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Here’s a look at the six newcomers: ▪ Phillip Houston, a 6-5, 270-pound offensive tackle, arrives from Navarro Community College in Texas. ▪ Jamarrion Solomon, a 5-11, 270-pound defensive tackle, is a freshman from Miami Palmetto. He will rejoin another former Palmetto defensive tackle, Savion Collins, who is an FIU veteran. “(Solomon) is dominant – quick and athletic,” MacIntyre said. “He plays with good leverage and is put together like a 25-year-old.” ▪ Luke Knox, a 6-3, 240-pound outside linebacker, spent the past four years at Ole Miss, making two starts in 2019. He was switched to tight end last year, but MacIntyre wants him on defense. His older brother is Buffalo Bills starting tight end Dawson Knox. read more: https://amp.miamiherald.com/sports/college/conference-usa/florida-international-university/article262967983.html

Florida International: 4.5 Wins Well, that was a forgetful year. Butch Davis has been coaching football for a long time, with a lot of successful seasons under his belt, but even the veteran HC had no answers for the debacle that was 2020. A common theme among teams that struggled last year, FIU was hit extremely hard by COVID. However, this past season came on the heels of a 6-7 record in 2019. Is the program slipping a bit? A main reason the Golden Panthers struggled was a complete lack of a passing game. Davis shuffled in three different QBs under center but none were effective. Max Bortenschlager and Kaylan Wiggins return while a couple of freshmen come into the program. Someone has to step up and lead this offense that is returning four starting offensive linemen and two solid RBs. Defensively, the unit should be much improved this year. They have one of the best secondaries in the conference and are loaded with upperclassmen throughout the starting 11. Butch Davis has always been able to bring in defensive talent and deserves the benefit of the doubt coming into the season. read more: https://www.sportsgamblingpodcast.com/2021/06/21/college-football-win-total-predictions-conference-usa-east-ncaaf-over-under-middle-tennessee-state-charlotte/

"In 2012-2013, there were 347 Division I programs in basketball. FIU ranked 317 in attendance, which was last in the Sun Belt Conference. In 2013-2014, four programs were added to Division 1. Yet, FIU ranked 265th with an average attendance of 1,474. In comparison to other Conference USA programs, after joining the conference, FIU was number 10 of 12 programs in terms of attendance. All of this is an embarrassment for our beloved university. As members of the Board of Directors for the FIU Alumni Association, we all know the great things FIU does every day for our community. We truly are Worlds Ahead in many areas, but the Athletic Department under the leadership of the current Athletic Director is a big blemish on our record. University leadership has set the precedent for generations to come on how to truly be Worlds Ahead. Earlier I spoke of the wonderful work Dr. Pehlman is doing and how the College of Law is leading the state in important barometers. We all know the eye-opening accomplishments of our College of Hospitality Management, the College of Business and the College of Medicine. Our fellow alumni are an integral part of the South Florida community and the students we are educating, many of which are or will be our children, will be starting business, being elected to public office, or even leading our future academic institutions of higher learning. As President Rosenberg says at each commencement ceremony, we need to encourage all of them to be proud of their institution, to tell their FIU story and to give back to our university. However, it becomes extremely difficult when the most public and visible department has been a failure. I, Frank Pena, strongly recommend that a major change happens in the leadership of our Department of Athletics. The sooner these changes would happen, the better. Thank you for listening patiently. I will now open the floor for comments or questions." Read more: http://collegead.org/case-terminate-fiu-athletic-director-pete-garcia/

Evan and Harry welcome back Ashton Campbell creator of Beyond the Green to recap the very disappointing UNT loss at El Paso as well as saying goodbye to our seniors in the final home game this Saturday at Apogee versus FIU. We also say goodbye to the great John Skladany and look at other odds and ends as the team closes out the season. http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/podcast/gmgpod141.mp3 Click here for the direct audio link This post has been promoted to an article

