Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990 TAG: 9006010111
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But the Metro, with growth plans of its own, apparently isn't panicking.
"It may hasten to some extent some of our plans," Metro commissioner Ralph McFillen said, referring to the Metro's ongoing discussions about expansion and the addition of football as a conference sport. "But we were not going to let this thing drag anyway."
Cincinnati athletic director Rick Taylor, chairman of the league's ADs, said the Metro won't act in haste.
"I think uncertainty probably threatens anybody," Taylor said. "I don't think it [the SEC's move] has an effect one way or another on our timetable."
It could, however, affect the Metro's current or future makeup. The league adjourned its spring meetings last week in Destin, Fla., without making a decision on expansion and football. Officials postponed action until Raycom Entertainment and Sports Inc. has collected more information to add to a 200-page study it was hired to produce for the conference.
However, reports from the SEC meetings, also in Destin, indicate that Metro members Florida State, South Carolina and Louisville, as well as independent Miami - a possible Metro target - and Southwest Conference member Arkansas may be on the SEC's shopping list.
South Carolina athletic director King Dixon could not be reached for comment, but FSU athletic director Bob Goin said he has talked to SEC representatives about their expansion plans and expects to hear from the league again in the near future. Louisville AD Bill Olsen said the Cardinals haven't had talks with the SEC and are more concerned with the Metro's plans than with a new league.
"I don't think it's appropriate for us to make any decisions on that until we know what's going on in the Metro," Olsen said.
"We have had discussions with DePaul, Cincinnati and Memphis State about a fallback position if something went wrong in the Metro," Olsen said, referring to a proposed Midwestern basketball alliance. "But we're a member of the Metro Conference. We want to move ahead with the plans we made in Destin."
Traditional sticking points apparently remain in the Metro talks. Florida State and Louisville have felt uneasy about revenue sharing, fearing their financially secure football and basketball programs, respectively, would be drained. One Metro school administrator said the new Raycom data will be targeted toward convincing skeptical schools that they won't be financially damaged by a new, revenue-sharing Metro.
"I think it's more to reassure that if a new scenario occurs, there will be a comfort zone established that the revenues you presently have are not going to be impacted in a negative way," the administrator said. "Raycom has to answer that [the revenues] are going to be there."
Virginia Tech's Dave Braine, the the chairman of the athletic directors, and Olsen said in Destin that the eight Metro schools were more committed than ever to staying together. McFillen said he didn't think any Metro school would ignore possible overtures from the SEC, but said he's confident about what an expanded, football-playing Metro can offer.
"Not that anybody wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth," McFillen said, referring to the SEC's interest in Metro schools. "But we'll just have to wait and see. Some of the scenarios we're looking at, we feel, would be as attractive [as the SEC] or more."
The Metro's top choices for expansion and football appear to be Miami and West Virginia. But the league also has studied adding Big East members Syracuse and Pittsburgh, who would bring strong basketball programs into a league whose reputation has been built on the hardwood.
Miami AD Sam Jankovich, who previously had been quoted as saying Miami was not interested in the Metro, said Wednesday that the Metro has contacted him about its plans. But he said the Hurricanes remain non-committal about joining a league.
"We're in a hold pattern," he said. "The conference that excites us most of all of the ones we talked about is the Eastern Seaboard, but it doesn't look like that will happen.
"We visited with the SEC a long time ago, and we visited with the Metro about their study. But I really don't want to say anything else."
Neither Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel nor Pitt AD Ed Bozik said his school had heard from the Metro. West Virginia AD Ed Pastilong, who has expressed interest in being contacted by the Metro, could not be reached for comment.
Crouthamel said it's a priority for Syracuse to find a league for its independent football team. He said he would be willing to listening to any pitch for conference affiliation, but said he is skeptical that moving out of the Big East and into an all-sports, revenue-sharing conference would benefit the program financially.
"We would lose money in the long run," he said. "I don't think that any option is going to offset that, quite frankly."
Bozik said Pitt is happy in the Big East and is a long shot to leave.
"There certainly have been advantages to us remaining an independent [in football]," Bozik said. "There's no raging imperative for us all of a sudden to change our position. But we're keeping abreast of all discussions and are open to participation in discussions."
by CNB