Story is a few days old, but anybody feel like debating expansion talks again? The new Big East commish takes over July 1st. He's a basketball guy. Possible BE split up? Big East stays as a basketball conference while a new BCS football conference emerges, 8 teams to 10.. maybe 12? My dreams finally come true? :beer:
With Rutgers having a new Athletic Director in place, I could see this as a distinct possibility. He was basically hand selected by Greg Schiano, so it'll come down to what Schiano wants, though not that it would bother the basketball people much anyway. The crappy men's team won't have to be in the best conference in the country, with no hope of ever being decent. The funny thing is that RU people may bring up a rise in travel costs, but it really won't matter. With how spread out the Big East is, especially in basketball, the costs would probably stay exactly the same, if not decrease. The thing is how they would split this conference up. Nothing geographical really makes a ton of sense, and do you put OSU and Michigan in the same side (ala UT and OU) or split them like the ACC did with Miami and FSU? I'm going to think about it and put up my divisions later.
I don't like the idea of conferences getting so big each team doesn't play each other once each year. Playing each other every year is what being in a conference is all about. Of the major conferences the Pac-10 is the only one even trying do things for reason other than money.
It won't be Rutgers. The Big 10 wants a premier program with a national name. 'Cuse hoops and Pitt hoops both have that and RU hoops is awful. RU football is getting to be a national name yet not quite there yet. Big 10 wants a school that can field top hoops and football teams cuz those r the 2 sports that bring in the majority of the revenues.
Rutgers is probably the leading candidate for the Big 10. The B10 wants more BCS dollars. Football good football brings that in, and Rutgers probably has the most growth potential. Within the next year (quite possibly the next few months) Rutgers could be playing with a signed contract to the B10.
I am going to reply to posts. First the matter of splitting the conference. I believe to make each division competitive in both sports you should split North and South. this of course depends on which team gets the nod. If it is indeed Rutgers, your split should be as follows: NORTH- SOUTH- Minnesota Iowa Wisconsin Illinois Michigan State Indiana Michigan Purdue Northwestern Ohio State Penn State Rutgers This of course would bring up logistical nightmares as far as travel every year. The most logical is to go East West. This of course shifts the competitive balance to the East. The East has the big bangers of MSU, Mich, PSU, Ohio St. and either of the 3 for football. While the West would have Wisconsin, and the occasional Iowa/Illinois teams. The second issue is the fact that all of the Big 10 teams already don't play each other every year. When Iowa finished top 5 a few years back they did so without facing Ohio State. Had they faced them and lost, they would have been lucky to be top 15.
I can't see Rutgers becoming a Big 10 team, I think their 1st choice obviously would be Notre Dame and once the NCAA stops allowing them to have an unfair TV contract the Irish would have no choice but join a football conference. The again the NCAA is a joke of an organization so that may never happen. I think Pitt would make sense both logistically and from a rivalry standpoint as would West Virginia who also has a big time basketball coach in Bob Huggins. The Pitt fans would love the chance to beat up on Penn State every year as would the WVU couch burners. Unfortunately for the Big 10 geographically there really isn't a whole lot of big time programs to choose from. They aren't going to swoop in and take a MAC team like Miami or Bowling Green (not enough dollars) . I heard the rumor a few months ago that Arkansas was going to replace Baylor in Big 12 but there really hasn't been much teeth to that rumor.
What? Who would join the SEC? Baylor looks like they are only going to get better, especially with RGIII as their QB for the next couple of years.
I've heard the Arkansas to Big 12 for a while. I even suggested it. But in all actuality, outside of the geographical connection to the B12, it makes very little sense for them to leave the SEC and all the money from the SEC TV contract. I believe each SEC team makes 12-15 Million from tv contracts alone. If Arkansas were to leave the SEC for whatever reason, I have to think Clemson would be the ideal team of choice. They definitely have SEC-like fans/tradition. FSU would also be a good choice but no way they ever get the chance. And then you have Mizz, who for a while has seemed destined to be a part of the Big 10.
There's historical connections there as well. Arkansas is a former member of the old SWC (Southwestern Conference) as were Oklahoma, Texas, A&M, Baylor, etc. There's longtime rivalries between the Hogs and those schools which are all now in the Big 12. I agree with you that financially and for other reasons the SEC will never let Arkansas leave nor would they want to.
How is it an unfair TV contract? They're an independent so they got a TV deal like conferences do and a good one since they did it at the right time. How about adding Army or Navy since they're independents?
I know the history, and like you said, that's just not enough to convince them to leave the money, though I don't think the SEC would mind losing them.
Why would Notre Dame ever want to join the big 10? If that is what they wanted they could have done it any time they wanted in the last 60 years. They thrive on being independent and I can't see that ever changing even though they thoroughly suck since that fat slob became their coach. They still have their pwn TV contract and I'm not sure there is any other team in the nation who does. They will always have a huge following and there seems to be no benefit at all in them ever joining any conference.
You think so? Vandy and MissSU are at least cheap on travel expenses. Arkansas doesn't really fit in. I guess competition wise Vandy sucks, but I think MissSU can become a competitive school. You probably know more about SEC history since you follow South Carolina, though. Depending on if/when/what realignment takes place, they may have no choice but to go join a conference. I don't see it happening anytime soon, but depending on what teams end up going where, we could see a whole new BCS in 3-5 years.
Mississippi State now has a great offensive coordinator as a head coach with Dan Mullen, but he won't be able to bring in the same talent that the Gators do. It will be interesting to see how they do over the next couple of seasons. Their 2009 recruiting class wasn't bad at all, but they'll never bring in 5 star talents like Tebow and Harvin. His offense was built on speed...and Miss St doesn't have much of it. Vanderbilt was actually competitive last season in both basketball and football. The Commodores started off 5-0 and then they went 2-6 the rest of the way...finishing with a .500 record in the SEC. It's an academic school - so they aren't going to have a huge sports fan base. Arkansas has Bobby Petrino. I hate Petrino, but he's a damn good college football coach. Now that they have Ryan Mallett as their starting QB, the Razorbacks might make some noise the SEC - Petrino's spread offense now has it's big arm quarterback. DeAnthony Curtis is going to be a hell of a running back if he can stay healthy - amazing breakaway ability. Their defense is incredibly young, but the defensive backfield should be one of the best in the SEC for the next two to three seasons.
I would think Cuse and Pitt wouldn't want to lose the good thing that is Big East basketball. ESPN contract, their games are all over the NY market, and they at least have a chance for BCS games in the Big East, whereas they'd be a lot worse off in the Big Ten.
Very true on the Big East basketball angle. They are 2 of the pillars of the conference now for hoops. Hard to leave all that media exposure and a lot of dollars on the table. In regards to Rutgers, a very risky move to make the jump to the Big 10 before being fully established as a national power. Their best bet at getting the most recognition for the football team may be to take advantage of playing in the weaker big east conference rather than battling Wisconsin, MSU and Purdue to finish in the middle of the Big 10 pack many years.
Academically, which school stands out? Pitt, Rutgers, or 'Cuse? Because that's half the equation. As much as the Big 10 puts up the front for sports, academics will be a determining factor, even though 10 of the 11 schools are public institutions.
I can't speak for Pitt or Cuse but Rutgers is high up on the list academically. It's routinely one of the top schools in the nation with APR.
