Max Power's Sports Stash

Below is an e-mail exchange I received from an old college buddy who lives in North Carolina. He has some friends who are connected in some different NC college athletic departments. Specifically one from East Carolina. In the email exchange you see below a couple of my friend's buddies explain some rumors they have heard from inside the East Carolina athletic department regarding ECU and Memphis possibly joining the Big East Conference. Interesting reading. I thought I'd share it with you. The names and email addresses have been removed to protect the innocent...  

Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 09:15:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: My NC Buddy
Subject: RE: ECU vs UNCW
To: MAX POWER
 Rumors are flying (again) that there is some talk of bringing ECU into the Big East and expanding the TV coverage area. XXX, who I think you met down here, is tied very closely with ECU, and this is the info we are getting from him. "Lord Terry" is Terry Holland, former UVA b-ball coach and current ECU AD.  You hearing anything?

Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 09:15:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: xxxx
Subject: RE: ECU vs UNCW
To: xxxx

Word on the "skreet" is that Lord Terry has sewn up a Big East football only invite in 2009...I've mentioned that before...begin play in 2010, along with Memphis.  Because the Big East's "profit sharing" agreement between the basketball only and football schools ends in 2012, there will be a split...allowing ECU and Memphis to become full members at that time (playing in 2013).  CUSA has caught wind of this and is in the process of pushing for a $5 million buyout for schools to leave beginning next year.  All the Tex schools are for it...ECU, Memphis, UCF, and Southern Miss are against it...no surprise there. 

Supposedly (hey...all of this is supposedly.  I've been hearing sh!t like this for years and nothings ever come afoot.) Holland is considering taking the football program independent after this year.  He had initiated talks with the CAA about re-joining for everything except football.  And  he has basically been spurned...receiving only support from UNCW, William and Mary, and (oddly enough) ODU.  The rest are against it...still bad blood there, I assume.  Can't really blame them...they know ECU will jump at the first offer to another conference and leave them dangling again...and ECU would probably hurt their basketball RPI...but I digress.

Football scheduling in the short term wouldn't be that hard...and he (Lord Terry) supposedly has verbal commitments for several games in the event we are indy...but that is short term.  That list is pretty good...plus his ACC relationship has opened the door to scheduling even more ACC teams.  Holland knows he can land them now, but he also knows he won't be here forever.  If the Big East thing falls through in '09...we are screwed...and he'd get lynched.  He also needs a place to park the other sports, 'cause there just ain't no way you can schedule that many as independents...

Enter the Southern Conference.  You read it right...Southern Conference.  Not to be confused with the SouthEASTERN Conference.  We're talking Furman.  Appy State.  Davidson.  Elon.  Eleven teams...and they are supposedly lobbying HARD for this to happen with Holland.  All sports except football...but throw in a member football game once a year.  Honestly, it's right up our alley...but I don't like the step back.  Again, this is meant to be a band-aid until we get a BIG east invite, which is STILL not written in stone.  For what it's worth, the SoCon got more teams in the NCAA and NIT's than CUSA did this year.  Hmmmm.  More regional games...which is going to draw more to minges for a basketball game...ECU vs. Rice or ECU vs. Appy State...moreover, which am i more likely to travel to see?     And it cost one helluva lot less to send a volleyball team to Elon for a 45 minute match than it does to fly them to HOUSTON for one.   Travel savings alone would be in the MILLIONS of dollars.  I just don't know, though.  If the Big East thing was a guarantee, I'd say do it.  Since it's not, I'm not so sure.

I'm eating today with some movers and shakers, so I'm hoping to get a better idea of how this can play out...

What ya'll think?

xxxx wrote:

Yeah, I saw that too this morning.  Sounds like a great game.   Give us the ECU dirt!  To be honest, if ECU could pick up the Big East in football, they should start a new conference.  Grab the Quality NC teams and then pick up some of the quality Virginia teams and SC teams and start a local conference.  Maybe something like UNCC, UNCW, College of Charleston, George Mason, Old Dominion, Richmond, VCU, Winthrop, ECU & a UNCG or someone like that.  Then you have a conference that could build some rivalries and plays good basketball.    

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxx
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 11:26 AM
To: xxxx
Subject: ECU vs UNCW

I couldn't make it to the game last night, but it must have been a doozie.  First off, it was delayed over 45 minutes due to golf-ball sized hail...I'm not kidding, either.  That stuff was coming down hard on my way out of Gvegas last night...not very compact though, so no damage was really done...but it's just cool to watch hail fall...and even cooler to watch people reacting to it.  Folks were driving off the road into yards just so they could get under trees to keep their cars from getting hit.  Funny stuff to watch.  Now, if it had been more compacted hail, I'd have been right there with them.  There are some pissed off home owners on Evans Blvd this morning...tire tracks and ruts all through their yards.

I'm also hearing some VERY interesting stuff on the conference affiliation front.  Some stuff that I really don't like, personally, but could pay off in the long run for the Pirates.  I'll fill ya'll in later...after lunch.  Hint: It involves a conference that ECU used to be in...and it ain't the CAA.