What the Big East Should Do

[tipphill]

perfect time to give n.d. an ultimatum get in or get out. nothing more to loose here. regain self respect, make a statemnet to the country (which many will applaud) forces n.d. to make a decision and of gets rid of the leach that has brought nothing but chaos. why is everybody getting out? because the conference could not move forward with n.d. there, and the ass kissing providence group sucking up with the "hope" you join. well they haven't so in or move on. they will have to join somewhere or strike the same kind of bargain the big east gave them---we made a deal with the devil. next get rid of the whole crew in providence, move to nyc,and get a visionary cut throat for a commish. i nominate donald trump (kidding, sort of)

 

[ithacat]

The Big12 is at 8 (Big 8???) ... I'm sure they would take WV, Louisville, and Cinci in a heartbeat.

Isn't it at 10, soon to be 9? Missouri might stay now. It seems Louisville and WVU would be a good match for the Big 12/9. Then add BYU or TCU or Cincy. I just don't get BYU being an independent for long.

 

[Chip]

I don't want UConn or Rutgers in the ACC.

Bing bang bong. We agree.

I think the $10M exit makes sense too. No one says it has to apply as the new league rule. Negotiate with Pitt and SU and see if you can get $10M or $7.5M and shorten the useless exit months that are only going to make the Big East situation worse. Take the extra money and spread it to the schools. I'm sure that's what they're trying to do because Marinatto is really smart. He's going to get Beebe'd.

 

[Scooch]

OPA - Markets are important, of course, but mediocre programs in big markets don't bring big value. Replacing SU and Pitt with Houston and UCF is a substantial net loss.

What's ironc is that 25 years ago three schools told the Big East that they needed to form a football league or they'd have to leave. Those schools of course were SU, BC and Pitt. All gone now. The prophecy is complete.

 

[OrangePA]

Of course.

But UCF is the only game in town and has a solid upside. O'Leary is a national name that has some juice.

Houston has a proud football tradition dating back to the Bill Yeoman and the Veer T offense.

Pairing UCF and So. Fla and Houston and TCU would add some symmetry to the conference.

I would go for both of those schools before ECU.

 

[OrangePA]

The ACC will take UCONN and Rutgers, assuming they can't get Texas or Notre Dame. That will leave West Virginia s the alst original Big East football member and trhey will be looking elsewhere, (and I still think somebody will take them to go to 16). The Big Ten will vacumn up the remanats of the Big 12 North. Texas might wind up indepednet because of their demands for a bigger peice of the pie but I think the Oklahoma teams will ehad west. Cincy, Lousiville and South Florida will be looking to the SEC.

I think the best thing would be for the Big East to give up the football conference and return to be a basketball only league, which would please the basketball only schools to no end.

Giving up an automatic BCS bid is not good business.

Leveraging the automatic bid is good business.
That's what should be done - appeal to good programs with strong TV markets that do not now have access to the automatic bid.

It seems pretty simple to me.

 

[echosofmanley]

Why not UCF and UH? Great recruiting grounds. Both have a chance to build quickly if on the AQ level like a USF.

ECU-they would not embarrass anyone. Awesome support and fundraising for a ConUSA school.

 

[Millhouse]

Bing bang bong. We agree.

I think the $10M exit makes sense too. No one says it has to apply as the new league rule. Negotiate with Pitt and SU and see if you can get $10M or $7.5M and shorten the useless exit months that are only going to make the Big East situation worse. Take the extra money and spread it to the schools. I'm sure that's what they're trying to do because Marinatto is really smart. He's going to get Beebe'd.

Bury them, go back to the old days of BC, PSU and SU splitting up the northeast.

 

[Chip]

The ACC will take UCONN and Rutgers, assuming they can't get Texas or Notre Dame.

You wrote this after the Pac 12 decided against expansion?
Why would the ACC go to 16 now? What do they gain?

You were a fan in the 90s right? I'm starting to wonder if everyone forgot that decade. What's the biggest difference between SU and the 90s and SU since. Hint, we competed with a lot less schools for talent.

I think some of you need to get your puzzle pieces of 4 X 16 out of your heads for now. We don't want that right now. Right now we want the Big 12 to stick it out, Pac 12 and Big 10 to stand pat. SEC's 14th is still out there and could be an issue. But this would give SU the chance to get back the talent that made us so good back then. No one wants to be the first to get to 16, but whoever does isn't going to do it by getting low exposure teams like RU and UConn, they're going to poach bigger. And that that time, if our new league needs to get to 16, we can always add them later.

