If UAB leaves who replaces them?

[greenminer]

UAB is a west div team now

??

Hopefully ULL, then TX State

would love to be in conference with them.

[emmitt01]

Gimme Texas State. I'd gladly do a San marcos/Austin combo trip every two years.

[Cerebus]

??

Charlotte comes into the league next year and is going into the east. UAB was moving into the west to make it 7/7. Charlotte is still coming into the east, none of the east teams want to move to the west, so a west team needs to be added.

[Cerebus]

Let me throw Arkansas State's name into the mix here.

ASU's AD has already said CUSA is not a step above SBC as far as ASU is concerned. He stated ASU would not pay the SBC exit fees and CUSA entrance fees unless the CUSA deal was to be much larger than it is now. He also talked badly about the CUSA leadership, WKU and MTSU.

I don't think there is anyway ASU gets in unless the AD was to change, and the big donors love him.

[Harry]

Where does C-USA go from here?

If UAB leaves, there are no obvious answers for the conference.

The one school that's an obvious option is Sun Belt member Louisiana-Lafayette. The Ragin' Cajuns have been strong across the board in most sports recently. They also have a passionate fan base that would be good for the conference.

ULL would give C-USA a presence in South Louisiana that's been lacking with the departure of Tulane to the AAC. The Cajuns have put big crowds in the Superdome in bowl games in recent years.

The Sun Belt moved its conference basketball tournament to Lakefront Arena in New Orleans and the 2014 event was a success due mainly to the presence of ULL fans.

With the departure of programs in larger markets, Conference USA could eye New Orleans as a potential tournament site with ULL in the league. Southern Miss is another conference school located less than two hours from New Orleans.

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2014/11/30/5944033_end-is-near-for-uab-football-what.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

[Army of Dad]

Why can't CUSA wait before adding anyone? Sometimes the best move is no move at all.

[Harry]

ULL fan perspective: http://www.raginpagin.com/louisiana/showthread.php?237904-CUSA-West-2015

[Cerebus]

Why can't CUSA wait before adding anyone? Sometimes the best move is no move at all.

Charlotte is coming in. We'll have unbalanced divisions. Also, waiting for things to fall out instead of being proactive and getting the best pick killed the WAC and hurt the SBC in the last turnaround.

However, the playoff payout caps at 12 members. If we knew for sure that UTEP was leaving (scenario: Boise St to B12, UTEP to MWC) then it wouldbe worth the wait.

Without that, be proactive and get the beast fit, which is ULL right now.

[MeanGreenGlory]

Any chance UH wants to come back to C-USA?

West = La Tech, Rice, North Texas, UTEP, UH, UTSA, and Southern Miss

[Cerebus]

Any chance UH wants to come back to C-USA?

West = La Tech, Rice, North Texas, UTEP, UH, UTSA, and Southern Miss

No way. AAC basketball credits are worth millions more than either the CUSA or AAC tv payouts.

ETA: NCAA tournament credit payout to the AAC was almost $18,000,000 in 2014.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Cerebus

[Side Show Joe]

Add no one. I have no problem with unbalanced divisions. The MAC did it for years. Stay at 13 and each program gets a larger share of the payout. If UAB leaves, I like C-USA West with 6 teams.

[Mean Green Matt]

Texas State. Being in a division with 4 other Texas schools would be awesome. As some have stated at least we have history with them. Forget ASU and ULL.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Mean Green Matt

[wardly]

Doesn't USA bring a bowl game with them?

[EastTexasMG]

Does UAB have a QB and a couple of D-linemen on their roster that we can use?

[eulessismore]

Does UAB have a QB and a couple of D-linemen on their roster lot of players, coaches, and an athletic director that we can use?

Fixed it for you.

[Rudy]

Something I think a lot of people are overlooking is the Criminal 5's sinister intentions in all of this. We all know they want to kill off or force down the non Criminal 5schools. This is one way. Eliminate all of the schools you can. Force a conference like CUSA to take another SBC or a recent move up/start up thus watering down the conference so a school like Marshall wants to leave. Then they can cherry pick the non criminal 5 schools they want, and weaken the non C5 conferences even more.

[Mean Green Matt]

Something I think a lot of people are overlooking is the Criminal 5's sinister intentions in all of this. We all know they want to kill off or force down the non Criminal 5schools. This is one way. Eliminate all of the schools you can. Force a conference like CUSA to take another SBC or a recent move up/start up thus watering down the conference so a school like Marshall wants to leave. Then they can cherry pick the non criminal 5 schools they want, and weaken the non C5 conferences even more.

WVU will literally do everything in its power to make sure that Marshall is never in a nationally relevant conference.

