http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/i...sibilities

WVU's Luck talks realignment possibilities
June, 14, 2010
5:56
PM ET

By Adam Rittenberg

I wonder how Oliver Luck must be feeling right now. He certainly picked a fascinating time to return to college athletics.

Luck was formally introduced as West Virginia's new athletic director Monday at a time where the college sports landscape seemed to be changing by the minute. Like all Big East teams, West Virginia is keeping close tabs on what happens within its league and elsewhere, as it tries to position itself for long-term success.

It's no surprise that the first question Luck fielded at his news conference had to do with everyone's favorite topic: realignment.

"In times of uncertainty, there's often times of opportunity," Luck said. "Our location along the Eastern seaboard is a real plus. We've had the most-watched Thursday night ESPN game, the most-watched Friday night ESPN game. Those aren't folks just within our state boundary; that's across the country, so obviously, people care about Mountaineer football, and this conference realignment, by and large, is being driven by football."

Luck praised the Big East, calling it "by far the best basketball conference" and recognizing the league's "very strong" football teams, but he's not closing the door on anything at this point. Because he can't.

"It's safe to say we'd love to see the status quo continue," Luck said, "but like any other university, you need to be smart and strategic, try to figure out, 'If X, Y, and Z happen, what are the alternatives?' ... It's hard to say what the University of Texas may do or may not do. I'd love to see them try to rebuild the Big 12 and maintain that status, but it's difficult to say."

West Virginia and the rest of the Big East would benefit from the Big 12 staying together and minimal amount of further expansion taking place. I'm told the Big Ten has no other imminent moves after adding Nebraska, though the league continues to evaluate some Big East options, including Rutgers.

(06-15-2010 03:40 PM)buckaineer Wrote:  http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/i...sibilities

WVU's Luck talks realignment possibilities
June, 14, 2010
5:56
PM ET

By Adam Rittenberg

I wonder how Oliver Luck must be feeling right now. He certainly picked a fascinating time to return to college athletics.

Luck was formally introduced as West Virginia's new athletic director Monday at a time where the college sports landscape seemed to be changing by the minute. Like all Big East teams, West Virginia is keeping close tabs on what happens within its league and elsewhere, as it tries to position itself for long-term success.

It's no surprise that the first question Luck fielded at his news conference had to do with everyone's favorite topic: realignment.

"In times of uncertainty, there's often times of opportunity," Luck said. "Our location along the Eastern seaboard is a real plus. We've had the most-watched Thursday night ESPN game, the most-watched Friday night ESPN game. Those aren't folks just within our state boundary; that's across the country, so obviously, people care about Mountaineer football, and this conference realignment, by and large, is being driven by football."

Luck praised the Big East, calling it "by far the best basketball conference" and recognizing the league's "very strong" football teams, but he's not closing the door on anything at this point. Because he can't.

"It's safe to say we'd love to see the status quo continue," Luck said, "but like any other university, you need to be smart and strategic, try to figure out, 'If X, Y, and Z happen, what are the alternatives?' ... It's hard to say what the University of Texas may do or may not do. I'd love to see them try to rebuild the Big 12 and maintain that status, but it's difficult to say."

West Virginia and the rest of the Big East would benefit from the Big 12 staying together and minimal amount of further expansion taking place. I'm told the Big Ten has no other imminent moves after adding Nebraska, though the league continues to evaluate some Big East options, including Rutgers.

"...this conference realignment, by and large, is being driven by football."[/b]

Guess we scratch Temple off the list of candidates for BE expansion...

Quick prediction ... here comes JHG722 to throw a

buckaineer Wrote:"It's safe to say we'd love to see the status quo continue," Luck said, "but like any other university, you need to be smart and strategic, try to figure out, 'If X, Y, and Z happen, what are the alternatives?'

From this I would imagine that WVU has several solutions under consideration for various situations. But what those are is left for speculation. If you'll analyze Luck's words carefully, you'll notice he didn't actually say anything outside promoting WVU's TV marketability...

