FIU will do what’s best for university

Harry · February 15, 2012

“We’re trying to talk to as many people as possible just to see what the landscape is like — and the landscape is constantly shifting,” FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said Friday. “We’re looking for what’s best for the university, not just the athletic department. But, we’re going to be proactive.”

Potential conference movement spurred the acceleration of enclosing FIU Stadium, a project scheduled to begin immediately after the Nov. 12 home game against Florida Atlantic and to be finished by the start of the 2012 season. The next step will be a second deck that’ll boost capacity to 45,000. A construction symphony has played since the summer as FIU puts improvements on 25-year-old U.S. Century Bank Arena.

Seemingly, if FIU leaves the Sun Belt, the logical destination would be Conference USA. FIU’s already there for men’s soccer. Also, Conference USA’s about to lose Central Florida, SMU and Houston to the Big East and would like to rebuild the dowry it brings to its football-only marriage with the Mountain West conference. In that case, we could see C-USA taking an FIU-and-North Texas-sized bite out of the Sun Belt.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/04/2487991/with-conference-movement-around.html#storylink=cpy