10 Reasons Why The Offseason Sucks

[Mean'n'Green07]

For any new users, this will save you a lot of time on reading this message board.

1. What the new stadium will look like

2. Will we ever build a new stadium

3. SMU conspiracy theory(s)

4. How big should the new stadium be

5. UNT is headed in the wrong direction despite record enrollment & higher test scores every year. Building a new stadium will fix this.

6. We don't care about what SMU thinks, but read their board anyway and post what they think here.

7. How awesome our recruiting class would be with a new stadium

8. Fouts sucks in everyway possible, we could have awesome attendance with that new stadium

9. A Quoner post that everyone has to reply to show how funny he is

10. Conference realignment/sunbelt sucks but we could have joined the WAC so the sunbelt isn't so bad after all. CUSA would be so awesome...

Edited June 3, 2008 by Mean'n'Green07

[CaribbeanGreen]

personally, my money is on the late-charging horse of posting links to white supremacy websites...

Edited June 3, 2008 by CaribbeanGreen

[LoveMG]

For any new users, this will save you a lot of time on reading this message board.

1. What the new stadium will look like

2. Will we ever build a new stadium

3. SMU conspiracy theory(s)

4. How big should the new stadium be

5. UNT is headed in the wrong direction despite record enrollment & higher test scores every year. Building a new stadium will fix this.

6. We don't care about what SMU thinks, but read their board anyway and post what they think here.

7. How awesome our recruiting class would be with a new stadium

8. Fouts sucks in everyway possible, we could have awesome attendance with that new stadium

9. A Quoner post that everyone has to reply to show how funny he is

10. Conference realignment/sunbelt sucks but we could have joined the WAC so the sunbelt isn't so bad after all. CUSA would be so awesome...

11. I can't think of a good thread to start myself so I'll list how bad the others are

[Green Gas]

Crap like this gives me gas!

Green Gas off the swamp, with a mean odor.

Whew, smell that!

[eulessismore]

What about the slow, dramatic buildup to number one, the way Letterman does it, like: And now, the number one question to ask yourself if you have a robot lover....are you cheating on your blow up woman?

[Green Gas]

What about the slow, dramatic buildup to number one, the way Letterman does it, like: And now, the number one question to ask yourself if you have a robot lover....are you cheating on your blow up woman?

You are only cheating if you see them separately.

[eulessismore]

You are only cheating if you see them separately.

Alright, dude, you got a good laugh out of me on that one!

[Green P1]

Somewhere Checkfacts is feverishly attempting to come up with another legitimate e-mail address so he can get in here and tear this thread apart....

[greenminer]

Somewhere in there should be the usual off-season top-10 list.

[Quoner]

For any new users, this will save you a lot of time on reading this message board.

1. What the new stadium will look like

2. Will we ever build a new stadium

3. SMU conspiracy theory(s)

4. How big should the new stadium be

5. UNT is headed in the wrong direction despite record enrollment & higher test scores every year. Building a new stadium will fix this.

6. We don't care about what SMU thinks, but read their board anyway and post what they think here.

7. How awesome our recruiting class would be with a new stadium

8. Fouts sucks in everyway possible, we could have awesome attendance with that new stadium

9. A Quoner post that everyone has to reply to show how funny he is

10. Conference realignment/sunbelt sucks but we could have joined the WAC so the sunbelt isn't so bad after all. CUSA would be so awesome...

11. A cliche list that someone posts every year and thinks they were the first to do it?

[LAZER]

11. A cliche list that someone posts every year and thinks they were the first to do it?

haha Quoner you are sooooooo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[UNT_playmaker]

11. Hurricanes???? Hello Hurricane season just started on June 1st.... First named storm of the season Arthur, followed by BERTHA, thats right all beware of BIG BERTHA, LOL!!!!!

[Quoner]

haha Quoner you are sooooooo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice - I feel validated!

[Guest 97and03]

Nice - I love to feel violated!

Fixed.

[Shof]

For any new users, this will save you a lot of time on reading this message board.

10. Conference realignment/sunbelt sucks but we could have joined the WAC so the sunbelt isn't so bad after all. CUSA would be so awesome...

Speaking of #10 I just pulled the following article off the LaTech board. Interesting read.

Strong talk of C-USA expansion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C-USA: Could even bigger be better?

By Jack Bogaczyk

Daily Mail Sports Editor

It was warm on the beach at Destin, Fla., last week, but it's doubtful Conference USA had any formal discussion on getting more than a 12-pack at its spring meetings.

Marshall's home conference stretches from Huntington to Greenville, N.C., to Orlando, Fla., to El Paso, Texas, and back, but maybe that's not big enough. Maybe 12 teams aren't enough.

