You folks asked a lot of good questions so we’ve provided a lot of hastily written answers that we didn’t put too much thought into. It’s Mailbag time!
Remember: If your question wasn’t answered or you’ve been living under a rock and are just hearing about this, you can submit your questions here or on Twitter (@ADimeBack).
Luke asks: what would you do as athletic director to increase fan/student interest in football?
The first thing I’d try to do is demand that my boosters spend millions of dollars to pay off highly rated football recruits so that they will come to attend the University of Connecticut, thereby winning 10 games a year and making the program a must-see for students, alumni and regular Connecticut folks.
Seriously, it’s a tough situation because the answer to almost every issue UConn football faces is “win more games and be relevant.” The program functionally didn’t exist before 1999 — we drew 6,200, less than half the capacity of old Memorial Stadium, to a home I-AA playoff game in 1998 — so you don’t have generations of people who make UConn football Saturdays a priority. We certainly had no problem filling the Rent when UConn football was a new, shiny toy (and the team was competitive every week), but it’s not hard to understand the apathy after seven years of losing. Frankly, I don’t think there’s any way to manufacture interest in this program until the results turn around. Once we surprise everyone and go 6-6 this year to set up a 10-2 AAC East Division title team in 2019, then we can talk about what the program’s marketing hook needs to be.
In the meantime, there are things I’d try to keep our remaining fanbase happy enough to return.
For the current students, I think UConn has done a decent job in making the games more of a social event with the student tailgate lot, and they’ve thankfully removed the ludicrous price of “more than zero dollars, you idiots, it’s already an inconvenient hour round trip to watch a struggling program and these future alumni are your future ticket base, you absolute dolts” for students bus tickets. It should be incredibly easy and cheap for students to get to the games and eat/drink. To keep them in the stadium, the only idea I’ve got would be to host postgame events for students that can only be attended by people who are inside the stadium when the game ends — but even then, it’d have to be something like a concert with a big-name performer or a meet-and-greet with famous professional athletes/celebrities, which probably isn’t super feasible more than once a year.
For the rest of us, I’d suggest opening tailgate lots at the Rent the night before, taking care of season ticket holders with more perks (a free beer/soda and hot dog voucher per game per season ticket you buy?), optional seat upgrades each season for loyal ST holders and more community/alumni outreach like the terrific Husky Road Show events earlier this summer. It should be the goal of UConn’s athletic department to treat its football fanbase as if you are profusely thankful for their existence. Because after all we’ve endured, you should be.
Joe asks: On vacation at Disney. Wore a UConn shirt to Animal Kingdom. Avatar line was 90 minutes. As I entered the line, the Disney cast member at the entrance yelled “Go Huskies!” Should I have asked her for preferential treatment to get me through the line quicker?
Here it is, just further proof that Disney World is the most magical place on earth.
The Bards are all big fans of Disney and have more than once while standing in line made friends with people because they were sporting some UConn gear. You’re never far away from a fellow Husky. In fact, I snapped this pic of a guy rocking a Purv UConn jersey in Epcot in March. But to answer your question, no, you should not have asked for preferential treatment. We are all ambassadors for UConn Nation, so behave yourself and don’t try to cut the line. That’s rude as hell. Also Flight of Passage is the dopest ride Disney has ever made, so get the Fast Pass my dude!
Uhhhh….it’s a bus made out of ice….@NoEscalators care to help this guy out?
— UConn Men’s Hockey (@UConnMHOC) August 17, 2018
Scholars have long debated the origins of the icebus. Some say that it is a regular bus that is driven out onto the ice. Others, like our friends behind the UConn Men’s Hockey account, note that the original Latin refers to the icebus as bus ex glacies, implying a bus made of ice, a view that has gained prominence in intellectual circles in recent years. There is room for all points of view here, I think, as long as we all agree that the icebus is Truth and Light, and shall overcome in the grand struggle against evil.
— Kevin
Kyle asks: 1) Higher total for this coming year: season average for offensive yards/game for football vs season total points scored by Alterique Gilbert. 2) Higher total: season average points/game for football vs average margin of victory for women’s basketball?
1. Unless Gilbert can make it through the full season, it is going to be football’s offensive yards/game. Last year, that was 415. Over a 35-game season (call it the regular season plus a few postseason games), Gilbert would need to post 11.8 per night to get there. That’s not unreasonable, but I don’t feel comfortable predicting a guy who has missed almost the entirety of the last two seasons to come back and not only play that many games but average double figures.
2. Well, UConn football averaged 23.6 points per game last year and women’s basketball won by an average of 36 points per game. Adjusting for women’s basketball potentially taking a loss or two this year — at Baylor, at Louisville, and at Notre Dame are all scary — that margin may drop a bit. That shouldn’t matter. If we are optimistic and say that a Rhett Lashlee-less offense maintains a 23.6 ppg pace, that won’t be nearly enough to match the futility of the American Athletic Conference in women’s basketball. UConn’s routs of Wichita State and SMU should be enough to keep Geno’s squad well ahead of whatever football can muster.
NJ Husky asks: Better 2019 MBB recruiting class: UConn or Memphis?
Well, at the moment Memphis has one recruit (four-star center Malcolm Dandridge) to UConn’s zero, so… it’s a tie. Assuming you mean when all is said and done and both classes are complete, I’ll guess Memphis. Penny and Lil Penny (Mike Miller) have deep and arguably sketchy ties to AAU talent — guys that played on teams named things like Team Penny. Memphis is favored by some to land James Wiseman, the best player in the 2019 class, as well as Trendon Watford (#14), DJ Jeffries (#36) and others. At this point it’d be surprising if Penny failed to reel in a monster class. Now, it’s Memphis. So it could all fall apart soon after (we also have no idea if Penny can, you know, coach), but the Tigers will probably wind up with the best 2019 recruiting class in the conference.
Dan asks: If Alterique is healthy and good to play, should AG, JA, and CV all start together? Or will CV get the short end of the stick again?
As everyone knows, the three-guard line up is, was and always will be my preferred line up. Gilbert, Adams and Vital are, in my opinion, the three best players on the team, so they should be starting. But to answer your question, as to whether they actually *will* be starting together: I have no idea! Sid Wilson is finally able to suit up and seems poised to take a spot on the wing. Gilbert’s health is also a giant, neon, flashing question mark, so it’s unclear whether he actually will be able to give the kind of minutes you’d want from a starter. But regardless of who is actually on the floor at tip off, I think you can almost guarantee that (again, assuming Gilbert’s shoulder is no longer mashed potatoes) those three will be spending a lot of time on the floor together.
— Meghan
Danny asks: Do you think Kevin Ollie still have his job if guys like Daniel Hamilton and DeAndre Daniels had the opportunity to return to school after going undrafted?
Well, remember, both did get drafted, Daniels 37th in 2014 and Hamilton 56th in 2016. If you haven’t seen it, the NCAA recently instituted a rule change where players that participate in the NBA Combine but fail to be drafted are eligible to return to school. That’s cool but it’s also a severely limited scope (why the combine invite piece?) and wouldn’t have impacted UConn at all. As for Daniels and Hamilton, yea, Ollie probably still has his job if either or both come back. The 2015 squad badly needed Daniels to help spread the floor and keep defenses from keying in solely on Ryan Boatright. The 2017 team would have weathered the unending horror of injuries better with Hamilton (who would have been the best player on that team and among the best in the conference). My guess is that both teams still would have underperformed but maybe one sneaks into the tournament and buys Ollie some more time.
— Tyler
