Big East Proves Doomsayers Wrong
By BRETT McMURPHY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 17, 2007


NEWPORT, R.I. - Two years ago, when the Big East's new eight-team membership convened here for the first time at the league's annual football media days, it found Newport engulfed in thick fog.

Perhaps it was fitting, because the league's future appeared cloudy at best. After Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College left to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, critics claimed the Big East didn't deserve a BCS bid.

Even Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson lobbied that his league was more BCS-worthy than the Big East.

Today, though, the forecast for the Big East is sunny and bright.

"Two years ago, the Big East was getting chased down the street by Freddy Krueger," New York Times national college football writer Pete Thamel said. "And not a lot of people expected the Big East to escape.

"But now they have four legit Top 25 preseason teams, and the specter of Freddy is long gone."

After those nightmare predictions, the Big East instead responded with last year's dream season.

For the first time in league history, the Big East had three teams - No. 6 Louisville, No. 10 West Virginia and No. 12 Rutgers - ranked in the top 12 in the final Associated Press poll. Only the SEC could say the same.

The Big East also went an unprecedented 5-0 in bowl games, the nation's only unbeaten conference last season.

"Our people were very excited, but I've been doing this a long time," said Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, who has been with the league 29 years. "I've learned not to get too high with the highs and too low with the lows."

And this fall, the highs could go even higher.

When the AP preseason poll is released next month, West Virginia should be ranked in the top five and Louisville should crack the top 10. Rutgers probably will be in the 10-15 range, while the University of South Florida might sneak into the Top 25.

At worst, the Bulls will be on the cusp of their first Top 25 ranking.

The Big East's recent success certainly hasn't gone unnoticed.

It has been a popular destination for athletic directors and general managers looking for a new coach.

Last season, Alabama went after West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez and the University of Miami pursued Rutgers' Greg Schiano, while Louisville's Bobby Petrino was hired by the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati's Mark Dantonio went to Michigan State.

The previous season, USF's Jim Leavitt turned down an offer from Kansas State.

Tranghese said he expects other schools to continue pursuing the league's coaches.

"If people aren't coming after our coaches, it tells me we have a problem," Tranghese said. "We have to keep our coaches. Our institutions have to step up and do what they need to do to arm them with what they need."

Tranghese said despite last year's success, it was just that - last year.

"I knew as soon as those bowl games were over, we'll be judged by what we do this year," Tranghese said. "If you're in a conference, some days are very good and some days you struggle."

And all indications are more good days are ahead.

Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928 or bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com

Great days ahead. And the days of other conferences using the BEast as a coaching minor league may soon be over too. WVU, Rutgers, and USF have their dynasties secured for some time to come. It looks like none of those coaches plan to move on any time soon. I'll wait on the new coaches at UofL and Cincy before commenting on their longivity. Pitt, UConn, and Syracuse need to start winning before I talk about their coaches sticking. If they don't win, they won't stick. I think their time for producing a winner is just about up too. But there are 3 national championship calibur programs (West Virginia, Louisville, and Rutgers), 2 programs in very good shape (South Florida and Cincinnati), 1 question mark (Pittsburgh), and 2 doormats (Connecticut and Syracuse)

With WVU, UofL, and Rutgers in the hunt for the BCS title, and USF and Cincy looking for a top 25 ranking, the future of The BEast definitely looks bright.

It would be even higher if Notre Dame was in the conference for football.

David Krysakowski Wrote:It would be even higher if Notre Dame was in the conference for football.

that would hurt our bowl record

David Krysakowski Wrote:It would be even higher if Notre Dame was in the conference for football.

If Notre Dame were in the BEast in football, they would have finished in the bottom half of the conference.

David Krysakowski Wrote:It would be even higher if Notre Dame was in the conference for football.

I know this would never happen but I wish Mike Tranghese had some balls and tell ND to either #$% or get off the pot.

