After watching the 13-13 WVU Mountaineers lose to Oklahoma State at home, one has to wonder what is going on. ESPN reported that the school travel 32K miles to date for basketball games. The costs are mounting. Also, after talking with two WVU supporters, both are concerned that football will fall off dramatically this year. It could be a long, long year in 2013 for WVU. So the realignment question returns, was this best for WVU?

(02-25-2013 07:56 AM)Vewb1 Wrote:  After watching the 13-13 WVU Mountaineers lose to Oklahoma State at home, one has to wonder what is going on. ESPN reported that the school travel 32K miles to date for basketball games. The costs are mounting. Also, after talking with two WVU supporters, both are concerned that football will fall off dramatically this year. It could be a long, long year in 2013 for WVU. So the realignment question returns, was this best for WVU?

WVU's problems have very little to do with travel and the Big 12 and more to do with a very young and inexperienced football coaching staff and recruiting classes from the previous regime that left us low on numbers.

Same with basketball, our last 2 recruiting classes haven't come close to panning out. We just don't have the depth we need in either sport and shoddy defensive coaching hires in football doomed us.

acc, but it won't happen.

(02-25-2013 08:06 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  acc, but it won't happen.

undoubtedly the ACC would have been a better fit for WVU and I don't think anyone would deny that.

Oliver Luck is looking for help with WVU's travel problems.


http://www.exponent-telegram.com/sports/...f887a.html


The WVU athletic department is currently fighting some red ink:


http://www.register-herald.com/collegesp...he-red-ink

(02-25-2013 08:08 AM)OldGoldnBlue Wrote:  

(02-25-2013 08:06 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  acc, but it won't happen.

undoubtedly the ACC would have been a better fit for WVU and I don't think anyone would deny that.

Regionally, yes, but culturally, absolutely not.

As far as the "red ink" for the WVU athletic department...That is a temporary problem based on buyouts of coaches, conferences, etc. plus not getting 100% Big 12 share. Once the 100% share kicks in, WVU will be fine financially.

What goes around, goes around, goes around, goes all the way and back around.... yeah.

Sorry Mountaineers. Nobody feels sorry for you. Thanks for carrying the Big East for all those years though. Wouldn't have gotten that BCS TV dollar without you.

(02-25-2013 08:40 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  What goes around, goes around, goes around, goes all the way and back around.... yeah.

Sorry Mountaineers. Nobody feels sorry for you. Thanks for carrying the Big East for all those years though. Wouldn't have gotten that BCS TV dollar without you.

Why would we want anyone to feel sorry for us? We are very happy where we are at...We are getting paid and we are locked into the big boy club. I believe expansion will give us eastern partners soon enough.

PS thanks for being a perennial doormat and letting us beat you for the last 16 years in a row.

(02-25-2013 08:09 AM)TerryD Wrote:  The WVU athletic department is currently fighting some red ink:

http://www.register-herald.com/collegesp...he-red-ink

That's a noticeably lousy article. If you dig in, it includes the $20M Big East payment, but the rest of the article reads as if that's the ordinary operating budget. Asking questions like "Is Big XII athletics worth it?" when this budget was entirely based on Big EAST athletics.

That's like looking at a family making $100,000 a year who bought a $200,000 house and saying "ZOMG! They're losing $100,000 a year!"

(02-25-2013 07:56 AM)Vewb1 Wrote:  After watching the 13-13 WVU Mountaineers lose to Oklahoma State at home, one has to wonder what is going on. ESPN reported that the school travel 32K miles to date for basketball games. The costs are mounting. Also, after talking with two WVU supporters, both are concerned that football will fall off dramatically this year. It could be a long, long year in 2013 for WVU. So the realignment question returns, was this best for WVU?

People say things like this all the time but really, what alternative did WVU have? Their only alternative would have been to stay in the Aresco League and hope for the best. How's that strategy working out for Cincinnati?

Look, WVU would obviously rather be in the ACC playing against all of their former rivals as well as some of their aspirational rivals. Some of their fans deny that fact but who are they kidding?

Why do you think almost all of these rumors about the demise of the ACC/Pitt pop up out of the Mountain State? This is DEFINITELY psycho ex-girlfriend bullschitt and anyone who doesn't see that simply doesn't want to see it.

It is not remotely coincidental that in almost all of these rumors, Pitt and the ACC - WVU's two arch enemies - end up dead in a ditch somewhere along the side of the road while WVU and the B12 end up profiting beyond their wildest dreams. That's how most folk stories go.

With that in mind, the rumor part has never surprised me. Their motives are incredibly transparent. What has long surprised me is that people are gullible enough to continue to buy into them? Again though, the people who seem to push them the hardest tend to be those with the largest ax to grind and/or the most to gain. College athletics is a lot like most other forms of politics in that way.

The shame of it from my standpoint is that with Maryland going to the B1G, had WVU waited a year - or if the timing had been better - they, not Louisville, would almost certainly be in the ACC.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out so now they're in a league in which they are the clear outlier both geographically and culturally. However, in fairness, I should also point out that they were something of a cultural outlier in the Big East too so they're relatively used to it. Trust me when I tell you that as someone who has lived all over the country - including West Virginia - that state is unlike any other I have ever encountered. As such, they would be a cultural outlier in any league - even the SEC.

