UMass

[nelsonmuntz]

UMass should have been picked before Temple, and definitely before Memphis. UMass is the only anchor campus of a major state that is not currently in a major conference. The alumni base is enormous particularly in Boston, and would create an instant fan base in a near-major conference like the Big East. Memphis and Temple are commuter schools in states where there is strong competition for fan interest. UMass has budget problems, but Memphis and Temple are not exactly swimming in cash.

There has been zero forethought put into picking programs for the conference. We are just running down a list of names from the same tired old choices without any thought to what they would be 5 or 10 years from now. Memphis will always be Memphis. They are already recruiting at a very high level in hoops, but Pastner is limited as a head coach. The football program will not be much better in the Big East than it is now, although I could see some boost in fan interest.

Temple brings a tremendous basketball program that will always be Top 40, but has a very low ceiling in football, and will never get major mindshare of the Philly area fanbase with Villanova there.

UMass was clearly a better choice than either, particularly Memphis, with a much higher ceiling than these other programs.

 

[pepband99]

Even crappy I-A programs > I-AA programs. We didn't light the world on fire at the start, either, but there is some measure of success at both AD's of Temple and Memphis (as there was at UConn). UMass is a dead duck in pretty much every sport.

 

[freescooter]

In no world was the Big East going to add a team that was not already 1A unless it was named Villanova, and even that was a long, long shot. The addition of Temple seems to have put a fork in any proposed Villanova upgrade. And any way, both Temple and Memphis were mvoed that were made to strengthen the basketball side of the house. They were really the two best hoop schools available who also played football at the 1A level. Nothing complex about it. UMass doesn't bring much basketball heft and is only beginning to play 1A football this season. If the decision were being made in 2018, maybe it comes out differently.

 

[metsfan2323]

I agree.

Adding UMASS would also make it easier for the ACC to add UCONN. Right now BC has two big reasons to block UCONN:

1) They don't want to elevate UCONN and compete head to head.

2) If the ACC adds UCONN the Big East will add UMASS. BC does not want to see UMASS in the Big East.

If the Big East added UMASS yesterday BC may have actually prefered to see UCONN in the ACC than to see UCONN / UMASS become a hot rivalry in their backyard.

UCONN needs to push for UMASS to be added to the Big East if we want to be added to the ACC.

Right now our only hope of conference change is the Big 1o.

 

[ZooCougar]

Waylon,

Not saying that I disagree with you. But UMass football adds no gravitas to the football side of things. And if we want to play them, then I am sure they are willing to schedule us from now until the end of eternity.

At this point it seems pointless to weight basketball the same as football. I don't see why Memphis should have had edge over anyone.

 

[alexd]

Why would BC care if UMess was in the BE? Nobody inside the 495 corridor gives a hoot about UMess. They struck a nice deal to play games at Gillette you say? Storrs is closer to Gillette than Amherst is. Nothing like a 90 mile drive for your home game.

 

[metsfan2323]

Why would BC care if UMess was in the BE? Nobody inside the 495 corridor gives a hoot about UMess. They struck a nice deal to play games at Gillette you say? Storrs is closer to Gillette than Amherst is. Nothing like a 90 mile drive for your home game.

Yale was once the most popular sports school in CT by a wide margin. UMASS has the potential to crush BC.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Why would BC care if UMess was in the BE? Nobody inside the 495 corridor gives a hoot about UMess. They struck a nice deal to play games at Gillette you say? Storrs is closer to Gillette than Amherst is. Nothing like a 90 mile drive for your home game.

It is really hard to build or grow a fan base in college athletics. Schools that have been successful were generally the only show in town (Cincinnati and South Florida), and even then, they leaned heavily on large local student and alumni bases. UMass has the largest alumni base of any school left, and it is THE state school for Massachusetts.

There are thousands of UMass graduates inside the 495 corrider, plus their families and friends and etc., so your statement is simply ignorant. Also, as we saw in UConn, when THE state school upgrades, their is a larger fan base of private school grads living in the state that do not view the state school as competitive in any way with their alma mater. BCU will always struggle to attract private school grads of other schools because they look at BCU as competitive to their school.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Waylon,

Not saying that I disagree with you. But UMass football adds no gravitas to the football side of things. And if we want to play them, then I am sure they are willing to schedule us from now until the end of eternity.

At this point it seems pointless to weight basketball the same as football. I don't see why Memphis should have had edge over anyone.

We are not comparing UMass football to Ohio State. UMass would beat Memphis by 2 TD's if they played tomorrow.

 

[Hoophound]

Memphis will be a top program in the Big East. Memphis is in the south, Memphis is now in a decent conference. They are going to do what it takes. UMass won't have the support to do what it takes.

 

[businesslawyer]

There has been zero forethought put into picking programs for the conference. We are just running down a list of names from the same tired old choices without any thought to what they would be 5 or 10 years from now

LMAO. Yes, correct. You are the only person in the building capable of thinking before making a decision. No one at Providence, no one at any of the schools, bothered because it's just not as important to them.

