(04-27-2016 03:44 PM)wavefan12 Wrote: I am neither for or against BSU but when they rejected the Big East it was a much different climate. The BE was a marketing mess because of instability. The ESPN contract had not been signed, which is a huge deal because the exposure has been huge. The AAC has also separated themselves considerably from the MWC in FBall and Bball. Furthermore, the AAC schools are seriously outpacing the MWC in both budgets but even more so in facility upgrades. The MWC has rolled back some of the ridiculous bonus system as well. Do I think it is probably that BSU would go to the AAC, no, but the situation right now is very different than a few years ago.
Boise St. accepted the
Big East's football only invite in November 2011, at the same time that Houston, SMU, Memphis, and UCF agreed to join as full members, and just after TCU backed out and WVU accepted the Big 12 invite in October 2011 (and 2 months after Pitt and Syracuse accepted the ACC invite, in September 2011). Air Force, Navy, BYU, and SDSU were also invited at the same time.
Even without BYU or Air Force, Boise St. was looking to join a 12-team football alignment that included: Louisville, Rutgers, UConn, Cincinnati, USF, UCF, Houston, SMU, Memphis, SDSU, and Navy (but not until 2015)...and still hopefully Air Force and BYU - who obviously turned down the Big East invite.
The Big East had an automatic BCS bid and still had the Catholic 7 schools and Notre Dame in its Olympic sports package. Notre Dame was also involved in some of the Big East's bowl affiliations. Even though Boise St. wouldn't play Olympic sports in the Big East, the Catholic 7 and Notre Dame substantially helped the Big East's prestige and image.
It wasn't until
after the 2011 season that it was announced that the new CFP would replace the BCS system.
In March 2012, the Big East announced the return of Temple for the upcoming football season. Two days later Louisville announced its intention to leave for either the Big 12 or the ACC.
In August 2012, Boise St. announced that it would place its Olympic sports in the Big West with SDSU, rather than the WAC, which saw mass defections to the MWC.
In September 2012, Notre Dame announced its new Olympic sports affiliation with the ACC.
In November 2012, Rutgers announced its defection to the Big Ten with Maryland; a week later Louisville announced they would join the ACC to replace Maryland.
The Big East responded by inviting Tulane to join for all sports and ECU to join for football only.
After Rutgers and Louisville announced they were leaving the Big East (November 2012) is when Boise St. first started publically discussing its second thoughts on joining the Big East. Can you blame them?
So, in the year after Boise St. accepted the Big East's football only invite, we saw
Rutgers and Louisville leave Big East football and Temple, Tulane, and ECU join. The Big East would have only THREE legacy members and would no longer be affiliated with Notre Dame. And the College Football Playoff was replacing the BCS system.
Also, Boise St. saw its Olympic sports affiliation with the WAC shift to the Big West, with a travel subsidy.
In December 2012, the Catholic 7 announced their split away from the Big East.
It wasn't until December 31, 2012, AFTER the Catholic 7 announcement that Boise St. officially announced that they would return to the MWC with a new TV deal.
Can you blame them? Would you really hold a grudge because of how Boise St. handled this?