Tranghese also said that the basketball-only schools are starting to gain a greater understanding of how important football, and in particular a happy Virginia Tech, is to the conference. The basketball-only schools are starting to understand that if the Hokies walk, the conference will fold. And according to the article, Tech has notified the Big East that it is looking elsewhere for conference affiliation, preferably the SEC, if the status quo doesn't change. The gauntlet has been thrown. This will give the conference 14 basketball teams, which is slightly more manageable than the awkward 15 teams that would result if both Tech and Temple were invited in.
Talk is cheap.
It's October 31st, 1997. Come see me nine months from now, on July 31st, 1998. Then we'll talk. The article was a positive piece about how Frank Beamer was gushing over the future of the Virginia Tech football program. On the heels of this and our relatively new membership in the Big East conference, Beamer was, well, beaming over the future prospects of the Hokie football team.