I mean really what do we get out of your association with Notre Dame. They get to house their Men/Women Basketball in one of the Premier Basketball leagues in the nation and they get a home for their Olympic Sports.

They also get to take a Meineke Car Care/Sun/Gator Bowl slot from a more deserving TRUE Big East school and keep that Bowl money all to themselves. All of this for the so-called PROMISE of playing 2 to 3 Big East schools on their 12 Game schedule and NO PROMISE of it rotating among the current Big East Football Members. They can just play Rutgers and Pittsburgh two schools they play on a regular basis anyway.

In 2003 Notre Dame PROMISED to play 3 Big East schools on a rotating basis to help keep the league together. Now it this maybe garbage and it will likely only be Pitt, Rutgers and maybe Syracuse. Louisville, USF, UConn, Cincinnati and West Virginia might as well forget about ND ever coming to your campus/stadium. Hell Notre Lame is more likely to play FSU on USF Home Field then play the Bulls themselves on that field.

Sorry for the rant.

Have you seen your bowl lineup with ND. I can't imange it without ND. Ironicly ND BE sch seems to be with BE schools that might be the least likely to split. [syc-pitt]

templefootballfan Wrote:Have you seen your bowl lineup with ND. I can't imange it without ND. Ironicly ND BE sch seems to be with BE schools that might be the least likely to split. [syc-pitt]

There is one bowl, and one bowl ONLY, that ND can take credit for keeping in Big East hands, and that is the Gator. And even there, the Gator tried shopping itself to both the B10 and the SEC and both leagues said, no.

This is why they joined with the Sun in a new arrangement. It was the only way they could think of to not wind up with a Big East team.

And yet ever since they made the arrangement (which has been in effect for only one year, but the arrangement was made over two years ago) - it has been the Big East representative (Louisville and West Virginia) that has saved it from being a financial loss.

In a way, I hope the Gator gets elevated to BCS status in the next go-round. It will be forced to become the Big East anchor bowl (poetic justice) and it will mean that the dependence on ND is over.

Cheers,
Neil

Maize Wrote:I know this would never happen but I wish Mike Tranghese had some balls and tell ND to either #$% or get off the pot.

The problem here is that they would get off the pot, which wouldn't necessarily be so bad - except that the new pot could wind up being the Big 10. And if that were to happen, ND and PSU in the same league is not good.

Could the Eastern League survive such a scenario? Of course. But what makes the potential for the BE/E8 unlimited, is the fact that it might develop into the conference that gets the northeast corridor interested not only in college basketball, but college football as well.

With both ND and PSU in the Big 10, that is far less likely to happen.

Quote:I mean really what do we get out of your association with Notre Dame. They get to house their Men/Women Basketball in one of the Premier Basketball leagues in the nation and they get a home for their Olympic Sports.

I've said this before, but I think it's worth saying this again. Since SU, Pitt, and UConn joined the Big East for its basketball, I think its fans are more tolerant of ND than those schools who joined the league for its football.

The price for getting West Virginia and Rutgers in the league for all-sports was ND getting to come in for basketball and its Olympic sports - but not for football. SU, Pitt, Miami, and BC knew this when they voted 'yes' to this scenario. Would it have been better for them to vote 'no' and left West Virginia and Rutgers as football onlies?

Anything else ND has done to help out the Big East football side (which while not much, has been something) was something they CHOSE to do - although their self-interests are usually served by this as well - it's not totally magnanimous.

Quote:They also get to take a Meineke Car Care/Sun/Gator Bowl slot from a more deserving TRUE Big East school and keep that Bowl money all to themselves.

They get this, unfortunately, as the result of securing the Gator. Personally, all the football schools need do is split and add Memphis and ECU and they no longer need the Gator. The top non-BCS bowl becomes the Liberty instead.

Quote:All of this for the so-called PROMISE of playing 2 to 3 Big East schools on their 12 Game schedule and NO PROMISE of it rotating among the current Big East Football Members. They can just play Rutgers and Pittsburgh two schools they play on a regular basis anyway.

