What If... Joe Paterno's Eastern Conference was Created?

When doing research for my Big East video a long time ago, I came across a couple scenarios in which Penn State desperately tried to join the conference before electing to stay an independent up until their admission into the Big Ten. Oddly enough, this came at a time where famous coach Joe Paterno, divisive as he is now, moonlighted as the college's athletic director, before any major conference movement was made. While the Nittany Lions didn't get the votes necessary to join the basketball-focused conference, it wasn't Paterno's last effort on joining a primarily eastern league. As soon as the Big East voted them out, he devised a plan to create his own conference, featuring some independent schools and a whole lot of northeast flavor.
The Nittany Lions would be joined by West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Temple, Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College, and Maryland. The only issue is that some of these teams weren't keen to leave their existing conferences, and Pitt joining the Big East put the final kibosh on the conference being made.
Of course, things ended the way they did in real life. But the question has been posed before: what if this conference was created? What if an eastern league had been made that focused solely on rivalry and familiarity? What if the Big East had been replaced by this new league? What would that mean for the ACC or Big Ten? Big 12? Joe Paterno? College sports in the northeast in general?
As always, tell me what you think would have occurred had this conference been created in the comments section below. Remember to be civil and kind with each other when discussing! Since this is all theory, nobody is any more correct than the other. Let's keep my comments section clean and toxicity free, like it has been for so long.
No aspect of this video belongs to me. Video, sourced through the universities of Temple, Boston College, and West Virginia, as well as their broadcast partners in 1989, 1983, and 1988, respectively, and the Big East conference is utilized under Fair Use for the purpose of education. Music is sourced from KZbin's free audio library. Text excerpts are sourced from their digital mediums and have their titles listed on-screen.

[@skipinator]

I'm not sure if I commented on your conference series before, but I once thought about doing a series like this once, but you're a much better talent than me, so thank you for doing this.

[@SkylerMillerTheBronxProject]

Do it. You don’t know your ceiling until you try.

[@lukeontheplains]

Agree. There aren't enough people doing videos like this out here. Try it out for yourself and I'll be among the first to watch.

[@MrBrranch]

I was too! Paterno's conf was one that I wanted to do. Def glad somebody is doing it

[@jackson711247]

Do it anyway. You will bring your own touch to it. I will definitely watch.

[@tjchapman5134]

The one thing left out of the video is the main reason for Pitt and other teams saying no to the NEC was Paterno would not agree to revenue sharing. None of the schools in that group had the income that PSU had and couldn't sustain an athletic department without the revenue shared from a conference.

[@g.t.richardson6311]

And paterno wanted 2 for 1 on football games Syracuse and Pitt said no

[@kylethomas2993]

Some videos on basketball conferences with interesting histories like the MVC or A-10 would be cool.

[@andrewmartinyt]

JoePa would’ve had an almost complete dream had the Big East accepted them. By adding them & West Virginia early on to go with rivals like Pitt & Syracuse (for football sake and keeping them around), the conference could have survived through realignment madness.

[@andrewmartinyt]

@@Mingo... But that happened almost 10 years after the Big East rejected them. At that point, the Big East began adding Miami and Virginia Tech which contributed to the downfall.

[@andrewcross8244]

Nah. Joe’s dream would have been to not be caught covering up for pedophiles

[@tmcobb04]

As a wvu fan, I would love this, a conference with wvu, pitt, Penn st, and even Syracuse and Virginia tech would be so much better than having to drive to Texas every year to play football and now Utah and Arizona with the new teams

[@Jrm-xs9qi]

So playing real talent instead powder puffs all year is better? Homie pennstate would actually win the conference then right now with the new teams coming they are gonna get mauled

[@jedimasterjoe5386]

@Jrm-xs9qi Sush shorthorn

[@girlwithaguitar24]

Something that might be a fun thought exercise for a video would be to create your ideal conferences - like, if you were the god emperor and money were no object, what would you create for conferences? Here's mine: Big East: BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Penn State, Pitt, West Virginia, Louisville, Cincy, VT, Miami ACC: Maryland, Virginia, UNC, Duke, NC State, WF, South Carolina, Clemson, GT, Florida State Big 10: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, ND, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State Big 12: Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Colorado State SEC: Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Florida SWC: Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, SMU, Houston, Rice, Arkansas, Memphis MWC: Utah, Utah State, BYU, Arizona, Arizona State, Nevada, UNLV, Boise State, Wyoming, New Mexico PAC-10: Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal, Stanford, Fresno State, USC, UCLA, San Diego State Everyone plays a round-robin schedule, and the champions of each conference face off in the corresponding bowls around Christmas: Peach Bowl: Big East/ACC Champs Orange Bowl: Big 10/Big 12 Champs Cotton Bowl: SEC/SWC Champs Fiesta Bowl: MWC/PAC-10 Champs Then the semifinals on New Years Day would be Rose Bowl (Orange Bowl winner vs Fiesta Bowl winner) and Sugar Bowl (Cotton Bowl winner vs Peach Bowl winner), with the two winners facing off in the national championship.

