East Carolina offering sweet deal to Big East?

With all that being said, I wish the BE commish would grow a pair (or borrow the set his wife obviously has) and kick ND to the curb!  

For starters, Tranghese is probably the top conference commish in the land right now.  Not only did he manage to avert the dissolution of his conference following the departure of its three biggest football names---and keep its BCS Bowl bid in the process---but he's parlayed his conference's success in basketball into an enormously successful television deal for basketball AND football with ESPN.  No current conference commissioner has achieved half as much as has Tranghese.

IMHO, I think you'd be a far better addition to the BE than ND any day of the week!

Notre Dame ought to be given an ultimatum--in for football, or out for all sports.  Once the Irish had demurred, the invitation would be extended to Memphis, not East Carolina.  Unless the Pirates can show they'd be relevant in basketball.

Come on Howlong.  Ultitmatum to ND by the Big East? Yeah right with all the Catholic basketball schools lined up with ND?  That's gonna happen real soon.  Let's count the votes against ever giving ND an ultimatum for anything.  ND, St. Johns, Marquette, DePaul, Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall,  and Providence.  And throw in basketball schools Syracuse and Connecticut.  The Big East won't say BOO to Notre Dame.  Ever.

And who engineered this logjam of basketball only schools?  Yeah, the top commissioner in the land, Mike TrainedGeese.  In order to replace three all sports schools he had to bring in three all sports schools + 3 basketball only schools in Marquette, DePaul, and Notre Dame.  I can understand why you like him, as a Georgetown fan.  As a fan of a football school, I think he's a joke.  You're welcome to him when the football schools split.

And quite frankly Memphis  is probably more irrelevant for football than East Carolina is for basketball.  Depends on your point of view I guess.

Ultitmatum to ND by the Big East? Yeah right with all the Catholic basketball schools lined up with ND?

What makes you think the Catholic schools would back ND?  Boston College dropped its brethren like a bad habit when the money called.  It's not like Seton Hall or Providence is seeing any of ND's football money... why would they back the Irish? 

And throw in basketball schools Syracuse and Connecticut.

Syracuse and UConn would vote to bring the Irish in... they're both schools with a vested interest in the success of the football side of things.  Moreover, they're co-founders of the Big East along with Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's, etc., so they don't want to see those long-time peers jettisoned if it's at all avoidable.  If and when the basketball-only schools are dumped, it'll be over Syracuse and UConn's vocal objections.

And who engineered this logjam of basketball only schools?  Yeah, the top commissioner in the land, Mike TrainedGeese. 

What?  How did he engineer it?  The Big East was formed explicitly as a BASKETBALL conference.  Most of its original members didn't even field Division I football programs.  When he attempted to keep the Big East intact in 2003, he did so by trying to preserve the conference's historical strength while maintaining its emerging football dimension.  What exactly is your beef with him?

As a fan of a football school, I think he's a joke.

As a fan of one of the schools (Georgetown) that helped get the football programs their Thursday night slot on ESPN, I think you're debilitatingly ignorant.  When Tranghese negotiated his deal with the TV network, what do you think served as his leverage?  Rutgers-UConn in football, or Georgetown-Villanova in basketball?  Don't be a dolt.  It was only because of the Big East's prodigious basketball pull that the football side was even considered.  So on behalf of all us irrelevant non-BCS schools... You're welcome.

And quite frankly Memphis  is probably more irrelevant for football than East Carolina is for basketball.  Depends on your point of view I guess.

Well, since 2003, East Carolina has been to two bowls, while Memphis has been to four.  So if by "point of view" you mean the empirical evidence... yeah. 

The Big East is only hurting themselves by not expanding, and ECU is the best choice right now.

How so?  Their automatic BCS bid is in no danger of being rescinded, and their 8 conference teams are showing remarkable success in relatively adverse conditions.  Last season, 6 of the 8 teams--- an astounding 75%--- were ranked in the Top 25 at one point or another. 

As it is, they not only get to play each other team, but they are also free to make their OOC schedule as difficult as they want, e.g. South Florida and West Virginia grabbing Auburn.