In 2003 Notre Dame PROMISED to play 3 Big East schools on a rotating basis to help keep the league together.

The promise to play 3 Big East teams (initially 4, when BC was going to be in the league instead of USF) was made as a reward/incentive for the football schools choosing not to split.

Since Louisville, Cincinnati, and USF did not take part in the decision not to split, perhaps the Irish don't feel obligated to schedule them? Although there are reports out of the league office that every BE football team will eventually have a series scheduled with the Irish. Still, with long-term deals in place with Pitt and now RU (who, btw, is not a traditional opponent but instead replaced a traditional opponent in BC), it may be a while before some see Notre Dame on the schedule. And if there is a split, which I still hope happens - forget about it.

Quote:Sorry for the rant.

Welcome to our world.

Cheers,
Neil

The reality is that the Gator can complain all they want BUT at the end of the day they know full well that:
A) They will NOT get an SEC nor a Big10 team
B) The Big East is the BEST deal they have outthere because the Big12 choice most years would bring flies.

So the Big East needs to stop caving in to them and stand up to them because in reality they have nowhereelse to go.

Cubanbull Wrote:The reality is that the Gator can complain all they want BUT at the end of the day they know full well that:
A) They will NOT get an SEC nor a Big10 team
B) The Big East is the BEST deal they have outthere because the Big12 choice most years would bring flies.

So the Big East needs to stop caving in to them and stand up to them because in reality they have nowhereelse to go.

I agree with a lot of the anti-Notre Dame sentiment. However, the league needs to continue to win on the field over a couple seasons to fully establish ourselves. We are all collectively heading in the right direction but we are not there yet. IMO, we need to ride this situation until the end of the next TV contract and see where the league stands.

templefootballfan Wrote:Have you seen your bowl lineup with ND. I can't imange it without ND. Ironicly ND BE sch seems to be with BE schools that might be the least likely to split. [syc-pitt]

The only bowl that Notre Dame helped the Big East get was the Gator Bowl.

Maize Wrote:

David Krysakowski Wrote:It would be even higher if Notre Dame was in the conference for football.

I know this would never happen but I wish Mike Tranghese had some balls and tell ND to either #$% or get off the pot.

I mean really what do we get out of your association with Notre Dame. They get to house their Men/Women Basketball in one of the Premier Basketball leagues in the nation and they get a home for their Olympic Sports.

They also get to take a Meineke Car Care/Sun/Gator Bowl slot from a more deserving TRUE Big East school and keep that Bowl money all to themselves. All of this for the so-called PROMISE of playing 2 to 3 Big East schools on their 12 Game schedule and NO PROMISE of it rotating among the current Big East Football Members. They can just play Rutgers and Pittsburgh two schools they play on a regular basis anyway.

In 2003 Notre Dame PROMISED to play 3 Big East schools on a rotating basis to help keep the league together. Now it this maybe garbage and it will likely only be Pitt, Rutgers and maybe Syracuse. Louisville, USF, UConn, Cincinnati and West Virginia might as well forget about ND ever coming to your campus/stadium. Hell Notre Lame is more likely to play FSU on USF Home Field then play the Bulls themselves on that field.

Sorry for the rant.

-- Maize....the best way to look at Notre Dame is to see them as a bball only like St Johns or Depaul. They probably will never play anyone else aside from pitt, syracuse, Rutgers and maybe Uconn in football. Aside from that, Omni's right. Its better to have them with us in a limited fashion then in the Big 10

Jackson

The Gator bowl is all you got. Wouldn't Liberty bowl be great #3

Maize Wrote:

David Krysakowski Wrote:It would be even higher if Notre Dame was in the conference for football.

I know this would never happen but I wish Mike Tranghese had some balls and tell ND to either #$% or get off the pot.

I mean really what do we get out of your association with Notre Dame. They get to house their Men/Women Basketball in one of the Premier Basketball leagues in the nation and they get a home for their Olympic Sports.

