Villanova ponder invatation join Big East Football

[Majin Buu]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5553575


If this comes to pass at some point, that would bring the membership to 9. I wonder who else would consider potentially making the jump.

[Majin Buu]

..Should be "Villanova ponders invatation to join Big East Football"...Thats what I get for trying to do too many things at once :thumbsup1:

[Birds of B'more]

Not sure that's a good move for them. They have a setup now where they can win national championships (real ones), and they'd give it up to join a system that, barring changes, may never give them a legitimate shot. Plus, all of the money they will have to sink into stadium/facilities upgrades and increased scholarships for both men and women. Will the additional football revenues be worth it? I'm sure that's what it will come down to.

If the BE wants to add a football playing member, they should just invite Temple to come back. They're already Division 1A (and play in the Eagles' stadium), they're in the same big TV market Villanova is, and Al Golden has really turned that program around from the laughing-stock it used to be (they beat 3-time MAC Champ Central Michigan last night). They also bring a decent basketball program that will fit right in with the Big East.

[Majin Buu]

Not sure that's a good move for them. They have a setup now where they can win national championships (real ones), and they'd give it up to join a system that, barring changes, may never give them a legitimate shot. Plus, all of the money they will have to sink into stadium/facilities upgrades and increased scholarships for both men and women. Will the additional football revenues be worth it? I'm sure that's what it will come down to.

If the BE wants to add a football playing member, they should just invite Temple to come back. They're already Division 1A (and play in the Eagles' stadium), they're in the same big TV market Villanova is, and Al Golden has really turned that program around from the laughing-stock it used to be (they beat 3-time MAC Champ Central Michigan last night). They also bring a decent basketball program that will fit right in with the Big East.

If they were going to do this, shouldn't they have done this when they were raided by the ACC and brought up Uconn?

[Birds of B'more]

If they were going to do this, shouldn't they have done this when they were raided by the ACC and brought up Uconn?

UConn already had the wheels in motion to play football in the Big East when the ACC raided them (the NCAA mandates something like a year or two "trial period" when making the jump to Div 1A). And Temple was still a doormat at that time, which is one of the reasons why the Big East had just recently kicked them out. Things have changed a bit though. Temple isn't going to become a national powerhouse, but they are now at least respectable....they're in a big TV market that doesn't currently have a local BCS football team, and they are a perfect geographic fit. And in looking at some of the other possible options to move to the Big East, there aren't too many schools that jump out as great candidates. E. Carolina and Central Fla aren't bad, but neither of them have very good basketball programs too like Temple.

[Birds of B'more]

One more point of clarity. According to ESPN (http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/12124/friday-mailbag-29), Villanova has had a standing invitation for years to move up to 1A in football in the Big East. It was only now that they decided to give it more consideration, and contacted the conference to make sure the offer was still good.

[CrimsonTribe]

The Big East is a step down from the FCS. :p