Having ECU in a weaker league might end up accidentally making us stronger, as we pound on the weaker teams, rack up several 9 to 12 win seasons and start keeping more NC recruits in-state.

Well SJ 40yrs ago we were in the Southern Conference with
Richmond
VMI
William and Mary
George Washington
The Citadel
App St
Davidson
Furman

We all know you hate the new CUSA line up, hate Terry Holland and Steve Ballard and think the world has come to an end because ODU and Charlotte have joined CUSA. The decision has been made and the world moves on. Still more pieces to move around as expansion concentrates the power of College Football to the Big 4 and maybe the ACC if they survive. ECU like a lot of other schools is in survival mode. ODU and Charlotte are not going to make or break ECU Football. Not sure what the other options of CUSA were other then adding Middle Tn St, Western KY, etc..

All I know is that Southern Miss is still with us, Marshall is still with us, Tulsa is still with us...so there will be decent Football played in CUSA. LaTech will be good, UNT&FIU have potential etc.. If you hate it that much just save your money and find another hobby other then ECU Football.

Something tells me that these additions were a "conspiracy" by Holland to get him closer to realizing his grand plan of an eastern league for ECU. He seems very positive about the ODU and Charlotte additions, and he's already got selling points of the interstate and border-war type of rivalries. Sure, schools like Louisville and Cincinnati were generally good partners, but ECU fans have been kicking and screaming for more locality in this conference since 2005. I don't think CUSA could've invited a better match of schools to fulfill that quota IMO. But ATEOTD, i don't think ECU really misses a beat on the field or more importantly in fan interest. The key though, is that the ODU and Charlotte programs MUST grow. They cannot stagnate, if they grow, then the CUSA-east can really be something special for ECU and a treat for its fans.

I nominate StillJonesing and Tallgrass for the Posters Hall of Fame. Each one in their own right deserves it.

The additions to the conference were good choices. I support Ballard and Holland.
To the posters calling them the anti-Leo. Just pitiful. There is no way of knowing what decisions
Leo Jenkins would have made in the current landscape..and to keep harping over and over is just silly.

(05-20-2012 02:37 PM)gs_pirate Wrote:  The additions to the conference were good choices. I support Ballard and Holland.
To the posters calling them the anti-Leo. Just pitiful. There is no way of knowing what decisions
Leo Jenkins would have made in the current landscape..and to keep harping over and over is just silly.

Well Leo did try to do everything he could to separate ourselves from those types of schools in the late 70s. I don't know what he would do now, but I don't believe this was his vision of ECUs future.

(05-20-2012 02:43 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(05-20-2012 02:37 PM)gs_pirate Wrote:  The additions to the conference were good choices. I support Ballard and Holland.
To the posters calling them the anti-Leo. Just pitiful. There is no way of knowing what decisions
Leo Jenkins would have made in the current landscape..and to keep harping over and over is just silly.

Well Leo did try to do everything he could to separate ourselves from those types of schools in the late 70s. I don't know what he would do now, but I don't believe this was his vision of ECUs future.

What would he have done ? Today..2012 ?

What are some specific things ECU or Holland could have done to be in a "better" situation right now?

I love Leo Jenkins as much as the next ECU Pirate fan and probably more because I have actually studied ECU History. With that said Leo did what almost every other leader did back then and that was take their programs Independent. He was not exactly pushing the envelope by doing it. We joined the following programs as Independents...

Florida St.
Miami
Penn St.
Pitt
Louisville
Memphis
South Carolina
Rutgers
Virginia Tech
Southern Miss
Syracuse
WVU
Temple
UNLV
Boston College
Georgia Tech
etc..etc..etc...

Leo was not so much trying to seperate ECU from the Southern Conference but launch ECU's Football program like a lot of other Football Programs were doing at the time. He was not dealing with the Big 4 Conferences and even the ACC was not exactly a powerhouse at the time. He definitely was not dealing with TV Executives who are helping shape the Conferences we see today based on TV market size of the schools who are moving around. Terry Holland is not trying to drag us back to the Southern Conference days because that is a slap in the face of great Football programs like Southern Miss and Tulsa who are far and above anything in the Southern Conference we played back in the day as well as Marshall, LaTech, FIU, UNT etc.
If ODU and Charlotte can sink ECU's Football program then we don't deserve to compete IMO. We come across as a bunch of whiny biatches because things did not go our way. Nothing we can do about expansion being about TV markets. Our fans demanded a schedule that prevented us from ever doing what Boise St. did. We want to take on the biggest and the baddest, thump our chest about it and usually get curb stomped on the field in the process. It sold season tickets and built us a new endzone but it did not get us into the Big East. Now everybody is an expert on what we should do expansion wise or what schools are going to kill ECU going forward like ODU, Charlotte or ASU one day.

