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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate
Notebook No. 127
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist |
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Big East would provide big
boost
©2003 Bonesville.net
While ACC expansion has lost some of its momentum, East
Carolina’s campaign to join the Big East is picking up steam.
Considered as recently as last week by many observers in the
national media to be a long shot to improve its national position when the
dominos finish falling, ECU now is believed to be one of the frontrunners on
a short list of schools the Big East will court once the shuffle begins.
That has been enough to ease some of the anxiety of fans
Down East, the majority of whom were bracing themselves for the worst-case
scenario – a supersized ACC and a continued affiliation by ECU with a
depleted Conference USA.
Now the Pirate faithful are foaming at the mouth to jump
their current ship.
Understandably so.
Sure, the Pirates’ six-year ride in C-USA has had its
moments, but then, so did the previous 20 that were spent in
Independentville.
It easily can be argued that East Carolina’s most impressive
run on the gridiron occurred prior to C-USA inclusion, a three-year stretch
from ’94-’96 in which the Pirates tallied a 24-11 record that included a
bushel of landmark wins over high-profile foes.
That lends merit to former Pirates coach Steve Logan’s
contention that the advent of the BCS, coupled with membership in a league
on the outside looking in, placed a low ceiling over the program.
A Big East invitation would quickly ignite any roof that may
have limited ECU’s gridiron growth, with a throng of Pirates fans ushering
the move with gasoline tankers.
Imagine future schedules without road trips to UAB, which
even with a postgame performance by American Idol winner and Birmingham
native Ruben Studdard, lacks appeal. Forget about interrupting those
occasional weekend diversions to the Big Easy by suffering through four
hours of boredom in the cavernous Superdome.
Replace those with shorter treks to Blacksburg and
Morgantown with a couple of the nation’s most pristine college football
cathedrals as backdrops, not to mention excursions to the Steel City for
showdowns in state-of-the-art Heinz Field.
Heck, even Saturdays in East Hartford are a better sales
pitch to recruits than Wednesdays in East Texas.
When the Hokies, Mountaineers, and Panthers return the
favor, expect a pilgrimage of the purple masses to embark on the Emerald
City, something Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium has yet to experience for a league
game on the scale that would materialize for the more natural rivalries of
the Big East.
Bowl season also would be more festive in the Big East when
compared to the Pirates’ current options.
That the AXA Liberty Bowl in Memphis is the Mecca of C-USA
football more than proves that point. Just for fun, though, Mobile, Fort
Worth, New Orleans, and Honolulu all are nice cities to visit, but facing
mid-major outfits amid the pre-Christmas rush promotes a degree of apathy
among fans and less-than-shrill excitement among players and coaches.
At the very least, a reconfigured Big East will provide
better access to BCS money and is guaranteed to have a better lineup of
postseason games.
Aside from the obvious — bigger bowl payouts, attractive
matchups, and a better television package — there would be numerous
practical benefits associated with Big East membership. Significantly lower
travel costs and substantially larger crowds, for example, equates to a
heftier bank account.
Then there’s basketball, the one sport in which East
Carolina has traditionally struggled, but since joining C-USA has made
tremendous strides. If Dave Gavitt’s plan of two eight-team divisions is
adopted, Greenville can brace itself for an even better brand of basketball
from top to bottom.
Few will deny that it doesn’t get much better than annual
appearances by UConn in your home gym.
But almost anyone will contend that survival will be
difficult for C-USA’s holdovers – and it’s a good thing that, at the very
least, ECU’s presence among them is not preordained at this point.
Conference call
Today’s early morning ACC conference call is expected to be
another information-gathering session for the head honchos of the nine
member schools. This is the third teleconference in the past two weeks for
the league’s CEOs.
It is unknown as to whether a formal vote on expansion will
take place, and now there is mention that
the ACC could scrap its original
plan by brushing off Boston College and Syracuse and inviting only Miami.
You have to figure the league will show its cards soon, but
for the time being, ACC boss John Swofford doesn't appear to have the
necessary votes. Virginia, Duke, and North Carolina each has its own reasons
for being wary of extending the family.
The sooner this internal squabble is settled, the better.
ECU board to meet
Today’s Board of Trustees meeting will be the final assembly
of the existing board. Not surprisingly, East Carolina’s position in the
conference shuffle is among the expected topics for discussion.
Joining the board next month are David Redwine, William H.
Bodenhamer Jr., David Brody, Robert J. Greczyn Jr., and Ian Baer, who is the
newly elected president of the Student Government Association. They will
replace Charles Franklin, Tom Bayliss, D. Jordan Whichard III, Betty Speir,
and Justin Mullarkey.
Senator Ed Warren originally was scheduled to join the
board, but passed away earlier this year. Redwine was chosen as his
replacement.
With so many vital issues regarding ECU athletics still
lingering, it will be important for the new board to get off on the right
foot and avoid some of the tension that existed with the previous alignment.
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02/23/2007 01:52:51 AM |
