(05-24-2020 05:41 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(05-23-2020 11:34 PM)Statefan Wrote:  1. How did the ACC goof on WVa if adding WVa was an existential no for UVa, MD, Duke, GT, and Wake Forest? Those 5 didn't want them for academic and social reasons.

2. Surely you don't mean the right combination to control the Northeastern US includes Rutgers and West Virginia do you?

3. People seem to forget that MD didn't want Penn State in the ACC for decades and that MD screwed the rest of the conference vis a vie Penn State back in 2012.

The thing about Maryland is, they aligned well with core members and then enough happened over time to really irk them. It would be one thing if they were consistently like FSU, in wanting football power schools. I don't know what or who they wanted, and maybe that's simply it: they didn't want expansion at all, just more money and the ability to see their old mates more frequently. Yeah, they've done their share of damage in the ACC. And set apart from the northeast.

I think the internal disdain for WVU is either or both overstated and hypocritical. This conference did so much to avoid Miami for years, until it became too evident Miami football could take away from the ACC's success. Even if academically, UMFL favors other ACC private institutions, it didn't extend to its football program, and basketball was pretty much invisible and pretty much useless to the conference. But, now they're together. And I believe there are internal schisms still over Notre Dame's arrangement, too.

It's a conference with decisions that haven't aged well all the time, but are what they are.

Does WVU define the northeast? No (and an OH-H***-NO for Rutgers). But, it becomes very hard to ignore WVU games versus Pitt, Cuse, VT, and others up in these parts.

Like your analogy of Miami (athletics) to WVU. The ACC historically was a very small tight-knit group with a few anti-expansion schools. There was a lot of hesitation on Miami...but the need for a football brand eventually prevailed. WVU would be a good bridge between the Northeast market and Tidewater core. The rivalries with Pitt and VT would be exciting football products.

Given that UMD (who was traditionally anti-expansion) left and Pitt is now a member, WVU very likely has the votes for membership into the ACC. Nevertheless, currently the ACC does not need to expand and WVU already has a P5 home.

With regards to the ACC being “a conference with decisions that haven’t aged well all the time”, I think similar problems occur with every P5 conference expansion. By definition, expansion changes the core of a conference. Because the original ACC was so small with a basketball orientation, its transformation is faster and greater. The fact that football drives 80% of college athletic revenue and the ACC is a P5 conference means that the ACC expansion decisions have actually aged well. Unless you are interested in relegating the ACC to a non-Power conference status, your assertion on previous expansion decisions is way-off base.