A lot of Villanova fans' jaws collectively dropped after their coach said the following:

http://www.thenovablog.com/2012/4/26/2976993/i-think-that-ship-villanova-joining-the-fbs-ranks-has-sailed-talley

Read into it what you will.

Well, they WILL play 18 games with Hawaii and then SDSU replacing Pacific the following year.

The 18 games isn't the problem on the west coast as much as geography is.

There's simply not enough teams on the west coast for the Big West to judged by the same measure of success.
Look at the distribution of teams in the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cbd1.PNG

There's 36 teams in the Pacific Time Zone, about 50 in PTZ/MTZ and they beat the hell out of each other.

Look at the list of conferences who are almost ALWAYS one-bid leagues. There's ONE in the West Coast (Big Sky).

Compare the CAA and BWC for a second. Seems crazy. The CAA is really good and the BWC sucks, right?

The CAA has tons of one-bid leagues around them (Am East, A-Sun, Big South, Ivy, MAAC, MEAC, NEC, PAT, and SoCon).
Combined, they went 50-29 (63%) vs one-bid leagues.

The Big West played won 60% vs one-bid leagues. They only played 25 total games. (8-5 vs Big Sky, 7-5 vs CTZ/ETZ).

Why are the east coast one-bid league teams going to fly out to California for a one-way game? They can bus across town to get paid by a mid-major league.


A conference can work together to build RPI through scheduling… but it can't be done on the west coast. There's not enough cupcakes.

College baseball is the perfect example. Last season, Stonybrook won the AmEast with a 40-12 record. They played three games vs ranked teams in the regular season. Lost all three by a combined score of about 40-10. The make the NCAA Tournament and are the four-seed in a regional in the South. They get smoked in two games, outscored like 15-5.

Now look at Fresno State a few years back. They win the WAC and get a 4 seed in a regional. Because the NCAA seeds it regionally, they're the #4 in a group with three ranked teams. My S-curving the regional bracket, they supposed to be the #61 overall seed in the entire tournament. They won the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

If the 24 schools in California chipped in and built a huge dorm on I-5 and flew in two Northeast conferences a weekend for the first six weeks, the west coast could get 30 teams in the NCAA baseball tournament. Pacific has played seven games against teams outside the PTZ/MTZ in baseball this season. They're 5-2. Against the PTZ, they are 6-28.

It's a completely different animal on the west coast.

In basketball, 18 games hurts their RPI. But it almost doesn't matter. They're essentially in one big conference anyway with the Pac-12, WCC, MWC, Big Sky, and WAC (minus La Tech).

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Marinatto is gone according to CBS Sports. A richly deserved firing (resignation?). Do you think it may be linked to possible SD St/BSU defections?

Westwolf,thanks for the post,here is link to story.

Brett McMurphy blog article reporting that BE Commish resigned today under pressure.Link at http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... y/18983292

Hoops Weiss at NYDaily News on Marinatto story at http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/colle ... -1.1073695

Outwardly, his actions gave the impression that he was a hack.
The Villanova plan comes to mind.
Maybe Marinatto had less ridiculous plans for the football side, but was constantly stymied by voting blocs with alterior motives.

Anyone in BE commissioner position has an awkward job.
The more attractive members have one foot out the door.
The hybrid structure in antithetical to cohesion of the group - hence all the speculation about a potential split.

An interview with Tranghese got him to admit there were times when he thought a split was the best solution.
I for one, still think it is.

I think it would behoove the leadership to suggest there is minimal reason to maintain this forced association....
Let Boise St. and SDSU go back to MWC with no exit fee, go to 10/12 with Army / Navy for FB only.

Why now is going to be the cause of so much speculation. This is literally, pick a reason and ANY of them would be grounds for his removal/resignation: the defections, the replacements, the Notre Dame issue, Villanova football...

I'm taking this to mean another big program is out by summer's end.

Well, any member school would jump at the chance to join the Big 5, and there isn't a damn thing Marinatto could do / could've done to change he financials driving that.

So whenever the Big XII comes calling for Louisville, they are gone.(I think the Big East has actually planned on Louisville being gone, since they now have 13 schools lined up for FB).

Similarly UConn and Rutgers have been sucking up to the ACC, since such a move translates into a lot more money.


If I had to speculate on something that was specifically Marinatto's doing, that might be coming un-done, I would have to think maybe the Boise St. / SDSU deal.

Both have to be reconsidering, since the AQ went away, and Boise is under a ton of pressure now that the WAC is decimated.

USAToday article discussing Marinatto leaving and future BE concerns at http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... 54805358/1

This move has TV issues written all over it.

I am thinking the Big East got caught with their paints down by the latest move by the BCS removing AQ status from all conference.

Without AQ, the Big East looks very lunatic in format by having football only members on the far west coast.

My guess is the TV negotiations are failing to produce the type of revenue by having a football championship game that will be on the same scale as the current Conf USA champion that receives a Liberty bowl bid. Which bowl will the Big East champions being going to? Champs Sports Bowl?

My first thought is the move is also intentionally sending a message to both San Diego State and Boise State do not bother to come because we do not really need you any longer. It will not help football TV revenue nor with it help to retain AQ status. At the same time bringing both football only schools make the Big East appear to look ridiculous without increasing the overall ability to negotiate a TV contract that warrants having these football only schools so far away.

If you factor in instability, the Big East raid on the MWC is at minimum partly to blame for the collapse of the WAC a potential home for Boise State other sports. The Big East looks very bad on moves made based on the ability to retain the AQ status that no longer exist.

This latest Big East expansions is a total failure and someone has to be the fall guy. In the case that person was the current commissioner.

Hey Boise State and San Diego State, you better be on the phone to the MWC because the guy that selected you as football only members just got fired. Is that a clear enough message for you.

Wow, does this mean a new opportunity for another Providence College Athletic Dept. staffer to advance as new BE Commish?

Seriously, agree with Lash, tute, and the rest of you that said the BSU & SDSU fb-only deal was a prime, troubling decision, on top of defections and related controversies. Also, being hard-nosed with exit fees and timing did not endear them with a couple of other conferences.

What is confusing, didn't the BE (& BSU & SDSU) have a wiff of what Slive, Swofford, Delany, Scott, etc. may be planning in terms of dropping the BCS and adopt a playoff format? I get the perception that the BE was gambling with their additions that it would be perceived good enough to hang with the 5 other BCS conferences, and that play-off discussions would falter, and that the group would continue to fall back on the current BCS bowl system (the 6 conferences plus ND)? It looks like rapid developments outside the BE placed certain, recent BE decisions into serious question.

Stewart Mandel piece conducting "autopsy"on corpse of John Marinatto's BE Commissioners tenure at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/w ... index.html

Regarding Boise St, if they could go undefeated playing a Big East schedule, their chances at cracking the top 4 are probably better than if they stayed in the MWC.

very true.


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5% vs 0%. I bet the voters would do all the could to boost a B1G, SEC, B12, Pac school sitting at 5 over BSU if they were in 4th going into the last week of the season.

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