This site sometimes has information first. He often has leaked information or gives unofficial Jurich or Ramsey opinions for them to the Louisville faithful. I think the ECU push today to be interesting. I am not posting where UCF and Houston fans will go nuts.

East Carolina option for Big East expansion

Wilkie is right. Charlie Springer has many contacts from his days on the staff of the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times. He is also close to many administrators at UofL. They often use him to get news out before it becomes news. There is apparently a big push for ECU going on right now in The Big East.
CJ

In a quasi-related sense:

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_...nsion.html

Here's the thing. I think we all can agree that there's plenty of interest in having 10+ football members. All cards on the table, the only way of getting there are:

a) Identifying a candidate or candidates that can garner at least 12 yes votes for full membership

b) Finding associate members who are willing to join for football that won't require yes votes from the non-football members

c) Splitting into two separate conferences

I really don't think there's a fourth option. We've beaten a) and c) almost to death, but ECU is a viable candidate that could fall into category b) (as to Army and Navy, and it sounds like somebody at least sent out some feelers to BYU about this as well).

USFFan

So maybe we see ECU added this summer/winter, a school in the winter/spring, and the third next summer.

I love it. The only thing I hope is that ECU is given some sort of time table for full all sports membership. The Pirates should have been in the BE 15 years ago.

Jackson

Jackson, J agree on East Carolina. Animus add ECU now I still think Memphis should get a serious look. I want BYU, also but think that will be hard to do. UCF, Temple. SMU, Houston or the service acadamies are a no go in my book.

I seriously do not understand why Houston was ever perceived as a serious candidate.

ECU, Memphis and ??????

If its not BYU, I do not have a clue.

I can concur with Charlie Springer....he informally breaks news about UL all the time.....last 1 I remember was Dieng possibly inelgible out of know where....sure enough the review process was on about 1-2 weeks later......

Yet, this piece is a subjective piece instead of coming out and saying Dieng will be reviewed....or ECU is being looked at directly as number 10, this piece is more of a "possibly read the tea leaves and see if it pans out"

Wouldn't you guys say that ECU goes totally against the grain of what Marinatto would want, but more in line of what a modern day analyst of college football would want?

No Memphis. Just ECU and call it a day.

I know this is just wishful thinking, but if my some miracle we could get BYU and ECU in football at the same time we would really be adding some football quality and do a lot to put the Bowl problems to bed for good

Jackson

(05-26-2011 08:22 PM)animus Wrote:  I seriously do not understand why Houston was ever perceived as a serious candidate.

Texas, past accomplishments in both revenue sports, new market, and it's a rising academic institution. Lacking facilities at the moment and a push is needed in gaining fan support, but association with a BCS AQ conference is likely to help in both of these areas. I actually believe they have more upside than UCF while acknowledging that UCF has the facilities already in place.

I guess I keep going back to - What does Big East football want to look like when it gets to 12?

The Pitt-WVU-UL-UC grouping is set. I think the league would be crazy to mess with this set of 4 that could be the lynch-pin of some great rivalries- two already in place with WVU-Pitt and UL-UC plus new ones developing in UL-WVU and UC-Pitt. Even UC-WVU and Pitt-UL have a great chance of growing something as well.

The SU-RU-UConn grouping is missing a member. Obviously I'd prefer it to be filled by BC. But that isn't happening. I think this is partly the reason why Navy has always been in play from the BE perspective and why the Nova option had to at least be explored. Until some candidate is found that will satisfy both SU and UConn, I think the football schools will continue to have a rift amongst themselves.

USF and TCU are islands unto themselves.

The BYU rumor was nice and could have been a decent partner for TCU, but if they aren't interested, Houston makes the most sense to me. As for the other island, I guess I've always thought that UCF was inevitable. I'd rather it was Miami, but that isn't happening either.

ECU being mentioned again is the intriguing piece in all of this for me. I still am having a hard time believing it will happen, but if it does:

do they jump up to the SU-RU-UConn grouping where they are out of place? (Can't see this being the candidate SU-UConn would want to complete their grouping of 4 with RU)

does Pitt go there and ECU replaces Pitt in that first grouping? (Makes little sense due to all the reasons mentioned above)

do they become the pairing with USF instead of UCF?

Big East football choices, outside of BYU, are such that since there are no real value programs to grab they need to do what is best for the league long-term in regards to building rivalries in quads of 4 over time.

Pitt and WVU are in the best place as things are now, imho. They've got the best of the old and new.

Cheers,
Neil

(05-26-2011 07:35 PM)usffan Wrote:  In a quasi-related sense:

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_...nsion.html

Here's the thing. I think we all can agree that there's plenty of interest in having 10+ football members. All cards on the table, the only way of getting there are:

a) Identifying a candidate or candidates that can garner at least 12 yes votes for full membership

b) Finding associate members who are willing to join for football that won't require yes votes from the non-football members

c) Splitting into two separate conferences

I really don't think there's a fourth option. We've beaten a) and c) almost to death, but ECU is a viable candidate that could fall into category b) (as to Army and Navy, and it sounds like somebody at least sent out some feelers to BYU about this as well).

USFFan

Thanks for sharing that article link USFFan. It seems that a BE Network is still in play and that the BE would like for it to launch in 2013. I wonder if the Espn had offered $11 million per fb team plus allowing the league to keep alot of lower tierd games for a BE network:

He said the Big East has had general conversations with ESPN and a number of other television networks about a potential television contract starting in August 2013, but all parties involved have been careful to honor the Big East’s contract negotiation obligations to ESPN.

It this point, nothing that happens surprises me any longer.

(05-27-2011 08:02 AM)Wilkie01 Wrote:  It this point, nothing that happens surprises me any longer.

That says it all.

And, I agree with your first post, that posting this in here was a great idea.

Thanks

Charlie Springer also has connections through the Brown-Forman Corporation that built the Brown-Forman Hospital Room at PJCS. Charlie mention TCU last year and has mentioned BYU before also. He is a good source to read about the Cards.

Also, CBS Sports interviewed Terry Holland and he said ECU would have ranked fourth in the Big East in attendance last year but that "will increase when ECU's stadium expands to 60,000 in 2016. This is also interesting.

I would take ECU with open arms...

What the author says about ECU and attendance is true. So what if Houston is a top 10 tv market. Does adding Houston bring those tvs? Does adding UCF bring the Orlando market? I think the answers are no and no.

If Texas A&M were available would we take them? They are in a rather small town in central Texas with very few televisions. How about the U. of Nebraska, anyone been to Lincoln? Not exacty a metropolis.

ECU is a big state university in a fairly heavily populated state. They are getting ready to expand their stadium to 60,000 because they need the seats.

On a side note, they are some awful nice folks up there in N.C. I went there for a CUSA TCU game and was treated with nothing but respect and kindness. I hope that you all feel the same way about TCU after your first visit to our campus.

I dont think we will see anybody else comming in BEFORE the new TV contracts apply. But I think we would hear of any additions before Sept 2012 when the league starts its negotiations. So from now until then the league needs to show that a certain school brings in the cash and has the support. Im glad to see that the league is exploring all options BYU, Navy, Nova, Houston, ECU, UCF and even Memphis.
I like ECU and they are close enough to most Big East schools and have probably after BYU the best fan support right now.
It will be interesting to see what happens

(05-27-2011 11:41 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  I would take ECU with open arms...

Same here. I'd love to plant The BEast flag on Tobacco Road's doorstep...