Arkstfan

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories...ch.1ca3e1c.html

Minnesota is divided into three campuses, Minneapolis West Bank, East Bank, and St. Paul.

Nope Jason Allen Alexander http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britney_Spear...99.E2.80.932004

There was a big difference between 1958 and today. The SWC and SEC were still 8 years away from taking their first black player and longer than that from the powerhouse schools integrating football. UNT was basically signing best available while the peer SEC and SWC schools were only looking at half of the best available players.

But wasn't Simon hired because UNT wanted new leadership as part of the move to I-A?

All the divide theories were based on two things. 1. Having 16 didn't work for the WAC 2. The money split wouldn't work. The WAC deal didn't work because there was no way to insure BYU, Utah, Wyoming, Air Force, and Colorado State played every year in football without screwing the other 11 schools. Those schools are gate receipts driven and playing every year is essential to that. The money split is working quite well. If the day comes that one group or the other is clearly dominate in making basketball money and believes the other isn't carrying their weight, or the money takes a big drop. They'll split the sheets quicker than Britney Spears and whatever his name was that filed for an annulment while still hung over from the wedding.

The problem is, Tulane was SMU's champion in the expansion. Memphis, TCU, and UAB wanted to add UCF and Marshall and be done and have 9 teams. Tulane wanted to add SMU, Rice, and Tulsa instead of Marshall and UCF. Tulsa was proffered as a compromise and Tulsa held firm that SMU and Rice be included and Tulane threatened to join the WAC if all three weren't included with TCU toying with the MWC that raised the possibility of CUSA losing its auto berth and all the basketball units earned being taken away and given to the schools that earned them rather than to the conference. In the end they all got added and that sealed TCU's interest in the MWC. The fans might like the history and rivalry with Tulane but at the level that matters (presidents and AD's) Tulane is a butt boil.

I know they were bitterly divided over whether to support a 12 game season and a handful of other issues.

Then I'm worried about the Army. They didn't look too hot in Jonesboro.

The warning means they won't permit a 5-7 to go. The problem is the way the bowl certification rules are currently written, the NCAA cannot turn down any game that meets the criteria and the criteria is pretty thin. The thing is they won't be short at 34 bowls. There have been four 12 game seasons, the fewest eligible teams in a 12 game season has been 67 and there were two fewer I-A teams then and the once in four rule on counting I-AA games was still in place. In the two 12 game seasons since I-A went to 119 schools and one I-A every year came into play we've had 71 and 73 eligible teams. With WKU going I-A in 2009 they could take the bowls up to 36 and probably not run out of teams, as long as you don't have people farting around and playing 2 I-AA games (that means you ACC).

Army has some great fans. They had a pretty good contingent at ASU. We've got something like an 8 year 4 game deal coming up with them.

As I set forth before, Big East isn't adding a full member any time soon. Why would they split football / basketball? The money works like it is. The football schools split the BCS riches amongst themselves and get the richest basketball conference in America to boot. Of the top 8 in the RPI in the league, four don't play football. The football schools get a better deal on bowls because Notre Dame participates in their bowl deals outside of the BCS but the schools most attractive to Notre Dame in basketball are the other private Catholic schools and they don't play football. The improvement of the Sun Belt is going to lead to something more sensible. If you look at CUSA and Sun Belt schedules there are some games that get played fairly regularly. I would wager that the big cheeses at Memphis, UAB, and USM more than once have had private talks amongst themselves of an ideal 9, 10 or 12 member conference and looked at the full roster of CUSA, Sun Belt and WAC member La.Tech. If I were forced to guess I'd say that list includes UCF, ECU, and Houston. I'd think that if Marshall is on that list it is likely more out of loyalty and personal relationship. I'd bet the folks they've discussed at least fairly seriously are UNT, ASU, ULL, FAU, Troy, MT, WKU and probably La.Tech. I'd bet that FIU, ULM, UTEP, Tulsa, Rice, Tulane and SMU aren't anywhere close to that list.

