Post by elp525 on Sept 30, 2011 4:41:09 GMT -5
Wednesday September 28, 2011
Mountaineers hopeful on rebuilt Big East, but Big 12 and SEC may be options down road.
by Jack Bogaczyk
Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The next move in the college realignment game of dominos may be the most significant for West Virginia.
The Mountaineers - and everyone else playing in and watching this BCS Poker Tour high-stakes game - are waiting for Missouri to live up to its state nickname.
"Show me" which way Mizzou is going to go ... and then WVU will know what is its best opportunity as a second option if it eventually decides it no longer wants a future in the Big East.
The reality is that right now, the Mountaineers' best option is a rebuilt football Big East. It's the option over which WVU has the most control because it's part of it. Schools have to deal in what's real in this, not speculation and imagination.
Also, those who know say the Big East - if it loses no programs besides ACC-bound Syracuse and Pitt - can remain a Bowl Championship Series conference.
The notion that West Virginia is going to have a press conference to announce where it's going in the next day or two is a bunch of bunk, too. So, hold onto your Old Gold britches.
The Big 12 athletic directors were meeting Tuesday (and today) in Dallas, following a national major college athletic directors meeting that ended at noon. In attendance, of course, was WVU's Oliver Luck. How convenient.
The notion of many is that the athletic forces at Missouri want to follow Texas A&M from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, but guessing which way the wind blows with the UM Board of Curators is just that - a guess.
Also, Commissioner Mike Slive said Tuesday in an A&M introductory conference call that no other schools are currently being considered as the SEC's 14th member.
If Mizzou eventually would go to the SEC, then WVU is in good shape in the Big 12, which will be down to eight members. Most insiders figure West Virginia (if it wants to move) is a lock if the league goes back to its original 12-team membership and wisely returns to glitzy Jerry Jones Stadium for a football title game.
If Mizzou stays put, WVU is in play with the SEC. There supposedly has been some unofficial straw poll among SEC members in which West Virginia got enough "yes" votes to feel wanted, but WVU also remains a Big 12 contender even if that league only goes to 10.
The Big East, you ask? Connecticut has been making noise about a potential ACC bid. That's not how you play this game. Where there's smoke, there's not necessarily fire. Should it matter much to WVU if Rutgers leaves the Big East for elsewhere?
That "elsewhere" could be the Big Ten, which likes to do things quietly and then drop a Nebraska bombshell.
Mizzou and Rutgers could go there, or Notre Dame.
Can the Fighting Irish be thrilled about playing basketball in a Big East without Pitt and Syracuse and maybe a Louisville, WVU or UConn?
Is that how Irish football independence ends? We'll see.
Back to the Big 12 ... Texas wants the membership to return to the 10 of this school year. UT isn't budging on its Longhorn Network programming, and that may be what pushes Mizzou elsewhere.
TCU, waiting in the Big East wings, would seem the best potential Big 12 member ... but the conference doesn't appear inclined to want another Texas school, and the Longhorns definitely want no part of the Horned Frogs. Texas is glad to get A&M a bit out of its recruiting hair.
Texas, however, may not have its say on things other than its own network. The other Big 12 members know the 'Horns are boxed in. The Pac-12 door is closed. Texas doesn't want to "follow" A&M to the SEC. That leaves the Big Ten and the ACC. Neither would allow the Longhorns to keep separate revenue from their own TV network.
The ACC might be desirous of all-sports membership for Notre Dame, and could take the Fighting Irish and UConn or Rutgers - but it's a big could. If Notre Dame won't go, the ACC could grab the Huskies and Scarlet Knights.
"We're very comfortable with 14," ACC Commissioner John Swofford said when Pitt and Syracuse were announced as expansion teams. "The only thing I would add to that is we're not philosophically opposed to 16."
There is also what some call "the Bristol factor" to consider. There's no way ESPN, located in Bristol, Conn., is going to let the state flagship school be left in a diminished conference when the network dominates the college sports TV world.
So, if UConn has nowhere to go, a rebuilt Big East is its best option, too.
If not TCU at the top of the Big 12 wish list, then who? Well, it appears to be BYU and then Big East members West Virginia and Louisville perhaps vying for who's got next. Some say TCU is still a strong candidate, despite remarks the other day from interim Big 12 Commissioner Chuck Neinas on having enough schools from the Lone Star State.
