SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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Pirate Notebook No. 266 Friday, March 24, 2006 By Denny O'Brien

Big East suits starting to get it

©2006 Bonesville.net

Jeff Long makes a good point. It just so happens to be the same one I made little more than 13 months ago to the day.

Apparently the Pittsburgh athletics director has arrived at the conclusion that the Big East must seriously consider adding a ninth member to its football roster. Because of the new rule that enables Division I-A schools to extend their seasons to 12 regular season games, the need to add a ninth member has never been more apparent.

Go figure.

Had Long listened to me last February they would have quickly determined that a seven-game conference slate is a logistical migraine. In addition to the imbalance of dividing an uneven number of conference games between home and the road, the task of adding five non-conference showdowns to the schedule hardly equates to a prescription for Imitrex.

Unless, of course, the presence of Division I-AA appetizers on the menu would please the palates of fans and fatten the coffers. 

Even if it that was the case, Big East members would hardly enhance their standing in the Division I power structure with out-of-conference schedules that rival Gardner-Webb. Not to mention the fact that the prospects of recruiting more bowls to the current postseason roster aren’t favorable with the current eight-team configuration.

But that’s exactly the scenario in which the Big East currently resides, despite the fact that it proved itself worthy of automatic inclusion in the Bowl Championship Series last season.

Thanks to West Virginia, the Big East solidified its fate in the BCS. Any initial thoughts that the league’s automatic bid might soon be seized from its clutches were put to rest by the Mountaineers’ impressive 11-1 run that included a Sugar Bowl victory over Southeastern Conference power Georgia.

Throw in a new six-year television deal with ABC and ESPN, and the evidence heavily favors the Big East as a league that is far from treading water. Simply put, the Big East is in no danger of a potential showdown with the remaining members of the BCS Tribal Council.

More than anything, taking in a football-only member would add a layer of convenience to the already perplexing task AD's face on the scheduling front.

Now this isn’t to say that the Big East can’t use this as an opportunity to strategically position itself for future advancement. By targeting the right program, it can definitely improve itself on many fronts, one of which is geography.

One of the natural areas in which a conference first looks during the expansion process is location. Adding programs that strategically extend the league’s recruiting landscape and television profile without seriously compromising the historic footprint is both the cake and the icing.

That certainly wouldn’t hurt the Big East’s cause.

Neither would a program that historically has performed well on the gridiron, has a strong, loyal fan base that has traditionally traveled well to bowls, has proven to generate solid television ratings, and has an established history with many of the school’s already in the fold. All would be attractive qualities should the Big East pursue a ninth member, though none are factors that will nudge the league’s suits into expansion discussions.

Those debates will be prompted by the presence of 12-game schedules.

Of course, the argument can be made that the additional game is optional and that school’s can avoid the dilemma altogether by not extending the season. But what AD in his right mind would leave the type of money an additional home date would generate on the table?

You would be hard pressed to find one, which is why the expansion topic is closer to imminent than moot. It just mysteriously took a while for this rationale to permeate part of the Big East’s brain trust.

Which direction the league looks makes for another interesting debate. Based on the criteria most logical for pinpointing the next football member, East Carolina appears to be a frontrunner, though Central Florida and Memphis are likely included in any expansion conversation.

But for now, the ‘who’ isn’t nearly as important as the ‘what’ and the ‘why’. By rubber stamping a 12-game schedule, the NCAA has all but cornered the Big East into adding a ninth member.

It’s just amazing that it took the light bulb this long to illuminate for some of the league’s administrators.

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02/23/2007 02:02:56 AM