Just because it is the off season

[Joe]

I fully believe the BCS will force the Big East to eventually add on, especially since they levied restrictions on ND's payout in the recent contract.

PS- Penn State, Notre Dame, and Maryland are not leaving their conferences (or independence) which have unbelievable TV contracts for the Big East. If its something right now that the Big East is struggling with compared to the other 5 conferences its TV revenue (even with the large basketball contract, because it's paid out to 16 teams)

TCU would be my 1st target.

[FreaKnight]

Today no program in terms of Football will add to the Big East.  Just keep it the same so programs like Syracuse and UConn can grow. 

I agree.  And why going small with all these weak CUSA schools?  The only schools I would invite would be Notre Dame, Penn State, and maybe Maryland.  Otherwise, it's a much better option to pour resources into building the Syracuse's and UConn's of the conference.  Memphis, ECU, TCU, Southern Miss, and especially UCF bring absolutely nothing to the table.

As far as splitting the bball and fball schools, the eight fball members would command respect in both sports as a stand alone conference.

I also think that with the past few years of outstanding BigEast TV ratings numbers, the conference will get much better TV and bowl contracts next time around.  To me, expansion is useless unless it's a program that brings positives into the league.  Picking up weak little sisters and hoping they develop is no way to go, IMO.

Did you feel the same way when USF was being considered for C-USA and the BE?

Absolutely not.  First as a former student.  Second, CUSA was(and is) a weak conference.  It had its moments in hoops, but it was basically a three team basketball league for most of its existence, IIRC.  Bringing in fledgling programs(especially USF, with a major TV market and a Florida recruiting presence) was a natural move for a fledgling conference.  There wasn't any risk of dragging the CUSA down with expansion.  The BigEast is a whole different animal.

IMO, if UCF were invited to play with the big boys, the entire conference would be drug down in just about every way by more losing football.  Recruiting would get worse for everyone, the SOS would get worse for everyone, and USF would be hurt big-time.  The Bulls would immediately be lumped together with the Knights in the national consciousness, instead of being a stand-alone rising power.  I think it would be a package deal for a long, long time.  I can understand why UCF would want to be joined at the hip with USF. 

And a school has to have a little more than a football team to be in the BigEast.  I don't know a thing about any of their other athletic programs, but I doubt they are on a major conference level.

A little more like a basketball team?  Listen to yourself, I can't believe that you could possibly believe that the Bulls was "a stand-alone rising star" coming into BE hoops?   Did that USF dragged down the entire conference and hurt recruiting for schools like UCONN, ND, or Nova?   

I'm not quite sure I know what you're getting at.

USF was brought into CUSA, IMO, because it was thought that the Bulls football program was on its way to bigger and better things, and the CUSA wanted to make its football(which was non-existent) better.  A natural match.

When everyone in their right mind could see that the football program was really taking off, with the sky being the limit, the BE knew that a powerful football program would be able to drive the school's entire athletic program in many ways, including financially.  Thus the invite.  It's already happening.  All athletics are on the verge of going to another level.  Baseball looks promising with Prado, basketball looks real promising with Heath.  Both salaries, by the way, are made possible by burgeoning football money, which is the result of a very good team.

The BigEast was not brought down in hoops because there are already 10 top40 programs in any given year.  Football was not brought down because the Bulls have been competitive from the start, and there is no other conference presence that far south.

Since UCF isn't half the football team, and there is already a Florida team in the league, we're looking at bringing in a leech.  Heaven help the Knights if they ever tried to bring a basketball team to this monster.  USF owns the series 17-4.

Here's the link to the USFvUCF page...http://www.southfloridabulls.com/Other%20Bull/USF%20vs%20UCF.htm

There's a reason power conferences don't go out and nab the UC-Irvines, South Alabamas, and Central Floridas of the world...they can't compete.  UCF doesn't have to dominate the new CUSA to be considered a decent team, but they do need to compete for a CUSA title or two.

Man, you got rambling now.  lol

USF has been on a steady climb, UCF is treading water in a puddle.  I don't know how anyone could think they would be an asset to the BigEast.  It's not as if joining will immediately make them a good athletic school.  Lots of teams do jack squat with BCS money.  USF was already on their way up, hence the invite.

Obviously the Big East would examine a lot of different factors when or if they decided to add a school to their conference.  The Orlando market fits the Big East demographics of universities that are located in metropolitan areas.  UCF has made investments in it's facilities that at a minimum keep it on par with what is expected from a BCS conference.  Academics are on par with what is expected from a BCS conference.