If you want a better SU product, then be happy that RU and UConn are out in the cold. I know some of you feel bad for them, but hey, it's not like it's a lifetime of history being destroyed. UConn has been a 1A program for 7 years, Rutgers for 5.

 

[OttosBestFriend]

Well, there's no place to go.

Well then what's the point of increasing the fee... either they need to increase it to $10 million (as you suggested in post #1 of this thread) to keep teams from leaving OR they don't need to increase it b/c there's no place to go (as you said above)

Which is it???

Seriously, that was one of the worst arguments I've seen on here in some time.

And as Timonen said, "who's going to agree to increase the withdrawal fee when everybody wants to leave?"

Answer: NO ONE

 

[Scooch]

You wrote this after the Pac 12 decided against expansion?
You were a fan in the 90s right? I'm starting to wonder if everyone forgot that decade. What's the biggest difference between SU and the 90s and SU since. Hint, we competed with a lot less schools for talent.

Seriously.

For all the great work that Mac, and P & D, did to bring the program back, no one should ever overlook the fact that the job was helped immensely by the relative lack of competition at the time in the northeast. PSU still dominated, but BC was run into the ground by Bicknell after their Flutie flash in the pan, then followed the Coughlin resurgence by hiring the Idiotic Dan Henning to kill that and enjoyed a super-awesome gambling scandal; Pitt decided to resurrect their program by bringing a 114 year old Johnny Majors back; Rutgers was busy making themselves the worst major conference program in the history of mankind; Temple was Temple; UConn was putting 8K in their 1-AA stadium while playing Hofstra, etc.

This not to disparage the accomplishments of SU, but we have SIGNIFICANTLY less competitive headwinds back then.

 

[SWC75]

You wrote this after the Pac 12 decided against expansion?
Why would the ACC go to 16 now? What do they gain?

You were a fan in the 90s right? I'm starting to wonder if everyone forgot that decade. What's the biggest difference between SU and the 90s and SU since. Hint, we competed with a lot less schools for talent.

I think some of you need to get your puzzle pieces of 4 X 16 out of your heads for now. We don't want that right now. Right now we want the Big 12 to stick it out, Pac 12 and Big 10 to stand pat. SEC's 14th is still out there and could be an issue. But this would give SU the chance to get back the talent that made us so good back then. No one wants to be the first to get to 16, but whoever does isn't going to do it by getting low exposure teams like RU and UConn, they're going to poach bigger. And that that time, if our new league needs to get to 16, we can always add them later.

If you want a better SU product, then be happy that RU and UConn are out in the cold. I know some of you feel bad for them, but hey, it's not like it's a lifetime of history being destroyed. UConn has been a 1A program for 7 years, Rutgers for 5.

Don't base things on public pronouncements. That's not where the decisins are made. Texas wants an unequal piece of the pie and nobody's going to take them so long as they insist on that. They might wind up an independent. That doesn't mean that the four big conferences are going to 16.

What's best for SU isn't going to be the basis for any decisions now that we've made ours. And I think our football will get better regardless of what is done with UCONN and Rutgers because our recruiting down the coast is going to pick up.

 

[Chip]

Don't base things on public pronoucnesments. That's not where the decisins are made. Texas wants an unequal piece of the pie and nobody's going to take them so long as they insist on that. They might wind up an independent. That doens't mean that the four big conferecnes are going to 16.

What's best for SU isn't going to be the basis for any decisions now that we've made ours. And I think our football will get better regardless of what is done with UCONN and Rutgers because our recruiting down the coast is going to pick up.

Ok but wouldn't our recruiting pick up even more if we're selling ACC and RU/UConn are selling East Carolina's addition to the Big East?

So again, what's the ACC's upside to adding RU and UConn right now?

 

[OrangePA]

Well then what's the point of increasing the fee... either they need to increase it to $10 million (as you suggested in post #1 of this thread) to keep teams from leaving OR they don't need to increase it b/c there's no place to go (as you said above)

Which is it???

Seriously, that was one of the worst arguments I've seen on here in some time.

And as Timonen said, "who's going to agree to increase the withdrawal fee when everybody wants to leave?"

Answer: NO ONE

The BE still has an automatic bid to the BCS, so it remains a valuable franchise. The notion that "everybody wants to leave" is probably overstating what is actually occurring. The better conclusion is that "everybody wants an automatic bid to the BCS."

