UConn Director of Athletics Confirms Big 12’s Courtship ‘Pause’

It's nice to know that you're wanted and have options in the new landscape of college athletics, but we're not going to the Big 12. According to the Director of Athletics at the University of Connecticut, UConn will remain in the Big East for the foreseeable future.

David Benedict, the Director of Athletics at the University of Connecticut, has issued a statement on uconnhuskies.com, giving us an update about the recent discussions that have taken place with the Big 12 as they consider UConn's possible membership. It appears as if it was just a brief flirtation. According to Benedict -

"Undoubtedly, many of you have followed recent media reports about the Big 12's renewed interest in UConn as a conference member. It is always our objective to put UConn in the very best position for future success, so we did engage in exploratory dialogue with the Big 12. Ultimately, the Big 12 determined that it will pause on conversations about membership expansion."

Benedict's statement goes on to reaffirm UConn's commitment to the Big East, highlighting UConn's 36 Big East Conference Championship titles since returning to the conference in 2020, and recent back-to-back NCAA Men's Basketball National Championships.

The Big 12 was formed in 1994, and is one of the Power Four, with members Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, UC-Boulder, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, Utah, and West Virginia. UConn has proven that they can compete with any team in D1 men's and women's college basketball, softball, baseball, and hockey, but football? There's the rub.