"That does not mean that the road ahead is paved with television dollars that guarantee instant success in any sport." - Terry Holland

Interesting comment to have made. TH is building a regional conference under the CUSA name to reduce travel costs in line with reduced TV money in the future? Sounds like he is preparing the Pirate faithful for a retreat.

(05-20-2012 02:04 PM)Texas2Step Wrote:  Something tells me that these additions were a "conspiracy" by Holland to get him closer to realizing his grand plan of an eastern league for ECU. He seems very positive about the ODU and Charlotte additions, and he's already got selling points of the interstate and border-war type of rivalries. Sure, schools like Louisville and Cincinnati were generally good partners, but ECU fans have been kicking and screaming for more locality in this conference since 2005. I don't think CUSA could've invited a better match of schools to fulfill that quota IMO. But ATEOTD, i don't think ECU really misses a beat on the field or more importantly in fan interest. The key though, is that the ODU and Charlotte programs MUST grow. They cannot stagnate, if they grow, then the CUSA-east can really be something special for ECU and a treat for its fans.

I was thinking along the same lines when I heard the radio interview from the ECU chancellor that mentioned they want an eventual 18-team CUSA. A 9-team division is basically a conference all together as it leave no room for any crossover games. So basically CUSA would have a Texas conference and an Eastern conference with no crossover games, regional travel, and a shared CUSA championship between the Texas conference champion and the Eastern conference champion.

Then the winner would meet the MWC in a bowl game.

What's pitiful is ECU fans and Leaders supporting the same sad ideas ECUaccforever exposed for years. 8 years ago when he had his website dedicated to getting ECU in a conference and competing with schools like App our fans called him nuts. Now the anti Jenkins has brain washed you all to the point you just roll over. He wants to surround us with the same kind of schools if not worse versions as Croney and the sheep just follow. It's amazing how brainwashed the fanbase has become in a short time.

CUSA didn't have to go to 14 teams and completely water down the product with startups from the FCS. We could have added La Tech and FIU and stayed at 10 like the MWC and still resembled a D1 conference, but our idiot leaders are the ones pushing to go to 18 and add more schools all around us like App and Delaware to farther undercut us.

Our leaders are doing the very things ECUaccfoever pushed years ago, that's all that really needs to be said, and you sheep have let them They completely brainwashed you all into thinking it was a good thing to develop rivalries with D2 schools and give away the last recruiting advantages we had earned decades ago from schools we had passed by.

enjoy living in the past.

Sj acts like we have any other feasible choice at this point.

(05-20-2012 03:07 PM)StillJonesing Wrote:  What's pitiful is ECU fans and Leaders supporting the same sad ideas ECUaccforever exposed for years. 8 years ago when he had his website dedicated to getting ECU in a conference and competing with schools like App our fans called him nuts. Now the anti Jenkins has brain washed you all to the point you just roll over. He wants to surround us with the same kind of schools if not worse versions as Croney and the sheep just follow. It's amazing how brainwashed the fanbase has become in a short time.

CUSA didn't have to go to 14 teams and completely water down the product with startups from the FCS. We could have added La Tech and FIU and stayed at 10 like the MWC and still resembled a D1 conference, but our idiot leaders are the ones pushing to go to 18 and add more schools all around us like App and Delaware to farther undercut us.

Our leaders are doing the very things ECUaccfoever pushed years ago, that's all that really needs to be said, and you sheep have let them They completely brainwashed you all into thinking it was a good thing to develop rivalries with D2 schools and give away the last recruiting advantages we had earned decades ago from schools we had passed by.

I don't remember being consulted on who we should or shouldn't add.

(05-20-2012 03:07 PM)StillJonesing Wrote:  What's pitiful is ECU fans and Leaders supporting the same sad ideas ECUaccforever exposed for years. 8 years ago when he had his website dedicated to getting ECU in a conference and competing with schools like App our fans called him nuts. Now the anti Jenkins has brain washed you all to the point you just roll over. He wants to surround us with the same kind of schools if not worse versions as Croney and the sheep just follow. It's amazing how brainwashed the fanbase has become in a short time.

CUSA didn't have to go to 14 teams and completely water down the product with startups from the FCS. We could have added La Tech and FIU and stayed at 10 like the MWC and still resembled a D1 conference, but our idiot leaders are the ones pushing to go to 18 and add more schools all around us like App and Delaware to farther undercut us.

Our leaders are doing the very things ECUaccfoever pushed years ago, that's all that really needs to be said, and you sheep have let them They completely brainwashed you all into thinking it was a good thing to develop rivalries with D2 schools and give away the last recruiting advantages we had earned decades ago from schools we had passed by.

SJ, I don't know you at all... but you need a drink OR you need to put one down. Relax, dude...

