WHICH WILL HAPPEN FIRST?

[El Paso Eagle]

Not asking what we would like/hope to happen, but what do you think is the most likely?

[NM Green]

In this hypothetical merger who do we get in the SBC merge?  I would rather join an MWC East but if we stay with cusa who do we blend with?  
 

Arkansas State, Texas State, Louisiana, Troy

Can’t imagine La Mo being brought on, 

So that gives you:

Rice

UNT 

UTEP

UTSA

Texas state

Arkansas State 

La Tech 

Louisiana 

Southern Miss

UAB

Troy

Middle Tennessee 

Western Kentucky 

Marshall 

Man I think Smastrek and Wren need to lobby for a reformatted MWC where we could go with UTSA, UTEP and Rice to the Mountain. That Eastern division could be UNT, UTSA, UTEP, Rice, New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming and Air Force. In the west you have Hawaii, Boise, Fresno, San Jose, San Diego State, UNLV, Nevada, Utah State. Tourney and football championship in Vegas. If Rice doesn’t want to go take Texas State (Austin corridor).

The best scenario for UNT is to take Tulsa’s place in the AAC.  GMG

[GrayEagle]

1 I think that the most likely change is that we join the AAC.  Wren knows a lot of the administration of the AAC from the commissioner on down having worked at Memphis.  I believe that Neil Smatresk would be an asset in comparison with recent presidents in selling us and accountability.  

2 I think that next possibility is a merger with Sun Belt teams by dividing into two twelve team conferences.  There might be a couple of sticking points in that solution.  ULM does not have the budget, attendance, and is too close to Louisiana Tech.  It's time for them to return to FCS.  The other problem might be what to do with Arkansas-Little Rock and UTA who do not play football.  A solution might be to have New Mexico State replace ULM in the west.  I would see the new conference consisting of UAB, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Texas State, UTSA, UTEP and New Mexico State.  I would leave UALR and UTA in the Sun Belt for them to decide whether to keep or not.

3  The next possibility is that North Texas and Houston would be added to the Big XII.  That would be contingent on a stadium expansion (for us) to at least 50,000.  

4  The least possible IMO would be the MWC.  They are pretty comfortable at 12 and wouldn't take just one.  There are two possibilities there...our being a replacement for the weakest member (San Jose State) or adding two from the new CUSA among us, Rice, UTSA or UTEP.

5 Play as an independent.  Pretty unlikely but if we could get our own TV contact and play teams from any league that are closer in distance, saving travel expenses.  A major problem would be finding a conference for the other sports.

I don't know that any of these will happen but if they did my preferences in order would be 3, 1, 4, 2, and 5.

[VideoEagle]

Since Colorado State, AF, Wyoming, San Diego State and I think New Mexico have repeatedly said they do NOT want multiple Central Time Zone schools and WILL NOT make the concessions that were granted to TCU again, I don't see how a MWC East is a possibility. 

[buff64]

MWC would be the worst choice of those listed.  Except for our home games , we would never see UNT play.                                              

[Wag Tag]

If we are dealing with a new reality area competition will come into play. It will start with ooc being a bus trip, then G5’s aligned with short travel time locations.

[untjim1995]

7 hours ago, GrayEagle said:

1 I think that the most likely change is that we join the AAC.  Wren knows a lot of the administration of the AAC from the commissioner on down having worked at Memphis.  I believe that Neil Smatresk would be an asset in comparison with recent presidents in selling us and accountability.  

2 I think that next possibility is a merger with Sun Belt teams by dividing into two twelve team conferences.  There might be a couple of sticking points in that solution.  ULM does not have the budget, attendance, and is too close to Louisiana Tech.  It's time for them to return to FCS.  The other problem might be what to do with Arkansas-Little Rock and UTA who do not play football.  A solution might be to have New Mexico State replace ULM in the west.  I would see the new conference consisting of UAB, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Arkansas State, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Texas State, UTSA, UTEP and New Mexico State.  I would leave UALR and UTA in the Sun Belt for them to decide whether to keep or not.

3  The next possibility is that North Texas and Houston would be added to the Big XII.  That would be contingent on a stadium expansion (for us) to at least 50,000.  

4  The least possible IMO would be the MWC.  They are pretty comfortable at 12 and wouldn't take just one.  There are two possibilities there...our being a replacement for the weakest member (San Jose State) or adding two from the new CUSA among us, Rice, UTSA or UTEP.

5 Play as an independent.  Pretty unlikely but if we could get our own TV contact and play teams from any league that are closer in distance, saving travel expenses.  A major problem would be finding a conference for the other sports.

I don't know that any of these will happen but if they did my preferences in order would be 3, 1, 4, 2, and 5.

Order of probability for UNT:

2.

4.

 

 

 

1.

 

 

 

 

5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

can't even find 3 on the internet

[RBP79]

Smatresk came from UNLV...he may hold a key to MWC. But it's all speculation till we see what schools can financially survive the present crisis. Hopefully, they all do.

 

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

16 minutes ago, RBP79 said:

Smatresk came from UNLV...he may hold a key to MWC. But it's all speculation till we see what schools can financially survive the present crisis. Hopefully, they all do.

 

Wren came from Memphis, and it would make like SO much for sense to join the AAC and take Tulsa's spot

[El Paso Eagle]

I think the MWC, as crazy as it sounds might go after UTSA. If they want to pair up a travel partner not sure if they would go after us or Rice.

