Post by elp525 on Jul 4, 2010 5:19:34 GMT -5
July 3, 2010
By Dave Hickman, Staff writer
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Is it just me or did Oliver Luck's job actually get a whole lot easier from the time he took the job until he officially began it on Wednesday?
OK, so we're not talking about a broad sense of the job as West Virginia's athletic director. No, most of those core issues have not changed - be it the day-to-day decisions or the big-ticket items like what to do with the Mountaineer Sports Network.
It's still a tough job.
Still, remember this: Luck agreed to take the job on a Wednesday night, June 9, just as conference Armageddon seemed imminent. Colorado was signing the papers to join the Pac-10 at about the time Luck was signing a letter of agreement to replace Ed Pastilong. Nebraska would join the Big Ten a day later. Texas was holding both the Big 12 and the Pac-10 hostage. Superconferences seemed only days away from birth.
And the Big East - and thus Luck's new employer, WVU - was teetering on the edge, alternately wondering if its membership was going to dwindle and die in the aftermath of Big Ten expansion or explode with Big 12 leftovers.
Now, fast-forward just a few days later and there's nothing but relative calm. Three-and-a-half weeks later it's the same. The Big Ten isn't supersizing, nor is the Pac-10. The Big 12 remains viable and perhaps even stronger than before. The SEC and the ACC never lifted a finger.
And the Big East is just fine, thank you.
Well, except for that whole black cloud hanging over it in regard to the next wave of expansion. But that's not likely to happen for a few years at the earliest. As we've mentioned before, the Big Ten presidents aren't going to stand for talk of further expansion when they have already improved the value of their conference with the addition of a brand name like Nebraska and the chance to get into the league title game business. Why rock the boat even further?
So the Big East can relax for a while. There's really not much on the horizon. Sure, you can argue that now is the time for the league to become proactive and strengthen its football side by adding members, but that's a pretty simplistic notion.
Go ahead, argue the relative merits of Central Florida and East Carolina and Memphis or anyone else you care to name, but the bottom line is that none of those schools add more value than would be stripped away from the current football members by adding another hand in the pot. The only thing that would add value to the league as a marketable football product for television is the addition of schools that are already established (read Notre Dame or perhaps Maryland or Boston College), but there are none knocking on the Big East's door. Taking a school that needs the Big East to raise its profile is kind of counterproductive, don't you think?
There is, however, the other nagging issue which plagues the Big East's football schools. And with expansion seemingly on the back burner for a while, this is when the league needs to address it. It's the need for that ninth football school to balance the schedule.
It seems a fairly minor issue in relation to conference alignment and what might happen down the road. And, of course, the two can't really be separated.
In addressing the ninth football member, the makeup of the league as it braces itself for whenever the Big Ten (or anyone else) comes threatening has to be taken into account.
It's all a delicate balancing act, what with the desire to do something to help balance the schedule and at the same time strengthen the football side and keep the basketball side from exploding beyond its current 16 members. Everyone has a solution, it seems, whether it be to add football-only members, expand both the football and basketball sides, toss the ultimatum to Notre Dame to get in to get out, or split the league into football and basketball divisions.
None of them are practical, though, so what the Big East seems to be doing - at least in a subtle way - is trying to convince one of its basketball members to upgrade its football program the way Connecticut did. At the very least that solves the problem of adding a ninth football team without affecting the basketball side.
Villanova, obviously, is the target.
"There's a push on, yes,'' said one source. "It's not a hard push and we don't want to make it that way because we don't want to force anyone to do something they don't want to do or scare them off. But that would certainly solve some problems.''
Sure, if the league was going to ask one of its basketball-side members to join in football, Notre Dame would be the prize. Man, would that solve everything or what?
But the Irish aren't biting. And there's no question that of the Big East members who currently field lower-division football programs, Villanova is the most likely candidate to make the UConn-like jump. The Wildcats won the Football Championship Series national title last fall. They play in a league - the Colonial - that has emerged as the best in the FCS of late and has a pretty good track record of upsetting Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
Shoot, the Wildcats played at West Virginia two years ago and, to be honest, put up a better fight than a few recent Syracuse teams.
There are issues, of course. Villanova loses millions on its football program each year, despite its success. It plays in an 8,000-seat, on-campus stadium and didn't even sell it out for a national semifinal game last year. And as Temple can attest, Philadelphians aren't exactly clamoring to watch college football.
Then again, look at the progress UConn made in a short time after upgrading its program from what was then Division I-AA. The school also could work out access to Lincoln Financial Field and/or Franklin Field. A game against West Virginia or Pitt or Rutgers is likely to draw far more than one with Stony Brook. And the Big East's revenue sharing, while paltry compared to the Big Ten or the SEC, would likely wipe out any deficit Villanova is currently running or would run after an upgrade.
While the addition of Villanova would spur a collective yawn from most of the Big East's fan base in regard to positioning for eventual conference realignment (This is your solution?), it would be hailed by the league's coaches, who have been crying for years about an unbalanced schedule. It would save the basketball side from adding no-value members (save for Memphis, which adds nothing in football; take your pick) and expanding beyond 16 teams.
Is it the cure-all for what ails the Big East? Of course not. Is it a small step in the right direction? Well, it can't hurt.
