Was Maryland A Loser In Conference Realignment? - 247 Sports

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I'm asked often if the University of Maryland has benefited from its move from the Atlantic Coast Conference to the Big Ten, whether its fans have gotten over the move and if it has begun to feel more like home. My answer: yes, sort of and gradually.

There's no questioning the financial rewards the school has reaped -- or at least, will reap after its probationary period expires in 2021 -- from the move. Fully vested Big Ten member schools are expected to receive $56 million in conference payouts in 2019, more than twice the $24 million the Big Ten was paying out when Maryland arrived in 2014 and dwarfing the $17 million the ACC was dishing out. The latter has increased to almost $30 million per year, but that number still ranks last among the Power 5 Conferences.

Given the red ink drowning Maryland sports at the time, largely the result of former athletic director Debbie Yow's failed football expansion and overspending on non-revenue sports, it was a difficult but necessary move.

The university traded tradition for survival. It was an awkward fit, and in many ways still feels like one; Maryland still has no semblance of a natural conference rival in either revenue sport and unless it begins beating Penn State in football or Rutgers becomes a ... Well if Maryland starts beating Penn State, anyway, it's hard to conjure a potential rivalry.

In the context of UConn's return to the Big East for basketball last week, Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports listed his winners and losers from the many chapters of conference realignment during the past decade. Maryland and Nebraska, which joined the conference in , were among the losers. He wrote:

You could argue that Rutgers has been the biggest dumpster fire of the Big Ten’s eastward expansion, and you’d be 100 percent right. But the Scarlet Knights were admitted to The Club by the Big Ten, whereas Maryland already had Club membership and chose to abandon its ACC niche for more money, less identity and roughly identical competitive struggles. The Terrapins’ football record their final five years in the ACC: 24-38. Their record the first five years in the Big Ten: 25-37. Basketball has fared slightly better in the Big Ten than the latter years in the ACC, but the lather produced by Tobacco Road rivalries cannot be replicated by playing Iowa and Minnesota.

There's some validity there. But there's also a lot to disagree with.

Maryland has struggled on the football side, as would any middling program jumping into college football's toughest division. So much has been said and written about the challenges Maryland football faces in its building a consistent winner, I won't rehash it. But posting virtually identical records in the lesser ACC and the meat grinder Big Ten East doesn't equate to to a downgrade; the conversion rate of those wins and losses favors the Big Ten. And the move hasn't helped Maryland transition into a powerhouse by any stretch, but it has raised the program's profile and increased its upside.

Whether Maryland can capitalize on that new money and boosted branding, of course, remains to be seen. It's got the right guy for the job in Mike Locksley, whose passion for the school and personal investment is unmatched by anyone else it could've hired, but we all know the letdowns have outnumbered the triumphs over the years.

On the basketball side, the school's fortunes have improved dramatically. After missing the NCAA Tournament in his first three seasons, all in the ACC, Mark Turgeon's made it to March Madness in four of five years as a Big Ten member. That's not all attributable to the conference change -- Turgeon was also restocking the program in those early years -- but it would be naive to think the move hasn't helped greased the skids. The Big Ten is one of the better conferences in the country, but the ACC, especially with the additions of Louisville and Syracuse before Maryland's exit, is akin to the Big Ten East on the football side.

Forde's correct about those Tobacco Road rivalries, and that's the main reason why some fans still haven't forgiven the school for the move. Unless other regional, basketball-obsessed schools join the conference, it's hard to imagine what sort of rivalries could evolve that would compare to Maryland vs. Duke, North Carolina and Virginia. But rivalries don't pay the bills, unfortunately, and while not a home run, I agree with those who call Maryland's move to the Big Ten a win.

A Final Four a a bowl game next season also wouldn't hurt their cause.

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