Non-Big East Conference Realignment Thread v. 2017

[Dave]

Dave:

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.

NJRedman:

So are you advocating to leave the Big East? Why would the MAC take a Villanova FB only? Why would any FBS conference take Villanova FB only? Their value is in it's BBall program.

adoraz:

Way to totally miss the point and get overly defensive.

Yes, probably a little impatient. The narrow minds are irritating.

[Dave]

Both of those games were against UDel...games which seem to still get over 10k for the games played other years at Villanova Stadium, and 15k-20k for games played at Delaware. More indicative is probably drawing 6,100 this past November when Nova was ranked #9 and James Madison (the eventual national champion) was #6. Top 10 matchup, 6 thousand people. Outside of a few weird alumni (who admittedly must donate a shit ton of money), Nova doesn't care about football. Did you play football?

Sounds to me like UDel should be the one looking at upgrading to FBS, not Nova.

In the current alignment there are only 4 games that draw. Homecoming, Parents Weekend, Temple, and UD. Homecoming is a joke. Do you go? Most that I know have stopped going in favor of meeting up at Wells Fargo baketball games. Temple and UD are regional rivals, and draw from both fan bases. Temple games draw 30K plus and it is generally a bigger draw than their conference games.

UD has looked at upgrading. It takes the right plan.

Of course I played football. On Sheehan Beach, lol. But no, not for the program. I was there to see the packed tailgates, the sold out stadiums, and the enthusiasm before they banned tailgating. I go to other college football games to know a good gameday experience. Nova's is the most oppressive I've seen by far. I feel bad for you and the current generation of students that they don't have those opportunities. College football in the fall is fantastic on a lot of College campuses. Moving up to FBS is only part of the issue. Tailgating off campus is at least an equal issue.

I agree, only a few weird alumni still attend. It's a good team on the field, but a crappy gameday experience.

[NJRedman]

Why would any FBS conference take Villanova FB only? Their value is in it's BBall program.

If you are concerned with value, just worry about the Johnnies contributing to the Big East. Start chasing Xavier, Creighton, and Butler for starters. Thank God we brought them into the conference.

Okay guy, keep talking about Nova going FBS in FB. Thats a realistic pitch.

[NJRedman]

Dave:

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.

NJRedman:

So are you advocating to leave the Big East? Why would the MAC take a Villanova FB only? Why would any FBS conference take Villanova FB only? Their value is in it's BBall program.

adoraz:

Way to totally miss the point and get overly defensive.

Yes, probably a little impatient. The narrow minds are irritating.

"I'd prefer we stay in the Big East but we need to go FBS in FB."

1. Nova isn't going FBS in FB. The Big East is done with FBS members, thats why UConn needs to drop FB to FCS or all together to be eligible for membership.

2. If Nova does go FBS they will have to take all of heir sports along with them. Only someone who has no idea how the rest of the sports landscape looks would think they could go FB only somewhere. The MAC is done with FB only members since they gave UMass the ultimatum of all on or all out. The Sun Belt has 12 FB/ 14 BBall schools and CUSA is sitting at 12. Where is Nova going? Not the AAC who like UConn would clearly want Novas BBall and also overlaps with Philly. So in this brilliant brain fart of yours what realistic conference would take them in? They can't jump up unless a conference sponsors them. So who is it gonna be?

You want to talk about narrow minds you better damn well be talking about yourself. Yeah, those narrow minded posters sure are irritating.

[Dave]

Villanova's best move (even though I disagreed with it at the time) was to carefully evaluate FBS football. During that waffling period, the other teams moved on and said no to Nova. Thank heavens that happened.

Nova's invitation went stale while they waffled. The Big East added TCU during the waffling. The waffling added to the instability of the football conference, the division, and the ultimate failure of the old Big East. Although not as complicit as WVU or Pitt, Nova shares some of the blame for the conference failure.

