Boston Globe BC should look to leave ACC

[mcs333]

http://www.boston.com/sports/basket...NkvLLUJr9Gb7nhnBe6AI/story.html?p1=well__main

Featured story in Globe, BC should leave ACC

 

[CTMike]

They would be much better off dropping football and trying for Big East for hoops.

 

[Kitaman]

They would be much better off dropping football and trying for Big East for hoops.

For us or them? LOL

 

[upstater]

The comments below the article are even better: "If they're going to play in the ACC, they're going to have to start recruiting ACC-quality players. I don't know why they haven't been able to do so, since BC is at least an attractive place to go to school as Durham, Chapel Hill, Charlottesville, etc. Recruits get to play before the nation's most enthusiastic sports market. If they consistently had ranked teams, they'd be able to sell out the stadium and the arena on a regular basis, maybe even the Garden and Gillette, too. At the TV revenue would follow. BC needs to play in the premier conference. There's no reason why it shouldn't be the Duke of New England. The school just needs to step up to the plate with its commitment to being one of the best."

I confess to thinking that the article was written by a BU grad as I was reading it. A solid trolling effort, if you ask me. One of the posters seems to have confirmed it, but who knows.

 

[Waquoit]

BCU is ridiculous. They use academics as an excuse for failure. They should just join the Patriot League and be done with it.

 

[King Jonathan]

We had a good league going - and these schools are worse off since leaving BE.

BC - as above
Miami - football has nearly fallen off the radar. They were seen as the next standard bearers
VT - maybe the exception, although they never felt fully "Big East" and have yet to see the heights from the Vick days over 15 years ago

Trends so far for the recent departures:
SU - with Jim B retiring, it doesn't look good. Football still mediocre
Pitt - jury's out, but definitely underachiving compared to those Pitt -UConn brawls of 10-12 years ago. Football was ok.
the whole NBE - so far hugely disappointing in postseason and highly overseeded. (We should have kept the BE name, and sold it for far too low - that was the dumbest decision. I don't know who to blame, but I'll blame Aresco.)

 

[MexicoHusky]

We had a good league going - and these schools are worse off since leaving BE.

BC - as above
Miami - football has nearly fallen off the radar. They were seen as the next standard bearers
VT - maybe the exception, although they never felt fully "Big East" and have yet to see the heights from the Vick days over 15 years ago

Trends so far for the recent departures:
SU - with Jim B retiring, it doesn't look good. Football still mediocre
Pitt - jury's out, but definitely underachiving compared to those Pitt -UConn brawls of 10-12 years ago. Football was ok.
the whole NBE - so far hugely disappointing in postseason and highly overseeded. (We should have kept the BE name, and sold it for far too low - that was the dumbest decision. I don't know who to blame, but I'll blame Aresco.)

Jury is still out on Ville as well. The recent scandal may set them back.

Notre Dame seems to be doing ok.

 

[CTMike]

For us or them? LOL

Definitely them.

 

[UConnSwag11]

They are perfectly fine with mooching off the success of others. The university suffer no consequences and they still get paid. The ones who suffer are the kids

 

[mcs333]

Who suffers, the fans. BC may cash a big check, but their fans are leaving them. Who wants to be associated with bad teams.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I read the 2nd (linked) front page article in my Sunday paper and that one did not have any suggestion about leaving the ACC nor any recriminations about the decision to join. They simply cited all of the money BCU gets from the ACC as a major positive. They did mention a 60% dropoff in attendance at Football and 50% for Basketball since joining the ACC, and although they somewhat blamed that on losing local rivals, there was no suggestion on how to course correct attendance or the conference disconnect problem.

The section on recruiting was particularly whiny (obvious spoonfed from a coach) and laughable;
"By nearly all accounts, Christian and Addazio face the toughest recruiting challenges in the ACC. For all of BC’s appealing qualities, its recruiters compete against basketball legends such as Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and national football powers such as Clemson. The obstacles include BC’s mediocre records, meager attendance, inferior facilities, high admission standards, and the school’s distinction as the only one of 80 schools in the five most powerful athletic conferences to vote against granting financial stipends to student-athletes for expenses not covered by scholarships."
- There are 2-3 'legends' to recruit against, but the rest of the schools do it & this is true in any major conference
- I can't tell you how many 18yr olds cite the vote regarding stipend issue as #1 factor in picking their college
In fairness after that silly whining there is a big section on diversity issues that are always in play in Boston. You really almost need to have an African-American men's bball coach to counter-act that cultural divide.

So mostly Sunday's article asserted that BCU's administration specifically their president does not support athletics and does not make athletics a fundamental part of the university. The article concludes that because of this management problem the teams aren't supported and underperform. This is clearly one conclusion, but it was a big miss that although the author tied the attendance and records performance to the ACC move, it didn't seek any causality or make the 'accept being also-ran' conclusion. He even cited the success of hockey and noted the northeastern leagues there, but again no tie in. Also missing was anything from the ACC brethren who are sharing all this money with BCU and see BCU bring nothing to the table in terms of teams, TV eyeballs or the dismal BCU home attendance and least attractive opponent for road attendance (I'd guess BCU is last in ACC but don't know - it wasn't cited).

Bob Holer wrote that article and was assisted by Mark Blaudschun (Blaudschun is normally the Globe's only & best college hoops writer).

I has always been the state/facts of conference re-alignment that everyone recognizes the motivation of the football money - that almost nothing is improved and everything other than the football playoff is worse with the new conferences is all trumped by $$.

 

[The Funster]

The first hint was when they didn't vote in favor of the stipend. I don't think they'll drop soon but when it come to put up or get out, they'll be of the first to go.

