9/7/2024 UCONN Football Pregame Show Interview

David Benedict once again here's Bob Joyce and yes before mention Mr Benedict is with us in the doghouse the Clutter Farms dogghouse we thank them for their sponsorship once again this season first of all how are you and welcome to a new football season good I I feel like I'm in the dogghouse no well you should you are physically and literally right but no no Hey listen I'm I'm uh I'm jacked up we got a great crowd um you know here here we here we go it's time yep the one thing you were pointing out was as we were sitting here is the lineup right now that we're seeing in front of us to get in all students very important for you to see students in this ballpark yeah look we we've got one of the largest maybe the largest freshman uh class ever at the University of Connecticut and we've got a ton of tickets out to our students so hopefully we'll get a get a significant turnout um today it certainly looks that way from the line that we're seeing forming right in front of us and you know look you know there's a part of today that we obviously want to secure the the victory that's that's the most important thing but the way you win is is also important we got to put on a show today David it's been an interesting what last couple of months for you maybe a little bit of temporary closure coming Thursday what's that been like for you to go through that once again yeah look Bob it's it's um it's been an interesting Dynamic uh time in college athletics in general you know forget the the local stuff it it's just a very very uh unique and uh you know the the the rapid change that is ongoing currently in my 25 plus years of being in the industry so that that in itself is uh really I I don't want to say it's uh unsettling but it's it's uncertain and so we have to do everything we can to be flexible to be creative and to find ways to manage whatever it is that that's being thrown at us in a way that we protect you know the priorities that we have for our athletic department which is to to provide transformational opportunities to young people and compete for championships but you know as it relates to to all the other external conversation about Yukon specifically look we're we're very fortunate that we put ourselves back in a place where our brand is valued at the national level uh in in many many ways and it's it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody that we're looked at as a value ad so you know that that part of it is good I I know that the the conversation for for lots of different whether it's individuals or or you know um conferences you know our conference you know that that that part of it is disturbing um cuz it's disruptive in a way but it it's just part of the business uh that we live in you know every every major conference besides the SEC is has a national footprint and just like we were talking about earlier about everything changing and really the NCAA structure everything's changing in conferences as well so uh we've talked about this many times the only thing that's constant is changing itself Big 12 is what we're talking about for those who have been kind of living under a rock in the state of Connecticut when it comes to Athletics around because it is the biggest story in the state of Connecticut a lot of people love the Big East and when we got back there we super excited about you know everything that's happened and what's going to happen in the future especially basketball speaking but you were very transparent I was actually surprised how transparent you were in the whole process of you having conversations with the big 12 and then this past week saying those conversations has come to an end um you also have the Big East balance at the same time as these conversations are going on what else can you just tell us about the Big 12 situation regarding Yukon and with Big East right there as well you know Ben I I think I've already stated it we we're we're a um we're a national brand we are the the data and the statistics about about our fan engagement are unbelievable um and and they can only get better with respect to the fact that to maintain their their student population because there's actually a population Cliff just for college eligible age individuals and so there's less people that are going to college because there's less people at at that age group and so while everyone's fighting to try to maintain we're growing um which is pretty amazing we have an unbelievable brand we have an unbelievable academic institution and offering at the University of Connecticut so um we're an attractive uh you know potential member for other conferences and you know it's my job and and certainly we love our affiliation with the Big East it's been a great uh return for us I think you know over 30 championships in the last 3 years um you know we're we're excited about our affiliation with the Big East but if someone's going to reach out and wants to have a conversation about um a a conference affiliation we're going to we're going to have those conversations whether or not it's the right opportunity for us you know we'll have to uh to put our heads together and and see if that's the case the the Big 12 uh this is the second summer in a row that we've had conversations with with that with that conference and obviously we know the conference commissioner uh has a significant interest thinks that we provide or would provide a lot of value to their conference but uh at this point in time we're we're excited about where we're at today and we're going to continue to uh to do what we do few more minutes of David Benedict director of Athletics at Yukon here in the CLA Farms doghouse Bob Joyce B Darnell here um today for folks coming into the stadium for the first time there's some new signage on the field the stor is Central nil initiative to see that that's something new and um I think other schools have done it but at least Yukon was the first to show it that we're doing it on the field yeah look it's a it's a new age and as we as we progress through the the transformation in this Enterprise and and student athletes are being given more opportunities to leverage their own name image and likeness um we're going to continue to have to be uh creative as it relates to to helping uh them take advantage of that and so store Central is an entity that is really was created uh by a couple individuals who we we sincerely appreciate their commitment to to Yukon Athletics I hope that everyone that's listening if you're not a current subscriber to store Central we hope that you'll consider doing that because all of that support goes back to the student athlet uh in the way of creating opportunities for them and name image en liken so uh putting the logo on the field was just another iteration of that and uh hopefully people that aren't familiar with store Central when they come to the game today or they're watching on TV we'll will will look at that and say hey what store Central if they don't already know and they and they'll check it out so look we're we're excited about all the support that our student athletes um are getting but but there's there's C need the more so all you companies uh within the state of Connecticut you know please uh think about getting involved in creating opportunities to engage with our student influence EXL Center might be getting an upgrade we're going to spend a lot of money to get not not might it's going to talk in the the affirmative how much of a role did you have in any of that planning and what are you expecting to see when that's all said in done you know our only role you know specifically was really just uh collaborating with uh the the folks that are in charge of the project uh primarily the Oak View group um and and uh Mike freemouth with uh the crda it was is really just making sure that the plans that they have to renovate um Excel well actually it's not exceling right right whatever it's going to be yeah the the place downtown I'm I'm sure there's going to be a great opportunity more options and and I think if you look at the the Civic Center as well as our oncampus facility gamp Pavilion you know the one thing that we're really lacking is premium opportunities and you know regardless of of how you like to enjoy an athletic event people are looking for those premium opportunities and they'll spend money if you have the type of experiences um that we hope that as we invest this money you know in addition to a lot of other things will create opportunities where we can drive more Revenue um because we're we're in a in a stage where resources are are very important and so we've got to do things uh for our fans that are going to create uh experiences that they'll want to invest more money and we we couldn't uh be more appreciative of our fans uh we're sold out on the men's men's side uh both at Excel and GLE this year and the women uh we we've sold more season tickets than we have in the decade so uh all of that is is great news but I I think the re Renovations will give us opportunities to to produce more because people will have uh a different offering than what they've had previously awesome stuff as always David will join us each and every home game two hours before kickoff so our next one will be the 21st be around 5 30 cuz that's a night game David always a pleasure to have you here on board we appreciate you stopping by and enjoy the day today yeah thank you to all the fans uh that are out now and um look we we uh we need you this this team needs you and we look forward to seeing you in your seats uh early today and making a lot of noise go Huskies there you go David Benedict director of Athletics with us here on the Yukon game day we're going to visit with the alumni Spotlight not one but two former huskies and they live in the well they did live in the same house for many years those are the Myers Norman Tommy coming up next here on Fox Sports 979 Hartford and am 1300 in New