League working on divisional alignment

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Steve Addazio called the three proposals on divisional alignment presented to the Big East football coaches and athletic directors at the conference's spring meetings a win-win-win situation for Temple.

One proposal would split the league into East and West divisions beginning in 2013. Another called for North and South divisions. And the third would have a non-geographic alignment, splitting the West Coast schools, the Texas schools, and the Florida schools.

"They are all appealing," said Addazio, who will enter his second season as the Owls coach. "And they all work.

"The biggest thing I walked away with was great exposure, playing in great states, different time zones, yet still being able to have regional fan-base concepts. I think it is tremendous."

The league will continue to examine the proposals leading up to the Big East media event July 30-31 in Newport, R.I. According to conference senior associate commissioner Nick Carparelli, the league is far from selecting a format.

Coaches want to protect and promote regional rivalries and maximize the best value for a lucrative television contract.

"So the next step is to put models together," Carparelli said. "We'll probably put dozens of models together about what home-away rotations might look like under all those scenarios so they can make a further evaluation."

Temple will play an annual game against Rutgers no matter how the divisions are aligned. Being able to play Connecticut and Navy each year also is a high priority for the Owls.

Teams will play eight-game league schedules once the conference expands from eight teams to 12 in 2013. The conference is expected to grow to 14 teams in 2015. That's when Navy joins for football only. Brigham Young or Air Force is expected to join Navy, according to multiple sources at the spring meetings.

The conference will have an on-campus championship game in 2013 at the home of the higher-seeded team.

An 18-team tourney? The conference's basketball coaches want all league teams to compete in the Big East tournament when the conference expands to 18 hoops members in 2013-14.

However, Jay Wright said the coaches are flexible.

" 'If you guys say for a great league and great TV contract and Madison Square Garden we need to have 16,' we are open to it," Wright said, recalling Tuesday's presentation to the athletic directors.