As far as performance - that is not the primary criteria for consideration, and it should be noted that UCF did compete for the CUSA title in 2005.  UCF placed 2nd in regular season CUSA men's basketball last year behind Memphis. 

USF had the promise of good performance along with many of the points noted above, and that was enough to garner the BE invite.  Timing has a lot to do with it, and USF's adminstrators deserve a lot of credit for making sure that USF could take advantage of the opportunity when it presented itself, going back to the time when USF's administrators elected to use the State of Florida's program to help fund the construction of the Sun Dome.  That facility helped differentiate USF from many other mid-major programs along it's various conference paths, and directly helped fundraising.

HarveyGlass, I take exception to your comments about UCF standing in a puddle of water.  Not to say that UCF has not hit some major speed bumps along the way, but there has been considerable progress made in the last several years with respect to basketbal success in particular that are to be noted.  The funding and construction of all the facilities has been a remarkable achievement. 

The difference between the UC-Irvines and the South Alabama's, to use your examples, from the UCF's, is investment in facilities and staff.  Now you can argue if GOL was a poor choice (jury is still out on that one), but the commitment to the intercollegiate programs is absolutely not arguable. 

UCF is taking steps to make sure that the next time consideration is to be made for a school to be invited into a BCS conference, that UCF will be a serious candidate.

[HarveyGlass]

Good luck.

[FreaKnight]

Good luck.

Thanks -

[Triple B]

One reason that should come into consideration, whether openly or not, and I believe it may have been mentioned, is the recruiting ramifications. You'd be adding 1 more BCS program in a state that already has 4 and even though it's a talent rich state, I'm not sure how much more dilution it can take. I just can't see the out-of-state programs who heavily recruit here being gung ho for another Florida BCS school to compete against. 

[Bullpride08]

I get a chuckle anytime this topic is brought up.  Particularly given how adament the non-football schools have been about no-more expansion.  They've vetoed 'football only' inclusion on a couple of occasions to include our brethren to the east.

Expansion in the present BE will not ever happen as it stands.  There are 8 football, and 8 non-football (including ND) and neither wants to other side to get an upper hand.  Furthermore it would further dilute what is already a diluted revenue stream, and tv exposure.  Think sensibly this is why Tranghese has been pursuing these BE tie-ins with the service academies and ND...that's about the best you'll see.

Also, on the spin off thing, much, much easier said then done.  The problem with a spin off is the tv contracts, BCS contracts, hoops units all stay with the BE and that name belongs to the non-football schools who started the BE in the early 80's.  The point is for the football schools to spin off it would be an enormous, huge risk financially, bowl tie-ins, and tv wise...the football schools right now live partially on the BE's expanded hoops value so it's hard to kick have the value of the conference to the curb and then expect the same treatment from networks, the BCS, the NCAA...and having to renegotiate all that will limited conference revenue.  I can say right now such a move wouldn't even be financially feasible to USF, Cinci, or UL, and severely hurt the other BE football brethren.  Not to mention all the schools signed a 10 year contract to not leave, or spin-off otherwise they'll have to compensate the remaining members something un-Godly in financial consideration.  The only way I see a spin-off occurring is maybe in 2015 after the ten contract and two things occur, 1. some of the current BE football members grow into some iconic programs, i.e. maybe Louisville football becomes a perennial top 10 and TV juggernaut together with WVU doing the same-- and of course USF.  Additionally UL, Pitt, Cuse, Uconn, and USF hoops stay as lofty as ever....even then they'd need a member with some real serious pop, maybe they get BC, and PSU to join the fold.  Then it would be worthwhile for the members because they could easily get strong, or stronger tv contracts, the BCS and bowls would immediately clammor to re-sign, and possibly some negotiating could be done with the BE to bring some units and the NCAA to use our BE involvement to start our unit count.

Put simply, conference expansion at this point is almost an impossible endeavor.  I am not saying it will be that way forever, but I just can't see getting 16 teams to agree to it unless it was an ND added for football or PSU or someone of that ilk begging back in.  A spin-off might occur, but it will be a while and not until the football schools have developed enough to carrry their weight financially and notoriety wise on their own.

[bulls96go]

until the BE revenue gets up close to big 10/sec money there will be no split...imo.

[smazza]

ftu/ou/oc is an embarassment

[USF-PMR]

Remember UCF has been competing in collegiate football for many decades.  They are an average team with an average record.  It is best if they stay in the mid-major CUSA division.

Also, if the BE is going to expand they should really sweeten the deal for Notre Dame - I know that is not too probable but not impossible.  Then we could cherry pick another team or perhaps see how Army does and select them.

Just food for thought.