Still, I continue to come back to the question, what other choice did the Mountaineer brass have but to accept the B12's offer for league membership? Had they turned that down, they would have been destroyed by everyone and their leadership all would have been forced to resign.

To me, the real killer for WVU was the B12's decision to not expand. That hesitation allowed the ACC to snatch up Louisville after that league lost Maryland. That basically took away WVU's last best chance at having a legitimate competitive/geographic rivalry within their new league. Now, the ACC almost has to crumble or they are completely hosed and they know it. So, in other words I guess what I'm saying is prepare for more rumors coming out of By Gawd that all center around the imminent demise of the ACC and Pitt. That's because if the ACC survives in or near its current state, WVU will become marginalized.

This stuff is not exactly rocket science.

But those 3000 mile roundtrips were no problem said the 'Eer fans on this board when they were on their expansion high.

This is the downside of the B12 for WVU...one team is getting all the long road trips. Adding FSU and Clemson to me was always a pipe dream as it still didn't increase travel efficiencies. Cincy and Louisville to the B12 were no brainers...now do they go with Cincy and ???

(02-25-2013 09:12 AM)TexanMark Wrote:  But those 3000 mile roundtrips were no problem said the 'Eer fans on this board when they were on their expansion high.

This is the downside of the B12 for WVU...one team is getting all the long road trips. Adding FSU and Clemson to me was always a pipe dream as it still didn't increase travel efficiencies. Cincy and Louisville to the B12 were no brainers...now do they go with Cincy and ???

I'm sure the round trips are inconvenient but they aren't the reason WVU had bad seasons in football and basketball.

Big 12 won't take Cincy if they wouldn't take UL

The Nbe posters never let me down. While they invited Boise and had a conference from Conneticut to California and did not find fault with that, as they were going to be a "national" conference, now Nbe find all kinds of fault of WVA in B12.

ACC's stupidity is B12's gain....and, eventually, B12 may prove the best home for WVA once ACC gets plucked by B1G and SEC.

A couple of things:
1. At the time once Pitt and especially Syracuse bolted the "Old BIG EAST" died. WVU & Louisville saw the handwriting on the wall and @ the time the Big XII seemed the only landing spot left. So I don't blame them for leaving.

2. The travel/cultural issues are the reason why UofL fans are now glad we lost out. Yes the Big XII makes a little more $$$ but not enough to want to move.

3. Unless ACCemegadan happens the travel is going to eat into their bottom line...but being left behind like UC/UConn is even worse...they will adjust but it going to be tough.

(02-25-2013 09:25 AM)Tallgrass Wrote:  The Nbe posters never let me down. While they invited Boise and had a conference from Conneticut to California and did not find fault with that, as they were going to be a "national" conference, now Nbe find all kinds of fault of WVA in B12.

ACC's stupidity is B12's gain....and, eventually, B12 may prove the best home for WVA once ACC gets plucked by B1G and SEC.

1. What are you talking about....no BIG EAST poster really in this thread.

2. UNC, Duke & Georgia Tech have already turned down the B1G/SEC...all 3 have/had offers from those 2 leagues & FSU/Clemson said no to the Big XII. Even Frank the Tank said in one of his latest blogs that UNC will be a very tough nut to crack to move them out of the ACC...they don't move I doubt anyone moves.

Big XII schools like Texas Tech/Kansas State better hope Dodds doesn't get that itch again...doubtful that UT moves but they like to stir the pot for their gain

Hillbilly Island isn't going to get any better I'm afraid. Texas has no intention of adding teams to the Big 12 and if they did they're not getting anybody from the Big 10, Pac 12, ACC, or SEC despite what WVU's fans and "insiders" think, and the TV networks aren't going to pay for Cincinnati and South Florida and Boise State without cutting into everyone else's payout. With WVU's fans infesting the boards of every ACC school the consensus is that nobody in their right mind wants into the Big 12 unless it's a last resort, and even if it comes to that I'm sure most schools would rather suffer as an independent for a few seasons before throwing in their lot with the GoR 12. So unless the ACC implodes (which is far from likely despite what you've been led to belive by mhveer and The Dude) it isn't going to get any better for the hill people.

Oliver Luck is one of the stupidest ADs in the world right now. He has his department running in the red thanks to desperately wanting to get out of the Big East a year early to make its infamous "title run" in the Big 12. If WVU was in the Big East this year they would've competed for a BCS game instead of getting blown to pieces in the freezing cold weather against a team from the conference they thought they were superior to. Had he been less willing to deal with the devil a year and a half ago his school would be headed to its dream conference in 2014 and Louisville would have these problems. Instead he has to fly his teams over 1500 miles round trip for every single conference away game before making a pathetic plea to Deloss Dodds to cut the poor players some slack for paying for his stupidity. D'oh!

