Boston College became the 12th member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, making the ACC eligible to have a conference championship game.
The league has always been known for its great basketball tradition with Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest etc. But the Eagles bring solid competition to the ACC in both football and basketball – a definite bonus.
The BC basketball team has made five NCAA appearances in the last 10 years with back-to-back appearances in 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. In that same 10-year period, BC appeared in six bowl games, and has played in a bowl game the last four seasons.
ACC commissioner John Swofford said BC will probably join the league in 2006, two years after fellow Big East members Miami (Fla.) and Virginia Tech join the ACC.
BC University President William Leahy said that the school’s decision was based on academic, athletic and financial benefits that the ACC provided.
Let’s get real. BC didn’t agree to join the ACC because of academics. That’s always a great smoke-screen that university presidents like to use. It doesn’t really have to do with athletics either. It’s all about the money
Like Master P says, “if it don’t make dollars then it don’t make sense.” BC sees the ACC as its sugar daddy – the same reason Anna Nicole Smith was willing to jump into marriage and bed with a millionaire old enough to be her grandfather.
The ACC isn’t completely innocent here either. The league has seen the big money that championship games bring. They’re just trying to copycat the high-revenue Southeastern Conference and Big XII.
The league thought about offering BC membership in June along with Miami and Syracuse, but Duke and UNC decided that alignment would give them too much competition on the hardwood. The ACC finally lured in two schools with strong football traditions and almost nonexistent basketball programs in Miami and Virginia Tech.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the ACC tried to hook up with BC’s Catholic rival Notre Dame. The Irish told the ACC to take a hike, and they went back to BC’s doorstep for another try.
Is the ACC really that impressed with BC’s athletic or academic standing? No. The ACC is pimping the Big East Conference for all it’s worth, fulfilling its own selfish desires.
Big East Conference Commissioner Michael Tranghese said he’s personally tired of the ACC’s recruitment of Big East schools. Can you blame him? First, the ACC took the league’s only consistent football powerhouses and now they’re taking a school that’s decent in both football and basketball. BC could end up paying as much as $5 million for an exit fee out of the conference.
Do you think Tranghese would feel the same way if Rutgers and Temple were ready to pick up and leave? He’d probably pay them $1 million each to leave. BC might lose $5 million, but both the Eagles and the ACC will be laughing all the way to the bank for now.