Memphis, Central Florida To Big East "Highly Likely"
by Sean Keeley on Jun 17, 2010 1:07 AM EDT
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So says the dreaded "multiple college football sources" who have spoken with an Orlando TV station.
Local 6 Sports Director David Pingalore is reporting that multiple college football sources have said that the University of Central Florida and Memphis could be invited to join the Big East conference as soon as next week.
According to Pingalore's college football sources, the invitation is highly likely.
The Big East would like to have the 19th largest TV market in the country -- Orlando -- which UCF would provide.
Two weeks ago I would have ignored this on principle. These days...who the hell knows. I'm too numb to all the rumors and discussion to even argue it.
I can assure you that, if this happens, it has little to do with the coveted nature of the Orlando TV market. It has a lot more to do with the fact that Memphis and UCF are two warm bodies in the Eastern half of the United State who are both willing to drop their pants to become BCS schools.
On one hand, it is the right move for the Big East. The football side of the conference needs to grow or die. Plain and simple. Because Villanova is a bunch of morons and won't go FBS with football and Notre Dame has more power than the entire Big East commissioner's office, the conference has no choice but to look outside the existing members.
Football-wise, neither is a feather in our cap. Then again, remember how sad UConn and South Florida looked when we took them on. In just a few short years they're both respectable bowl teams. So in the same way folks shouldn't look at the current state of SU football as the be-all-end-all, the same can be said of both school's potential.
Basketball-wise, Memphis isn't what they were two years ago but they're still a respectable program that plays in a quality arena. As for UCF, I'm not entirely sure they have a basketball team.
On the other hand, what does this really solve? If the Big Ten decides tomorrow that it still wants to go 16 or that it wants to force Notre Dame's hand by decimating the Big East, it can and will do so. Like Voodoo Five says, every single one of the Big East's current eight football member will gladly jump if asked. And bringing in Memphis and UCF doesn't change that one bit.
If this goes down, Marinatto and the Big East will play up the awesomeness of a 10-team Big East that puts on the same level as the Big 12 and other BCS cronies. They'll say the conference is safe and Paul Tagliabue can explain why, although Long Islanders don't want to watch Rutgers play Minnesota, they're dying to watch Rutgers play Central Florida (Knights vs. Knights!).
But the truth is, the Big East is merely doing what it should have done two years ago. Complacent to the point of absurdity, the conference is lucky to still exist and yet still lacks the creativity to do anything other than the obvious. The conference expansion madness might be over for now, but it's just for now. Why would the Big Ten suddenly not be interested in NYC now? And they certainly still want Notre Dame. It's only a matter of time.
If Memphis and UCF join the conference, we will welcome them with open arms. But I hope they don't get mad if we all leave shortly thereafter. Nothing personal.
Via Deadspin
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I ended up amending my story over this.
I mean for fuck’s sake, they wouldn’t even be adding the two strongest teams, which are Houston and East Carolina. You’d be going for an up-and-down UCF program, and a Memphis program whose coach was fired last year and then spent his farewell press conference tearing into the university for not financially supporting the team.
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nah
there saying houston will be gobbled up by another Conference. And east carolina just lost there coach to USF….they have an assistant interm right now…so Memphis & UCF are the best choices left.
by Steve Clarke on Jun 17, 2010 9:59 AM EDT up reply actions
I think Southern Miss should be considered as well.
They are competitive in football and Mississippi always puts out good football players. They may not fit the profile, but Houston doesn’t really fit it either.
at least
Memphis means we
ll get that Fed Ex money…
by Quint Stevenson on Jun 17, 2010 8:18 AM EDT reply actions
That's really my favorite part
While other conferences are discussing TV networks, expanded markets and new revenue streams, the Big East is going to take what amounts to a bribe from a C-USA booster.
by PittScriptBlog on Jun 17, 2010 8:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Fine but it makes basketball more onerous...
Marquette and Depaul should be dropped immediately, if not sooner.
Look
The Big East is on life support as it is. Sooner or later, the football teams are at risk of being stolen. However, a conference with a AQ status that has 6 schools that have been together for 5 years gets to keep its status. SO… if the Big East adds 2 more teams… even if they lose 4, they can still keep AQ status and “reload” with more fodder. Conversely, if they are at 8 and lose 4 teams, it’s game over.
Assuming the basketball schools are wielding the power, it makes sense.
From a football perspective, this is a good move. Now you are guaranteed one Florida trip per year. That can only help recruiting. It’s just three years too late to make a difference to Syracuse.
Good point on Florida recruiting but it doesn't amount to much
A game every year is great…but for a recruit who really wants that ‘playing’ at home part of college – SU is the LAST choice. ACC or SEC would own that kid.
Somehow we did it in the past
If you win, the recruits will come.
lame, but an insurance policy for football
if pitt or rutgers go squirrelly and leave for big ten. the conference wouldn’t have to immediately dissolve. it would just be the northern version of the big south.
