest of the sports.

[May Day 10]

There was an article in yesterday's Buffalo News about this.  Basically all the stuff and conjecture we already know...  but:

 

Alnutt provided a carefully worded statement about how UB is a proud member of the MAC and continues to look to improve its national status.

 

And the commissioner of the AAC praising UB, but saying he doesnt want to say anything to indicate they are targeting a school and anger the MAC commissioner.

 

The AAC has a meeting next week in Rhode Island to decide what to do.  

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, May Day 10 said:

There was an article in yesterday's Buffalo News about this.  Basically all the stuff and conjecture we already know...  but:

 

Alnutt provided a carefully worded statement about how UB is a proud member of the MAC and continues to look to improve its national status.

 

And the commissioner of the AAC praising UB, but saying he doesn't want to say anything to indicate they are targeting a school and anger the MAC commissioner.

 

The AAC has a meeting next week in Rhode Island to decide what to do.  

 

Crap. I'm out of free BN articles.  But thanks for the gist. Pretty much what you would expect. Alnutt isn't going to dis the MAC and the AAC commish isn't tipping their hand. But Alnutt was the Asst. AD at AAC Memphis, so he knows the decision makers. I think UB has a decent chance (33%) of being invited.

Edited July 9, 2019 by PromoTheRobot

[May Day 10]

15 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Crap. I'm out of free BN articles.  But thanks for the gist. Pretty much what you would expect. Alnutt isn't going to dis the MAC and the AAC commish isn't tipping their hand. But Alnutt was the Asst. AD at AAC Memphis, so he knows the decision makers. I think UB has a decent chance (33%) of being invited.

 

Yeah, I had to go to my smartphone to read it and kind of memorize what it said, and is why I didnt link it here. 

 

General theme was (more conjecture) that says things look like they may prefer to stay at 11 schools... and they may not really seek out another school or a list of candidates, but will listen if a school wanted to join.

 

the exact quote from the AAC commissioner is:  "Buffalo is a great school that's achieved great things in football and basketball, and theyve produced some great athletic directors in Warde Manuel, Danny White, and Mark Alnutt, but the last thing I want to do is put a bullseye on Buffalo and upset (MAC commissioner) Jon Steinbrecher."

 

[The Real Buffalo Joe]

As a Houston fan, I'd love to see it. It'd give me an excuse to come home every other year or so. They don't have the facilities though. I know when we had to build a new stadium we played in the Texans stadium as a temporary home for a year or two. The other school we've been looking at bringing in has been BYU. A better candidate on paper, except the fact that because they're a Mormon school, they refuse to play on Sundays. Which doesn't effect football much, but basketball and definitely baseball. Although there's been rumors about them joining the conference as a football only school. 

[Buffalo716]

9 hours ago, The Real Buffalo Joe said:

As a Houston fan, I'd love to see it. It'd give me an excuse to come home every other year or so. They don't have the facilities though. I know when we had to build a new stadium we played in the Texans stadium as a temporary home for a year or two. The other school we've been looking at bringing in has been BYU. A better candidate on paper, except the fact that because they're a Mormon school, they refuse to play on Sundays. Which doesn't effect football much, but basketball and definitely baseball. Although there's been rumors about them joining the conference as a football only school. 

UB may not have the stadium but they have the facilities

 

They have a brand new multi million dollar facility built with indoor stadium and state of the art equipment

 

I still don't think they should go to the AAC

Edited August 20, 2019 by Buffalo716

[The Real Buffalo Joe]

14 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

UB may not have the stadium but they have the facilities

 

They have a brand new multi million dollar facility built with indoor stadium and state of the art equipment

 

I still don't think they should go to the AAC

It would definitely be a step up. They'll be getting their asses handed to them for the next few years, but their recruiting would obviously get much better. I admit my bias as a fan of an AAC team, but top to bottom, I think AAC, is just as good, and assuming nobody else leaves, will be arguably better than the  Big 12. Other than Texas and Oklahoma, I think the rest of the schools are at least on par with our conference.