I picked this up from an ECU board...its probably just another rumor but I thought I would pass it along just the same....All I know about this is there is a meeting in May to discuss among other things instant replay in BE football...have no idea if expansion is a topic as well

Quote:The Big East are meeting in May to go over several things, including adding a 9th member for BE football and possible all sports membership a few seasons after that for ECU. There is also something going on between the Charlotte AD, the A-10, and BE officials as ECU would more than likely jump to the A-10 if the BE can cut a deal this May to bring ECU as football only starting the 2006 season with all sports membership coming after the 2007 seasons (all depending on the BCS leg). What are your thoughts on this? I think it would be a great move by you guys and help you recruit better in your state with being in a BCS confernece plus you have an easier chance to make a BCS bowl than those ACC schools.

Jackson

Ok, I guess I could see ECU as a football-member only school, but I would prefer to have Memphis as a full member. So I guess I can buy this part of the rumor. But there will probably be conversations at the Big East meeting about a range of schools, not just ECU, for football-only, then full membership when the split happens in 2010.

Now let's look at the other piece of the rumor. Charlotte AD is trying to broker a deal with the A-10 for ECU's short-term membership in basketball? What's in it for the A-10? What's in it for Charlotte?

On the surface, I see no positive benefit for the A-10 by adding a moribund basketball program like ECU.

But I see a possible benefit for Charotte. Charlotte may be trying to position itself for admittance into the Big East basketball league after the split? By doing East Carolina and the Big East a favor, is Charlotte greasing its own wheels toward a membership with the Big East basketball schools? The answer to that question could be yes.

But does Charlotte have do this? No. It seems to me that the Big East's basketball-only schools will have to add some members, and Charlotte, along with Xavier, Dayton, George Washington, and maybe Temple or Rhode Island, would be at the top of its expansion list? The A-10 is going to get cherry-picked when the split happens.

There is absolutely no benefit to the A-10 for admitting ECU as a short-term basketball-only member. This part of the rumor is far-fetched.

Quote:What's in it for Charlotte?

-- Well I guess the easy answer would be that Charlotte wants a close in conference rival...UNCC is on a bit on an island in the A10 so maybe that would be why they may want ECU

Quote:There is absolutely no benefit to the A-10 for admitting ECU as a short-term basketball-only member. This part of the rumor is far-fetched

-- The only answer I can give to this is the A10 and the BE have a very good working relationship...there is a reason why the A10 wasn't raided by the BE during the last round of expansion despite the fact that a Umass or Xavier would have fitted in well....also remember the A10 has done this kind of favor for the BE before....Virginia Tech was a member of the A10 in everything but football for yrs before recieveing the all sports invite

-- Again...its probably just another rumor...but it is intersting to speculate


Jackson

Here's another rumor posted on an ECU site by a USF poster.

<a href='http://204.118.153.185/pirate/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=5276' target='_blank'>http://204.118.153.185/pirate/ShowPost.asp...spx?PostID=5276</a>

Jackson,

I forgot about UMASS. I really think the A-10 is going to take a hit once the Big East splits. So much for the good working relationship. You would have to think that the basketball only schools in the Big East will want to get to 12 teams. The schools that will be coveted in expansion will be A-10 schools. Here is what the basketball-only league from the Big East might look like.

Providence
St. Johns
Seton Hall
Georgetown
NOVA
Depaul
Marquette
Xavier (A-10)
Dayton (A-10)
Charlotte (A-10)
UMASS (A-10)
Rhode Island, George Washington, Temple (A-10)

I really think the A-10 is going to get gutted once the split happens.

I don't buy this at all. What exactly has East Carolina done to jump from the Dismiss column to the Recommend/Consider column since 03? I don't see any reason for them to have jumped in front of Temple, UCF, Army, or Navy in that time period.

If the Big East is going out of the footprint (which I don't believe we will), Memphis is ahead of ECU. Bigger market, better football, better football attendance, better basketball. I could see the A-10 taking Memphis even for just a short period of time, they would help any TV contract. Not the case for Pirate basketball.

Quote:You would have to think that the basketball only schools in the Big East will want to get to 12 teams.

You think so? I really don't know what the ideal number for a basketball first conference would be. 12 gets you a championship game in football, but I don't see an advantage to going beyond 9 or 10 in basketball. But then again the A-10 has 14 schools, thus proving my point that I have no idea what is the ideal number.

the ONLY reason I could see ECU sneaking in ahead of Memphis would be that ECU would accept a football only invite, and Memphis would likely not. And the only thing available right now is a football only invite - and for the football only possibilities, ECU is probably at the top of the list.

