ECU willing to sell soul for BE Membership

[TyBull]

sports/hc-dezfbcoll0511.artmay11,0,2553691.column

Courant.com

ECU Ready For Big East, If League Wants It

Desmond Conner

NBA, College Football, College Basketball

May 11, 2008

Mike Tranghese understands that the topic of Big East football expansion is hotter than fish grease.

But the conference commissioner has maintained  and did again last week  that there are no fish to fry on the issue. Even though the Big East is the smallest BCS-affiliated conference with an unbalanced schedule that forces a disparity in league road games, causes each team to have five nonconference games while most teams in the country have four and has no league championship game with its big payday.

Tranghese said outside of a few coaches who want a ninth team, UConn's Randy Edsall among them, the subject is not on the table with Big East presidents and athletic directors.

"Schools aren't talking to me and I'm not talking to anybody," Tranghese said. "People [from schools interested in joining] call me and I tell them I'm not talking because I'm not authorized. Plus our people have no interest. You get your board members, fans, it's incredible. I have told anybody and everybody it's not happening. Don't bother me."

OK, but what if a deal too sweet to beat existed? Just for kicks, let's put one on the table in the form of, say, a job application. The school should be willing to:

• Play a conference football schedule with zero compensation from the Big East so current members don't have to give up any of their share of revenue.

• Be responsible for negotiating a television contract for home games until the league wants the school to be a part of its package.

• Not expect any of the league's BCS revenue until earning a BCS bid of its own representing the conference.

• Come in as a football member only. Other sports would play in another league in order to not interfere with the league's current 16-member setup for all other sports.

• Show a solid track record of putting fans in the seats at home, on the road and at bowl games  all on a trial basis for a few years.

Who would take that chance?

East Carolina.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, insiders with knowledge of East Carolina's position talked of doing all of the above.

That's how confident they are in coach Skip Holtz's program. By the way, Skip wouldn't return the call on this one, and athletic director Terry Holland said he had no comment.

Told you it was sensitive.

"We would agree to all of that and others," said one prominent ECU supporter. "Our partnership could be described as a 'hand-in' partnership rather than a 'hand-out' partnership. We wouldn't be asking for anything except the opportunity to prove ourselves as good and productive partners of the eight institutions playing Division I-A football."

The schools that pushed for expanding their leagues and creating league championship games in football did it for the money, but they also did it to ensure their futures.

The Big East has set itself up for life in basketball. In football, we're not so sure.

What happens if Notre Dame, in the Big East for all sports except football, decides it's going to the Big Ten?

What would the Big East do? The league would need to fill Notre Dame's spot. Navy? Memphis? Central Florida? East Carolina?

"We will not take anybody as a federated member," Tranghese said. "We dealt with it before [with Temple]. It didn't work out. We've lived it and we're not going down that path again."

Yeah, Mike, but you let ...

"That happened 13 years ago with Notre Dame. The league was struggling at the time. We had just invited Rutgers and West Virginia and the presidents of the basketball schools said they would like to add a school with a national presence in basketball and other sports, and they agreed to that. Now, if you look at what Notre Dame has done in basketball, cross country, women's basketball for this league, there's no one out there that can come close. When we took them in, there was a clear understanding what it meant in football and [the presidents] understood it.

"As for now, anybody who says I just want to play football ... it's just not happening because the agenda of any institution is to become a full member."

There will be interest in a 16th member again if Notre Dame does go to the Big Ten and takes the rest of its teams, too.

"Look, there are teams out there that could probably help us but they're not available," Tranghese said.

Technically, that's true. After the ACC ripped Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College from the Big East's mitts, practically every league freaked out in terms of getting exit fees and other penalties together as part of future agreements with member schools. East Carolina, a member of Conference USA, says it would deal with whatever the penalty was to leave.

Whether it's to address the immediate unbalanced schedule issue or the need for a long-term fix if Notre Dame leaves, Memphis, Central Florida and East Carolina should be getting good looks right now.

But it's unlikely that Memphis, Central Florida or any other school would be willing to do what ECU supporters believe the program is willing to do.

Memphis would be a plus in hoops. Central Florida would be fine for recruiting purposes in football. However, neither can boast of having one of the best nonconference football schedules in the country with an SEC feel at homes games like East Carolina can.

Those schools don't have a six-year contract in place with West Virginia. They can't brag about traveling as well as ECU does. ECU is also believed to be open to guaranteeing the purchase of 2,500 tickets to Big East away games.

Think about that. At $40 a pop, that's another $100,000 for the home school in gate money. Notre Dame is the only school in the nation that would even attempt a guarantee like that.

And here is East Carolina, ready to go with that plus a whole lot more, all on a trial basis.

ECU insiders and supporters have convinced yours truly that it is not afraid to take risks  and you can determine that for yourselves when you see their nonconference schedules.

There's no league in the country in a better position to help ECU right now than the Big East  and vice versa. And then there's the future. Will Big East's football league be ready when it comes?

dconner@courant.com

http://www.courant.com/sports/hc-dezfbcoll0511.artmay11,0,5044277,print.column

Copyright © 2008, The Hartford Courant

[Carolina_Bull]

Let them in.  ECU fans are passionate.  They have had a knack for doing more with less.  It would be interesting to see what they could do with more.

