Randy Edsall is a soft spoken man. Very kind, classy and courteous. He is cut from the mold of Jim Tressel. So it is a big surprise that Edsal would be the man to broach the subject of delivering an ultimatum to Notre Dame to either get in the Big East with both feet or to get out entirely. Meaning either join in Football or get out. Notre Dame would never jettison Football independence for the Big East, but they would for the extra 8 or so million per year they would get in TV money from the Big 10. If the Irish were to leave the Big East in all sports they would most assuredly wind up in the loving arms of Jim Delany and the Big 10.
The more interesting thing to me is the fact that the coaches in the Big East have been pushing for this for the past two years. (Emphasis Added)
In a question-and-answer session with the audience, Edsall said the football coaches have been asking the conference to deliver an ultimatum to Notre Dame to come into the conference for football or get out entirely for the last two years. He added that, if as speculated, two teams leave for the Big Ten, "the Big East is all done."
And he is essentially right in stating that the Big East would cease to exist if the Big 10 picks up two teams from the Big East. That sentiment is hardly new. Survival is a long shot to happen, primarily because Jim Delany is certifiably insane. The Big 10 will undoubtedly become the bloated, unmanageable behemoth of myth. But there is the slightest of chances that Big 10 expansion could stop at one, which would be Notre Dame in the best case scenario. In which case the Big East would receive its second stay of execution in less than a decade.