Even though it’s far from it, it seems to be a given amongst a lot of observers that the Big East will ultimately be raided by the Big Ten if/when the latter expands.
Whether or not the Big East could survive losing up to three teams is debatable, but, if they were to navigate their way through the carnage and emerge as a viable football entity after the expected purge, they would have some spots in the league to fill. If it were up to a certain head coach at a current Big East school, he knows exactly how he would fill one of the holes.
South Florida’s Skip Holtz coached East Carolina from 2005-2009 before moving on to the Bulls and the Big East this past offseason, and feels that the current Conference USA school would be a perfect fit for his new league.
“I absolutely would love to see ECU in the Big East,” Holtz told the Raleigh News & Observer. “It’d be great for the school, and I think it’d be great for the Big East, too. That’s what I thought there, and it’s what I think here. I’m not changing. I’ll always be a big supporter of that.”
The Pirates have been mentioned in the past few months as a potential part of a reconstituted Big East, so this is not exactly new territory being plowed by Holtz. But it’s always good for a school such as ECU to have an old friend be so public and vocal in pushing for their inclusion in a BcS conference.
(Tip O’ the Hat: Greg Auman of the St. Petersburg Times.)