Liberty Bowl discussion kinda heatin' up

[MeanGreen61]

"As a Memphian, I'm insulted the SEC wants to send its seventh-place team to the Liberty Bowl and dictate who they want to play," Memphis Coach Tommy West told reporters Tuesday at Conference USA media day in Memphis".

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college...=tf-main-sports

Future with Liberty still in discussion

By Alan Schmadtke

Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted August 3 2005

Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky is unconcerned about the tempest that has become the Liberty Bowl, his league's lead bowl for nearly a decade. C-USA wants to keep the Liberty in the lead position after this football season, but there are no guarantees.

"I'm not concerned," Banowsky said. "Our game for this year is set, and we have a chance to look at a situation beyond this year. But if it doesn't work out, we're going to have options. What those are, I'm not going to speculate, but we'll have other options."

Meanwhile, emotions are stirring, some down deep, some not so deep. The Southeastern Conference is talking to the Liberty about sending an SEC team to the Memphis bowl from 2006 through 2009, but SEC Commissioner Mike Slive last week said he preferred all his league's bowl tie-ins to be opposite teams from other power leagues. Read: Not C-USA.

"As a Memphian, I'm insulted the SEC wants to send its seventh-place team to the Liberty Bowl and dictate who they want to play," Memphis Coach Tommy West told reporters Tuesday at Conference USA media day in Memphis.

Said Liberty Executive Director Steve Ehrhart: "I'm not going to touch that."

Banowsky, West, Southern Miss Athletic Director Richard Giannini and Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson met Tuesday morning with the Liberty's board of directors to sell the board on another contract with the league.

"It was a listening session," Ehrhart said. "We'll absorb and continue to listen."

Ehrhart said his bowl has no timetable for finalizing its next contact but doubted it would drag on much beyond the start of this season.

Edited August 3, 2005 by MeanGreen61