Big East looking to expand to ten-team football league
by Mike Rutherford on Nov 2, 2010 5:03 PM EDT
in Football
Email
PrintHere's the press release:
PHILADELPHIA -- The BIG EAST Conference submitted the results of its extensive self-analysis and evaluation of the college athletics environment today at its annual Conference Board of Directors meeting. Based on those results, the BIG EAST presidents agreed that the interests of each of the conference's 16 member institutions would be served by increasing the number of Bowl Subdivision football-playing members to 10. They unanimously approved the process to evaluate the terms and conditions for potential expansion candidates.
"Today, our Board of Directors affirmed a set of key strategic initiatives, including expansion, designed to enhance membership stability and maximize our value," stated Commissioner John Marinatto.
Marinatto said the conference will refrain from commenting further on the expansion process.
The conference has already asked Villanova to move to D-1, so my immediate thought is that the league's current best-case-scenario (Notre Dame's not coming) is adding the Wildcats and TCU. In this situation it would be interesting to see whether or not the league would consider dropping a school in order to keep basketball at 16 teams. Get nervous Depaul.
If either or both of the teams in Plan A don't pan out, then you look to Memphis. After that it's the uninspiring Central Florida, East Carolina, Temple, Houston, whoever crowd.
If Villanova isn't one of the two teams added for football, then the smart money is on the basketball conference expanding to 18.
Should be...fun?
27 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Gary Patterson
Don’t you fucking leave. Don’t do it.
by crazygameofpoker on Nov 2, 2010 5:07 PM EDT reply actions
Honestly all these schools are uninspiring
with the exception of TCU and that’s just because of current football success. I see the reasoning for the expansion, but on the negative side it could have bad implications for b-ball. ‘Nova makes sense because they are already in the BE, have a good I-AA football team (though they could quickly turn into the Hilltoppers if not careful and that won’t be good for anyone). I’d be more excited if other schools were mentioned, but I’m unsure who that would be. I don’t want any C-USA schools. Period.
MnPDX
As a WKU Alum
I resent your comment no matter how true and hurtful it my be. Besides the tops already have 100% more wins this year than last.
by VilleFan4Life on Nov 2, 2010 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions
as I learned on CC a few months ago
that would be infinite more wins than last year, not 100%.
CC is suprisingly engineer & Centre grad heavy (which means full of douchebags that condescendingly point out mathematical errors— AMIRIGHT? HUH? YEEEAH YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT)
by UL is my hot hot sex on Nov 2, 2010 7:08 PM EDT up reply actions
Whatever
some of us wanted to have fun and party our asses off for 4 and ahalf years in clown college. Which as I have said before my clown college is the same place Dr. Ramsey attended. So BOOOYAAA!!!!
by VilleFan4Life on Nov 2, 2010 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions
"current" football success?
TCU has been very good in football for a decade. Maybe it is just Patterson, but it’s not a flash in the pan at this point. It’s not like if the PAC-10 added Hawaii 3 years ago because they made the Sugar Bowl. I would like TCU, not love them. But that’s how I feel about all of these teams, at best. The draw back is always their basketball programs, but it’s not like we need another great (or even good) basketball program.
I see the reasoning for the expansion, but on the negative side it could have bad implications for b-ball.
Indeed, look what happened to the ACC. They added a bunch of football schools and ceded their predominance in roundball to the Big East. I hope we don’t follow them too far down that road.
"Screech, you CAN'T elope!"
"Who are you calling a cantaloupe, you melonhead?"
Bad implications for basketball?
Adding TCU and, say, ECU/UCF is not going to have an impact on Big East basketball. First, they don’t affect how great the top programs are: UConn, Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, etc. It is incomparable to the ACC, because they have always been basically two teams, and one or both of them have been down for most of the years since they raided the Big East. THAT is why the ACC has been down, not because they now have Miami and Florida St.