I care about ECU in all regards; that said, I am not thrilled with this situation at this time. However, I am excited about what it could become. ODU (in particular) and Charlotte will both be great conference partners in the long run. Both have good basketball programs and both will support football; in fact, I will go so far as to say that they will help us expand our stadium again due to the amount of fans they will bring to town. Save this quote if you like and remind me of it if I am wrong in 10 years...

One more thing: did it ever occur to you that this move was strategic on our part? We are not going to the SEC, B12 or the ACC at any point in our future. I also do not see how on earth there will only be 4-16-team conferences... 64 teams will not a majority make in the near future, and the "haves" will need that majority in order to maintain their power and prevent Congressional involvement (which would happen because of the tax dollars spent at these schools). With that said, ECU, ODU and Charlotte may be better off working together to meet our our mutual best interest in the long run.

Let's say that FSU, Clemson, GT and ND go to the B12. The SEC may counter with the additions of VPI and NCSU (if the state legislatures allowed them to do so). Should this happen, I could easily see UNC, UVA, Duke and Maryland moving to the B10. This would actually be the best-case scenario for the BE, but it most likely would not happen... most likely, Rutgers, Temple and UCONN would go to the ACC (or UL/Cinci). If that was the case, the BE would look like this:

UL
UC
Memphis
UCF
USF
Boise State
SDSU
Navy
Houston
SMU

At this point, I have to think that the BE Catholic Schools would say "to hell with this" and split. The football schools could then (1) seek membership in CUSA or the MWC ot (2) start a new deal for themselves. I predict that #2 would occur... and when it does, it may just be that ECU, ODU and Charlotte have more power together than they do seperately.

Sheesh!!! I can't believe you guys!!! Ok, first, it was, "we are sooo leaving if you don't add schools closer to us like ODU, App State, etc. This conference is waaayyy too Texas-based!!" Now that ODU and UNCC have been added (UNCC has the basketball pedigree that we so desperately need!!!), it's "I can't believe we turned back the clock forty years ago and wound up back in the Southern Conference. When we can leave this minor league???!!" I really feel for poor Terry Holland; the man has done everything he can do, and has yet to see an iota of appreciation for it!! Hey, if you guys don't want TH, send him to Hattiesburg, and you'll have some very grateful USM fans!!!

(05-20-2012 04:41 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  Sheesh!!! I can't believe you guys!!! Ok, first, it was, "we are sooo leaving if you don't add schools closer to us like ODU, App State, etc. This conference is waaayyy too Texas-based!!" Now that ODU and UNCC have been added (UNCC has the basketball pedigree that we so desperately need!!!), it's "I can't believe we turned back the clock forty years ago and wound up back in the Southern Conference. When we can leave this minor league???!!" I really feel for poor Terry Holland; the man has done everything he can do, and has yet to see an iota of appreciation for it!! Hey, if you guys don't want TH, send him to Hattiesburg, and you'll have some very grateful USM fans!!!

Don't let one poster with a fixation on sheep ( guessing maybe its a subliminal profession for all things Ewe-NC.)


Terry Holland and Steve Ballards have provided fine leadership to East Carolina in the past several yrs.

(05-20-2012 04:41 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  Sheesh!!! I can't believe you guys!!! Ok, first, it was, "we are sooo leaving if you don't add schools closer to us like ODU, App State, etc. This conference is waaayyy too Texas-based!!" Now that ODU and UNCC have been added (UNCC has the basketball pedigree that we so desperately need!!!), it's "I can't believe we turned back the clock forty years ago and wound up back in the Southern Conference. When we can leave this minor league???!!" I really feel for poor Terry Holland; the man has done everything he can do, and has yet to see an iota of appreciation for it!! Hey, if you guys don't want TH, send him to Hattiesburg, and you'll have some very grateful USM fans!!!

This fundamentally gets back to we don't want to be here anymore, but are stuck here. The league can't add anyone that's going to make most ECU fans happy, because those teams aren't joining C-USA. Not an insult towards USM, as you guys don't deserve to be stuck with this hot garbage either. The league a decade from now might be good, but it's going to suck in the short term, and then the large market additions if they ever become good will probably get taken.

(05-20-2012 04:41 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  Sheesh!!! I can't believe you guys!!! Ok, first, it was, "we are sooo leaving if you don't add schools closer to us like ODU, App State, etc. This conference is waaayyy too Texas-based!!" Now that ODU and UNCC have been added (UNCC has the basketball pedigree that we so desperately need!!!), it's "I can't believe we turned back the clock forty years ago and wound up back in the Southern Conference. When we can leave this minor league???!!" I really feel for poor Terry Holland; the man has done everything he can do, and has yet to see an iota of appreciation for it!! Hey, if you guys don't want TH, send him to Hattiesburg, and you'll have some very grateful USM fans!!!

I can see how it looks like our fans are bipolar, but those are actually two separate factions within the ECU fan base, and they have existed ever since Holland has been here.