Maverick, that'll do.

Here is much more from the WVU paper:

http://www.thedaonline.com/sports/wvu-ac...-1.1492361

WVU active in conference talks
Officials have been ‘working the phones,’ happy with Big East tie


an excerpt:

Pastilong said he would like to see the Big East add an additional school for football to have an odd number of teams.

"If we can get to nine, it would help us," Pastilong said. "We could do it."

Clements and Pastilong said it could be a possibility for the Big East to add a team, but Clements wouldn’t speculate further.

Pastilong said expansion has been a discussion in earlier years.

The simple solution is for the BE and the ACC to merge and negotiate their own mega TV package. Have BC, VT and Maryland go the the BE division with USF moving south and play 9 divisional games plus 2 interdivisional because I am sure the Big 12 at ten teams will be trying to get the NCAA to add a 13th or 14th game plus you can have an eight team playoff. Give the MWC a BCS slot and have the remaining four conferences play two games for the 8th slot. Only one non BCS game per team will be allowed and 13 means that every team has at least seven home games. Or do away with the conference title games and have a 16 team playoff. It is the simplist solution

(06-16-2010 10:10 AM)RaliLlama Wrote:  The simple solution is for the BE and the ACC to merge and negotiate their own mega TV package. Have BC, VT and Maryland go the the BE division with USF moving south and play 9 divisional games plus 2 interdivisional because I am sure the Big 12 at ten teams will be trying to get the NCAA to add a 13th or 14th game plus you can have an eight team playoff. Give the MWC a BCS slot and have the remaining four conferences play two games for the 8th slot. Only one non BCS game per team will be allowed and 13 means that every team has at least seven home games. Or do away with the conference title games and have a 16 team playoff. It is the simplist solution

Easy for big east, maybe. With the contract the ACC just signed, there is no way they would want to split that with the Big East. Its like saying the easy solution is for the BE and CUSA to merge and negotiate their own mega tv package deal. Isn't going to happen.

(06-16-2010 10:25 AM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 10:10 AM)RaliLlama Wrote:  The simple solution is for the BE and the ACC to merge and negotiate their own mega TV package. Have BC, VT and Maryland go the the BE division with USF moving south and play 9 divisional games plus 2 interdivisional because I am sure the Big 12 at ten teams will be trying to get the NCAA to add a 13th or 14th game plus you can have an eight team playoff. Give the MWC a BCS slot and have the remaining four conferences play two games for the 8th slot. Only one non BCS game per team will be allowed and 13 means that every team has at least seven home games. Or do away with the conference title games and have a 16 team playoff. It is the simplist solution

Easy for big east, maybe. With the contract the ACC just signed, there is no way they would want to split that with the Big East. Its like saying the easy solution is for the BE and CUSA to merge and negotiate their own mega tv package deal. Isn't going to happen.

In order for both conferences to survive intact before the Big 10 and SEC pick off eight of their teams they better be proactive. Wherever WVU ends up will be more profitable than what they have now. But they will be forced to merge eventually either as a 20 or 12 team conference.

(06-16-2010 12:04 PM)RaliLlama Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 10:25 AM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 10:10 AM)RaliLlama Wrote:  The simple solution is for the BE and the ACC to merge and negotiate their own mega TV package. Have BC, VT and Maryland go the the BE division with USF moving south and play 9 divisional games plus 2 interdivisional because I am sure the Big 12 at ten teams will be trying to get the NCAA to add a 13th or 14th game plus you can have an eight team playoff. Give the MWC a BCS slot and have the remaining four conferences play two games for the 8th slot. Only one non BCS game per team will be allowed and 13 means that every team has at least seven home games. Or do away with the conference title games and have a 16 team playoff. It is the simplist solution

Easy for big east, maybe. With the contract the ACC just signed, there is no way they would want to split that with the Big East. Its like saying the easy solution is for the BE and CUSA to merge and negotiate their own mega tv package deal. Isn't going to happen.

