Desperate times call for desperate measures. For the Big East these are desperate times. The league has exhausted nearly all avenues to fill the gaps being left by the defection of schools from what they percieve to be a sinking ship. It’s been a decade of discontent in the Big East with Miami, Boston College, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse all finding greener pastures and more stable environments elsewhere. With West Virginia engineering an early out to the Big 12 the Big East was put in a position of having to piece itself back together a season at a time. With West Virginia out the Big East flirted with the idea of arranging an early accomodation with Boise State to become the eighth football member. Coinciding with a statement released by the Broncos that they will stay in the Mountain West through the 2012-2013 academic year the Big East, according to MAC Commissioner John Steinbrecher, has opened discussions with Temple in an effort to move the Owls back into the league in all sports in time to begin play next fall. Temple now plays football in the MAC, all other sports in the Atlantic 10. Two weeks ago Memphis, for nearly a decade determined not to be a good fit for the Big East, suddenly became a perfect fit. A lack of committment, primarily to football, led the Big East to drop Temple eight years ago. Little has changed with Temple in the interim, but suddenly the Owls became very desireable for a league trying to maintain a football facade as BCS officials pore over a number of proposals for change in the structure of football, possibly including a playoff system, further evidence that football stands alone, controls the money and the legislative power and drives the bus. But the Big East continues to make the one mistake that leaves it behind the other BCS conferences, a mistake further emphasized as the NFL draft combine opens today in Indianapolis. In each of the last two years the Big East as a league has landed just one top 100 football recruit. As bad as that statistic is for the Big East coming in, it took on a similar negative emphasis going out when USA Today yesterday released a list of the top 150 prospects at the combine. Only four of them are from the Big East, light years behind the other BCS leagues, comparable to several more lightly regarded conferences. Again the message is clear that football players play in football leagues and they percieve the Big East as a basketball league, a perception again reinforced by the addition of Temple, as much a move to balance a basketball league left with 15 teams after this season. The attempt to reinfuse Temple by next fall demonstrates how desperate the Big East is and how slim the pickings will be in the future if the ACC begins cherry picking again with two more Big East schools on it’s radar. For the Big East, Temple, like Memphis, Boise State, San Diego State, etc., etc., etc., is a desparate measure, in keeping with the times. With a comment from the sports world, I’m Scott Gray.
Sports Commentary 2/23/12
February 23, 2012 8:45 AM
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Sports, Sports CommentaryScott on the pursuit of Temple for the Big East
Desperate times call for desperate measures. For the Big East these are desperate times. The league has exhausted nearly all avenues to fill the gaps being left by the defection of schools from what they percieve to be a sinking ship. It’s been a decade of discontent in the Big East with Miami, Boston College, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse all finding greener pastures and more stable environments elsewhere. With West Virginia engineering an early out to the Big 12 the Big East was put in a position of having to piece itself back together a season at a time. With West Virginia out the Big East flirted with the idea of arranging an early accomodation with Boise State to become the eighth football member. Coinciding with a statement released by the Broncos that they will stay in the Mountain West through the 2012-2013 academic year the Big East, according to MAC Commissioner John Steinbrecher, has opened discussions with Temple in an effort to move the Owls back into the league in all sports in time to begin play next fall. Temple now plays football in the MAC, all other sports in the Atlantic 10. Two weeks ago Memphis, for nearly a decade determined not to be a good fit for the Big East, suddenly became a perfect fit. A lack of committment, primarily to football, led the Big East to drop Temple eight years ago. Little has changed with Temple in the interim, but suddenly the Owls became very desireable for a league trying to maintain a football facade as BCS officials pore over a number of proposals for change in the structure of football, possibly including a playoff system, further evidence that football stands alone, controls the money and the legislative power and drives the bus. But the Big East continues to make the one mistake that leaves it behind the other BCS conferences, a mistake further emphasized as the NFL draft combine opens today in Indianapolis. In each of the last two years the Big East as a league has landed just one top 100 football recruit. As bad as that statistic is for the Big East coming in, it took on a similar negative emphasis going out when USA Today yesterday released a list of the top 150 prospects at the combine. Only four of them are from the Big East, light years behind the other BCS leagues, comparable to several more lightly regarded conferences. Again the message is clear that football players play in football leagues and they percieve the Big East as a basketball league, a perception again reinforced by the addition of Temple, as much a move to balance a basketball league left with 15 teams after this season. The attempt to reinfuse Temple by next fall demonstrates how desperate the Big East is and how slim the pickings will be in the future if the ACC begins cherry picking again with two more Big East schools on it’s radar. For the Big East, Temple, like Memphis, Boise State, San Diego State, etc., etc., etc., is a desparate measure, in keeping with the times. With a comment from the sports world, I’m Scott Gray.