The sports scene at UConn has been thrown into a state of flux recently
by a number of factors.   First and foremost is the status of the St. Louis
NFL bid for an expansion team.   (The NFL yesterday refused to take action
on naming the second expansion franchise.)   IF St. Louis gets a team,
and IF its the right group in St. Louis that gets it,  THEN Orthwein will
probably sell the Patriots to Fran Murray (a former owner) who will then
move them to Hartford to occupy a stadium which the CT Legislature has voted
to build (if they come).   The Mass legislature,  by contrast,  can't make
up its mind about anything in order to keep the Patriots.
 
     Uh ... oh, yeah,  this is about college hockey.   Bear with me.  IF
the Patriots come to Hartford,  UConn will undoubtedly raise its football
program from 1-AA (and losing more than $ 1 million a year) to 1-A at a
fairly hefty first cost in more rides and a large increase in womens'
sports spending to abide by the PC rules now in force.   The idea, of course,
is that a 1-A program will eventually make money instead of lose it.
The thinking in CT is that we're getting used -- and none of this is going
to happen.   If it doesn't,  there MAY be the funds to upgrade the hockey
program.   If it DOES happen,  though,  my guess is that all available funds
will be sucked into upgrading football.
 
     NOW,  the plot is even better than that.   Apparently Brian Cavanaugh's
contention that NESCAC is about to pull out of the ECAC East is very real.
I have it from a very reliable source in Storrs that there will be a meeting
of the Division I no-scholarship schools and the Division II schools in mid
November to discuss what to do if that happens.   A new league is very
possible.   What happens to New England College and North Adams,  etc.,
under that scenario is a real problem.   None of the former schools wants
to leave anyone out in the cold.
 
     The effect of the potential NESCAC pull-out is to create a golden
opportunity for the HE if they want to expand.   UConn may well be the
institution they are talking to since there are natural Big East and
Yankee Conference ties and rivalries between UConn and HE schools.
(You may recall the UConn band playing for Providence College
at the NC$$ regional in Minn. a few years ago).   My source
did not *volunteer* a comment in this direction -- and I had not seen the
Machnick post at the time.:-)    I can only say that I sincerely hope
that this is one rumor that comes true.   I will try to elicit a response
from someone in Storrs soon.
 
     -- Dick Tuthill