So long as the automatic bid is retained, not everybody will want to leave the BE. Stability in that regard is the issue.

One way to keep the automatic bid is to enhance the league's television market. That can be done by enticing good programs in large TV markets to join the league. That strategy was employed last year with TCU and could be done with Houston and CFU as I have discussed. A solid TV market will attract a solid TV contract.

The two teams in Florida and the two teams in Texas would add appeal to the league and attract viewers.

The exit fee would be imposed once the league is established in order to further enhance stability.

Right now, for Rutgers, UConn and WVU, there is no place to go. I think it has been reported that WVU has been rejected by the SEC and ACC. That will likely change in the future. So, in anticipation of that possibility, stability will need to be established now. And that is what my thoughts seek to address.

Obviously the Big East faces a major challenge. I understand that. But, I think it is in SU's best interests for the league to survive - I would like to see Rutgers and UConn stay in the league.

That is the basis for my suggestions.

Perhaps you have a better idea. I would enjoy reading about it.

 

[Timonen]

so if you concede that the rejections will likely change in the future and those fb schools may have options, tell us why they would agree to up exit fees? i don't have an alternative. it's entirely conceivable that there's simply no good solution at this point.

hell, if I'm WVU, i might threaten to leave and become independent if not given a ton of control and concessions. that would take away the BCS bid from the conference. WVU is the only entity that could negotiate bowl tie-ins on their own. that would come close to offsetting the tv revenue share from teh BE. the BE has zero leverage in this scenario and would cave to any deman.

 

[OttosBestFriend]

Right now, for Rutgers, UConn and WVU, there is no place to go. I think it has been reported that WVU has been rejected by the SEC and ACC. That will likely change in the future. So, in anticipation of that possibility, stability will need to be established now. And that is what my thoughts seek to address.

Obviously the Big East faces a major challenge. I understand that. But, I think it is in SU's best interests for the league to survive - I would like to see Rutgers and UConn stay in the league.

That is the basis for my suggestions.

Perhaps you have a better idea. I would enjoy reading about it.

Seriously, no place to go??? Do you REALLY believe this is over?

Sure, I too have read that WVU has been rejected by the SEC and ACC... But NO WHERE have I seen that they've been rejected by the Big 12... Nor Has Louisville or Cincy.

And if we're being honest - ALL THREE of those schools could and WOULD jump from the BE's sinking ship to the Big 12 if asked today.

And Louisville hasn't been publicly rejected by the SEC yet, have they? ANSWER: No.

I also haven't seen a single report that said UCONN or Rutgers has been rejected by the ACC. (or the Big10 for that matter)

Sure the ACC and Big10 said they're "not expanding at this time" - But that doesn't mean they're not expanding... and the fact remains, they HAVE to say that publicly so as to not look like they're tampering.

Sorry to tell you this PA, the Big East is D-E-A-D --- no matter how sad that makes you.

 

[OrangePA]

I think the Big East is dead thought is again overstating things.

And your question "do you really think this is over" indicates that you didn't read my post.

As we type today it's over. The ACC is not inviting Rutgers or UConn to the dance - for now.

The SEC is not inviting anybody from the Big East. And the Big 12 is still trying to figure out what it is.

So, again, for now, it is over.

In the meantime, as I mentioned above, the Big East still possesses the most valuable franchise in college football - the automatic bid.

For that reason alone, it is not dead.

For me this is all about strategy - strategy that will further enhance the Syracuse Football Program. It is not about being sad. If you have read my posts over the years and especially in the last two years, I have have been calling for SU's move to the ACC.

But, I believe that keeping the Big East alive helps SU.

And that's what my original post tries to address - how to keep it alive into the future.

 

[SWC75]

Ok but wouldn't our recruiting pick up even more if we're selling ACC and RU/UConn are selling East Carolina's addition to the Big East?

So again, what's the ACC's upside to adding RU and UConn right now?

There's no question it would help us if UCONN and Rutgers were "left behind" in an inferior conference. I don't think they will be. I think we will still be better off regardless. I'd rather it be UCONN and West Virginia but that's unlikely unless the Big Ten takes Rutgers, which would mean Rutgers wasn't "left behind".

 

[Noexcuse]

I have felt for a long time that Shady has been selling recruits on the idea that an invite to the B1G is just around the corner. No reason to change that now.

 

[Blaster]

Dissolve the BE football side so we can get out sooner?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Disband. Every man for himself, and Rutgers too.

Well played.