Hawaii To Mwc

[wardly]

salt lake city tribute reports hawaii to get official invite for football only to mwc this week, bringing conference to 10 football and 9 bb teams. article states mwc may stay where they are, but if they go to 12 utah st. and utep would get strong consideration. if utep goes, i would think cusa moves memphis west, and adds another team in east. marshall and euc complain that they are too far away from other east division members. that, coupled with possible loss of cfu to big east, is motivation to replace losses from mac or belt in the east. nova has open invitation for big east football, but must say yea or nay by end of school year.

[KoldBeer]

SLC Trib Link

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/50808891-77/conference-hawaii-football-west.html.csp

I think the MWC probably stays at 10 for the time being. Boise St AD said last night that's where he thought they should stop at. Big 10 said last night that they are done with expansion for time being. I think last big move for time being is probably in Big East (do they add UCF?).

With WAC down to 5 it will be interesting to see what happens. Does the league dissolve or do they pull more schools up? Under current rules, they just lost autobid to NCAA tourney. I'm sure Benson will issue saying league is in fine shape. They'll probably ask North Texas to join again now. If league falls apart MWC grab Utah St. Idaho and San Jose St are in a world of hurt.

[GrayEagle]

I certainly wouldn't bet the farm on adding two teams to the MWC and especially those two teams. UTEP I might could see. They had better attendance when they were in a western conference. Utah State is a lot more iffy. They don't have that much attendance (less than ours), far less media market, and a poor record.

That brings me to my big gripe. I'm tired of hearing that Marshall and East Carolina want teams added in the east. They are the ones that are out of place. The only available FBS program even remotely close is Temple and I can't believe that CUSA wants to go there. In fact, it's been reported that they want to move more westward. It's also been rumored that UCF may be the next to go to the Big East. If true, that would further dilute the eastern footprint of CUSA. Besides, ECU is a possibility for either the Big East or the ACC should they lose Boston College. It's hard to see them being in CUSA for the long haul.

[wardly]

I certainly wouldn't bet the farm on adding two teams to the MWC and especially those two teams. UTEP I might could see. They had better attendance when they were in a western conference. Utah State is a lot more iffy. They don't have that much attendance (less than ours), far less media market, and a poor record.

That brings me to my big gripe. I'm tired of hearing that Marshall and East Carolina want teams added in the east. They are the ones that are out of place. The only available FBS program even remotely close is Temple and I can't believe that CUSA wants to go there. In fact, it's been reported that they want to move more westward. It's also been rumored that UCF may be the next to go to the Big East. If true, that would further dilute the eastern footprint of CUSA. Besides, ECU is a possibility for either the Big East or the ACC should they lose Boston College. It's hard to see them being in CUSA for the long haul.

ecu reminds me of la tech, except their football attendance averagers 40,000+ er game. however, they have no tv market, and no place to go. i think they are stuck, and if ucf does move to big east this spring, cusa might look to mtsu,wk, of fau to replace.just an opinion. plan b would be for belt and cusa to work out mississippi east and west conferences. which makes too much sense to happen. regarding utah state, mwc lost byu and utah, and wants presence in utah. utep might just stay put.

[ColoradoEagle]

I don't buy the MWC staying at 10. They have a chance to keep their biggest market alive (Utah) with the added bonus of securing a pretty good basketball program that will buoy New Mexico, UNLV, and SDSU. Also scheduling 10 is just awkward. That would bring them to 11.

For the 12th, if they can get Houston, then they'll take Houston. No question. Comcast market, large market, and on the cusp of doing major improvements to facilities. If they can't get Houston...well. I don't think they take New Mexico State, because the Lobos would throw a tantrum. Same goes for Idaho and Boise State. Louisiana Tech also doesn't seem a likely candidate as three to five of the incoming members just got done with a conference where travel to Ruston was a big sticking point. San Jose State brings nothing, but could be a dark horse candidate.

If the MWC takes USU to save the Utah market, and Houston says no, then I imagine it will be between: North Texas, SMU, and Tulsa. Who knows at that point.

Edited December 6, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

[wardly]

I don't buy the MWC staying at 10. They have a chance to keep their biggest market alive (Utah) with the added bonus of securing a pretty good basketball program that will buoy New Mexico, UNLV, and SDSU. Also scheduling 10 is just awkward. That would bring them to 11.