But who knows when or if Villanova will decide the time is right?
By Dave Hickman, Staff writer
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Is it just me or did Oliver Luck's job actually get a whole lot easier from the time he took the job until he officially began it on Wednesday?
OK, so we're not talking about a broad sense of the job as West Virginia's athletic director. No, most of those core issues have not changed - be it the day-to-day decisions or the big-ticket items like what to do with the Mountaineer Sports Network.
It's still a tough job.
Still, remember this: Luck agreed to take the job on a Wednesday night, June 9, just as conference Armageddon seemed imminent. Colorado was signing the papers to join the Pac-10 at about the time Luck was signing a letter of agreement to replace Ed Pastilong. Nebraska would join the Big Ten a day later. Texas was holding both the Big 12 and the Pac-10 hostage. Superconferences seemed only days away from birth.
And the Big East - and thus Luck's new employer, WVU - was teetering on the edge, alternately wondering if its membership was going to dwindle and die in the aftermath of Big Ten expansion or explode with Big 12 leftovers.
Now, fast-forward just a few days later and there's nothing but relative calm. Three-and-a-half weeks later it's the same. The Big Ten isn't supersizing, nor is the Pac-10. The Big 12 remains viable and perhaps even stronger than before. The SEC and the ACC never lifted a finger.
And the Big East is just fine, thank you.
Well, except for that whole black cloud hanging over it in regard to the next wave of expansion. But that's not likely to happen for a few years at the earliest. As we've mentioned before, the Big Ten presidents aren't going to stand for talk of further expansion when they have already improved the value of their conference with the addition of a brand name like Nebraska and the chance to get into the league title game business. Why rock the boat even further?
So the Big East can relax for a while. There's really not much on the horizon. Sure, you can argue that now is the time for the league to become proactive and strengthen its football side by adding members, but that's a pretty simplistic notion.
Go ahead, argue the relative merits of Central Florida and East Carolina and Memphis or anyone else you care to name, but the bottom line is that none of those schools add more value than would be stripped away from the current football members by adding another hand in the pot. The only thing that would add value to the league as a marketable football product for television is the addition of schools that are already established (read Notre Dame or perhaps Maryland or Boston College), but there are none knocking on the Big East's door. Taking a school that needs the Big East to raise its profile is kind of counterproductive, don't you think?
There is, however, the other nagging issue which plagues the Big East's football schools. And with expansion seemingly on the back burner for a while, this is when the league needs to address it. It's the need for that ninth football school to balance the schedule.
It seems a fairly minor issue in relation to conference alignment and what might happen down the road. And, of course, the two can't really be separated.
In addressing the ninth football member, the makeup of the league as it braces itself for whenever the Big Ten (or anyone else) comes threatening has to be taken into account.
It's all a delicate balancing act, what with the desire to do something to help balance the schedule and at the same time strengthen the football side and keep the basketball side from exploding beyond its current 16 members. Everyone has a solution, it seems, whether it be to add football-only members, expand both the football and basketball sides, toss the ultimatum to Notre Dame to get in to get out, or split the league into football and basketball divisions.
None of them are practical, though, so what the Big East seems to be doing - at least in a subtle way - is trying to convince one of its basketball members to upgrade its football program the way Connecticut did. At the very least that solves the problem of adding a ninth football team without affecting the basketball side.
Villanova, obviously, is the target.
"There's a push on, yes,'' said one source. "It's not a hard push and we don't want to make it that way because we don't want to force anyone to do something they don't want to do or scare them off. But that would certainly solve some problems.''
Sure, if the league was going to ask one of its basketball-side members to join in football, Notre Dame would be the prize. Man, would that solve everything or what?
But the Irish aren't biting. And there's no question that of the Big East members who currently field lower-division football programs, Villanova is the most likely candidate to make the UConn-like jump. The Wildcats won the Football Championship Series national title last fall. They play in a league - the Colonial - that has emerged as the best in the FCS of late and has a pretty good track record of upsetting Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
Shoot, the Wildcats played at West Virginia two years ago and, to be honest, put up a better fight than a few recent Syracuse teams.
There are issues, of course. Villanova loses millions on its football program each year, despite its success. It plays in an 8,000-seat, on-campus stadium and didn't even sell it out for a national semifinal game last year. And as Temple can attest, Philadelphians aren't exactly clamoring to watch college football.
Then again, look at the progress UConn made in a short time after upgrading its program from what was then Division I-AA. The school also could work out access to Lincoln Financial Field and/or Franklin Field. A game against West Virginia or Pitt or Rutgers is likely to draw far more than one with Stony Brook. And the Big East's revenue sharing, while paltry compared to the Big Ten or the SEC, would likely wipe out any deficit Villanova is currently running or would run after an upgrade.
While the addition of Villanova would spur a collective yawn from most of the Big East's fan base in regard to positioning for eventual conference realignment (This is your solution?), it would be hailed by the league's coaches, who have been crying for years about an unbalanced schedule. It would save the basketball side from adding no-value members (save for Memphis, which adds nothing in football; take your pick) and expanding beyond 16 teams.
Is it the cure-all for what ails the Big East? Of course not. Is it a small step in the right direction? Well, it can't hurt.
But who knows when or if Villanova will decide the time is right?
