Les Carpenter weighs in: Big East's tumultuous run doomed from the get-go

[upstater]

In keeping with this topic, I had a conversation with my friend from the SEC office this Saturday after golf and he made some interesting comments.

The recent C7 action was totally understandable to him since it had almost happened three times before. They were not getting paid enough for their BB product to offfset the higher costs of operating in a broader conference.

With the exception of Georgetown, the Catholic schools always resented both ND and BC. They were seen as rich, pushy relatives who looked down their noses at their poor relations.

BE should never have given in to Cuse, BC by forming a FB branch. If they had refused from the start he claims that BC would have droped FB to Div2 (claims they almost did it in both the 60's and 70's) doesn't know about Cuse. Another alternative would have been an "arrangement" with the ACC for FB. This almost happened in the 90's.

Who is "they"? The conference back then had Cuse, BC and Pitt. They needed votes AGAINST PSU to exclude them. Not all the Catholics were against them. Pitt voted against PSU, for instance, as did Cuse.

"They" has to include UConn, Cuse, BC and Pitt. These schools were already 4/9ths of the conference. I love how people emphasize the Catholic schools as being the core of the BE. Bullcrap.

I'm sure the people at BC who went through the Flutie years are glad they didn't drop football. Pitt never would have dropped it, nor Syracuse.

What would these Catholic schools be without UConn, Cuse, BC and Pitt?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Penn St would have bolted if given the chance, the B1G would have poached them long ago. I don't blame any school for leaving this mess. Uconn is no different than Louisville, Pitt or Cuse, we would have jumped too.

In the late 90's the Big East was going back for a new TV deal with BCU in the middle of a major gambling scandal and Miami on the verge of the death penalty. There were other issues (Pitt, Rutgers and Temple all sucked, the catholic schools were mostly down in hoops), but Miami in particular was a big problem for the networks. The Big East got a terrible contract, which it never really recovered from. By 2003, the ACC was looking at a new TV deal that would be down to flat in a market where everyone was increasing, with ratings well below the Big East in both football and basketball, so the ACC raided the Big East. The rest is history.

 

[The Funster]

Who is "they"? The conference back then had Cuse, BC and Pitt. They needed votes AGAINST PSU to exclude them. Not all the Catholics were against them. Pitt voted against PSU, for instance, as did Cuse.

"They" has to include UConn, Cuse, BC and Pitt. These schools were already 4/9ths of the conference. I love how people emphasize the Catholic schools as being the core of the BE. Bullcrap.

I'm sure the people at BC who went through the Flutie years are glad they didn't drop football. Pitt never would have dropped it, nor Syracuse.

What would these Catholic schools be without UConn, Cuse, BC and Pitt?

The A-10