Wishful thinking. The Big East has the most anemic television deal for football of the BCS 6. Adding the #47 market and a team that won't out-draw Tennessee, Arkansas or Ole Miss in a head-to-head tv match-up in that market won't help the TV deal. The Big East gets a full share of BCS money. There is little incentive to split it 9 ways other than to smooth out scheduling. The Liberty is nice but let's be realistic, it takes 6/7 pick from the SEC except when the SEC gets two in the BCS then it falls to 7/8 with Nashville (the bowl they share the pick with) usually getting the higher team. It would probably be Big East #3 vs. SEC #8. On the basketball side, the Big East has a great television deal but then they have teams in 3 of the 5 largest markets and 5 of the 10 largest. Adding Memphis isn't going to boost the TV so much that splitting money 17 ways will make great sense. Memphis has strong basketball and made the championship. Well that's great but last year the Big East set the all-time record for NCAA Tournament revenue sharing dollars and blew that record up this year. All Memphis does is make it even harder to get one of the 7 or 8 bids that the Big East is going to get, without adding many dollars to the till. If the Big East does anything and that is a huge if, they will add a football only member. What does that pool look like? 1. UCF. They don't care if they have a basketball home, they'll hook up with anyone to get in. They are drawing well and they are in a top 20 television market. Adding UCF means teams can play in Florida in football every season for recruiting and it can open the door to get in the Champs Sports bowl which happens to have the same basic payout as the Liberty. 2. East Carolina. Lousy TV market but they don't care where basketball lands. 3. FAU. Better TV market than UCF but fan support has a way to go, but opens up an entirely different area of Florida. 4. Memphis. If they join football only where does basketball land? They could go A-10 which may have an opening if St.Louis leaves or they could join St. Louis in going to the Valley. 5. Temple. Their president screwed 'em out of Big East membership because he wanted to drop football and didn't get his way. #4 TV market and basketball has a good home.

UALR Sports after men's tennis is dropped 1. Baseball 2. Men's basketball 3. Men's Cross Country 4. Men's golf 5. Men's indoor track 6. Men's outdoor track 7. Women's basketball 8. Women's Cross Country 9. Women's golf 10. Women's soccer 11. Women's tennis 12. Women's indoor track 13. Women's outdoor track 14. Women's volleyball 15. Women's swimming & diving Why would the Sun Belt put UALR notice for having 15 sports? Maybe UALR should put the Demcrap-Gazette on notice.

Not true. ULL got it basketball in the early 70's. Kentucky basketball in the 50's also got it. While not an NCAA team (they were NAIA at the time) Arkansas-Pine Bluff got it in football in 1991 (they had players who were out of eligibility playing under the names of other people).

Bliss is under a show cause until 2015. Any NCAA member hires him and they automatically go on probation and get sanctions (possibly losing scholarships and post-season eligibility) unless they can demonstrate why he should be hired and isn't a threat to break the rules.

I believe that every Sun Belt school should have as its scheduling target: Home: 4 conference 1 I-A as part of a home/home 1 I-AA Away: 4 conference 1 Big check game 1 I-A as part of a home/home

Fulks doesn't count student activity fees or any money transferred from the university as athletic revenue unless he's changed his methodology from the early 90's.

Coach K is a prick. I don't know why the media fawns over him as the moral leader of college basketball. Truth is though if I were a head coach with hundreds of guys begging for a shot, I'd look at someone else too.

While I believe that athletic departments should be run in a fiscally responsible manner and should not be a drain on the overall mission of the university, it is very hard to quantify the true value of an athletic department. Athletics raises the profile of the school. They tend to raise enrollment. Remember that of the 200 or so scholarships awarded at I-A school that only about 100 to 120 are full rides. The rest are split among the rest of the 300 or more student athletes. Those students will attend by paying out of their own/family pocket (directly or borrow money to do so) or will get federal grants to pay their way. In addition to those students there will be those who will attend to be in band or dance team or cheerleading plus the kids that just happen to have been swayed by their interest in sports. Athletics help keep alumni connected to the campus which should make fund-raising easier. I serve on the alumni board at Arkansas State. We get some complaints about tying so many alumni events to athletic events but we've found that by doing that we have increased participation and increased the number of due paying members. What concerns me is the athletic departments that make a profit. If you look through the NCAA enforcement database the most profitable schools are far more likely to have had NCAA enforcement actions against them. Those schools are the ones most likely to have student athletes with off-field legal problems. A profitable athletic department is hard to control. They don't need the school's money and the program will likely have a lot of win at any cost boosters with great political and financial clout to squeeze a president or chancellor who tries to rein in the department.

