In the latest installment of the NCAA conference realignment saga, Rutgers announced last week that it would be leaving the Big East Conference for the Big Ten, and yesterday Louisville left the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Even with the influx of mediocre Conference USA teams joining in 2013 (including the Tuesday additions of Tulane and East Carolina), the fall of the Big East looks more imminent than ever. With a lackluster BCS football program but a premier basketball tradition and nationally ranked soccer and lacrosse teams, Georgetown needs to focus on carving a space for itself in the changing world of NCAA athletics. This inevitably means leaving the soon-to-be extinct, or at the very least unrecognizable, Big East.
In the wake of Maryland’s departure for the Big Ten, some, including sports blog Casual Hoya, have suggested that Georgetown could get picked up by the ACC as a non-football school. The conference already has a similar arrangement with Notre Dame’s football program, which operates independent of the school’s other teams. In terms of geography and maintaining important rivalries, a move to the ACC would make sense for the Hoyas. But for the ACC it all comes down to earnings from football—the average ACC football program reaps in $17.1 million per year to the Big East’s $3.18 million and $1.56 million for non-football schools.
True, adding Georgetown to the ACC replaces the D.C.-area broadcasting void left by Maryland’s move. And with the addition of Louisville solidified, the total number of member schools would be at an uneven 15, potentially leaving room for Georgetown to squeeze its way into one of the few stable, storied divisions left in the NCAA.
If it seems too good to be true, it is. Notre Dame only secured its non-football status because its immensely popular and now NCAA-leading Fighting Irish agreed to play five games against ACC opponents each year. And while there is something to be said for padding one’s schedules with easy wins to secure bowl eligibility, Georgetown football is too weak and the ACC’s need for poor teams too insignificant to make such a deal work. Sending our football team to be throttled by stronger ACC teams at the beginning of the year, when the strength of the opponent is irrelevant and victories less meaningful to rankings, will only damage morale. And lastly, there are just better ACC candidates with strong Division I football programs out there: UConn, for example.
Both President John DeGioia and Athletic Director Lee Reed need to be proactive in ensuring the long-term success of Georgetown athletic programs—basketball paramount among them—which means not waiting for the ACC to call. Instead, Georgetown should work to form a basketball-focused super conference comprised of the remaining Catholic schools in the Big East (Marquette, Providence, St. Johns, Seton Hall, DePaul, Temple, and Villanova), along with some other minor conference basketball powerhouses like Virginia Commonwealth, Butler, and perhaps Xavier.
Creating a new conference is both daunting and unpredictable, but so is the future of the Big East. If ACC Commissioner John Swofford extends a hand to Georgetown, great. If not, it’s time for to start thinking outside of the Big East box.