Last week's Big East "pledge of allegiance" meeting (and Commissioner John Marinatto's happy-family remarks) was telling for what the schools said in the days that followed.
There was a great - and to-the-point - line about the New York gathering in one story, where one of the league's basketball school officials wondered about those football presidents and ADs speaking with their fingers crossed.
"Instead of looking each other in the eye, what they should all do is turn on their cell phones and show who they've been talking to and texting with."
The Big East has WVU, TCU, South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, Rutgers and UConn as football members. Navy and Air Force have been invited - and have accepted, pending knowing what they're getting into and with whom - as football-only members. The hope is Army would follow.
(Gee, the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy could then be renamed the Marinatto Cup.)
Temple might be asked to rejoin, this time as all-sports Owls. Villanova has the same stadium issues that thwarted its Big East football bid before. USF might be arm-twisted to allow neighbor UCF to join. East Carolina has applied, but is being back-burnered.
That's about a 10-member football league. I think West Virginia really wants to stay put, but I don't see the Mountaineers - if other options materialize - hanging around in the Big East if the conference loses more than one program among UConn, TCU, Louisville or USF.
WVU has plenty of connections with the Big 12, and it fits the SEC athletic profile just as it fits the Big East's geography.
Luck is tied into Texas through his past residence in the state as a prominent sports figure and UT Law graduate. Bob Huggins coached hoops at Kansas State and really knows the Big 12. Dana Holgorsen has spun his football offense previously at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
I think Mizzou picks one way before long and West Virginia has a bid to the other - Big 12 or SEC. Then, it's up to WVU President Jim Clements, the Board of Governors and Luck to decide if the Big East can remain stable enough to stay at home.
"We are, and will, remain a national player in college athletics," Luck said after the Big East meeting last week - and whatever happens in this game of musical chairs will be his legacy in the ADs job at his alma mater, and he knows it.
Trust me, Luck has tried to schedule Navy in football. He really loves, respects and appreciates the service academies, what they are and what they stand for.
I don't think he'd mind playing football dates in Annapolis, Colorado Springs and West Point, and the road to the BCS certainly would be easier in the Big East than through Tuscaloosa and Gainesville or Norman and Austin.
If the Big 12 or SEC makes an offer, the Mountaineers will listen, but it's far too soon to say if they would leap.
Mountaineers hopeful on rebuilt Big East, but Big 12 and SEC may be options down road.
by Jack Bogaczyk
Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The next move in the college realignment game of dominos may be the most significant for West Virginia.
The Mountaineers - and everyone else playing in and watching this BCS Poker Tour high-stakes game - are waiting for Missouri to live up to its state nickname.
"Show me" which way Mizzou is going to go ... and then WVU will know what is its best opportunity as a second option if it eventually decides it no longer wants a future in the Big East.
The reality is that right now, the Mountaineers' best option is a rebuilt football Big East. It's the option over which WVU has the most control because it's part of it. Schools have to deal in what's real in this, not speculation and imagination.
Also, those who know say the Big East - if it loses no programs besides ACC-bound Syracuse and Pitt - can remain a Bowl Championship Series conference.
The notion that West Virginia is going to have a press conference to announce where it's going in the next day or two is a bunch of bunk, too. So, hold onto your Old Gold britches.
The Big 12 athletic directors were meeting Tuesday (and today) in Dallas, following a national major college athletic directors meeting that ended at noon. In attendance, of course, was WVU's Oliver Luck. How convenient.
The notion of many is that the athletic forces at Missouri want to follow Texas A&M from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, but guessing which way the wind blows with the UM Board of Curators is just that - a guess.
Also, Commissioner Mike Slive said Tuesday in an A&M introductory conference call that no other schools are currently being considered as the SEC's 14th member.
If Mizzou eventually would go to the SEC, then WVU is in good shape in the Big 12, which will be down to eight members. Most insiders figure West Virginia (if it wants to move) is a lock if the league goes back to its original 12-team membership and wisely returns to glitzy Jerry Jones Stadium for a football title game.
If Mizzou stays put, WVU is in play with the SEC. There supposedly has been some unofficial straw poll among SEC members in which West Virginia got enough "yes" votes to feel wanted, but WVU also remains a Big 12 contender even if that league only goes to 10.
The Big East, you ask? Connecticut has been making noise about a potential ACC bid. That's not how you play this game. Where there's smoke, there's not necessarily fire. Should it matter much to WVU if Rutgers leaves the Big East for elsewhere?
