(02-10-2021 10:06 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  I honestly think the best days of ECU football are behind (the same applies to Southern Miss). The Pirates and Golden Eagles were a good option for any recruit who didn’t get a scholarship to an SEC, ACC and Big East school and wanted to play Div I-A football but now they’re surrounded by new FBS schools. In the case of ECU, the rise of UCF and having Old Dominion, Charlotte, Appalachian State, Liberty, Georgia State and Georgia Southern moving up and competing for the same recruits is not having a positive impact on the football program.

I don’t disagree. ECU was able to do what they did because of location and a better understanding of the operations than those in the Big East, especially south of the Mason-Dixon (or just south of Virginia). ECU was held down and out so those others could catch up and figure things out while still maintaining their advantage. Nothing screamed it more than the USF grab, imo. That “need” to be in Florida after UMFL left. ECU didn’t really ever need that because they had been making their trips with other ACC and SEC schools.

What concerns me is that this will likely happen to the ODU’s, App State’s, Coastal Carolina’s, and Georgia Southern’s too unless one/any gets a major conference invitation (never happening). The pecking order is set. Non-majors serve the majors. Once that transfer component is fully ratified, it won’t just be good coaches schools can count on losing any given good season. Whole teams and programs could get gutted. A fully functional intra-divisional development league.