Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

[jonpt]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Mizzou staying, WVU + Notre Dame = e-pic win (IMO).

There seems to be about .000001% chance of this, though.

With you here. Think most of the fan bases in the SEC and Big 12 would rather Mizzou stay where they are at. Just a better fit where they are (IMO). Unfortunatly, money and stability are the deciding factors and not the fan bases

[rspencer86]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

With you here. Think most of the fan bases in the SEC and Big 12 would rather Mizzou stay where they are at. Just a better fit where they are (IMO). Unfortunatly, money and stability are the deciding factors and not the fan bases

I just can't ever see Mizzou fitting into the whole SEC vibe. The only team I would really be passionate about playing is Arkansas. The rest of them are good schools, great programs but I just don't care about them.

A Big 12 with Mizzou, WVU and Notre Dame would stack up very favorably against the SEC. Obviously it would be a far superior basketball conference, and I think it would be very close to even in football.

Please stay, Mizzou. I submitted a letter to Warren Erdman, who represents the Kansas City district for Missouri's Board of Curators. It won't do a damn bit of good, but I felt the need to let someone know that there are a lot of folks who want to stay in the Big 12.

[Cardot]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Reports: Big East, 2 others mulling super league


http://espn.go.com/college-football/...ootball-league

I will be in the minority on this, but I kind of like the idea. Basically throw all the mid-majors together, and the winner gets a shot at the BCS.

[cdawg44]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7152071/west-virginia-mountaineers-move-big-12-hold-reports-say

Looks like Louisville has something to say about WVU's move. Wow, even the US Senate Minority leader is in on it too. Wow.

[superjames1992]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...ld-reports-say

Looks like Louisville has something to say about WVU's move. Wow, even the US Senate Minority leader is in on it too. Wow.

I have heard that the Big 12 wants Mizzou to pay out of the *** to move out of the Big 12 after this season. But Mizzou says that you already have #10 line up (WVU). So the Big 12 is pumping the breaks and saying, "We don't have anyone lined up yet. We are still looking. Pay us the $30 million buyout."

Is that true? I don't know.

I've also read that the holdup has something to do with getting assurances that Morgantown Municipal Airport will be expanded in order to allow charter flights to fly into there (as it is they would have to fly to Pittsburgh and then bus to Morgantown).

We'll see, but it is sickening to me that yesterday's "done deal" is now all of a sudden supposedly up in the air.

I just hope it doesn't turn out like this.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06342/744608-144.stm

The Grant Town guy with the down-home, West Virginia euphemisms, the Mountaineers' alum with the wit about jumping off the Westover Bridge, the patent-holder and purveyor of the modern spread offense, the coach with the ballcap, steely sideline demeanor and red-and-green wristbands waving in plays just before the snap -- you can color him gone.

Gone in a Crimson Tide.

Rich Rodriguez, 43, is set to leave his home state and alma mater to accept the head coaching post at tradition-steeped Alabama. Although last night he officially had not accepted a deal in principle that Crimson Tide officials considered within the Top 10 -- perhaps as high as Top 5 -- of the highest-paid, Division I-A coaches, it was considered mostly a formality. A deal should be struck within the next 24 hours, with a few remaining details left for discussion between Alabama administrators and Rodriguez's agents, Mike Brown and Eric Metz.

"It's just a matter of time," a source told the Post-Gazette. "Dot some I's and cross some T's."

After attending a news conference in Jacksonville, Fla., promoting the 13th-ranked Mountaineers' appearance in the Jan. 1 Gator Bowl, Rodriguez flew home to Morgantown to tell his wife, Rita, and family of their impending Alabama adventure. Now it's unlikely Rodriguez will coach in that bowl.

All along, he reiterated that he planned to finish his coaching career at West Virginia "if they'll have me." Apparently, he didn't believe they would have him at the price of the facilities and BCS-maintaining pace that he desired.

Plans changed.

"It's been tough on me, but I've not let it distract from my day-to-day duties," Rodriguez said at the Gator Bowl news conference. "When other people have come to talk to my staff or myself personally, it's very flattering. I'd rather have it that way than the other way. I coached a long time, and nobody ever called. Now some people have expressed an interest in my staff and myself, and, while it's flattering, it's not changed who we are."

He appears headed for a six-year, $13 million-plus deal instead of the seven-year, $8.65 million extension he acrimoniously forged with West Virginia administrators before signing in late June. It wasn't so much the money -- Alabama also must pay a $2 million buyout to West Virginia in addition to the $4 million it is giving deposed coach Mike Shula -- as it was what Alabama provided and West Virginia didn't in facilities and guarantees.