[@user-wf4ou8dn6y]

Dang, man. That makes WAY too much sense to ever become reality.

[@AP-hv9ll]

Rotate your Christmas bowl meetings and I think you have as perfect a thing as you can get. Of course it could never happen. It goes against the $.

[@mrterp04]

Considering how disliked JoePa and PSU were by the rest of the “Eastern Independents”, I’m not surprised this didn’t work out.

[@andrewsever98]

I love this series. Its a great way to explore history.

[@garygrassler09]

If you look at Penn states all time match ups it’s still Pitt, cuse and wvu at the top. Great video

[@PaBa1984]

Would love to see a video on the full story of the Southern Conference. I’d guess that very few modern fans know this mid-major featuring UNC Greensboro and East Tennessee State used to be the original superconference, with both future SEC and ACC powers in the league.

[@lazarbro]

Depending on how much involvement Paterno has personally, the vision of preserving northeast regional rivalries might lead to Navy and Army being added together rather than staying serpersted for so long like in our timeline.

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

Another interesting fact is that Boston College kept its football rivalry going with Holy Cross all the way up till 1986. They were still playing home and home, too.

[@marshfellowman]

As a Syracuse fan, I wish this had happened. It's so hard for a lot of people to be interested in the program because half of our conference games are played south of the Mason-Dixon Line

[@colyhope6467]

I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic and lived through this time and every college football fan I knew believed that Paterno real motivation was Penn State reaping most of the benefits of the conference and leaving scraps for the other schools.

[@hatehildog]

It would have been interesting to see if it would have allowed another team to rise, though. I remember thinking the same thing about Miami and the Big East's football expansion, but by the time they both left for the ACC, the conference exposure allowed Virginia Tech to rise to pretty much the same footing as Miami, and then surpass them for their first decade or so in the ACC.

[@aaronrider4051]

Yeah and just look at what their jealousy for Penn State's success got them today: diddly poo

[@fecat93]

Texas destroyed a conference with that attitude. I wonder if PSU would've had the NEC been formed. The B1G's destruction will be by NIL and the transfer portal as I don't think the lesser football schools are ready to pay multi-millions for a starting quarterback. We could be back to 2/3rds of the conference or more being irrelevant before the season starts.

[@mrterp04]

Another excellent video! Your channel is becoming one of my faves. Would love to see you do a video on either (of both) of the HBCU conferences, the SWAC and the MEAC

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

In the summer of 1988, negotiations around the PSU-Syracuse rivalry came to an end because PSU wanted a ten-year agreement with SIX games at PSU. Syracuse wanted a five-five deal. The final game was played in 1990. At the time, PSU was Syracuse's biggest football rival, if you are going by number of games played in the history of the series. Penn State had the largest football stadium at the time. They also had some uneven agreements with Boston College.

[@foreverorangegirl44]

FACTS. PSU got greedy and EXTREMELY arrogant (even for heated rivals). They trash talked us and said they would only continue to play us if we agreed to a 2 or 3-1 away/home deal, because their stadium was bigger than ours. It was one of the first greedy dominos to fall that would embrace money over college traditions.

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

@@foreverorangegirl44 Just to let you know, I'm a Mountaineer. My dad said that PSU was the only stadium on WVU's schedule that was larger back then. After Pitt, the game with PSU meant the most to us. We also had a losing streak in the series that was even longer than any of Syracuse's. WVU beat PSU in 1955 and in 1984--not winning any games in between. I don't think the WVU game ever meant that much to PSU fans. It's the same way that Marshall still really wants to play WVU. Meanwhile, we just want to say: "Get out of here." I have long wondered if the idiotic behavior of Mountaineer fans was a factor in all this. The fans were on the field with about 30 seconds left in the 1984 game. It happened again in 1988. Joe Paterno was really pissed off at the end of that game. Of course, it was also the only time that Paterno ever gave up more than 50 points--the final was 51-30. That season also saw PSU have a losing season at 5-6, which was their first in over 40 years. Beano Cook certainly blamed Paterno for the death of the PSU-Pitt rivalry. He was a Pitt guy, of course. He hated Paterno.

[@foreverorangegirl44]

@@ChrisBakerauthor Paterno was salty with Syracuse around he same time also, because we were starting to play them hard and winning. He decided to just take his ball and go home with that nonsense home & away plan. I do wish WVU was in the ACC - lots of great matchups over the years between our schools.

[@MetalGod999]

Excellent video, Lukas! Ever since I saw you were gonna do a video on Joe Paterno's Eastern Conference idea, I was so stoked. And you, my man, have scored another touchdown. I loved your take on what would've happened in an alternate universe with a Northeast Conference. Perfectly presented, thoroughly researched, and enjoyable to listen to. Keep up the great work!

[@Alab207]

Can you finally make the sec history video please because I’m was waiting for a long time.😊😅😍🙏

[@andrewfredericksen]

Great Video! Ute fan here, super stoked to possibly go to Manhattan to catch a game. I will always appreciate a Big XII video or west coast vid! Keep it up, you make KSU my favorite irate eight member!