Everybody seems to be doing getting to know you little intros as C-USA remakes itself today. FIU, FAU, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, North Carolina-Charlotte, Louisiana Tech and Texas-San Antonio officially join the league as Central Florida, Houston, SMU leave. Next year, Old Dominion comes in with football while East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa leave. Charlotte's football team, which begins play this season in FCS, will join C-USA in 2015 Let's be real -- Southern Mississippi brings no more sexy to FIU fans than Arkansas State. The only way Rice draws at Camp Mitch is with Chicken as a travel partner. To Marshalls WeAreMarshall! FIU could give a sullen WeAreAmbivalent. With that in mind, heres my Getting to Know Conference USA primer: FAU, North Texas, Middle Tennessee State, Western Kentucky: Theyve been in the same conference with FIU for a decade. Dont be afraid to pay attention. As Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes sang... Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fiusports/2013/07/conference-usa-day-1.html#storylink=cpy

Today is FIU's first day as a member of Conference USA. Everybody seems to be doing “getting to know you” little intros as C-USA remakes itself today. FIU, FAU, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Louisiana Tech and Texas-San Antonio officially join the league as Central Florida, Houston, SMU leave. Next year, Old Dominion and North Carolina-Charlotte come in while East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa leave. Let's be real -- Southern Mississippi brings no more sexy to FIU fans than Arkansas State. The only way Rice draws at Camp Mitch is with Chicken as a travel partner. To Marshall’s “We…Are…Marshall!” FIU could give a sullen “We…Are…Ambivalent.” With that in mind, here’s my Getting to Know Conference USA primer: FAU, North Texas, Middle Tennessee State, Western Kentucky: They’ve been in the same conference with FIU for a decade. Don’t be afraid to pay attention. As Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes sang... Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fiusports/ Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fiusports/#storylink=cpy

Florida International's rocky, choppy climb to the upper crust of the Sun Belt Conference hit quite the snag last fall, sending the Golden Panthers down multiple pegs just as the program heads into its debut season as a member of Conference USA. This coming year has all the makings of a rebuilding season: FIU has a new coach, new players and a new league, three factors that contribute to the general sense of impending doom surrounding this team as it enters offseason conditioning. The new coach is not Butch Davis, by the way, but rather Ron Turner, the ex-Illinois coach who spent the last eight seasons in the NFL before returning to the college game. The slide happened overnight, it seems. After reaching back-to-back bowl bids from 2010-11, FIU dropped to 3-9 in 2012, its final season under Mario Cristobal. (Cristobal has since landed on his feet as Alabama's offensive line coach.) Only a late-season win against Florida Atlantic saved FIU from tying South Alabama for last place in the Sun Belt and tying for last place in the Sun Belt effectively makes you one of the five or six worst teams in college football, most would say. Unfortunately, the climb back to relevancy won't occur with the same velocity. FIU is staring at another multiple-year rebuilding project, and that must sting for a fan base that very recently believed such days were a thing of the past. LAST YEAR'S PREDICTION When it comes to the Sun Belt, the only thing that can stop Florida International is Florida International. This is what happens when you combine the league's best offensive line, best defensive line, best overall defense and best running game: you get the best team in the Sun Belt. No other team is as complete, even if the Golden Panthers are slanted heavily towards the defensive side of the ball. No other team has such senior leadership especially where it counts, up front on offense and in the front seven on defense. No other team in the SBC can match the program's clear and obvious climb over the last two seasons. Others disagree, it seems; to me, FIU is clearly the Sun Belt's best team in 2012. Expectations are high, and for good reason. 2012 RECAP In a nutshell: Not every disappointing team needs to play in a major conference, with Florida International as our most recent example. At worst, FIU was viewed as the third-best team in the Sun Belt; in terms of talent and experience, this was an easy bowl team with room for more. What ensued was an utter disappointment that word again with FIU winning only three games, losing nine, and dropping from successive bowl berths to the bottom third of the nation's weakest conference. The slide was inexplicable, and served in large part as the school's rationale for jettisoning Cristobal after his years of hard work building FIU into a program worthy of inclusion into Conference USA. Cristobal's replacement inherits a team with far less talent, far lower expectations and far less of a chance of achieving anything of consequence in 2013. High point: A 34-24 win over rival Florida Atlantic, the Panthers' second win in a row against the Owls after losing eight of their first nine in the series. The Panthers also lost five games by a touchdown or less, including a 28-21 loss to Louisville during non-conference play. Low point: Those same close setbacks meant the difference between three wins and a potential bowl berth. FIU lost to Louisville, Middle Tennessee State, Troy, Western Kentucky and Louisiana-Monroe the latter in overtime by a combined 26 points. Tidbit: The three teams FIU beat in 2012 finished a combined 6-31 on the season: Akron went 1-11, South Alabama 2-11 and FAU 3-9. This was the second-worst defeated opponent's win total of any three-win team in the FBS in 2012, ahead of only UTEP, which had victories over New Mexico State (1-11), Tulane (2-10) and Southern Mississippi (0-12). read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/05/14/florida-international-fiu-college-football-countdown-2013-preview/2158467/

