(08-05-2015 09:40 AM)e-parade Wrote:  

(08-04-2015 10:29 PM)NJ2MDTerp Wrote:  

(07-31-2015 12:47 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  It's been a long road to FBS as we've watch most of our former conference mates join P5 conferences. As the A10 celebrates it's 40th year, it was earlier known as the Eastern Eight. Except for Duquense, GW and ourselves; all left earlier to bigger and greater conferences.

Seven of the eight original schools had football programs. I'm surprised those schools didn't consider making football an A10 sport.

It eventually did become a football conference in 1997, but that was FCS...but it certainly would have been nice for UMass to be aligned with Pitt/Penn/Rutgers/WVU(/Nova) including football back when the conference was first created. Temple and V-Tech were also non-football (but otherwise full) members at various points in conference history).

Paterno tried. Problem was that Syracuse and Boston College went to the Big East, PSU, Pitt, Rutgers and WVU in the A10, UMass went to 1AA after the split, Villanova dropped football, and the only school with enough football credibility to stand up to Paterno's revenue-sharing plan was Pitt (and they did).

It wouldn't have worked given the way the Eastern Independents aligned for basketball. When the Big East didn't take Penn State, they expanded wit Pitt (better TV market) and that sealed the Eastern Conference's fate.

Chalk it up to what could have been, along with the expanded Metro conference circa 1990.