At $60K a pop for those scholarships, that's $3mm in incremental costs

That's $60K a pop at fully loaded costs. The fixed costs don't change much and the incremental costs are much more modest. For example, will Nova add more teachers for the extra students? No, 27 more students on top of a 6,500 base is neglible. Build more classrooms? no. Use more heat and energy? nope. They are all fixed costs. Figure more like $10K or $15K per student incrementally.

The FAR more likely scenario than Villanova moving up to the FBS level is Villanova DROPPING to the Patriot League level. It's cheaper and VU would be placed with more academically compatible schools in Lehigh, Lafayette, Holy Cross, etc. vs. the hodge podge of state & random private schools in the current league. If Richmond, W&M, and Villanova all jumped to the Patriot League - that would be a very nice outcome for Villanova football

That is a scenario. Paying MAC FBS level costs for a FCS level program that has no interest or revenue potential year after year is absurd. Nova is stuck on the fence though. It is too scared to move up or down. It just let's the environment happen to it. It doesn't make a proactive plan. Moving down is another valid scenario to consider.

Richmond and W&M? Who cares?

The ONLY situation where Villanova would upgrade...

There is much much more potential for a FBS mid-major scenario than for a P5 armageddon where the private schools are cast off. It is also true that potential and opportunity doesn't mean Nova would act. Ignite Change my ass. But they do have a new Board of Trustees and a new AD, so there is always hope.

[Dave]

The first question is...

Does UConn want to join the Big East? IF the reporting is accurate that they do, only then does the football alliance come into play. Otherwise they just stay AAc indefinitely.

[Dave]

Nova isn't going FBS in FB. The Big East is done with FBS members, thats why UConn needs to drop FB to FCS or all together to be eligible for membership

.

If Nova goes mid major FBS in football the Big East is not dropping Nova, lol. There are no bylaws against FBS football. UConn does not need to drop football to join the Big East. It might be what St John's fans want, but it isn't so.

If Nova does go FBS they will have to take all of heir sports along with them. Only someone who has no idea how the rest of the sports landscape looks would think they could go FB only somewhere. The MAC is done with FB only members since they gave UMass the ultimatum of all on or all out. The Sun Belt has 12 FB/ 14 BBall schools and CUSA is sitting at 12. Where is Nova going? Not the AAC who like UConn would clearly want Novas BBall and also overlaps with Philly. So in this brilliant brain fart of yours what realistic conference would take them in? They can't jump up unless a conference sponsors them. So who is it gonna be?

Again, the Big East isn't going to kick out Nova. Mid-major football conferences are not frozen at 12. There is opportunity. MAC, SunBelt, C-USA are all possibilities. The Big East is Nova's home, and I personally would rather be in the Big East than the ACC. The only issue is that by not sponsoring football (which is fine), members have to find their own way for their football programs. Mid-major FBS is a good fit for Nova. We are already paying the dollars but we have none of the benefits. Mid major football is not a threat to the Big East. We won't be chasing football national championships.

I am hoping that UConn joins the Big East, and that it opens an opportunity for Nova football. At #60 UConn brings up the average of our academic programs:

Big East National Rankings: Georgetown #20, Nova #50, Marquette #86, Seton Hall #118, DePaul #124, St Johns #164

St John's is a bit of an anchor in academics and basketball. I am rooting for CM to turn around the hoops program. The conference is better with a strong St Johns and a strong Georgetown. St Johns and Nova have different issues to focus on. For Nova, it is a better home for football.

[GreatDaneAttorney]

From a Creighton perspective, adding UConn and moving to 20 conference games sounds great. Another marquee home opponent, protects the schedule against the P5 conferences increasing their # of conference games, and re-affirms the Big East's position as a power conference.

I have to think this would be seriously destabilize the AAC. There could be another push to create a "best of the rest" conference and/or more schools might try and go Indy and sell their TV rights separately from a conference.

[admin]

I split out the UCONN to Big East discussion that began circulating again today based on Rothstein's story. I think that deserves it's own thread. Any other college sports realignment (no-BE related) can be discussed here.

[Burrito]

Looks like Mark Gottfried at NC State will be fired at the end of this season. I wonder if Archie Miller (an alum) will be the next coach there.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mark-gottf ... 35440.html