As if on cue, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese reveals that Army and Navy have no interest in joining the Big East. Maybe now the idea can finally fade away.
Yeah, right.
UPDATE: Bill Wagner goes into more detail here.
As if on cue, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese reveals that Army and Navy have no interest in joining the Big East. Maybe now the idea can finally fade away.
Yeah, right.
UPDATE: Bill Wagner goes into more detail here.
The Birddog 
Well list me as a wonderer as to why Navy did not accept the Big East if it was offered up to them?
I know how they trumpet the reasons why they should stay Independent but if the BE came calling I cant help but wonder the advantage of being a member?
Is it really that they feel they could not compete with those teams and are more comfortable with their “lighter” schhedule?
Wouldnt they have benefited from the $ that being in a BCS would have guaranteed?
Wouldnt they get more respect as the last possible BE Bowl entry as opposed to their continued good records?
I cant help but think that some of this was because we were afraid to step up and end up like Army in Conf USA especially with the likes of Louisville-Cincy-USF and other “non academic” institutions.
While that makes sense and we may have been “pounded” out in a few years because of the size and athleticism of those teams – I still think we could be respectable against the likes of Rutgers-Pitt- UConn-Syracuse-Cincy-USF.
At the same point us playing Louisville and WVU could be scary.
Still if the BE came calling – why not give it a shot and get all the rewards of good Bowl games and revenue sharing?
I come from the days of the “true” BE and that is why I have such an affinity for those games which almost seemed all like rivalries.
When you think about what it means to join a conference, you have to look at it in terms of the program and not the team. Teams change over the years, but the program is what it is. Right now, the Navy team would be competitive in the Big East. The only reason is because of Paul Johnson. He’s going to leave at some point, though. What then? Is the program set up in such a way to compete over the long term with the others in the Big East, regardless of who’s the coach? We don’t want to be the Vanderbilt of the East. There’s only so much we can do for the sake of football success. Anything more and you get a 60 Minutes exposé and plenty of sound bites from Murray Sperber. It isn’t worth it just to wear a Big East patch and get easy access to the Papajohns.com Bowl.
Just thinking – who do you think would be joining as the 9th member?
I dont know of too many logical choices-well geographically anyway unless U Buffalo made a move.
Now at least thats a “true” East team- I still have not come to grips of the association of the BE with Cincy-Louisville-USF in there.
Your points are right on with regards to not just thinking of the immediate but for future competitiveness.
Lets face it before PJ got here (and there was always talk of a BE move for Navy) any of those teams would have been slaughtered.
The recent downturns of Syracuse-Pitt-UConn make it more enticing-yet the trap is any of them could be real tough in a few years too.
I really wonder how long this Rutgers momentum is going to last?
I know those fans and the moment they start losing again (maybe when they actually play a tough schedule) they will stay away in droves and they will be lucky to see 25,000.