So figures East Carolina Athletic Director Terry Holland -- and just maybe his concept for expanding C-USA isn't as outrageous as some might think.

Holland has been quietly pushing his expansion concept since the C-USA winter meetings 16 months ago. You might say his ideas have taken off like Rice basketball -- which hasn't been to an NCAA Tournament since 1970.

The ECU athletic director said there has been no formal discussion since early 2007, and there was relatively little interest when he brought it up, other than the general notion, he said in an e-mail, that "there just does not seem to be any reason to rock the boat at this time. If there are institutions who appear to add great value to C-USA, then we can discuss at that time."

That status-quo opinion is shortsighted for a conference still trying to establish who's who.

Holland, recognized nationally as a forward thinker and leader in college athletics, is worth more than a listen on the subject. His desires take on more urgency as the cost of travel for athletic teams -- and everyone else -- becomes more expensive.

C-USA saved itself three years ago after it lost five schools to the Big East Conference. The Texas-based league was regenerated with six new members, all of whom played football. That was different than the previous membership.

Financially, C-USA isn't doing as well as it might, either, because of back-to-back, one-bid (Memphis) years in NCAA Tournament.

While Marshall has been aided by a developing series with West Virginia and other quality Bowl Championship Series foes, ECU has generated needed dollars in football by playing "area" rivals like North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, WVU and soon, South Carolina.

Holland said that is more than the Pirates receive annually from conference TV and NCAA basketball revenue.

"Given two 'one bid' seasons in hoops, I am in favor of rocking the boat right now before we get in a hole too deeply," Holland said. "Our non-conference schedule here at ECU has saved us -- those local rivalries have generated an additional $2 million in annual season ticket sales over the last three years and should be up again this year.

"So our focus is on local rivalries, which we deem more important than television revenue, TV exposure or anything else. We will do anything to keep our game times at convenient times for our fans and on Saturdays although we are playing a Friday home game on Thanksgiving weekend."

Holland has company on that subject. C-USA -- still fighting hard to establish itself -- must be careful not to lose a fan base by playing too many non-Saturday football games.

A school can make up the revenue for maybe one game with TV receipts, but the damage done long-term in establishing and keeping a fan base can be catastrophic for schools and conferences trying to build below the BCS core conferences.

* * *

SO, WHAT is Holland's idea for helping create more financial stability and rivalries in C-USA?

It's an expansion from 12 to 16 or 18 teams. It's two divisions under one conference umbrella.

The 16-team Big East has functioned better than could have been expected, but playing basketball teams once a season (with three exceptions, mostly based on telecast desires) doesn't build rivalries.

There's still talk, too, that the football part of the Big East would be better off breaking away in the not too distant future.

Look at the damage that former Virginia coach and AD Holland's old home conference has suffered in basketball with the ACC expansion from nine to 12 schools (mostly to aid football). Longtime basketball rivalries have been damaged and diminished.

Three years in, just who are Marshall's rivals in Conference USA? Real rivals? There's ECU, mostly because the schools are tied forever from a final game before a 1970 airline tragedy and then a wild, double-overtime bowl game.

What other schools? Who is ECU's rival besides -- loosely -- the Herd?

"I have come to the conclusion that 12-team conferences do not work well for long term," Holland wrote. "The power conferences can survive the disadvantages but I believe that in the long term they will suffer some damage to rivalries, etc., as well.

"Also, in a 12-team conference you have a lot more 'middle' votes (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). The conference dynamics then become driven by the desires of that 'middle' group in each sport instead of by the top three, who are interested in excellence rather than just catching up with the folks ahead of them (as the middle tends to do)."

That's tough talk, but maybe someone needs to hear it and consider it.

"C-USA, as a new conference and with its geographic spread, can not possibly develop rivalries unless we play each team the maximum number of times in each sport," Holland said. "So playing the West Division teams sporadically does us no good at all.

"I would rather eliminate those games entirely and schedule geographic rivals instead <I> or <I> expand each division and let each division function as a 7-, 8- or 9-team conference under the C-USA banner."

Holland didn't want to discuss specific schools, but there are some excellent examples that would fit within C-USA expansion. South Alabama is about to kick off football with a major college goal of 2013. Western Kentucky already is there.

The Hilltoppers' neighbor, Middle Tennessee State, is another. A few Louisiana schools fit the geography. And for a league that already has four Texas schools and an Oklahoma team (Tulsa), maybe TCU even would wander back from the Mountain West if the numbers made sense.

