Big East Expansion Again!

[NJRedman]

UConn AD Preparing Pitch, Waiting to Hear from Big 12 about Expansion – Associated Press – July 22, 2016

STORRS, Conn. – UConn's new athletic director David Benedict says he's waiting to hear from the Big 12 about its interest level in the school before reaching out with an official pitch to join the conference.

"At this point in time the Power Five conferences certainly are looked to as the most competitive conferences," he said. "They derive the most money from their multi-media agreements, their television agreements. And therefore, certainly we aspire to be in those conferences and compete at that level."

Benedict said the idea that UConn would consider rejoining the Big East for sports other than football is not currently on the table.

Yes, he says that now because they still have a shot of getting into the Big XII. The idea that they would be FB only somewhere and their other sports in the BE is not on the table because we wouldn;t accpet that. Now if they dropped FB to FCS thats a different subject all together.

[twodecks]

FWIW, I'll agree that (1) ND is VERY unlikely at present, though who knows what the future may hold, and DAMMIT we ARE a better fit for them on every imaginable dimension except football, and (4) I really, really don't get your almost unanimous hard-on over UConn. UConn is NOT a private institution (and so their inclusion would bring possibly onerous federal reporting requirements to 10 other institutions); their athletic program is football driven despite their success at bball; their "media appeal" is geographically squeezed between PC and SJU; their non-alumni fan-base will gradually drift away the longer they're without a major conference affiliation. They are not church affiliated, nor values driven; they do NOTHING for our footprint. In sum, they are totally, absolutely, completely F...KING irrelevant to us!!

First time poster here, but long time reader. Had to chime in on this one

(1) The ONLY reason we might be a better fit for ND is that we have 9 Catholic Schools. That is the ONLY similarity we have with Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY. Among the big east schools, only Gtown can say the same thing. They have a fully funded athletic program that competes for national championships in ALL OLYMPIC sports. If ND joined the Big East, they would win 75% of the Big East titles in sports not named basketball. They're basically USC, but they're Catholic. I'd like to have ND in the league if they had an independent football program, but they'll never do that. They DON'T want to be associated with the Catholic Schools that way, they want the money the ACC has, and they want to have their "Olympic sports" play in a very competitive league (which the ACC offers more than the Big East would)

(2) The thing that I LIKE about UCONN is they're NOT Catholic. I love that we have these Catholic Schools in major metropolitan areas, but I think would be a good thing for the conference if we had more diversity. UCONN brings that. They are geographically squeezed between SJU and PC, but they bring the entire STATE. They're much more akin to Creighton and Providence than they are to almost any other Big East school, only it's for the entire state rather than the cities of Omaha and Providence. Literally, no other school gets the attention. I know many UCONN fans, none of whom went there. That's NOT a bad thing

[DeltaV]

FWIW, I'll agree that (1) ND is VERY unlikely at present, though who knows what the future may hold, and DAMMIT we ARE a better fit for them on every imaginable dimension except football, and (4) I really, really don't get your almost unanimous hard-on over UConn. UConn is NOT a private institution (and so their inclusion would bring possibly onerous federal reporting requirements to 10 other institutions); their athletic program is football driven despite their success at bball; their "media appeal" is geographically squeezed between PC and SJU; their non-alumni fan-base will gradually drift away the longer they're without a major conference affiliation. They are not church affiliated, nor values driven; they do NOTHING for our footprint. In sum, they are totally, absolutely, completely F...KING irrelevant to us!!

First time poster here, but long time reader. Had to chime in on this one

(1) The ONLY reason we might be a better fit for ND is that we have 9 Catholic Schools. That is the ONLY similarity we have with Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY. Among the big east schools, only Gtown can say the same thing. They have a fully funded athletic program that competes for national championships in ALL OLYMPIC sports. If ND joined the Big East, they would win 75% of the Big East titles in sports not named basketball. They're basically USC, but they're Catholic. I'd like to have ND in the league if they had an independent football program, but they'll never do that. They DON'T want to be associated with the Catholic Schools that way, they want the money the ACC has, and they want to have their "Olympic sports" play in a very competitive league (which the ACC offers more than the Big East would)

(2) The thing that I LIKE about UCONN is they're NOT Catholic. I love that we have these Catholic Schools in major metropolitan areas, but I think would be a good thing for the conference if we had more diversity. UCONN brings that. They are geographically squeezed between SJU and PC, but they bring the entire STATE. They're much more akin to Creighton and Providence than they are to almost any other Big East school, only it's for the entire state rather than the cities of Omaha and Providence. Literally, no other school gets the attention. I know many UCONN fans, none of whom went there. That's NOT a bad thing

You make good points. Only problem, though, with 2)UConn is that they also consider themselves a national research university, and wish to be associated with other similar schools. I'm sure they see that Rutgers got an invite to the big show, and figure that they will too. They'll sit and wait for the ACC to go to 16.

Now, will they get that invite? That I don't know...but they won't let football down until that ball drops, no matter how bad the AAC gets after some combination of Houston, Cincinnati, Memphis leave for the Big12.

