Tcu To Big East!

[NTSUEagle]

All I have to say is...like George and Weezie, we're MOVIN' ON UP!!! Either to the East Side of C-USA, or the West Side of the MWC!

[ColoradoEagle]

Agreed on the CUSA being more of a fan favorite destination and better fit, but MWC is stronger even without the Utah schools and TCU.

I don't see Houston ever heading west except for the Pac 10. SMU probably doesn't want the MWC, but Jones will flex his muscles and try to get them there anyway (he likes the West). Tulsa has a solid hoops program to present to the MWC, we have the market and alumni base. CUSA will look at us only if SMU leaves. MWC may look at us sooner.

What about the Big 12:) We are not the threat that TCU is and we have good bball upside with football future. Send Texas Tech, BYU and UNT to the North and you have:

BYU

UNT

ISU

Missouri

Kansas State

Kansas

Texas

A&M

Baylor

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Texas Tech

The Big 12 thing is a pipe dream. Having a large state school that can lay claim to DFW recruiting over everyone else? Not going to happen.

For the MWC, it'll be interesting to see if they do add another school or two. Will UTEP and SMU's comments just be hot air? Would UTEP really rather have its teams play in places where its alumni have access? Does SMU really want to stay with Tulsa, Rice, and Tulane?

On top of that, the MWC now is basically the WAC Take-Two. Wyoming, UNLV, AFA, Colorado State, San Diego State, Boise St., Fresno, Nevada, New Mexico, and possibly Hawaii? Still a good conference, but worth the jump from CUSA for Houston? Maybe they stay at 10 and call it a day or throw life preservers to Utah State and San Jose State.

I think a lot of things have to fall into place before we even start talking about NT. I'm not convinced that they offer another team from Texas.

[VideoEagle]

Don't look now...but that link is going to an overloaded board (MWC's) they must be getting a ton of traffic.

Ya think!

[NTSUEagle]

Meant the East Side of MWC, and the West Side of C-USA. Either way, I'm giddy!

[Chrisattsu]

Either conference would be interesting. Both have their pluses. CUSA is great for localized travel and named localized competition that will help drive attendance. The MWC has nice big named wow factor teams that will be a nice draw and some great road game destinations. The problem I would be worried about is MWC and the travels costs. Would that be offset with the Vs. deal?

I still think CUSA is the better fit but I don't think anyone would turn down a bid from either conference.

For the couple of years that I have been on this board, you guys have said that the WAC was a bad idea because of late night games and no media coverage.

Aside from the shiny brand name, what makes the new MWC (with Boise, Fresno, Hawaii, Nevada, a New Mexico School, a California school) appealing when the same setup existed in the WAC two/three years ago?

[Pen Yan Fan]

TCU is over 1000 miles away from every other football school in its conference.

I am sure the AQ money will offset their teams travel costs, but how often are fans going to see road games?

Every week on television.

[LongJim]

Aside from the shiny brand name, what makes the new MWC (with Boise, Fresno, Hawaii, Nevada, a New Mexico School, a California school) appealing when the same setup existed in the WAC two/three years ago?

Nothing. It is precisely WAC, take 2.

[KoldBeer]

Norm just said SMU, Houston, Tulsa to the BE would be the logical choice.

Wonderful, that would kill most of the appeal of CUSA for us.

I could see Houston to Big East. No way in hell does the Big East want SMU or Tulsa.

For North Texas, the key is going to be if the MWC wants to stay in Texas or not. If they want to leave Texas (TCU was only Central Time zone team), they could add Utah St and kill the WAC. This would leave MWC as one of one two western conferences. The Sun Belt might take a couple of WAC scraps and try to take WAC spots on ESPN (midweek games, etc).

If the MWC wants to stay in Texas, I think they make a run at Houston and SMU. I'm not sure how interested either of these schools would be in joining the MWC. Without BYU, Utah and TCU there is no way the MWC becomes an AQ conference. If the MWC takes a couple of Texas schools, then there is a chance for UNT to change conferences (either to MWC or CUSA).

[UNTcrazy727]

I would rather be in C-USA over the new MWC. Outside of Boise I don't see any other team that would entice fans to come fill our new stadium. With C-USA we would get more local media coverage and fans could easily travel to almost every away game.