That "elsewhere" could be the Big Ten, which likes to do things quietly and then drop a Nebraska bombshell.
Mizzou and Rutgers could go there, or Notre Dame.
Can the Fighting Irish be thrilled about playing basketball in a Big East without Pitt and Syracuse and maybe a Louisville, WVU or UConn?
Is that how Irish football independence ends? We'll see.
Back to the Big 12 ... Texas wants the membership to return to the 10 of this school year. UT isn't budging on its Longhorn Network programming, and that may be what pushes Mizzou elsewhere.
TCU, waiting in the Big East wings, would seem the best potential Big 12 member ... but the conference doesn't appear inclined to want another Texas school, and the Longhorns definitely want no part of the Horned Frogs. Texas is glad to get A&M a bit out of its recruiting hair.
Texas, however, may not have its say on things other than its own network. The other Big 12 members know the 'Horns are boxed in. The Pac-12 door is closed. Texas doesn't want to "follow" A&M to the SEC. That leaves the Big Ten and the ACC. Neither would allow the Longhorns to keep separate revenue from their own TV network.
The ACC might be desirous of all-sports membership for Notre Dame, and could take the Fighting Irish and UConn or Rutgers - but it's a big could. If Notre Dame won't go, the ACC could grab the Huskies and Scarlet Knights.
"We're very comfortable with 14," ACC Commissioner John Swofford said when Pitt and Syracuse were announced as expansion teams. "The only thing I would add to that is we're not philosophically opposed to 16."
There is also what some call "the Bristol factor" to consider. There's no way ESPN, located in Bristol, Conn., is going to let the state flagship school be left in a diminished conference when the network dominates the college sports TV world.
So, if UConn has nowhere to go, a rebuilt Big East is its best option, too.
If not TCU at the top of the Big 12 wish list, then who? Well, it appears to be BYU and then Big East members West Virginia and Louisville perhaps vying for who's got next. Some say TCU is still a strong candidate, despite remarks the other day from interim Big 12 Commissioner Chuck Neinas on having enough schools from the Lone Star State.
Last week's Big East "pledge of allegiance" meeting (and Commissioner John Marinatto's happy-family remarks) was telling for what the schools said in the days that followed.
There was a great - and to-the-point - line about the New York gathering in one story, where one of the league's basketball school officials wondered about those football presidents and ADs speaking with their fingers crossed.
"Instead of looking each other in the eye, what they should all do is turn on their cell phones and show who they've been talking to and texting with."
The Big East has WVU, TCU, South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, Rutgers and UConn as football members. Navy and Air Force have been invited - and have accepted, pending knowing what they're getting into and with whom - as football-only members. The hope is Army would follow.
(Gee, the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy could then be renamed the Marinatto Cup.)
Temple might be asked to rejoin, this time as all-sports Owls. Villanova has the same stadium issues that thwarted its Big East football bid before. USF might be arm-twisted to allow neighbor UCF to join. East Carolina has applied, but is being back-burnered.
That's about a 10-member football league. I think West Virginia really wants to stay put, but I don't see the Mountaineers - if other options materialize - hanging around in the Big East if the conference loses more than one program among UConn, TCU, Louisville or USF.
WVU has plenty of connections with the Big 12, and it fits the SEC athletic profile just as it fits the Big East's geography.
Luck is tied into Texas through his past residence in the state as a prominent sports figure and UT Law graduate. Bob Huggins coached hoops at Kansas State and really knows the Big 12. Dana Holgorsen has spun his football offense previously at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
I think Mizzou picks one way before long and West Virginia has a bid to the other - Big 12 or SEC. Then, it's up to WVU President Jim Clements, the Board of Governors and Luck to decide if the Big East can remain stable enough to stay at home.
"We are, and will, remain a national player in college athletics," Luck said after the Big East meeting last week - and whatever happens in this game of musical chairs will be his legacy in the ADs job at his alma mater, and he knows it.
Trust me, Luck has tried to schedule Navy in football. He really loves, respects and appreciates the service academies, what they are and what they stand for.
I don't think he'd mind playing football dates in Annapolis, Colorado Springs and West Point, and the road to the BCS certainly would be easier in the Big East than through Tuscaloosa and Gainesville or Norman and Austin.
If the Big 12 or SEC makes an offer, the Mountaineers will listen, but it's far too soon to say if they would leap.
