JoePa wants expansion – The Morning Call (Allentown, Penna.)
At a Lehigh Valley alumni function, Joe Paterno again called for the Big Ten to expand, citing Pitt, Syracuse or Rutgers as candidates. He specifically said he would not be happy with Notre Dame being added because “they had their chance.” Yes, they did and the did not join because of their NBC contract. Good to see JoePa moved on from it.
I don’t see any scenario in which Pitt or Syracuse join the Big Ten. They are now basketball schoools, not football schools. There is no incentive for them to leave the Big East for the Big Ten in hoops. There might be even less incentive in football since they are already mediocre in a mediocre football conference and would get crushed in the tougher Big Ten.
Rutgers is interesting of course, because it would bring in the New York TV market, but they do not have a big enough stadium and have only recently become competitive in the Big East.
I think the Big Ten is stuck at 11 for the foreseeable future. I think I am done blogging about this too.
By the way, it is 100 days until Penn State’s season opener.
