Has Conference Realignment at Last Reached a Lull?

[btstimpy]

I don't let B1G fans make up my decisions on how I view college athletic conferences, but sometimes they are right when you can get past some of the more arrogant fans. I know it sounds like I loathe the ACC. I really don't, but I do question many of the more recent additions.

You are correct on the fact that at least there aren't non-football schools (sans ND) voting on football schools. But ND should not be voting in the capacity that they are. ND should be able to vote on everything except for football. But I lay the blame on the ACC for that one, not ND. So not completely like the Big East, but you have to admit there are not enough large state flagship or land grant schools in the ACC. The lack of them makes the ACC feel more like the Big East now.

The ACC once consisted of only 2 private schools up to 2003. Since then, there are 4.5 more private schools, 1 public ivy school, 1 city commuter school and 1 lone land grant school. Why couldn't the ACC have jumped on the UConn, Rutgers and WVU bandwagon first knowing what we know now?

The ACC is going to feel like the Big East because it has 5 original members of the Big East Football Conference in it now along with Louisville and Notre Dame, who spent time in the Big East. The ACC is only missing UConn and WVU from having all of the best from the Big East. The ACC feels a bit like the former Metro Conference too with 4 former members of it. It is a lot different than the small 8 school league we once had. But it is now a stronger league than it was then.

 

[dayooper]

The ACC is going to feel like the Big East because it has 5 original members of the Big East Football Conference in it now along with Louisville and Notre Dame, who spent time in the Big East. The ACC is only missing UConn and WVU from having all of the best from the Big East. The ACC feels a bit like the former Metro Conference too with 4 former members of it. It is a lot different than the small 8 school league we once had. But it is now a stronger league than it was then.

It's the fractured nature of The ACC that makes it feel like The Big East. Actually, it feels more like the old Big East then it does the traditional ACC. In almost every aspect. There is nothing but your "geography" that keeps it together. Yet, that geography is the most diverse out of any of the major conferences! The ACC is nothing more than a whole bunch of little cliques all banded together. What does a BC alumnus or 'Cuse fan have in common with FSU alumni or Clemson fans? Football? Basketball? Geography? Academics? Culture? None of those, in my opinion. Same with Pitt and Louisville, Miami and Virginia, ND and NCST. Too many different needs to make very one happy. Throw in a school that doesn't put their biggest asset into your conference. Big East with a more splintered geography.

 

[pj]

It's the fractured nature of The ACC that makes it feel like The Big East. Actually, it feels more like the old Big East then it does the traditional ACC. In almost every aspect. There is nothing but your "geography" that keeps it together. Yet, that geography is the most diverse out of any of the major conferences! The ACC is nothing more than a whole bunch of little cliques all banded together. What does a BC alumnus or 'Cuse fan have in common with FSU alumni or Clemson fans? Football? Basketball? Geography? Academics? Culture? None of those, in my opinion. Same with Pitt and Louisville, Miami and Virginia, ND and NCST. Too many different needs to make very one happy. Throw in a school that doesn't put their biggest asset into your conference. Big East with a more splintered geography.

Yes. And despite seven bites at the apple, they didn't even get the best of the Big East - either in terms of markets (Rutgers, UConn) or athletic success (UConn, WVU). Va Tech was a good get, I'll give them that. Ironically they didn't even want Va Tech, UVa forced it on them. Poor judgment all around.

 

[CoastAtlantic]

I don't let B1G fans make up my decisions on how I view college athletic conferences, but sometimes they are right when you can get past some of the more arrogant fans. I know it sounds like I loathe the ACC. I really don't, but I do question many of the more recent additions.

You are correct on the fact that at least there aren't non-football schools (sans ND) voting on football schools. But ND should not be voting in the capacity that they are. ND should be able to vote on everything except for football. But I lay the blame on the ACC for that one, not ND. So not completely like the Big East, but you have to admit there are not enough large state flagship or land grant schools in the ACC. The lack of them makes the ACC feel more like the Big East now.

The ACC once consisted of only 2 private schools up to 2003. Since then, there are 4.5 more private schools, 1 public ivy school, 1 city commuter school and 1 lone land grant school. Why couldn't the ACC have jumped on the UConn, Rutgers and WVU bandwagon first knowing what we know now?

There are times when you can't have absolutes in college athletics. I'm not a Domer but they're right when they say that the Big East was going to break apart regardless of affiliation. In a way, I could understand the angst of UConn fans. Their experience in the Big East has been one heartache after another, mixed in with the big successes in basketball and other sports, not knowing if a conference mate would come to you with something beneficial or is thinking of stabbing you in the back. However, let's not forget that Virginia Tech had to leave the Big East to go into the ACC. So your school is one of those who "stabbed them in the back." Nothing one can do to smooth hurt feelings in that respect.

Could the ACC have been tougher on ND? I don't know the answer to the question. But what is not up for debate is that the ACC and ND have a mutual interest in working together in counteracting the greed of the resource-intensive conferences. College athletics comprising of only state flagships is BORING. Nothing against flagship schools but not everyone wants to go to a flagship school. That's the beauty of this country. You have private schools and city schools mixed in to the available programs offering athletics.

Would you like it if someone says that VT shouldn't be in Division 1 athletics because you're not UVa? That's basically what those who root for B1G and SEC schools are saying. UConn fans are trying to get out of the AAC, so they're hoping that by taking this position it would help their cause. I don't see that working out for them.

