Cal, Stanford and SMU to the ACC

[le]

People are humans and will act in their self interest. I'm convinced both RP and Cooley were both looking a bit beyond their NCAA games against UC and Kentucky. Surely not intentional by either of them, but some level of disinterest is reasonable to assume . Both teams IMO had no juice and seemed emotionally flat. See PC in the BE Tourney as well. I know several hard core PC alums from my HS and they both share the same opinion. As Mick said as well, the Iona Board turned very sour on RP after the UC game.

[Truthful]

Iona fans are delusional if they thought they could beat UConn . To turn on Pitino after the success he had is ridiculous . Like him or not ,Rick Pitino is a Hall of Fame coach with numerous Final Four appearances . Did they actually think he would remain in an entry level conference like the MAAC ? They should be thankful for the success and exposure he brought to their program . I'm sure Iona will continue to be a force in the MAAC .

[jhart]

Masiello and others joining Pitino.
Tim Cluess' brother is going to speak with him.
Family lost another sibling last year.

[jhart]

PC still looking at candidates for Cooley's job.

[MICKEY]

Interesting piece on Pitino on Foxnews.com. The reader comments are unmerciful!


https://www.foxnews.com/sports/rick-pit ... ext-season

[le]

English's record is close to .500 at GMU in his two years as HC. HUH ?
Rick Barnes's reco ?

Jon Rothstein
@JonRothstein
Sources: George Mason's Kim English is finalizing a contract to be the next head coach at Providence. Official announcement expected soon.

[NU1971]

JHart- I didn't know there was another Cluess brother still living. I remember Hank and Greg, as I attended St. Mary's and the Cluess name was "poison" to us. The Gaels could never beat St. Agnes for as long as I could remember. Ed Molloy, Crotty, Frank Alagia and others were just a bit better than any of our players and they made their mark then and beyond. Not until Tim coached the Gaels did they become a powerhouse. I got to see them win the Class B title in Glens Falls the year they took the championship. Can't recall if it was before Danny Greene or not.

[jhart]

Hank and Tim are left of the five as the best athlete, Mary Ann, passed last year.
Hank retired to LV 20 years ago and was playing in a softball tournament in Utah this week at 78.

[le]

As the BE welcomes two new coaches to the ranks, the league's flagship school UC is considering joining the B12 mainly for football. The Huskies cannot continue long-term as an independent in football due to significant revenues losses. It will continue to drain the athletic budget if a decision not made regarding the football program.

Can it be done as an independent program to win a nantional championship? “No,” he said immediately. At this point, Head football coach Jim Mora only very gently and briefly backtracked, mentioning independent Notre Dame as a viable outlier. (The Irish play a handful of ACC football games a year and are members of the conference in other sports.)

UConn isn’t Notre Dame, of course. UConn is the college football fixer-upper that Mora was hired to turn into something relevant and competitive. It was at the time, and remains, one of the most difficult jobs in college sports, especially with the program on Independent Island surrounded by the high tide of the Power Five.

As head football coach Mora spoke, though, others on campus were preparing to at least consider the possibility of conference realignment that would place the athletic department, and therefore the football program, in the top tier of college athletics. The Big 12 is looking to stabilize its place in the Power Five landscape through expansion, and UConn is being considered as a member for, among other things, its Northeast footprint and substantial basketball success.

An invitation could be in the works. It could come over the summer. It might never come at all. And if that’s the case, there is the possibility for another opportunity once the music starts up again, given the continually shifting nature of an unstable national model. But for now, there appears to be some fire under all the Big 12 smoke, and UConn might have to consider leaving the Big East and its basketball-centric platform

.
Full article. :

https://www.ctinsider.com/sports/uconn/ ... tipdensecp

Big 12 Basketball Coaches Reportedly ‘In Favor’ Of Expansion With UConn

https://kslsports.com/501981/big-12-exp ... 20July%201.

[le]

It isn't 1985 anymore in the Big East as nostalgia serves no useful purpose in college sports. From a business perspective, UConn to the B12 makes perfect sense with football being king in college sports.

If the rest of the Pac-12 holds together and doesn’t follow Colorado, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark would like to target Big East basketball member and football independent Connecticut. There is belief within the conference that Yormark is far more enamored with the Huskies than other members. “There is some work to do on studying UConn,” a Big 12 source cautions.

But Yormark might have gained further credibility and trust by delivering Colorado. That could empower his pitch to pursue UConn, a basketball gold mine in the northeast but a football underachiever over the last decade.

https://www.ctpost.com/opinion/article/ ... 253948.php

https://www.si.com/college/2023/07/26/c ... -to-big-12