I've heard RV talk a few times about conference realignment and he stated the importance of having close rivals that generate fan interest. If we were invited to both conferences I would bet the house we go with C-USA

[Cerebus]

I would rather be in CUSA, as long as all the Texas schools stay. It will build fan interest and that is what the program needs right now.

[NM Green]

We have never been invited to a conference with foes that would include Air Force, Wyoming, UNLV, New Mexico San Diego State, and Colorado State. These are name programs that would travel (I see it in Las Vegas when WY, CSU, Air Force and NM roll in). Yes it is Las Vegas but like KSU I think they would travel down to the Metro. I have not seen how they travel to Fort Worth now, but the WAC in that form never invited us. The WAC that did invite us included Idaho, San Jose State and Utah State. That is the old Big West.

I would like conference mates that include:

UNT

Reno

UNLV

San Diego State

New Mexico

Wyoming

Colorado State

Air Force

Fresno

Boise State

Hawaii

Not to mention, two of those teams are Top 15 ranked. That is a step up. Joining the likes of Idaho, Utah State, SJSU and La Tech do nothing for me. I welcome the TSU and UTSA rivals the same way I am looking forward to the UTA game tomorrow. UTA is a great basketball rival and the Bobcats and Roadrunners could be fun to fight with in a few years.

GMG

[ParksAndRecRick]

SMU to Mountain West....UNT to Conference USA! Pretty please again...

[El Paso Eagle]

If true, SMU will want to move to MWC, which will leave an opening in the Conference USA DFW market. Even without SMU, good news for North Texas. Rice, Houston, UT El Paso, Tulsa, Tulane. All driveable (maybe not UTEP) and all in the Central TIme Zone. What would KRAM say ?

This would be the best move for UNT. As much as I hate to say it .... Good Luck Ponies

[VideoEagle]

I would rather be in CUSA, as long as all the Texas schools stay. It will build fan interest and that is what the program needs right now.

I think you just nailed the problem. It's TEAMS I want to be associated with via a conference, not the uniform patches some random team is wearing. The Mountain West really is the old WAC - a strong conference for schools in the Mountain and Western time zones. Don't forget TCU got a special deal on scheduling with an minimum of late stating football games, something I don't think they would extend to us.

I like CUSA right now, but CUSA without SMU and Houston has a LOT less appeal. Yes, East Carolina is a good team, but who around here really cares about them? Every lose of a former SWC team lowers the appeal of CUSA.

[nana21]

It's just nuts to suggest that staying in the Sunbelt is better than moving to the MWC.

Edited November 29, 2010 by nana21

[wardly]

MWC will be at how many schools after this when the musical chairs are all over with? I think 10 but I might be wrong.

At any rate now TCU is not an obstacle for the MWC and SMU can only be in either the MWC or CUSA. The other will have to protect their piece of the DFW market and market rights by having to get another DFW school...

This is good news for UNT

or, the mwc could add utah st. and utep and forget about dfw market.

[Mean Green Matt]

I would rather be in C-USA over the new MWC. Outside of Boise I don't see any other team that would entice fans to come fill our new stadium. With C-USA we would get more local media coverage and fans could easily travel to almost every away game.

I've heard RV talk a few times about conference realignment and he stated the importance of having close rivals that generate fan interest. If we were invited to both conferences I would bet the house we go with C-USA

I completely disagree. Have you noticed that any team not named:

MTSU

WKU

FIU

FAU

ULL

ULM

ASU or

Troy

has done a pretty darn good job of getting fans out to Fouts. 23,000 for Rice, 16,000 for Ohio in the POURING rain. There are more examples. All of this while the football program has only been winning 2-3 games per year. I'll take that list of MWC schools any day of the week.

[GrandGreen]

It will be great for TCU in football but should also quickly elevate their basketball team. Great move for TCU, I would have projected it would really harm their non-revenue sports; but the distance in the MWC did not hurt them at all. The bad part for NT is that TCU should have a great advantage in basketball recruiting over everyone in the state.

Edited November 29, 2010 by GrandGreen

[Eastwood Eagle]

I would rather be in C-USA over the new MWC. Outside of Boise I don't see any other team that would entice fans to come fill our new stadium. With C-USA we would get more local media coverage and fans could easily travel to almost every away game.