Secondly, if we get to 18, we’re probably splitting the basketball conference, anyway. If Nova joins in football, half of the basketball conference will be perennial Top 15 teams, and that’s not mentioning Top-25-threats West Virginia and Cincinnati. Seriously, look at this list and tell me that the basketball conference would take a hit:
Connecticut
Syracuse
Louisville
Pittsburgh
Villanova
West Virginia
Cincinnati
Rutgers
South Florida
TCU
yeah, looks pretty watered down to me…??
Adding one school isn’t going to significantly water down the conference, but as the old Chinese saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Like I said, I hope we don’t follow the ACC too far down the road of sacrificing top-to-bottom basketball quality for the sake of football money. The ACC was the strongest basketball conference in the NCAA from top to bottom for years. Wake, NC State, and Maryland come imediately to mind as schools that had strong programs. They added a bunch of basketball-weak schools to upgrade their football image, and the result is a weaker conference overall.
"Screech, you CAN'T elope!"
"Who are you calling a cantaloupe, you melonhead?"
A weaker overall basketball conference.
I know many won’t agree with me here, but I also know that many will:
Fuck basketball.
Not completely, obviously; we don’t want to go that far. We still have a ton of basketball heritage and our history is predominantly basketball and that’s not going to change. But unfortunately, basketball doesn’t pay the bills. There’s a reason Kansas was left wondering if they were going to have a dancing partner when Nebraska and Colorado split and there was talk Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma, and A&M were going to follow. Losing Pitt, Syracuse, Rutgers, UConn, Cincy, or any combination thereof would be more than just “bad” for basketball anyway, and that’s precisely what will happen if the Big East loses its BCS bid. The bottom line is that we need more (and better) football schools just to keep the lights on.
Besides, we could do worse than be in an ACC-level basketball conference. Last time I checked, the previous two national champions came from that conference. Clearly, we’re not talking about a PAC-10 level quality drop here.
Plus
We get one more easy win on the season. What’s wrong with that?
by REALISTICCARDSFAN on Nov 3, 2010 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Hey Hey Hey Hey, E-C, U Look So Good To Me
I would absolutely love to have ECU as an addition to our conference. Their basketball might be shakey but they are serious about football!
Everyone receives an F
for not jumping on the ECU Bandwagon!
ND needs to go
The Big East needs to kick out ND. U of L would win more Big East titles in the olympic sports with them gone. They won’t share the football bucks with the league, its time for them to go.
A-effin-men
To that. I’m so sick of ND and their high and mighty bs. Join both sports or gtfo.
by twistedwedge on Nov 3, 2010 7:24 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Agreed.
Oh and here is a clue ND fans, your football team is not relevant anymore. Get off your high horse.
-Dustin
Adding TCU and Houston would be the best option, particularly short term.
Yes, Houston is a C-USA school, but it’s typically the best in the conference, and it’s also a Texas school. Neither TCU or Houston by themselves are enough of a presence in Texas for TV or recruiting, but together it’s a different story. I would imagine that TCU thinks this as well, and unless they think that the MWC can’t get a BCS auto-bid with Boise and Fresno State (in place of BYU and Utah), I would imagine they would push for it to be a package deal. It would be a natural in-state rival, one short trip every year, and one game that they can point to in recruiting that doesn’t involve them traveling one or two time zones away.
Even ND fans are getting worried (or should be)
How long does ND think they’ll still be attractive to NBC if they keep losing like this? I’d be curious to see the Nielsen ratings their games are getting in comparison to the ABC/ESPN games. Didn’t we have some games with pretty good TV ratings back in ’06? They would also fare better in the Big East than the Big Ten. (In my dream world…) …we can do this without messing with basketball.
Understand the Villanova football addition but I'm not really high on TCU for the long term (PROP 19 JOKE)
Memphis has a much, much larger fan base than TCU. They have historical rivalries with old C-USA teams in the BE. It would yield lower travel costs. If the Big East thinks it can motivate Memphis to spend more money to build their football program, Memphis would bring better long term returns for the Big East than TCU, Houston or UCF.
Unfortunately, we need a quick fix.
by UL is my hot hot sex on Nov 3, 2010 1:40 AM EDT reply actions
Memphis has no prospects in terms of quality, though.
