The View From Section 241 -- Realignment

[UConnNick]

The ACC doesn't ask BC for their opinion, the ACC tells BC what their opinion is. If the bigs in the ACC want UConn then BC will get in line. Simple as that.

BS College = ACC lapdog. They're about as relevant to the ACC as Ron Paul is to any presidential election.

 

[ZooCougar]

Going forward, it's hard to determine what might happen because there are alot of possible outcomes.

1. The most desired one of course; we get accepted into either the ACC or the B1G, basically whoever asks first. It would be nice to see them fight over us, but that's delusional.

I don't believe getting into another BCS conference is a sure thing. But I kind of trust the President to get something done.

2. We don't get invited to join either of the above, we stay with what's leftover in the BE and the conference reloads with more CUSA. I refuse to identify those schools individually, even possible candidates from the MWC will be referred to as "CUSA". We soldier on and try to keep the BCS bid past 2014 or whatever.

3. If the Texas four depart the BIG 12, then the leftovers from the Big East that play football make a coalition and join what's left of the Big 12 and continue with their BCS bid. This new football conference would at least be as good or bad as the Big East is currently, and it wouldn't be too shabby at Basketball either.

I kind of favor this outcome to #2 for obvious reasons. We're done with Providence, probably forever and we are in conference that isn't a collection of mismatched socks. The true source of instability has been the Big East management and basketball schools. The Villanova issue, the initial resistance to adding TCU all showed that this conference had two parts that were going to be irreconcilable in the long run.

I kind of toyed around with the idea of going Indy. But I can't work out how we would ever get a bowl tie in. It would also cripple both of our basketball programs.

Either way, we need out of the Big East. Forget the status quo, it doesn't exist anymore.

 

[businesslawyer]

Going forward, it's hard to determine what might happen because there are alot of possible outcomes.

1. The most desired one of course; we get accepted into either the ACC or the B1G, basically whoever asks first. It would be nice to see them fight over us, but that's delusional.

I don't believe getting into another BCS conference is a sure thing. But I kind of trust the President to get something done.

2. We don't get invited to join either of the above, we stay with what's leftover in the BE and the conference reloads with more CUSA. I refuse to identify those schools individually, even possible candidates from the MWC will be referred to as "CUSA". We soldier on and try to keep the BCS bid past 2014 or whatever.

3. If the Texas four depart the BIG 12, then the leftovers from the Big East that play football make a coalition and join what's left of the Big 12 and continue with their BCS bid. This new football conference would at least be as good or bad as the Big East is currently, and it wouldn't be too shabby at Basketball either.

I kind of favor this outcome to #2 for obvious reasons. We're done with Providence, probably forever and we are in conference that isn't a collection of mismatched socks. The true source of instability has been the Big East management and basketball schools. The Villanova issue, the initial resistance to adding TCU all showed that this conference had two parts that were going to be irreconcilable in the long run.

I kind of toyed around with the idea of going Indy. But I can't work out how we would ever get a bowl tie in. It would also cripple both of our basketball programs.

Either way, we need out of the Big East. Forget the status quo, it doesn't exist anymore.

If we learn anything from this, we need to learn that our instability was caused by an utter lack of market power in football compared to other conferences. The only thing that gives anyone more long term stability is the ability to generate more revenue from its fan base and more eyeballs on sets nationwide. Nothing would have been different this week if the Big East football schools had split off a year or two ago.

 

[ZooCougar]

If we learn anything from this, we need to learn that our instability was caused by an utter lack of market power in football compared to other conferences. The only thing that gives anyone more long term stability is the ability to generate more revenue from its fan base and more eyeballs on sets nationwide. Nothing would have been different this week if the Big East football schools had split off a year or two ago.

We haven't had market power since Tranghese lost the first round 7-8 years ago. Since then we made ourselves into two sided 16 team behemoth that can't agree on anything. The basketball schools want the benefit of association with us, without the risk and they didn't want anything to tilt in the football school's favor.

