MAC and Conference USA don’t want UConn football
UConn is moving back to the Big East, driven primarily by basketball, and the options for the football team are already dwindling.
A recent report pointed to UConn heading back home to the Big East Conference in 2020, and according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, the conference’s presidents approved the invitation and acceptance of the school as a member on Monday morning.
In leaving the AAC, UConn most notably will be bringing their men’s and women’s basketball programs back to the Big East. The football program hasn’t been nearly as successful, with a 4-20 record two seasons into Randy Edsall’s second tenure as head coach, but it’s still a marquee sport in a big picture sense.
However, the Big East does not sponsor football and that leaves the UConn football program in limbo. They could join a conference, or become an independent.
The MAC and Conference USA immediately became potential new homes for UConn football. But according to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, those conferences are not immediately interested in adding what would be a football-only member.
By the way, no immediate interest from @MACSports or @ConferenceUSA in UConn in football.
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) June 22, 2019
The MAC (12) and Conference USA (14) each currently have an even number of teams, and there is also a geography issue.
As cited by College Football Talk, Buffalo is the MAC’s closest school to Storrs, Connecticut (423 miles) and they are well separated geographically from the other conference members. It’s even more spread out in C-USA, with Marshall the closest school (450 miles) to Connecticut and that school itself is 350 miles away from Middle Tennessee.
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For what it’s worth, the AAC has already put it out there they are not open to retaining UConn as a football-only member. So all signs point to the program joining Notre Dame, Army, New Mexico State, BYU, Liberty and UMass as a football independent in 2020.