How come West Virginia was passed over by the ACC? They also had a good football team. They also fit the footprint.

That's an easy one...WVU has no TV market....and that overshadows everything inculding all the sense it would make to have Maryland, West Virginia, UVA and VT in the same conference and the fact that WVU has been a consistently better football program then BC over the last 20 yrs

-- From what I understand South Carolina and Maryland sponsered WVU for ACC membership in the early 60s...but the Mountaineers did not get enough votes mostly to do oppostion for Tobacco road (Duke played a bball game in Morgantown in the early 60s and had a lot of trouble getting in and out of West Virginia because of the primative road system the state had at the time)

-- Remember that the ACC didn't really want Virginia Tech either...TV markets were the major reason for expansion


Jackson

Jackson1011 Wrote:-- From what I understand South Carolina and Maryland sponsered WVU for ACC membership in the early 60s...expansion

I was always told South Carolina was one of the most vocal opponents to letting WVU in the ACC. Maybe your right, however.

Quote:I was always told South Carolina was one of the most vocal opponents to letting WVU in the ACC. Maybe your right, however.

-- Perhaps...my info is coming from Gale Catlett..who one night on his radio show went into a segment about how WVU did not get into the ACC yrs ago...I maybe wrong about USC..but I do remember him saying Duke was our most vocal opponet...Of couse Coach Catlett was known to "stretch" the truth sometimes

-- but I guess the bottom line is WVU basically begged to get into the ACC from that league's inspetion to the late 60s....by that time the Mountaineers had outgrown the southern conference and left to become an Eastern indy


Jackson

Ironic South Carolina would block WVU's joining the ACC then move their happy butts to the SEC. There are a lot of Ironies to the way things have shaken out. South Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Florida St have all been affliated with Cincy, Memphis and Louisville in one conference or another.....The Metro Conference I think.

Actually they took our spot in the SEC as well....the fight for the 12th spot in that league game down to WVU and USC....I think a lot of people on our end were shocked we didn't get the call condidering the Mountaineers had just played for the national championship when all of this went down and at that point South Carolina had never won a bowl game in its history...



Jackson

cardtopper Wrote:Ironic South Carolina would block WVU's joining the ACC then move their happy butts to the SEC.

Just so no one is confused about how South Carolina "moved their happy butts to the SEC:"
South Carolina left the ACC in 1970/71 after griping about the academic requirements, furious that Clemson was siding with Duke and UNC in maintaining admission standards above the NCAA's. They were an independent from then until the SEC tapped them up in 1992. They enjoyed 6 bowl bids during their time as an independent but as Jackson said, had yet to win one. Their regular seasons were rather spotty as well with coaches such as Sparky Woods, Morrison and Galen(?).

Their support, however, has been undying. Very similar to WVU: Loyal and rabid. From what I recall the SEC turned to South Carolina in part with hopes of stabbing at the ACC (read: Clemson and North Carolina) and dipping into the rather fertile recruiting in those parts. There may also have been perception that the WVU market was either already accessible to Tenn and Kentucky and/or too aligned with the northeast. Gamecock fans, however, had begun pining for the SEC since leaving the ACC. IIRC, UGA favored adding SC as an easy, in conference substitute for Clemson. UF, Bama and Auburn favored them. Everyone else may have simply been, relatively speaking, indifferent.