McMurphy - UCF is top target for BE

[Atlanta Bull]

New South Florida coach Skip Holtz spent the past five seasons in C-USA as head coach at East Carolina. When asked who he would take from his former league to the Big East if he was commissioner, Holtz chose East Carolina, Memphis and UCF, in that order.

"East Carolina, with its success, and football attendance," Holtz said. "Memphis brings a lot, playing basketball in an NBA arena and the football stadium they play in and I believe Central Florida would be in consideration."

USF and UCF met four times in football from 2005-08 – USF won all four meetings – but the Bulls ended the series because school officials, including former coach Jim Leavitt, felt they ultimately had nothing to gain playing the Knights, who are located 90 miles from Tampa.

When asked if he wanted UCF in the Big East, Holtz didn't say yes, but he didn't scream no, either.

"I want what's best for the league," Holtz said. "Does West Virginia want Marshall in? No. But would they stop them from joining? No. I want what's in the best interest for the Big East.

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/04/26/ucf-is-top-target-for-big-east/

"I'm all for strengthening the Big East. Whatever teams can do that, I'm all for that."

[Hurricane Mutiny]

Outside of his obviously biased favoritism of ECU, at least he gets it.

ECU should be at the bottom of the list.  No media market.  Adding ECU will not get the BE a better TV contract, and that's really all that matters.

Outside of contractual obligations, when has an ECU game been picked up for even REGIONAL broadcast in the last 10 years?

[DERBY]

Memphis is the only member of C-USA that I would really want in the Big East if we were looking for someone new.  They've got a good football program, a good basketball program, and their tv market and fan base that would make them financially viable.

[Danm1983]

I'm still trying to figure out where this "good" Memphis football team is. They made a bowl in 2008, but I haven't seen them win more than 8-9 games in years. I hope Larry Porter can turn it around.

[DERBY]

Yeah, their football program hasn't been too great in the last 2 or 3 years.  But up until that point they were consistently at the top of C-USA and regularly had bowl appearances.  I still think that overall they are the best school from C-USA to take if the Big East is looking to replace a lost member.  Let's be honest, we aren't going to find any replacements from bigger conferences which means our options are pretty limited.

[IHuckItDeep]

memphis is the team I want the most for Big East when big ten steals a team or two or three

[813knight]

memphis is the team I want the most for Big East when big ten steals a team or two or three

I don't get all the Memphis support, I know a lot of Bulls hate UCF but Football and media market is driving this and Memphis brought like 500 people to their last bowl game. They have horrible support in Football and if they drop down in basketball success now that Cal left them, that program's support will drop big time also. I can see preferring ECU on the Football side of things if you ignore market/potential but Memphis has so long to go from a facilities and support standpoint, they're no where close to ECU and UCF.

[usf97]

Sadly, for USF, if there is expansion in the Big East, UCF probably is the best choice available. Big TV market, good facilities, decent fan support. All the other teams are missing something. ECU is in too small a market but has upgraded facilites and good fan support. Memphis is in a decent TV market but their support is limited and their facilities are aging.

I think Houston also has to be included in that mix, big TV market, ok facilities, not so great support but huge room for improvement. Again like several Big East schools, they are in a big city but most of the fan base supports the big state school so I don't know how much of the locals they could deliver TV-wise. Mind you, if they could recruit with the BCS tag, they have lots of room to grow their base. Much like USF that way.

[South_Florida_Flip]

With the Big East getting a tie in to the Liberty Bowl you can push Memphis to the front of the list. Tranghese probably had a god deal of say into this.

[Atlanta Bull]

With the Big East getting a tie in to the Liberty Bowl you can push Memphis to the front of the list. Tranghese probably had a god deal of say into this.

Memphis will be the first added because of the relationship with Mike T. My guess would be UCF as next in line. But before the BE adds non BCS teams, they will at least try to get BC and Maryland. In order to get BCS teams, Tags will have to come up with a way to make the payout versus ACC at least the same amount (i.e. create a BE Network, more sponsors, partners, etc.).