For the 12th, if they can get Houston, then they'll take Houston. No question. Comcast market, large market, and on the cusp of doing major improvements to facilities. If they can't get Houston...well. I don't think they take New Mexico State, because the Lobos would throw a tantrum. Same goes for Idaho and Boise State. Louisiana Tech also doesn't seem a likely candidate as three to five of the incoming members just got done with a conference where travel to Ruston was a big sticking point. San Jose State brings nothing, but could be a dark horse candidate.

If the MWC takes USU to save the Utah market, and Houston says no, then I imagine it will be between: North Texas, SMU, and Tulsa. Who knows at that point.

san jose, idaho, and nmsu are barely keeping head above water, and we both agree that utah state is basically a given. i don't know if houston would move or not, and the same goes for utep. if they want continued exposure in dfw its us or smu. i think their tv contract is up for renewal, so i would expect them to make a move in the next 90 days or so.

[ColoradoEagle]

san jose, idaho, and nmsu are barely keeping head above water, and we both agree that utah state is basically a given. i don't know if houston would move or not, and the same goes for utep. if they want continued exposure in dfw its us or smu. i think their tv contract is up for renewal, so i would expect them to make a move in the next 90 days or so.

Yeah, I don't know the details behind the Mtn., but if it's up for renewal, I would guess they completely dump it. That would change everything; USU doesn't get added and they either stay at 10 or pick two major metro teams to help them gain a better contract with ESPN.

Edit: Looks like the contract isn't up anytime soon.

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2010/05/20/ccripe/detailing_mountain_west_tv_contract

The deal began in 2006 and is worth $120 million over 10 years. The contract runs through 2015-16

Edited December 6, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

[wardly]

Yeah, I don't know the details behind the Mtn., but if it's up for renewal, I would guess they completely dump it. That would change everything; USU doesn't get added and they either stay at 10 or pick two major metro teams to help them gain a better contract with ESPN.

Edit: Looks like the contract isn't up anytime soon.

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2010/05/20/ccripe/detailing_mountain_west_tv_contract

that was with tcu,byu,and utah in mwc. i am sure there soon will be a large downward adjustment based upon loss of dfw and state of utah markets. thats a big piece of mwc pie gone.

[ColoradoEagle]

that was with tcu,byu,and utah in mwc. i am sure there soon will be a large downward adjustment based upon loss of dfw and state of utah markets. thats a big piece of mwc pie gone.

Utah, yes. DFW, no. I believe the only way to get the MWC channel is through DirecTV. Time Warner, Charter (to my knowledge), AT&T, and Verizon don't carry it.

[Rudy]

I don't see them inviting Utah St. They have NOTHING. Sure you would get that vaunted Utah, market, but who cares? The Houston or Dallas market, as far off as it is, is more valuable.

Idaho, NMSU, San Jose St, and La Tech bring nothing. I say it comes down to Houston, UTEP, SMUt, and NT.

[untjim1995]

UNT getting into either the MWC or CUSA within the next 5 years would be almost miraculous. The MWC could very well be content with 10. If they add, they will have several schools interested that I believe would fit their needs very well, like UTEP, UH, us, SMU, Utah State, and San Jose State. It would just depend on who wanted to go that direction and if those MWC schools want new members to split their TV deal with over the next 5 years. To me, the MWC will do like the Big XII - II and stay at 10 to keep more TV money. CUSA, with the private schools voting together and the fact that the Eastern publics don't seem too interested in getting another Texas school in the mix, UNT just doesnt seem like a logical match under these circumstances. I would bet that MUTS or FAU would fit in well with CUSA expansion needs if ECU or UCF got picked off, although I doubt that will happen in the next five years, since the Big Ten just announced that they are holding strong at the moment with 12 teams, meaning that no Big East teams are being targeted in the near future for a new conference. I know it bums people out here (me too) but I really do believe that UNT will be in the SBC for a long time in the future. I think that the bad news is that one of the eastern SBC teams will leave, but I do believe that the good news is that NMSU and La Tech will join the SBC over the next 5 years.

[ColoradoEagle]

I agree, for the most part, although I don't know how long in the future you mean. I could see the MWC adding us if they choose to go to 12, and if UH turned them down. It would be contingent upon them getting out of their Comcast agreement, however.

CUSA is a little more murky. The conference made it through this round (assuming it's over or close to over), but CUSA is borne more out of necessity than desire. Marshall @ Rice is not a compelling game, nor is SMU @ UAB.

For us, I think there are four immediate goals that are obviously much easier to type than accomplish:

• Consistently sell out, or come close to selling out, the new football stadium.
  
• Attain a top 25 ranking in football.
  
