ACC/BE

[Nacho]

This is the best story on the ACC/BE thing that I have seen today
<A HREF="http://www.timesdispatch.com/sports/MGBOBUG3qfd.html" TARGET=_blank>www.timesdispatch.com/sports/MGBOBUG3QFD.html</A>

[This message has been edited by Nacho (edited 05-15-2003).]

[SMUstang]

Link didn't work

[PK]

Try this.

<A HREF="http://www.timesdispatch.com/sports/MGB0BUG3QFD.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.timesdispatch.com/sports/MGB0BUG3QFD.html</A>


It is a "zero" rather than an "oh" between the B's


[This message has been edited by PK (edited 05-15-2003).]

[Red+BlueDude]

Sunday's Washington Post had a story in which Miami head coach Larry Coker said he wants to see the Big East stay the way it is:



Miami's Coker Among Voices for Big East Unity

By Angela Watts
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 18, 2003; Page E01

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., May 17 -- There was plenty of posturing and promoting on the first day of the Big East Conference's spring meetings today, all in response to the ACC announcing plans Friday to invite Big East members Boston College, Miami and Syracuse into its fold and form a 12-team league.

But the boldest and perhaps most unexpected statement of the afternoon came from Miami football coach Larry Coker, who after leaving the meeting of league football coaches wore a solemn expression and stated flatly: "I'd like to see the league stay together."

Coker's remark echoed those of many Big East coaches and athletic directors, particularly those left out of the ACC's pending offer. Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer, whose nationally ranked program stands to lose the most if the three Big East members vacate the conference, said the Big East has come too far to dissolve now.

"It's too good a conference to fall apart," Beamer said of the Big East. "This was the best year the Big East has ever had, and we've got so much potential. As a group the coaches want this thing to stay together. . . . I think there is a lot of loyalty with our Big East coaches and think as a group there isn't any question that we want to stay together."

Several of the league's men's basketball coaches, who are scheduled to meet Monday with Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese, are said to share that opinion. In particular, Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim, whose team is fresh off a national championship, and Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun have expressed concern about breaking up the Big East. They are scheduled to meet separately with Tranghese.

Tranghese, who has said he will not speak publicly until Monday, is expected to propose some sort of counteroffer to keep the league together, one that surely will address Miami's desire for increased revenue.

Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee said there are many criteria to consider aside from revenue, including recruiting, location of alumni, scheduling and travel.

"The list is fairly long of all the things you have to consider: the people you're with, the experiences you've had, the opportunities ahead, the future," Dee said. "There are just a lot of things you have to consider.

"The question isn't what it's going to take to keep people. The question is what can we do as a league to create a future that has stability in that league for everyone. That has stability in that league in a lot of ways. That's what you're really looking for here. You're looking at the future of the conference."

That future, at least for now, remains unmistakably cloudy. If the three schools were to leave the Big East in favor of the ACC -- the schools' three football coaches left the meeting together nearly an hour before the remaining five coaches today -- the others will have to be ready to act. Whether they favor inviting new members to form a new, if less prominent, league or letting the league fold entirely and searching individually for new competition is not known.

"When things are uncertain, you're shaky," Beamer admitted. "But I've got great confidence in the leadership of the Big East. I've got great confidence that this thing is going to get settled. There's too many great things about the Big East conference for this thing to fall apart."

Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver said he would prefer to see the football-playing schools in the Big East separate from those without Division I-A football -- an idea that will no doubt be considered this week -- and then add a ninth member.

Weaver said he thinks that a nine-member league offers the perfect balance of four home and four away football game and eight home and eight away basketball games, and also does not involve a conference championship football game. Though the Southeastern and Big 12 conferences have proved conference championship games can be lucrative, Weaver offers that such contests also diminish a league's chances of winning a national title.

"In the last five national championship games in football, only two playoff teams have gotten there," Weaver said, referring to Oklahoma and Tennessee. Nebraska, of the Big 12, played for the national title in 2000 but only after Colorado defeated Texas in the Big 12 title game.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be. Does it generate revenue? Yeah. But does it generate enough revenue to make everything whole? That's the $64,000 question."

Dee countered that idea saying he believed 12-team leagues are where the country is headed because of their ability to attract television audiences and the interest of fans in a greater geographical area. But he stopped well short of indicating Miami's move to the ACC is inevitable.

Dee said a widely reported quote in which he likened the ACCs invitation to a marriage proposal, saying "You don't ask unless you know the answer" was taken out of context.

"There may be something new, a new wrinkle," Dee said. "There could be things that happen that change this process. What we're going to do, we're going to see where we are each day. We're going to see where things are, we're going to try and get the best information we can get and present that information to the leadership of the university and make a decision."

[Charleston Pony]

sounds like either way this thing falls, CUSA is likely to lose Louisville. If the Big East football schools refuse the ACC invite, but break away from the Big East bball schools and seek a 9th member, Louisville is the best 2-sport program available.

If that scenario unfolds, look for Notre Dame and the Big East bball schools to add two or three members and play as either an 8 or 9 school conference. I'd say DePaul and Marquette appear no-brainers, with Xavier, Temple & St Joe's all possibilities.

There's still an outside shot we will see the formation of the "Big East Alliance" where those two conferences maintain a close relationship in bball and other sports.

Meanwhile, CUSA would be left with 10 football and 11 bball members. Might be time for them to dump Army, St Louis and UNCC and look for 3 "two sport" schools to join. I would expect the candidates to include Marshall, La Tech, Tulsa, Rice, SMU and possibly a much improved Troy State.

A revamped CUSA with a western division of TCU, SMU, Tulsa, Houston, La Tech & Tulane looks pretty good to me. That wouold leave Cincy, ECU, Memphis, So Miss, S.Fla and UAB in the east.

With Tulane and UAB facing budget issues that could force them out of I-A football, you might want to add Marshall in the east and Rice in the west right from the get go, to further reduce travel costs and be ready for losing members.

[Silk]

Interesting that Coker wants the Big East to stay the way it is. Think he's just launching a preemptive strike in case the deal falls through? If (when) it does work out, I'm sure we'll hear a bunch of rhetoric from him about how the new ACC is the best conference in the country.

How nice will the Miami-Florida State game be, with conference importance now added to the state bragging rights.

The University of Florida has to be hating this, although of course they'll never say it.