ASU has a four game set with Army coming up and a return trip from Memphis coming in 2010 or 2011.

I know you guys were too giddy in 2001 to pay attention to the MT situation that year but the commissioner worked with the commissioners of the MWC and WAC and had a deal cut to get MT in a bowl. The WAC had more eligible teams than they had bowls. Silicon wanted Fresno, Humanitarian wanted Boise but La.Tech was in first and had to be placed in one of the two. The deal cut was this: Louisiana Tech would be shifted to the New Orleans Bowl and face UNT. Colorado State would be shifted from New Orleans to the Silicon and face Fresno. Boise would get to stay home for the Humanitarian and MT would go to Boise. Louisiana Tech vetoed the deal. They didn't want to play a team from the Sun Belt especially one with a losing record. So Silicon locked in Fresno who had the better overall record but had tied with Boise (Boise held the tie-breaker though). Tech got shipped to Boise. Those two games put their open slots up for bid and Michigan State went to the Silicon and Clemson went to the Humanitarian. Ole Miss who had a better record than Clemson or Michigan State was also bidding for the slots but dropped out of the bidding when the minimum guarantee from the schools hit $500,000. If La.Tech hadn't thrown Boise State under the bus (apparently Clemson was driving the bus because it ran over Tech) the WAC would have had a three bowl season and the Sun Belt would have had a two bowl season. That would have meant that in 3 of the 5 times that the Sun Belt had an extra team with 7 or more wins that the 7 win team would have been placed. I think 2009 and 2010 could be very interesting because now the Sun Belt has some disposable income to buy its way into games and contracts are starting to expire.

ACC Georgia Tech had to kick a field goal with 15 seconds left against North Carolina to get 8 eligible for the ACC. Miss that FG and the Humanitarian is vacant handing the game to Troy. Now the ACC has one more tie. Big East Louisville got left out at 6-6. The Big East has added one game. Louisville won three of their six by a TD or less. Big 10. The Big 10 has 7 bowl ties. Bowl #7 is the Motor City. The Big 10 has actually sent a team to the Motor City two times in the five years they've been tied to the game. Last year though they had 10 teams available. Big 12. Eight games. They shorted Texas last year due to two BCS teams. CUSA. Has apparently given up full ties to Hawaii and all ties with Birmingham for the new St. Pete bowl and the Texas Bowl. Last year six ties, six available. Same situation this year apparently leaves Hawaii empty. MAC Had three ties, had three eligible and one left out 6-6. MWC Had four ties and the good fortune that Texas was short with TCU available. Pac-10 Just made their ties last year. Basically, if the Orange had taken West Virginia as expected instead of Kansas, Fiesta would have taken Arizona State which would have left Fort Worth short and Texas full. Troy would have gone to Fort Worth to face Air Force and TCU would have sat at home. SEC. Had a 6-6 available, would have been South Carolina in Birmingham under new alignment. WAC. Hawaii's run opened the door to Nevada at 6-6 to make a bowl. Three of those wins by 6 or less. Nevada loses one and Troy or TCU goes to New Mexico Bowl The margin was razor thin last year and the room for error is smaller this year.

While you can certainly have a wink-wink-nod-nod agreement that you'll take a team from another league, you cannot use that agreement to take a 6-6 team over a 7-5. The Sun Bowl deal they have to designate the conferences before the season starts that they can take a 6-6 from but they pick so high up the order that it doesn't matter.

Sun Belt running in neutral? Passed the MAC and just missed passing CUSA in the BCS standings. Had a very productive basketball tournament with two appearances. A new SWC isn't out of the realm (unless you think anyone in the Big XII would be a part). It would only happen if CUSA revenues stay relatively flat while Sun Belt revenue continues to grow. Then it could be done with little economic impact but produce financial savings. If it it were to happen it would be basically CUSA West plus some mix of the Sun Belt and WAC schools in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. I'd guess UNT, La.Tech and/or ASU and ULL.