TCU, SMU, other conference shuffles official today

[NT80]

TCU, SMU do the conference shuffle again

By Wendell Barnhouse, Star-Telegram Staff Writer

July 1, 2005

Two private universities separated by 40 miles of urban sprawl, TCU and SMU have athletic departments that continue to be cleaved by conference musical chairs. The latest version again leaves the two former Southwest Conference rivals on separate dance floors.

Today is New Era Day in Division I-A football. Seven of 11 I-A conferences officially welcomed new members when the calendar flipped at 12:01 a.m. Some of the leagues and teams will party like it's 1999; others will feel hangovers that are most likely to remain private.

Today will come and go without much fanfare at TCU and SMU. There will be no ceremonial flag raising, no dumping of letterhead and coffee cups stamped with the former conference's brand.

"[Today] is just the technical date when the page gets turned," Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said.

TCU moves to the Mountain West Conference, rejoining schools that were part of the ill-conceived 16-team Western Athletic Conference. The Mountain West was formed in 1998 (and began competition in 1999) when eight schools left the WAC. The Horned Frogs become the ninth and newest member of the MWC.

"The Mountain West Conference is a terrific move for TCU," said new TCU athletic director Danny Morrison, who describes today as a torch-passing moment. "It brings regional and national visibility. And we're able to maintain our rich heritage and traditions with opponents from Texas and the Southwest. We've got a chance for the best of both worlds.

"In a short time, the MWC has positioned itself on the doorstep of the BCS. And I think it brings some stability."

Morrison cited the Frogs' first three games -- at Oklahoma, at SMU and at home against Utah (the MWC debut Sept. 15 on ESPN or ESPN2) as examples of attractive scheduling possibilities.

SMU moves from the WAC to Conference USA as TCU leaves C-USA for the MWC. The irony is as heavy as the Iron Skillet, the trophy at stake in the schools' annual football rivalry. In October 1999, TCU was invited to join C-USA. The same day the Fort Worth school said yes, the Dallas school was left standing at the altar. An expected and anticipated proposal from C-USA was never made.

Now, SMU joins C-USA.

"We feel like we've found a home that's just right for us," SMU athletic director Jim Copeland said.

Since last competing in the SWC during the 1995-96 season, TCU and SMU have had divergent success.

Over the past nine seasons, the Frogs' football team has a 62-44 record and played in six bowl games. TCU's basketball team has won 20 or more games five times and played in the NCAA Tournament once and the NIT three times.

Over the same period, SMU football is 33-71 and its men's basketball program has won more than 20 games once -- 21-9, the Mustangs' only postseason (NIT) appearance during that time frame.

"We like C-USA from a competitive standpoint," Copeland said. "There are teams that can break into the BCS in any given year, teams that can get into the NCAA Tournament. The geography of the East-West divisions is important."

SMU, which plays its first game as a C-USA member against Tulane on Sept. 24, is in the West Division along with Houston, Rice, Tulane, Tulsa and UT-El Paso.

Rice reunites with Houston for the first time since the SWC closed. The schools had scheduled a party Thursday night to honor the new look to an old rivalry.

"We're going to be able to create some rivalries and also to re-establish some rivalries," C-USA chief Banowsky said. "We feel like we've been together as a league for about a year. We're ready to go. We're just anxious for the teams to get on the field."

Boston College, which has endured nearly two years as Benedict Arnold to the Big East Conference, rented Fenway Park on Thursday night to celebrate its official entry to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

""It secures our football future for the next 50 years," Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo told the Boston Herald. "The increased revenue is important to us. We might have had to drop some sports. Of the 12 teams in the ACC, six [including Boston College] are in the top 41 in the country academically. That was important to us. And fourth, we've become a national institution, but our athletic department was a regional one."

The move didn't come without a price, however. The ACC botched its expansion in the summer of 2003. Plan A was to invite Big East schools Syracuse, Miami and Boston College to join the ACC. That was vetoed in an ACC presidential vote. Plan B added Miami and Virginia Tech starting in 2004, but Boston College was left hanging as a Big East lame duck for one more season.

"With BC now in the league we truly do live up to our name, the Atlantic Coast Conference," commissioner John Swofford said.

"Without question we have more clout in the marketplace. When you run from Boston all the way down to Miami there's no question we're looked at in the marketplace like we've never been."

For TCU and SMU, those marketplaces continue to be separate.

IN THE KNOW

Moving day

The most recent realignment of conferences and teams in Division I-A becomes official today. Here is what's new:

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE

In: Boston College

New: Two six-team divisions and a championship game Dec. 3

Atlantic Division

Boston College

Clemson

Florida State

Maryland

N.C. State

Wake Forest

Coastal Division

Duke

Georgia Tech

Miami (Fla.)

North Carolina

Virginia

Virginia Tech

BIG EAST CONFERENCE

Out: Boston College, Temple

In: Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida (plus DePaul and Marquette in basketball)

New: An eight-team football league, a 16-team basketball league.

Football

Cincinnati

Connecticut

Louisville

Pittsburgh

Rutgers

South Florida

Syracuse

West Virginia

Basketball

Connecticut

Cincinnati

DePaul

Georgetown

Louisville

Marquette

Notre Dame

Pittsburgh

Providence

Rutgers

Seton Hall

South Florida

St. John's

Syracuse

Villanova

West Virginia

CONFERENCE USA

Out: TCU, Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, Army

In: SMU, Rice, UT-El Paso, Tulsa, Marshall, Central Florida

New: Two six-team divisions and a championship game Dec. 3

East Division

Ala.-Birmingham

Central Florida

East Carolina

Marshall

Memphis

Southern Mississippi

West Division

Houston

Rice

SMU

Tulane

Tulsa

UT-El Paso

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE

Out: Marshall, Central Florida

New: Two six-team divisions (reduced from two seven-team divisions)

East Division

Akron

Bowling Green

Buffalo

Kent State

Miami (Ohio)

Ohio

West Division

Ball State

Central Michigan

Eastern Michigan

Northern Illinois

Toledo

Western Michigan

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE

In: TCU

New: A nine-team conference

Air Force

BYU

Colorado State

New Mexico

San Diego State

TCU

Utah

UNLV

Wyoming

SUN BELT CONFERENCE

Out: Idaho, New Mexico State, Utah State

In: Florida Atlantic, Florida International

New: Eight-team conference

Arkansas State

Florida Atlantic

Fla. International

La.-Lafayette

La.-Monroe

Middle Tennessee

North Texas

Troy

WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Out: SMU, Rice, UT-El Paso, Tulsa

In: Idaho, New Mexico State, Utah State

New: Nine-team conference

Boise State

Fresno State

Hawaii

Idaho

Louisiana Tech

Nevada

New Mexico State

San Jose State

Utah State