fascinating read on the recent defections

[noeynox]

Don't know how accurate it is but very interesting nonetheless.

http://ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=515398

 

[ConnHuskBask]

If West Virginia and Rutgers goes to the ACC-that is the 100% doomsday scenario.

 

[UCHuskies08]

If West Virginia and Rutgers goes to the ACC-that is the 100% doomsday scenario.

Any combo of Louisville/Rutgers/WVU and not us

 

[upstater]

Uh, I believe very little of it. He makes himself sound like a sage when some of that information was available in the press on Saturday morning. We knew about an imminent announcement then. We knew about the applications by midday. We knew they had flown the coop. We also knew that Marinatto had been apprised earlier about the story of Pitt/Cuse talking. He was surprised by the applications. So again the poster gets the story wrong since the NYT article said nothing about applications. Seems as though he cobbled together a bunch of info that was neither here nor there.

Does anyone really believe that the ACC was seeking recommendations for new members? That the ACC felt threatened that the Big12 was going to take over the northeast? FANTASIES!!!!!!

About the only bit of conjecture that seems right on is the possibility that TCU could have joined the Big 12, but honestly, I think Oklahoma was gone and the Big12 was dead.

 

[Adios]

Kind of amazing to think the basketball schools succeeded in destroying the Big East.

 

[SAMCRO]

I do agree that the BB's blocking any add'l expansion other than Nova was very much a catalyst to this. Interesting to read his "inside info" on which schools were being considered and who the BE schools preferred.

I can't really see the ACC going after WVU, especially w/ all the "academic" talk they've been using in their press releases. But, that could be just another smoke screen. Who knows.

 

[ZooCougar]

I do agree that the BB's blocking any add'l expansion other than Nova was very much a catalyst to this. Interesting to read his "inside info" on which schools were being considered and who the BE schools preferred.

I can't really see the ACC going after WVU, especially w/ all the "academic" talk they've been using in their press releases. But, that could be just another smoke screen. Who knows.

I was in Iraq all last year, so I didn't follow the VU issue as closely as I would have liked. Where exactly did UConn stand on this?

When the SU/Pitt thing broke, I was surprised because Pitt had always been really Gung Ho about building the conference up. So obvious Pitt must have reached the tipping point and gave up. That must have been the Villanova mess and probably the resistance to adding TCU, which was a total no-brainer.

If WVU gets accepted into the SEC then you can pretty much stick a fork in this conference. We should be doing that now, but some people will actually hang on to the sad belief that we can rebuild with UCF, ECU, Memphis etc. Forget that.

If we don't get into the Big 10 or the ACC then us and the leftovers need to get out of this conference and join the rebranded Big 12. We simply cannot afford to tie our fates to the basketball schools. They hindered our growth, our flexibility and made us a less attractive conference.

 

[SAMCRO]

Zoo, I don't have much inside UConn info anymore, but if memory serves correct, I think UConn and SU were supportive of Nova if they found a legit stadium. Pitt was not a big fan. It had more to do with the BB schools blocking any effort to bring in other schools for FB, aside from TCU and Nova. That supposedly was the tipping point for Pitt. D. Gross allegedly has been trying to get SU into the B1G or ACC since he arrived.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Zoo, I don't have much inside UConn info anymore, but if memory serves correct, I think UConn and SU were supportive of Nova if they found a legit stadium. Pitt was not a big fan. It had more to do with the BB schools blocking any effort to bring in other schools for FB, aside from TCU and Nova. That supposedly was the tipping point for Pitt. D. Gross allegedly has been trying to get SU into the B1G or ACC since he arrived.

I am very skeptical of the poster. Pitt didn't turn on Villanova until it was clear that Villanova did not have a stadium, Rutgers and WVU seemed much more adamant against Villanova. It also seemed a little like the whole process was providing political cover to Villanova to not upgrade, which they didn't want to do. Furthermore, Syracuse and UConn were bedrock supporters of the basketball schools. Furthermore, according to the poster, WVU is next on the list for the ACC, yet WVU's first act after the defections was to send in an application to the SEC. Finally, Pitt and Louisville were never seriously looking at the Big 12.

