End of the Big East?

Sometimes you have to wonder if West Virginia football coach Bill Stewart, pictured, thinks before he speaks. But, hey, at least he doesn't spout off cliches and coachspeak at every opportunity. Depending on which way you look at, Stewart is either interesting or embarrassingly funny.

For example:

Stewart recently was interviewed by a television station in Parkersburg, W.Va., and talked about several subjects, the most interesting of which was his hint that Big East football as we know it is on life support. He is the first Big East official or coach to talk to the media about possible defections from the league.

When asked about the Big Ten possibly raiding the Big East, Stewart had the following to say:

"It's exciting. It's disheartening as well. ... The Big Ten could ... they'll pick a couple of our teams. However, the SEC and the ACC will also do the same, so that's exciting. I don't know where we're going to land. We could land, whatever, in one of maybe three conferences, the ACC, the SEC, maybe the Big Ten.

"But right now, we're still Big East and we need to keep that focus. And that's the disheartening thing, when you break up a Big East contingency like we had. We had a lot of fun, a lot of rivals, and I hate to see that end. But there are exciting times on the horizon with new conferences. We'll be in one of them; which one I don't know, I really don't. But that's down the road a couple of years, I do believe."

As for West Virginia's future, Stewart said:

"Let's say the SEC invites us in. Well, that gives us a certain prestige. Then you say, where are we geographically compared to them? Now would the ACC be better? Well, geographically it might be, but clout-wise would it be? If the Big Ten would says, hey, come on in, that's an East-West travel. Probably the ACC would be the best travel league. But, really, football-wise, the ACC, SEC, Big Ten ... any will be good. I just hate to see the Big East disband."

Watch here.

The interesting parts don't come until a little more than seven minutes into the video.