EDITORIAL: WVU needs to go to the SEC

The fires of conference realignment have been ablaze since last summer when Colorado and Utah joined the Pac-12, Nebraska bolted to the Big 10, and Texas announced their Longhorn Network.

Notice all of this realignment points to Austin, TX with UT and their TV network?

Other conferences, namely the SEC and the ACC, are not going to sit idly by and watch. They’re going to expand their operations, too. In business, you must expand in order to succeed. Same for college football conferences. Expand to succeed. More after the break.

In this latest round of Conference Realignment, Pitt and Syracuse have jumped ship to the ACC. This was sudden, with the NY Times being the first to break the story on Friday night. Sources told me that current Big East commissioner John Marinatto was not having a good day, and was frantically working the phones trying to get answers. Marinatto was at the WVU/Maryland game yesterday… probably ate all the crabcakes within sight, too.

Now, it’s very apparent that the Big East’s time as a viable football conference is nearly up. The ship is sinking, and it’s every team for themselves.

WVU has been rumored for quite sometime to be SEC’s #14. If WVU were to go to the SEC, they would be in the Eastern Division with Kentucky (Lexington, KY), Vanderbilt (Nashville, TN), Tennessee (Knoxville, TN), South Carolina (Columbia, SC), Georgia (Athens, GA) and Florida (Gainesville, FL).

It’s time for WVU to pack their bags and head to the Southeastern Conference. WVU has been in an excellent position since Oliver Luck came in as the Athletic Director in summer 2010. He has cleaned house in every aspect… getting rid of the old volleyball coach is one example. Also, cleaning out the athletic department of all the long-time workers (ok, they suddenly announced “retirement”, but you know Luck had something to do with that) was another big move he made. However, the biggest move Luck has made thus far…

That’s right, hiring Dana Holgorsen to jump-start the offense and eventually take over the team the next season. However, he became Head Coach in early June.

But, Luck’s greatest move will soon top the Holgorsen hiring. Carving out WVU’s place at the table for the future when it comes to conference realignment.

Face it, the Big East is DONE. You know that TCU is very upset with today’s developments. Time to speculate what would happen if the remains of the Big East and Big 12 merged in football. In this scenario, WVU is in the SEC as #14, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State go to the Pac 12, making it the Pac 16.

Old Big East
South Florida
TCU
Cincinnati
Louisville
UConn
Rutgers

Old Big 12
Baylor
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State
Missouri

It would be an11-team conference that most likely would not have an automatic BCS bid for the Conference winner. The Pac-16, Big 10, SEC and ACC would be the Automatic Qualifier conferences, leaving the “Big East 12 Rejects Conference” out in the cold. Also, I can tell you this: John Marinatto would NOT be running this new conference, and neither would Dan Beebe.

In the unlikely event where WVU does nothing, they would most likely be stuck in College Football’s Non-AQ abyss, being put in a position that Boise State’s put in every year: Win big every game or else.

However, with Luck at the helm, WVU is in a very good position to join the SEC.

Mountaineer fans, pack your bags. We’re heading south!

We, the staff at HailWV.com, unanimously urge Athletic Director Oliver Luck to make this move to the SEC happen as soon as possible.