View from the East Friday, August 10, 2012 By Al Myatt

Holland: 'Merger was not a good idea'

By Al Myatt
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

The proposed merger between Conference USA and the Mountain West did not materialize. The thinking was that it would have created a block of teams too large for college football's power brokers to ignore.

But with the Bowl Championship Series apparently morphing into a four-team playoff without automatic qualifiers guaranteed to six leagues, the concept of a mega-conference moved to the back burner.

Also entering into the equation was the potential loss of basketball revenue from the NCAA Tournament, which pays off in shares that depend on a league's past performances. A new league may have started from scratch in terms of NCAA basketball proceeds, a factor counter to the revenue-generating goals of a super conference.

"I've always felt that the merger was not a good idea," said East Carolina athletic director Terry Holland. "A coalition where we coordinate things would be very beneficial to both groups. Playing each other in bowl games and that type of thing is important. A merger would have taken away that opportunity to play each other.

"I do think there's some synergy and some things we can do together in the future but right now each conference is just worried about fixing their own problems first and then dealing with what we can do together in the future."

C-USA is entering its last football roundup with Central Florida, Memphis, Houston and Southern Methodist in the mix. Those institutions have opted for greener grass in the Big East.

Holland said he was disappointed in particular to lose UCF.

"That was developing into an excellent rivalry for us," he said. "We've always had a great rivalry with Southern Miss. Obviously, they're staying. Memphis, the football rivalry was good but not necessarily great because they've been down the last few years. But certainly in basketball, they were one of those programs that you had to be ready to perform or they could make you look very bad. So they force you to be better. (I'm) disappointed to lose them as well.

"... Houston did have that good run with Casey Keenum. They certainly are a good football program but I think the teams we're replacing them with will eventually be as good as those teams. Only time will tell though. It's easy to say that now."

C-USA will add Charlotte, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Old Dominion and Texas-San Antonio. Those schools are scheduled to begin competing in C-USA in 2013. Charlotte and Old Dominion are planning to be up to speed in football beginning in 2015.

"The teams that are coming into the league are all committed to competing at the Conference USA level and above," Holland said. "They're looking to move as far up the ladder as they possibly can, just as we are. I think having some votes in the East will eventually make a difference, enabling us to probably get more championships played here or at least in the area, at least close enough that our fans can go to the games and the championship games."

Appalachian State has been mentioned as a possible addition to C-USA. The Mountaineers and Pirates open their respective football seasons in Greenville on Sept. 1 at noon.

"I think Appalachian would be a good addition at some point in the future," Holland said. "I don't think we can go too fast down that particular road with the teams that are moving up (to the Football Bowl Subdivision). We'll see how Old Dominion and Charlotte do, particularly on our side (current East Division) and San Antonio on the other side of the equation. We'll see how those teams moving up actually do. I think they've all three got great potential. They're all in metropolitan areas. They have a big fan base. They haven't fully developed that fan base for football yet in all of those cases, except possibly for San Antonio."

The Roadrunners, coached by Larry Coker, who led Miami to a national championship in 2001, played their inaugural game last season before 56,743 at the Alamodome, defeating Northeastern State, 31-3. The previous record for attendance at a program's opening game was 49,212, set by South Florida in 1997. San Antonio averaged 35,521 for six home games in 2011. The Roadrunners were 4-2 at home, 0-4 on the road.

"It will be interesting to see these teams develop," Holland said. "I'd love to see Appalachian State in our conference, not necessarily in Conference USA but wherever we might be in the future."

ECU made a well-publicized but unsuccessful push for membership in the Big East. That league has sustained substantial defection, which led to its recruitment of the four departing C-USA teams. The Big East doesn't appear as attractive for the Pirates with the imminent revisions in the college football postseason which will become effective in 2014.

"The Big East is still ahead of Conference USA," Holland said. "We've got to sort of approach it on two fronts. We've got to make our conference as good as the Big East and the other conferences involved — at least try to do that or we've got to continue to look for an opportunity in another conference because we do want to play the very best competition that we can play."

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PAGE UPDATED 08/10/12 01:31 AM.