[@dmasucci17]

This type of conference makes perfect sense for the student athlete model. The kids can go to an away game with a bus trip or short flight. College sports has become quasi professional for better, or what I think worse.

[@Jackal_McCackle]

I was scared this content would falter or even cease once you go through all the FBS or maybe even FCS conferences, but the constant quality of these non-history videos keep me excited for the future

[@brodyh2895]

I feel like Delaware is an underrated add to a possible Northeast Conference, especially given the time period. Under HOF coach Tubby Raymond, Delaware won 3 D2 national championships in 1971, 1972, and 1979. if Delaware moved up to D1 to join the NEC, the butterfly effect would be insane considering the drama in the Big East and ACC to come. Even at the time, Delaware had winning records against Temple and Rutgers (if my research is right) and is also competitive with Navy to this day.

[@zachdavis7004]

Fastest click in the east. Always excited for your videos!

[@SuperSirianRigel]

That conference basically does exist... In my college football games on PS3. I always build regional conferences in my dynasty modes. Ha ha ha ha.

[@thomaskeane5723]

Pitt fan here. There was (and frankly, still is) a LOT of stubbornness between both Pitt and PSU. BTW, Art Rooney Sr. wanted to hire Joe Paterno as the Steelers head coach in 1969, but Paterno turned it down, and the Steelers hired Chuck Noll.

[@ohwaitchristian]

DEPAUL MENTIONED AHHHHHHHH HE DID IT AGAIN REST IN PEACE JOEY MEYER

[@johntomasi6762]

As for the end about college football’s popularity in the northeast, unfortunately I don’t think this change would’ve made much of a difference. As someone who’s from NYC but loves college football, imo the biggest problem is that the biggest metro areas really don’t have their own major teams. Sure Rutgers and Temple are there, but they haven’t been big enough for people to care. I guess there’s bc but they also seem similar in that they don’t have a ton of historical success, but I don’t really know how much they’re supported. It’s a shame really cause I love nyc sports, but missing college football here just feels wrong.

[@timothystamm3200]

Well, I think that mostly has to do with all of the old powers in the North East United States from the past were the old Ivy League teams. They were by far the most successful of their teams until the forties and were the biggest fan bases, and then they outside of Army, Navy, and Rutgers dropped from competition by refusing to keep up with athletic scholarships and then those guys each in their own way became more and more irrelevant to national championship discussions. That irrelevance then eroded their fan bases, including for the Ivies.

[@MrCusefan44]

Even when Boston College was good in football, college hockey was a bigger deal in the city. And the northeast in general was much bigger into NFL than college football, even in the 70s and 80s when eastern programs had a ton of success. I can’t see any scenario where college football would have been substantially more relevant in the northeast than it is now.

[@ckh937610]

@@MrCusefan44To be honest, a lot of the popularity in college football hinges on Syracuse, which actually was more of a Football school before it was a Basketball school. When the school had a good run from 1987-2003, the region was stronger and other teams picked up the slack. So, it comes down to getting other programs stepping up.

[@MrCusefan44]

@@ckh937610 In Fran Brown We Trust!

[@adamnorton1734]

The ideal first expansion, given your first eight would have been Army and Navy. The Army/Navy Game is a national event, even if neither is good, they would raise academic prestige of of the conference, and they’d set the NEC up to swing for the grand prize (Notre Dame).

[@KevBotStank]

Can't wait to form this plus old swc and big 8 in NCAA24

[@alexandersutler6136]

A couple notes. 1) NEC would have had a massive media market covering the most populous section of the country, 2) Doug Flutie did play WVU 4 times and lost all 4.

[@stevemaurer2259]

Would love to see one of these on the short-lived Metro conference with Cincinnati and Louisville joining Florida State and Virginia tech!

[@Jasinho702]

As a NJ native that grew up in the 90s, the only college football we were ever acclimated to was either Penn State, Notre Dame, Boston College, Syracuse, and whenever Miami plays either of them. It was at the point where I never even heard of the SEC until ESPN started showing a lot of their games and thus having to hear all that marketing and talk that comes with it. We never even took college football seriously unless we were already playing high school football. Rutgers may have joined the Big Ten (I was already in my thirties). But for as long as the NFC East will be in existence, it'll still be at least another generation before college and NFL are on the same page in the northeast. Either way, great video!

[@dominicene3647]

Great video. Makes you think and play the what-if game. The question is how much steam and notoriety would the Eastern Conference be able to build and take away from the ACC, Big East, Big 10, and SEC to position themselves for the next era of lucrative media deals with the TV networks? It would be hard to believe that the conference to make up that much ground against the more established conferences within a decade. The best-case scenario is the Eastern Conference being like the American Athletic Conference of today. Just be a good enough conference to have its teams be raided by the stronger and more established conferences. The only way they possibly survive is perhaps by expanding SW but Paterno seems like a stubborn traditionalist that would have never bought into southern expansion.

[@LeeNobody]

Great video dalukes! I see you didn't use the Syracuse 1984 logo. I am working on a boardgame related to college football broadcasting rights and stumbled into the same problem

[@lukeontheplains]

I know. I couldn't find one that looked good onscreen. I figured the alternate one they used in the 80s was a solid compromise.

