USF/Big East Realignment Discussion Thread

[Matt]

just got this...

Dear Jason:

Thank you so much for your continued support of the Bulls.  I'm writing to you today to address the events taking place in the college athletics landscape.  It is a remarkable period of change, and the adjustments are likely far from over. 

The leadership of USF has been monitoring the changes and potential changes in conference membership closely over a long period of time; certainly well before the announcement regarding Pittsburgh and Syracuse was made public on Saturday.  President Genshaft and I have been engaged in dialogue regarding conference membership over the past 18 months on a local, regional and national level.  We will continue those discussions in earnest in the upcoming days and weeks.

As a point of information, and pursuant to the Constitution of the BIG EAST Conference, a member may withdraw from the Conference by providing written notice of withdrawal to each of the other members and the Commissioner at least 27 months in advance of the start of the Conference Year for which the withdrawal shall be effective.  For example, a withdrawal notice for the Conference Year commencing July 1, 2014 must be given no later than March 31, 2012.  As a result, Pittsburgh and Syracuse are presently contractually bound to membership in the BIG EAST for at least 27 months.

While the landscape may continue to shift for some time, USF is fortunate to bring enormous assets to conference membership. Our student athletes have excelled both in the classroom and on the field of competition.  Our APR ranking continues to soar.  Our football team has gone to six straight bowl games and is now ranked among the nation’s Top 20 teams, as is our men's soccer program.  Many other USF programs have earned NCAA tournament bids and have been near the top of the standings in league play.

Over the last 14 months, the University has undergone the single largest athletics construction project on a Division I campus in the last 25 years. The extraordinary development of the Athletics District – including the Frank Morsani Football Complex, the Pam and Les Muma Basketball Center, Corbett Soccer Stadium, new baseball and softball stadiums and a new dining hall now provide USF student-athletes and fans with as fine a group of facilities as there is in America. The $35 million renovation of the Sun Dome, which will re-open next spring, will complete the stunning transformation of the eastern quadrant of USF’s beautiful campus. If you have not yet had the opportunity to tour the new facilities; please let a member of my staff know so that we can make it happen!

USF's achievements continue in our classrooms and research laboratories. This year USF was ranked 27th in the nation by the prestigious "Top American Research Universities," following our remarkable growth in research - from 2000-2007 we were fastest in the nation in earning new federal research grants. We are 9th among all universities for earning United States patents, thanks to our faculty inventors, and our commitment to academic excellence led to the strongest class in our history entering this Fall.

In short, the University of South Florida has never been better positioned for a time of significant change.

As the days go on, I will do my best to keep you updated.  Thank you again for your wonderful support.

Sincerely,

Doug Woolard

Director of Athletics

Did you write him? I want a letter from Doug!!

It was sent to all donors.  You should of gotten it or will be gettingit.

[Gismo]

ND will fill out the north pod.

they bring strong academic undergrad name.

they would be the crown jewel to any conference.

we slip in the backdoor.

we are underrated academically especially concerning research which ACC is very big on.

we have huge upside in football.

great tv market and it would help acc try to take over the state from sec and gators.

If ND gets in then the academic argument concerning USF is null and they still pick up our potential and lucrative market.

I really don't see what the ACC sees in UConn, Rutgers maybe... taking Pitt and Cuse was genius, now if they added USF and ND on top of that it I think they are really just hedging their bets waiting for the SEC to walk off with one of their football powers.

The ACC could not recover on the football field from losing FSU or Vtech if they were effectively replaced by uconn and Rutgers...

Adding USF and ND together makes the ACC a lot stronger on the football field and still competitive if they lose a football school (or two) to the SEC....

The biggest factor I think here is for recruiting. I feel like between USF and FL recruiting, the recruiting turf is a zero sum game among the conferences. whoever has the most most FL teams really gains a huge advantage with more trips and exposure in the state which leads to wins or losses and ultimately influences the conference brand in a big way because every school benefits from trips to Florida.

If you are the ACC and the SEC comes and takes Florida State, then you just lost your best football team and recruiting exposure to the SEC. Now if you add USF you still have a good FL football and keep the recruiting ground. If FSU stays in the ACC, you just added a good football team, and if Fl State stays you've got triple the exposure inside of FL than that of the SEC. If I were the ACC and had 3 teams from FL in a 16 team conference I think it makes the most sense to try and arrange it so every team can visit FL every year if possible, and to really try and saturate the state with ACC exposure.