In order for both conferences to survive intact before the Big 10 and SEC pick off eight of their teams they better be proactive. Wherever WVU ends up will be more profitable than what they have now. But they will be forced to merge eventually either as a 20 or 12 team conference.

We still haven't seen any evidence of conferences actually going past 12 teams. Until someone does that, I think its better to assume they won't, than to assume they will.

(06-16-2010 12:22 PM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 12:04 PM)RaliLlama Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 10:25 AM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 10:10 AM)RaliLlama Wrote:  The simple solution is for the BE and the ACC to merge and negotiate their own mega TV package. Have BC, VT and Maryland go the the BE division with USF moving south and play 9 divisional games plus 2 interdivisional because I am sure the Big 12 at ten teams will be trying to get the NCAA to add a 13th or 14th game plus you can have an eight team playoff. Give the MWC a BCS slot and have the remaining four conferences play two games for the 8th slot. Only one non BCS game per team will be allowed and 13 means that every team has at least seven home games. Or do away with the conference title games and have a 16 team playoff. It is the simplist solution

Easy for big east, maybe. With the contract the ACC just signed, there is no way they would want to split that with the Big East. Its like saying the easy solution is for the BE and CUSA to merge and negotiate their own mega tv package deal. Isn't going to happen.

In order for both conferences to survive intact before the Big 10 and SEC pick off eight of their teams they better be proactive. Wherever WVU ends up will be more profitable than what they have now. But they will be forced to merge eventually either as a 20 or 12 team conference.

We still haven't seen any evidence of conferences actually going past 12 teams. Until someone does that, I think its better to assume they won't, than to assume they will.

That's how the BE got caught with their pants down the last time. Transgese fiddled while Rome burned.... They didn't hire Paul Tagliabue to twiddle his thumbs.

That's how the BE got caught with their pants down the last time. Transgese fiddled while Rome burned.... They didn't hire Paul Tagliabue to twiddle his thumbs.
[/quote]

Bingo

(06-16-2010 12:32 PM)RaliLlama Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 12:22 PM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 12:04 PM)RaliLlama Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 10:25 AM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  

(06-16-2010 10:10 AM)RaliLlama Wrote:  The simple solution is for the BE and the ACC to merge and negotiate their own mega TV package. Have BC, VT and Maryland go the the BE division with USF moving south and play 9 divisional games plus 2 interdivisional because I am sure the Big 12 at ten teams will be trying to get the NCAA to add a 13th or 14th game plus you can have an eight team playoff. Give the MWC a BCS slot and have the remaining four conferences play two games for the 8th slot. Only one non BCS game per team will be allowed and 13 means that every team has at least seven home games. Or do away with the conference title games and have a 16 team playoff. It is the simplist solution

Easy for big east, maybe. With the contract the ACC just signed, there is no way they would want to split that with the Big East. Its like saying the easy solution is for the BE and CUSA to merge and negotiate their own mega tv package deal. Isn't going to happen.

In order for both conferences to survive intact before the Big 10 and SEC pick off eight of their teams they better be proactive. Wherever WVU ends up will be more profitable than what they have now. But they will be forced to merge eventually either as a 20 or 12 team conference.

We still haven't seen any evidence of conferences actually going past 12 teams. Until someone does that, I think its better to assume they won't, than to assume they will.

That's how the BE got caught with their pants down the last time. Transgese fiddled while Rome burned.... They didn't hire Paul Tagliabue to twiddle his thumbs.

Right, like I said it would be a dream for the big east to be able to merge with the ACC and get some of that tv money they just signed, but for the ACC why would they dillute their conference more on the slightest of chance that b10 or sec may take a team from them sometime in the future? The reason teams expanded to 12 was for a championship game. There is no reason for teams to expand past 12 yet, or else somebody would have.