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Yeah, it looks like this stuff will linger for a while. There’s a bit to cover.
First up, the latest on Big East non-expansion. WVU AD Ollie Luck offered comments that are being parsed carefully among Big East partisans.
“There are two sort of questions I think that people have,” Luck said. “One is really what are the facilities that Villanova is able to use and how do those fit into the Big East with what we have now with our football schools. Are those really at a level that are BCS, automatic qualifier appropriate for a conference like ours? I think that’s the first question and obviously the conference didn’t feel quite comfortable with all the information regarding what I would call the infrastructure question.”
“When we talk about adding a 10th member, the question is what does that 10th member bring and what are the other options, quite honestly,” Luck continued. “It’s sort of like buying a car, you don’t go and just look at one model. You look around and say what are the different options, what are the different prices, and what are the plusses and minuses? I think a lot of schools were interested in having a better sense of what other possibilities would be out there.”
Now it depends on what you focus on from there.
To me Luck seems to be saying the infrastructure question is the big issue. That the issue with PPL Park, especially with its present configuration is too small for a BCS team to support itself for very long. Without a clear timeline to even expand to 30,000 their budget projections — no matter how optimistic — become speculative or looking to run big deficits. I mean, I’ve said before that I was fine with Villanova going to 1-A, but the more I look at their plan, the more doubts and questions I have.
Their long-term budget and ability to compete should be a concern. Not knowing whether they will have a stadium that can support the program is a worry. Look at the history of programs in the BCS that hover around 30-35K in stadium size: Duke, Wake Forest, and Cinci. Yes Cinci and Wake have actually made BCS bowls, but the overall history of these programs do not suggest this is something to expect.
Of course, that’s with my biases. The boys of Nova see this as some sort of slap in the face to Villanova as not being a big enough program to for the Big East. That it is about appearances, not actual questions about how the program can operate in the long-term with such a small stadium. In fact some tie-in the the second paragraph where he talks of looking at other choices as confirmation. Apparently the idea of looking around or comparing other options is a flat out insult to Villanova.
Brian’s VUHoops piece, is actually a focus more on the impending demise of their 1-AA home in the CAA. James Madison is making infrastructure moves suggesting it is looking to jump to 1-A. Rhode Island is going to another conference. UMass is heading to 1-A and the MAC.
The UMass move is an interesting contrast to ‘Nova. Obviously they are in a basketball conference, but they wanted to see if they could pry their way into the Big East when they decided to go to 1-A football. It failed miserably, but they still continued to make the jump — at least to show that they belong at the level. Rutgers blogger OTB (who’s own bias has been that Villanova should never be a football member), sees this as the way Villanova should go if they truly want to play 1-A football. Rather than simply because of the fear that the Big East will split and they’ll be stuck with basketball schools (not that, that shouldn’t be a legitimate fear). The fact that UMass will be playing in a mid-west conference in a stadium 90 minutes from their campus probably isn’t a plan to emulate in my view.
Now Villanova fans are still surprised how their ride to Big East football was yanked away. When Villanova made a presentation to the Big East members at the Big East Tournament, it fell flat.
According to one person in the room that day, the presentation didn’t go well, for a very specific reason. Villanova’s president, the Rev. Peter Donahue, gave more an explanation of where things stood than a sales pitch. If he wasn’t going to be a real advocate, it was natural for his brethren to wonder where the former drama professor really stood. Were they supposed to get excited about ‘Nova joining them if ‘Nova’s president couldn’t?
Now, as VUHoops points out (and rightfully I think), Villanova didn’t seem to know about the doubts and serious questions other football members had about Villanova’s plan. Honestly, until the vote was postponed, no one really believed that Villanova wasn’t getting in, even if they didn’t like it.
That falls on the Big East officials — which should not surprise anyone — failing to let Villanova know that there were doubts among the members. The only other explanations are that the Big East thought that they still had enough support to strong-arm it through the membership regardless of objections. Or they were completely clueless about a shift by members on the move. The latter seems least likely since even by mid-March there were rumors getting out that some members were unhappy with Villanova’s plans.
If Nova wants to be in the Big East by 2014, they have until May 31 to get it done. Otherwise, it gets pushed back for another year. It is still unclear how strong the opposition is to Nova.
Nobody I talked to seems to even agree on how many current Big East football schools are against it. I talked to one person at a clear anti-’Nova school who suggested as many as six others were clearly against it in March, but none to the point that the proposal couldn’t be improved and objections dropped. Another Big East administrator said it was more like a few leaning against, but none being over-my-dead-body against. Villanova probably can’t get in unless six of the eight current football members sign off.
This isn’t going away.
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