Off Campus: Chances for Temple to join Big East remain positive

If Temple ends up playing football and possibly all other sports in the Big East - and the indicators remain positive, if anything surrounding the Big East can be termed positive - even the Owls may sit back in amazement at how it has broken their way.

On a telephone conference call Monday, Big East presidents authorized the league to "engage in formal discussions with additional institutions" and announced the league is "considering moving to a model that includes 12 football-playing schools," Big East commissioner John Marinatto said in a statement.

The Big East remains in desperation mode, its future gray, its leadership perceived as bumbling. But Temple is in a stronger position because the Big East needs some football schools that also play basketball. Of all front-burner options, the Owls are easily the most successful men's hoops program.

The most obvious way this could turn against Temple - if this turns out to some cosmic joke aimed at the Owls - is if the Big East crumbles to the point it can't play football at all. But the conference is looking to move quickly, some reports saying Central Florida is the first target. The Owls could be next, part of a "growing list of schools," as one Big East source put it.

NCAA rules are even helping the Owls. The Big East needs eight football members playing women's basketball and other sports within the league. Just adding football-only members to replace defectors won't keep the league in business. This increases the odds Temple will get in for all sports. (It also explains why Villanova remains in a strong position; it could really help the Big East, adding a football school without adding to the basketball total.)

Not that anything is a given. "The primary focus of the call was to get remaining schools to commit to one another in a tangible way," said one Big East source familiar with what was said on Monday's call. Among other issues, the league is attempting to raise the $5 million exit fee, basically double it, to stop more defections. There was "progress, but still some wafflers," the Big East source said.

If Temple gets in, thank yous should go out from North Broad Street to Pittsburgh and Syracuse. According to another Big East source, Temple wasn't on the league's radar screen much at all before those schools announced their departure for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

It certainly isn't Villanova pulling strings right now. If the Big East had stayed intact, 'Nova already had decided to move up in football. Then the rug got pulled out in April. Now Villanova is forced to evaluate every move, to figure out if it's smart to move up to Big East football.

I asked one Big East source if Villanova was asked Monday to state its intentions and my answer came in the form of a question, whether it makes sense for Big East allies to pin 'Nova down right now? Other schools understand Villanova is very interested in moving up but needs to see the shakeout. If everything breaks right - if Boise State, for instance, surprisingly decides the Big East would make a great home - then Villanova has signaled it would like to move up, if it makes fiscal sense.

But nothing is clear. Look at it from this vantage point: Air Force wants to join the Big East. Navy isn't sure. Army isn't interested. Louisville and West Virginia hope for the Big Twelve to call, the potential next domino. Connecticut still could get to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Any more defections and that goal of getting to 12 Big East football schools looks like a pipe dream. If Navy then says no, will there even be a football league?

Behind the scenes, Temple was smart in indicating to the Big East recently it would come for football-only, not trying to overplay its hand and say it would only come for all sports. Better to show a willingness to be a good partner and then see how the chips fall.

Not that anything is clear. "There is no school that is a lock for everybody," said one Big East source.

There have been questions asked within the Big East lately about whether it's possible for Villanova and Temple to both play home football games at Lincoln Financial Field. The smart answer is no, the Eagles wouldn't go for it. They barely went for Temple playing games there. The smartest answer is, depends on the $$$. There's a dollar figure for everything. But realistically, 'Nova couldn't share the place with the Owls.

There is little consensus within the Big East. In recent years, Big East football schools made decisions and basketball schools mostly went along. But that's not the case right now. With Pitt and Syracuse leaving, Big East schools that don't play football have more votes, more common interests, and thus more power.

So if Temple gets in, more thank yous are owed . . . to Seton Hall and Georgetown and Providence, to St. John's and Marquette and DePaul, and maybe most of all to Villanova.

That may be the biggest twist of all.