Football Drives Big East Changes, Leaves Aztec Basketball in the Dust

It was no secret that what drove negotiations in Big East talk was football. The revenue from college football put basketball, the Big East’s more recognized sport, in the back seat.

The Big East added Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, SMU and Central Florida as its new members, effective 2013.

With six schools only competing in basketball, the addition of schools to play in both the Big East basketball and football programs put the conference in the dangerous position of diluting a very strong and competitive basketball conference.

Maybe that’s why it came as a shock that San Diego State was admitted as a football only conference competitor.

The Aztecs have been to the NCAA tournament six times including last year. And last year they didn’t just go in as one of those no name schools that battle it out for the 16th seed only to be knocked out by the Dukes and UConns of the world. The Aztecs played as a 2 seed in the west. They ended their NCAA campaign against the future national champion UConn in the Sweet 16.

They finished first in the Mountain West Conference at 14-2. So why will the Big East not be welcoming San Diego State basketball, a clearly competent program, as a competitor and where will they be going?

It wasn’t a secret that the Big East didn’t really need another basketball school. Maybe it appeared to the Big East that the Aztecs were a flash in the pan program? But the Aztecs have won the Mountain West Conference tournament in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2011.

It’s not certain where Aztec basketball will go yet, but in their statement about the acceptance of the Big East’s offer it was brought up that revenue might have driven the decision to accept the football-only offer.

“The dollars obviously help our program as we’ve struggled to combat the reduction in state support. We had over $1.1 million in state support for our athletics dropped this year. We were able to do it for the short term with attendance and ticket sales, but long term, we needed to help find a solution to help with that,” said SDSU Director of Athletics Jim Sterk in a press conference.

While no one seems outwardly unhappy with the new situation it seems the Big East may have missed a valuable opportunity to make a new member school even more of an asset. It could have been reassurance that even though football revenue may be guiding this conversation basketball hasn’t been forgotten in the process.

That the Big East will attempt to maintain its basketball school’s integrity and keep the nature of the conference just as competitive as it is, even without strong programs West Virginia, Syracuse and Pitt. Adding the Aztecs, a No. 2 seed and 2011 Mountain West Conference champions could have helped with that image.