Conference Realignment

[Augusta_Jacket]

It's interesting that Clemson is thrown out along with Bama, Michigan, et al as a power. They are a flash in the pan since Dabo. Dabo lost to Spurrier 5 years in a row, and somewhere after the second or third loss he knew he had two choices: cheat or get fired. Suddenly, 4 and 5 star players started going to a small town in the corner of SC with a very low black population to play for a guy whose previous job was a position coach and his job before that was in commercial real estate. Why? NIL money before there was NIL.

Now, with NIL, Clemson is under the same rules as everyone else, and you have already seen their recruiting slip a bit. The still have the reputation for putting DL in the league, but they are on a downward trend. The rise of South Carolina isn't helping Clemson, and South Carolina can compete with Clemson all day long with NIL $$.

Over the last 35 years FSU is the ACC team that is a more traditional power, and they are rising again.

Since 1980, Clemson has won 9 or more games 25 times. In that same time span, Bama has done it 29 times, Michigan 27. Not a large discrepancy. In the same span of years, Bama won 7 NCs to Clemson's 3 and Michigan's 1. A wider gulf to be sure, but there is no doubt that Clemson was a sleeping giant here in the Southeast. Prior to Dabo, Clemson was a top recruiting team yearly. Dabo inherited a ton of talent when he took over as HC. He has made that team better, but they were primed for the right coach. Calling them a power isn't a stretch.

 

[slugboy]

Georgia was an also-ran looking up at Clemson and others until they hired Smart. Saban has coached at Bama for so long that people don’t think about how mediocre they were for years without him. Was Ohio State relevant in the years before they hired Meyer? Man, Miami was nothing until they hired that Howard Schnellenberger fella.

Every football power I can think of had down years with coaches who didn’t win. Clemson is a team you watch for in the playoffs every year. They’ve had QB issues lately. They won’t be in the playoffs until they fix that issue, but they just hired a powerful OC

 

[iceeater1969]

Georgia was an also-ran looking up at Clemson and others until they hired Smart. Saban has coached at Bama for so long that people don’t think about how mediocre they were for years without him. Was Ohio State relevant in the years before they hired Meyer? Man, Miami was nothing until they hired that Howard Schnellenberger fella.

Every football power I can think of had down years with coaches who didn’t win. Clemson is a team you watch for in the playoffs every year. They’ve had QB issues lately. They won’t be in the playoffs until they fix that issue, but they just hired a powerful OC

Imo, if you dont have plenty of money to chase and replace coaches and now players, you are only briefly semi relevant once in a long while.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I've said this for years, it's all about the HC and the staff he brings in.

 

[RamblinRed]

Just because 10 schools got vetted, doesn't mean 10 schools are going to get bids, heck it doesn't even mean 1 school will get a bid.
I believe at most 4 of those schools get bids. I don't see many of them bringing enough value to be additive to any media contract.

Big 12 is sort of interesting to follow right now as their head seems to have a very different vision. They appear to be looking seriously at Gonzaga and UConn. PAC is also reported to be looking seriously at Gonzaga. Big 12 head believes eventually he can decouple the football and basketball media contracts into 2 separate ones so he is thinking about what would juice a potential basketball contract.
Not sure I agree with him, but it is an interesting thought.

 

[GoJacketsInRaleigh]

Just because 10 schools got vetted, doesn't mean 10 schools are going to get bids, heck it doesn't even mean 1 school will get a bid.
I believe at most 4 of those schools get bids. I don't see many of them bringing enough value to be additive to any media contract.

Big 12 is sort of interesting to follow right now as their head seems to have a very different vision. They appear to be looking seriously at Gonzaga and UConn. PAC is also reported to be looking seriously at Gonzaga. Big 12 head believes eventually he can decouple the football and basketball media contracts into 2 separate ones so he is thinking about what would juice a potential basketball contract.
Not sure I agree with him, but it is an interesting thought.

If the B1G wants to get extremely big and make money with large markets, then plenty of those schools would interest them including GT.

I love Gonzaga's basketball program and what Mark Few has done. But if I were adding them as basketball only, I'd certainly want to see what they look like in the post Mark Few era. Butler isn't making anyone money after Brad Stevens. George Mason is an also ran after Laranaga left. VCU is okay but nothing like the Shaka Smart years.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Since 1980, Clemson has won 9 or more games 25 times. In that same time span, Bama has done it 29 times, Michigan 27. Not a large discrepancy. In the same span of years, Bama won 7 NCs to Clemson's 3 and Michigan's 1. A wider gulf to be sure, but there is no doubt that Clemson was a sleeping giant here in the Southeast. Prior to Dabo, Clemson was a top recruiting team yearly. Dabo inherited a ton of talent when he took over as HC. He has made that team better, but they were primed for the right coach. Calling them a power isn't a stretch.