[NT80]

ULL fan perspective: http://www.raginpagin.com/louisiana/showthread.php?237904-CUSA-West-2015

ULL fans seem very happy with the opportunity to join CUSA, unlike the Ark St. AD. I'd be happier with ULL than UAB as an opponent anyway; much better fan support. Sign 'em up!

Originally Posted by Duckster

Getting ahead of myself but here's potential CUSA West in 2015.

UTEP

UTSA

UNT

Rice

LA Tech

So. Miss

Louisiana

[LakeTravis]

Lets do some hot rails & miller lite's then call up SMU and ask them :sorcerer: :sorcerer:

[Arkstfan]

Got to admit I'm tickled that our AD is seemed as a bad guy. He's MY kind of AD. Played football at AState, secured a $5 million donation for our press box with construction underway (had to redo the plans multiple times because demand for suites, club seats, and loge boxes was so strong), has an indoor practice facility under construction (walls going up now, roof is already on). Unlike other AD's who goes out and borrows money to build a facility hoping new revenue will pay for it, he locks the money up first then builds. The $7 million+ in new revenue (over 7 years) locked in from press box is going to go toward building another new football complex.

Has signed Mizzou, Miami, Iowa State, Utah State, UNLV, and Toledo home and home. Popular interview with Little Rock media.

Speaks his mind and rubs outsiders the wrong way. Ask him who he wants AState to be like and he'll reel off a list of names and every single one of those names is in AAC. Wouldn't sign a contract with Daktronics for the new video board until Daktronics guaranteed in writing it would be the largest board in the Sun Belt including any they were negotiating.

As to the money part of the deal.

Follow the math.

Leaving Sun Belt means foregoing $1 million in revenue thanks to the CFP.

Joining CUSA means a $2 million entry fee. So the entry cost is slightly over $3 million.

CUSA per school from CFP is $142k less than Sun Belt. TV revenue is roughly $900k more, but only guaranteed through next season. Basketball distribution for CUSA is a declining balance and moving closer to the Sun Belt number.

Assuming the next TV deal is equal to the current deal then it will take four years before the move breaks even financially, when UNT moved, the break even point was 2 years out. For the deal to be equal, conventional wisdom says Fox will have to up it's number significantly because CBS isn't likely to come back at $7 million a year when they are getting AAC games sub-licensed from ESPN for less than what they pay CUSA.

If that's offensive then y'all might be too sensitive to be in FBS, but a smart businessman points out such a financial disparity. Unless the new TV deal blows the roof off, anyone entering now is burdened with higher entry overhead costs than you had.

I don't think AState gets the nod because CUSA does the same thing over and over again. Winning 35 games in four years despite losing a head coach to Ole Miss, Auburn, and Boise in consecutive seasons isn't going to impress CUSA. The TV market just passed Bowling Green despite the fact that if you drive 11 miles south of our stadium to pick up a bottle of bourbon, you are no longer in the Jonesboro TV market, you are in the Memphis TV market and drive 4 miles from the transmitter of the ABC affiliate you are in the Little Rock TV market and in neither place can you receive Little Rock or Memphis TV with a conventional antenna (God bless Nielsen's logic).

Unlike the other candidates, AState fights one school and no local pro teams. AState is the flagship of an eight campus system that is close to absorbing it's ninth campus. The five member board of trustees is comprised of five people, all are alums, two of them lettered in football.

But the real ace is is AState is 300 miles from any CUSA school. We don't recruit Texas heavily. No one in CUSA recruits Arkansas much but it is far and away our primary source of players followed by Alabama. We aren't sharing recruiting base or media base with anyone. The extent of CUSA media coverage in Little Rock is games on KATV 7.2 which is not available on satellite, UVerse, or local cable.

ULM is 32 miles from Ruston.
Texas State is 50 miles from UTSA, 165 from Rice, and 260 from UNT.
NMSU is 50 miles from UTEP.
USA is 95 miles from USM.
Louisiana is 180 miles from La.Tech, 220 from Rice, and 225 from USM. Cajuns and Bulldogs have overlapping radio stations in Shreveport and Monroe.

[foutsrouts]

ULL fans seem very happy with the opportunity to join CUSA, unlike the Ark St. AD. I'd be happier with ULL than UAB as an opponent anyway; much better fan support. Sign 'em up!

Originally Posted by Duckster

Getting ahead of myself but here's potential CUSA West in 2015.

UTEP

UTSA

UNT

Rice

LA Tech

So. Miss

Louisiana

Add UH, Arky State, and San Marcos to that mix, and we would finally be in a conference that makes geographical sense.

[Arkstfan]

Doesn't USA bring a bowl game with them?