With my green and gold goggles, I think ND + USF to move to 16 makes the most sense of any combination of schools. ND gets you the expanded media markets and television deals as well as decent football and hoops, and USF is a hedge against losing a good football program so the conference maintains strong recruiting in case it loses FSU or just to try and keep the SEC out as much as possible.

[Mama_Bull]

Bull94,

That's very nice in theory, but the reality is that FSU and Miami will prevent us from getting in if we are even a candidate.

How do you know this?  Why are so many people spout things they think are true as facts?  You have no idea what the Presidents at Florida, FSU, or Miami are thinking.

Say you're the President at FSU or Miami. What good would it do you to bring in USF? You can already make a good argument that FSU hold a better share of the Tampa market.

It's already been mentioned on here (and not just by me) that our best chance of getting into the ACC is if FSU leaves. That should tell you that the ACC doesn't want 3 FL teams and FSU would probably be in their ear telling them why they shouldn't add us.

so because public opinion says we won't get an invite then that means we won't get an invite???

why would fsu play a home and away with a potential threat? to put fans in the stands. for the revenue.

the acc and fsu have little to no penetration in this market. it's all sec and the gators.

the acc would be wise to put 3 in this state if they want to start an acc network that covers the entire state in one of the fastest growing states in the country.

our legislature(the ones controlling the purse strings) have far more say than the president. the virginia legislature forced them to lobby for v tech. we are a flagship university in this state(fsu, uf, usf) and the money involved is huge.

Politics are why we wouldn't get the invite.

FSU wasn't drawing well when they signed the series. Do you think they would sign the series today now that they are back on the rise?

FSU has a bigger penetration on this tv market than you think. Agree that UF takes the highest percentage.

Don't get me wrong, I want to be in the ACC. It's the best conference for us.

I was surprised to see how relatively few fans FSU has with all their history. Given our market, USF could surpass them if we landed in the right conference.

gregauman Greg Auman

NY Times blog also ranks Tampa-St. Pete as nation's No. 9 market for college football, with 1.4 million fans, or 30% of population here.

22 hours ago »

gregauman Greg Auman

Total fans for each Florida college football program, says NY Times: Florida 1.8 million; Miami 1.3m, FSU 813,000, USF 520k, UCF 506k.

22 hours ago

[deters-]

I agree USF has more potential to make an impact than WVU and definitely bring in more money, but I don't see them having a shot in hell to get to the SEC.

The thing is that if USF was in the SEC they would take many recruits away from both FSU and Miami. They really wouldn't hurt UF, who would still land just about anybody they want. It would give them a greater hold on the Florida market. What other school now joining the SEC would hurt the ACC as much?

I agree, if USF was in the SEC we would immediately see a huge upswing in recruiting. The only thing holding back our recruiting is our conference ties and our youth as a program. Recruits have said this many times.

[Bull94]

Bull94,

That's very nice in theory, but the reality is that FSU and Miami will prevent us from getting in if we are even a candidate.

How do you know this?  Why are so many people spout things they think are true as facts?  You have no idea what the Presidents at Florida, FSU, or Miami are thinking.

Say you're the President at FSU or Miami. What good would it do you to bring in USF? You can already make a good argument that FSU hold a better share of the Tampa market.

It's already been mentioned on here (and not just by me) that our best chance of getting into the ACC is if FSU leaves. That should tell you that the ACC doesn't want 3 FL teams and FSU would probably be in their ear telling them why they shouldn't add us.

so because public opinion says we won't get an invite then that means we won't get an invite???

why would fsu play a home and away with a potential threat? to put fans in the stands. for the revenue.

the acc and fsu have little to no penetration in this market. it's all sec and the gators.

the acc would be wise to put 3 in this state if they want to start an acc network that covers the entire state in one of the fastest growing states in the country.

our legislature(the ones controlling the purse strings) have far more say than the president. the virginia legislature forced them to lobby for v tech. we are a flagship university in this state(fsu, uf, usf) and the money involved is huge.

Politics are why we wouldn't get the invite.

FSU wasn't drawing well when they signed the series. Do you think they would sign the series today now that they are back on the rise?

FSU has a bigger penetration on this tv market than you think. Agree that UF takes the highest percentage.

Don't get me wrong, I want to be in the ACC. It's the best conference for us.

I'm just making an argument why i think we make a good fit. FSU would not block us. The president wouldn't have the power. there is way too much money involved. Virginia got v tech in ahead of syracuse. I think it's a long shot but still a possibility.

I think if ND goes acc and they need a 16th then we are a legit candidate.

certainly ahead of wvu or anyone located in the north. their north pod would be complete with syracuse, pitt, bc ,ad ND.

