Oh, Ken Starr and Baylor you make this fun.

Baylor let people know about a vital survey showing how people overwhelmingly do not want ginormous conferences.

Three-quarters (76%) of college football fans say they would be disappointed with the creation of super conferences that would eliminate historical regional conference rivalries, according to a poll released today. The poll also indicated a strong belief that decision-making regarding conference realignment should be conducted with transparency and public input.

Well that seems startling. Naturally there was a solid unbiased sampling.

The survey, conducted among college graduates within Big 12 member states over the weekend by KRC Research of Washington, D.C. and commissioned by Baylor University, found strong support for the existing college athletic conference alignment. Seventy-seven percent of respondents said schools should “fight to preserve the original intent of collegiate athletics as part of the student experience” while only 19 percent said the commercialization of college sports is inevitable and should be accepted.

…

The survey included responses from 1,500 college graduates within Big 12 states – 300 each within Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.

Oh.

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I have things to do tonight to clear the deck for the weekend in Pittsburgh. So no time to break down this latest rundown on expansion/conference realignment mess.

Several sources said that while the media attention is locked on the Big 12’s purported courtship of BYU, what’s really happening behind the scenes is this:

The Big 12 is considering a raid of the Big East for at least two teams and perhaps more.

The names I heard from multiple sources were Pittsburgh and Rutgers, but I have to believe others, including Louisville and West Virginia, are in play.

The key items from this story to remember. The timeline for this stuff has allegedly been accelerated, but we are still talking in terms of years not months.

UPDATE: As if this wasn’t enough, well there is more.

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You remember last year — or any other year for that matter where the Big East seemed like it was at risk of being raided? Or people wanted to explore the idea of expanding the football? There would be highly ridiculous scenarios devoid of any sense of reality. BC, Penn State and Maryland all leaving their stable, wealthy conferences for the Big East was always a favorite to see.

In some sense I think these fantasy scenarios were laid out for a couple of reasons. The first being that natural delusion that comes from being a fan. My school is great. Others — even if they’re rivals — want to be associated with my school. Ergo, they want to be in my conference, and thus they would be happy to come to the Big East.

There is also the attitude that, if this is going to happen, the conference needs to go big. This seems to stem from the sense of denial that the realistic choices suck. That the real choices are C-USA leftovers from the first Big East raid.

Another is the reverse logic approach. You start at the conclusion you want, and work backwards to create the framework. It requires creating assumptions and claims that may not be true (often times using theories or claims that a program is secretly unhappy with their lot within the other conference).

And finally, just the throw s**t up against a wall because all the realistic scenarios have been covered and this is all that’s left.

Well, kind of weird to watch this happen with the Big XII, huh?

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Really? You really really want to pretend this is serious? That after Texas A&M runs from the BIg XII/X to the hard mother embrace of the SEC that Pitt or any other BCS conference program would actually entertain jumping to the Texas-dictated conference?

Fine, I’ll play along and rehash my reactions from Twitter. Tell you what Big IX. You do indeed get Notre Dame to not only give up its independence, but join the Big XII in all sports, then Pitt will indeed give serious thought to this idea.

I mean, forget for a moment the TV money set to be brought in to the BIg IX vs. the Big East right now. Consider recruiting. As much as everyone wants to be able to tap into that Texas talent pipeline, is it really worth it to sacrifice Ohio, NY/NJ and Florida in both football and basketball? Am I missing something? Some hidden vein of talent in Kansas? Missouri? Oklahoma?

I have to imagine, though, that all these “discussion” by the powers of the Big IX to go after ND, BYU, Arkansas and Pitt are much like my discussions with Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba to have a threeway. Completely one-sided and delusional.

There are several flaws with this:

Now that WVU will have about 50 drinking stations beer vending locations in their stadium, the Hoopie braintrust decided that they can curb bad behavior with 5 simple rules to ignore — 6 if you include the request for “respect.”

I’m real curious about #1. If you won’t allow “intoxicated fans inside or outside the stadium,” then I assume that all parking around the stadium has been eliminated and actual attendance will be somewhere in the low hundreds.

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I have been following the Texas A&M hissy fit over the Longhorn Network with some amusement. It’s like they spent the last 11 months pretending it was not really going to happen, and then as it draws within a month of actually debuting, the Aggies as a whole looked around and said, “Oh, f**k. This is the last straw.”

And last week, the unsourced rumors started that Texas A&M was ready to go to the SEC, and the SEC would take them. No substantiation seemed to be coming. Just non-denials and everyone basically saying that they have heard the rumors but don’t know much beyond that.

Then tonight came and there was this:

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Let me state something right away. This is small potatoes. Mike Haywood isn’t pursuing legal action for his full contract. Insane claims or anything that would get him laughed out of court — like say being reinstated as Pitt head coach or getting paid $7.5 million over 5-years. He is “only” seeking the $300,000 severance from his deal with Pitt Pitt was to pay on his behalf to Miami (OH) for his contract buyout. [Correction made, as Pitt Script clarifies that aspect.]

It will get a lot more attention because, a) it is late-June and still more than a month before camps even open; b) it recalls the chaos and mess of the arrest and subsequent firing; and c) it was made public because Haywood’s people publicized it.

