Southern Miss ready to take advantage of realigment

Just over a month ago the Big Ten Conference served notice to the world of college football that changes are on the way. The league announced that they were beginning a study to expand conference membership.

There’s no secret that a number of Big Ten schools are lobbying for expansion to twelve teams. Even the Dean of college football coaches Joe Paterno has gone on the record with his support for the move. Twelve is the magic number and that’s where everyone wants to be.

A twelfth team will allow the Big Ten to host a championship game that could generate as much as $15 million in additional revenue for the league. The Championship game also has the potential to add some much needed prestige to the league that looks to be playing catch-up to the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 at the moment.
It’s unlikely that the league will expand by more than one program, an earlier version of the Western Athletic Conference proved that 16 members is unwieldy and unsustainable. The most favorible candidates for a Big Ten expansion seem to be Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse and Missouri. It’s not worth wasting time speculating on Notre Dame, as they have no interest in joining a football conference.

Missouri is probably the least attractive program on the short list for several reasons, the most notable reason being they would be the most likely to decline the invite opting to remain in the Big 12. The Big Ten seems to be better served in the future by moving eastward.

Some analysts believe that Rutgers may be the best fit including Tom Dienhart, Senior College Football Writer for Rivals.com and one of the nation’s most respected experts on the college game.

“I think Rutgers is most attractive,” Dienhart said. “It meets the Big Ten’s academic profile, and it would broaden the league’s footprint into the New York City market.”

While it’s not a certainty, in all probability the Big Ten will select a current member of the Big East and like the previous three rounds of re-alignment it’s sure to cause a trickle down effect to Conference USA and potentially other leagues.

Like the Big Ten, a key for long term stability for the Big East is to get to the magical number of 12 teams.

“If the Big East loses a school, I think it should try to add enough to get to 12, split into two divisions and have a title game,” Dienhart said. “What schools would make the most sense? East Carolina, UCF, Memphis, Southern Miss and maybe it would take Temple back. “

Southern Miss willing and able to take advantage of realignment

The Golden Eagles appear to be in a much better position for inclusion in a 12-team Big East than once believed. Southern Miss Director of Athletics Richard Giannini is in a key position to help the Eagle cause. He holds a seat on the prestigious Division I FBS Football Committee.

“We’re on top of the situation,” he said in an exclusive interview with BigGoldNation.com.

And while Giannini wouldn’t comment directly on the possibility of Southern Miss making the move to the Big East it’s clear that he believes the Eagles would be an attractive candidate for any league considering expansion.

“Southern Miss athletics has a lot of positive aspects to be proud of and we will continue to work hard and our goal has always been to play on the highest level of the FBS in football and our other sports,” he said.

Southern Miss is in the middle of an athletic enhancement plan that has seen more than $67 million dollars invested into athletic facilities since 2000, and there are more plans on the way. Projects funded include - an expanded M.M. Roberts Stadium, major renovations to Reed Green Coliseum, enhancements to Pete Taylor Park and newly constructed softball and tennis facilities.

“Over the past ten years Southern Miss has invested more private dollars into facilities than any other program in Conference USA,” Giannini said. “We’re going to make sure that Southern Miss will compete with the best and that our facilities are equal to anyone in Division I athletics.”

Inclusion in a BCS automatic bid conference would be a huge windfall for Southern Miss who has historically ran one of the most cost efficient athletic departments in the country. Fewer than one quarter of NCAA FBS programs operated in the black during the 2007-08 academic year. The added revenue sharing from inclusion would nearly double the Eagles’ athletic budget, and would help to level the playing field in-state where the other major programs have long had inclusion.

It is widely speculated that if the Big East were to move to a 12 team league that the divisions would be aligned into north and south format. This could put the Eagles in a South division with programs like - Louisville, South Florida and current C-USA rivals - East Carolina, Memphis and UCF.

If that were to happen Southern Miss would be able to retain long standing rivalries with Memphis and East Carolina while re-igniting one of the most heated rivalries in the program’s history - Louisville.

The changes are likely to start a domino effect out west.

“I think if the Big Ten makes a move, it will set off a series of moves across the nation that will see leagues altered. The Pac-10 likely would add two teams to get to 12,” Dienhart said.

At this point we can only speculate at how fast the changes will come from the Big Ten, but regardless of when it happens, be it in the next two weeks or two years, it’s apparent that Southern Miss is working to insure that they are willing and able to take advantage of any opportunity presented when these changes do come.

Courtesy BigGoldNation.com