The Bashful Baron of Barlow Bend was a legendary coach at Clemson and they were rarely an easy out for Tech.

 

[stinger 1957]

Georgia was an also-ran looking up at Clemson and others until they hired Smart. Saban has coached at Bama for so long that people don’t think about how mediocre they were for years without him. Was Ohio State relevant in the years before they hired Meyer? Man, Miami was nothing until they hired that Howard Schnellenberger fella.

Every football power I can think of had down years with coaches who didn’t win. Clemson is a team you watch for in the playoffs every year. They’ve had QB issues lately. They won’t be in the playoffs until they fix that issue, but they just hired a powerful OC

Which indicates to me he thinks they have some QB potential on campus

 

[g0lftime]

Pell had some very good teams at Clemson but got caught with all sorts of recruiting violations and I think one year was voted a number 1 ranking. Danny Ford had some really good teams as well. They used to play UGA every year but Clemson started beating them pretty regularly so they stopped scheduling them, and recruit heavily in Georgia.
What I have observed as someone else commented on here is that the coach (and staff) is the most important reason for success.

 

[orientalnc]

We will see if this changes ND's POV re independence.

 

[UgaBlows]

If/when the ACC falls apart, ND will lose about 40 mil per season correct? That plus their NBC contract is basically what allows them remain independent. If no other conference is willing to let them be a partial member then they are going to be looking a a pretty serious shortfall afterwards And may finally join The BIG.

 

[1979jacket]

I kind of feel like the game now is between the ACC and Big12. The PAC10 is dead and the SEC and BigI probably can't add value to their current worth by adding any more PAC10 teams. However the ACC and Big12 may be able to add worth to their conference and TV contracts with some of these PAC10 teams.

The Big12 has a geographical advantage that might help them entice these schools. But at the end of the day, money will outweigh geographical advantages. Oregon, Arizona St and Washington should be top tier targets for both leagues and Arizona, Stanford and Utah could also add value. The others - Cal, Washington St, Oregon St and Colorado don't add much. If you add some of these teams can the ACC redo the TV contract and get a better deal? That would be the hope.

So let's say the ACC adds Oregon, Washington, both Arizona teams, Utah and Stanford. They are now 20 teams and play a 10 game conference schedule with one every year opponent and round robin otherwise.

every year opponent
syracuse-bc
pitt-louisv
uva-vatech
unc-duke
wake-ncst
fsu-miami
gt-clem
oreg-wash
stanf-utah
ariz-asu

Sounds very appealing to me - adds regional diversity to the conference and interesting games but essentially maintains the integrity of the conference. Playing 3 PAC10 teams a year sounds good.

 

[LT 1967]

I kind of feel like the game now is between the ACC and Big12. The PAC10 is dead and the SEC and BigI probably can't add value to their current worth by adding any more PAC10 teams. However the ACC and Big12 may be able to add worth to their conference and TV contracts with some of these PAC10 teams.

The Big12 has a geographical advantage that might help them entice these schools. But at the end of the day, money will outweigh geographical advantages. Oregon, Arizona St and Washington should be top tier targets for both leagues and Arizona, Stanford and Utah could also add value. The others - Cal, Washington St, Oregon St and Colorado don't add much. If you add some of these teams can the ACC redo the TV contract and get a better deal? That would be the hope.

So let's say the ACC adds Oregon, Washington, both Arizona teams, Utah and Stanford. They are now 20 teams and play a 10 game conference schedule with one every year opponent and round robin otherwise.

every year opponent
syracuse-bc
pitt-louisv
uva-vatech
unc-duke
wake-ncst
fsu-miami
gt-clem
oreg-wash
stanf-utah
ariz-asu

Sounds very appealing to me - adds regional diversity to the conference and interesting games but essentially maintains the integrity of the conference. Playing 3 PAC10 teams a year sounds good.

This move (Even an Attempt) would make the ACC look like a Hunter rather than the Hunted! Obviously the Big 12 Commissioner is
attempting to expand and look like one of the major conferences! Our commissioner sits quietly!

I recently saw a Navy Admiral say that "Quantity has a Quality of its Own. I tend to believe that he is Correct.

 

[forensicbuzz]

This move (Even an Attempt) would make the ACC look like a Hunter rather than the Hunted! Obviously the Big 12 Commissioner is
attempting to expand and look like one of the major conferences! Our commissioner sits quietly!

I recently saw a Navy Admiral say that "Quantity has a Quality of its Own. I tend to believe that he is Correct.