Finally, to your last question, the problem for WVU is that schools like UMD, Duke, UNC and I think UVa had have a block on them. Otherwise, it would have been something to see WVU and Pitt playing again as conference rivals, then UConn playing Maryland, UNC, Duke, Cuse, Ville and UVa yearly in basketball. RU had the jones for the Big 1G for so long it was hell or high water for them. So no big miss there. I would have thought that Mizzou and RU were the gets for that conference but, whatever.

 

[Calamitous]

However, let's not forget that Virginia Tech had to leave the Big East to go into the ACC. So your school is one of those who "stabbed them in the back."

Yes, Tech stabbed the Big East in the back... but for good reason. So let's call it even since the Big East took advantage of Tech from the onset. Full BE membership for Tech didn't happen for 10 years until Tranghese became embarrassed having his first official Big East football program play for a National Title who was only a partial conference member. From 1991 to 2000, Tech was shut out by every voting Big East member (including Notre Dame, BC, SU, Pitt, Miami, WVU and UConn) to join in full. When the ACC started picking apart the Big East, SU, BC and Miami were the targets (not Tech). At that moment in time, Tech's president Steger wrote a letter to all the other Big East football university presidents to get a commitment to keep the Big East conference together. Not one single Big East school agreed to or signed it... not one. So Tech went down a very tumultuous path and forced their way into a conference that had consistently turned them down at least 6 times (maybe more) since the 1950s. Tech had tried to get into the ACC for 50 years that that point, as it was always the university's goal. It was ugly situation, but necessary. So I feel bad for UConn getting stiffed by the ACC. From the day I was born to 2003, I hated the ACC just like UConn fans do now. I just hope UConn doesn't have to wait 40 more years for the ACC to accept them if no other offers should come along.

Would you like it if someone says that VT shouldn't be in Division 1 athletics because you're not UVa? That's basically what those who root for B1G and SEC schools are saying.

Tech is a tier 1 school just like UVa, UConn or OSU. It's a large land grant university (larger than UVa) with big research money with a P5 caliber athletic department. So I can't even relate to your comment about how I would feel. Now if I were an ECU, UCF or Houston fan, I wouldn't like it a bit. But as it is, schools like Tech, UConn, Rutgers, ISU have almost as much skin in the game as UVa. UVa is just the pretty girl standing in the center of the crowd.

 

[dayooper]

Tech is a tier 1 school just like UVa, UConn or OSU. It's a large land grant university (larger than UVa) with big research money with a P5 caliber athletic department. So I can't even relate to your comment about how I would feel. Now if I were an ECU, UCF or Houston fan, I wouldn't like it a bit. But as it is, schools like Tech, UConn, Rutgers, ISU have almost as much skin in the game as UVa. UVa is just the pretty girl standing in the center of the crowd.

This

 

[Seaa Blue]

This

That

 

[Ha Who]

That

Code for 20 minutes until press conference

 

[dayooper]

 

[Ha Who]

Must be an SEC invite

 

[Calamitous]

Must be an SEC invite

Or maybe what FSU said to Swofford when he opted for someone not named Louisville

 

[The Funster]

There are times when you can't have absolutes in college athletics. I'm not a Domer but they're right when they say that the Big East was going to break apart regardless of affiliation. In a way, I could understand the angst of UConn fans. Their experience in the Big East has been one heartache after another, mixed in with the big successes in basketball and other sports, not knowing if a conference mate would come to you with something beneficial or is thinking of stabbing you in the back. However, let's not forget that Virginia Tech had to leave the Big East to go into the ACC. So your school is one of those who "stabbed them in the back." Nothing one can do to smooth hurt feelings in that respect.

Could the ACC have been tougher on ND? I don't know the answer to the question. But what is not up for debate is that the ACC and ND have a mutual interest in working together in counteracting the greed of the resource-intensive conferences. College athletics comprising of only state flagships is BORING. Nothing against flagship schools but not everyone wants to go to a flagship school. That's the beauty of this country. You have private schools and city schools mixed in to the available programs offering athletics.

Would you like it if someone says that VT shouldn't be in Division 1 athletics because you're not UVa? That's basically what those who root for B1G and SEC schools are saying. UConn fans are trying to get out of the AAC, so they're hoping that by taking this position it would help their cause. I don't see that working out for them.

Finally, to your last question, the problem for WVU is that schools like UMD, Duke, UNC and I think UVa had have a block on them. Otherwise, it would have been something to see WVU and Pitt playing again as conference rivals, then UConn playing Maryland, UNC, Duke, Cuse, Ville and UVa yearly in basketball. RU had the jones for the Big 1G for so long it was hell or high water for them. So no big miss there. I would have thought that Mizzou and RU were the gets for that conference but, whatever.

The ACC wasn't going to be tougher on ND because ND was a life raft to help keep the ACC buoyant in the choppy seas of CR. ND bartered some football games for a soft landing spot for its other sports and the ACC was the next sap to fall for it. Also you cannot criticize "the greed of the resource-intensive conferences" because a) ND has their own football deal and aren't willing to share it with anyone and b) the ACC willfully and with malice destroyed the Big East. I find it ironic when you talk of counteracting that greed when the ACC itself tried to partake of that greed but failed miserably.

 

[NickyNewark]

("RU had a longtime "jones" for the B1G")......and if they had 1 iota of a shot you don't think SU or Pitt did? Be honest since PSU joined every major school in the NE would jump through hoops to get into the B1G because now it represents financial stability and academic integrity and doen't have a "buffoon" like Swoffy as its figurehead. Before PSU joined it was perceived as a midwestern conference but now the NE is very happy and comfortable with it and pretty disappointed in how the southern conference goes about its business(arrogance+nepotism) caving to it's "old south" southern wing. Where ever UConn ends up that conference better watch out(esp ACC) because there gonna "bring it"!!