[@MrCusefan44]

Looking it up online, for some reason a lot of places show a Native American logo up until 1988. I am 100% certain that is incorrect. In December 1977, Native American students successfully petitioned the University to discontinue the Saltine Warrior - so it was discontinued starting in 1978 (not 1988). Syracuse didn’t have a consistent logo from 1978-1988 - one I found was an S surrounded by a wreath that was used during the 1987 football season. My guess is that there was no “official” logo in that decade, so picking something recognizable is probably better than using whatever random logo was being used in 1984 (because nobody would have known what it was a logo for anyway). EDIT - I looked up a video of the East Regional semifinal between Syracuse and Virginia on March 22, 1984. The logo used was an S with a wreath around it. I can honestly say that, as a Syracuse resident in the 80s and future graduate of SU - if you showed me that logo 30 minutes ago I would have had no idea what it was, or that it was ever a logo for Syracuse University.

[@LeeNobody]

@@MrCusefan44 thanks for the context. Yes I could not imagine the Saltine Warrior mascot being used that long. It is the poster child of offensive Native American college mascots. I was looking for accurate logos for schools from around 1984 and 1/4 of the MAC was in the same boat. I was completely unaware EMU were the hurons and it is criminal they did not rebrand to the Emus

[@AlexanderHaskins-jo3uc]

Your channel is so good

[@williamb6130]

You mention "Would Flutie be affected in the draft had BC played the powerhouses in the NEC?". Those are the teams BC played on a regular basis. In 84 BC played Temple, WVU, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse, Army and of course, Miami.

[@B3FMandCProductions]

As always fun video. On the ACC front, I have to wonder if the conference would've gone after Kentucky instead of Virginia Tech. In the early 80s, VT was a mid-tier Metro men's basketball team with an independent football team and very little athletic success. Not saying the then-Gobblers wouldn't have been considered, but given the supposed mutual interest between UK and the ACC in the early 90s (before the SEC reached it's 12 team success), I could see the ACC trying to grab the Cats, Cocks, and Miami or FSU to fill the conference. Then, like in our timeline, VT ends up in the Northeast-focused league, just the Paterno one and not the Big East

[@rongamble8930]

Pitt's football coach's first name was pronounced like "fudge," but with a long o vowel

[@wtsherman3080]

Right. The “o” in Foge matches the “o” in rose.

[@warrenp3922]

A1 stuff...yet again

[@toughbutsweet1]

I wonder if UConn would have opted for the Big East since Georgetown, Villanova and St. John's had football at the 1AA level as well? Army and Navy would have been good additions to the NEC, as well as Virginia Tech.

[@lukeontheplains]

The main reason I didn't put VT in the NEC is because I figured the VA state government would try to keep them together like they did in real life. VT was a Big East school anyway but if the opportunity arose earlier to have them together I think they'd jump on it.

[@qazox123]

UConn probably would've stayed in the Big East because of the football team at least until the mid-90s (IMHO). As for both Army and Navy, this probably would've been the last best chance to join a conference until they actually did (Army first in C-USA in 1990s and Navy in AAC in 2010s). A Ten team conference with 2 national following teams, plus at the time in 1981 2 top ranked schools plus a handful of above average football schools (all but Temple and Rutgers) probably would've allowed the NEC to be viable well into the mid2000s.

[@manzac112]

*sigh* I wish conferences made sense again.....

[@dirtybirdjack764]

Another fire Dalukes video

[@nickpeto925]

The Big East prided itself on having every major city in the East Coast covered. If Syracuse, Pitt, and BC left after a year to join the "Paterno Conference," the conference would have likely backfilled with Duquesne and either Northeastern or Boston University to cover the Pittsburgh and Boston markets, and probably St Bonaventure to fill the Upstate NY. While those programs were not as strong as Cuse, BC, and Pitt, they all were solid in the late 70's, early 80's, and likely would have seen a recruiting uptick if there were in the Big East. I do agree that the Paterno Conference would be short-lived. Paterno was grumbling in the early 80's about bringing his program that sold out a 90,000 seat stadium to road games in either bandboxes or half-empty NFL stadiums. He began requiring most of the Eastern schools to play him two for one. When he asked Syracuse for a 2 for 1, they told him to screw, and the PSU-SU series dies even before they joined the Big Ten. Penn State certainly has more in common with Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State than it does BC, Syracuse, or Temple.

[@Nohandleentered]

I’m really going to miss regionalism and smaller rivalry-based conferences. I wish they could’ve figured out ways to keep the conferences in tact, like conference scheduling alliances or realignment being conference mergers or something. Except for the expanded playoffs I just really don’t like where we’ve ended up 😢

[@fecat93]

I agree. 6 hours maximum drive from Chicago(conference foundation and headquarters) to the "original" 10 of the B1G. PSU, Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland are long-ish drives and don't get me started with the Pac 12 refugees.