• Get our basketball attendance up over 5,000.
  
• Make it to the Sweet 16.
  

As ludicrous as it may sound, I think our overall goal needs to be to aim for inclusion in an AQ conference. If the PAC 10 looks east for members to increase their footprint and the Longhorns aren't biting, it could be Houston and North Texas that get the call. Same for the SEC looking west. A Big 12 that gets blown up would need to refill their ranks as well.

That said, if we're still in the position we are now, then forget about it. We need to accomplish the three goals above, get annual athletics contributions up by 10x, fix our broken and horrible licensing situation with CLC no matter whose fault it is, and force much more local coverage than we currently receive.

TCU accomplished all of this (except basketball, obviously ) in about 10 years. It needs to be five years for us, or less.

Edited December 6, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

[Coffee and TV]

As ludicrous as it may sound, I think our overall goal needs to be to aim for inclusion in an AQ conference. If the PAC 10 looks east for members to increase their footprint and the Longhorns aren't biting, it could be Houston and North Texas that get the call. Same for the SEC looking west. A Big 12 that gets blown up would need to refill their ranks as well.

I think its absolutely ludicrous. Maybe 10-20 years down the line, but before then there's no way we'd ever be invited into the same conference as USC, Arizona, & Oregon. No way in hell that happens anytime soon.

[shaft]

if utep goes, i would think cusa moves memphis west, and adds another team in east.

Why does eliminating the Western most team in the conference mean they would add an East Coast Team?

The last spot in CUSA was between UTEP, LA Tech, UNT. There is no reason to think UNT and LA Tech aren't still in the running, both schools have upgraded their programs since 2005.

[ColoradoEagle]

I think its absolutely ludicrous. Maybe 10-20 years down the line, but before then there's no way we'd ever be invited into the same conference as USC, Arizona, & Oregon. No way in hell that happens anytime soon.

I don't really see the relevance unless you're just impressed with the names. What does 10-20 years do? None of those conferences are going to be knocking on our door tomorrow; we don't offer much of anything at the moment. The goal is to improve as much as possible within the next five years. If 16 team superconferences really are the wave of the future, then that's up to 24 schools moving up, and 14 at the least (unless two AQ's go away).

Make no mistake, there is work to be done. If we truly change our way of thinking the way RV stated during the press conference, I see no reason why we shouldn't be aiming for a big boy conference within the next 5-10 years. Like he said, we didn't build this new stadium to play in the Sun Belt.

Some of you guys who've been around for a while are so defeated it hurts. We're very close to making a deep run in the tournament. No disrespect at all to our great 2007 tourney team, but most of them would be on the bench compared with the recruiting class coming in. Again, that's not a slight to those guys at all, it's a testament to them putting NT back on the map in basketball.

For football, if North Texas were to make it into the top 25 and beat a team like Oklahoma, Arkansas, LSU, etc? In both cases, basketball and football, you're going to see tons of that alumni base that PMG always harps on all of the sudden showing how big of Mean Green fans they've always been. That's what we need. We need to win in the national spotlight like TCU did, the difference being that we can draw a lot more support than they can. I will make a trip up to Denton the first week after we accomplish either of those goals, and I can guarantee you there will be more green on campus than the previous 10 years combined.

Edited December 7, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

[KoldBeer]

The toughest thing about moving up to AQ is that some schools are getting a "pass" because they are already in AQ conference. When the Big 12 was falling apart of some schools were being judged on their own. The four schools in Big 12 North would have had to earn their way into a BCS conference. Iowa St may or may not have been able to do that. But you have other schools like Washington St that gets a spot at the big table because they've been in the Pac-10 forever. If you were going to create a Pac-16 from scratch would you include Washington St in that conference but it almost happened that way.

North Texas a ton of work to do to move up in the pecking order. Since we don't have much in the way of tradition, there is a lot of ground to make up in fan and financial support. But a lot can be done in ten years. Look at Boise and TCU.

Most important thing to do is win in football and get big crowds for football. Winning in basketball will help build brand equity but football drives the bus. For basketball to help in conference realignment, we'll have to get to the point that we become an at large bid type team.

[NM Green]

I was driving through Nashville today on the way to NC and listening to the local sports show. I love the way other members of the Belt don't trash the Belt like our local media and some of our fanbase does. They were dissecting the moment that MTSU turned its season around and WKU when they got a turnover as WKU was about to blow the game wide open. That led to 3 straight wins and to a bowl against a strong Miami Ohio team. They talked about the drama at FIU with Cristobal almost turning down the Detroit game because they were so pissed that Troy got the nod for New Orleans.

