I kind of do and don't get the hate.

Everyone has been boo hooing our travel across the footprint. Everyone was wanting to have as good and if not more TV$$$. Everyone admits that empty stadiums don't look good on tv. And everyone wanted to get some better basketball.

So they get ODU, FIU, La Tech, Charlotte, North Texas, and UTSA.

FIU has been improving....
La Tech is good
Charlotte was a former member
UNT keeps the Texas market we already had.
ODU has solid hoops and fills their stadium up on game day
UTSA has a good market and good attendance.

I mean, we basically addressed all our needs with these 6 additions. Lets be honest, the candidate pool wasn't great overall. Lets also be honest, how many WAC, MAC, or other SBC teams would have been better choices? AND WHO WOULD WANT TO COME? I did like the merger idea but in the end it was logistically and legally doomed.


I will say I am on record that I didn't like the call ups of ODU and UTSA to D1a football..... and Charlotte as a starter program BUT... that said they could really sunrise us all.

If everyone could set their egos, red, blue, purple, green, and gold glasses aside; isn't it pretty clear that the obvious winners in this shuffle are the start-up FBS football programs? They've been given a pass to bypass the traditional Sunbelt/WAC/MAC path to a top 7 football conference.

Each of the legacy CUSA programs will be in a football conference in a year that will be weaker than it was the prior year, and will have some headwinds in rebuilding its strength.

CUSA and the BE (with whatever the final membership becomes) will remain viable and will continue to work to build the strongest conference possible. Both have been around for significant periods and overcome adversity, raids, etc. They will do it again.

Every athletic director, just like Terry Holland, can and probably has articulated the up-side to their new situation....and there is potential up-side for all of us legacy members. However, there is also some risk for all of our situations, which should mostly obvious for all. None of us are in perfect situations.

Peace

TH good, BE bad.......cuz Leo says so.

Terry has done a great job here at ECU. I suppose everybody has an opinion on what "great" means,but as momma use to say, "You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip". Terry has played the hand that he and the rest of the Pirate Nation was dealt and to some degree, we ought to be glad we're not a NMSU or an Idaho. We sucked in basketball before Terry ever got here. Terry can't make people move to Greenville or Pitt County to get the market bigger. So we go with the next best option. If we didn't add ODU and Charlotte, who would we have added. Another Texas team, another Sunbelt team further away. At least now we can still have great rivalries with USM and Marshall and the core of CUSA is still together "good or not". I look forward to seeing the new schools come in and make some noise. We preach that 50,000 is important in the stands versus other teams and empty stadiums and now we have a chance to carry 20,000 or more to away games at Charlotte and Tidewater. I like seeing the Pirates play and win against the "big teams", but I'm gonna watch and support them no matter who they're playing.

(05-18-2012 09:14 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  ...but you want to know who has done a GREAT JOB?

Find the AD at UNCC, who's program will now EQUAL ECU's as a conf member in CUSA without even PLAYING A DOWN OF FOOTBALL!

I think a lot of Charlotte fans will disagree with you on that. They will say that it's good our AD got us this opportunity but she messed up the opportunity years ago by not adding football sooner. Most of our fans believe that if we had football before 2005 we would have not gone to the A10 and might be in a better conference than C-USA now.

The problem is, short term this sucks. We've got FCS/I-AA schools coming in to water us down. The "dominos" aren't exactly stable either.

Make no mistake, I think FIU, UNT, and La Tech are very solid additions. They'll compete immediately for championships and I can't wait for the first USM/FIU game in Miami.

Competitively, our bottom is rock bottom and our top just squeaked into the top 20 after a long absence. Long term looks good, but is that even realistic with the probability of more moves?

Does anyone know what he meant by this statement:

"Add in the loss of the West Virginia/Pitt border war with BOTH leaving the Big East and you almost have to believe that Dr. Jenkins was watching over the Pirates and somehow ensuring that ECU did not fall into the trap of joining a conference that could never provide us with the necessary cornerstone rivalries to succeed at the highest level."

(05-18-2012 09:26 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  Does anyone know what he meant by this statement:

"Add in the loss of the West Virginia/Pitt border war with BOTH leaving the Big East and you almost have to believe that Dr. Jenkins was watching over the Pirates and somehow ensuring that ECU did not fall into the trap of joining a conference that could never provide us with the necessary cornerstone rivalries to succeed at the highest level."