Like you said, we need a quick fix, and Memphis just doesn’t get it done. Adding an FCS team and a C-USA team that is probably worse than said FCS team isn’t going to impress the ESPN talking heads or the BCS voters. Not only is Memphis in the gutters now, but many Memphis fans will make no bones about the fact that the AD either doesn’t have the motivation or the knowledge on how to improve the football program or facilities. They may have a larger fan base, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it would lead to (the more important) higher viewership. Louisville-Memphis was relegated to ESPN3 this year, and that was technically a “rivalry” game.
TCU vs. West Virginia (or Pitt, or even Louisville for that matter) isn’t going to be on ESPN3.
And that’s neglecting the recruiting aspects. Tennessee isn’t exactly rich with football talent (compared to Texas, Florida, or California, anyway), and what is there gets snatched up by Tennessee or any of the various other SEC schools. So yes, there is more talent competition in Texas/Oklahoma, but there’s also a lot more to go around, just like Florida (where we have had much success). In the end, I don’t see how you can take Memphis over TCU, Houston, or UCF long term or short term. The other schools offer so much more in terms of immediate quality (UCF received almost as many votes as Syracuse this week), facilities, and long term recruiting. The only inconvenience is travel, but that’s mostly just for existing members, since we’re talking teams from the MWC and C-USA, which travel more than any other conference already. And in the age of airline travel where half the Big East teams play road games on the west coast in non-conference already, I just don’t see how that can be a big factor; it would only be once a season at most for the existing teams.
I think at this point, the only way Memphis should be in the picture is if they’re being compared to UCF, and UCF has Florida, a better current program, a larger fanbase, and better facilities. Easy decision IMO.
Good points
I love UCF’s True Frosh QB (Jeff Godfrey). I think they have a rapidly improving FB program and a decent stadium/following. But will their entire athletic program fit with the Big East? The FB team hasn’t beaten anyone good ever except Alabama in 2000 and they lost the only 3 bowl games they’ve played (sounds a lot like Louisville back in the early 90s right?). So I’m not sold on UCF just yet.
If TCU joins a BCS AQ Conference, will they remain viable long term? Do enough people watch them on TV to justify the “large TV market” argument? What if they have a rebuilding period? If this is a football-only addition, TCU makes the most sense by far right now. We can’t wait on an organ donor list—we need exploratory surgery today.
The biggest question I have is would any of these schools accept a football-only invitation? Even though the BE is an AQ conference, it’s not a big enough step IMO for the football-only addition scenario. We’ll see how their respective ADs feel about that.
by UL is my hot hot sex on Nov 3, 2010 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Not even an argument
Tcu has been dominant in their conference for years. Lt was a very memorable player there and there is nothing to say that they wouldn’t come into this conference and be one of the top two or three teams every year. It’s an absolute must for them to come or it would be a failure. I think that jousting offense would make for good tv especially on the Thursday night games but ucf wouldnt be a bad choice either. I don’t get the calls for Memphis. It would be great for basketball but the money is in football and they are and would remain to be an absolute bottom feeder.
by gocardsguy on Nov 3, 2010 8:20 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Drop ND get Mizzou.........
a friend suggested this. it sounds great.
As long as we're talking raiding the Big 12 (which, btw, I don't see happening),
Why not Kansas State too? Solid football and good basketball, and decent geography. The only problem, of course, is that they would probably require Kansas come along, which would suck for football but would make people’s heads explode in basketball. It would also mean a couple of current teams would have to get the boot (adios DePaul and Seton Hall).
by CARD_G6 on Nov 3, 2010 12:57 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I was arguing this on CBSSports earlier this year...
I would love to add KState, KU, and Mizzou if the Big 12 continues its implosion as it was predicted back then. KU won the Orange Bowl the year after we did and has just fallen back on hard times. With a good coach, they can get back to where we ourselves are soon heading. And in Basketball, KU in the Big East withthe other powerhouses?! WOW!
by 4ul4life on Nov 4, 2010 8:40 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