Basically they wanted equal say. Which they should have never been given. They never had as much to lose as we did. We have had two commissioners who basically did what they could to shape things in their favor. By not leaning in favor of the football schools, they basically leaned towards the hoop schools.

Really, what would the hoop schools do in retaliation? Leave? Oh please. Not thaaaaaaat. Are DePaul and Marquette really going to haul ass back to CUSA? Hopefully.

So yeah. Bad market power is part of it. Being dysfunctional didn't help either. Some people actually believed that Penn State might want to leave the Big 10 to join this drawer full of mismatched socks. Same goes for Maryland. What were they thinking?

 

[gars44]

We haven't had market power since Tranghese lost the first round 7-8 years ago. Since then we made ourselves into two sided 16 team behemoth that can't agree on anything. The basketball schools want the benefit of association with us, without the risk and they didn't want anything to tilt in the football school's favor.

Basically they wanted equal say. Which they should have never been given. They never had as much to lose as we did. We have had two commissioners who basically did what they could to shape things in their favor. By not leaning in favor of the football schools, they basically leaned towards the hoop schools.

Really, what would the hoop schools do in retaliation? Leave? Oh please. Not thaaaaaaat. Are DePaul and Marquette really going to haul ass back to CUSA? Hopefully.

So yeah. Bad market power is part of it. Being dysfunctional didn't help either. Some people actually believed that Penn State might want to leave the Big 10 to join this drawer full of mismatched socks. Same goes for Maryland. What were they thinking?

I don't think any but the young kids on this board ever seriously considered PSU or MD or BC back to the BE.

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't think any but the young kids on this board ever seriously considered PSU or MD or BC back to the BE.

The Maryland possibility was discussed openly in the New York Post/Daily News and other outlets. There was an article not too long ago the BE looking at BC, Maryland and Penn State in the BE.

I wasn't referring to this board but the world at large.

 

[dtrumpet]

IF football is really driving this realignment, its hard to see how WVU doesn't get into the ACC and it either UCONN/Louisville/Rutgers for the other spot. I don't see the ACC going bigger than 16 teams. Though having said that, if UC gets into the ACC its a college hoops fan's dream conference.
many years ago, Lew Perkins said if we're not in D1 football, there will be trouble. His prediction has proven more correct every year.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

I'd be happy with either ACC or Big Ten.

I think the ACC makes more sense but as a Midwest guy I'd love to go to the Big Ten.

Either way we are ok. Anything else sucks.

Agreed. And, I hope that once and for all people stop the BS about "my preference is for things to stay the way they are". Big East football was a very loose configuration of programs that were thrown into a basketball conference (that became oversized), some who remained after the good schools (Miami & VT were cherrypicked), others who never quite had a home (CINCY, Louisville, USF) and the newbiea (UConn
& possibly Villanova). The BE was going out sooner or later, Dead conference walking.

 

[Carl Spackler]

There's an interesting read on espn.com in the pay area (insider) regarding the events of 1982, and Penn State's (Joe Paterno's) brain child and desire to get an all sports eastern United States, division 1-A conference together by joining forces withe newly formed big east and including the football programs of schools like Syracuse and Boston College, among others. If you've paid attention to anything I wrote in the offseason, you know the background. Very interesting how the dominoes have been falling since that time when the Big East turned down Penn State. 30 years ago now. No need to rehash now. I'm pretty sure John Toner was blindsided by that move though, well before reality TV voting.

Joe Paterno's brainchild of an eastern intercollegiate athletic conference competing in all sports, is very close to fruition, 30 years later, and very likely, Penn State won't be part of it. Kind of sad.

Ms. Herbst earns the big bucks. It's her job to make sure that when it happens, however it happens, we're part of it, and don't get blindsided again. I like Pendergast, but I'm not sure if he's got the connections to pull, now that Syracuse and Pitt have pulled the string to open up the pinata.

But I do know that he's on the job officially today, and there's really nothing else he needs to be concerned about right now than making sure were part of a northern/eastern all sports conference playing football at teh top level.

