The False Portrayal of UCONN Athletics Continues

We've heard the nauseating diatribe over and over again, football drives the bus in conference realignment and will continue to do so moving forward and thus resides the downfall of UCONN athletics.

Texas A&M women's head basketball coach Gary Blair piled on recently when he told the Hartford Courant, "I think what is likely holding UConn back is the football program. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how good their basketball teams or other teams are; football pays the bills and until they improve their football, they probably won't be invited to play in the right conference."

With all due respect to the Hall of Fame coach and every supposed sports expert in the media, UCONN football is not holding anyone back. Let's take a look at this on a factual basis and not as a false pretense that creates a perception that is completely off base.

Have on-field results lacked over the past couple of seasons for the UCONN football program? Yes. Look, any time a school loses nine consecutive games, the season is deemed an utter failure, the team is reported on like the little sisters of the poor and the players and coaches are ridiculed by not only columnists, but by their own fans and fellow classmates.

However, if we want to have an honest dialogue and a true assessment of the UCONN football program as a whole, which has not occurred by anyone, including the school itself, the following surely needs to be talked about.

First up is talent:

UCONN currently has 19 former players on NFL rosters, good for 33rd among all schools nationwide. This puts the Huskies ahead of programs that include the likes of Auburn, Baylor, Kansas State, Louisville, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss and Washington.

The school also had five players selected in the 2013 NFL draft, good for 10th among all schools, tied with offensive powerhouse Oregon and Texas A&M. Only Florida State (11), Alabama (9), LSU (9), Florida (8), Georgia (8), Rutgers (7), South Carolina (7), Notre Dame (6) and Oklahoma (6), had more.

Not bad for a basketball school, egh?

Next is fan support:

Flash back to November 21st, 2009. The scene is Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, IN. UCONN running back Andre Dixon just scampered off left tackle and walked into the end zone to defeat the Fighting Irish 33-30 in double OT. The post-game interview with head coach Randy Edsall is broadcast nationwide on NBC. UCONN fans are heard boisterously over the comments coming from an emotional head coach who had just lost not only a player, but a son in Jasper Howard just a few weeks before.

Then, there is this take on that historic day for the young Huskies program, from the South Bend Tribune.

"They woke up the echoes after the game last Saturday. Or at least I think the ghosts of Rockne, Leahy, the Gipper and the Four Horsemen would have found it kind of hard to rest with the sound of “We are U-Conn” resounding through the bowels of Notre Dame Stadium after the Irish lost, 33-30, in two overtimes. Maybe the ghosts of Notre Dame legends past thought they were at a basketball game because it certainly sounded like January in Storrs."

UCONN doesn't travel for football? Puh-lease.

Want a take on Rentschler Field, the football home of the Huskies? How about one from former Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.

"When you were at Baylor, what was the toughest place for you to play in terms of crowd noise?" His answer was somewhat surprising. "The thing that people think is when you go to these big stadiums and they have 80,000 people or 100,000 people, that these are the toughest stadiums to play at, but really, those aren't," Griffin said. "When you have that many people, most of the time, the fans are pretty far away from the field. The toughest places to play are the ones that are jam-packed, are really tight to the field and sit about 45,000 people." Here comes the best part. "When we played at UConn my freshman year, that was the loudest place I've ever been as a football player," Griffin continued. "The stands are right next to the field, it was packed, and everyone was yelling. That was probably the coolest place for me to play..."

Not bad for a school that only plays basketball, huh?

You want facilities? UCONN has facilities. There's this from new UCONN recruiting coordinator Kevin Wolfhausen.

“Gosh I had no idea,” Wolfhausen said. “I mean I knew they had a nice facility but I had no idea it was this nice. Whether it does or doesn’t time will tell and be the true indicator, but it’s a show-me world. Don’t tell me how good you are. Show me. Now, you could say the same thing to me but the thing is we have every opportunity to put this place in front of a lot of people because any time you’re new you’ve got a chance. I mean just look around at this place. You have something to sell."

Finally, let's talk about on-field results, the one thing that matters above all else. While the Huskies did lose nine games a year ago, they also finished the season on a high note, winning their final three, including a 45-10 thrashing of Memphis to close out the year. It needs to be said that terrible teams don't make conference mates look foolish like the Huskies did that day.

You want to talk about conference titles? UCONN has two on their resume since 2007. A Fiesta Bowl appearance? You bet. A dominant win over an SEC powerhouse in a bowl game? Yep. Let's not forget that trip to South Bend mentioned above. How about the team the SEC's Florida Gators lost to in the 2013 Sugar Bowl? You guessed it, UCONN outlasted Louisville on the road that year in overtime.

Since 2007, UCONN has posted a 44-40 regular season record, won two conference championships, appeared in four consecutive bowl games (winning two) and made a BCS bowl appearance.

The 44 wins by a 'fledgling' program are more than or equal to the following P5 conference schools over the same time period:

ACC
Duke (32)
Maryland (36)
NC State (41)
Syracuse (34)
Virginia (35)
Wake Forest (38)

Big Ten
Illinois (37)
Indiana (29)
Minnesota (34)
Purdue (33)

Big XII
Iowa State (31)
Kansas (25)

Pac-12
Cal (38)
Colorado (27)
UCLA (44)
Washington (37)
Washington State (23)

SEC
Arkansas (42)
Kentucky (35)
Mississippi State (44)
Ole Miss (39)
Tennessee (42)
Vanderbilt (37)

Long story short, UCONN football has been much more closer to respectable than awful as many would have you believe. Twenty-three P5 conference programs have had equal or vastly worse records since 2007.

The worst that can possibly be said about the program is they are an average, middle of the pack program, nothing more, nothing less.

As the sports world turns it's attention to Dallas and Nashville over the next two nights as champions are crowned, what many could see is the continuation of an unbelievable run by the most dominating school in the sport. Wins by both the men and women would give UCONN 13 National Championships on the hardwood since 1999; four by the men and nine by the women. The men would have two more than any other program over that same time period. Yes Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina, like it or not, UCONN has been the preeminent men's college basketball school over the past 15 years.

The women can break the tie with Tennessee for the most titles all-time with a win over fellow unbeaten Notre Dame on Tuesday.

Whether or not Storrs will once again be home to two champions in March just as they were ten seasons ago, one thing is for certain. Actions always speak louder than words, wins count far more than anything else in sport. Football may drive the bus come Fall, but during the Madness of March, basketball is always front and center.

UCONN has received all the positive publicity it could ask for over the past three weeks, from overtaking Madison Square Garden in the all important market of New York City, to 40 minutes away from completing another improbable run. Come the end of these forty minutes, don't be surprised to see old state U exploring their conference options. It would be stupid for any of the ACC, Big Ten, Big XII and SEC to take a pass.