[StanfordMatt]

I’m sorry but how anyone can consider the Atlantic Coast Conference a realistic option is beyond me. No disrespect to other posters, but as someone who travels coast-to-coast regularly for work, it’s a brutal experience. Scheduling extended stay road trips and incorporating school holidays is like the little Dutch boy using his fingers to plug a leaky dike. Imnsho it makes a mockery of the student experience.

I use to fly to the East coast frequently on business.  From the time an Olympic sports team gets in a shuttle bus to go to the airport for a commercial flight to the time they check into a hotel, is it really that big a difference whether they are in the air for two or four hours.  

I assume you are also against flying to Penn State, Rutgers, and Maryland.  What about Olympic sports teams flying to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, etc in mid/late November?

A couple points...

First, flying from the east coast to the west coast is closer to 5.5-6 hours depending on the city and the availability of direct flights. Flying east is a bit quicker because of the jet stream but the brutal aspect of that direction is the time difference; it's basically a whole day lost to travel.

Second, you're correct - I'm not thrilled about the prospect of our SA's flying to PSU, Rutgers or UMD either. I think everyone can agree that all of the options being discussed are rather absurd. For me, it's a matter of where to draw the line. Travel in the Big 10 wouldn't be great but not quite as extreme as getting to destinations such as Tallahassee and Clemson (2.5 hour drive from closest major airports: ATL or CLT).

[StanfordMatt]

I’m sorry but how anyone can consider the Atlantic Coast Conference a realistic option is beyond me. No disrespect to other posters, but as someone who travels coast-to-coast regularly for work, it’s a brutal experience. Scheduling extended stay road trips and incorporating school holidays is like the little Dutch boy using his fingers to plug a leaky dike. Imnsho it makes a mockery of the student experience.

I use to fly to the East coast frequently on business.  From the time an Olympic sports team gets in a shuttle bus to go to the airport for a commercial flight to the time they check into a hotel, is it really that big a difference whether they are in the air for two or four hours.  

I assume you are also against flying to Penn State, Rutgers, and Maryland.  What about Olympic sports teams flying to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, etc in mid/late November?

A couple points...

First, flying from the east coast to the west coast is closer to 5.5-6 hours depending on the city and the availability of direct flights. Flying east is a bit quicker because of the jet stream but the brutal aspect of that direction is the time difference; it's basically a whole day lost to travel.

Second, you're correct - I'm not thrilled about the prospect of our SA's flying to PSU, Rutgers or UMD either. I think everyone can agree that all of the options being discussed are rather absurd. For me, it's a matter of where to draw the line. Travel in the Big 10 wouldn't be great but not quite as extreme as getting to destinations such as Tallahassee and Clemson (2.5 hour drive from closest major airports: ATL or CLT).