Non-Big East Conference Realignment Thread v. 2017

[DeltaV]

I worry that if lightning does strike and we are presented with a great opportunity we won't be able to take it.

It's always a concern with Nova. Most of their football opportunities and conference alignments have fallen into their laps. Even then they have struggled with them. Nova needs to proactively seek the next path for football, and it is unlikely they have it in them to act.

Repeat is looking tougher. We might be to a 6 man rotation.

Why in God's name would Nova need to seek a 'next path' for football? They're a high-performing I-AA program, and thats all they should ever try to be. Nova is a basketball school; no one cares about football. When I was there, I went to 3 halves of football games, and that was just because we were forced to take swimming recruits; football tickets they would give away for free and we wouldn't go, on the other hand we still couldn't get tickets to some home basketball games and had to sneak in through the pool pump room to see a Nova basketball team which was barely NIT material at that time. We hosted a playoff football game once against our so-called rivals at UDel; the stands were 3/4 UDel fans.

There is no space for an on-campus D-IA sized stadium, and students aren't going to drive down to Chester (and we'd have to pay to expand that stadium, if I remember correctly) to watch Nova get abused by, well, whoever is in the MAC or whatever garbage conference we would play. Philly is Eagles country; PSU if you need a college team. My Dad called me the night they won the D-IAA championship; barely anyone in Philly even knew they were playing.

[Dave]

Why in God's name would Nova need to seek a 'next path' for football?

Because we spend MAC level money on football, $6M to $10M per year, with no upside in FCS. Yes, there is no interest in FCS football at Nova.

FBS at PPL / Talon addresses the key flaws with the program - Tailgating, decent facilities, and better competition.

We are assured a large financial loss with FCS football. With FBS football we can play at a higher level with more interest and a chance to reduce the loss on the bottom line.

[Dave]

UConn would be a good academic fit for the Big East. US News ranks UConn #60 in its National Rankings. That would put UConn 3rd in the Big East behind Georgetown and Nova.

Big East National Rankings: Georgetown #20, Nova #50, Marquette #86, Seton Hall #118, DePaul #124, St Johns #164
Big East Regional Rankings: Providence #1 (North), Creighton #1 (Midwest), Butler #2 (Midwest), Xavier #4 (Midwest)

Small Private P5 National Rankings: Stanford #5, Duke #8, Northwestern #12, Notre Dame #15, Vandy #15, Wake #27, BC #31, Miami #44, TCU#82,

Programs that have been discussed as expansion candidates (National Rankings): UConn #60, Saint Louis #96, Dayton #111, VCU #164, Wichita St (NR)

[kayako]

Why in God's name would Nova need to seek a 'next path' for football?

Because we spend MAC level money on football, $6M to $10M per year, with no upside in FCS. Yes, there is no interest in FCS football at Nova.

FBS at PPL / Talon addresses the key flaws with the program - Tailgating, decent facilities, and better competition.

We are assured a large financial loss with FCS football. With FBS football we can play at a higher level with more interest and a chance to reduce the loss on the bottom line.

'Next path' or not, yeah the football situation needs to be addressed. The initial cost of moving up to FBS is probably a lot of commitment, and I am not convinced it's worth it.

[DeltaV]

Why in God's name would Nova need to seek a 'next path' for football?

Because we spend MAC level money on football, $6M to $10M per year, with no upside in FCS. Yes, there is no interest in FCS football at Nova.

FBS at PPL / Talon addresses the key flaws with the program - Tailgating, decent facilities, and better competition.

We are assured a large financial loss with FCS football. With FBS football we can play at a higher level with more interest and a chance to reduce the loss on the bottom line.

PPL: no-one is going to go to Chester to watch Nova football. Students wouldn't walk the 100 yards from Sullivan or Sheehan to watch a game...they're not going to travel 20 miles to see a game held in the ghetto. Not sure where/what Talon is (maybe I've been out of the Delaware Valley for too long).

There is no interest in college football in general at Nova, nor in the Philly area. If there was, we would have made it work back when it was considered, and forced the (old) Big East to eventually take us. The only reason to pursue FBS football now would be to try and chase an ACC invitation. Chasing football money hasn't worked for anyone else; what factor would make it work for us?

[Dave]

'Next path' or not, yeah the football situation needs to be addressed. The initial cost of moving up to FBS is probably a lot of commitment, and I am not convinced it's worth it.

The funny thing is in real costs the move up is not that much. You could look at it as small incremental costs in the number of scholarships. Most of those costs in the extra scholarships are already present in the existing fixed costs.

Shift the games to PPL for better tailgating and facilities, maybe 4 or so games there. Play 1 or 2 games at the Linc each year, including a Temple match-up.

We've already added training facility upgrades with the west end zone project.

The incremental costs are relatively small, and the upside potential is relatively large. We are a national university with a poorly aligned football program.

[Dave]

PPL: no-one is going to go to Chester to watch Nova football. Students wouldn't walk the 100 yards from Sullivan or Sheehan to watch a game...they're not going to travel 20 miles to see a game held in the ghetto. Not sure where/what Talon is (maybe I've been out of the Delaware Valley for too long).

PPL (now called Talon): Have you been there??? It is not in a ghetto! Students swarm to Wells Fargo Center to tailgate in the middle of winter and they will go half the distance to tailgate on a beautiful fall day. As will alumni.