Our best shot a the AAC might be if SMU move to another conference. Yep it sucks, but our moving up might just depend on the Ponies moving up.

[wardly]

Don't be surprised if ODU leads the charge to create an East Coast conference from Virginia to Florida combining CUSA/SBC programs. They could start with FIU, FAU, So. Georgia, Georgia State,App. State, Costal Carolina, Charlotte, and Marshall.That would give them 9 schools, and if they wanted 10 or 12 they could reach out to W.K.,MTSU, or Troy and USA. I just don't see where the MWC addresses our financial concerns and AAC is pipe dream as long as SMU and Houston remain members. Regarding Tulsa, as CUSA is now configured there is no financial incentive to join as travel expenses go up or at best remain the same while T.V. money basically goes away.

[MCMLXXX]

27 minutes ago, wardly said:

Regarding Tulsa, as CUSA is now configured there is no financial incentive to join as travel expenses go up or at best remain the same while T.V. money basically goes away.

No reason for Tulsa to leave AAC if they keep FBS football. I would think if their financial problems force them to make a choice they would drop football and some Olympic sports and go all in for basketball and the MVC.

[Cooke County Kid]

The AAC is the best choice, we should never have left the Missouri Valley Conference, look at where our former conference mates are now.  How we get in is not as important as getting in.  The next best option is the MWC, with all the CUSA Texas teams forming that eastern division, with an IH-25 corridor of teams, UNM, Air Force, CSU, and Wyoming.  Only 3 teams would be in the central time zone.  I would miss playing La Tech and USM.

 

GO MEAN GREEN!!! 

WIN GAMES!!! 

[Coach Andy Mac]

2 hours ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Wren came from Memphis, and it would make like SO much for sense to join the AAC and take Tulsa's spot

👆👆👆👆👆

[untjim1995]

1 hour ago, Cooke County Kid said:

The AAC is the best choice, we should never have left the Missouri Valley Conference, look at where our former conference mates are now.  How we get in is not as important as getting in.  The next best option is the MWC, with all the CUSA Texas teams forming that eastern division, with an IH-25 corridor of teams, UNM, Air Force, CSU, and Wyoming.  Only 3 teams would be in the central time zone.  I would miss playing La Tech and USM.

 

GO MEAN GREEN!!! 

WIN GAMES!!! 

If the current MWC stays at this level, and they added teams from the CST, I'd love to be in a division that looked like this:

UNT, Rice, UTEP, La Tech, UNM, AFA, CSU, and Wyoming

That combo is light years better than what we have now, which is currently light years better than we have had since we left the MVC.

[MrAlien]

AAC would be the popular move, but with SMU 40 min away that might be dificult

MWC makes better sense, at least the way things are now, I think the conference would love the exposure to the DFW market, I also think its a competition upgrade for all the sports. 

[El Paso Eagle]

26 minutes ago, MrAlien said:

AAC would be the popular move, but with SMU 40 min away that might be dificult

MWC makes better sense, at least the way things are now, I think the conference would love the exposure to the DFW market, I also think its a competition upgrade for all the sports. 

I think this might be why at some point the MWC makes a play for UNT and UTSA

[meanrob]

Why would any conference add teams right now? I don’t see any changes happening. 

[Wag Tag]

1 hour ago, meanrob said:

Why would any conference add teams right now? I don’t see any changes happening. 

Only if you are consolidating teams regionally does it make sense to reduce cost.  Teams on the bubble financially are going to have to make a move Tulsa La Monroe and others. Revenue and Revenue sharing is going to drop dramatically In all sports. If we can’t get into the AAC then combining with SB would make sense. Set up an East and West Div along with a championship game. GMG 

[untjim1995]

1 hour ago, El Paso Eagle said:

I think this might be why at some point the MWC makes a play for UNT and UTSA

Most likely, the MWC knows they might be able to pick up some very attractive pieces if/when the Big 12 implodes. They could get Texas exposure very easily with TCU and Baylor. The scary part of that scenario is if they decide they should then go after UH and a school like UTSA. Then you’ve got problems...because the AAC replaces UH with Rice and we are stuck in CUSA with UTEP.

[UNTLifer]

Why does everyone think the MWC will go after UTSA?  Their football team has had about two good years, their basketball facilities suck, nothing on campus, little support unless KFC is given away, etc...

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

2 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Why does everyone think the MWC will go after UTSA?  Their football team has had about two good years, their basketball facilities suck, nothing on campus, little support unless KFC is given away, etc...

My friend told me when he went on a campus visit at UTSA (Totally unaware of their facilities), he was in shock because he thought their main gym was their rec center and the guide told him that it was a multi-purpose facility. In the end, he came to UNT

[wardly]

When I troll the MWC fan forums the most interest I see is fans wanting to drop SJSU and Hawaii. From those fans perspective their appears to be interest in downsizing, not expanding unless its BYU.

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

42 minutes ago, wardly said:

When I troll the MWC fan forums the most interest I see is fans wanting to drop SJSU and Hawaii. From those fans perspective their appears to be interest in downsizing, not expanding unless its BYU.

Does the C-USA have a forum board?

[Salsa_Verde]

1 hour ago, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Does the C-USA have a forum board?

Yes. Just be warned. It’s a dumpster fire in there