I could do without the attitude, but I gotta admit he makes a pretty good case on the merits that UCF is the best available external candidate out there. I'm not sure it has to be an either/or with Villanova.

Quote:Hey, Big East, don't fumble away your chance at UCF
UCF could be just as valuable as TCU

Mike Bianchi
6:17 PM EST, November 30, 2010

Don't blow it now, Big East.

You made a spectacular move earlier this week when you greatly strengthened your abysmal football reputation by inviting TCU into your conference.

You added a university that has invested heavily in upgrading its football and brings a nationally ranked team … in a major market … in the middle of one of the most football-fanatical states in the union.

But don't stop before you finish the job, Big East. You have a chance to annex a similar program right here in Orlando. You've invited TCU as your ninth football-playing member and now you need to make it an even 10 by inviting UCF.

Please tell us the reports we are reading down here about Villanova are just mindless media speculation. Because if they are true, we have to wonder if you are genuine about enhancing your football future. Adding Villanova instead of UCF would make the TCU invitation look like window dressing — a blatant PR move right before the bowl bids go out just to get the national media from pontificating about how truly awful the Big East is this season.

In the wake of the TCU announcement, speculation began immediately that the Big East's first choice as its 10th member is Villanova — a small Catholic school in Philadelphia that is already a Big East member in basketball but is happy playing football at the less costly Division I-AA level.

Even though the Big East has been trying to persuade Villanova to move up to Division I-A since 1997, the school has balked. And for good reason. Major college football is an expensive proposition. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for scholarships, upgrade stadiums and build facilities. For crying out loud, you'd think after 13 years the Big East would get the message that Villanova is not built for major college football.

Villanova averages about 8,000 fans per game at its tiny 12,500-seat stadium. And you know what? School administrators are perfectly happy with that. As they should be. They know trying to compete in big-time football with a small-time budget is pure insanity. Especially in a traditional pro sports town like Philly, where fans care about college football about as much as they care about intramural badminton.

Why in the name of Rollie Massimino would Big East administrators try to drag basketball-playing Villanova kicking and screaming into a BCS football league when they have a school like UCF that has already made the investment and gone all in to take it to the next level?

"From a commitment standpoint, a facilities standpoint and a depth standpoint, I think this program is ready to take that next step," UCF coach George O'Leary says.

You have to wonder why any conference that is serious about football would even consider Villanova over UCF. Is the Big East really going to allow its basketball coaches, who reportedly don't want to add another team to their already-cumbersome 17-team hoops league, block UCF?

That would be sheer inanity.

This is your chance, Big East, to get a UCF program that is about to take off; that might just finish this season as the highest-ranked team in this college football-crazed state.

This is your chance to get a program that built its own 45,000-seat on-campus stadium and has boosters willing to contribute big money to build an indoor practice facility like the Nicholson Fieldhouse.

This is your chance to get a thriving public university that is the largest in the state of Florida and the second-largest in the nation.

This is your chance to have a built-in rivalry between UCF and USF — a game that would sell out both stadiums and bring national attention to a league that desperately needs it.

This is your chance to get a stronghold in the 19th-ranked TV market in the country where UCF is the only football show in town.

This is your chance to establish a foothold in a city of more than 2 million people located right in the center of one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the country.

This is your chance, Big East.

Don't blow it.

Hey, Big East, don't fumble away your chance at UCF

No other BCS conference is knocking on their door though. Big East can add them at will.

When I try to sell something I know I always try to lead off with an insult.

The only thing abysmal about Big East football are its critics. This year has been crap, but give me a f'n break. This year is not typical and the only sour patch I could see in the last two years was us losing face in the Orange and Sugar bowls, and unfortunately last year our team was hung out to dry by its coach.

The conference takes its lumps, but I don't see us taking those lumps against any FCS teams. You can't say that about the ACC or Big Ten.

Of the available schools, those that have been discussed and dissected in the countless threads on the topic, Memphis, Houston, Nova, ect the only two that have the facilities and wherewithal to move and move quickly are UCF and ECU. The move that would posses the most foresight would be UCF. They are a massive university, with a good Football program, in a major media market, that can scale up their athletic department whenever they want to. The best move for Big East football is UCF, the one that is best move for the Providence Mafia is always the easiest move, history bears that out, that's why Villanova is probably going to be the addition that gets made.

I would add UCF in a heartbeat

UCF hoops just beat 16th ranked Florida. That's Big East material.

The UCF administration has shown its serious in its financial commitment to its athletics program. That by itself is a great sign. Article pointed out other possible benefits like natural rival for USF and getting Orlando market.

I really like UCF, their school has also been very aggressive on academic front as well. Just opened a shiny new medical school a few years ago and made a huge splash by raising enough money privately to provide a completely free 4-year medical education for first UCF class, which helped lure top students who otherwise might be hesitant to attend a brand new school. Very impressive stuff since a four year medical education costs 200-300K at many med schools.

(12-01-2010 09:29 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  UCF hoops just beat 16th ranked Florida. That's Big East material.

Michael Jordan's son Marcus scored 18 points to lead UCF.

Took me 9 minutes from the time I hit reply, until a page came up for me to type this.

I kinda laughed when he wrote that UCF is similar program to TCU. Yeah UCF has done great making it to these BCS bowls and the top 5 in polls.

I like notion of UCF but I still would have loved Missouri Kansas KState to join with TCU and have the football schools break away. Or Va Tech Maryland Miami and BC to jump and break away with football schools. It was nice to dream.

Issue is up right now at ESPN's SportsNation. Obviously, it's non-scientific, but still somewhat surprised at the current results:

52% East Carolina
34% UCF
14% Villanova

I suspect most are voting for ECU simply because they are the only one of the three to have had a history of success at the FBS level.

East Carolina would be a shoe-in if they didn't have such a terrible TV market. They have a 50,000 seat stadium that is PACKED for each game, a crazy fan base (much like WVU's), and pretty decent teams year-in and year-out. Unfortunately, there isn't much TV exposure out there and in today's college football world, that is what's driving expansion.

I think one of the big reasons the Big East has not invited UCF is because of the Florida recruiting ground for football. Every BE school dips into Florida for recruiting (except maybe UConn/Pitt) and we already have one BE school in that backyard with USF. Taking another Florida school into the BE would mean we would be recruiting against another BE school for the same kids.

Isn't East Caroline in basically in the same tv market as NC state, Wake Forest .
I think Central Flordia is a no brainer..