3. Back to the Pirates. Joe referenced this in his weekly “Late Hits” column earlier this week. Did the ACC make a mistake by not adding ECU?

Carter: What's the old saying about hindsight? ECU, right now, is better than a lot of ACC schools in football. The Pirates would enhance the ACC's football brand. The problem is everything else. Like the fact that Greenville doesn't add anything to ACC's TV footprint. And basketball. The Pirates would win some ACC games in basketball – heck, they played Duke, UNC and N.C. State tough in their most recent trips there – but in terms of history and tradition, ECU would be the worst basketball program in the ACC. But football drives all of this. And if the ACC ever needs a 16th team, if Notre Dame joins, full-time, would you rather have ECU or, say, Connecticut? Bring on the Pirates.

DeCock: If the ACC had paid attention to what really worked from the first round of expansion, East Carolina would have been a no-brainer. Virginia Tech's natural rivalry with Virginia and geographic fit made for a seamless transition to the ACC. But television drives the bus, and the bus does not go through Greenville. (It didn't help that the Pirates spent so many years in the basketball wilderness; a more robust resume would have changed the equation.) But if (when?) Notre Dame joins the ACC as a full member, the conference need look no further for a 16th school.

Giglio: There are so many levels to this answer. But let me hit two:

1) Expansion was supposed to be about football. Who would you rather be in a football conference with: Boston College and Pitt or West Virginia and East Carolina?

2) The ACC is very proud of its academic prestige, and seemingly added teams to enhance this instead of football. But crying "academics" as an excuse to ignore ECU and West Virginia went out the window when they added Louisville.

I know this: ECU's gameday environment would be a welcomed change. The vapid atmospheres at Boston College, Pitt and Miami drag the ACC down to Sun Belt levels.

Keeley: Well, for all the talk of "student-athletes" (that might be the least true phrase we print) and academics, the ACC went an added an academic outlier with the University of Louisville. Who is to say ECU isn't on a similar upward trajectory? And the Pirates are in the real ACC footprint, not the made-for-TV one. Of course, there's no comparison with Louisville basketball and ECU basketball, but this expansion stuff is all about football money anyhow. If all the powers that be could evaluate college athletics as just a business — and not some mythical quasi-moral more than just a game thing — then, yeah, perhaps ECU would have been a nice feather in the ACC's cap. The Pirates have a nice gameday atmosphere, too.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/26/4...rylink=cpy

You mean the ACC has finally noticed that nobody in Boston, Miami, or Pittsburgh care about to to football games at those schools? Imagine that.

Unstated in the article is the fact that UNC, NCSU, WF, and Duke do not want a formidable competitor for football recruits. Jimmy Johnson was/is a well known successful football coach. But when Jimmy Johnson came to Oklahoma State, one of his first actions was to drop Tulsa. Johnson felt losing to Louisiana Tech or ULL was acceptable....but an in-state loss to Tulsa would be crushing.

They hit #2 right on the head.

Quote:2) The ACC is very proud of its academic prestige, and seemingly added teams to enhance this instead of football. But crying "academics" as an excuse to ignore ECU and West Virginia went out the window when they added Louisville.

However, don't see ECU going to the ACC. ACC already has the NC market all tied up.

There is too much opposition within the state.

That sucks because the ACC is really the only conference for ECU.

(09-26-2014 10:20 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  There is too much opposition within the state.

That sucks because the ACC is really the only conference for ECU.

I could actually see the B12 for a travel partner for WV.

B12 would be interesting if they added 4 in

BYU
Cincy
ECU
UCF

(09-26-2014 10:25 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  

(09-26-2014 10:20 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  There is too much opposition within the state.

That sucks because the ACC is really the only conference for ECU.

I could actually see the B12 for a travel partner for WV.

B12 would be interesting if they added 4 in

BYU
Cincy
ECU
UCF

That's a good point.

A lot of good points in the article, but one glaring error

Quote:1) Expansion was supposed to be about football.

It wasn't about football until the football schools started looking around to see what else was available.

Not a chance. And I say that acknowledging that it's hard being an ECU Pirate fan knowing that your team could compete in both the ACC and SEC but will never ever be in either league.

1) The current NC schools wont vote for further dilution of their product, recruiting and fan bases. (ie same reason why any talk of the Big 12 adding a 5th Texas team is just as ridiculous)

2) The ACC is absolutely saturated in NC which means ECU cannot bring any new money at all for the rest of the conference. The bottom line means way more than just a good game day atmosphere.

Folks, for all of you who dream of regional conferences consisting of 10 teams from just two states all within a days bus ride that model does not work in modern athletics. Those of us who lived the SWC know it for a fact.

Sportswriters have generally shown to be almost as oblivious to what's important in conference realignment as football coaches: they either have zero concept of the off-the-field factors that matters (NOT the on-the-field factors) OR they're simply in denial that they're critically important (i.e. "We know that it's not a new TV market, but who cares, right?! Plus, who cares about academics, right? I just want better football games to watch in the press box!"). ECU isn't a new market for the ACC and the league already has 4 schools in the state of North Carolina. That alone should indicate what the answer would be. Even the "academic outlier" of Louisville is a big-time money program that was clearly a power athletic department based on off-the-field factors.

Makes no sense for the ACC to add ECU. You could make the argument the sec might add ECU but they probably would cut a deal with the ACC/ESPN to take NC state and Wake before adding ECU. So ECU is pretty much in their best spot. I can't see the big 12 adding ECU either, too many teams from NC in the ACC + the big 12 would take USF + UCF if it wanted to go south.

If they would vote in a school like ECU there wouldn't be a spot for them; it would be WVU's already.

Our old governor Bev Purdue was lobbying the ACC hard this last expansion go-round. She said Swofford told her he couldn't get enough votes.

I think that the point is that no one ever thought these triangle area writers would ever come around on ECU. Moreover, ECU can thrive notwithstanding the obvious intrinsic obstacles. The fan base and game day atmosphere, higher than anticipated tv viewership, continuity, and football pedigree are all more valuable commodities than many people acknowledge (and others just refuse to recognize it).

Please NO

(09-26-2014 11:28 AM)rednblackattack Wrote:  Please NO

Soon a lot of ACC schools will be saying about the UoL - say it ain't so.

People get too caught up in the immediate. Problem is that conference decisions need to be made while assuming expansion candidates will decline in strength and then consider what they still bring. Ecu is good right now, but 4 programs in north Carolina is already more than they really need. If ecu goes on a long streak for several years of excellence at the national level that might be different but for the moment they make financial sense in several other conferences before the acc.

14? is someone leaving?

(09-26-2014 11:35 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  14? is someone leaving?

Yes Wake Forest to the SEC:

(09-26-2014 11:53 AM)domer1978 Wrote:  

(09-26-2014 11:35 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  14? is someone leaving?

Surprising it took this long for someone to notice.

You knew they meant 15th!