(03-02-2013 02:28 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  USA Today reports the "Big Country" conference agreed to look at exploring accepting ECU for all sports but seems to indicate they did not vote on the subject.

Old news...

(03-01-2013 11:12 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  ECU all sports will be in...it was always intended for them to be in, but the C7 had to get out before they could come in.

That's not even in question, IMO...the big question is what happens with #12 and when. I still think the conference is trying to attract Army as a FB only member and then can stay at 10 all sports members. It really does make the most sense, giving Army more Bowl opportunities and potential nBCS access. The Army/Navy game is going to have to move its date, most likely anyway.

I have always thought along the same lines. I think that they want to stay 10 all sports and bring in Army to pair with Navy for football only.

(03-02-2013 03:17 PM)apex_pirate Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 02:28 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  USA Today reports the "Big Country" conference agreed to look at exploring accepting ECU for all sports but seems to indicate they did not vote on the subject.

Old news...

Not really. This came out of yesterday's meeting.

ESPN writer Brett McMurphy said on Pirate Radio yesterday that ECU all sports invite was a slam dunk and Pirate fans should not worry about it. C7 divorce has to be signed, sealed and delievered but Terry Holland has known exactly what the steps would be for the all sports invite from the moment he accepted the FB only invite. There has not been a single leak of an email, phone call or smoke signal from ECU to CAA, A10 etc.. for Olympic sports and there is a reason for that.

(03-02-2013 03:47 PM)ShoreBuc Wrote:  ESPN writer Brett McMurphy said on Pirate Radio yesterday that ECU all sports invite was a slam dunk and Pirate fans should not worry about it. C7 divorce has to be signed, sealed and delievered but Terry Holland has known exactly what the steps would be for the all sports invite from the moment he accepted the FB only invite. There has not been a single leak of an email, phone call or smoke signal from ECU to CAA, A10 etc.. for Olympic sports and there is a reason for that.

And I hope Brett is correct. However, through out this process I just don't think ECU has received the respect it deserves.

(03-02-2013 05:04 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 03:47 PM)ShoreBuc Wrote:  ESPN writer Brett McMurphy said on Pirate Radio yesterday that ECU all sports invite was a slam dunk and Pirate fans should not worry about it. C7 divorce has to be signed, sealed and delievered but Terry Holland has known exactly what the steps would be for the all sports invite from the moment he accepted the FB only invite. There has not been a single leak of an email, phone call or smoke signal from ECU to CAA, A10 etc.. for Olympic sports and there is a reason for that.

And I hope Brett is correct. However, through out this process I just don't think ECU has received the respect it deserves.

I have to wonder if when all is said and done if ECU will forever be the redheaded stepchild of the conference.

The reason why ECU hasn't gotten a full invite is due to the assumption that Navy is still coming on board as a football only member. With Navy and ECU being "football only" the basketball side can have 10 members total allowing each school in the conference to play each other twice in conference play.

(03-01-2013 11:29 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(03-01-2013 11:12 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  ECU all sports will be in...it was always intended for them to be in, but the C7 had to get out before they could come in.

That's not even in question, IMO...the big question is what happens with #12 and when. I still think the conference is trying to attract Army as a FB only member and then can stay at 10 all sports members. It really does make the most sense, giving Army more Bowl opportunities and potential nBCS access. The Army/Navy game is going to have to move its date, most likely anyway.

Agree with all of this.

ECU makes #10 in the all-sports group led by Aresco. Navy is still scheduled to come in as #11 for football-only in 2015. I doubt Navy will change its mind about joining, but I admit it is possible. I doubt Army will change its mind about not-joining for football-only, but I admit that is possible, too (I hope Army does join). If Army/Navy both join to make 12 for football and 10 for Olympic sports, then the league should and probably will hold there unless/until it suffers additional defections. Sixteen (!) schools have left the Big East over the past decade, so that is obviously an unstable arrangement.

If Navy joins but Army doesn't, and if everything else stays "as is", then the league would have 11 football members and 10 all-sports members. At that point, I think you would see an effort to recruit 1 more all-sports member, and one non-football member to facilitate the ease of scheduling: a 12-team league for football (11 all-sports + Navy) and a 12-team league for Olympic sports (11 all-sports + ???). If that actually happens, the next all-sports member would apparently be either Tulsa or UMass, and I hope the Olympic-sports member would be VCU, but that is (obviously) not yet determined.

But why do all of that mess having 10 all-sports and 1 football only & 1 basketball only when you could keep ECU as a football-only and invite Tulsa as full-member. Then you get an easy 10-12 hybrid, with no basketball-only schools forcing you into a bad situation if Navy decides to not come. And with this plan, if Navy does leave, then you just invite ECU to be a full member and 1 other to have a 12 all sports /w football league. Much more clean.

Playing devil's advocate here.

(03-02-2013 05:36 PM)MUHERD76 Wrote:  The reason why ECU hasn't gotten a full invite is due to the assumption that Navy is still coming on board as a football only member. With Navy and ECU being "football only" the basketball side can have 10 members total allowing each school in the conference to play each other twice in conference play.

