Around the Big East

dk423 said:
I am pretty confident none of the ACC schools are going to de-promote their football to D1-AA or go independent. I think it's a hopeless endeavor to hope for that.

Once the ACC schools we think are going to leave (UNC, UVA, VA Tech, NC State, Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame), I am 99% confident the departments leftover would much rather team up with: UC-Berkeley, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado, Stanford, Oregon and Washington (assuming those three are still around for now) then get rid of football altogether and join private schools with almost no research. Duke will value being in a major conference for academic affiliation/research partnering/tv publicity. The only school that would make half-sense is Wake Forest, but I'm sure they'll follow Duke where ever they go, and they're actually a half-decent program anyway. Boston College/Pitt/Syracuse are proud of their football tradition, they aren't scrapping it.

And if you're Cincy, Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor, wouldn't you rather be in that conference vs. the Big 12? I can see ESPN trying to salvage their ACC network investment by going for this.

Editing to add this tweet, a great follow about college realignment in general. I did not see the tweet before writing but he's spoken about it before:
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I'd like to see a Pac-12-ACC union for football and only football.

For every other sport -- basketball included -- anyone left homeless in next round of greed should join regionally sensible conferences, or even return to the days of 8- or 9- team conferences.
 
L J S A said:
I'd like to see a Pac-12-ACC union for football and only football.

For every other sport -- basketball included -- anyone left homeless in next round of greed should join regionally sensible conferences, or even return to the days of 8- or 9- team conferences.
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The beauty of the merger is they probably have enough teams on both coasts to have separate divisions, have a round robin basketball schedule, and then have a few games on the other coast
 
dk423 said:
I am pretty confident none of the ACC schools are going to de-promote their football to D1-AA or go independent. I think it's a hopeless endeavor to hope for that.

Once the ACC schools we think are going to leave (UNC, UVA, VA Tech, NC State, Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame), I am 99% confident the departments leftover would much rather team up with: UC-Berkeley, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State, Washington State, Colorado, Stanford, Oregon and Washington (assuming those three are still around for now) then get rid of football altogether and join private schools with almost no research. Duke will value being in a major conference for academic affiliation/research partnering/tv publicity. The only school that would make half-sense is Wake Forest, but I'm sure they'll follow Duke where ever they go, and they're actually a half-decent program anyway. Boston College/Pitt/Syracuse are proud of their football tradition, they aren't scrapping it.

And if you're Cincy, Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor, wouldn't you rather be in that conference vs. the Big 12? I can see ESPN trying to salvage their ACC network investment by going for this.

Editing to add this tweet, a great follow about college realignment in general. I did not see the tweet before writing but he's spoken about it before:
Click to expand...


Would the Pac leftovers even want to merge with the weakest of the ACC leftovers, though? How would Oregon St vs Boston College make sense for anyone involved? With the travel and low TV ratings/contract I doubt they'd even offer. Most likely scenario for BC or WF IMO is they'll end up in the AAC (or similar), and they then may decide to do what UConn did. BC of course is from the Big East originally, so it's not like it's a foreign concept to them. I've also read rumors that BC is considering downplaying football. Anyone playing football and not in one of the top few conferences once things shake out will be losing money.

Edit: also I wouldn't be 99% certain in any of this. People were 99% sure that UConn preferred the AAC over the Big East.
 
dk423 said:
I am pretty confident none of the ACC schools are going to de-promote their football to D1-AA or go independent. I think it's a hopeless endeavor to hope for that.
ogram anyway. Boston College/Pitt/Syracuse are proud of their football tradition, they aren't scrapping it.

…
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Agree 100%.
 
SJU85 said:
Agree 100%.
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So if schools like WF or BC find themselves in a conference like the AAC (very likely IMO), then there's 0% odds they'd do what UConn did? You don't think it's been worthwhile for UConn to rejoin the Big East and go independent in football?
 
I don’t see any of those ACC schools de-emphasizing (FCS), dispanding, or going the independent route with their football programs.

The use of a football program especially in the south (even in ACC land) is big when you tie it around homecoming, family weekends and other events no matter how much the program loses on paper. Unless you are ND, being an independent is a losing proposition with the exception of UCONN whose program was in taters anyway and was having a negative affect on many of their other athletic programs and budgets while playing in the AAC.

If there was a way for the other teams to go to the BE with their basketball programs and say leave the rest in the AAC, they probably would go for it.
But why would the AAC or any other conference not named the BE, go for that arrangement?

For me personally, I will repeat my mantra, the BE should not admit any FBS schools into the conference. Those who haven’t learned from history are doomed to repeat it.
 
Fair points, though frankly I wonder if it was still worthwhile to add UConn. Forget about emotions here for a second, the BE had a mediocre OOC outside of UConn, but UConn propped up several teams by losing a bunch in conference and of course won the Title which will be paid out in Tournament credits. They'll also be paying $30 million in exit fees if they leave. Obviously I'm sure the Big East is upset at how short this reunion was, but from a business standpoint maybe it still worked out? I'm not 100% sure that the Big East would've done things differently. Every Power conference outside of the Big Ten and SEC has/will be poached within just a couple years. It's not as big of a deal as it was when the Big East was torn apart. Big 12 just lost their two biggest brands on July 1st but they're doing more than fine.