This move keeps egg off the Big East face
I mean adding UCF isn’t terrible football wise, but Memphis is a non-starter for football and basketball really.
Sure they have some financial gain but in the grand scheme of things, they provide no long term financial benefit. You get a quality coach there for hoops and UT is in trouble I think for recruits, but baby Josh ain’t that guy.
To me this is really is a move that allows for multiple schools to leave and SU better be one of them.
It almost feels like there was a gentleman’s argreement between the Big East and Big 10 “Give us a couple weeks to add some teams before you send out the invites okay?”
OK, this is a start. But probably one that came too late.
Memphis helps basketball certainly and at least they actually have a football team (if you can call it that). UCF has Michael Jordan’s son on the basketball so that’s… nice. Their football can be competitive though. Chris Johnson went there I believe. Now if the Big East actually wants to prove itself there are three programs I see worth going after immediately following accepted invites from these two: Houston, Eastern Carolina and Southern Miss. All three have pretty good football (or in Houston’s case, good football) and could compete almost right away. I don’t know anything about their basketball teams, which leads me to believe they will be similar to USF (solid football school providing nothing on the hardwood). Adding two of theses teams would give us 12 in football, a champ game, and an argument for an actual TV network. We’d have schools in the NYC, Pittsburgh, Philly, Houston, Memphis, Orlando, New England, DC, and Cincinnati markets. Some of those aren’t worth much, but some definitely are. We would have to drop some dead weight; adding teams is one thing, but will the basketball-centric Big East leaders be willing to part with basketball only schools? I still think ultimately, the Big East’s fate is sealed, but 12 football schools and an actual TV network could save it. Tough to see the Big East making that many moves so quickly though. This move is about 2 to 3 years late as it is.
Yes he did.
I was thinking of someone else it seems. Not sure who now. I know it was recent and they were at UCF and racked up huge numbers.
It was. But I knew that.
I am thinking of a RB specifically. Just looked it up. It was Kevin Smith. He almost broke the NCAA single season rushing record while there.
Also David Garrard, starting QB for the Jags
Not a great player by any stretch, but not a bum either.
As much as we might wish it were otherwise
Villanova is being rational, not stupid. Well, except that have scholarship football at all.
A small (the only smaller school in a BCS conference that I could find was Wake Forest), private school with no FBS-sized stadium to play in almost certainly cannot support a major conference football program. Certainly not one that’s consistently good.
by drothgery on Jun 17, 2010 10:06 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Ugh
I realize the Big East has to do something, and expanding the conference to 10 teams definitely helps. But these two teams stink – in my opinion, this only makes the Big East look even MORE like C-USA, not less. I still say if we’re asked to join a “real” football conference, we give the Big East a Big Middle Finger and run.
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
Sadly, I think I'm with you on this.
I don’t look forward to an 18 team basketball conference full of crap teams. And though Syracuse can’t really talk much now, these teams don’t exactly bring respect to the football conference.
Gross has to be fed up with the Big East. I sense that he’s not the type of guy who just likes to sit around and let everyone else make the moves. I wonder what he’s been doing behind the scenes throughout all this drama.
I've been wondering the same thing
Even Gross’ detractors have only two main gripes with him – that he hired Greg Robinson (which I think is forgivable, since everyone’s allowed one mistake and he seems to have rebounded nicely with Marrone, so far), and that he is a shameless self-promoter who only worries about his own legacy.
Now…
I sincerely doubt that Gross wants his legacy to be the guy who came in right after the ACC raid and just sat by while the Big East continued to be the weakest BCS conference (at least in terms of national perception), and his football team suffered the double indignity of being both a) awful and b) awful in a bad conference.
My guess is that if we go ahead as a conference and add to more football programs with zero tradition and zero relevance to the casual college football fan (quick, who are the best players in UCF and Memphis history?), Gross may step up any conversations he may have been having with other conferences about getting Syracuse in the door. He has no misplaced loyalty to the Big East like Crouthamel had, and even Crouthamel would have jumped to the ACC if the Virginia legislature hadn’t stuck their nose in on Va Tech’s behalf.
The fact that the Big East is absolutely INCAPABLE of luring an existing BCS football school into the conference speaks volumes about its weak reputation and complete lack of leverage in negotiating. We all like to rag on the ACC here, but there’s a reason why Big East teams would jump to that conference for football and not vice versa. Adding two more C-USA teams (that’s where UCF and Memphis play, right?) does nothing to help the national perception that the Big East is a joke, and the MWC is FAR more deserving of an AQ bid.
I doubt that Gross wants to touch that stigma with a 10 foot pole, so here’s to hoping that his ego is able to sell our way into a real conference (you know, one where the member teams all play every sport).
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
by kotite4ever on Jun 17, 2010 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
haha
Damn you and your good memory!
