12 Reasons Why UConn Will Regret the New Big East

“Why does Rice play Texas?” John F. Kennedy once famously asked, in his famous speech about going to the moon. “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

I grew up as a UConn fan because UConn chased the impossible and made it reality.

My family moved to Hebron, Connecticut in the fall of 1989, just a couple months before Gampel Pavilion opened. I will never forget my first visit to that arena, because it felt audacious. “They’re building an arena here? In Storrs? 15 minutes from my house? There’s nothing here!”

That audacious spirit never wavered. Jim Calhoun believed UConn could win national titles in men’s basketball, and they did. Geno Auriemma believe UConn could win national titles in women’s basketball, and they did. Former athletic director Lew Perkins believed football held the key to turning UConn into an athletic goliath like Michigan. He got a stadium built. Randy Edsall took them to South Bend and beat Notre Dame.

Unfortunately, the demise of the real Big East changed how UConn’s athletic department, and its fans, viewed a challenge. No longer did they seek to make the impossible possible. Instead, they looked longingly to the past and wished for those good ol’ days to return.