Several weeks ago, we proclaimed Morelli OnLion an expansion-free zone. Well, now that there’s news in regards to expansion, it’s time to address it. In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll talk about the addition of Nebraska to the conference. We’ll also have Part I of our interview with Penn State athletic director Tim Curley.
Let’s start with expansion.
Red Friday
Last Friday, Nebraska accepted an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference. The Cornhuskers are, of course, the first team to join the conference since Penn State joined in the early 90s.
While most Big Ten fans — including Penn State fans — are jumping for joy at the addition of the Cornhuskers, I’m not. Why?
It’s pretty simple — this is a boring addition.
If this was 1994, sure, the addition of the Huskers would be exciting. Honestly, though, the move made me yawn. I just can’t get excited about a school that has so little to offer. Let’s face it, the football program has fallen upon hard times, despite the efforts of coach Bo Pellini. The basketball program? Well, it will probably be a bottom feeder in the Big Ten.
So forgive me if I’m not doing cartwheels over the move. I’m not exactly sure what commissioner Jim Delany and the university presidents saw in Nebraska. Was it the lucrative Lincoln television market? Perhaps the Big Ten brass was looking for a rival for Iowa? Whatever the reason, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
I’ve heard numerous Penn State fans talk about a “rivalry” with the Cornhuskers. OK, other than the infamous 27-24 game in 1982, name a memorable game between the schools. Can’t do it, can ya?
If you want to get me excited about an expansion, then the Big Ten needs to add a team from the East. Someone that Penn State has a natural rivalry with. Pitt, Notre Dame, Boston College … heck, I’d even settle for Maryland at this point. But Nebraska? Please.
There are some positives, though. The Big Ten will finally have a Big Ten title game. Also, it will give the Nittany Lions someone to play other than Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan State. Please, Big Ten, let the Nits play the Huskers in the finale every season.
No, I’m not excited. To do that, you’ll have to bring back the 1994 teams and play No. 1 versus No. 2 so we can crown a true national champ.
In any event, welcome to the Big (yawn) Ten, Nebraska.
Questions with Curley: Part I
In a recent interview with Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, I asked him about many controversial topics, among the topics — the STEP program.
GD: Can you explain why you felt the need to implement the STEP program?
TC: Well, basically, we did a review of our financial situation and tried to project out where we were going to be in the next 5-10 year window and our projections indicated that in about 2017-18, the lines were going to start crossing where we were going to be in trouble with our finances and if we didn’t do something, we were not headed in the right direction. We didn’t want to jeopardize the broad-based program that we had and the future of the program. So, based on that and our concern that the ticket price was getting extremely high in order to keep up with our finances, those two things led us to start to study, Well, how are other people doing it? Let’s benchmark against some other programs. Let’s go back and take a look at some of the ideas that we had in the past that we might not have implemented. And, we had a small group that was kind of a subcommittee that took a look at all of the factors and just where we were at the stadium and what we might be able to do to try to put in a system that would certainly generate more revenue but would also be a fair system and one that we just wouldn’t completely re-seat the stadium. We didn’t feel that was right, and so we think we came up with a plan that has many options that will try to help every individual situation to continue to still enjoy Penn State football but yet put us in a position that we’re going to be able to maximize our asset of the stadium.
Chris Morelli is an award-winning writer/editor who lives in Centre County and covers Penn State athletics. He is also a regular on “Sports Central,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.