[marquette]

FWIW, I'll agree that (1) ND is VERY unlikely at present, though who knows what the future may hold, and DAMMIT we ARE a better fit for them on every imaginable dimension except football, and (4) I really, really don't get your almost unanimous hard-on over UConn. UConn is NOT a private institution (and so their inclusion would bring possibly onerous federal reporting requirements to 10 other institutions); their athletic program is football driven despite their success at bball; their "media appeal" is geographically squeezed between PC and SJU; their non-alumni fan-base will gradually drift away the longer they're without a major conference affiliation. They are not church affiliated, nor values driven; they do NOTHING for our footprint. In sum, they are totally, absolutely, completely F...KING irrelevant to us!!

First time poster here, but long time reader. Had to chime in on this one

(1) The ONLY reason we might be a better fit for ND is that we have 9 Catholic Schools. That is the ONLY similarity we have with Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY. Among the big east schools, only Gtown can say the same thing. They have a fully funded athletic program that competes for national championships in ALL OLYMPIC sports. If ND joined the Big East, they would win 75% of the Big East titles in sports not named basketball. They're basically USC, but they're Catholic. I'd like to have ND in the league if they had an independent football program, but they'll never do that. They DON'T want to be associated with the Catholic Schools that way, they want the money the ACC has, and they want to have their "Olympic sports" play in a very competitive league (which the ACC offers more than the Big East would)

(2) The thing that I LIKE about UCONN is they're NOT Catholic. I love that we have these Catholic Schools in major metropolitan areas, but I think would be a good thing for the conference if we had more diversity. UCONN brings that. They are geographically squeezed between SJU and PC, but they bring the entire STATE. They're much more akin to Creighton and Providence than they are to almost any other Big East school, only it's for the entire state rather than the cities of Omaha and Providence. Literally, no other school gets the attention. I know many UCONN fans, none of whom went there. That's NOT a bad thing

Welcome to the board. Just a couple of points. Georgetown is definitely not the only national research university in the conference, and Notre Dame is independent in football. I agree with the sentiment of your post.

[Xudash]

Per X's athletic site:

FOX 19 News Sports Director Joe Danneman sat down with Xavier Athletic Director Greg Christopher on Tuesday, July 19 to discuss another great year for Xavier Athletics in a new summer podcast, "The Directors Cut."

One of the topics was Big East expansion. His response, and it was emphatic:

"NOT EVEN ON THE RADAR." Not on the radar with the Presidents. Not on the radar with the AD's.

While we've all contributed to the progress, Nova sealed the deal. I'm not sure it has sunk in enough here how monumental a step that was for our conference.

Just noticed this and thought I would share it.

[Wizard of Westroads]

Per X's athletic site:

FOX 19 News Sports Director Joe Danneman sat down with Xavier Athletic Director Greg Christopher on Tuesday, July 19 to discuss another great year for Xavier Athletics in a new summer podcast, "The Directors Cut."

One of the topics was Big East expansion. His response, and it was emphatic:

"NOT EVEN ON THE RADAR." Not on the radar with the Presidents. Not on the radar with the AD's.

While we've all contributed to the progress, Nova sealed the deal. I'm not sure it has sunk in enough here how monumental a step that was for our conference.

Just noticed this and thought I would share it.

Nice try, but it's impossible to derail this discussion with facts.

[hortle]

Yes, he says that now because they still have a shot of getting into the Big XII. The idea that they would be FB only somewhere and their other sports in the BE is not on the table because we wouldn;t accpet that. Now if they dropped FB to FCS thats a different subject all together.

Question, and sorry if this is obvious to people who understand realignment issues more than I, but why is it off the table for them to, say, join the MAC in football only and move the rest of their sports back to the Big East?

[Jet915]

Yes, he says that now because they still have a shot of getting into the Big XII. The idea that they would be FB only somewhere and their other sports in the BE is not on the table because we wouldn;t accpet that. Now if they dropped FB to FCS thats a different subject all together.

Question, and sorry if this is obvious to people who understand realignment issues more than I, but why is it off the table for them to, say, join the MAC in football only and move the rest of their sports back to the Big East?

Its because u are giving UCONN a lifeline to jump ship at any moment. Some may be ok with that but for me if UCONN wants to join, they would have to drop their football down to FCS. If they get left out, they will need us more than we need them....

[billyjack]

Yes, he says that now because they still have a shot of getting into the Big XII. The idea that they would be FB only somewhere and their other sports in the BE is not on the table because we wouldn;t accpet that. Now if they dropped FB to FCS thats a different subject all together.

Question, and sorry if this is obvious to people who understand realignment issues more than I, but why is it off the table for them to, say, join the MAC in football only and move the rest of their sports back to the Big East?

Its because u are giving UCONN a lifeline to jump ship at any moment. Some may be ok with that but for me if UCONN wants to join, they would have to drop their football down to FCS. If they get left out, they will need us more than we need them....

In addition to what Jet said, the MAC several years ago had a similar arrangement with UMass (football in MAC, everything else in the A-10). Then just recently they told UMass they had to be either all in, or leave the MAC (new MAC rule?). That's why UMass is now independent in football, and still in the A-10. So their new conference rules wouldn't allow UConn to do this either.

[NJRedman]

Yes, he says that now because they still have a shot of getting into the Big XII. The idea that they would be FB only somewhere and their other sports in the BE is not on the table because we wouldn;t accpet that. Now if they dropped FB to FCS thats a different subject all together.

Question, and sorry if this is obvious to people who understand realignment issues more than I, but why is it off the table for them to, say, join the MAC in football only and move the rest of their sports back to the Big East?

The conference is done with worrying about football schools chasing the P5.