(08-13-2019 01:18 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(08-13-2019 01:16 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(08-13-2019 12:43 PM)NBPirate Wrote:  

(08-13-2019 10:07 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(08-12-2019 06:18 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  If the stars aligned differently, ECU would have been in the Big East in the 90's or later. They never had (and still don't) have a chance at the ACC because of the saturation of schools in their state and neighboring states who are already there but they could have been in the Big East and carried their weight, including some on the field.

How? Louisville, and arguably Cincinnati, were ahead of them even in 1990.

The aforementioned, plus USF and UCF, and even Temple were ahead of them in 2003.

Plus, UConn and Villanova had a green flag, so they were ahead of ECTTS too.

Dude, this shows little knowledge. In 1990, Cincinnati hadn't been to a bowl game in 40 years. USF's program was 6 years old in 2003 and UCF was in their first year as a I-A school.

Ridiculous assertions. In 1992, ECU won the Peach Bowl and finished the season ranked 9th.

In 2003, Louisville, Cincinnati, and USF joined the Big East. The only other football playing options listed in the Big East meetings were UCF and readmitting Temple.

In the mid-90’s, UConn and Villanova were given a golden ticket. UConn cashed theirs in. UConn had talked about joining 1-A as early as the Big East announced a football conference; they would have been chosen over ECU.

1990 is you best argument, but I haven’t seen anything about ECU being on any shortlist, in fact, the only reason they were in the room as the 16th team for the Metro mega-supersized conference is because Penn State withdrew.

I’m pretty sure Louisville and Cincinnati were both surveyed by the Big East for football-only membership, ECU may have been too, but I still think Louisville was in the best position.

This. ECU didn't even make the initial cut for Conference USA. The conference began play in 1995, ECU joined as football only in 1997. The weren't in as a full sports member until 2001.

ECU didn’t even get a full sports Big East invite in November 2012 while Tulane got an all sports invite. I remember their fans saying on the C-USA board back then that the CAA was the better option to park basketball/Olympic sports and the A-Sun as the least desirable option.

I don’t know if the Big East rejected them multiple times based on their directional name, location or academics. It’s a shame because they could’ve pull their own weight in the Big East and probably basketball could’ve improved with better competition. As for the AAC, it’s in ECU’s best interest if Old Dominion or Charlotte don’t get the call to replace UConn especially ODU.