After careful deliberations and discussions with ADs, 9 other schools would buy into Paterno's vision.
The 9 schools that would join Penn State, would be the University of Pittsburgh, Syracuse University, West Virginia University, Rutgers University, Boston College, Temple University, Florida State University, the University of Miami, and the University of Maryland
All that was left now was to formally announce the conference.
Hypothetical end of year Associated Press college football rankings per year with "East Coast Conference" schools, assuming no changes due to improved recruiting due to this being a stronger conference:
1990: #3 Miami, #4 Florida State, #11 Penn State
1991: #1 Miami, #3 Penn State, #4 Florida State, #11 Syracuse
1992: #2 Florida State, #3 Miami, #6 Syracuse, #21 Boston College
In 1993, Virginia Tech and Louisville get added as the 11th and 12th teams.
1993: #1 Florida State, #7 West Virginia, #8 Penn State, #13 Boston College, #15 Miami, #22 Virginia Tech
1994: #2 Penn State, #4 Florida State, #5 Miami, #23 Boston College (note: Penn State would have played #1 Nebraska for the national championship that year if they weren't in the Big 10 IRL, because the Big 10 champion had the mandatory Rose Bowl bid at the time).
1995: #4 Florida State, #10 Virginia Tech, #13 Penn State, #19 Syracuse, #20 Miami
In 1996, Notre Dame and UConn are added as the 13th and 14th teams, and NBC buys the rights to telecast all the football and regular season basketball games.
1996: #3 Florida State, #7 Penn State, #13 Virginia Tech, #14 Miami, #19 Notre Dame, #21 Syracuse
1997: #3 Florida State, #16 Penn State, #21 Syracuse
BCS era begins in 1998
1998: #3 Florida State, #17 Penn State, #20 Miami, #22 Notre Dame, #23 Virginia Tech, #25 Syracuse
1999: #1 Florida State, #2 Virginia Tech, #11 Penn State, #15 Miami
2000: #2 Miami, #5 Florida State, #6 Virginia Tech, #15 Notre Dame
2001: #1 Miami, #15 Florida State, #17 Louisville, #18 Virginia Tech, #21 Boston College
2002: #2 Miami, #16 Penn State, #17 Notre Dame, #18 Virginia Tech, #19 Pittsburgh, #21 Florida State, #25 West Virginia.
For the first decade of its existence, this theoretical conference would be the unquestioned best in the country in football. After that, you need a lot of butterflies to occur to keep it that way:
--Miami doesn't fall apart post 2005
--Florida State doesn't fall apart at the end of Bowden's tenure
--Penn State doesn't have the Sandusky scandal
I think all those things are unavoidable. Miami decided to commit less $ to its football program after about 2005. Bowden is irreplaceable at FSU, and the Sandusky scandal would have broken at some point