What's ironic is that WVU fans take every opportunity to brag about how rock solid the Big 12 is with the GoR when they probably would've been invited to the ACC after Maryland left had the Big 12 not had it in place. Gee I sure hope half of an overvalued TV deal is worth it Ollie! Thanks for indirectly getting Louisville into the ACC, big guy! You're the best! Keep up the good work!

(02-25-2013 09:36 AM)gocards#1 Wrote:  Hillbilly Island isn't going to get any better I'm afraid. Texas has no intention of adding teams to the Big 12 and if they did they're not getting anybody from the Big 10, Pac 12, ACC, or SEC despite what WVU's fans and "insiders" think, and the TV networks aren't going to pay for Cincinnati and South Florida and Boise State without cutting into everyone else's payout. With WVU's fans infesting the boards of every ACC school the consensus is that nobody in their right mind wants into the Big 12 unless it's a last resort, and even if it comes to that I'm sure most schools would rather suffer as an independent for a few seasons before throwing in their lot with the GoR 12. So unless the ACC implodes (which is far from likely despite what you've been led to belive by mhveer and The Dude) it isn't going to get any better for the hill people.

Oliver Luck is one of the stupidest ADs in the world right now. He has his department running in the red thanks to desperately wanting to get out of the Big East a year early to make its infamous "title run" in the Big 12. If WVU was in the Big East this year they would've competed for a BCS game instead of getting blown to pieces in the freezing cold weather against a team from the conference they thought they were superior to. Had he been less willing to deal with the devil a year and a half ago his school would be headed to its dream conference in 2014 and Louisville would have these problems. Instead he has to fly his teams over 1500 miles round trip for every single conference away game before making a pathetic plea to Deloss Dodds to cut the poor players some slack for paying for his stupidity. D'oh!

What's ironic is that WVU fans take every opportunity to brag about how rock solid the Big 12 is with the GoR when they probably would've been invited to the ACC after Maryland left had the Big 12 not had it in place. Gee I sure hope half of an overvalued TV deal is worth it Ollie! Thanks for indirectly getting Louisville into the ACC, big guy! You're the best! Keep up the good work!

People at WVU don't think the GOR is rock solid... take it fwiw.

(02-25-2013 08:40 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  What goes around, goes around, goes around, goes all the way and back around.... yeah.

Sorry Mountaineers. Nobody feels sorry for you. Thanks for carrying the Big East for all those years though. Wouldn't have gotten that BCS TV dollar without you.

Actually some of us do. I would love for WVU to find a way into the ACC. Will it happen? Probably not but one can still hope.

(02-25-2013 09:43 AM)OldGoldnBlue Wrote:  

(02-25-2013 09:36 AM)gocards#1 Wrote:  Hillbilly Island isn't going to get any better I'm afraid. Texas has no intention of adding teams to the Big 12 and if they did they're not getting anybody from the Big 10, Pac 12, ACC, or SEC despite what WVU's fans and "insiders" think, and the TV networks aren't going to pay for Cincinnati and South Florida and Boise State without cutting into everyone else's payout. With WVU's fans infesting the boards of every ACC school the consensus is that nobody in their right mind wants into the Big 12 unless it's a last resort, and even if it comes to that I'm sure most schools would rather suffer as an independent for a few seasons before throwing in their lot with the GoR 12. So unless the ACC implodes (which is far from likely despite what you've been led to belive by mhveer and The Dude) it isn't going to get any better for the hill people.

Oliver Luck is one of the stupidest ADs in the world right now. He has his department running in the red thanks to desperately wanting to get out of the Big East a year early to make its infamous "title run" in the Big 12. If WVU was in the Big East this year they would've competed for a BCS game instead of getting blown to pieces in the freezing cold weather against a team from the conference they thought they were superior to. Had he been less willing to deal with the devil a year and a half ago his school would be headed to its dream conference in 2014 and Louisville would have these problems. Instead he has to fly his teams over 1500 miles round trip for every single conference away game before making a pathetic plea to Deloss Dodds to cut the poor players some slack for paying for his stupidity. D'oh!

What's ironic is that WVU fans take every opportunity to brag about how rock solid the Big 12 is with the GoR when they probably would've been invited to the ACC after Maryland left had the Big 12 not had it in place. Gee I sure hope half of an overvalued TV deal is worth it Ollie! Thanks for indirectly getting Louisville into the ACC, big guy! You're the best! Keep up the good work!

People at WVU don't think the GOR is rock solid... take it fwiw.

Now that is an interesting piece of info.

(02-25-2013 09:25 AM)Tallgrass Wrote:  The Nbe posters never let me down. While they invited Boise and had a conference from Conneticut to California and did not find fault with that, as they were going to be a "national" conference, now Nbe find all kinds of fault of WVA in B12.

ACC's stupidity is B12's gain....and, eventually, B12 may prove the best home for WVA once ACC gets plucked by B1G and SEC.

The difference is basically that the proposed Big East abomination would have sucked equally for everyone, so there was no advantage to any one school. But the travel situation for WVU in the Big 12 basically just sucks for the Eers. For everyone else, it's a minor inconvenience.