as a consultant...

Quote:Former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has been hired by the University of Memphis as a consultant to assist the Tigers athletic program in its efforts to gain membership in a Bowl Championship Series conference.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/200...nce-quest/

good move by memphis

wow... huge move. Pretty smart. Will not make too many CUSA people happy but then I guess Memphis hasn't really been shy about wanting to leave anyway.

Bravo Memphis. Well-played.

this is a strange thing and proves the big east wants to add another school in fb.
your fb team is no where near bcs caliber, in the short term they would bring down the nbe fb league, can they improve fast, i doubt it.
is your bb team questionable with calipari gone, yes.
i think a good start for memphis fb is to hire a good coach(lou holtz.....

Forget Holtz. They need to fire their current coach and hire Tommy Tuberville

(09-15-2009 09:58 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Forget Holtz. They need to fire their current coach and hire Tommy Tuberville

Tuberville would be a good hire for Memphis. If they haven't been clear about their intentions before (which they have) hiring Tranghese is definitely like posting a giant billboard saying we want in the Big East.

Whatever Memphis does or Mike T. tells them - it isn't going to change the fact that the league considers 17 an impossible number. There is going to have to be some breaking point somehow on that issue for expansion to happen. And even if expansion does happen, there is no guarantee it will be Memphis, although I guess they'd be the favorite.

(09-15-2009 10:02 PM)wvucrazed Wrote:  Whatever Memphis does or Mike T. tells them - it isn't going to change the fact that the league considers 17 an impossible number. There is going to have to be some breaking point somehow on that issue for expansion to happen. And even if expansion does happen, there is no guarantee it will be Memphis, although I guess they'd be the favorite.

Increasingly I think ECU ends up being the program to get in. They have a football program that is already good, they have a fairly large fanbase built in, they're upgrading and expanding their facilities. They have a built in rivalry with what is arguably our flagship program. They have several good non-rev sports especially baseball. Only their basketball is sub-par but I think they have the type of administration that would use Big East membership to their advantage fairly quickly to rectify that. (Off-topic Side Note: I also think if Hill doesn't do something dramatic this year Pernetti will do something dramatic to rectify the ails of the once proud Rutgers Basketball program.)

Memphis does bring in built in rivalries with UL and Cincy but with so much up in the air there right now I think they're less of a slam dunk than they were say a year ago. UCF is also interesting, but I don't think that they're the Florida program we need to look at just yet. Basically ECU offers the most while providing a midway point between the rest of the Big East and USF. And I think of those schools ECU is the most highly regarded by the schools we'd most want in if the opportunity was ever possible. (Miami, State Penn, Florida State, Va Tech, BC, and Maryland)

The only way ECU gets in is as football-only, whoch would mean dropping out of C-USA for other sports and settling in something like the Atlantic Sun. The Big East is not interested in 17 for basketball.

But realistically, if football-only is the strategy, the Philadelphia market trumps the Greenville market.

Either ballsy or desperate take your pick. Let's see how it plays out.

(09-15-2009 10:15 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  The only way ECU gets in is as football-only, whoch would mean dropping out of C-USA for other sports and settling in something like the Atlantic Sun. The Big East is not interested in 17 for basketball.

But realistically, if football-only is the strategy, the Philadelphia market trumps the Greenville market.

That only matters if more than 25 people are watching. We already have access to the Philly market via Rutgers. The Greenville market which isn't as important as the fact that ECU plays good football people are interested in and has a fanbase that travels well (important for bowls) trumps Temple at present.

so y'all agree they need a new coach? they also need a bb coach.
could they do fb only cause a 17 team bb league is to big?

(09-15-2009 10:18 PM)Shannon Panther Wrote:  Either ballsy or desperate take your pick. Let's see how it plays out.

I think it's ballsy. It's a shrewd move really. From a political standpoint and from a sheer sense of obligation, the BE is not going to shove MT's efforts aside without seriously considering what he has to say. And I don't think MT would risk his pride and ego on a hopeless case. I'd say there is a good chance that some type of situation will be worked out w/ Memphis in the future in the BE.

What that might entail exactly or how the issue of 17 is resolved, i have no clue.

(09-15-2009 10:23 PM)wvucrazed Wrote:  

(09-15-2009 10:18 PM)Shannon Panther Wrote:  Either ballsy or desperate take your pick. Let's see how it plays out.

I think it's ballsy. It's a shrewd move really. From a political standpoint and from a sheer sense of obligation, the BE is not going to shove MT's efforts aside without seriously considering what he has to say. And I don't think MT would risk his pride and ego on a hopeless case. I'd say there is a good chance that some type of situation will be worked out w/ Memphis in the future in the BE.

What that might entail exactly or how the issue of 17 is resolved, i have no clue.

I would say this move was driven by the big business boosters. not going off on the sponsorship tangent, the guys that run fedex got there for a reason; making smart business decisions

(09-15-2009 10:22 PM)Stookey57 Wrote:  so y'all agree they need a new coach? they also need a bb coach.
could they do fb only cause a 17 team bb league is to big?

the new coach, Josh Pastner has the #5 rated recruiting class already in place with more to come, I would say we are pretty happy with him ...

I'd say that this signals that Memphis is the chosen program... if MT can mentor them along, they are in (as if Memphis won't do whatever he says). ECU and UCF... thanks for playing.

Well, if we see our #3 team in the Liberty Bowl, I'll be more convinced that this is going somewhere. Although I do admit, since Tranghese constantly harped about there was no one out there who would bring value in an expansion, who better to show an aspiring member how to get to the promised land.

(09-15-2009 10:30 PM)mlb Wrote:  I'd say that this signals that Memphis is the chosen program... if MT can mentor them along, they are in (as if Memphis won't do whatever he says). ECU and UCF... thanks for playing.

Considering RC Johnson was the chief architect in Temple getting kicked out of the Big East, I don't see much coming from this except Tranghese getting a nice paycheck to basically tell Memphis that losing to Middle Tennessee is not the way to get a BE invite.

Interesting move indeed. This doesn't guarentee a Big East invite though.