Crimson Tide athletic director Mal Moore, a former Alabama player and coach who was part of seven of the school's 12 national championships ( to West Virginia's zero), has presided over $54 million in improvements to the program's Tuscaloosa facilities. Included in that was a renovation to historic Bryant-Denny Stadium, which this past season re-opened to seat 92,138 -- making it the seventh-largest campus facility in NCAA Division I-A. The refurbished stadium helps to bring in $2 million to $3 million in game-day revenue.

Rodriguez believed West Virginia administrators dragged their feet over projects they promised him: Half the $2 million toward a new academic center has been realized in donations, but the $4 million fund-raising effort for locker-room renovations has not begun.

In the 10 months between the time he directed the Mountaineers to their first BCS bowl appearance, a stirring, 38-35, Sugar Bowl victory that Big East Conference commissioner Mike Tranghese labeled the league's single-most significant triumph, and a program-record fifth consecutive bowl trip upcoming, the edges frayed in the relationship between Rodriguez and his old school.

First came the bitter wrangling over his extension, which paid him $1.1 million this season but brought the two sides to loggerheads over such issues as facility upgrades and a total of $50,000 in assistants' raises. Then came what Rodriguez perceived as the slow pace of the promised building improvements.

As for potential replacements, Mountaineers administrators likely will consider LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher of Clarksburg, W.Va., and Salem University; Florida associate head coach/safeties John "Doc" Holliday, a Hurricane, W.Va., native and from 1979-99 a Mountaineers assistant after three letter-winning seasons at linebacker; New Orleans Saints assistant George "Duke" Henshaw, a 1967-69 Mountaineers lineman; and possibly Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley and East Carolina coach Skip Holtz.

First published on December 8, 2006 at 12:00 am

[fsquid]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Coming from a guy that's only ever been at schools with on-campus stadiums, I don't think I could stand that.

good to know

[WazzuRC]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

I love collegiate athletics more than anything, but this entire conference shuffling has me bummed out. Just blow up the whole ****ing thing so the NCAA has a mess on their hands.

[jonpt]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

I just can't ever see Mizzou fitting into the whole SEC vibe. The only team I would really be passionate about playing is Arkansas. The rest of them are good schools, great programs but I just don't care about them.

A Big 12 with Mizzou, WVU and Notre Dame would stack up very favorably against the SEC. Obviously it would be a far superior basketball conference, and I think it would be very close to even in football.

Please stay, Mizzou. I submitted a letter to Warren Erdman, who represents the Kansas City district for Missouri's Board of Curators. It won't do a damn bit of good, but I felt the need to let someone know that there are a lot of folks who want to stay in the Big 12.

Yeah, that was the one positive I get with Mizzou and A&M. As an Arkansas fan, we finally get some rivals potentially. Hoping if Mizzou comes in the East Division they replace our yearly cross "rival" USC with Mizzou.

[superjames1992]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Senators and the ilk are now getting involved. Mitch McConnell, especially, sticking up for Louisville.

What a crock of ****. The Senate Minority Leader has more important things to do.

[superjames1992]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Good article: http://blog.newsok.com/berrytramel/2...medium=twitter

The Big 12's leadership might be as bad as the Big East's...

[fsquid]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Senators and the ilk are now getting involved. Mitch McConnell, especially, sticking up for Louisville.

What a crock of ****. The Senate Minority Leader has more important things to do.

not really. The BCS status means million and millions of dollars for a public university that is part of the state they are representing.

[Bondgirl0072]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

Big East pitches conference to Air Force officials

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7154660/air-force-falcons-meet-big-east-commissioner

[lonewolf371]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

not really. The BCS status means million and millions of dollars for a public university that is part of the state they are representing.

And he sees bills every day that move around billions of dollars as a matter of routine.

[fsquid]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

And he sees bills every day that move around billions of dollars as a matter of routine.

yes and that matters to this how? you think all he is doing is paying attention to realignment?

[lonewolf371]

Re: Conference Re-Alignment Thread Part Who Knows

yes and that matters to this how? you think all he is doing is paying attention to realignment?

I think he has a set amount of time to spend on work every day and that if he spends time on realignment he spends less time on other stuff. Considering the fact that these bills are hundreds of pages long, and that to actually address alignment he would need to spend hours talking to different people associated with college football and read dozens of reports, I think that it is meaningful.

So yeah, it could matter quite a bit, depending on how serious he is.