Our commissioner, like our President and AD, tends to not make any noise until everything is all done. Just because you haven't heard anything, doesn't mean he's not doing anything. I have no inside information, but I do know the man and his operating style. This is the AD that successfully navigated shutting down the unionization of the athletes at Northwestern back when that popped up. He definitely is a behind-the-scenes worker.

 

[stinger 1957]

Our commissioner, like our President and AD, tends to not make any noise until everything is all done. Just because you haven't heard anything, doesn't mean he's not doing anything. I have no inside information, but I do know the man and his operating style. This is the AD that successfully navigated shutting down the unionization of the athletes at Northwestern back when that popped up. He definitely is a behind-the-scenes worker.

You may be right, except he may be working to get each current ACC school placed in one of the big 3 conferences that will dominate CFB for some of the coming years, Big10, SEC, Big 12.

 

[iceeater1969]

Things are changing.
ND is hiring a guy from NBC sports.
I selfisly hope we are with b12 so gt can play teams from Texas. That may not be whats best for Gt.

I feel like the previous prez and ad got used to coasting in the acc - especially w cpj s genius offense mind. That let us coast over a long period till we did the 100-0. Imo, if we were the Vanderbilt of the SEC, the bottom would have come way sooner We would have gotton a motivated prez/ ad who would have long ago made the hard decisions to get us competitive.

Where ever, go jackets

 

[Techster]

This move (Even an Attempt) would make the ACC look like a Hunter rather than the Hunted! Obviously the Big 12 Commissioner is
attempting to expand and look like one of the major conferences! Our commissioner sits quietly!

I recently saw a Navy Admiral say that "Quantity has a Quality of its Own. I tend to believe that he is Correct.

Big 12 looking like they're going the B1G Lite route. Spreading the conference footprint across the country. They actually have some teams that have the potential to be REALLY good. UCF is going to be a VERY good program, and now that they have an easier route to the playoffs, could be a big problem for the traditioinal P5 teams. UCF is also smack dab in the middle of one of the most fertile recruiting areas in the country. Cincinnati has been a good program, though they just lost their coach. BYU always has the potential to be good given the advantage of their SAs being able to mature on missions, and their religious pull (like ND). Houston has the ability to be good as well.

Baylor and Texas Tech has a history of being good.

If the Big 12 leadership does all the right things, the conference is probably in position to be the best conference outside of the P2.

If course, if the ACC can somehow pull off swiping Oregon, Washington, Arizona/Arizona State, Stanford, Cal, Utah, and Colorado...it can potentially be a REALLY good league as well. Given the expansion to 12 playoff teams, all it takes is 5+ years of multiple teams from a league getting far in the playoffs and winning the Natty to change perception and worth of a league.

 

[Techster]

We will see if this changes ND's POV re independence.

Power move by ND. Essentially getting a guy who has the resume to be a modern conference commissioner as their AD...this is how successful programs operate. Making hires for the next 10-20 years as opposed to the current need. I think we'll start seeing more of these type of hires by elite programs. The ability to navigate, and even build, media ecosystems to benefit your school is going to be paramount given the way college is headed in the next phase of sports. This is a pure business move, and one that is years ahead of other schools.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

If course, if the ACC can somehow pull off swiping Oregon, Washington, Arizona/Arizona State, Stanford, Cal, Utah, and Colorado...it can potentially be a REALLY good league as well. Given the expansion to 12 playoff teams, all it takes is 5+ years of multiple teams from a league getting far in the playoffs and winning the Natty to change perception and worth of a league.

If that scenario plus ND would somehow come true, that could be better than the BIG eventually.

 

[Techster]

If that scenario plus ND would somehow come true, that could be better than the BIG eventually.

It would be a fun football and basketball league.

Keep them separated by East/West for scheduling purposes, BUT have 2 rotating crossover games per season for football. 9 game conference schedule for football. Top 2 teams play for the conference title.

We'd have nationally relevant matchups with Clemson/Oregon. FSU/Washington. UNC/Utah. Mix and match, and there's some potentially exciting games that would move the national meter. GT/Stanford would be fun for our fanbase. Love skiiing? How about an October trip to CO for ski and GT football weekend?! Hiking the Cascades in September while catching a football game in Washington.

The hope is over time there's a symbiotic East Coast/West Coast recruiting and fan traveling relationship. Can you imagine playing at Washington/Oregon/Colorado/Arizona? Those are fun places to visit, and all of those states have fun things to do outside of football/basketball.

I proposed this years ago. Not sure how ESPN would view it, but I think it's a compelling league that would add some REALLY interesting sports inventory for college football and basketball.