History - Big East Expansion 2003

[Rizman]

How many remember back in 2003 when Virginia Tech, Miami, and Boston College bolted from the Big East for the ACC?   My question is was USF fans clamoring for USF at the time to move to the Big East and out of Conference USA?   We should look back at the articles and see how we were able to position ourselves over UCF.   They had been playing longer and did not get an invite.  Clearly Judy was able to position us over other schools .

 

[Apis Bull]

I think many of us didn't even think it was a possibility back then, so we really didn't even think about it.

[LrdNorman]

Getting into the Big East was a complete shock to me.  It seems like such a blur now...

[MMW]

We got a lot of help from Louisville.  It seems that these things have a lot to do with past relationships and reputation for playing well with others.  

[raptorcj]

I was delightfully shocked as well. But in retrospect we proved to be pretty good competition for the BE teams who scheduled us, so it wasn't as much a stretch as it seemed.

[BullsFanInTX]

We got a lot of help from Louisville, as someone said.  The Louisville AD really went to bat for us.

We were just coming off a 9-2 season in 2002 and were seen as a hot add, despite being new.

Big East desperately wanted to remain in Florida due to pending departure of Miami.

UCF's facilities then were out of date.  They were never considered for full membership.  They were considered for a football only bid.

[Triple B]

At the time we were just happy to be playing college football ..... Still think the move to the BE may not have been the best thing for us in the long run. May have been able to build a stronger foundation based on USF football and not BCS football. The money was definitely a help, though.

[Rizman]

55 minutes ago, BullsFanInTX said:

We got a lot of help from Louisville, as someone said.  The Louisville AD really went to bat for us.

We were just coming off a 9-2 season in 2002 and were seen as a hot add, despite being new.

Big East desperately wanted to remain in Florida due to pending departure of Miami.

UCF's facilities then were out of date.  They were never considered for full membership.  They were considered for a football only bid.

Thank you.  Sounds to me like we need to get some help from a couple of the Universities AD's to get us in.    

Thoughts?

[Ricky the Bull]

Speaking of help, wouldn't be nice if Renu Khator, former USF Provost under Prez Judy and current Houston president, lobbies for our inclusion if they get nominated?

[Rongelo]

4 minutes ago, Ricky the Bull said:

Speaking of help, wouldn't be nice if Renu Khator, former USF Provost under Prez Judy and current Houston president, lobbies for our inclusion if they get nominated?

I didn't know that. That would be hella cool.