 

[noeynox]

I was actually thinking today, that UMass may be an option in the near future, if they do away with auto BCS bids. (I don't think they should have gotten the invite right, now and some time in MAC will do them good on a lot of fronts) Do the Boise States, and SDSU's, stay in the Big East if there are no autobids? I guess they would if the TV money is significantly more than they would get in MWC/Conf USA merged conference, but we don't know that yet. UConn, Rutgers, Navy, Temple, UMass. Maybe Buffalo and Army (though I doubt either will be competitive but what do I know). That is your Northeast Football faction right there. Add in USF, UCF, Memphis, ECU, and Cincy. I think that is how our FB conference may look depending on what happens with the BCS auto bids. At least it would have some semblance of geographical cohesion.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They aren't joining the Big East for the autobids as is, because I think the consensus is there will be a playoff in 5-10 years. They are joining for a new TV deal. TV value should be the ONLY driver of expansion decisions right now.

 

[RS9999X]

UMess is a stretch today and they aren't going anywhere.

Adding Boise, Houston, UCF, Memphis, Temple---all reasonable and expected. The service academies? OK.

Swapping out TCU and BYU for SMU and SDSU? Ugly. Adding UMass now? As ugly. Time to digest unless the B12 oe Comcast/ESPN forces the issue.

 

[Carl Spackler]

They aren't joining the Big East for the autobids as is, because I think the consensus is there will be a playoff in 5-10 years. They are joining for a new TV deal. TV value should be the ONLY driver of expansion decisions right now.

I completely disagree with this beg harder nonsense. Makes me want to punch somebody square in the nose.

But on this, above, I completely agree.

In the absence of a true playoff system among 1-A conference champions. (and anything the BCS comes up with, that is not a simple playoff format seeding ALL conference champions - is NOT a true playoff)...in the absence of that true playoff.......

Any and all conference changing moves need to be entirely about strengthening media broadcasting value. This has been true for 25 years, and it's true today, and it's not going to change without a true format for establishing a national champion in the college football post season.

Every move that has happened in the past 25, years right up to what's happening this month, is about media broadcasting. There are two 1-A conferences right now forming that are spread from coast to coast, the big east is one of them. The chances of the BCS-AQ conferences to secede from the NCAA are virtually gone. There is no motivation for the Big 10 and Pac 10 to separate, and the SEC will not be able to sustain itself alone, as basketball - actually can save this whole thing - the SEC alone, can't sustain it's own value without the NCAA. The big 12 is at the mercy of Texas, ESPN and Fox television.

So - Joe Paterno's failure to establish a northeast corridor all sports league, because of the membership of Dave Gavitt's basketball conference, has led UConn to the position we are in now.

The Big EAst conference, is struggling, and doing a decent job, of re-establishing an all sports foothold in the north east again, right now, after they already had it, and ignored it and practically lost it. Football will spread from coast to coast now, instead of being local. We will have travel destinations for all sports in central florida and Dallas, Tx areas outside the northeast U.S. That's what it's come to.

The best thing that UConn can do right now, is remain tied to Notre Dame, and remain in an organizational structure that has market share in teh northeast corridor from DC to Boston. No matter how many turns that cord needs to take to be connected to Notre Dame, we keep it, until the existence of true playoff structure (which I believe would quickly lead to a natural geographic reorganization of athletic conferences)...AND force Notre Dame into a conference......

Until then, we need to remain tied to Notre Dame in an athletic alliance, with, or without football, and we need to maintain our presence in an athletic conference that owns market share in the northeast corridor market in football and basketball.

Every 1-A football program, that has severed those two ties, has struggled since 1990, and Syracuse, Pitt and WVU will follow suit. We can't do the same.

 

[gioff23]

Here is an interesting excerpt from the Philly papers today re: Temple joining

The MAC, however, has an out clause that would let it drop the Minutemen after two seasons if Temple leaves for the Big East.

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[mattp]

They aren't joining the Big East for the autobids as is, because I think the consensus is there will be a playoff in 5-10 years. They are joining for a new TV deal. TV value should be the ONLY driver of expansion decisions right now.

so are you saying that UMass will help our TV deal more than Memphis or Temple? you could maybe make an argument that they'd help us more than Temple, but Memphis? get real here.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Every 1-A football program, that has severed those two ties, has struggled since 1990, and Syracuse, Pitt and WVU will follow suit. We can't do the same.

And by "every" do you mean VT, Miami and BC?

Virginia Tech plays in a BCS bowl nearly every single year.
BC has fallen off the map, but how much is that due to leaving the BE or the fact their leadership is incompetent? Miami isn't the Miami of the 1980-2000s but they still play in bowl games pretty regularly, though not at a National Championship level.

 

[rw005]

It's a lot easier to schedule UMass for OOC scheduling than it is for actual conference play. Trust me.