They also get to take a Meineke Car Care/Sun/Gator Bowl slot from a more deserving TRUE Big East school and keep that Bowl money all to themselves. All of this for the so-called PROMISE of playing 2 to 3 Big East schools on their 12 Game schedule and NO PROMISE of it rotating among the current Big East Football Members. They can just play Rutgers and Pittsburgh two schools they play on a regular basis anyway.

In 2003 Notre Dame PROMISED to play 3 Big East schools on a rotating basis to help keep the league together. Now it this maybe garbage and it will likely only be Pitt, Rutgers and maybe Syracuse. Louisville, USF, UConn, Cincinnati and West Virginia might as well forget about ND ever coming to your campus/stadium. Hell Notre Lame is more likely to play FSU on USF Home Field then play the Bulls themselves on that field.

Sorry for the rant.

You're preaching to the choir here, dude.

bitcruncher Wrote:

Maize Wrote:In 2003 Notre Dame PROMISED to play 3 Big East schools on a rotating basis to help keep the league together. Now it this maybe garbage and it will likely only be Pitt, Rutgers and maybe Syracuse. Louisville, USF, UConn, Cincinnati and West Virginia might as well forget about ND ever coming to your campus/stadium. Hell Notre Lame is more likely to play FSU on USF Home Field then play the Bulls themselves on that field.

Sorry for the rant.

You're preaching to the choir here, dude.

I've often wondered why the BE football presidents don't at least consider taking a different approach with ND.

People keep saying that BE teams shouldn't play BC to shut them out from the northeast. But the truth of the matter there is that BC's small niche market is entirely in Boston and they play 6 or 7 games there. Which means they get exposure in the northeast anyway and their niche fans are going to games no matter if a northeastern team plays them or not. And when they play either Maryland or Virginia away, they are getting another game with exposure along the northeast corridor.

But ND is different. Their games are played in Indiana. Granted they get national TV exposure, but the ND fans in the northeast corridor just can't travel to South Bend all that often.

ND, in the past, has relied on games with Navy, Pitt, and BC to appease these corridor alum. With them cancelling the BC series, I wonder how effective it would be to have all the BE football schools (including Pitt, of course) go to ND and say that they appreciate the offer to play 3 each year, but that they don't want ND going out of its way for them 'just to be nice'. Perhaps tell them thank you, but they have decided to go in a different direction. Thoughts?

Of course, this would require the football BE presidents growing some big ones (which isn't likely), but I wonder what ND's response would be.

Go crawling back to BC, begging for a series? Weakening their schedule further by scheduling Army on a regular basis as well as Navy?

Just a thought.

Oh well. It's not going to happen in my lifetime anyway.

Cheers,
Neil

Actually the latest rumor is that Notre dame is close to signing to play a game in Orlando's Citrus Bowl. Opponent hasnt been announced but more than probably it could be FSU,Miami or an ACC school.

Cubanbull Wrote:Actually the latest rumor is that Notre dame is close to signing to play a game in Orlando's Citrus Bowl. Opponent hasnt been announced but more than probably it could be FSU,Miami or an ACC school.

Maybe it's with UCF?

Cheers,
Neil

Notre Dame isn't going to play a school with no history to speak of that could kick the crap out of them. No way. The Cardinals would all need last rites.

Cubanbull Wrote:Actually the latest rumor is that Notre dame is close to signing to play a game in Orlando's Citrus Bowl. Opponent hasnt been announced but more than probably it could be FSU,Miami or an ACC school.

http://www.fcsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml...ID=1104408

In all seriousness, the deal is signed, dependent upon when the renovations to the Citrus Bowl take place. ND, no opponent named, is inked for 2011 and 2014 while FSU is inked to meet an as yet unnamed OOC opponent there is 2012 and 2013.

So I'd take FSU off the list.

Cheers,
Neil