Autonomy Vote Today

[Dooley]

I honestly don't see how there is any way for there to be a P6. Aresco saying it does not make it so. Our TV contract does not make it so. Every article today talking about P5 does not make it so. We are currently very excluded.

Could some of the P5 drecks shake loose? I pray they do. But why would they pass up P5 money for their principles?

Our call up isn't going to be in the form of a conference-wide promotion. It'll be us (possible us alone) getting tapped on the shoulder to be added to an existing P5. If/when a P5 conference wants to add a member- we have to put our best foot forward to be the one picked. Win football games, fill the Rent, #HuskyUp.

TL;dr: I'm depressed but haven't given up hope. Let's get out there and show we have some fight.

I don't think so either. But that's not the point. The point is that there needs to be a threat of a P6 to get P5 conferences to panic and, hopefully, act. You throw together a couple of brand names like UCONN and BYU with Boise, Cincinnati, UCF, USF, etc. then add a few markets with larger student bodies, and see what kind of a valuation TV networks give. Can't be any worse than $2M/yr that we currently get in this train wreck of a conference.

 

[CTMike]

Goonies never say die...

 

[Calamitous]

The Metro Conference came close to achieving that. That lead to some of those teams joining a conference or creating Big East football.

The Metro almost did until South Carolina joined the SEC, FSU joined the ACC and VT joined the Big East. My favorite part was Louisville kicking VT out in all other sports on behalf of the Metro via fax. UL is back with VT again... I guess they'll use email when it comes time to kick us out again

 

[Calamitous]

Something like that was actually possible, if not for the small minded nature of a few former administrators. The ACC might look like The A10 today if this ever got off the ground.

It was attempted in 1990 but fell apart. The original plan had PSU in it, but PSU committed to the Big Ten before Raycom could get a deal going...

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/09/26/Colleges/Super-conference.aspx

 

[Bobol]

Joe Paterno attempted to put together an all sport conference in 1980 which would have undercut the Big East by snagging Syracuse and Boston College. To defeat Paterno's efforts the Big East "brain trust" invited Pittsburg to join the Big East Conference which denied Paterno sufficient number of schools. When it became apparent to Paterno that he could not assemble his new all sport conference Penn State requested membership in the Big East which the Big East dopes voted to deny Penn State's membership in the Big East. WOW.... the Big East showed Penn State because it then joined the Big Ten. When I discussed this matter with a former Assistant AD from a Big East school they indicated that up until that point in time there had been little conference expansion and the Big East ADs did figure that not the Big Ten would expand to 11 teams to accommodate Penn State.

Below is a link to an article by former Syracuse University AD Jake Crothemal which confirms the above statements.
[Note: see 4th paragraph of Crothemal article.]

http://cuse.com/sports/2001/8/8/history.aspx

 

[Calamitous]

Joe Paterno attempted to put together an all sport conference in 1980 which would have undercut the Big East by snagging Syracuse and Boston College. To defeat Paterno's efforts the Big East "brain trust" invited Pittsburg to join the Big East Conference which denied Paterno sufficient number of schools. When it became apparent to Paterno that he could not assemble his new all sport conference Penn State requested membership in the Big East which the Big East dopes voted to deny Penn State's membership in the Big East. WOW.... the Big East showed Penn State because it then joined the Big Ten. When I discussed this matter with a former Assistant AD from a Big East school they indicated that up until that point in time there had been little conference expansion and the Big East ADs did figure that not the Big Ten would expand to 11 teams to accommodate Penn State.

Below is a link to an article by former Syracuse University AD Jake Crothemal which confirms the above statements.
[Note: see 4th paragraph of Crothemal article.]

http://cuse.com/sports/2001/8/8/history.aspx

Yup... I heard about that as well. The Big East could have been so much more if they could have opened their eyes. The football and non-football part of that conference killed it. Way too much dysfunction. Not much difference in the Metro except they all had D-1A football programs that never got their act together.

 

[06029]

Yup... I heard about that as well. The Big East could have been so much more if they could have opened their eyes. The football and non-football part of that conference killed it. Way too much dysfunction. Not much difference in the Metro except they all had D-1A football programs that never got their act together.

Although the resident PSU apologist will likely disagree, Paterno wanted membership in the BE that would have been entirely slanted to PSU football. It included things like unbalanced schedules, full veto authority over new FB schools, etc. The BE at that time, and until the time of the break up, was a BB centric and focused league. While there were a number of schools that were for PSU at any cost (Cuse and BC were the leaders; Uconn was also supportive if my memory serves me well), the catholic BB schools and Gavitt dug in their heels and said no. Just one of many strange decisions made during the 1980's and 1990's by the BE.

And, yes, the BE was dysfunctional at its core once it admitted enough schools that played FB. When it started and the East Indies still existed for FB, it thrived. The BB side never understood how FB drove the revenue stream and the FB side were too short sighted when it came to losing the BB credibility that built them into powerhouses (along with the NCAA credits) to facilitate an earlier break up of the conference. If the FB side broke off and expanded in 1995 (including Uconn), it could have been a powerhouse in both FB and BB and been one of the power conferences.

But hindsight just allows you to see how big your ass has become. The question now, who has the vision and do they, and the fan base, have the cajones to pull it off?