(10-07-2017 10:14 AM)chargeradio Wrote:  Of course if Miami is "Ohio State", then perhaps Cincinnati has a hard time gaining traction athletically, and Cincinnati could just as easily be in the MAC instead of Columbus. The real question would have been would the Metro have taken Cincinnati and/or Columbus, because Cincinnati's only genuine Conference change since joining the Metro (which of course merged with the Great Midwest to form C-USA) was joining the Big East in 2005.

I also wonder if Rutgers would have been targeted sooner by the B1G:

West - Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue
East - Indiana, Ohio, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Rutgers

The Big East takes either UCF or Houston to replace Rutgers, and C-USA takes WKU a little bit sooner. This could theoretically roll all the way down to NMSU and Idaho not getting football-only memberships in the Sun Belt after the WAC collapsed, as the Sun Belt would be at nine members in football. The MAC could be content with UMass as an associate member in football.

Depending on who you talk to, the Big 10 (or Delany) had their eyes on Rutgers for 20 years.

Perhaps they were waiting for things like the on campus stadium expansion and stringing together some winning seasons in football, who knows. But honestly the only change in Rutgers for the timeline would have been to go to the Super Metro in 1990 if that had come together, or the Big East or Atlantic 10 if those leagues had rearranged themselves along football lines (which I think could have been a possibility if one of UMass or UConn went the 1A route in 1978).

it's hard to see Rutgers in the Big 10 anytime before 2014. Our longtime AD Grunninger had the philosophy of having as many sports programs as possible for students, and not so much on making football and basketball successful. While it's certainly not a bad philosophy (and they are student athletes after all) it's not a measuring stick for success either. At one point we had the largest athletic department in the Big East in terms of number of sports offered. The NJ Press crucified us when we cut sports.

He (Grunninger) was strongly aligned with Paterno through the 70s and 80s, turning down the Big East twice to stay with the Eastern 8/Atlantic 10 and Paterno's eastern conference if that had ever come about. So you have to look at Rutgers through those eyes (and not just the lack of success on the football field).