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
by kotite4ever on Jun 17, 2010 11:01 AM EDT up reply actions
If this goes down I can see a course of action that saves the conference.
Roll out a TV network. We have the markets for it and adding UCF only helps. Then, if that seems to be working, leap frog the Big 12 by adding two of Houston, Southern Miss and East Carolina. This would give us a championship game and we would have that in common with the Big 10, ACC, SEC and Pac-10. The Big 12 is staying at 10 teams to pander to Texas (and I guess kind of Oklahoma too). Texas doesn’t need a champ game to be in the race for the BCS title game, so they are happy without it. For the Big East front-runner though, that extra game against a quality opponent would be really useful. Adding any two of those three teams would be adding two ready to compete football schools (unlike Memphis and for the most part UCF) while adding either a new TV market or a new recruiting area.
A plan like this means doing the thing you and I have been championing recently though: dumping dead weight. None of those teams I mentioned would bring in good basketball, so losing Depaul or Marquette or St. John’s or Seton Hall (or all of them) would be necessary. 20 teams is too much, especially when 6-8 teams are pretty terrible.
Absolutely
I think you speak the truth on this, but as you said, as much as you and I would love to see them drop the basketball dead weight in exchange for future viability in ALL sports (esp. football), we know they’ll never do it.
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
by kotite4ever on Jun 17, 2010 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions
I am fine with 20
Add Houston and East Carolina.
12-team football conference.
North Divisions: Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, UConn, WVU, and Cincy.
South Division: East Carolina USF, CF, Lville, Memphis, Houston.
Matched pairs for purposes of scheduling: Cincy/Rutgers… Pitt/WVU…. UConn/Syracuse…. ECU/Houston… USF/CF… Memphis/Lville.
You play 5 games against division, plus one of the pairs from the other division. So Syracuse would always have one game against a Florida school….one game against someone from the TN/KY region… and one game against either Houston or Carolina. Each school in other division would have one game against recruit rich states in Ohio/NJ…. one against rivals Pitt/WVU… and one against recruit poor states UConn/Syracuse.
Basketball… one game against each school… 19 games… pure round robin. Figure out details on tourney later. 20 is not impossible to work out.
Big East Network
A Big East Network has to be priority number one right now. The only good thing the Big East has right now over other conferences is the size of its potential TV market. They should be trying to make more money from the schools that they have right now.
that is our ONLY trump card
If they are too dumb to realize that, and stick with Tranghese’s cute line “We already have a network – it’s called ESPN,” then the conference deserves to be torn apart.
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
by kotite4ever on Jun 17, 2010 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions
Big East Denying This Report
Claims: “This course of action far too proactive and intelligent for our league at this time.”
by Trapped_In_ACC_Hell on Jun 17, 2010 11:13 AM EDT reply actions
This isn't the worst news
I’ve never really understood why UCF couldn’t become a major player in college football. They have a ton of students there, more than any of the other Florida schools and more than most in the nation. If anything USF and UCF should now be able to compete with FSU and Miami for some of the recruits, and possibly even UF since Gainesville doesn’t have the location of the others.
Memphis, IIRC, has a ton of major recruits within its city limits. I read a report once that stated many of the top recruits come from there. If they can get some of them to stay now, they could become competitive.
Hopefully this means that we play 9 Big East games a year. Rutgers will be pissed though.
If we add these two teams,
can we then get rid of Marquette and DePaul? I think it’s a fair trade-off.
The level of excitement I will feel when(if) we play Memphis in football will be equal to when we play DePaul or Marq in basketball.
But at least Mimphis is offering money….which is nice.
This has been officially denied...
… which is no surprise. Rumors that Memphis, UCF, or ECU are about to join the Big East pop up every day and twice on Tuesday.
Usually from someone in Memphis, Orlando, or Greenville.
Voodoo Five - South Florida Bulls SBN Blog
The Toughest Blog in America
by Jamie DeVriend on Jun 17, 2010 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Keep in mind...
part of what the Big East needs to do is keep Louisville, Cincy, and USF happy. Any three could be a target for the Big 12. Also, WVU could be a target for the SEC.
While Pitt, SU, UConn, and Rutgers could go to the Big 10 or ACC, not sure all those schools have two options. if the one option comes up, they have to go. So, adding these schools keeps them in an AQ league.
Frankly, L’ville should be happy people still realize it has a football program. Cincy? I’m not convinced they’re going to repeat their Brian Kelly success story. USF? We’ll see how Chip does. I don’t think the Big East needs to cater to these schools just yet. The teams that need a guarantee are Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, and West Virginia (UCONN to a lesser degree). These schools need the types of assurances and guarantees that make them say no to a Big Ten or ACC. If they say no, the conference lives without adding any more CUSA teams.
Orange you glad it's not football season?
Yeah they do
The commissioner and other teams cannot screw over any member school. Just because they care about Providence and Pitt, doesn’t mean that USF can be ignored.
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