For example, Marshall has a better chance of building a rivalry -- and get fans to drive to see games -- against WKU and Middle Tennessee than it does against a C-USA West team. Wouldn't Herd fans like to head to nearby Nashville, Tenn., for a weekend rather than sit home and watch a game with SMU on the tube?

Holland said in an expanded C-USA, divisional championships could be based on seven or eight divisional games and everyone would essentially play the same schedule each year. It also balances the competition.

In the current setup, if Marshall faces West games against Tulsa, Houston and UTEP and Southern Mississippi plays cross-division foes Rice, SMU and Tulane, who do you think will finish higher in the East?

"My point is," Holland said, "that if you can't go back to eight or nine teams for the conference, then move ahead to eight- or nine-team divisions. Twelve is simply the wrong number in my opinion."

* * *

IF THIS expansion plan is ever to take flight, C-USA presidents and ADs will need some convincing. Most members have told Holland the same refrain that is repeatedly heard from Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese when asked about getting a ninth football member:

"They say there is no one out there who brings enough value to split the revenue with more schools," Holland said.

That also is shortsighted. Think of it like this:

-- The schools you could add are not getting anything of significance from their conferences at this time, so you don't have to give them much except a better schedule that allows them to sell tickets in every sport.

-- For everyone in far-flung C-USA, a penny saved on travel across 15-20 sports is a penny earned. It's revenue.

-- Playing games close enough for fans to travel does produce revenue streams for everyone, builds the season ticket base and increases the donor pool.

-- Media coverage is enhanced by playing games that people in a region care about.

The devil is in the details. Holland is right when he says every C-USA school is likely to have its own idea of who it might want added, and into what divisions they may go.

How do you play a 16-team basketball tournament (the Big East is preparing to try that)? Maybe you don't. Maybe you play two divisional tournaments and have those champions meet for the NCAA Tournament berth.

A bottom line? It's 340 miles from Marshall to ECU. It's 950 from Huntington to Houston. It's 240 from Herdland to Western Kentucky.

Holland's concept isn't just from a $4-a-gallon gasbag.

http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/MUSports/200805190089

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Speaking of #10 I just pulled the following article off the LaTech board. Interesting read.

Strong talk of C-USA expansion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C-USA: Could even bigger be better?

By Jack Bogaczyk

Daily Mail Sports Editor

It was warm on the beach at Destin, Fla., last week, but it's doubtful Conference USA had any formal discussion on getting more than a 12-pack at its spring meetings.

Marshall's home conference stretches from Huntington to Greenville, N.C., to Orlando, Fla., to El Paso, Texas, and back, but maybe that's not big enough. Maybe 12 teams aren't enough.

So figures East Carolina Athletic Director Terry Holland -- and just maybe his concept for expanding C-USA isn't as outrageous as some might think.

Holland has been quietly pushing his expansion concept since the C-USA winter meetings 16 months ago. You might say his ideas have taken off like Rice basketball -- which hasn't been to an NCAA Tournament since 1970.

The ECU athletic director said there has been no formal discussion since early 2007, and there was relatively little interest when he brought it up, other than the general notion, he said in an e-mail, that "there just does not seem to be any reason to rock the boat at this time. If there are institutions who appear to add great value to C-USA, then we can discuss at that time."

That status-quo opinion is shortsighted for a conference still trying to establish who's who.

Holland, recognized nationally as a forward thinker and leader in college athletics, is worth more than a listen on the subject. His desires take on more urgency as the cost of travel for athletic teams -- and everyone else -- becomes more expensive.

C-USA saved itself three years ago after it lost five schools to the Big East Conference. The Texas-based league was regenerated with six new members, all of whom played football. That was different than the previous membership.

Financially, C-USA isn't doing as well as it might, either, because of back-to-back, one-bid (Memphis) years in NCAA Tournament.

While Marshall has been aided by a developing series with West Virginia and other quality Bowl Championship Series foes, ECU has generated needed dollars in football by playing "area" rivals like North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, WVU and soon, South Carolina.

Holland said that is more than the Pirates receive annually from conference TV and NCAA basketball revenue.

"Given two 'one bid' seasons in hoops, I am in favor of rocking the boat right now before we get in a hole too deeply," Holland said. "Our non-conference schedule here at ECU has saved us -- those local rivalries have generated an additional $2 million in annual season ticket sales over the last three years and should be up again this year.

"So our focus is on local rivalries, which we deem more important than television revenue, TV exposure or anything else. We will do anything to keep our game times at convenient times for our fans and on Saturdays although we are playing a Friday home game on Thanksgiving weekend."

Holland has company on that subject. C-USA -- still fighting hard to establish itself -- must be careful not to lose a fan base by playing too many non-Saturday football games.

