(03-06-2012 03:11 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  I'm no fan of Friday Night games. Unfortunately in this day and age to get what you want $$$ wise you have to make a sacrifice somewhere.

(03-06-2012 03:39 PM)catdaddy_2402 Wrote:  

(03-06-2012 03:11 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  I'm no fan of Friday Night games. Unfortunately in this day and age to get what you want $$$ wise you have to make a sacrifice somewhere.

What good is the money going to do when high schools refuse to allow you to come into their schools to recruit?

(03-06-2012 03:42 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  

(03-06-2012 03:39 PM)catdaddy_2402 Wrote:  

(03-06-2012 03:11 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  I'm no fan of Friday Night games. Unfortunately in this day and age to get what you want $$$ wise you have to make a sacrifice somewhere.

What good is the money going to do when high schools refuse to allow you to come into their schools to recruit?

High schools aren't going to refuse to allow coach's to come into their schools to recruit due to Friday Night Games. The Big East has played Friday Night Games for a while now and the same w/ the PAC 12.

Quote:High school coaches across the state are upset to see college football encroaching on a night which once exclusively meant high school games. But the conflict isn't likely to end soon.

"I have very strong feelings about this issue," said Hillsborough High coach Earl Garcia, a past president of the Florida Athletic Coaches Association. "The NFL waits until college season has ended to play any games on Saturdays. It's like scheduling a varsity game on a junior varsity night. I feel like the Big East is biting the hand that feeds them, and I don't think that sends a good message."

Quote:Leavitt said the school benefits from the exposure of an ESPN weeknight game, especially with recruits. He said high school coaches have expressed their displeasure to him, and those coaches have also gone well over Leavitt's head.

The FACA, speaking for 6,500 members across the state, sent a letter to Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese last fall, expressing "disappointment" that the conference plays five games a year on Friday nights as part of its TV contract with ESPN.

The letter said the scheduling conflict shows "a complete lack of consideration" for high school football, estimating that 20,000 fans who attended the USF-West Virginia game would have gone to high school games that night. Hillsborough County does not track high school attendance.

The letter also said coaches were threatening to ban Big East coaches from their campuses, warning even that "the state legislature will take action if this policy is not changed."

Quote:The last loss was to Cincinnati in the infamous Friday night game, an issue which hurt ECU’s relationship with high schools within the state of North Carolina since the game was being played on national television while the high school state playoffs were going on.

(03-06-2012 04:28 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  I can see the ACC signing up for 2 or 3 of these games a season. I'm sure Cuse wouldn't mind hosting 1 or 2 of them.

(03-06-2012 04:13 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote:  Again, they're not going to ban schools from recruiting their kids, and there are ways around this. Simply don't schedule NC teams for Friday Night games. Pitt doesn't like home games on Friday but has played some away games Friday Nights so away games against BC, VT, and Syracuse seems like they would make sense. You could almost see which schools will be playing these games.

Unfortunately this has been the path ESPN been paving for sometime now. I personally don't like it because I'd rather attend HS games as well, being that I'm a HS fan first. And TBH, Friday Nights are the worst night for TV, because of movies, no school the next day and so on.

Quote:Charlie Adams, the executive director of the N.C. High School Athletic Association, put out a written statement on Wednesday morning explaining the Association's stance on the topic. "There has been no change in the position of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association and its concern about televising college football games on Friday night," Adams said, "We do not support any college or university televising a football game in the traditional Friday night high school football slot."

(03-06-2012 04:46 PM)XLance Wrote:  Was the rumor started by Kornbluth?

Quote:East Carolina's proud football program is plagued with a festering sore these days, and it has nothing to do with the Pirates' disappointing loss in Durham last Saturday.

In fact, if university officials were banking on the sore subsiding after the initial hullabaloo died down over infringing on the Friday night turf of the state's high school teams, that wish took a direct hit with yesterday's report by Channel 9 sports anchor Brian Bailey that South Carolina high school officials, like some of their northern neighbors, are taking steps that would result in retribution against ECU.