[Raetus]

I have a feeling tonight's Big East meeting is going to be about possible deals on the table regarding Big12.  Could be several scenarios with and without Texas.  But everyone will look at each other in the eye and say we're in or not in.  Would love to see something in place...this is not productive for anyone not already in a good spot.

I've heard they are going to do trust falls and make friendship bracelets, instead. Marinatto's idea, supposedly.

[USFresh]

Bull94,

That's very nice in theory, but the reality is that FSU and Miami will prevent us from getting in if we are even a candidate.

nah they want our fans in their stands. also florida legislature would make sure fsu is on our side with the amount of money they are talking about. didn't virginia get virginia tech in? if they really wanted to keep us down they would never have played us in the first place. that legitimized our program. aren't we 6-1 against the acc in our last 7? football potential.

genshaft, as current chairwoman of the ncaa board of directors, could put in a good word for miami considering probation!!! I think it's a long shot but i believe we are better positioned than a lot of people think.

top 30 research

top 15 tv

top 3 recruiting market

Let's not forget that UVA and VT are in the ACC along with Duke, NC State, Wake Forest and UNC.  Not that I think we will end up in the ACC, but I feel the multiple school/state argument is not as big of an issue as we're making it.

I'm not familiar with what role Genshaft will play in the Miami fallout, but that is an interesting scenario.  UM helps us into the ACC and we help ease the pain from the scandal.  I doubt this would happen, but that's quite a spin.  

Of course it doesn't. College administrations look at other things like transporation costs too since multiple sports teams will have to travel their conference games. Plus locking down a key talent state like Florida or Virginia mean you have a better shot at that talent in your conference and not another. It can be seen as a plus for sure. And FSU and Miami aren't the entire ACC.

I would think the "Big 3" would want to keep USF close.  If we go to the BIG 12 there will be a bunch of new schools itching to penetrate the Florida recruiting market.  By USF going to the ACC or SEC there aren't 5-10 new schools with the newfound opportunity.  High school football recruits from Florida are so plentiful, it currently, and would continue, to support FSU, UF, UM, USF.  If we're in the new BIG 12 and it really takes off, the conference members to the west could possibly start gaining traction on our Florida recruits.  Just some food for thought...

[mikeybull]

I agree USF has more potential to make an impact than WVU and definitely bring in more money, but I don't see them having a shot in hell to get to the SEC.

The thing is that if USF was in the SEC they would take many recruits away from both FSU and Miami. They really wouldn't hurt UF, who would still land just about anybody they want. It would give them a greater hold on the Florida market. What other school now joining the SEC would hurt the ACC as much?

I agree, if USF was in the SEC we would immediately see a huge upswing in recruiting. The only thing holding back our recruiting is our conference ties and our youth as a program. Recruits have said this many times.

I think sky rocketing our recruiting is more adequate.

[Bull94]

Bull94,

That's very nice in theory, but the reality is that FSU and Miami will prevent us from getting in if we are even a candidate.

How do you know this?  Why are so many people spout things they think are true as facts?  You have no idea what the Presidents at Florida, FSU, or Miami are thinking.

Say you're the President at FSU or Miami. What good would it do you to bring in USF? You can already make a good argument that FSU hold a better share of the Tampa market.

It's already been mentioned on here (and not just by me) that our best chance of getting into the ACC is if FSU leaves. That should tell you that the ACC doesn't want 3 FL teams and FSU would probably be in their ear telling them why they shouldn't add us.

You would think FSU would have blocked Miami. At the time, they ruled the ACC big time, year in and out champions, with no competition. This would be a way to get more Florida students into the ACC and not in the SEC.

You would certainly think that would be the case. However, FSU and Miami were national players at the time of the expansion back in 2004. FSU wouldn't have had to worry about Miami exploding as program and digging into their recruiting. They absolutely would have to worry about USF doing it though.

fsu had won like 15 acc championships in a row. it would not have been the recruiting they would worry about.

You don't think they'd worry about USF cutting into their recruiting if we went to the ACC now?

I think we'd be a bigger threat to clemson, nc state, etc. all the teams that pick up scraps from the big 3. fsu would still be ahead of us. I don't think they can stop us from growing  quite honestly. whether we are in a new big 12 or the acc.

[The Great 8]

^ I must've missed Miami's stadium being "full" of anything other than empty seats last year against USF. Their fans don't care about USF (or in general, but we certainly don't inspire them to come out either).