I see that the ACC is seriously pursuing the University of Miami for a tenth spot in their conference and it appears that if the Hurricanes leave both Syracuse and Boston College are sure to follow. Of course the Big East is ripe for such hostile overtures to its members since it is basically a hodgepodge of schools, some in it for all sports, one for all sports except basketball, and some for all except football. The Big East has staved off this kind of attack from the outside in the past by adding additional football schools and eventually forming the Big East Football Conference in order to satisfy the likes of Syracuse, Boston College and Pitt. Now it looks like time has run out for this conglomeration of a conference and some thought must be given to what if anything can be done to salvage the situation.
I’ve seen talk on some message boards suggesting that Miami could be persuaded to stay by giving them a bigger piece of the football money (my sources tell me they already get more than their share) and jettisoning the basketball schools: St. John’s, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Villanova, and Providence. In my mind, that’s only paying blackmail money and it deprives the conference of some of its best basketball, though non-Division 1-A football, teams. I also think it merely puts off the inevitable realignment.
So let’s assume that Miami, Syracuse and BC defect to the ACC. Temple has already been jettisoned for football; does the Big East invite them back and invite them in for basketball as well? Even if they do, this and adding UConn for football does nothing to enhance the viability of the football side of the equation, unless Tranghese insists that Notre Dame join for football or else. ND has no reason to do so given their big TV deal and the fact is they get bowl invitations, deserved or not, and can keep the money to themselves. In other words the football conference is trashed.
Odds are that if this occurs Pitt goes begging to the Big Ten to join as a 12th member and give that conference the option of splitting into 2 divisions with a lucrative post-season championship game a la the SEC. That’s the way the ACC looks to go. Some posters on the boards dream that the Big East will somehow lure Penn State away from the Big Ten to keep the football conference viable. That’s nothing but a pipe dream. Why would Penn State leave a prestigious and stable “all sports” conference to go to (1) a conference that snubbed them in the past and (2) a conference that will continue to exist in a “some-in-for-this/some-in-for-that situation for the foreseeable future? It just doesn’t make sense.
That leaves the Big East left with the following football/basketball schools:
- Virginia Tech
- West Virginia
- UConn
- Temple (if they’re invited to stay), and (bringing up the rear as usual)
- Rutgers
Then you have the basketball/non-football group:
- St. John’s
- Providence
- Seton Hall
- Georgetown and
- Villanova
So you’ve got a 10-team conference, only 5 of which play big-time football. You need 3 more schools to have an 8-team football conference and at least one of them has to be of a caliber of a Miami or a Penn State. Look around; it’s not going to happen. And what if VT and West Virginia look to bolt to the SEC (although I don’t think the SEC is looking to expand any further right now), then what?
Whatever happens it looks like there’s going to be an inevitable split between the football and basketball groups. Football is the big dollar sport right now and the smaller Catholic schools either can’t or have no interest in moving up to Division 1-A. The 5 basketball schools look to be hurt the least since they should be able to raid the Atlantic 10 for at least 3 top quality programs with a similar philosophy. But for the football schools, it looks like a big step down. Let’s say they can lure Louisville, East Carolina and Marshall. It’s nowhere near the football conference it once was. Even with the addition of Louisville for basketball, much more is lost than gained. Keeping everybody together while adding 3 new football schools to the mix merely perpetuates the unhealthy arrangement that led to this situation in the first place, albeit without a marquee football team.
Well it should be an interesting couple of weeks. We’ll see who gets to keep the name.
File under From The Sports Desk.
9:43:44 PM 
