When the University of Connecticut is officially announced Thursday as a new/repeat member of the Big East Conference, it will provide a fitting full-circle moment to what has been the Decade of Realignment in college athletics.



In 2010, Nebraska agreed to join the Big Ten. Then Colorado and Utah announced their moves to the Pac-12. Over the next couple of years, every conference joined in — radically rewiring the circuitry nationwide. Geography was flouted, rivalries were extinguished, revenues have spiked and a new power grid was established.



As the 2010s wind down, it’s time to ask: How has the Decade of Realignment played out? College sports are richer than ever, but it’s debatable whether they’re better than ever. While there is more money, there also is far less lockstep acceptance of the college model. All those massive media rights deals spawned by realignment came with an unintended cynicism tax that has been quite costly.



But that’s the macro level. The question here today is micro: Who has the Decade of Realignment blessed, and who has it punished? A list of winners and losers:

LOSERS

UConn

Despite the news of the week, wherein the Huskies wisely reclaimed their basketball identity and moved back to a league that will nurture it, this is still a school that blew its big chance. UConn was on the cusp of Atlantic Coast Conference membership in 2011 and ’12, circling and waiting for an opening — yet when Maryland left and the opportunity was there, the school’s football program had cratered at precisely the wrong time. Louisville swooped into The Power Five Club, UConn was outflanked and the damage appears to be permanent. After playing in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, the school made arguably the most costly football hire in history (Paul Pasqualoni), and what followed has been two more bad hires and eight straight losing seasons. Last year’s 1-11 football squad was literally the worst defensive team in FBS history. Now the football future appears to be a test drive of independence — spoiler alert: It won’t go well — with no good fallback options. UConn can reconnect with its hoops DNA, but it could have had much more to go along with it.

Pac-12

Leagues starting their own TV networks has been a key element of Power Five realignment. The Pac-12 Network’s distribution failure has been a persistent anchor, and the combination of lagging revenue distribution with big expenses (commissioner Larry Scott is the highest paid in college athletics, at $5.3 million) has created a widening Power Five money gap. That coincides with an extended run of revenue-sport futility: The league has missed the College Football Playoff two straight years and three of the past four; it hasn’t won a men’s basketball title since 1997; and it has placed just one team in the men’s hoops Final Four this decade. This isn’t directly attributable to the additions of Utah or Colorado, of course, but the Decade of Realignment has become a Decade of Retreat in marquee sports.

View photos Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has been under fire for the conference's revenue and his exorbitant salary. (Credit: USAT) More

Nebraska

The decade’s first domino hasn’t created much of an impact since falling. After an extended run at the forefront of the Big Eight, the Cornhuskers were always an uneasy fit in the Texas-centric, hybrid Big 12. But changing conference addresses has failed to restore the school’s football prominence. After making the 2012 Big Ten title game — and surrendering 70 points to Wisconsin — Nebraska hasn’t won a division title since. The Huskers’ football record the past four years is 23-27, their worst 50-game record since 1957-61.

Brigham Young

There is only one flourishing football independent, and BYU isn’t it. The Cougars announced their intention to leave the Mountain West in 2010, and what followed has been a mediocre decade of treading water (and a near-drowning in 2017). Hopes of joining the Big 12 fizzled a couple years ago, and a lot of BYU’s drawbacks then will be drawbacks come future realignment. The program is free of Group of Five limitations, but also lacking its potential bonus — a guaranteed New Year’s Six bowl bid for the top team in that group. Scheduling is an adventure, as this year’s slate indicates: An opening gauntlet against Utah, Tennessee, USC and Washington, followed by a hodgepodge of opponents that make sense (Boise State, Utah State, San Diego State) and those that don’t (Liberty, Idaho State and UMass on successive November Saturdays).

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