[@davidwheeler773]

I would love if you did the MCC conference with Dayton Evansville Xavier Detroit Mercy

[@tarheel7406]

~13:10 I doubt that MARYLAND would leave the ACC for this NEC, but it's at least feasible. Seems like VATECH would have been a more viable founder for this scenario. Assuming MARYLAND leaves, I'd predict FSU as its ACC replacement. USCAR had been rejected by the ACC for years, and the SEC had been similarly rejecting FSU. FSU would have just witnessed many independents join a conference, so there would be some pressure.

[@jimread412]

Believe me, this was never a consideration at Marlyland. Only a history revisionist would suggest this.

[@tarheel7406]

I see no way that the NEC materially reverses the declining market for college football in the Northeast or survives the push to get to 12+ teams for a championship game. I also don't see PSU to the B1G over the ACC as a lock but rather more likely. The ACC not getting PSU was a pivotal event given the consequences down the line.

[@MrBrranch]

I researched this and found something interesting. Paterno wanted a 4 team playoff (like we have now). As a commissioner of a conference, could Paterno influence the sport enough to get that happening 30 years before it happened?

[@lorenzohaynes3886]

You're overlooking 1 thing. At that time, it's highly possible or at least more than plausible that Notre Dame joins that NEC then. Which shifts a lot of things. And if somehow you have Maryland, Pitt, Penn State. Notre Dame, WVU, and the other schools together. You change history. Plus that conferences population window would be massive. The main reason a network like ESPN put everything they had behind the SEC. Who knows what happens if a network does that in a NEC. Or if that NEC creates a network. They'd probably be 3rd. Or, they probably would be the first to try to go national. Anything is possible.

[@Alan-lv9rw]

You could add UConn, UMass, Army, and Navy.

[@bdubs2457]

I think if this conference had formed, then great rivalries that were regional would have been more popular and recognized in the early 2000s. Pitt v PSU could have been built into a massive one

[@Spitfirethedragon]

Before 1982, Colgate, Holy Cross, Richmond, Tennessee State and Villanova were 1A independents as well. In 1982, they were forced down by the NCAA. The Ivy League were also 1A before 1982, but they moved down. 4 of the schools above could be interested cases, but Villanova dropped football before 1982 and then restarted it again a few years later. Holy Cross, Colgate and Richmond are strong history of being major players in college football. Holy Cross and Colgate could be attractive enough for Army and Navy to join, but I could see schools like UConn, UMass and Delaware moving there. Possibly Stony Brook and Buffalo at one point as well. Vermont also had some history of playing football with several of these schools in the Yankee League before they dropped football. There were a lot of possibilities to go to.

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

Holy Cross kept its rivalry going with Boston College up till 1986. It was home and home, too.

[@timothystamm3200]

Okay bigger theoretical related to this. What if the Ivy League schools decided to give athletic scholarships and stay in Division 1a? Essentially what happens if Princeton, Yale, and Harvard get to continue pursuing athletes and can potentially be a seed foe northeast super conference.

[@GrantHolmstrom]

7:36 Which school is the VC logo?

[@lukeontheplains]

Cincinnati!

[@GrantHolmstrom]

@@lukeontheplains thanks for the reply and keep up the great work!

[@anthonymcarthur6504]

If the NEC was formed we would view Penn State the way we view Florida State now. Also Miami and Florida state has been sending good team to the northeast for decades and it didn’t seem to boost too much interest in college football.

[@urbanleftbehind]

The canes were the sole beneficiary of limited NE trips in the Scnellenberg and Johnson eras, it got the program in front of local recruits, who traditionally would have considered PSU, Pitt, ND or the big 2 of the big tens. Lots of skis and vowels made their way out of the rust belt and NE to Coral Cables.

[@danehammond5763]

I think one possible wrinkle you may have missed is Notre Dame. I think Notre Dame would be all over this Northeastern conference by the 90's, especially if the conference added Cincinnati and Louisville. They would have strong regional connections and would absolutely want to compete against a school like Penn State on a yearly basis.

[@danehammond5763]

they're surely also a good academic fit with Temple + BC + Pitt + Syracuse- and a member as significant as ND would ensure the conference's survival over the ACC.

[@1234Peacekeeper]

I don't know about all these what if factor videos, but your last bit missed a big factor; media markets. Rising tide raises all ships. NYC is the LARGEST media market in the 1980s, and now. Rutgers, Temple, and Penn St would become premier media fodder in the fall. Would this also increase youth more towards football over basketball, and could this lead to the acceleration of the super conferences? Again, we don't know but need a mention due to the size of the externally and regressions. (Sorry, economists, size of the variable, and how it will affect the overall outcome.)

[@scottym3233]

would have been a very good conference. I miss those days.

[@brettk9316]

PSU could of been the ohio st of the conf winning it almost every year lol

[@TheAcreanCandidate]

I think this conference would have been stronger than the ACC. If they grab Miami like the Big East did, the Eastern Conference would be alive today over ACC.

