West Virginia Mountaineers: The Polygamists of NCAA Football

When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, he's called a polygamist.

What do you call an NCAA football program that is a member of more than one conference at a time?  It's called West Virginia.

Ten days ago West Virginia, while a member of the Big East, announced it had accepted an offer to become a member of the Big 12 starting in 2012.

There's only one problem here:  West Virginia is legally bound to remain a member of the Big East for 27 months after they inform the conference they're leaving.  This would extend its stay in the Big East through the 2013 season.

They also have to pay an exit fee of $5 million dollars of which they've already paid half.

Now let's be honest, the Mountaineers only want to be a member of one conference.  They only want to be a member of the Big 12, but they're acting like a married man who goes to Las Vegas, get's drunk, and gets married to another woman.

In the Mountaineers' case they didn't go to Las Vegas, they went to Kansas City.

And they tried to cover up their blunder.  They tried to justify it by suing the Big East and claiming the Big East breached its fiduciary responsibilities by failing to maintain a balance between football and non-football members.

They go on to say the Big East agreed to their withdrawal when they accepted $2.5 million of the $5 million exit fee. 

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto is confident these allegations are false and do not justify West Virginia leaving early.

West Virginia had about eight years, from the time Big East raised the exit fee and imposed the 27-month waiting period, until now to leave the conference it they wanted.

But it only became an issue when the Big 12 made them an offer—an offer based upon the Mountaineers joining for the 2012 season.

West Virginia was never on the Big Ten's radar and the ACC flatly said "no" when it applied for membership.

When the Big 12 offer came along they jumped at it, but they jumped first and looked second.  They didn't want to accept the fact that they're legally bound to fulfill their contract with the Big East.

It's a contract that makes it clear, in a fair and reasonable way, that all eight Big East teams, West Virginia included, have to pay a $5 million exit fee and have to wait 27 months to leave from the time they notify the conference it plans on leaving.

If West Virginia wants to sue the Big East, it might as well sue itself because it was one of the schools that authored the contract of which it wants to breach.

It's doubtful the Big East will hold West Virginia to the 27 month waiting period:  Once the Big East expands, and it looks promising that it will, it will likely soften its stance and the parties will probably make a settlement.

No one wants to go to court.  No one wants to see a case like this get hung up in the court and add further uncertainty to an already unstable situation.

If the Big East expansion lags and it can't get commitments from prospective members, there could be the possibility that it will hold West Virginia to the contract and that could put an end to its 2012 entry into the Big 12.

Why can't the Big 12 wait 27 months?  The ACC is waiting for Syracuse and Pittsburgh.