omniorange
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RE: Gordon Gee's comments on conference expansion
(06-02-2013 06:00 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: (06-02-2013 03:01 PM)omniorange Wrote: (06-02-2013 09:09 AM)bitcruncher Wrote: (06-01-2013 08:05 PM)omniorange Wrote: (06-01-2013 04:55 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: Neil, WVU wasn't bending over for anything. WVU AD Red Brown refused all of the demands put forth by Penn State, and Leland Byrd, who replaced Brown, tried to work on a compromise solution. But by the time Byrd resigned as WVU's AD, BC and Syracuse had already made their decision to bail on their old rivals for the Big East...
Before I can go into further detail about the events that surrounded the possible formation of JoePa's dream conference, I'd have to go into the WV Archives and dig into the old man's notes. He had all the details of all the meetings, including the minutes of all those meetings, as well as notes on the conversations that occurred before and after the meetings...
Joe Paterno didn't begin his eastern conference in earnest until two years after the Big East was formed.
Here is the excerpt from Jake Crouthamel's History of the Big East:
http://www.suathletics.com/sports/2001/8/8/history.aspx
In the Spring of 1978, only a few months after my arrival in Syracuse, Dave Gavitt, Jack Kaiser and Frank Rienzo, Athletics Directors at Providence, St. Johns and Georgetown respectively, gathered to discuss newly imposed NCAA men's basketball in-season scheduling requirements. These requirements forced independent institutions like the four of us to align and schedule schools with whom we had no interest or tradition. Self determination was far better than being told who your partners would be, and so the four of us met for countless hours in countless sessions to determine the make-up of our new conference to be. We considered the quality of men's basketball programs in the northeast, regional representation, significant media markets, etc. Boston College was invited over Holy Cross, UMass and Boston University. Connecticut was then added. Rutgers was extended an invitation but declined because it was aligned in the Atlantic 8 (now the Atlantic 10) along with Penn State. Rutgers didn't feel comfortable disassociating itself with Penn State. Seton Hall took Rutgers spot. Villanova was also in the Atlantic 8, but it joined up a year later over Temple and St. Josephs. Thus, in the first year of operation, 1979-80, we had seven active members which increased to eight in 1980-81.
After only two years of existence as a conference formed specifically for men's basketball, football became an issue. Joe Paterno, head football coach and then Director of Athletics at Penn State, had been trying to put together an all-sports conference of the eastern Division IA independent schools. They included Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia and Temple. While our football fortunes would be well served through such an alignment, it would have been a step backward for men's basketball. To enter into such an alignment Syracuse and Boston College would have had to leave the BIG EAST.
The above information about when JoePa was trying to start up the eastern league is backed up by Leland Byrd himself in an article from July 8, 1981:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=25...08,1055123
Neil, the drive to form an eastern all sports conference had been an ongoing effort since the late 1960s. Paterno wasn't the only one pushing. He was merely the most high profile name. Red Brown and Leland Byrd both took part in meetings to that effect. I remember my father covering one such effort in the summer of 1968...
You may very well be correct, but it apparently wasn't a significant try that others clearly remember.
When I search for Red Brown, Leland Byrd, and eastern conference all I get are links to WVU athletics history due to Red Brown and Leland Byrd. Googled Red Brown and eastern conference and I got nothing. Googled Leland Byrd and eastern conference and all I got was the article I previously posted when he was Associate Commissioner of the Eastern 8.
Google JoePa and eastern conference and one finds pages and pages of articles and essays about it.
The Eastern 8 was formed in 1975 as an attempt to get all the eastern indies to join a conference. The drive to form an eastern conference had been ongoing for about 8 years, and finally came to fruition with the formation of the Eastern 8...
However, not all the desired schools joined, including Syracuse and BC, who later persuaded Villanova (1980) and Pitt (1982) to leave the conference and join the Big East. Since not all the football schools bought into the effort to form an all sports conference, it forced the Eastern 8 to become a basketball only conference initially, rather than an all sports conference as was originally envisioned by the folks at WVU who were instrumental in the drive to form the conference. IMO the folks at Syracuse ignored the idea because it originated in Morgantown...
JoePa's push came after that one failed. Paterno grabbed that idea and ran with it, making it seem as if he alone came up with the idea...
The acknowledged history of The Eastern 8 was that it was originally founded in 1975 as The Eastern Collegiate Basketball League and the only sport it played was, not surprisingly,, basketball.
It added other sports after its initial season. The ECBL was formed to compete with the ECAC not other all-sports leagues or it wouldn't have had founding members such as George Washington (did they ever play football?), and small college football like Duquesne (whose football schedules coming up to the formation of the ECBL had on it Steubenville, Loyola, St. John's, Fordham, and Niagara with no appearances by the likes of Pitt or PSU or WVU or even Rutgers, who was playing a Middle Three Conference schedule at that point).
Rutgers, even though major college, wasn't even playing PSU, Pitt, or WVU at that point in time leading up to the formation of the ECBL while Villanova, the other founder which was a major college football team had a few games against WVU and PSU.
I honestly cannot recall any mention in the histories of Syracuse University athletics that I have read where Syracuse was even offered membership in that league, even for basketball.
But I will await to see if your search finds any documentation for this scenario.
Cheers,
Neil
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