[@MissionForward3]

It could have been that UCONN would have maintained a basketball connection to the Big East and moved up to Div 1 to play football in Paterno's conference. As a B1G fan, I would have preferred the conference to have brought in WVU and Missouri instead of Rutgers and Maryland. Now that four former Pac 12 schools are coming into the B1G, the whole thing has become completely convoluted with the conference stretching all the way across the country. Prepping for and playing games in Eugene, Seattle, and LA is gonna be a week long event for players who are also supposed to be students, too. With the dissolution of the Pac 12, IMO it should have been a merger with the Big 12 or the Mountain West. Not the B1G. Geographically, that would have made more sense.

[@johnpannebaker5757]

What about the prospect of other Northeast schools from D2 joining, like Rhode Island and U-Mass?

[@patrickdonohue2960]

Rhode Island and Umass were D-1AA Yankee Comference teams not D2

[@johnwesolowski7393]

Pitt and Syracuse can blame their decline in football on their ADs in the 1980s. Look back on their national rankings, all Americans, or NFL players before and after Penn State went to the Big 10. Pitt especially was often a top 10 team with players like Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett. Those ADs said publicly that they were Penn State's equals in football but they didn't want Penn St to water down their basketball league. The first part of their statement was proven wrong.

[@foreverorangegirl44]

I was at SU in the mid-80’s. SU v Penn St was a HEATED rivalry. The reason SU didn’t agree is Paterno wanted us to play 2 or 3 games at Happy Valley for every 1 home game we would get. They were super arrogant about having a bigger stadium than us. THAT GREED is what killed that HUGE rivalry. I STILL chant “We hate…. Penn State!” 🧡🍊

[@wtsherman3080]

Pitt’s AD installed much tougher academic requirements in the 80’s, and that decimated the football program. It was an odd decision. So much football talent from Western PA went to PSU, WWU, OSU and other schools because of this change. If anyone looks at those teams from the late 70’s and early 80’s, Pitt had one of the best programs in the entire nation.

[@g.t.richardson6311]

Your one of the clowns who still says Pitt voted not to accept PSU into big east Not true, pitt was still in eastern eight when Syracuse voted no to PSU

[@g.t.richardson6311]

Oh and paterno wanted minimum 2 for 1 football games

[@johnwesolowski7393]

Nice to see all of the Pitts getting emotional over what happened 30 years ago. We've moved on since we are in one of the 2 conferences with some juice.

[@kyleorndorff1304]

I firmly believe that this conference only survives in Penn State is able to convince Notre Dame that this conference is good enough to give up independence. PSU & ND would would likely share the bulk of conference titles and could continue more regional rivalries with Boston College, Pittsburgh, & Syracuse

[@UserName-ts3sp]

that makes a lot of sense. even then that’s not a guarantee. you can have even three blue bloods and still get picked apart, like the big 12 was.

[@kyleorndorff1304]

@@UserName-ts3spthat’s true. I east coast probably only can have one major conference. I guess it’s either this Northeast hypothetical or the ACC. Even then we can see now that the ACC is just waiting to be picked apart by the BigTen & SEC with the scraps sent to the Big XII.

[@wtsherman3080]

Back when this was first being discussed, Pitt was a national powerhouse. That would have most likely continued in the new conference. Paterno didn’t want to revenue share, which is a big reason why Pitt said no.

[@jaredstivers]

And this might be a long shot of happening if the ACC collapses. Where do some of the ACC programs like, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Boston College, Louisville end up? How about Duke, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech? Do they try and rebuild with Big 12 Schools, UCF, West Virginia and Cincinnati?

[@wtsherman3080]

PSU needs to lobby for Pitt to get into the Big 10. PSU has no natural rivalry. Even after 3 decades, they are just not a natural fit. As much as they hate Pitt, they NEED Pitt. Pitt would be a great addition to the Big 10, and Pitt would benefit also. But PSU doesn’t want it. The fans of both schools want it, but it seems politics at both schools have made it difficult.

[@JohnnyLodge2]

Here me out: there are 128 division 1 teams. We should have either 8 conferences of 16 teams with 8 team playoff or 16 8 team conferences. All based on strict geography.

[@GDoggy-em2xc]

Yeah, I think it’s crazy that Cal and Stanford has joined the ACC. Makes absolutely zero geographical sense.

[@fecat93]

I think any more than 64 teams is too much. I think they will be a weed out once paying players and a salary cap is implemented, which it will have to be for competitive reasons. As a Northwestern alumnus we won't make the 64 cut as most of the donors I talk to aren't interested in athlete first, student second. Other than ND and USC I don't think any other privates are interested in professional football.

[@seanevans9329]

Big east could have added rutgers, navy, Cincinnati ,army..uconn, temple for football. Acc would have fla st, miami, maryland would stay..and va tech, Kentucky and w. Virginia would be in ACC..and possibly Tennessee....

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

When the Big East adopted its football program, WVU was the only school that had any history with Virginia Tech. I don't think VPI gets into the Big East without WVU lobbying for them.

[@bensingleton9146]

Then we would have needed to pull for the chokies to be in

[@charlesallison6932]

Alternatively, what if the Metro Conference had decided to add football as a sport in response- Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis St., Tulane, Florida St. (would have been poached at some point like Ga. Tech), Va. Tech, S. Miss, and S. Carolina (also would have been picked off)????? South Carolina would have never re-entered the ACC. They left in a huff and there was bad blood on both sides. Maryland always felt like they were the red-headed stepchild in the ACC, as evidenced by their eventual move to the Big 10.

