By Denny O'Brien
©2010 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.

Editor's note: Column updated to correct the name of Delaware Athletic Director Bernard Muir.

Let's hope Bernard Muir is a straight shooter. Otherwise, East Carolina could be heading down a road towards athletics peril.

In a recent blog entry from delawareonline.com, the website for the Wilmington News Journal, Blue Hens beat writer Kevin Tresolini paraphrased Muir, the University of Delaware AD, regarding a rumor that has been circulating the mid-Atlantic region for some time now.

The rumor? Delaware could be in discussions about a future FBS conference alignment with several CAA members, Appalachian State, and East Carolina.

Muir downplayed the legitimacy of the possibility, so that's a good thing. At least for now. But the fact that the scenario has been the subject of speculation in print and on talk radio can easily lead you to the conclusion that somewhere, and to some degree, the option has been discussed.

Hopefully the smoke in this case isn't the product of an inferno.

Should East Carolina align itself with those schools in a newly configured FBS conference, it would serve as a major step back for the Pirates. Make that a one-way ticket on a time machine back to the 1970s when the Pirates competed in the Southern Conference.

If not worse.

A new mid-Atlantic conference would certainly provide monetary relief considering the Olympic sports teams that must make occasional trips to El Paso and Tulsa. Trading commercial flights for chartered buses would be a welcome change by the ECU administration, but that simply can't occur at the cost of reducing the Pirates' football profile.

Which is exactly what a league of Blue Hens, Dukes, Monarchs, Mountaineers, and Spiders would do. While the Pirates could certainly benefit from having one of them on their schedule annually, having all of them encompass most of it could potentially cause irreparable harm to season ticket numbers.

In addition to attendance, securing bowl spots would present a challenge. Reaching an agreement with a notable television partner would be a bigger one.

Imagine a league with only two bowls — both of them held prior to Christmas — and having MASN as your major television partner.

A more favorable scenario definitely being discussed includes some level of merger or partnership between Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference. Among the ideas believed on the table is the possibility that the champions of the two could play each other in a title game, with the winner claiming an automatic bid in the Bowl Championship Series.

Assuming the current BCS AQ leagues agree, of course. And it could be beneficial for them to do so to avoid the potential for further litigation.

Aside from a spot in one of the big money games, such a merger could also provide additional bowl and television benefits. Both C-USA and the MWC could pool all of their resources to create an equation that drives an even greater return on investment for each league's member schools.

That's a decent fallback option should ECU not receive a bid to join the Big East. Given that Villanova has not yet accepted the invitation — and there is plenty of resistance on its campus to do so — you have to believe there is still a chance the Pirates could become the tenth member.

So there still is hope.

A spot in the Big East is obviously what ECU covets most. In the event the Pirates are left behind, you have to believe that athletics director Terry Holland has alternatives in mind.

Fostering a new relationship with the MWC might not be a geographic fit, but it could provide a competitive boost. Forming the Little East would improve gas mileage, but effectively deliver a major blow to the Pirates' athletics image.

ECU simply isn't in a position where it can afford that.