Then when the split happens, bring them in for all sports along w/ Memphis, and you have a 10 team league in football, and 11 in all other sports if ND stays w/ the FB schools.

I believe ECU and Memphis will be in the Big East by 2010. The question is can we get Notre Dame and PSU as the 11th and 12th teams? If, no then UCF will be the 11th team. The next question is who will be the 12th team? Southern Miss or Marshall? Maybe someone like James Madison, William and Mary, Richmond, Delaware, Toledo, Northern Illinois, Villanova or even Temple or UAB?

Quote:the ONLY reason I could see ECU sneaking in ahead of Memphis would be that ECU would accept a football only invite, and Memphis would likely not. And the only thing available right now is a football only invite - and for the football only possibilities, ECU is probably at the top of the list.

-- Yep...I agree...the Pirates will accept a football only membership..so that's why this is being discuessed....and ECU does bring the fan base which is something this league sorely needs

--I'm suprised that ECU doesn't get more support then it does from BE fans....I have heard Mike Treanghese, every BE official and tons of fans saying all we need to do is help bring along the next Virginia Tech...well ECU is almost the spitting image of pre 1992 VT in every way...rural school, football oriented fans, fan base travels well, been overlooked by ACC schools in its region..

-- Also adding ECU makes sense in terms of adding a decent travel game for USF without giving them a local recruiting rival...the whole point of adding the Bulls was to give them the BCS muscle to land the kids who slip throught the cracks of the big three...if we add UCF then suddenly those kids are going to two schools instead of one....ECU gives USF a "rival" game without threatening USFs recruiting nitche

Jackson

ECU has excellent football fan support, ECU could go back in the Colonial Conference until 2010.

B-E adds 9th school, Colonial has plans with GaSt & NE joining, A-10 would be intrested in Memph. Would it be easier to hold on to Temple, cut back the money. Temple FB program strugles, But would the B-E love healthy TU FB program. Programs do come back from dead, maybe B-E should take the incitive. When B-E splits conf BB tourn proably be Meadowlands.

If Temple would ever take their athletic department seriously they would be in the mix for a Big East bid. Penn State is a long shot at best and Temple would give the Big East a gateway into the Philly market to replace Penn State at least in that regard. The Big East could split, expand to 10 and add Temple and someone like Navy, Army or Central Florida for football-only to get to 12 teams. But Temple isn't taking any of this seriously. It's a shame.

Quote:I'm suprised that ECU doesn't get more support then it does from BE fans

You know why they get no support from me? Because WVU plays them as a 2 for 1 or 3 for 2 pretty much every year already. What do we have to gain by playing them home and away every year instead? It would not solve the problem that a 9th member is supposed to solve. WVU would still have Wofford and Villanova on the upcoming schedules because we already have ECU on the upcoming slates. It would just change an OoC game into a C game, and a couple of home games into road games.

It may seem selfish, but it doesn't appear to benefit WVU in the short term or long term.

Quote:But would the B-E love healthy TU FB program.

The Big East so very badly wants Temple to be good. The fact that the Owls were one of the three schools considered for all sports (the other two being Louisville and Cincinnati) despite their horrendous football, with no signs of improvement, and declining baskteball shows just how much the Big East wants a successful Temple. If the Owls want to rejoin Eastern football they'd better get their act together very quickly, because the league is heading towards stability in an all sports conference and expansion will no longer be an issue every year. Otherwise, the Owls will head the way of Colgate or Holy Cross.

Quote:You know why they get no support from me? Because WVU plays them as a 2 for 1 or 3 for 2 pretty much every year already. What do we have to gain by playing them home and away every year instead? It would not solve the problem that a 9th member is supposed to solve. WVU would still have Wofford and Villanova on the upcoming schedules because we already have ECU on the upcoming slates. It would just change an OoC game into a C game, and a couple of home games into road games.
It may seem selfish, but it doesn't appear to benefit WVU in the short term or long term.

-- I can understand that way of thinking...of course the reverse of that is without a football only member every BE team is going to be playing a Wofferd or Villanova not just WVU


Jackson

I wonder if ECU would play basketball as an independent in the event that the A-10 and the Colonial Conference tell them no.

WacoBearcat Wrote:I wonder if ECU would play basketball as an independent in the event that the A-10 and the Colonial Conference tell them no.

It wouldn't be just hoops, but ALL the olympic sports. I'm sure it would be utter hell for the AD and coaches trying to schedule entire seasons of all those sports because of no conference affiliation.

