COLLEGE Future of Big East left hanging by big three

Miami, Syracuse and Boston College are sought by the ACC.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Using a blend of guilt, flattery and financial inducements, leaders in the Big East Conference opened their annual meetings Saturday and began the push to keep Miami in the league.
Atlantic Coast Conference presidents voted Friday to begin discussions with Big East members Miami, Boston College and Syracuse about joining their nine-team league.
Key to negotiations
The Hurricanes are the key to the negotiations. The future of the Big East is in the balance, and it could be decided during five days of meetings at a beachside resort outside of Jacksonville.
The lobbying began during meetings involving football coaches and athletic directors in the morning. The rhetoric started once the meetings adjourned.
"Institutions have to have integrity," Connecticut athletic director Lew Perkins said during an interview in the parking lot. "I don't see a lot of advantages in leaving."
Perkins and Virginia Tech AD Jim Weaver were among those who invoked the "institutional integrity" theme -- hoping if money and conciliation won't work, maybe an old-fashioned guilt trip will.
Hurricanes athletic director Paul Dee insisted leaders at his school haven't decided a thing and have set no timetables for a decision.
"The worst thing we can do is set some hard sort of time line right now," Dee said.
Penalty
As to whether he felt Miami would be going back on its word by bolting the league for the ACC, Dee's response was simple: "No."
Big East bylaws have a clearly stated section about leaving the league. Any school can do it, and with a year's notice, the penalty is $1 million.
For his part, Miami football coach Larry Coker said he would love to stay in the Big East. The 'Canes have made the national title game the last two seasons, and their path is almost certainly easier in the Big East than in a 12-team ACC with Florida State.
"Yes, I'd like to see this league stay together," Coker said. "It's a good league. But that's going to be for the president and the athletic director to decide. Whatever they decide, I'm in favor of."
In the late 1990s, when the issue of changing conferences arose, then-coach Butch Davis' adamant opposition to a move was key in Miami's decision to remain in the Big East. At the time, Miami was rebuilding and losing badly to Florida State.
Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo said his school president, Rev. William Leahy, "has told me to come to these meetings with an open mind and to actively be engaged in discussions with the Big East."
Messenger
DeFilippo said he would take the information back to Leahy next week so he could decide.
Syracuse AD Jake Crouthamel was watching his men's lacrosse team play in the national semifinals and wasn't expected at the meetings until Sunday.
But Miami is the key to this move and every word Dee speaks this week will be scrutinized.
"I trust Paul Dee," Weaver said. "He's an honorable individual, and we'll have more dialogue tomorrow."
Last week, Dee likened the ACC's courting process to a marriage. "You don't ask unless you know the answer," he said.
On Saturday, Dee insisted he spoke those words when the situation was different.
He also pointed out that the ACC hasn't yet put forth an official invitation -- "only an invitation to have a conversation." Indeed, that's true, but it's little more than a matter of semantics at this point.
What will it take to keep Miami in the Big East?
"The question isn't what it's going to take to keep people," Dee insisted. "The question is, what can we do as a league to create a future that has stability for everyone, and has stability in a variety of ways?"
Difference of opinion
A difference of opinion is emerging there.
Dee said he agrees with the notion that the 12-team superconference is the wave of the future. With 12 teams, leagues can negotiate better TV deals, can play a lucrative football championship game and have a better chance of placing a second team in the Bowl Championship Series. There's also more chances of putting teams in the basketball tournament -- another money maker for the leagues.
Weaver sees it differently.
"I don't think 12 is the magical number," Weaver said. "I think the Big East and the ACC have been very viable entities as eight- and nine-person leagues."
Earlier this week, when Virginia Tech was still a potential expansion target, Weaver said the Hokies certainly didn't want to get left behind. Now that Tech has been passed over, Weaver has become the most outspoken proponent of the Big East. On Saturday, he said he thought there was still a 50-50 chance Miami would stay.
His football coach, Frank Beamer, is in danger of seeing good conference rivalries with Miami, Syracuse and others be replaced by an uncertain future.
"When things are uncertain, you're shaky," Beamer said. "But I've got great confidence in the leadership of the Big East. I've got great confidence this thing is going to get resolved."