There is no interest in college football in general at Nova, nor in the Philly area. If there was, we would have made it work back when it was considered, and forced the (old) Big East to eventually take us.

Nova used to sell out Villanova Stadium until Nova went over the top in banning tailgating. The gameday experience on campus sucks. That is why students and alumni stay away.

The only reason to pursue FBS football now would be to try and chase an ACC invitation. Chasing football money hasn't worked for anyone else; what factor would make it work for us?

Nova is not getting an ACC invitation. I'd prefer we stay in the Big East. We need a credible home for football, not a P5 dream. The reason to move up is to have a credible program that has more interest and less financial loss. NOT to chase the ACC.

[crussomd]

UConn would be a good academic fit for the Big East. US News ranks UConn #60 in its National Rankings. That would put UConn 3rd in the Big East behind Georgetown and Nova.

Big East National Rankings: Georgetown #20, Nova #50, Marquette #86, Seton Hall #118, DePaul #124, St Johns #164
Big East Regional Rankings: Providence #1 (North), Creighton #1 (Midwest), Butler #2 (Midwest), Xavier #4 (Midwest)

Small Private P5 National Rankings: Stanford #5, Duke #8, Northwestern #12, Notre Dame #15, Vandy #15, Wake #27, BC #31, Miami #44, TCU#82,

Programs that have been discussed as expansion candidates (National Rankings): UConn #60, Saint Louis #96, Dayton #111, VCU #164, Wichita St (NR)

Thanks for this info. You have to look long term, It took Nova about 25 years of heavy investment to make the jump to national rankings this year and I think we will be around the high 30s to low 40s in the next 5-10 years. Just look at that list. It is very doable. When I talk of conference expansion I'm not looking 2-4 years down the road. I obviously don't get a vote but I highly recommend we stay all private. I agree with the sentiment by most posters on here that is unlikely but not virtually impossible that some of those small private P5 schools may become available in the long term and that was what I was suggesting. I don't think Duke of WF of ND would leave the current situation on their own accord but if crazy things happen with TX,OK, UNC and UVA involving PAC and B1G then anything is possible longterm. You could be in a C7 situation with the leftovers in the ACC where a remaining majority decides to essentially disband the conference leaving programs nobody think is realistic available. If the ACC wasn't concerned they would;t be engineering 20 year GOR. All I'm saying is we should;t be hasty an expand for expansions sake and UCONN aside form basketball is not an institutional fit in that they are public and play FBS football.

[NJRedman]

Nova used to sell out Villanova Stadium until Nova went over the top in banning tailgating. The gameday experience on campus sucks. That is why students and alumni stay away.

The only reason to pursue FBS football now would be to try and chase an ACC invitation. Chasing football money hasn't worked for anyone else; what factor would make it work for us?

Nova is not getting an ACC invitation. I'd prefer we stay in the Big East. We need a credible home for football, not a P5 dream. The reason to move up is to have a credible program that has more interest and less financial loss. NOT to chase the ACC.

If Nova moves up they might as well move out. No one in the BE is looking to deal with FBS FB BS again. Nova knew that when it cast it's lot in with the rest of the C7. They aren't moving up to FBS no matter how many times you argue they should. The issue was up for debate and the FB crowd lost. Nova won a BBall NC without FBS FB.

[DeltaV]

PPL: no-one is going to go to Chester to watch Nova football. Students wouldn't walk the 100 yards from Sullivan or Sheehan to watch a game...they're not going to travel 20 miles to see a game held in the ghetto. Not sure where/what Talon is (maybe I've been out of the Delaware Valley for too long).

PPL (now called Talon): Have you been there??? It is not in a ghetto! Students swarm to Wells Fargo Center to tailgate in the middle of winter and they will go half the distance to tailgate on a beautiful fall day. As will alumni.

There is no interest in college football in general at Nova, nor in the Philly area. If there was, we would have made it work back when it was considered, and forced the (old) Big East to eventually take us.

Nova used to sell out Villanova Stadium until Nova went over the top in banning tailgating. The gameday experience on campus sucks. That is why students and alumni stay away.

The only reason to pursue FBS football now would be to try and chase an ACC invitation. Chasing football money hasn't worked for anyone else; what factor would make it work for us?

Nova is not getting an ACC invitation. I'd prefer we stay in the Big East. We need a credible home for football, not a P5 dream. The reason to move up is to have a credible program that has more interest and less financial loss. NOT to chase the ACC.

Before I moved south, I saw a few Union matches at PPL. It was nice; I also saw the police barricades making sure we took the proper route back onto the highway. I used to work at the Boeing plant just up the river, and was back there this summer for work; the area didn't make some magical improvement while I've been gone. I lived in the Philly area for 10 years...that area is ghetto (and I lived in some borderline areas while I was there). Plus, if I remember correctly PPL wasn't up to FBS specs...so someone (Nova) would have to pay to bring it up to spec. All for what, to play big time rivals such as Kent State, Central Michigan, and NIU? You say that it would somehow make us more money...which would probably be wiped by the extra scholarships, greater travel, fees to lease PPL. Nova gets nothing out of a move to FBS, I don't even know why it is being discussed.