The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
UConn bus to New York was just the ticket
NEW YORK — The bus carrying the UConn contingent was pulled over Wednesday on the way to Manhattan. We’ve all been there. We don’t all have Geno Auriemma riding shotgun.
“I don’t know where we were,” athletic director Dave Benedict said. “Even if I did, I wouldn’t say. All of a sudden, we got pulled off the side of the road.”
Sirens. Flashing lights. Evidently the bus was in a left lane when it shouldn’t have been.
“I stood up and said, ‘Hey, Geno, come take care of this,’ ” Benedict said. “As the police officer walked up to the window, he was saying, ‘You’re weren’t supposed to be doing this … I need your license and registration and insurance.’
“Geno walks up, pokes his head around and goes, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ It’s ‘Hey Coach, how you doing?’ Five minutes later we were gone. ‘Stay out of that lane. Slow down.’ We were on our way. Geno is obviously well recognized around the state.”
Dan Hurley, a popular hire to replace Kevin Ollie, but not nearly as popular as Auriemma’s 11 national championships, said he was texting recruits when the bus was pulled over.
“Recruiting is so important to us right now, I didn’t really care,” Hurley said. “It wasn’t my ticket. I thought it was a flat tire. I saw Geno get up and heard, ‘What’s up, Coach?’ He has a lot of equity. I’ve got to stay below the speed limit. I think they would have given us the ticket if I went up.”
All in all, it was a good ride down to the Sixth Borough, Benedict said
Yes, there is a Sixth Borough if you recall UConn’s recent marketing campaign trumpeting the Huskies as part of New York. There is not a Power Six.
UConn’s mission to extend its athletic tentacles into New York is not a new one. With the dissolution of the old Big East, easy entry to March in the Big City disappeared.
No more Georgetown and
Ray Allen. No more Syracuse and six overtimes. No more Kemba Walker breaking Gary McGhee’s ankles. “Iconic moments in UConn history,” Hurley called them.
Former athletic director Warde Manuel and president Susan Herbst made it clear a handful of years ago. They want in on New York. They love New York. They will conduct a campaign with billboards promoting UConn.
As Hurley, Auriemma, Randy Edsall and Jim Penders stepped out of state and into Hearst Tower on Wednesday night for the third leg of the Coaches Road Show, the thirst to catch New York’s fancy had not changed.
Yet never has the will to build its presence here, to recruit its top athletes, to build relationships, to coerce donors to open their pocketbooks been more important. With no inclusion in a Power Five conference, the great cartel that allows the chosen few to gorge on billions — yes, UConn needs New York.
“Look where we’re at,” Benedict said. “This is the biggest stage some would say in the world.
“It’s not just coming here, it’s filling venues. Our fans love it here. We’re going to make every effort to play here on a regular basis.”
Benedict said he has an idea for New York rattling around in his head that he hopes to bring to fruition.
“I’m not going to talk about it right now,” Benedict said.
Auriemma peered out the window of the 44th floor of Hearst Tower and looked at Central Park.
“Seven o’clock, New York City, it’s beautiful,” Auriemma said. “Tonight I’m going to drive up to New London to make sure Mike DiMauro doesn’t have a heart attack.”
DiMauro, of The Day of New London, was critical of UConn for not bringing the Road Show to southeastern Connecticut. Benedict said it will expand to other places in state and maybe Boston next year.
“We’re working on putting together a game in the Garden again next year,” Auriemma said. “We want to play down here as many times as possible. For Connecticut athletics, this is a natural place to be. Anybody who thinks this isn’t part of Connecticut in terms of college sports is crazy. This is as much a part of Connecticut as any place in Connecticut in terms of the number of people down here and how passionate they are about UConn athletics.
“We need to spend more time down here. People are waiting for us to show our face more than when we just play games.”
So Hurley does things like throw out the first pitch at the Mets game on Sunday at Citi Field. He is a natural for this. He grew up on basketball across the Hudson River. His dad, Bob, is a high school coaching legend at St. Anthony. He went to Seton Hall. He coached at St. Benedict’s and later at Wagner in Staten Island. His wife, Andrea, is a Jersey girl.
“This is an area where we’ve got to recruit well if we want to be the UConn of old,” said Hurley, whose team will play three times this coming season at MSG and another at the Prudential Center in Newark. “Recruiting-wise, my dad created an amazing reputation and brand that resonates most in this area.
“If we can get as many games here as we can in the nonconference, we’d love to do it.”
Just as you could hear the Boston in Jim Calhoun’s voice, you can hear Jersey in Hurley’s.
“Looking across the river, seeing Jersey City, where I grew up, you feel home,” Hurley said. “The alumni from here, who work here, I can relate to them. They can understand my accent and how quickly I talk.”
The bottom line, well, obviously is the bottom line. The school is courting donors and sponsorships and ticket-holders. And Wednesday presented the biggest stage.
“Because we’re not in a conference anymore that plays in and around here, playing here nonconference is very important to us,” said Benedict, who estimated the Road Show will attract 1,000 people this week. “This is a place high school kids dream of playing.”
In the latest figures released in a USA Today study, no public university outside the Power Five had a bigger athletic budget than UConn. Yet the $79.2 million UConn took in also showed that 39 percent of that was subsidized by student fees and various other sources. That $27.2 million was the third most among the D-I schools. Yes, a bite out of the Big Apple can help.
“Two years ago when we played Syracuse (in MSG) we contracted to play them and generated several hundred thousand dollars,” Benedict said. “There’s lot of opportunity here, branding, public relations and financial. Most things in business are about relationships and relationships can’t be one sided. We’ve got to come to our people.”
More relationships means more money. At least on this day, Auriemma saved State U. some.
“When I’m by myself, they don’t give me a pass,” Geno said. “I said to the trooper, I told (the driver), ‘You don’t belong over there. I don’t know why he didn’t listen. You can’t give him a ticket. He doesn’t know any better.’ ”