West Virginia might have been the last straw — for Notre Dame.
The Mountaineers’ decision to join the Big 12, as reported in yesterday’s Post, has placed greater pressure than ever on Notre Dame to retain its status as an independent in football, because the battered Big East Conference might no longer be a home for its non-revenue sports, several sources told The Post.
If the Big East, which is now down to five FBS members, can’t reconstitute with new members, the Irish will have to face the choice they have rued: Surrender their football independence and join the Big Ten or the ACC, or retain their independence while joining the Big 12 for all other sports.
“Each option has a strength and a weakness,” said a Post source. “The Big Ten keeps them a national program, but football will be hard-pressed to win the league and it hurts the basketball’s ability to recruit in the East.”
“The ACC offers them a better chance to win the league and helps the basketball program, but it hurts their standing as a national program,” the source added. “The Big 12 offers them a chance to keep their independence in football, but it’s a terrible cultural fit for Notre Dame.”
Of course, there is one last option: Notre Dame could stay put, but it needs the Big East to move quickly on replacing Pittsburgh and Syracuse, which are headed to the ACC; and TCU and West Virginia, which are headed to the Big 12.
The Big East, which has its annual meeting of presidents and athletic directors Tuesday in Philadelphia, is hoping to remain intact by adding Air Force, Boise State, Central Florida, Houston, Navy and SMU. Now Temple will be needed to offset the loss of West Virginia on paper.
If the plan fails, or one more program leaves, the Big East will reach its tipping point.
That has never been closer. The league is in crisis.
Some of the non-FBS schools are taking another look at breaking away from their football brethren. Some of the schools that have FBS football and quality basketball want the league to invite Temple and Memphis immediately to retain the league’s power in hoops.
“We have to go back to what this league was built on,” said one coach. “Basketball has always been the strength. We need to have seven or eight really good programs. I’ve told the league that.”
The league has been terrifyingly quiet. It did not issue a statement yesterday acknowledging the West Virginia situation because neither the Mountaineers nor the Big 12 made an announcement. Sources close to both told The Post “the deal is done.”
Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers and South Florida remain the FBS members. Connecticut has thrown itself at the ACC. Rutgers, an AAU school with the strongest presence in the New York market of any college and a clean football program that graduates its players, has remained strangely quiet.
“The landscape in collegiate athletics continues to be a very fluid situation and we continue to be involved in discussions,” said Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti. “We remain extremely confident that the result, once the movement concludes, will be very positive for Rutgers University.”