[@colyhope6467]

There was a plan back in the early 90's for the schools in the Big East and Metro Conference to merge to form a super conference in football.

[@MrCusefan44]

Totally agree Penn State was going to end up in the Big 10 - it’s a much better fit there than any other conference (actual or hypothetical).

[@fecat93]

As a Northwestern alumnus who graduated just as PSU was added PSU still feels a bit out of place 30 years later. The tOSU rivalry is strong, but I don't feel any other school has that feeling. I think Nebraska's integration is almost as tight and they are 10 years "younger". I wonder if the Sandusky debacle hurt the integration?!? Maryland and Rutgers are still WTFs in the same boat at the Pac 12 refugees, however the refugees at least brought friends/rivals.

[@MrCusefan44]

@@fecat93 - Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State all have decent rivalries with Penn State at this point. Iowa/Penn State is massive in wrestling, so that tends to bleed over into other sports as well. I lived in Wisconsin for a while, that definitely had a rivalry feel although it was before the recent divisional setup meant they barely played each other. What’s “out of place” in the Big Ten is a small private school which is generally terrible at athletics. Penn State as a large land grant state school fits into the Big Ten better than Northwestern ever did, or ever will. Maybe you’re just salty about that reality?

[@fecat93]

@@MrCusefan44 I agree fit is better with regional state schools, however you have 130 years of history. When the mega conferences(64-ish teams) are formed all the privates other than ND and USC will not be in the final group. I truly believe private schools aren't interested in their student-athletes becoming just athletes which is the way we are headed with NIL and the transfer portal and it will only get worse.

[@wtsherman3080]

@fecat93 - PSU needs Pitt in the Big 10 to have a real rivalry. Pitt and PSU have a natural rivalry and it’s really the only one that PSU will ever have. As you point out, after 3 decades, there still isn’t a good rival for PSU in the conference. No one at PSU really cares about MSU, Iowa, or any of the schools not named Michigan or OSU. And those two schools have the best rivalry in the country, so PSU is an afterthought to them. Pitt would be an excellent fit. Not only would they have a great rivalry with PSU, but other schools like OSU, MSU and Michigan would also become great regional games because of location. Pitt’s football program would also benefit because kids who play football from western PA who want to play in the Big 10 would have an option closer to home. Many families have Pitt and PSU grads and that football game was traditionally played over Thanksgiving weekend, when everyone came home for the holiday. Alumni from both schools miss the game and the tradition. It’s a shame it’s been removed from the schedule. I hope if/when the ACC implodes, the Big10 invited Pitt to join.

[@MrCusefan44]

@@wtsherman3080 - Pitt in the Big Ten would be great for Pitt (at least financially). But they don’t add a new market, they aren’t going to be competitive with Michigan/Ohio State/Penn State - and they can’t build viable rivalries if they lose to those schools 8-9 times out of 10. If I was a Pitt fan, I’d probably want to end up in the Big Ten also. But you vastly overrate what value they’d bring to the Big Ten in your case. (The “best case” is they draw some of the western PA talent away from Ohio State and Penn State and effectively weaken the conference overall. The talent in PA is solid - but not even remotely close to where it was in the 70s/80s when the state effectively provided the talent to two top 5 programs. As a result, I could make a much stronger argument that Pitt to the Big Ten would hurt the conference than you can make that Pitt would bolster the Big Ten).

[@dougmorris5625]

An Eastern Conference would have been much better for the fans who could actually travel to away games without having to fly, etc.

[@dippydog21]

The only conference Paterno should have been involved in was a conference on how to prevent the sexual abuse of children

[@joeblow7407]

Might have worked in the 1970's........BEFORE Big East!

[@josephcernansky1794]

IF a Big East Conference was formed in late 70's early 80's....Miami would have been invited after "Th Duel in the Desert"...for the purpose of getting an annual rematch....which would have been as good a rivalry game on the sparsely broadcast CFB games on TV along with Pitt/Penn State and Pitt/WVU. ....which would then have led to FSU's membership with Miami as in-state rival....then VA Tech to add another pairing with WVU.....Thus The Big East would have been as potent and as elite throughout the 80's, 90's and 00's as any other conference out there! The ACC would remain The Carolina Basketball Conference and other schools would probably have departed it for the Big East long before the realignment craze went into full gear. With the ACC probably being raided by the Big East instead of the other way around and The Big East Conference probably expanding to 12 and beyond over the years. Think GA Tech, Carolina et al. And when the ACC turned down Penn State because, "The ACC is a basketball conference and Penn State does not have a competitive basketball program".....Penn State and Joe Paterno looked westward to The Upper Midwest Conference which tried to coax Notre Dame to join with Penn State to forma 12-team conference and Divisions with a CCG.