Oh yeah, I also like the fact I would see the Bulls play in my backyard every other year.

[crambone]

ECU fans were great at the PJ.com Bowl.  I only had a few bad experiences, and that was the night before at the bars, so that's excusable.

I'd see them in the Big East before UCF.  At least that would give the Big East a push in the Carolinas.

[80mins]

ECU sounds like that junkie from Menace II Society "Come on man... I'll suck yo d***!"

For purely selfish reasons, I certainly wouldn't mind having Bulls football guaranteed here in my state at least every other year.

[crambone]

Plus, it's extremely easy to make fun of a purple team.

[USFan]

Sign on the dotted line....

[GarySJ]

I could spend days mocking East Carolina and its misguided attempts to better itself. But in the interest of brevity I'll just focus on one item in this whole laughable screed:

• Come in as a football member only. Other sports would play in another league in order to not interfere with the league's current 16-member setup for all other sports.

:ROFLMAO

Do you really expect us to fall for that one again, East Carolina?

Since the collective short-term memory is apparently lacking up there in Greenville, allow me to give you a little history lesson: way back in the mid-90s, a certain school named "East Carolina" was given football-only membership in a conference that included 37.5% of the current Big East football membership. Within five years, the school was politicking and leveraging its Liberty Bowl contacts to extort full membership from the rest of the league. The compromise that had to be drawn to appease East Carolina turned an already tenuous league into a bloated, unrecognizable mess. Within five years most of the better schools were gone -- leaving East Carolina with full membership in a conference it is now apparently desperate to extricate itself from.

Ignoring the fact that none of the concessions in this article are really that valuable, why should the Big East rescue a known troublemaker from the mess it created for itself? Okay, the current state of C-USA isn't all ECU's fault. But that school's actions in 2000 were historically significant to the league -- not in a good way, as it turned out. I don't know if that would matter to the powers that be in the Big East. But I'd bet individual Big East schools would remember their little ruckus. Especially USF.

[usfbulls2004]

Would like to see ECU in the conference.

[theman123]

Hell if there that determined I would love for ECU to be a member.

[smazza]

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Is East Carolina Knocking on Big East Door?

A few years ago after a raid by the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big East's membership in the Bowl Championship Series country club was being questioned.

Now the eight-member Big East is snubbing its nose at teams that want to join its BCS party. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said outside of a few coaches wanting to add a ninth member, conference presidents and athletic directors are against expansion.

"Schools aren't talking to me and I'm not talking to anybody," Tranghese said. "People [from schools interested in joining] call me and I tell them I'm not talking because I'm not authorized. Plus our people have no interest. You get your board members, fans, it's incredible. I have told anybody and everybody it's not happening. Don't bother me."

So who has expressed an interest in joining the Big East? East Carolina and coach Skip Holtz, according to Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant. And the Pirates would be willing to take extreme measures to gain entrance:

• Play a conference football schedule with zero compensation from the Big East so current members don't have to give up any of their share of revenue.

• Be responsible for negotiating a television contract for home games until the league wants the school to be a part of its package.

• Not expect any of the league's BCS revenue until earning a BCS bid of its own representing the conference.

• Come in as a football member only. Other sports would play in another league in order to not interfere with the league's current 16-member setup for all other sports.

• Show a solid track record of putting fans in the seats at home, on the road and at bowl games  all on a trial basis for a few years.

"We would agree to all of that and others," one prominent East Carolina supporter told Conner.

Thanks to the Business of College Football for sending this item our way.

Posted by dawizofodds at 6:15 AM   

15 comments:

The Bull Gator said...

The Big East shouldn't be so quick to dismiss school's from wanting to be a part of their conference. An 8-member BCS conference is a joke. They need to look at adding schools or they will always be considered the little brother of the BCS conferences.

5/13/08 6:30 AM 

Anonymous said...

That joke of a BCS conference, The Big East, has won quite a few BCS bowl games. ECU's concessions as mentioned by tWoO are meant to be temporary.

More pressing worries are 1) ultimately having 17 basketball teams, and 2) Notre Dame being either in or out, not both.

5/13/08 12:18 PM 

The Bull Gator said...

Don't get me wrong...I'm a Big East fan...I went to a Big East school. But even though they've won some BCS bowls, they are still viewed by people everywhere as being the joke of the BCS conferences. I'm talking perception. And if they want to improve that perception (which is completely up to them), then they need to considering doing something about number of teams in football. They have a full conference in other sports, but 8 football teams is not enough these days in terms of big time college football.

And they can worry about Notre Dame all they want, but until NBC stops shelling out the big $ to ND, they aren't joining any conference.

5/13/08 1:22 PM 

anonymous again said...

I have yet to talk to any of those "people everywhere" of which you speak.

The only BCS conference that could seriously be considered a joke is the ACC, especially so since their attempt at ruining the BE.