A school can make up the revenue for maybe one game with TV receipts, but the damage done long-term in establishing and keeping a fan base can be catastrophic for schools and conferences trying to build below the BCS core conferences.

* * *

SO, WHAT is Holland's idea for helping create more financial stability and rivalries in C-USA?

It's an expansion from 12 to 16 or 18 teams. It's two divisions under one conference umbrella.

The 16-team Big East has functioned better than could have been expected, but playing basketball teams once a season (with three exceptions, mostly based on telecast desires) doesn't build rivalries.

There's still talk, too, that the football part of the Big East would be better off breaking away in the not too distant future.

Look at the damage that former Virginia coach and AD Holland's old home conference has suffered in basketball with the ACC expansion from nine to 12 schools (mostly to aid football). Longtime basketball rivalries have been damaged and diminished.

Three years in, just who are Marshall's rivals in Conference USA? Real rivals? There's ECU, mostly because the schools are tied forever from a final game before a 1970 airline tragedy and then a wild, double-overtime bowl game.

What other schools? Who is ECU's rival besides -- loosely -- the Herd?

"I have come to the conclusion that 12-team conferences do not work well for long term," Holland wrote. "The power conferences can survive the disadvantages but I believe that in the long term they will suffer some damage to rivalries, etc., as well.

"Also, in a 12-team conference you have a lot more 'middle' votes (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). The conference dynamics then become driven by the desires of that 'middle' group in each sport instead of by the top three, who are interested in excellence rather than just catching up with the folks ahead of them (as the middle tends to do)."

That's tough talk, but maybe someone needs to hear it and consider it.

"C-USA, as a new conference and with its geographic spread, can not possibly develop rivalries unless we play each team the maximum number of times in each sport," Holland said. "So playing the West Division teams sporadically does us no good at all.

"I would rather eliminate those games entirely and schedule geographic rivals instead <I> or <I> expand each division and let each division function as a 7-, 8- or 9-team conference under the C-USA banner."

Holland didn't want to discuss specific schools, but there are some excellent examples that would fit within C-USA expansion. South Alabama is about to kick off football with a major college goal of 2013. Western Kentucky already is there.

The Hilltoppers' neighbor, Middle Tennessee State, is another. A few Louisiana schools fit the geography. And for a league that already has four Texas schools and an Oklahoma team (Tulsa), maybe TCU even would wander back from the Mountain West if the numbers made sense.

For example, Marshall has a better chance of building a rivalry -- and get fans to drive to see games -- against WKU and Middle Tennessee than it does against a C-USA West team. Wouldn't Herd fans like to head to nearby Nashville, Tenn., for a weekend rather than sit home and watch a game with SMU on the tube?

Holland said in an expanded C-USA, divisional championships could be based on seven or eight divisional games and everyone would essentially play the same schedule each year. It also balances the competition.

In the current setup, if Marshall faces West games against Tulsa, Houston and UTEP and Southern Mississippi plays cross-division foes Rice, SMU and Tulane, who do you think will finish higher in the East?

"My point is," Holland said, "that if you can't go back to eight or nine teams for the conference, then move ahead to eight- or nine-team divisions. Twelve is simply the wrong number in my opinion."

* * *

IF THIS expansion plan is ever to take flight, C-USA presidents and ADs will need some convincing. Most members have told Holland the same refrain that is repeatedly heard from Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese when asked about getting a ninth football member:

"They say there is no one out there who brings enough value to split the revenue with more schools," Holland said.

That also is shortsighted. Think of it like this:

-- The schools you could add are not getting anything of significance from their conferences at this time, so you don't have to give them much except a better schedule that allows them to sell tickets in every sport.

-- For everyone in far-flung C-USA, a penny saved on travel across 15-20 sports is a penny earned. It's revenue.

-- Playing games close enough for fans to travel does produce revenue streams for everyone, builds the season ticket base and increases the donor pool.

-- Media coverage is enhanced by playing games that people in a region care about.

The devil is in the details. Holland is right when he says every C-USA school is likely to have its own idea of who it might want added, and into what divisions they may go.

How do you play a 16-team basketball tournament (the Big East is preparing to try that)? Maybe you don't. Maybe you play two divisional tournaments and have those champions meet for the NCAA Tournament berth.

A bottom line? It's 340 miles from Marshall to ECU. It's 950 from Huntington to Houston. It's 240 from Herdland to Western Kentucky.

Holland's concept isn't just from a $4-a-gallon gasbag.

http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/MUSports/200805190089

Nice find and good read. Pretty interesting.