[@stephenheath8465]

I always thought Penn State and the rise of Miami in the early 80's was the bedrock of some Eastern type of Conference for Football only.The Big East should have always been a Basketball Conference

[@seanevans9329]

Bring back the big east and south west conference... Have a power 8... With 12 teams... Big east . Acc, swc, sec , big 10, big 12, pac 12 ..moutain west

[@MrCtsSteve]

Interesting....i do think Penn State is a perfect fit for the Big Ten. Notre Dame would be as well

[@nickmcclellan9623]

The SEC has never been interested in FSU. Thay could have had them at any time, but they continued to pass on FSU.

[@RebirthofRyno-SC097]

OMG a SOUTH CAROLINA AS USC REFERENCE!

[@TheBML2]

Oh man that boy conference posting again

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

WVU tried to join the ACC back in the 1950's and was turned down.

[@MissKylee24]

Pitt rejecting idea is the sole reason the series has been on hiatus for all but a couple of the last 30 years. Paterno never forgave them and most inside the university were more than happy to drop them after the Big Ten money came in.

[@g.t.richardson6311]

Your one of same people that still say “Pitt voted to keep penn state out of the big east” Totally false , pitt wasn’t even in big east when Penn state was rejected Pitt voted in later , Syracuse voted against

[@buck_shot_kid1767]

Could you find enough information for a video on the failed Ivy League expansion in 1982

[@LoganLS0]

Buffalo getting invited and actually reaching it's potential is also a possibility.

[@rickzelenka4512]

The BIG East basketball conference was to blame for this not happening. They forced Penn State to go to the Big Ten, by not admitting them as a basketball program.

[@g.t.richardson6311]

That was YEARS before they joined big 10

[@rickzelenka4512]

Doesn’t matter. It was their refusal to allow Penn State in as a member that ultimately led to PSU joining the Big Ten. They enjoyed essentially a Basketball conference for a decade or more, with a select few football/multiple sport teams, while Penn State was the biggest draw and money maker in football by far in the east. Penn State, under Joe Paterno’s leadership wanted to establish an all Big East conference with the larger multi-sport schools (Syracuse, Pitt, BC, Rutgers, WVU, Temple, etc.), but those schools chose to remain in the Big East conference for basketball and independent in football. Penn State than left for the Big Ten conference and the rest is history for the mythical Big East conference that later disappeared.

[@OGDeepStroke]

If Navy, which is literally on the Atlantic coast, got in a real conference, the things they could have done; I will say, and in my opinion, only the academies have the privilege to be independent.

[@warren_tedford]

Add UConn, Notre Dame, Virginia, and Virginia Tech

[@tarheel7406]

ND doesn't give up indy; UVA doesn't leave ACC.

[@huskialt]

all I hope is UConn to be here

[@akeffo]

PSU, Maryland and Rutgers should not be in the BT.

[@pedrogudino1133]

Well, Paterno swept a couple of teams under the rug. Strange

[@andrewalden8364]

JoePa coached Penn State until he died of lung cancer? I’m pretty he stopped coaching Penn State for another reason, but just can’t put my finger on what that reason was 🤔

[@lukeontheplains]

(he was technically on leave until he died from cancer, not fired, if I'm correct, so it wasn't the scandal that got him fired)

[@michaelokeefe8709]

There were several people held accountable for the Sandusky scandal...Joe Paterno was never charged with anything, yet he's the only one who,stated that he wished,he had done more. The media dragged Paterno into this because they needed a bigger name,than Sandusky to increase their news ratings. After a week of reporting, the cameras left State College and didn't care about,the details of the case that would come in the future.

[@JerzeyJimmy]

ah, yes, the good timeline. the one where Syracuse become the true team of the '90s.

[@2023snow]

The ACC was stupid to throw out the Gamecocks

[@Honeybread-ox5ho]

Repent and trust in Jesus you will be saved I love yall and God bless y'all

[@christophernash1846]

Penn State would have dominated this conference. let's be realistic, the Big Ten hasn't really been kind to Penn State football wise. Especially at Michigan and Ohio State levels

[@jaiquanbonin9484]

That woulda been a very "hands on" conference to say the least

[@charliebaldanza7691]

409

[@npierce14]

It would be a unbelievable weak conference worse than the ACC is

[@flpndrox]

Where was the $$$ going to come from besides Penn State? Where Penn State screwed up was ignorjng basketball forever.

[@fecat93]

Basketball is basically irrelevant. At Northwestern 82% of our revenue comes from football, 17% from men's basketball, and 1% from all other sports. Football is what matters.

[@flpndrox]

@@fecat93 yeah, *now*. Penn State was not allowed in the Big East because of their joke hoops in the 1980s. The Big East was getting more money from the ESPN basketball deal than their football until like 2000. The Big East is in much better position to survive with Penn State than without. UCONN would be in a better spot if they never tried to move out of FCS. etc.

[@robertkauffman8137]

Pitt was the death of their own football program. Pitt is now a basketball school and not very good at that.

[@robertkauffman8137]

I think it hurt Marino and mostly Marino. Pitt decided not to join the Eastern All-Sports Conference and stay in the Big East basketball conference. That was their downfall. How stupid in retrospect.@@jab1289

[@owenherndon3794]

What if Joe Paterno didn't like shower time too much?