I've heard RV talk a few times about conference realignment and he stated the importance of having close rivals that generate fan interest. If we were invited to both conferences I would bet the house we go with C-USA

This. I love the CUSA because it can give us the ability to have natural rivals. Although I don't know how attractive CUSA would be if SMU and Houston left.

Edited November 29, 2010 by Eastwood Eagle

[ColoradoEagle]

MWC will still be stronger in both football and basketball than CUSA. Even if offered both, I would go with MWC as it would have a better chance of helping us into the top 25 in football and an autobid in basketball.

[PlummMeanGreen]

If an unbiasied study would do a study on behalf of the Mountain West Conference for a new Metroplex school to replace TCU North Texas would win this hands down over SMU based on our much larger UNT constituency, ie, student enrollment, DFW alumnus numbers, students living on campus (which has sky-rocketted), best overall facilities and to quote UNT grad/ESPN commentator Dave Barnett, "UNT upon completion of the new football stadium takes a back seat to no one in the facilities department anymore."

I don't know how much that SMU 1939 NC still figures into these kind of things here in the year 2010, but it sure has helped them in the past. Of course, that past is becoming even more distant as the years roll by, too.

Might it be time to retain Neinas again on this new development from TCU and the Big East today? OK, OK, OK....I know the man does not walk on water but his credentials are still impressive to most of us I think I can say.

GMG!

CUSA or MWC--doesn't matter to most of us.

Edited November 29, 2010 by PlummMeanGreen

[UNTflyer]

The fact is that both the WAC and MWC have been severely crippled by realignment.

[TheTastyGreek]

The MWC is above the red line. CUSA isn't.

The MWC had three at-large bids to the NCAA tournament last year. To get three total at-large bids from C-USA, you have to go back six years. In 2006-10, C-USA had two total at-large bids. They probably wouldn't have only had one if Houston hadn't snuck in and stolen their tournament last year. In 2005, C-USA had three at large teams... They were Cincinnati, Charlotte, and UAB. Louisville got their auto-bid. Three of those teams are gone now.

MWC has better football and will continue to have better football. C-USA, even with a better visibility TV deal, doesn't get anywhere near the respect that the MWC does.

If there's any possible way we can get into that league, we need to knock down walls... Move heaven and earth to do it. MWC membership would be HUGE.

I know everyone gets their dong stiff over how C-USA would be a boon to attendance and fan interest (didn't see as many of you as I'd have hoped when we hosted a C-USA bball team last week, though...). But MWC is better in every way but travel.

Screw the travel, though. I still want the MWC.

[ColoradoEagle]

I know everyone gets their dong stiff over how C-USA would be a boon to attendance and fan interest (didn't see as many of you as I'd have hoped when we hosted a C-USA bball team last week, though...). But MWC is better in every way but travel.

Exactly what I was thinking. Rice is a decent basketball school in Texas. They're going through a down period, but I was expecting something closer to the TTU game. How long before the novelty of SMU, Rice, and Houston wore off? More importantly, how do you even know they remain in CUSA?

Given the choice of playing schools that would bring an extra 3-4,000 to football games and maybe 1,000 to basketball for a few years, or playing schools that are ranked and competing for BCS and Final Four (Boise State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, UNLV), I would go for the latter.

Edited November 29, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

[forevereagle]

The MWC is above the red line. CUSA isn't.

The MWC had three at-large bids to the NCAA tournament last year. To get three total at-large bids from C-USA, you have to go back six years. In 2006-10, C-USA had two total at-large bids. They probably wouldn't have only had one if Houston hadn't snuck in and stolen their tournament last year. In 2005, C-USA had three at large teams... They were Cincinnati, Charlotte, and UAB. Louisville got their auto-bid. Three of those teams are gone now.

MWC has better football and will continue to have better football. C-USA, even with a better visibility TV deal, doesn't get anywhere near the respect that the MWC does.

If there's any possible way we can get into that league, we need to knock down walls... Move heaven and earth to do it. MWC membership would be HUGE.

I know everyone gets their dong stiff over how C-USA would be a boon to attendance and fan interest (didn't see as many of you as I'd have hoped when we hosted a C-USA bball team last week, though...). But MWC is better in every way but travel.

Screw the travel, though. I still want the MWC.

Agreed. MWC is a step above CUSA even without the schools that have left. There is a respect for that conference that CUSA just doesn't have.