I think this is a reach. It would mean that TH knew from the beginning that Navy had to back out (all the steps) for ECU to be a full member. If all-sports was a slam dunk and they knew from the beginning, it would appear there was s plan to get Navy to back down. I just don't believe that for one minute.

(03-02-2013 03:30 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 03:17 PM)apex_pirate Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 02:28 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  USA Today reports the "Big Country" conference agreed to look at exploring accepting ECU for all sports but seems to indicate they did not vote on the subject.

Old news...

Not really. This came out of yesterday's meeting.

Yes, but we all knew it yesterday. At least it was posted here more than once as well as on the BE (old) board. Today it is old news.

(03-02-2013 05:19 PM)lazydawg58 Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 05:04 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 03:47 PM)ShoreBuc Wrote:  ESPN writer Brett McMurphy said on Pirate Radio yesterday that ECU all sports invite was a slam dunk and Pirate fans should not worry about it. C7 divorce has to be signed, sealed and delievered but Terry Holland has known exactly what the steps would be for the all sports invite from the moment he accepted the FB only invite. There has not been a single leak of an email, phone call or smoke signal from ECU to CAA, A10 etc.. for Olympic sports and there is a reason for that.

And I hope Brett is correct. However, through out this process I just don't think ECU has received the respect it deserves.

I have to wonder if when all is said and done if ECU will forever be the redheaded stepchild of the conference.

No. The C7 has always felt this way about ECU. No idea why. The other schools wanted ECU as an all sports addition from the beggining.

(03-02-2013 07:11 PM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  

(03-01-2013 11:29 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(03-01-2013 11:12 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote:  ECU all sports will be in...it was always intended for them to be in, but the C7 had to get out before they could come in.

That's not even in question, IMO...the big question is what happens with #12 and when. I still think the conference is trying to attract Army as a FB only member and then can stay at 10 all sports members. It really does make the most sense, giving Army more Bowl opportunities and potential nBCS access. The Army/Navy game is going to have to move its date, most likely anyway.

Agree with all of this.

ECU makes #10 in the all-sports group led by Aresco. Navy is still scheduled to come in as #11 for football-only in 2015. I doubt Navy will change its mind about joining, but I admit it is possible. I doubt Army will change its mind about not-joining for football-only, but I admit that is possible, too (I hope Army does join). If Army/Navy both join to make 12 for football and 10 for Olympic sports, then the league should and probably will hold there unless/until it suffers additional defections. Sixteen (!) schools have left the Big East over the past decade, so that is obviously an unstable arrangement.

If Navy joins but Army doesn't, and if everything else stays "as is", then the league would have 11 football members and 10 all-sports members. At that point, I think you would see an effort to recruit 1 more all-sports member, and one non-football member to facilitate the ease of scheduling: a 12-team league for football (11 all-sports + Navy) and a 12-team league for Olympic sports (11 all-sports + ???). If that actually happens, the next all-sports member would apparently be either Tulsa or UMass, and I hope the Olympic-sports member would be VCU, but that is (obviously) not yet determined.

But why do all of that mess having 10 all-sports and 1 football only & 1 basketball only when you could keep ECU as a football-only and invite Tulsa as full-member. Then you get an easy 10-12 hybrid, with no basketball-only schools forcing you into a bad situation if Navy decides to not come. And with this plan, if Navy does leave, then you just invite ECU to be a full member and 1 other to have a 12 all sports /w football league. Much more clean.

Playing devil's advocate here.

If we were not to receive full membership after all of this, we would not come. Why would we come for football only for what the conference has devolved into.

The Big Country could have ECU over a barrel. They could be telling ECU if you don't accept football only we will just replace you with another CUSA team And make you look bad.

(03-02-2013 08:56 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  The Big Country could have ECU over a barrel. They could be telling ECU if you don't accept football only we will just replace you with another CUSA team And make you look bad.

Not a chance. Additionally the league wouldn't risk the PR hit from another defection. If anyone has the leverage here it's ECU. Who else could be brought in with their fan base and support? And as often as we get chided for touting that support, it's of great value to the league at this time to have a school that can deliver it in the league's infancy.

ECU will be in for all sports. The only thing I see stopping that is if a network wants to pay the conference more money with stipulation of bringing in more BB teams, and I do not see that happening at all.

(03-02-2013 10:16 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  ECU will be in for all sports. The only thing I see stopping that is if a network wants to pay the conference more money with stipulation of bringing in more BB teams, and I do not see that happening at all.

So, are you saying there is a possibility ECU ends up football only? Because that's my point. All they would have to do is say ECU will absolutely be all sports as soon as the C7 are gone.

ECU will be in. The league knows it and ECU knows it. Ducks have to be lined up first. Quit listening to the quacks.

(03-03-2013 08:23 AM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(03-02-2013 10:16 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  ECU will be in for all sports. The only thing I see stopping that is if a network wants to pay the conference more money with stipulation of bringing in more BB teams, and I do not see that happening at all.

So, are you saying there is a possibility ECU ends up football only? Because that's my point. All they would have to do is say ECU will absolutely be all sports as soon as the C7 are gone.

Why? Do you think there is any chance of a network doing this? I don't.

Stop trying to make Big Country Conference happen, it's not going to happen.

Is Bryant Reeves the commish?