Here's my main point: schools like VCU, Dayton, Saint Louis and Davidson will always be there. Frankly none of them are better now than they were 10 years ago when we last passed over them. There could be some much better options if we wait a few years. If we aren't talking Gonzaga then we need to be patient.
 
ADORAZ said:
So if schools like WF or BC find themselves in a conference like the AAC (very likely IMO), then there's 0% odds they'd do what UConn did? You don't think it's been worthwhile for UConn to rejoin the Big East and go independent in football?
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You’re assuming the other schools are going to the Big 12, right? I actually think Pitt/Louisville/Syracuse/Duke may not find the Big 12 that attractive. It’s a bloated AAC, the academic and research is generally subpar, and they’re going to get stuck playing in Texas half the time. The PAC-12 is a sinking ship but there’s a reason none of the four corner schools bite on the Big 12 offer, despite no TV deal + the inevitable leaving of Oregon/Washington (and I’d argue Stanford, I think ND demands them) to the Big 10.

I don’t think the Big 10 or SEC would be interested in the ACC leftovers but I think those four schools + Wake and BC will stick together. They care about academics and research a lot more than most Big 12 schools, and Presidents ultimately make the decisions.

The other big thing is that ESPN invested *a lot* of money into the Acc network. They won’t let the conference just die.
 
dk423 said:
You’re assuming the other schools are going to the Big 12, right? I actually think Pitt/Louisville/Syracuse/Duke may not find the Big 12 that attractive. It’s a bloated AAC, the academic and research is generally subpar, and they’re going to get stuck playing in Texas half the time. The PAC-12 is a sinking ship but there’s a reason none of the four corner schools bite on the Big 12 offer, despite no TV deal + the inevitable leaving of Oregon/Washington (and I’d argue Stanford, I think ND demands them) to the Big 10.

I don’t think the Big 10 or SEC would be interested in the ACC leftovers but I think those four schools + Wake and BC will stick together. They care about academics and research a lot more than most Big 12 schools, and Presidents ultimately make the decisions.

The other big thing is that ESPN invested *a lot* of money into the Acc network. They won’t let the conference just die.
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Not assuming anything because I don't think anyone predicted moves like UCLA/USC to the Big Ten, for example, but I do think there's a good chance that the stronger ACC schools left out of the Big Ten/SEC would go to the Big 12.

All of what you said could certainly happen, but the main goal of conference realignment is consolidating the biggest brands to earn the biggest paycheck. I'd be very surprised if a school like Syracuse has a Big 12 offer but decides against it to stay with BC and WF. The next major movement in conference realignment will be getting rid of the least valuable schools. Even SEC/Big Ten schools like Vanderbilt shouldn't feel safe.

Anyway, I'm just saying don't panic and raid A10 schools that nobody cares about. There's a chance that better schools will be available within the next few years, and those A10 schools aren't going anywhere. Maybe a Saint Louis will go on a Final Four run or something and the decision will become much easier.
 
ADORAZ said:
Fair points, though frankly I wonder if it was still worthwhile to add UConn. Forget about emotions here for a second, the BE had a mediocre OOC outside of UConn, but UConn propped up several teams by losing a bunch in conference and of course won the Title which will be paid out in Tournament credits. They'll also be paying $30 million in exit fees if they leave. Obviously I'm sure the Big East is upset at how short this reunion was, but from a business standpoint maybe it still worked out? I'm not 100% sure that the Big East would've done things differently. Every Power conference outside of the Big Ten and SEC has/will be poached within just a couple years. It's not as big of a deal as it was when the Big East was torn apart. Big 12 just lost their two biggest brands on July 1st but they're doing more than fine.

Here's my main point: schools like VCU, Dayton, Saint Louis and Davidson will always be there. Frankly none of them are better now than they were 10 years ago when we last passed over them. There could be some much better options if we wait a few years. If we aren't talking Gonzaga then we need to be patient.
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I agree with you that at this point in time, Gonzaga is the only one we should be considering because there is no need to expand. I think the BE can be patient while still formulating contingency plans.
 
Bob Huggins has decided and informed West Virginia University that he never resigned and is asking to be reinstated. Said he left to enter rehab for 20 days. This will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Never a dull moment with him.
 
redmannorth said:
Bob Huggins has decided and informed West Virginia University that he never resigned and is asking to be reinstated. Said he left to enter rehab for 20 days. This will be very interesting to see how this plays out. Never a dull moment with him.
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Built up a collegiate Hall of Fame resume over 50 years, destroyed it and burned all bridges in roughly 50 days. Sad.
 
It is interesting if true that his wife sent a text message / email and the school accepted that as his..
 
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