Univ. of South Alabama

BobFam · September 20, 2006

Interesting comments from USA Athletic Director Joe Gottfried.

State of Sun Belt Conference membership:

"I think the only change we'll see, if there are any changes at all, is with Denver"..........."Or there could be another change in the Big East. The Big East is probably going to take some schools, maybe (Conference USA members) Memphis and Central Florida. If that happens, Conference USA could end up taking North Texas because of their location with SMU, Rice and Tulsa."

Interesting talk from another school's AD.

LongJim · September 20, 2006

Interesting comments from USA Athletic Director Joe Gottfried.
The Big East is probably going to take some schools, maybe (Conference USA members) Memphis and Central Florida.
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This would be a dream situation for UNT were it to happen.

I believe both Memphis and UCF would jump at this if it was out there.

greenjoe · September 20, 2006

If you were the Big East, which would you choose. I'd take Memphis, but I would hope the BE took Central Florida.

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chrisfisher · September 20, 2006

Interesting comments from USA Athletic Director Joe Gottfried.
Link
State of Sun Belt Conference membership:
"I think the only change we'll see, if there are any changes at all, is with Denver"..........."Or there could be another change in the Big East. The Big East is probably going to take some schools, maybe (Conference USA members) Memphis and Central Florida. If that happens, Conference USA could end up taking North Texas because of their location with SMU, Rice and Tulsa."
Interesting talk from another school's AD.
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I'd love to move up into a bigger conference like CUSA, but how do y'all think we'd fare based on the Tulsa game? Maybe Akron will answer this question.

LongJim · September 20, 2006

If you were the Big East, which would you choose. I'd take Memphis, but I would hope the BE took Central Florida.
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I agree--I think the BE would probably take Memphis right now. They would strongly consider UCF, though, because it would give them two schools in Florida, which the other schools would love for recruiting purposes/potential TV exposure.

Eagle1855 · September 20, 2006

Id probably prefer UCF over Memphis, if I were a Big East school. The Big East is already a LOADED basketball conference, and the exposure in florida would be far more valuable than any in Tennessee, especially with Louisville just up the road.

Either way, I cant imagine C-USA taking another school besides NT- with the exception of Troy. For recruiting's sake, NT seems to be a better alternative. Its a large school, huge market, facilities wil be on par with anyone in the nation. It makes perfect sense to me.

untwillrise · September 20, 2006

I realy dont care making a jump to a bigger conf. I just want to be in a conf. with SMU, Rice, Houston, UTep, Tulane, and Tulsa

Arkstfan · September 20, 2006

Id probably prefer UCF over Memphis, if I were a Big East school.
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Me too. Many of my sports can fly down and play UCF and USF with one round-trip flight and the rental of some vans vs flying on to the next destination. It would also mean my football team is playing in Florida every year instead of every other year.

GrandGreen · September 20, 2006

CUSA can be a goal but I would not bet on it happening anytime soon. I see some on here declare that UTEP was the natural and only choice for CUSA in the last expansion. UTEP was definitely outside of the desired footprint for CUSA and at the time had close to the worst football record in the NCAA. Their basketball program and attendence were definite plusses. However, Imo I think their biggest advantage was they were not viewed as competition to the privates in Western CUSA. Historically they were an awful football team and then and now are not big recruiting threats in the majority of Texas or Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Both in terms of location and economics, NT and in fact La Tech made a lot more sense. Think of sending your volleyball team to EL Paso every year instead of Denton for the teams of W. CUSA. What would be an easy and relatively inexpensive bus trip to Denton from Tulsa, Dallas and Houston becomes a flight to El Paso and for Tulane an even bigger travel issue. I am not sure why attendence is even a major factor. Conference members payouts are not determined by the home team attendence. Facts are that most of W. Cusa football attendence is no better than NT.

My point is that the membership process is more politics than logic and the same factors that kept NT out of CUSA last time will likely still be present at the next realignment. And these factors have little to do with w/l records, facilities and attendence.

UNT_playmaker · September 20, 2006

This is all premature talk......but oooooooooooo so tempting

Edited September 20, 2006 by UNT_playmaker

Green Crazy · September 20, 2006

I believe our recruiting would be better if we moved to CUSA and as a result of that the we would be able to compete with the top teams in the CUSA. This would be great for us!

Green Crazy · September 20, 2006

If the teams are leaving from the east, then wouldn't the team to replace them have to go to the east?

MeanGreen61 · September 20, 2006

East Carolina wants the Big East in the worst way. If ECU and UCF were to head out, Marshall would become the Louisiana Tech of CUSA as the conference would become Southern/Southwestern.

Edited September 20, 2006 by MeanGreen61

September 20, 2006

It definitely helps to have a sponsor; someone on the inside who is trying to persuade others to vote for you. SMU, Tulsa and Rice banded together and were supported by Tulane. I'd guess that even Houston may have also helped.

We don't have any CUSA member who would try to push North Texas and haven't tried to develop one that I'm aware of. Our best bet should be Southern Miss, since RV, Capper, and others came from there. I hope that we become good friends with them since they have a lot of influence with the conference. Memphis might also help. Maybe even Tulsa.

If the eastern schools lose one of their own, they are going to want to replace it with a school closer to them. They would likely support Troy. So, when it develops it'll likely be a lot of politics.

While a nine team conference does help for easier scheduling, I have doubts that the Big East would do such a thing unless they decide to separate the basketball schools from the football schools. Basketball produces too much revenue for the conference for that to happen.