What I realized is that our league is not the league we dominated last decade. Our brothers have grown up and now the league has 3 team bowling in the coming weeks. Call it weak, call it trash whatever everyone wants to call it, but this league will not be a cakewalk to get back on top of. We showed signs of life this year, but our fellow conference mates are fighting like heck to go bowling as bad as we will be.

Also, every ding we make on our brand that is the Sun Belt damages the brand. Let SMU and the rest of the college world take their shots. I hope our brothers go out and kick their arse in those 3 games. All we can do is build our program and win. We are attractive, equipped and ready for the next steps.

I love the bold talk I am hearing on here. Go Bold Mean Green! No reason our program cannot be on par with Texas Tech very very soon.

GMG

[wardly]

Why does eliminating the Western most team in the conference mean they would add an East Coast Team?

The last spot in CUSA was between UTEP, LA Tech, UNT. There is no reason to think UNT and LA Tech aren't still in the running, both schools have upgraded their programs since 2005.

it goes back to geography.both ecu and marshall complain about distance between western rivals.i believe the following; ecu is not going to get invite to big east. that will go to cfu should nova turn down its standing offer and not comitt to move up to 1a by end of school year. marshall is not going back to mac. smu will never let us in same conference as them. la tech brings about as much market to the table as la. monroe. if you believe this, then it stands to reason that cusa moves memphis west and adds 1 or 2 teams in the east, depending upon their needs.just an old man's opinion.

[untjim1995]

it goes back to geography.both ecu and marshall complain about distance between western rivals.i believe the following; ecu is not going to get invite to big east. that will go to cfu should nova turn down its standing offer and not comitt to move up to 1a by end of school year. marshall is not going back to mac. smu will never let us in same conference as them. la tech brings about as much market to the table as la. monroe. if you believe this, then it stands to reason that cusa moves memphis west and adds 1 or 2 teams in the east, depending upon their needs.just an old man's opinion.

Wardly is dead-on about this. CUSA will add SBC teams or a MAC team if needed over the next few years. Our path at UNT is to follow TCUs plan. Have success and move up the food chain. We have had no success that merits any move now, since football solely drives the bus in this conference realignment stuff. We will be in the SBC for a while guys. And it very well could be a raided SBC that we are apart of in five years, with no more MUTS or F_U.

As far as being on the same plane as Texas Tech in the future, that has almost no chance of happening in the next 20 years. Tech has UT's backing in everything. They probably have A&Ms backing, to some degree. If UT moves anywhere, Tech will be the tick on the hound. Unless Texas goes independent, Tech will always be taken care of by the folks in Austin, both at the university level and in politics. I can see the Aggies leaving to go to the SEC eventually, but Tech will be Texas new dance partner in the Pac 16, just like OU and OSU. Tech has the backing of the the major colleges in the state and within the BCS. I hate those sand fleas and I think their fanbase is the worst I have ever dealt with, but that hatred is biased by my true envy of Tech, in that their school has ALWAYS been taken care of by the other Texas schools, while we have never been given even a smidgen of a chance to move up to a decent conference that incluse Texas schools. We can't get even get into CUSA because of the Texas private schools, much less getting ANY help from other non-AQ public schools like UH or UTEP. I just don't see the Big Three Texas schools ever giving us a helping hand either.

Its pretty simple to me. It will take a conference like the MWC--or even CUSA--to look past so much of the Texas politics and lack of successful history and support at UNT over the last 30 years and just say that the promise of tomorrow and the support that the university would give to a better conference would be significant. But, as simple as that seems, its seems even harder and less plausible that ignoring those factors listed above will happen. I hate it, but the SBC will be our home for a long time.

[shaft]

What? The Big East isn't taking a team out of CUSA. Even if it did why wouldn't the conference replace they with Troy to fill out their Eastern division?

Also why are UNT and LA Tech out of the running? Facilities and baseball are what kept us out of CUSA in 2005.

[forevereagle]

What? The Big East isn't taking a team out of CUSA. Even if it did why wouldn't the conference replace they with Troy to fill out their Eastern division?

Also why are UNT and LA Tech out of the running? Facilities and baseball are what kept us out of CUSA in 2005.

Troy is not going anywhere. Why would you want to invite a school that does not have to meet the same academic standard as everyone else?

Where would the Big East go for a new team, the MAC? New conference members don't grow out of thin air. They aren't going to take anyone from another AQ.