West Virginia would NOT be a doormat in the Big 12, they've had years where they could definitely compete in the Big 12 easily.
I'm just mad that ECU is getting shunned just because we aren't in a direct metropolitan area. San Diego State? That's not for football, that's for TV. SMU? That is surely not for football, that's also TV. Thing is, with the density of Pirate fans in and around the Raleigh, Charlotte, and Southeastern Virginia area, the gosh darn Big East would get more viewers that care rather than a place with basically zero fan base like San Diego State. Fact.
Stats for you all:
ECU is now #1 in the country in Non-AQ attendance, formerly behind BYU, who is now independent. They would have finished in the upper half of the Big East and middle of the pack in the ACC.
ECU sells the most team licensed merchandise among Non-AQ schools. (Hell, we just spent $200 at the student store yesterday probably.)
ECU resides in the #5 TV market in the country, if you count Charlotte and the Triangle, where we outview fans of schools like NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, and I'm fairly sure about UNC.
Source: site in my sig.
It just disgusts me how little they care to look, it just seems that if you're in a big city, you're in no matter how much you suck. Grr.
Larry Fedora is headed to UNC and June Jones is going to ASU.
Jones' offer has been pulled, we'll see if he gets it back.