Big East College Basketball Marketing: #14 U Conn

As you know, I'm pretty pumped to continue diving deep into the programs of the Big East Conference. The history (and the today) of this conference is amazing. Every squad has a chance to define what they stand for, and to sell the Big East in the process.

We're going to look at how programs are communicating to young athletes from a digital point of view. We dive into this because websites and digital marketing create an opportunity for coaches and programs to share what they stand for. The internet is always there, and always on. And, as they do on the court, the best programs take advantage of opportunities.

Thus far our journey has shown us #16 DePaul and #15 Seton Hall.

Let's keep moving.

#14 U Conn

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: Loved seeing Recruits and Letterwinners built into the main nav. It's opposite ends of the spectrum, and the contrast is nice.

Weaknesses: Depth. Really, everywhere.

Full Scouting Report:

I had high hopes hitting the U Conn site (as I picked them second in my Pre-Looking at this predictions). U Conn has won 2 titles in the past 11 years, including 2004. And they were back in the Final Four last April. They are a team that reloads each year. So I clicked into the home page (here).




Boom, I noticed the Recruits menu in a hurry and absolutely loved the reveal of sports beneath it. Very solid. Now U Conn knows you as not just a Recruit, but rather as a Basketball (or other) Recruit.



What I didn't love though is the content beneath. As you can see, they know you are a recruit and they know your sport but you don't get any message. You get a form (shown here).




OK, back on the home page, you see a callout for Husky Vision. Diving in here takes you to this popup window - the chance to watch select videos across all sports. I like the fact that these videos are around, I just wish they were either in the site or in a U Conn YouTube channel. To me, this feels disconnected from the rest of the site.



OK, I moved on to the basketball main page, link here. I love the UConn in the NBA tout. A simple and powerful message.




But, clicking in, takes you to a text list and links to NBA.com. There's nothing wrong with this, I just want more. Tell me about Ray Allen's days at UConn!




U Conn is definitely coached by a legend. I was very eager to dive into the coaching staff, to learn a little about the legend that is Coach Jim Calhoun. While I got his bio (shown here), I missed a deeper experience to feel what he means to the program. And I know Coach Calhoun would be very involved in any key recruiting message.




The basketball section also offers access to additional messages in this window. I'll highlight a couple.



As I mentioned earlier, I was super excited to check out U Conn due to their history and current success. I clicked on History and got here. As you can see, we get facts and no emotion, no insight.



The U Conn Media guide is shown here, you can view and print this in sections as PDFs.


OK, I couldn't find any mention of Twitter on the U Conn Athletics site, but U Conn has a Twitter page (shown below and linked here). They have around 900 followers, and honestly it's a stream of game updates on teams across the University. It's a nice looking page, I'm just hoping that rather than a stream of updates they begin to tap into the power of the community and passion that's out there around the Huskies.


Which is what I think is missing and what would add so much. U Conn has a history and fan base that most squads would die for. They just need to hold nothing back and share this to the world.

Come back tomorrow as we keep rolling through the Big East.

Andy