Pimping for traditional rivalries like Duke/UNC, UNC/State, ect.... Those kinds of rivalries draw attendance and media.

(05-18-2012 09:28 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:26 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  Does anyone know what he meant by this statement:

"Add in the loss of the West Virginia/Pitt border war with BOTH leaving the Big East and you almost have to believe that Dr. Jenkins was watching over the Pirates and somehow ensuring that ECU did not fall into the trap of joining a conference that could never provide us with the necessary cornerstone rivalries to succeed at the highest level."

Pimping for traditional rivalries like Duke/UNC, UNC/State, ect.... Those kinds of rivalries draw attendance and media.

The problem is will the media give a crap about ECU vs Charlotte or ECU vs ODU? I hope the answer is yes, but that's far from some given.

(05-18-2012 09:22 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  The problem is, short term this sucks. We've got FCS/I-AA schools coming in to water us down. The "dominos" aren't exactly stable either.

Make no mistake, I think FIU, UNT, and La Tech are very solid additions. They'll compete immediately for championships and I can't wait for the first USM/FIU game in Miami.

Competitively, our bottom is rock bottom and our top just squeaked into the top 20 after a long absence. Long term looks good, but is that even realistic with the probability of more moves?

The FCS schools being brought in don't even start football until 2015. They have three years to recruit athletes to compete. I have no doubt that ODU, UTSA will be ready from day one.

(05-18-2012 09:22 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  The problem is, short term this sucks. We've got FCS/I-AA schools coming in to water us down. The "dominos" aren't exactly stable either.

Make no mistake, I think FIU, UNT, and La Tech are very solid additions. They'll compete immediately for championships and I can't wait for the first USM/FIU game in Miami.

Competitively, our bottom is rock bottom and our top just squeaked into the top 20 after a long absence. Long term looks good, but is that even realistic with the probability of more moves?

A realist would ask one question. How many moves are left? The B12 raiding ACC is nothing but a stupid pipe dream. Pac12 is only interested in B12 programs and they couldn't pull that off. SEC, Big East and ACC are at 14 members.

Point being, we're hitting the point of diminishing returns for the Power 5.

Also, how many things in life DON'T suck for the short term? I suppose it should be easy for USM to run the table in CUSA for the next few years.

(05-18-2012 09:52 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:22 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  The problem is, short term this sucks. We've got FCS/I-AA schools coming in to water us down. The "dominos" aren't exactly stable either.

Make no mistake, I think FIU, UNT, and La Tech are very solid additions. They'll compete immediately for championships and I can't wait for the first USM/FIU game in Miami.

Competitively, our bottom is rock bottom and our top just squeaked into the top 20 after a long absence. Long term looks good, but is that even realistic with the probability of more moves?

A realist would ask one question. How many moves are left? The B12 raiding ACC is nothing but a stupid pipe dream. Pac12 is only interested in B12 programs and they couldn't pull that off. SEC, Big East and ACC are at 14 members.

Point being, we're hitting the point of diminishing returns for the Power 5.

Yes but just like it went from the Power 6 to the Power 5, the next move is for it to go to the Power 4. I think the end goal for some people is a new division of CFB that excludes even more schools (schools that were a part of the "haves" this last 15 or so years.

(05-18-2012 09:38 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  
At the end of the day winning is all that matters.,....

No doubt that's important...but $$$ seem to be the real #1 item today in collegiate sports.

First item looked at for potential membership is:

1) How much $$$ can you help bring in via new TV $$$ and bowl agreements?

Down the list...other items will include:

2) Do your teams win?

Winning, sadly for some, is secondary because winning alone doesn't guarantee anything these days (in regards to future conf invites).

(05-18-2012 09:57 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:38 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  
At the end of the day winning is all that matters.,....

No doubt that's important...but $$$ seem to be the real #1 item today in collegiate sports.

First item looked at for potential membership is:

1) How much $$$ can you help bring in via new TV $$$ and bowl agreements?

Down the list...other items will include:

2) Do your teams win?

Winning, sadly for some, is secondary because winning alone doesn't guarantee anything these days (in regards to future conf invites).