Not many folks, especially the younger ones, realize that until the 1-AA, 1-A division in the late 70s and the mid 80s, and then the SMU death penalty and what it did to the southwest conference - many, most of the best football schools were independant and scheduled independantly and bowl games - well what a mess college football has been forever when it came to figuring out who is the best in the land every year.

In the 80s, the concept of independance, except for Notre Dame which managed to get NBC funding pretty much forever, went away quick.

The bottom line right now, is that it's going to happen, the writing was on the wall when Friar Tuck backed out on the ESPN talks and then started talking about being in a position of power with billion dollar broadcasting industry that was sitting on a bubble ready to burst. The money has to come from somewhere, and contrary to popular belief, being last in line to negotiate, was the worst possible scenario. Cheaper for the industry for the breakup of the big east. All they had to do was sit back and wait, no collusion necessary.

what the big east proved, was that 16 team model can work if you've got market power and post season earning potential in the major money making sports.

I'm confident that we will be part of it - whether it be a northern/eastern division of a 16 team conference, or after all of this seismic movement ends - as an individual conference somehow, although I can't even begin to speculate as to how that would play out, nothing is out of reach at this point.

UConn is a big time player in the academic and athletic collegiate landscape, and we bring the northeastern NYC - Boston corridor in the broadcasting market.

What I think will eventually happen is that there will be some kind of uniformity to intercollegiate conferences playing football at the top division - whatever it end up being called, and there will finally be a post season playoff to determine a champion.

 

[ed2253]

Big 10 actiing too slowly...this is what happens
Big East acting Wayyyy too slowly, inviting Nova??? come on...
always fealt ACC is perfect for us...just never thought this would come to fruition...need to go now...otherwise we are playing TCU baylor and Iowa state every year...no rivalry whatsoever...

 

[Carl Spackler]

also - what I like most about what's come out of UConn - and president Herbst - is that she really wants all of this to settle quickly, and in a way that makes sense, because we all know that college sports has a common denominator of money, but the resources - the focus - really needs to be on the STUDENT-athlete, not on the television contracts, gate reciepts and post season games.

"To my mind, the conference realignments and incessant national gossip is distracting many presidents and athletic directors from the real conversations we should be having, about academics, the distorting role of money in sports and what it means to support student-athletes. I hope all settles soon, and we can change the national focus away from profiteering and back to student-athletes, where it belongs."

http://blogs.courant.com/uconn_football/2011/09/uconn-president-susan-herbst-s-1.html

 

[businesslawyer]

also - what I like most about what's come out of UConn - and president Herbst - is that she really wants all of this to settle quickly, and in a way that makes sense, because we all know that college sports has a common denominator of money, but the resources - the focus - really needs to be on the STUDENT-athlete, not on the television contracts, gate reciepts and post season games.

"To my mind, the conference realignments and incessant national gossip is distracting many presidents and athletic directors from the real conversations we should be having, about academics, the distorting role of money in sports and what it means to support student-athletes. I hope all settles soon, and we can change the national focus away from profiteering and back to student-athletes, where it belongs."

http://blogs.courant.com/uconn_football/2011/09/uconn-president-susan-herbst-s-1.html

I'm sure she wants to settle it all quickly. But it takes two to tango.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I'm sure she wants to settle it all quickly. But it takes two to tango.

True. But when a gal makes it known that she's available, and that's key.......and she's real good looking.....lots of guys tend to get interested in taking a turn on the dance floor and see how far along the bases they can get......

We'll never know who actually pulled the strings to make it happen, and if there was a big old championship encrusted diamond ring on that gals finger that made everybody know she's not available....but if there was, that ring is definitely in a drawer somewhere now.

I'm feeling creative today

 

[uc1974]

Waiting on TX/OK, maybe ND. FSU wants a good FB school if possible as #15 or #16. WVU would fit the bill but none may ultimately be willing to go or be available.