5/13/08 5:18 PM 

Anonymous said...

This addition would do nothing to the perception of the Big East in a positive manner. Didn't they already take on enough C-USA teams? Why not just merge the conferences then? Again, ECU offers nothing for the BE, except an 8-game conference schedule.

5/13/08 5:59 PM 

The Bull Gator said...

I'm not about to defend the ACC, because I'm not a fan of it's schools. And again, I'm a Big East fan. But you can honestly say you haven't heard anyone mention anything about the Big East being a weaker conference since Miami, VT, and BC left? I'm not even saying it's true. I'm just saying it's been out there for a few years now. Whether it's warranted or not is another thing, but people talk about it quite a bit. There were even pieces floating around after the realignment that the Big East might lose its automatic BCS bid to the Mountain West. Luckily it didn't happen because I for one am patiently awaiting the day I get to watch USF in a BCS bowl.

5/13/08 6:08 PM 

The Bull Gator said...

That I can agree with, but then who else do you add? Well, if you want to add someone, which is seems like they don't. We have the ACC talking about possibly adding a 9th conference game due to the money schools pay out to play out-of-conference opponents, but the Big East doesn't currently even have the option of playing 8. I guess I would just like the opportunity to create another rivalry. In my case - although not much of an improvement, it's something - I would rather see USF play ECU then their 2008 season opener, Tenn-Martin.

5/13/08 6:26 PM 

and still anonymous said...

Bull Gator, i'm sorry but you're about 4 years behind the times. Sure, the ESPN talking heads back then were constantly hammering the "Big East is done" meme after the ACC raided the BE (and ESPN signed a huge contract with the "new" ACC). But several straight years of the new BE outplaying the ACC has ended that talk. Do you remember 3 straight BCS bowl wins for the Big East?

Blasting Louisville or South Florida because they were in a non-BCS conference is a moot point. Those schools are doing just fine on the national scene, TYVM. Ask Auburn last year. Ask Wake about two years ago.

Have you considered that maybe the BE schools don't want to expand just yet? Maybe they want to wait a few more years before aiming to have enough teams for a conference championship game? Have you seen the aerial photos of BC playing VT in Jacksonville? 2/3rds of the stadium is empty and that might scare a "new" conference like the BE.

Look man, no one thinks the BE is a "joke" anymore.

5/13/08 6:55 PM 

The Bull Gator said...

Did I blast Louisville or South Florida? I went to USF. I'm not bashing them at all.

And again, I'm not praising the ACC either. The BC/VT game was the real joke. Watching that game on TV and seeing the shots of the stands was almost painful.

5/13/08 7:00 PM 

Anonynonynonymous said...

You didn't directly blast the C-USA, I was wrong about that.

When I read you agreeing with someone who types, "Didn't they already take on enough C-USA teams? Why not just merge the conferences then?", I made that logical leap. Perhaps that comment was better saved for the other anonymous person on this thread.

By the way, RRod is a complete idiot. I'm sure we'll see tWoO talk about this tomorrow.

5/13/08 7:17 PM 

that anonymous guy again said...

By the way, I'm in favor of ECU joining the BE in football only. I think they're a strong team with a good future, and have a better than good chance to be the best football team in NC.

5/13/08 7:20 PM 

The Bull Gator said...

I agreed mostly to the fact that the Big East shouldn't just be looking at CUSA. If they did expand, they should carefully think about all possible options. I wouldn't want them to just pick a name out of a hat. Of course this whole thing is moot if they have no desire to expand at all.

Oh and you are more than right about one very important point...RRod is a complete idiot.

5/13/08 7:25 PM 

Anonymous said...

"I think they're a strong team with a good future, and have a better than good chance to be the best football team in NC."

are you kidding me? they lost to NC State, who was 1-5 at the time and still reeling from the hangover left by Chuck Amato.

the only reason they beat NC State the year before was because of Chuck.

let's be real here.

5/13/08 9:23 PM 

Anonymous said...

Its interesting if ECU is willing to put its money where Holtz' mouth is... as you know its a family trait to run off at the mouth.

Truth is ECU isn't really considered a top candidate to join the league if the conference adds a "so called" smaller conference school.

They sit behind the likes of UCF and Memphis.... not to mention the hopes that a current BCS conference team will switch leagues to the Big East.

I don't mean it to be an insult to ECU, its just where things stand right now.

5/14/08 4:46 AM 

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 9:23pm:

ECU is 3-3 vs. NCSU since '96. So the 3 wins were b/c of Amato, and the 3 losses were b/c of... Chucky?

The state of North Carolina is not exactly known for good football teams. It is not fantasy to see that ECU as a rising program with a Holtz leading them. That team climbing as high as UNC, Duke, Wake, and NCSU is not a far-fetched dream. Imagine what joining a BCS conference would do to their recruiting (see: VT, a backwater program until they joined the BE).

5/14/08 5:56 AM 

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Ok, so from the article the Big East isn't interested in expansion but who knows? If one is to believe the info, it appears ECU is willing to sell its soul to join the BE. I wonder if our admin is even thinking about this type of thing, ...

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