East Carolina University’s brass expressed its collective hope on Monday that its football team will benefit from an impending conference merger, but also that ECU is playing its cards correctly in a complicated time in college athletics.

ECU chancellor Dr. Steve Ballard lauded Monday the expected merger between Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference, and also said it’s time for college football to dissolve its automatic qualifier policy for the season-ending Bowl Championship Series games.

Before wading into a discussion on proposed changes in student fees and tuition, Ballard and the ECU Board of Trustees weighed in on the status of conference expansion, being joined on the phone by director of athletics Terry Holland.

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