 

[PRHusky]

While I do not think BC would ever voluntarily downgrade athletics, I think it is time for the ACC to seriously consider kicking them out. It is not like they are Wake Forest or one of their long-time members. The ACC gave BC a chance and they have failed miserably to deliver.

If you are the ACC, I do not see how it would not make sense to add UConn and drop BC. Taking into consideration nobody born after 1990 even knows who Doug Flutie is, football is at worst comparable with UConn trending up and BC trending down and in basketball UConn is on another universe.

On the other hand, UConn would give the ACC more of a NYC presence than BC currently even gets in Boston.

 

[IMind]

BCU is ridiculous. They use academics as an excuse for failure. They should just join the Patriot League and be done with it.

Georgetown has their football in the Patriot and their basketball in the Big East. It's worked out fine for them... it seems like a natural fit for BC.

 

[businesslawyer]

Only one thing will cause BC to drop or downgrade football -- that the stench of losing actually effects their academic reputation and the undergraduate candidate pool. While that was mentioned in the article, given that Rutgers has gone 150 years without dropping or downgrading football, I'm not holding my breath.

Having said that, doesn't mean reading the article didn't put a big smile on my face.

 

[upstater]

The backdrop to all of this is the state of the economy, middle class incomes, & the coming demographic of college applicants for the next 10-15 years. While the population increase will bring back applicants in 15 years, the baby-boom-boom is over. Private colleges are in a bad spot, and increasingly so are public schools. Can BC even afford to field good athletic teams?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Georgetown has their football in the Patriot and their basketball in the Big East. It's worked out fine for them... it seems like a natural fit for BC.

The football at BC is quite a bit better than the basketball. They did go to a bowl the year before last. I think BC football will be ok in the long run. It's the basketball that is simply horrible. It's shocking that they can't even achieve mediocrity.

 

[King Jonathan]

Although something tells me some schools like a conference mate that is the perpetual doormat. Can inflate some records and it doesn't look like they are cheating with a easy OOC schedule

 

[King Jonathan]

While I do not think BC would ever voluntarily downgrade athletics, I think it is time for the ACC to seriously consider kicking them out. It is not like they are Wake Forest or one of their long-time members. The ACC gave BC a chance and they have failed miserably to deliver.

If you are the ACC, I do not see how it would not make sense to add UConn and drop BC. Taking into consideration nobody born after 1990 even knows who Doug Flutie is, football is at worst comparable with UConn trending up and BC trending down and in basketball UConn is on another universe.

On the other hand, UConn would give the ACC more of a NYC presence than BC currently even gets in Boston.

They're like the Temple of the old Big East - and they definitely got the boot

 

[CL82]

Someone get me a list of BCU alumni. I have some emails to write.

Dear Father Leahy,

It with great hesitancy and profound sadness that I write to you today. Our men's basketball team has once again ended the season in frustration. I was particularly touched, and disturbed, that the best memory of one our basketball players was "going out to eat." That sad statement makes me wonder if we truly giving our fine young men and women who compete in athletics the college experience that deserve.

I recently was speaking to a group of young promising high-school juniors about Boston College and my wonderful experience there. The feedback that I received from their guidance counselor was shocking. It seems that all of the candidates heavily discounted our school due to the perception that we, and I will paraphrase here, "struggle" in sports. It seems that our athletic challenges have begun to prejudice our primary mission of educating young men and women in the Jesuit tradition.

Accordingly, I respectfully request that you impanel an advisory committee to explore the financial and academic impact of withdrawing from the Atlantic Coast Conference. At first glance, it seems hard to walk away from the considerable funds that that affiliation provides us, yet upon closer review, it seems that those funds barely cover the cover the cost our sports programs. In my view, although I will withhold judgement until we hear back from the proposed advisory committee, we are better served following the model of the Ivy League, with whom we have so much more in common and returning athletics to be the servant rather than the master.

I trust you will give this proposal serious consideration.

Sincerely,

______________________
Class of ___________​

I figure if we all send 100, we can get this done by 2018.

 

[dogpause]

...

On the other hand, UConn would give the ACC more of a NYC presence than BC currently even gets in Boston.

More of a Boston presence too.

 

[CTMike]

Someone get me a list of BCU alumni. I have some emails to write.

Dear Father Leahy,

It with great hesitancy and profound sadness that I write to you today. Our men's basketball team has once again ended the season in frustration. I was particularly touched, and disturbed, that the best memory of one our basketball players was "going out to eat." That sad statement makes me wonder if we truly giving our fine young men and women who compete in athletics the college experience that deserve.

I recently was speaking to a group of young promising high-school juniors about Boston College and my wonderful experience there. The feedback I received from there guidance counselor was shocking. It seems that all of the candidates heavily discounted our school due to the perception that we, and I will paraphrase here, "struggle" in sports. It seems that our athletic challenges has begun to prejudice our primary mission of educating young men and women in the Jesuit tradition.

Accordingly, I respectfully request that you impanel an advisory committee to explore the financial and academic impact of withdrawing from the Atlantic Coast Conference. At first glance, it seems hard to walk away from the considerable funds that that affiliation provides us, yet upon closer review, it seems that those funds barely cover the cover the cost our sports programs. In my view, although I will withhold judgement until we hear back from the proposed advisory committee, we are better served following the model of the Ivy League, with whom we have so much more in common and returning athletics to be the servant rather than the master.

I trust you will give this proposal serious consideration.

Sincerely,

______________________
Class of ___________​

I figure if we all send 100, we can get this done by 2018.

Beautiful.

 

[Palatine]

"the heyday under Al Skinner"

That's a phrase you don't hear very often.

 

[sdhusky]

On the other hand, UConn would give the ACC more of a NYC presence than BC currently even gets in Boston.

We win more games in NYC than they do in Boston.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

If the ACC ever came apart, I think it is likely that BCU would drop football.