Over the last week or so, there's been a bit of a kerfuffle in Tallahassee regarding Florida State's membership in the ACC and their interest in being a member of the Big XII. I don't know if it's connected or not, but that's led to TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte making radio appearances claiming that Clemson, Florida State, and Miami have all made overtures to the Big XII regarding membership. In addition to that, it seems as if Georgia Tech has also dialed up Big XII commissioner Chuck Neinas to see if there's a spot at the table for the Yellow Jackets.
With 33% of the current membership of the ACC apparently angling to get the hell out of Dodge as soon as possible, perhaps it's time for interim Big East commissioner Joe Bailey to make a phone call or two to Syracuse and Pittsburgh to see if they're sure about leaving.
There's a handful of solid reasons for at least making the call. First, it appears that the conference that they were attempting to sneak out the back door to join isn't the most stable object in the universe. Honestly, what's the point of leaving the Big East for a different conference that schools are desperately trying to get out of?
Second of all, John Marinatto is gone. If part of the reason why Syracuse and Pitt wanted to leave was because of concerns about how Marinatto was operating as commissioner, that concern is now gone. With the Big East now searching for a new commissioner, a return to the fold would give both schools a chance to help guide the future of the Big East.
Third, Syracuse and Pitt aren't officially allowed to leave the Big East until the summer of 2014. I've got no problem calling up SMU/Houston/UCF/Memphis and telling them the bad news about available spots in the conference.
Finally, and this is the most important point: What's lost by picking up the phone to check in with Syracuse and Pitt? What's the worst thing that happens: They say "Yes, we're absolutely leaving?" So what? That's the status quo. It can't hurt to check.