I don't mean to single you out because this sentiment is everywhere right now but frankly it is BS. At the end of the day we are still talking about college football. As far as I know they haven't yet renamed it college conference realignment. Yes, just about every school out there is trying to position themselves to be in the best conference possible but there has to be and end goal and I don't believe that it is making money. Programs want more money for better facilities etc, so they can field better teams, so they can win championships. It's not as though these programs are just stashing tons of money in off shore accounts for a grand retirement or something.

Programs are looking for advantages wherever they can find them. Money is a big one. Illegal recruiting practices is a big one. But at the end of the day it is about winning.

For an AD and School president, yes maybe conference realignment is THE goal that they are focusing on. For coaches, players, and fans the goal is still winning games and ultimately championships. As a fan I don't give a rats arse as to how much TV money we are getting other than the fact that it could help us win games.

On these boards it has become more of a competition over who's program will get the most money more than who has the most wins and I guarantee that isn't the feeling in the stands on Saturdays.

/rant

(05-18-2012 09:33 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:28 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:26 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  Does anyone know what he meant by this statement:

"Add in the loss of the West Virginia/Pitt border war with BOTH leaving the Big East and you almost have to believe that Dr. Jenkins was watching over the Pirates and somehow ensuring that ECU did not fall into the trap of joining a conference that could never provide us with the necessary cornerstone rivalries to succeed at the highest level."

Pimping for traditional rivalries like Duke/UNC, UNC/State, ect.... Those kinds of rivalries draw attendance and media.

The problem is will the media give a crap about ECU vs Charlotte or ECU vs ODU? I hope the answer is yes, but that's far from some given.

We'll definately get more publicity in Charlotte and SE VA newspapers. I'd still expect the News and Disturber to focus on the Little 4.

(05-18-2012 10:06 PM)TheEastisPurple Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:57 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:38 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  
At the end of the day winning is all that matters.,....

No doubt that's important...but $$$ seem to be the real #1 item today in collegiate sports.

First item looked at for potential membership is:

1) How much $$$ can you help bring in via new TV $$$ and bowl agreements?

Down the list...other items will include:

2) Do your teams win?

Winning, sadly for some, is secondary because winning alone doesn't guarantee anything these days (in regards to future conf invites).

I don't mean to single you out because this sentiment is everywhere right now but frankly it is BS. At the end of the day we are still talking about college football. As far as I know they haven't yet renamed it college conference realignment. Yes, just about every school out there is trying to position themselves to be in the best conference possible but there has to be and end goal and I don't believe that it is making money. Programs want more money for better facilities etc, so they can field better teams, so they can win championships. It's not as though these programs are just stashing tons of money in off shore accounts for a grand retirement or something.

Programs are looking for advantages wherever they can find them. Money is a big one. Illegal recruiting practices is a big one. But at the end of the day it is about winning.

For an AD and School president, yes maybe conference realignment is THE goal that they are focusing on. For coaches, players, and fans the goal is still winning games and ultimately championships. As a fan I don't give a rats arse as to how much TV money we are getting other than the fact that it could help us win games.

On these boards it has become more of a competition over who's program will get the most money more than who has the most wins and I guarantee that isn't the feeling in the stands on Saturdays.

/rant

The fact that this discussion is taking place defines the current sad state of college athletics to fans like all of us on this board.

(05-18-2012 07:36 PM)the1sttransport Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 07:32 PM)ecumbh1999 Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 07:26 PM)the1sttransport Wrote:  The athletic director of ECU... just claimed that due to the protection of a former Pirate president's spirit ECU thankfully did not get invited into a situation that award them far more money, publicity, and strength of schedule, because they now have a rivalry with a 1-aa school? One they could've scheduled home/homes with anyway?

I couldn't have read that correctly.

No, he didn't say that and your being arse. Par for the course with UCF talking about TH. Atleast, he didn't get shown the door with the NCAA beathing down the school's neck. BTW, how is Tribble doing these days?

Tribble was a rat. Embarrassment. Total joke of a representative.

EDIT: Yes, that's EXACTLY what he said:

"you almost have to believe that Dr. Jenkins was watching over the Pirates and somehow ensuring that ECU did not fall into the trap of joining a conference that could never provide us with the necessary cornerstone rivalries to succeed at the highest level."

In fact, upon further inspection...

