Cusa Potential Expansion Targets

[MeanGreen61]

Interesting. Compiled by MissouriStateBear and posted on the CUSA board.

My results in order of expansion candidates would be:

North Texas

Western Kentucky

Missouri State

Middle Tennessee

South Alabama

Louisiana Tech

Charlotte

Texas State

Georgia State

Appalachian State

Texas-San Antonio

Georgia Southern

JediKnight Reply

During the last round of expansion, North Texas and Louisiana Tech both were seriously considered for C-USA membership. I wouldn't be surprised to see North Texas be one of the top candidates again should expansion start up again.

Edited March 11, 2010 by MeanGreen61

[NT03]

There is no way UNT is only 6 in facilities

[UNTflyer]

Budget and football facilities grade should move up when the stadium opens... I wonder if he considered this.

[UNTFan23]

Interesting that South Alabama came in 1st for football attendance when it was their first year ever with a football program. They are a long ways away from reaching the FBS level of football though. I don't think CUSA would ever consider a FCS school unless the moratorium preventing those schools from moving up to FBS is lifted.

[UNTflyer]

Right off the bat, half of these teams should be eliminated. UTSA, Texas State, Appalachian State, Georgia State, South Alabama, Jacksonville, and Missouri State are Div I-AA football teams. The moratorium is still in place. If it were dropped today, it would take a MINIMUM of three years for them to be considered for I-A membership.

Based on the automatic disqualification of these teams, I assigned a #1 ranking a score of 12 all the way down to a #12 score of 1. Here are the results:

WKU 101

North Texas 101

MTSU 99

LA Tech 94

Edited March 11, 2010 by UNTflyer

[Mean Green 93-98]

I would think "recruiting hotbed" would be another factor in our favor.

[Got5onIt]

I would think "recruiting hotbed" would be another factor in our favor.

SMU is already a member, so the DFW area is already "tapped". Might not be as big an advantage because of this.

[drex]

I know a little bit about Missouri State....they have a great new basketball facility, but their football stadium is not that impressive. They have poor attendance for football and their basketball attendance is good but not great. Mo State has been approached by the SBC in past years, but was told they were happy at being I-AA in football. Mo State has great potential, but have a lot to do to climb up to C-USA. They do have a good solid fan base, market, etc. Most of their fan base is for basketball only, however.

[Mean Green 93-98]

SMU is already a member, so the DFW area is already "tapped". Might not be as big an advantage because of this.

The same would apply to media market. Just because they've already got a finger in the cookie jar doesn't mean they won't want a thumb in there as well.

[MeanGreen61]

SMU is already a member, so the DFW area is already "tapped". Might not be as big an advantage because of this.

SMU may have "tapped" the Park Cities market, but they are irrelevant in most of the DFW market. Hard for average folks to relate to them.

[Got5onIt]

The same would apply to media market. Just because they've already got a finger in the cookie jar doesn't mean they won't want a thumb in there as well.

True.

[GreenMachine]

The same would apply to media market. Just because they've already got a finger in the cookie jar doesn't mean they won't want a thumb in there as well.

I just got a flash back from that one applie pie scene in American Pie.

[GrayEagle]

Another factor sometime used is accessibility. North Texas is only 20+ miles from one of the major airports in the country. If all FCS entries were included, Georgia State would be another relatively "cheap" location to travel to. Middle would also do pretty well. Some of the more expensive travel costs would be to Western Kentucky, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Troy (I wonder why they were not included in the survey), and La Tech. Charlotte is pretty accessible and would be great for the eastern teams.

Under the present moratorium I do think that it would be very difficult for FCS teams to be considered. The exception might be South Alabama which may have been granted a waiver since they are already members of an FBS conference and are elevating their status. However, I wouldn't give them #1 attendance status on a makeshift schedule in its first year. Much of that could be curiousity and not be retained once they start playing opponents that will likely beat them on a regular basis.

I still think that the Top 5 for consideration should be North Texas, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Troy, and Western Kentucky. Missouri State, Texas State, and Appalachian State would all make good additions to the SBC. Georgia Southern stock has fallen in recent times and UTSA is still an unknown, as are Charlotte and Georgia State. Jax State has a decent program but is in a weaker conference and relatively inaccessible (although certainly no worse than Troy).

[gangrene]

I see our "good buddy" CalallenStang is throwing us under the bus:

RE: Future C-USA expansion candidates?

Quote: It wouldn't hurt the attendance in Texas to add North Texas too the conference

CalallenStang's reply - It wouldn't? None of the Texas schools have a history with UNT. SMU has the most history of playing them and our fans don't care about seeing them at all. UNT also commands about as much as the Dallas media market as Plano West High School (admittedly, SMU does not command much more).

UNT should only be admitted on a few conditions: 1) We need to replace a West Division team. 2) They agree to improve non-revenue sports facilities. 3) The new stadium must already be open.

Even though this just a bunch of random messageboard speculation, I do find it a bit concerning just how often UTSA is mentioned as a possible CUSA candidate.

