Should UConn Join the Big XII?

            I’ve been following the conference realignment stories that have been circulating since the spring about UConn sports.

            UConn athletics gave us all a gift in 2023 with the resurrection of the football program and the rise to blue blood status by the men’s basketball program.

            If you have been following along, conference realignment is continually recreating the landscape of college athletics from what we once knew. UConn’s return to the Big East was likely the spark that was needed to propel its rise back to men’s basketball prominence.

            But now the Big XII Conference seems to be calling with promises of revenue that dwarfs what the flagship university earns as a member of the Big East. UConn is a national university both athletically and academically. It belongs in a conference that enhances its brand nationally.

            The Yankee Conference days are over. And more and more it looks like the Big East days are probably over too.

            The Big XII promises to enrich the athletic department as it positions itself as the number three conference in college athletics behind the Big 10 and the SEC. UConn missed its Big 10 opportunity when that conference took Maryland and Rutgers as its East Coast representatives back in 2014. There does not seem to be another opportunity on the horizon to join that juggernaut even though that is where the Huskies belong.

            The next best opportunity is to head to the basketball-centric Big XII where national champions Baylor and Kansas reside along with recent finalist Texas Tech. While traveling to the Plains and Southwest will not be ideal for UConn’s athletes, the competition will drive better recruiting, and the national exposure will create greater opportunities for NIL revenues for athletes.

            There certainly is a yearning to go back to the grand days of the Big East when John Thompson, Lou Carnesecca, and Jim Boeheim patrolled the sidelines along with our own Jim Calhoun. But those days are passed. In today’s college athletics, if we want our flagship to remain relevant, the only option is to move to the Big XII if the opportunity presents itself.

            Big changes seem to be coming now that the U.S. Congress is considering federal legislation regarding NIL and opportunities for athletes. Already Congress and its buddies in big business are looking for ways to restrict the opportunities of athletes while also limiting their ability to transfer.

            If athletes are going to be stuck, and if their opportunities are going to be restricted, then the Huskies will need to have a presence in a national conference where nationally televised games against Kansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State in order to ensure continued recruiting success.

            And in a market where NIL is a key driver, student athletes will have a better chance of developing a national brand in a national conference where the New York market is entirely their own. The Big XII will hopefully be calling soon. UConn should jump on board.