"Dr. Jenkins was watching over the Pirates and somehow ensuring that ECU did not fall into the trap of joining a conference"

Listen, if you honestly believe this situation is a good one more power to you and I hope the Pirates succeed. But my goodness, your athletic director is directly involving a former president's spiritual involvement in the Big East's decision not to issue an invitation. He's officially "loon" status.

Same guy that publicly petioned the Big East for an invite. Same guy who would jump all over a Big East invite if it came tomorrow.

If it wasn't for Dr. Leo Jenkins ECU would still be ECC and under 10,000 enrollment with no Med, Dental, Nursing, Allied Heath, Sport Med. schools. Our FB program would be in the Socon and Ficklen Stadium would still only hold 20,000. Without LEO East Carolina UNIVERSITY would not exist. Greenville would be small town of 40,000 to 50,000 people, not the 87,000 we have today. Pitt hospital would be no better than any of the other area hospitals and the nearest level 1 trumpha center would be 83 miles away in Raleigh. You could kiss the 3.5 billion dollars worth of economic impact the ECU has had on North Carolina's economy goodbye. It took 11 years, but he beat UNC and proved them wrong time and again. To all ECU fans Dr. Leo Jenkins is the man the made ECU what it is today and is the measuring stick for all that have followed.





http://media.lib.ecu.edu/archives/pr_dis...c2c7967396

ecumbh1999, thanks for posting that video. I have watched it literally dozens of times. It gets me as pumped up about ECU as any football hype video.

(05-18-2012 11:38 PM)TheEastisPurple Wrote:  ecumbh1999, thanks for posting that video. I have watched it literally dozens of times. It gets me as pumped up about ECU as any football hype video.

Yeah I often wonder what Leo would do in today's landscape. Either way without Leo we essentially don't exist as a university. Actually without Leo UNCC might not be what it is today, as he pushed hard for them to become a 4 year college. He did more to benefit the entire state of North Carolina than he will ever get credit for, and had to fight UNC and the biased media every step of the way.

(05-18-2012 10:06 PM)TheEastisPurple Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:57 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(05-18-2012 09:38 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  
At the end of the day winning is all that matters.,....

No doubt that's important...but $$$ seem to be the real #1 item today in collegiate sports.

First item looked at for potential membership is:

1) How much $$$ can you help bring in via new TV $$$ and bowl agreements?

Down the list...other items will include:

2) Do your teams win?

Winning, sadly for some, is secondary because winning alone doesn't guarantee anything these days (in regards to future conf invites).

I don't mean to single you out because this sentiment is everywhere right now but frankly it is BS. At the end of the day we are still talking about college football. As far as I know they haven't yet renamed it college conference realignment. Yes, just about every school out there is trying to position themselves to be in the best conference possible but there has to be and end goal and I don't believe that it is making money. Programs want more money for better facilities etc, so they can field better teams, so they can win championships. It's not as though these programs are just stashing tons of money in off shore accounts for a grand retirement or something.

Programs are looking for advantages wherever they can find them. Money is a big one. Illegal recruiting practices is a big one. But at the end of the day it is about winning.

For an AD and School president, yes maybe conference realignment is THE goal that they are focusing on. For coaches, players, and fans the goal is still winning games and ultimately championships. As a fan I don't give a rats arse as to how much TV money we are getting other than the fact that it could help us win games.

On these boards it has become more of a competition over who's program will get the most money more than who has the most wins and I guarantee that isn't the feeling in the stands on Saturdays.

/rant

Agree with virtually everything you wrote...but since conf expansion/relignment is the hot topic...the $$$$ point of view is mostly seen at the conf level, especially in regards to new TV contracts, which is "free" money to membered schools (i.e. no expenses associated with those revenues).

Right or wrong...their is a MONEY grab going on...heck, Pitt and WVU just left a situation where they were conf members (and rivals), yet those 2 schools right near each other decided to join DIFFERENT conferences instead of remaining "conference mates"...all because of one thing, $$$$$$$$$$$.

Heck, UNCC, which has never played a DOWN of football, just received an invite to join CUSA over some SOLID Div I-AA programs like Appalachian State, Delaware, James Madison, and UNCC was selected over even CURRENT Div I-A programs like FAU, MTSU, etc...

Doesn't make it right...its just is what it is, mostly about the $$$$$$$$$$$.