Bowl existed before they added football.

[UNT90]

Got to admit I'm tickled that our AD is seemed as a bad guy. He's MY kind of AD. Played football at AState, secured a $5 million donation for our press box with construction underway (had to redo the plans multiple times because demand for suites, club seats, and loge boxes was so strong), has an indoor practice facility under construction (walls going up now, roof is already on). Unlike other AD's who goes out and borrows money to build a facility hoping new revenue will pay for it, he locks the money up first then builds. The $7 million+ in new revenue (over 7 years) locked in from press box is going to go toward building another new football complex.

Has signed Mizzou, Miami, Iowa State, Utah State, UNLV, and Toledo home and home. Popular interview with Little Rock media.

Speaks his mind and rubs outsiders the wrong way. Ask him who he wants AState to be like and he'll reel off a list of names and every single one of those names is in AAC. Wouldn't sign a contract with Daktronics for the new video board until Daktronics guaranteed in writing it would be the largest board in the Sun Belt including any they were negotiating.

As to the money part of the deal.

Follow the math.

Leaving Sun Belt means foregoing $1 million in revenue thanks to the CFP.

Joining CUSA means a $2 million entry fee. So the entry cost is slightly over $3 million.

CUSA per school from CFP is $142k less than Sun Belt. TV revenue is roughly $900k more, but only guaranteed through next season. Basketball distribution for CUSA is a declining balance and moving closer to the Sun Belt number.

Assuming the next TV deal is equal to the current deal then it will take four years before the move breaks even financially, when UNT moved, the break even point was 2 years out. For the deal to be equal, conventional wisdom says Fox will have to up it's number significantly because CBS isn't likely to come back at $7 million a year when they are getting AAC games sub-licensed from ESPN for less than what they pay CUSA.

If that's offensive then y'all might be too sensitive to be in FBS, but a smart businessman points out such a financial disparity. Unless the new TV deal blows the roof off, anyone entering now is burdened with higher entry overhead costs than you had.

I don't think AState gets the nod because CUSA does the same thing over and over again. Winning 35 games in four years despite losing a head coach to Ole Miss, Auburn, and Boise in consecutive seasons isn't going to impress CUSA. The TV market just passed Bowling Green despite the fact that if you drive 11 miles south of our stadium to pick up a bottle of bourbon, you are no longer in the Jonesboro TV market, you are in the Memphis TV market and drive 4 miles from the transmitter of the ABC affiliate you are in the Little Rock TV market and in neither place can you receive Little Rock or Memphis TV with a conventional antenna (God bless Nielsen's logic).

Unlike the other candidates, AState fights one school and no local pro teams. AState is the flagship of an eight campus system that is close to absorbing it's ninth campus. The five member board of trustees is comprised of five people, all are alums, two of them lettered in football.

But the real ace is is AState is 300 miles from any CUSA school. We don't recruit Texas heavily. No one in CUSA recruits Arkansas much but it is far and away our primary source of players followed by Alabama. We aren't sharing recruiting base or media base with anyone. The extent of CUSA media coverage in Little Rock is games on KATV 7.2 which is not available on satellite, UVerse, or local cable.

ULM is 32 miles from Ruston.

Texas State is 50 miles from UTSA, 165 from Rice, and 260 from UNT.

NMSU is 50 miles from UTEP.

USA is 95 miles from USM.

Louisiana is 180 miles from La.Tech, 220 from Rice, and 225 from USM. Cajuns and Bulldogs have overlapping radio stations in Shreveport and Monroe.

This is how you build a program, folks. The one thing that really holds us back is having a bunch of BOR members who have zero connection to this school.

Also, the A St. AD is able to get Mizzou and Iowa St. to come to Jonesboro for one and ones, and our super scheduling AD gives us freaking Incarnate Word.

UNT has never taken athletics seriously, and the retention of RV for SIXTEEN YEARS while continuing to make bad hires and not put effort into scheduling for a new football stadium is proof positive of this.

We deserve to be exactly where we are.

[NT03]

This is how you build a program, folks. The one thing that really holds us back is having a bunch of BOR members who have zero connection to this school.

Also, the A St. AD is able to get Mizzou and Iowa St. to come to Jonesboro for one and ones, and our super scheduling AD gives us freaking Incarnate Word.

UNT has never taken athletics seriously, and the retention of RV for SIXTEEN YEARS while continuing to make bad hires and not put effort into scheduling for a new football stadium is proof positive of this.

We deserve to be exactly where we are.

And it looks like they got him for a pretty good price too .....

http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=622508

Edited December 1, 2014 by NT03

[Arkstfan]

I expect Terry gets a nice raise. About to finish paying off the prior AD