Something happened in the last month to spook Pitt and Syracuse. I think it was WVU pursuing the SEC. I think that until that point, it was all for one, one for all among the football schools, and then Luck gave a non-denial when asked about his interest in the SEC when rumors came out that WVU was on the list of SEC expansion candidates.

 

[ZooCougar]

Supporting Villanova, with the qualification that they get a suitable stadium is basically not supporting them. That's like the US saying that it would support Australia joining the EU and NATO providing that that they move their continent into the North Atlantic.

SU was gone at the first opportunity. This wasn't a secret.

One thing is clear. Something pissed Pitt off. They were hard core Big East, they lured TCU to the Big East, their behavior indicates that they were in it for the long haul, but something changed their minds. The VU/TCU debate is probably a big part of it.

WVU pursuing the SEC is also a total no brainer. Of course WVU would jump at the chance. The combined effects of the shaky future of the membership, and the fact that conference management was beholden to a bunch of second class citizens set the conditions for this, full stop.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Supporting Villanova, with the qualification that they get a suitable stadium is basically not supporting them. That's like the US saying that it would support Australia joining the EU and NATO providing that that they move their continent into the North Atlantic.

SU was gone at the first opportunity. This wasn't a secret.

One thing is clear. Something pissed Pitt off. They were hard core Big East, they lured TCU to the Big East, their behavior indicates that they were in it for the long haul, but something changed their minds. The VU/TCU debate is probably a big part of it.

WVU pursuing the SEC is also a total no brainer. Of course WVU would jump at the chance. The combined effects of the shaky future of the membership, and the fact that conference management was beholden to a bunch of second class citizens set the conditions for this, full stop.

None of that was true. The football schools could have split any time they wanted. Villanova had nothing to do with anything. The problem was sparked well after the Villanova episode, and it was between the football schools.

 

[Waquoit]

I liked one comment, "Hell, I don't think that UConn even has an AD at this point - which is absurd in this climate."

 

[ZooCougar]

None of that was true. The football schools could have split any time they wanted. .

Yes, we know. That is what is happening right now.

 

[ZooCougar]

I liked one comment, "Hell, I don't think that UConn even has an AD at this point - which is absurd in this climate."

Hathaway would have surrendered already. He would have secured us a spot in the MAC and called it best of all possible outcomes.

 

[Waquoit]

Hathaway would have surrendered already. He would have secured us a spot in the MAC and called it best of all possible outcomes.

Has anyone heard from the new guy? I thought he'd be more of a presence since the Rock Cats ended their season.

 

[ZooCougar]

Has anyone heard from the new guy? I thought he'd be more of a presence since the Rock Cats ended their season.

No, but I just heard that Hathaway was fired from his job as commissioner of the fantasy league he was in. The other members were his wife, a nine year old kid, a parakeet and a goldfish.

 

[SAMCRO]

Has anyone heard from the new guy? I thought he'd be more of a presence since the Rock Cats ended their season.

Well, since Hathaways last day was Thursday, Sept. 15th, and Pendergast's first day on the job is effective today, Septmeber 19th, this was just a cherry of a 3 day window to not have an AD (sarcasm - it wouldn't have changed a thing). But to answer the question, he's on the job officially as of this morning. Would love to see his on-boarding plan.

 

[freescooter]

If it is true that the basketball schools wouldn't support any expansion but Villanova, and I have heard those rumblings from time to time, I'm not surprised that the Big East is splintering. Rightly or wrongly, basketball is not the driver. Beyond that, this was inevitable, because these schools are just so different. In 1979, that was much less the case. In 2011, they have radically different views of their roles and missions. At the time the big East was founded, the idea that UCONN would have a major football program, win multiple national championships in basketball, be considered among the top public universities in the country and for that matter, be viewed as a major national university, was pretty unthinkable. It was a nice regional university. For the most part, the idea of a common interest between the football schools and the basketball schools has been shrinking for decades. With the exceptions of Georgetwon and Notre Dame, they have far different goals and role. Most are nice regional or local schools with far more modest outlooks not only for their universities, but for their athletic programs, too.