What initially appeared as a no-brainer decision as the financial and exposure details gradually emerged on Bonesville.net and in other media outlets has slowly evolved into one of East Carolina's most questionable moves. With one firm handshake and a quick stroke of the pen, the bridges connecting Pirate football to its neighboring high school programs were torched.

That much was evident by the decisions of three — Williamston, Southern Durham, and High Point Central — to ban ECU recruiters from their campuses. Williamston has since lifted its ban, but the damage, as you might say, has been done.

According to the WNCT-TV report, high schools South of the Border are being encouraged by their governing body to adopt a similar policy, meaning it could be just a matter of time before talent-rich Virginia jumps on board the blackball movement.

At the center of this controversy, of course, is ECU athletic director Mike Hamrick's July decision to move the Pirates' November 2 showdown with Cincinnati to the first Friday night in December.

Quote:When news hit the press, the NCHSAA launched a PR war worthy of a gubernatorial race. Head honchos Charlie Adams and Dick Knox slung more mud on East Carolina than Duke fullback Alex Wade did on a 24-carry, 109-yard day.

The NCHSAA's "Dollars and Sense" campaign might be considered extreme when you consider its lack of recent public scrutiny towards the ACC's scheduling of early-season roundball tilts on the hallowed night. But in defense, Adams and Knox vow that's a battle they once fought, too, but finally threw in the towel when realizing the basketball-centric league would have its way.

In actuality, it would be inaccurate to label that stance by the NCHSAA as hypocritical, because there is one gigantic difference in these two situations — the ACC never promised a thing.

The more compelling storyline in this dilemma isn't the shattered trust between East Carolina and its football feeder system, though this could be the most damaging side effect. Front and center of it all is the increasingly strained relationship between Hamrick and head coach Steve Logan.

Logan is adamant in his disapproval of the move, citing the importance of preserving Friday nights for high schools to shine.

Quote:It's not a case of crying over spilt milk for Logan, who in his 11th season is the winningest coach in school history. For more than a decade he has worked the NC recruiting trails relentlessly, developing trust, building relationships with the state's high school coaches and cultivating a strategic recruiting base that has come to serve as the core of ECU's talent pool.

That trust is now being tried, and some of those relationships have been cut off indefinitely, perhaps for the long haul, while others have been stressed to the breaking point.

"If a player is good enough to play at East Carolina," said one high school athletic director, "then I'm sure we can find him another place to play."

Quote:All in all, you have to admit ole East Carolina alum Charlie Adams had a point. When you really sit down and think about it, all those ESPN dollars just don't make sense.

(03-06-2012 04:38 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  1) As long as NFL only has Thursday night games on the NFL network (and not on ESPN) then ESPN will continue to have Thursday night college football games.

(03-06-2012 04:38 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  2) Between the two states I've lived in NC and SC for most of my life, and I agree w/ Cat Daddy - Friday nights in the South are for High School (it's actually a pretty big deal). You can get away with the first week or two (before the HS season starts), but that's about all. HS playoffs end around the same time as the conference championship games. Bowl season is wide open.

(03-06-2012 04:38 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  3) No way would I accept being treated like the SEC's little brother -- ACC games need to be in Prime time on Saturday night! Perhaps wee need all ACC fans everywhere to call or write ESPN/ABC and let them know that we the consumer DEMAND more Saturday night ACC games!!!

(03-06-2012 04:38 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  4) I'd rather see Wednesday night games instead of Friday night; Monday night would be ideal, but ESPN already shows NFL on Monday night, so I doubt they'd be very interested (but you never know - nothing much on ESPN2 on Monday night, is there?)

(03-06-2012 05:06 PM)orangefan Wrote:  A couple of Wednesday games may be on the table as well. I'd bet that Syracuse would have more objection to playing these than Fridays.

(03-06-2012 05:16 PM)Hoquista Wrote:  

(03-06-2012 05:06 PM)orangefan Wrote:  A couple of Wednesday games may be on the table as well. I'd bet that Syracuse would have more objection to playing these than Fridays.

Please no Wednesday night games! When Pitt left the BE, I thought that was the end of that.