UConn has had serious discussions about dropping back down to FCS for football. There is no way we add them. Their basketball team also has not been good recently and probably has the lowest profile of a team with as many titles as they do. No one really cares about them. They are in a pro-sports area. Even people that went to UConn care more about the Celtics than they do the Huskies.
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I agree with this. UConn lost their bargaining chip during the first Randy Edsall and Kevin Ollie eras. The basketball team is not relevant nationally anymore, and only got some pub recently because they moved back to the Big East. The football team only hurts whatās considered one of the weakest Power 5 conferences in the country, and they donāt add any other sports. The womenās basketball team is their biggest bargaining chip.
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I just remember those top recruiting classes Freeze had at Ole Miss. If he can recruit against other SEC schools, I feel he will be able to sell Liberty.
Possible. Lot of different factors involved there. The shine of the SEC is bright. Liberty doesnāt offer that. College life in Oxford pretty goodā¦ not so much in Lynchburg, and again it tends to work against you when you school has a rep for alienating black students and your target recruits fit that demo. Not saying itās not possible, but could be a bigger uphill battle.
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Lots of cheating at Ole Miss for those recruits
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And, just think, they were on the verge of bankruptcy in the early '90ās. One of my good friends was their workout lawyer. Pete saved Sr.'s bacon, and Sr. was extremely grateful. Pete is an outspoken atheist, but still got a seat of honor at Sr.'s funeral. He liked and respected the old man. But he loathes Jr.
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Yes they were. A buddy played baseball there in the late 80ās and early 90ās and they were pretty much broke. When Sr. passed he had tens of millions of dollars in life insurance as I recall that went a long way from surviving to thriving. Lots of people have similar feelings Sr. vs Jr.
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If Notre dame wanted navy, they would get navy.
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Anyone ever consider Navy? Good academics, a national draw like few other schools, and they fill the void in the DC TV market to replace UMD. While their hoops team not so strong, football brings in the $, and they are more than solid in football (see Military Bowl!). They are also a natural rival with ND which would make South Benders happy. Plus good Olympic sports (Rowing, Lacrosse, and others).
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For some reason Iām not high on Navy coming in. Iām not really sure why, I think it has to do with my assumption of Navy athletics not being great. I donāt see them as a draw, fully understand I could be in the minority here.
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Jerry Sr had an amazing ability to meet you once and never forget your name.
However, Jerry Jr is obviously a different cat.
Iām not sure Liberty will bee seen that way by everyone. See linkā¦
https://www.liberty.edu/champion/2012/03/michael-tait-returns-to-liberty/
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I donāt want Navy either!!
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I totally get that Navy is not the sexy pick and agree with that sentiment. Unfortunately, there are no perfect schools to choose from We know football drives it, and Navy checks more boxes than anyone else. Vandy with Nashvilleās market or Penn St in Pa region (JoPa always said PSU was a mid Atlantic school) are probably the only other comparable choices, but I donāt see the SEC letting Vandy go (unless we traded them with NC State) or PSU ever leaving the BIG.
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Maybe South Carolina comes back home? But why leave the SEC?
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It would be cool to see South Carolina come back, but I donāt see any of those small schools leaving the SEC. Thatās good money for being a sometimes good team.
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Exactly. Unless you KNOW you will never win the SEC but think you can at least compete in the ACC. South Carolina and Maryland are the only 2 schools that would interest me in joining the ACC, but I cannot see why either would do it. Too much money for either to give up.
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If Iām adding a team, itās Villanova.
You get a small Catholic rivalry pool with Notre Dame, BC, and Nova.
You give Pitt, Cuse, and BC another northern school for travel purposes in Olympic sports.
You add another hoops powerhouse.
Nova football is currently very competitive in FCS. Theyād compete out the gate with the bottom tier of the ACC and may be able to prosper that lower mid level tier. The key here is that you arenāt adding a dog that will lose every game, every year.
I think youād need to get them to play home games at the Linc instead of their current facility (under 15,000 capacity).
They have a solid lax program which adds another D1 team to the league.
They play D1 baseball already, albeit they arenāt very good.
Theyāre a top 55 academic school per current US News rankings (53rd). Theyāre ahead of FSU, Syracuse, Pitt, Clemson, VPI, NC State, and Louisville.
And maybe the Philly connection gets Comcast off their ass to work with the ACC Network.
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Navy is intriguing but Nova or Temple is who Iād go for, mainly for the Philly market. No other realistic option really delivers a better TV market.
(EDIT: though if ND would want Navy to come, then close the books.)
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Villanova I could see but there would need to be a major financial commitment to boost their football program. However, I could also see UCF, USF, FIU, ECU, ODU, JMU, Cincinnati, or Liberty.
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I love the Nova idea, never considered them before. The drawback is the football program. Iām not sure they want to upgrade their program to compete at the Power 5 level, thatās a massive jump. It would also be hard to dyno mite them out of the Big East, esp as they look to revamp with UConn coming home.
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