Leaving the Big East is no loss

By Greg Cote ~ Miami Herald

It would be easier to feel good about the University of Miami's apparent imminent sports switch from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference if not for the sad, lingering note of regret over the pending loss of that great, traditional football rivalry vs. Rutgers.

Not just Rutgers, either. Who can forget the time Miami hung on in that epic Homecoming Game to beat Temple, 56-3? Good thing the Owls went "wide right," or it would have been 56-6.

Miami leaving the Big East is about as monumental as me leaving my house to pick up the dry-cleaning. There was not enough history, in duration or rivalries, to merit any sort of emotional farewell. This ain't Nebraska bolting to join the Pac-10, or the Gators leaving the SEC. So the departure is no big deal here.

As it happens Big, East officials are holding their annual meeting this coming weekend near Jacksonville.

Viewing is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Miami's eagerness to join the ACC, and that conference's lust for UM, both are understandable, and arguable only if you happen to be a doomed Big East official desperate to keep his job and not wind up as an associate media relations director for the Mid-Southern Lil'Sky Conference.

Greg Cote is a sports columnist for the Miami Herald.