By
Denny O'Brien
©2010 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
Conference USA has always
been a poor fit for East Carolina geographically. Many insist that it’s
a bad philosophical one, too.
The latter theory gained
momentum at the C-USA spring meetings a couple of weeks ago in Destin,
FL, when the league revealed its intentions to intervene in the
non-conference scheduling process in men’s hoops. The message was
essentially aimed at schools in the bottom third of the conference that
play challenging schedules.
In other words, it was
targeted at schools like ECU.
Since athletics director
Terry Holland arrived, the Pirates have shown no fear about whom they
schedule. Though there are seemingly annual games with St. Andrews, UVa-Wise,
and North Carolina Central, those are balanced with match-ups against
schools from power conferences such as the ACC, Atlantic 10, and SEC.
The rationale for C-USA is
simple. Leagues that win 70 percent or more of their non-conference
games traditionally send more teams to the NCAA Tournament. C-USA has
been primarily a one-bid league since the Big East seized most of its
power programs in 2003, and ‘scheduling up’ has done little to boost the
league’s overall RPI.
Plus, more teams in the
Big Dance means more money to spread around to member schools.
For ECU, the rationale is
equally simple. The Pirates are a non-traditional hoops program that has
struggled to draw significant interest from fans. The presence of a
couple of recognizable opponents on the home schedule is essential for
ECU to build any momentum at the box office.
The question is just how
much C-USA will try to intervene in the scheduling process for
conference members. Better yet, how much legal leverage does the
conference even have for doing so?
And just how will East
Carolina respond should the league office try to veto some of the
opponents the Pirates want to schedule?
On one hand, East Carolina
has to protect its best interests with scheduling and, as much as
possible, cater to the interest of its fans. Whether they admit or not,
most Pirates fans grew up watching ACC hoops, and those are the types of
opponents they want to see occasionally in Williams Arena at Minges
Coliseum.
On the other hand, ECU
needs to be cooperative with the league office and demonstrate that it
is a valuable teammate that ultimately is seeking the common good for
the conference. When all is said and done with conference realignment,
East Carolina could find itself in C-USA for good.
Bottom line, East Carolina
needs a solution that meets its needs without burning any bridges in the
process.
Early signing period
C-USA football coaches
should be applauded for their stance on an early signing period in
football. Because clearly they are pushing for one.
And it makes perfect sense
that they do.
No one suffers more from
the lone February Signing Day than non-Automatic Qualifying BCS schools.
They typically are the first to discover those diamonds in the rough and
offer scholarships, and often see AQ schools come in at the last minute
and steal them away.
Perhaps an early signing
period would prevent some of the pillaging.
It no doubt would reward
the coaches from non-AQ schools who beat the bushes and discover unsung
talent. And maybe it would help level the competitive gap that could
grow even wider once the realignment dominoes start crashing again.
MWC Movement
News that the Mountain
West Conference could add Boise State as early as today could be the
biggest wild card in conference realignment. Should it occur, and should
the MWC retain all of its existing members during the expansion process,
the league should be granted BCS AQ status.
Immediately.
The addition of Boise
State would give the conference two Top 5 teams, four perennial Top 20
programs, and easily push the league ahead of the Big East in the
national pecking order.
The case can be made that
the MWC would move ahead of the ACC as well. In the near term, the MWC
definitely looks better.
You really have to hand it
to league commissioner Craig Thompson. He has to be the most unheralded
conference CEO in the business, and you simply won’t find many in the
industry who outrank him when you consider what he’s accomplished.
Under Thompson’s
direction, the MWC added Texas Christian during the last round of
expansion, and that has proven the most significant competitive move
that was made. The conference also was the first to form its own
network, and it broke ties with ESPN to avoid midweek games.
The next time an AQ
conference is searching for a new commissioner, Thompson will be a
wanted man. But if the MWC adds Boise State, he shouldn’t have to leave
to have an AQ home.