SOURCE: http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/miami-hires-mario-cristobal-as-associate-head-coach-011013 The school said that Cristobal was hired on Thursday as the Hurricanes' associate head coach and tight ends coach. It's Cristobal's fourth stint at Miami: He played for two national-championship teams there between 1988 and 1992, was a graduate assistant from 1998 through 2000 and then returned as an assistant coach from 2004 through 2006.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It was only a matter of time before the waves of conference realignment crashed onto the shores of the Ohio River again. Who'd a thought it would be a Green Wave, though? The ripple effect of Maryland and Rutgers abandoning the ACC and Big East, respectively, reached Conference USA early Tuesday. Marshall lost longtime rival East Carolina, which is joining the Big East in football only starting in 2014, and Tulane, a surprising all-sports addition to the Big East. That means six of the 12 teams competing in Conference USA football and basketball this season are set to leave the league after this season or next. Don't fret, Herd fans. Here's a 14-team scenario that looks like an intriguing and geographically-appealing conference, provided there's no more trickle down from the major players when - not if - Cincinnati, Connecticut and Louisville relocate. How about Marshall in a seven-team division with Charlotte, FAU, FIU, Old Dominion, UAB and either Middle Tennessee State or Western Kentucky? MTSU, by the way, makes more sense, especially if you're in the belief that television markets carry clout beyond the power conferences (That's you, Nashville). The West Division could then boast Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulsa, UTEP and UTSA. FAU - that's Florida Atlantic University located in Boca Raton - and Miami's FIU (Florida International University) will give Marshall's football program a guaranteed trip to the Sunshine State every year. FIU one year, FAU the next. All those southern Florida speedsters can play in front of family and friends four times in four years, not counting bowl games. That's a nice little recruiting pitch for Coach Doc Holliday. Read more: http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/201211270162

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/04/2783085/fiu-joins-conference-usa.html#storylink=cpy Read more: Miami Herald: CUSA in discussions with spanish tv networks

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Florida International University will leave the Sun Belt Conference and join Conference USA next year, according to CBSSports.com. The Panthers will join Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Texas San Antonio, Charlotte, and Old Dominion in the new Conference USA which will eventually have 14 members. Charlotte and Old Dominion’s membership in football likely won’t start in 2013. Conference USA was cannibalized late last year during conference realignment. C-USA lost Houston, Southern Methodist, Central Florida, and Memphis to the Big East when Missouri and Texas A&M joined the SEC and Pittsburgh and Syracuse jumped to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Conference USA will keep a presence in Florida by adding FIU and will still have two schools in Texas along with Rice. C-USA also has Marshall, East Carolina, Southern Miss, UAB, Tulane, Tulsa, and UTEP. Read More: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/01/report-fiu-heading-to-conference-usa-in-2013/