I doubt seriously if going the indy route is even a viable option.

There is no logic to adding two teams from the same state or city to any conference. So therefore Marshall will never be added because of WVU. Xavier would not be added to current Big East because of Cincy.
Only if a split occurrs would the basketball schools add Xavier or Dayton and maybe two A-10 schools to equal 12 team league

dlb1946 Wrote:There is no logic to adding two teams from the same state or city to any conference. So therefore Marshall will never be added because of WVU. Xavier would not be added to current Big East because of Cincy.
Only if a split occurrs would the basketball schools add Xavier or Dayton and maybe two A-10 schools to equal 12 team league

While I agree that Xavier and Marshall would never be in the same conference with Cincinnati and West Virginia, there are cases of schools in the same city or states being in the same conference. Michigan and Michigan State, Oregon and Oregon State, Mississippi and Mississippi State, USC and UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State, Indiana and Purdue, Northwestern and Illinois, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, half of the ACC, etc., etc. Sometimes having programs from the same area in the same conference breeds strong rivalries.

First, if you look at the all-time highest watched/rated C-USA football games for conference and non-conference games, ECU along with UofL and Cincy lead the way. In many ways, I think ECU has more TV appeal than Memphis based on the numbers as far as TV ratings go. ECU vs. Marshall (bowl game) was the highest rated C-USA game ever follwed by UofL vs. Boise State (bowl game) followed by ECU vs. VT (OOC game) followed by ECU vs. Miami (OOC game) followed by USM vs. Bama (OOC game) followed by ECU vs. UofL (conference game).

Second, ECU would provide us with some sort of rival and there has been something brewing since we have joined C-USA. It would be an easier trip for our fans if you look at it that way.

Third, I would think that either ECU, Marshall, Memphis or etc... would be football only members. I can't see the BE going to 17 or 18 in all other sports.

4th, if Charlotte is getting involved, then I would think ECU would be our football only member since the BE has a good history in working with the A-10 and if the A-10 went to 15, it would not hurt their scheduling at all.

5th, during 12 game seasons, all other teams will have to schedule 5 OOC games. If WVU added the ECU game as a conference game, they are still in the same boat. It would help all other BE teams too since we would not have to look for the D-1AA schools to fill out the rest of our schedule.

6th, the Muffler Bowl and other bowls have been wanting to "pull" out. Adding an ECU would give the bowls a great traveling fan base and that is something that we need.

I say we should split, but if not, we should pick up ECU for the 2006 or 2007 season.

Jackson1011 Wrote:

Quote:the ONLY reason I could see ECU sneaking in ahead of Memphis would be that ECU would accept a football only invite, and Memphis would likely not. And the only thing available right now is a football only invite - and for the football only possibilities, ECU is probably at the top of the list.

-- Yep...I agree...the Pirates will accept a football only membership..so that's why this is being discuessed....and ECU does bring the fan base which is something this league sorely needs

--I'm suprised that ECU doesn't get more support then it does from BE fans....I have heard Mike Treanghese, every BE official and tons of fans saying all we need to do is help bring along the next Virginia Tech...well ECU is almost the spitting image of pre 1992 VT in every way...rural school, football oriented fans, fan base travels well, been overlooked by ACC schools in its region..

-- Also adding ECU makes sense in terms of adding a decent travel game for USF without giving them a local recruiting rival...the whole point of adding the Bulls was to give them the BCS muscle to land the kids who slip throught the cracks of the big three...if we add UCF then suddenly those kids are going to two schools instead of one....ECU gives USF a "rival" game without threatening USFs recruiting nitche

Jackson

ECU has been a disaster in CUSA with the same foundation that Louisville and other league members had to work from. Yeah, they have a nice football following. So do 4-5 other candidate schools. Besides 30,000 football fans we are talking baseball and then what else? A terrible basketball program? A terrible football program? Located in a state saturated with 4 ACC teams in a town that is a logistical nightmare to get to?

Memphis is getting in the 50,000 range for some football games and nearing 60,000 for others. They have a basketball program with some national appeal and they have an airport. They also bring a decent bowl game with some history and prestige. Not a tire bowl or some crap but the Liberty. I simply can't fathom any support for ECU when Memphis is still out there. This league will not be going to 12 any time in the near future so we can drop the topic of additional members after the 9th.

Edit: And pardon me USF fan but I blew sprite out my nose when I read your blurb about a budding rivalry with ECU. Talk about a ratings disaster.