muskienick
11-30-2010, 12:27 PM
With all due respect to the posters on another thread in another area of this website, Xavier will never be in a Conference with UC and TCU. Bob Queenan (wkrq59) has explained why over and over for years why that won't ever occur. But that doesn't mean that the Muskies won't ever be a part of a Conference that has current Big East members like Georgetown and Marquette.
With TCU's decision to move to the Big East and the Big East's invitation to Villanova to join its Football conference, one must speculate what further moves are likely to shake out there. Villanova's acceptance of the BE's Football invitation can't be considered a done deal given the huge investment that would be required by the Wildcats. Furthermore, wouldn't the Big East be wise to increase its Football number to 12 in order to qualify for a Conference Championship game and the huge bucks that could entail? That was the main reason the Big Ten admitted Nebraska to its League and the PAC 10 added Colorado and Utah. If the Big East were to take in another 1-3 schools to reach 12 in football, that would mean that the number of BE member schools could increase to a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 20, ridiculously large for all the other sports. It would need only one more member if both Notre Dame and Villanova were to accept full membership in the Big East but no one should hold their breath waiting for that to happen. ND has already turned down the Big 10 on a number of occasions (if we are to believe unsubstantiated reports), so why would the Irish accept membership in an inferior (to the Big 10) football conference like the Big East? And Villanova would have to spend many million$ more each year to amp up its football program to the BCS level, not the least of which would be to find a replacement for the 12,500-seat Villanova Stadium in a City that is not known for its rabid fan interest and support for college athletic teams (as evidenced by the Wildcats' average home attendance this season of 8,573 at Villanova Stadium). The Wildcats have seemed to find a nice, comfortable (and successful) niche in the FBS level of D-1 football, this year going 7-4 and qualifying for the D-1 playoffs vs S. F. Austin in the first round.
So wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that the Big East would be much more likely to wind up as a 12-member all-sports Conference instead of an 18-20 member hybrid?
Notre Dame is quickly running out of options now that the Big 10 is really the Big 12. The ACC and SEC already have their twelve members. And the Big 12 Conference was just on the brink of collapse after losing Colorado and Nebraska and is not nearly so inviting as the Big 10 would have been for ND. It's seeminly already rejected the Big East and Big 10 and the PAC-10 is now the PAC-12 as stated above. It would appear that ND is content as an Independent.
So if both ND and Villanova decide to stay put, who might the Big East approach to become their10th, 11th, and 12th football members down the line?
Memphis has a D-1 football program that has had some recent gridiron success appearing in five bowl games since 2003 (winning two of them) and its basketball program is top-notch. It's also been closely affiliated with current Big East members, Louisville and Cincinnati for many years. It plays in the near-campus 62,000+ seat Liberty Bowl.
Central Florida is nicely situated in Orlando, FL, has experienced some level of success in recent years in C-USA, has appeared in 3 bowl games recently, and already has a 45,000-seat stadium on campus. It has also established a nice rivalry with current Big East member, South Florida.
East Carolina is a current member of C-USA and has won two of that Conference's football championships as recently as 2008 and 2009. It plays in a 50,000-seat on-campus stadium.
What follows as the next posting to this thread is today's musings on what such conference rumblings could mean for the Muskies.
With TCU's decision to move to the Big East and the Big East's invitation to Villanova to join its Football conference, one must speculate what further moves are likely to shake out there. Villanova's acceptance of the BE's Football invitation can't be considered a done deal given the huge investment that would be required by the Wildcats. Furthermore, wouldn't the Big East be wise to increase its Football number to 12 in order to qualify for a Conference Championship game and the huge bucks that could entail? That was the main reason the Big Ten admitted Nebraska to its League and the PAC 10 added Colorado and Utah. If the Big East were to take in another 1-3 schools to reach 12 in football, that would mean that the number of BE member schools could increase to a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 20, ridiculously large for all the other sports. It would need only one more member if both Notre Dame and Villanova were to accept full membership in the Big East but no one should hold their breath waiting for that to happen. ND has already turned down the Big 10 on a number of occasions (if we are to believe unsubstantiated reports), so why would the Irish accept membership in an inferior (to the Big 10) football conference like the Big East? And Villanova would have to spend many million$ more each year to amp up its football program to the BCS level, not the least of which would be to find a replacement for the 12,500-seat Villanova Stadium in a City that is not known for its rabid fan interest and support for college athletic teams (as evidenced by the Wildcats' average home attendance this season of 8,573 at Villanova Stadium). The Wildcats have seemed to find a nice, comfortable (and successful) niche in the FBS level of D-1 football, this year going 7-4 and qualifying for the D-1 playoffs vs S. F. Austin in the first round.
So wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that the Big East would be much more likely to wind up as a 12-member all-sports Conference instead of an 18-20 member hybrid?
Notre Dame is quickly running out of options now that the Big 10 is really the Big 12. The ACC and SEC already have their twelve members. And the Big 12 Conference was just on the brink of collapse after losing Colorado and Nebraska and is not nearly so inviting as the Big 10 would have been for ND. It's seeminly already rejected the Big East and Big 10 and the PAC-10 is now the PAC-12 as stated above. It would appear that ND is content as an Independent.
So if both ND and Villanova decide to stay put, who might the Big East approach to become their10th, 11th, and 12th football members down the line?
Memphis has a D-1 football program that has had some recent gridiron success appearing in five bowl games since 2003 (winning two of them) and its basketball program is top-notch. It's also been closely affiliated with current Big East members, Louisville and Cincinnati for many years. It plays in the near-campus 62,000+ seat Liberty Bowl.
Central Florida is nicely situated in Orlando, FL, has experienced some level of success in recent years in C-USA, has appeared in 3 bowl games recently, and already has a 45,000-seat stadium on campus. It has also established a nice rivalry with current Big East member, South Florida.
East Carolina is a current member of C-USA and has won two of that Conference's football championships as recently as 2008 and 2009. It plays in a 50,000-seat on-campus stadium.
What follows as the next posting to this thread is today's musings on what such conference rumblings could mean for the Muskies.