And just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, I returned home and decided to check my e-mail only to find a press release sent out by attorneys and a public relation’s person on behalf of Michael Haywood – yeah, THAT Michael Haywood — stating that he has asked the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and other state and federal agencies to look into the university’s firing of him.

Press releases to the media helps to explain why it is all over wires and media outlets.

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…The former WVU beat reporter for the Post-Gazette pours some more kerosene on the couch and lights with a small tactical nuke.

Allegations nothing, this was an all out declaration that the bleep has hit the fan in Morgantown. In case you were sleeping, Colin Dunlap went on 93.7 The Fan last night, and well, this:

” … He (Stewart) tried to flame-throw the guy (Holgorsen) in December by calling me and at least one other reporter because the reporter and I discussed it. He said, ‘can you get the word ’scumbag’ tattooed on the front of the sports page?’

“‘(Stewart said) you need to dig up this dirt. You need to get it out on this guy.’ And I said, ‘hey man, I’m not a part of some witch hunt.’”

You can listen to the audio by clicking the link above. But, wow.

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When Pitt appeared to show slow to no interest in Dana Holgorsen. Especially when WVU swooped in and nabbed the hottest OC in college football (well, maybe after Gus Malzahn), there was shall we say — some anger and frustration over the coaching search.

There were rumors that the Pitt administration had serious concerns about Holgorsen’s reputation for enjoying a few too many adult beverages and his behavior. But that was less than clear whether it was being blown out of proportion as counter-spin to justify not pursuing Holgorse and/or letting WVU nab him.

Now, it seems that there may have been a little more to this than any of us truly realized. Holgorsen the Barbarian appears to be venturing into Billy Gillispie territory.

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It came up as it always does in the doldrums of the offseason. It gets picked up by desperate college football media looking for any little tidbit. It gets meaningless controversy going for 15 minutes. It is then forgotten until next year. Rinse and repeat.

I am of course, referring to Pitt-Penn State not playing in football. Usually it is when one coach or the other (and occasionally both) gets asked about it.

Todd Graham being the new guy, and Joe Paterno now a recluse, means Graham gets to get the question this year. Honestly, I don’t even want to read the article.

It’s not that I wouldn’t like to see Pitt and Penn State play annually in football and men’s basketball. It’s that it just isn’t happening for probably at least 10 more years. I see no point in wasting time in that pointless issue given the timeframe.

So I’m at work this evening, and I decide to run through some messages and check the twitter feed for any news of interest. And what do I find but Villanova fans freaking out and blaming Pitt. Betrayal! Backstabbing! Such scum!

Over what you ask. Well, it seems that a Temple message board thread claimed that Pitt was trying to get Temple back in the Big East for football instead of Villanova. Not just for football, but as a full Big East member. Not UCF. Not Houston. Temple.

Let me repeat the salient part again, so it can fully sink in:

Temple message board.

Wow.

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You know, there’s something about the Big East and the member programs that continually miss opportunities, moments and chances. I don’t know how or why, but as much as anything else the history of the Big East is about moments that could transform or change the entire face of programs and the conference — and waiting until after the moment has passed to make a move.

If Villanova had made the decision anytime before 2010, they would be in or on their way to being a full Big East member. The stadium would have been less of an issue to the members simply because the Big East football schools really, really, really wanted that 9th football member.

Up until the point last fall when it came out that TCU would join the Big East, the only way it seemed that the Big East would add that 9th member in football it would be from within. The basketball schools seemed intent on blocking other options, and there was no slam dunk option out there.

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As you know, I felt like a bit of a homer picking Coach Jamie Dixon as the Big East Coach of the Year. Yes it is a defensible choice, and plenty of good reason to make the call. Still when you are a Pitt partisan picking the Pitt coach in a wide open field there is a twinge.

That said, you have to love West Virginia partisans trying to explain both why Bob Huggins was deserving of consideration, and why he wasn’t.

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I’m trying not to be bitter. I’m trying, really. When Hardy scored that basket at the end, I was willing to tip my cap and be gracious.  A really tough shot that went in. Gilbert Brown did a fine job guarding him and driving him deep, without touching him — or breathing on him — to get whisteled for the foul you know Hardy would have gotten.

Well, I was at first. But then the replays. The angles. Oh, by the inverted ghost of Tim Higgins. How could a ref standing right there not see that? Ignore it? Not make the right call?

Don’t get me wrong, Pitt did enough wrong in the game. You could make the case that this was the game were Pitt’s poor foul shooters — Robinson, McGhee and Taylor combined 2-9 on FTs — finally cost the team a game.

There’s plenty. But when a call that egregious is missed. When it isn’t one, but both feet that appear to have been over and on the line? When the official called everything for Hardy in the final minute? Then pretends nothing was amiss?

In very fine new book called, Scorecasting, there’s a chapter entitled “So, what is driving home field advantage?” It somewhat helps explain much of this. It talks of referee bias in home court situation. Not blatantly favoring a team, but how it influences games. It is most obvious when it comes to plays and fouls that involve turnovers. Suffice to say, this falls in as one of the most blatant examples you can encounter.

In a follow-up to the post earlier today regarding the booting of Pitt’s Philly chapter from the original pre-game and gamewatch site, we have a comment from the President of the Greater Philadelphia Pitt Club.

I am reprinting it here, because it deserves a full post on its own, so it can’t be missed.

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