******EDIT******

Nice responses by MG61 and PerryGreen. Here's the link in case anyone wants to read the entire thread.

Edited March 11, 2010 by gangrene

[MeanGreenTexan]

I see our "good buddy" CalallenStang is throwing us under the bus:

RE: Future C-USA expansion candidates?

Quote: It wouldn't hurt the attendance in Texas to add North Texas too the conference

CalallenStang's reply - It wouldn't? None of the Texas schools have a history with UNT. SMU has the most history of playing them and our fans don't care about seeing them at all. UNT also commands about as much as the Dallas media market as Plano West High School (admittedly, SMU does not command much more).

UNT should only be admitted on a few conditions: 1) We need to replace a West Division team. 2) They agree to improve non-revenue sports facilities. 3) The new stadium must already be open.

Even though this just a bunch of random messageboard speculation, I do find it a bit concerning just how often UTSA is mentioned as a possible CUSA candidate.

"Improve non-revenue sports facilities"? I guess he keeps up with UNT's facilities about as much as I keep up with SMU's facilities, but we've got some FANTASTIC non-revenue facilities! The Waranch/Soccer/Softball stadiums are all top notch.

[untbowler]

"Improve non-revenue sports facilities"? I guess he keeps up with UNT's facilities about as much as I keep up with SMU's facilities, but we've got some FANTASTIC non-revenue facilities! The Waranch/Soccer/Softball stadiums are all top notch.

beat me to it, just another pompous SMUT who has not been to Denton in quite some time.

[ColoradoEagle]

Their basketball category is way off. I have a hard time believing that the Super Pit is a run of the mill basketball facility. Being at both Moody and Daniel-Meyer is proof enough of that. If they want a conference built on what schools did a long time ago, I agree with La. Tech ahead of us. If they want a conference that's competitive, I'd go with the school who's been in the tournament 2 of the last 4 years over the one that hasn't been in two decades.

With football, I just don't know what to say. Ranking a team's facilities at #1 because they use an off-site NFL stadium? I guess Tulane has one of the best stadiums in the country.

Edit: Just realized they put us behind Thomas Assembly Center (La. Tech), haha. That place is a dive with the majority of the seating on the upper level.

Edited March 11, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

[forevereagle]

I don't know if La Tech can afford to leave the conference. Usually you have to forfeit your conference earnings for your final year and I don't think that they have enough income to leave and make their travel.

[MeanGreenTexan]

I don't know if La Tech can afford to leave the conference. Usually you have to forfeit your conference earnings for your final year and I don't think that they have enough income to leave and make their travel.

Isn't that what we call 'body bag' games are for?

[NT80]

Edit: Just realized they put us behind Thomas Assembly Center (La. Tech), haha. That place is a dive with the majority of the seating on the upper level.

Yes, that shows how flawed those rankings are. I've been to both the football and basketball facilities at La Tech. Their football stadium is ahead of Fouts and the SuperPit is lightyears ahead of their arena.

Expansion in CUSA, and most conferences, will be based on several factors the most important being media market, attendance, and facilities. Secondary but still important is quality/strength of athletic sports, academics, size, location, ease of airport access, budget, revenue, and sports offered.

[VideoEagle]

Yes, that shows how flawed those rankings are. I've been to both the football and basketball facilities at La Tech. Their football stadium is ahead of Fouts and the SuperPit is lightyears ahead of their arena.

The "ranking" is just by a guy on the CUSA message board. It's not anything by anyone official. But, it's not a bad starting place for a discussion. You are right about our facilities compared to La Tech.

[ColoradoEagle]

Whatever happens, I hope that we can move to another conference. Absolutely floored that a mediocre team out of Houston gets a 13 seed after winning the CUSA tournament, and we get a 15 seed after 11 straight wins and taking the SBC tournament.

It isn't 100% the conference's fault as we had 2-3 games we should have handled, but the fact that winning our conference tournament nets us a 15 seed, behind such powerhouse conferences as Summit, Ohio Valley, Big Sky, Southland, MAAC, and Southern is abysmal. I used to say that we should stay and build the conference. I'm tired of it. I want out.

Edit: Corrected WKU part and added more conferences.

Edited March 14, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

[TheTastyGreek]

Whatever happens, I hope that we can move to another conference. Absolutely floored that a mediocre team out of Houston gets a 13 seed after winning the CUSA tournament (they even lost to WKU), and we get a 15 seed after 11 straight wins and taking the SBC tournament.

It isn't 100% the conference's fault as we had 2-3 games we should have handled, but the fact that winning our conference tournament nets us a 15 seed, behind such powerhouse conferences as Summit, Ohio Valley, and Southern is abysmal. I used to say that we should stay and build the conference. I'm tired of it. I want out.

Houston actually beat WKU.

[ColoradoEagle]

Houston actually beat WKU.

Looks like you're right. Still doesn't change my opinion, though.

[UNTFan23]

Houston actually beat WKU.

Since NT and Houston have a common opponent, where did Houston play WKy? If Houston played them at home, then I'd consider our win to be that much better than Houston's.