Banowsky options?

[Harry]

Everyone knows WKU and Muts makes a lot of sense in the east but here are a couple other rumors floating around...

Florida Atlantic - would lock up Florida

Texas State - protects the Texas teams from Mountain West. Would put 5 teams in the state of Texas.

Arkansas State - would replace Memphis and help Tulsa with a team not too far away.

The key question is who will the Big East take next? It might be a Mountain West team. Or does Boise stay?

[H-towngreen]

Boise and SDSU will be gone from the BE

[UNTLifer]

I asked this question on another thread and nobody really answered. What is the attraction to the MWC? It has a poor television contract and doesn't appear much better, as it now stands, in terms of schools.

[wardly]

I can't see anyone from MAC jumping ship from a very stable conference to CUSA. Whether we like it or not, our expansion pool ,should we choose not to remain at 12 schools, Is the Sun Belt.I don't know if that decision has been made, but W.K.,MTSU,A-State,Texas State,ULL, and even FAU would merit consideration. I don't know what CUSA gains once they fill in a few blanks, nor what the economy of scale is between 12 & 16 schools. I defer to greater minds.

[EagleGreen]

This is a good story about the Louisville move and how other conferences fair: http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2012/11/28/3701100/louisville-to-acc-expansion-conference-realignment

It looks like the MAC, MWC, CUSA, and SBC really are the bottom of the barrel.

[untjim1995]

I asked this question on another thread and nobody really answered. What is the attraction to the MWC? It has a poor television contract and doesn't appear much better, as it now stands, in terms of schools.

I think the MWC has some very stable names in that conference that geography will eventually keep them in a western based affiliation. SDSU, Boise State, and BYU will probably come back within the next year or two. Once they do, they join Fresno State, Nevada, UNLV, Hawaii, New Mexico, Colorado State, Air Force, Wyoming, Utah State, and San Jose State. Those are solid names, their TV contract would get better when the other three come back and they add in some other TV markets. I mentioned this yesterday, but UTEP will be on their list immediately. If they can woo UH to come their way, then they will go after SMU. If UH and/or SMU declined, then you get into whether it makes sense to go after some combo of Rice, UNT, Tulsa, UTSA, or La Tech.

If its only about TV markets, UNT and Rice should be considered at the top. If its about performance only, La Tech and Tulsa would be at the top. If its about highest potential, UTSA would be at the top. Its just hard to say right now. But if you are asking me if the MWC would be better than CUSA, right now, even without any other Texas school in it, I would whole-heartedly say yes. TCU proved that you can go into that league with Texas HS recruits and win big. Maybe we could too.

[GangGreen]

http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=602966

MUTS it is, maybe.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Banowsky is an idiot.

It is apparent that C-USA is going to be a greatly watered down proposition.

Look, the war is over. The BCS automatic qualifiers have won it and are now taking the last shreds of what they consider to be "good land" away from those who lost. In other words, the victors are going after the spoils.

What Banowksy and the other idiots who were too slow to react need to do is admit defeat and come up with a conference or two for those schools and conferences whose administrators and commissioners were too slow or dumb to act.

(There is a reason Bubba Cunningham left the Ball States and Tulsas of the world to go to North Carolina. Those on the inside, if their eyes have been open, have seen the writing on the wall and positioned themselves accordingly.)

[Harry]

Banowsky is an idiot.

It is apparent that C-USA is going to be a greatly watered down proposition.

Look, the war is over. The BCS automatic qualifiers have won it and are now taking the last shreds of what they consider to be "good land" away from those who lost. In other words, the victors are going after the spoils.

What Banowksy and the other idiots who were too slow to react need to do is admit defeat and come up with a conference or two for those schools and conferences whose administrators and commissioners were too slow or dumb to act.

(There is a reason Bubba Cunningham left the Ball States and Tulsas of the world to go to North Carolina. Those on the inside, if their eyes have been open, have seen the writing on the wall and positioned themselves accordingly.)

While there's some truth to what you say, it is a defeatist attitude. I think all we want is to be in a competitive conference with some regional teams that we can develop rivalries with. Losing ECU and Tulane doesn't diminish that and we have solved the ECU loss with adding MTSU. We didn't have one Texas team in the Belt. Now we are looking at 4 perhaps 5 when all is said and done. The BCS autobid is now EQUAL for Big East, CUSA, MAC and Belt. In my mind the biggest loser in this latest round is the Big East not C-USA.

Banowsky is playing with the hand he has been dealt and I think he fared pretty well the last time around.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

It's not an attitude at all - it's a reflection of looking realistically at reality.

We, and other schools, were very slow to react to an athletics department arms race that began in the early to mid 1990s.

The "traditional power" schools and their conferences then began to take control of the best bowls in the mid 1990s, culminating the formation of the BCS.

Some schools pouted and preened about it. Others got compeititve enough on and off the field to join them. Congratulations to the Utahs and TCUs, their administrators and alumni who didn't sit back and feel sorry for themselves.

You have to, at some point, take the lemons you have and make lemonade.

We reacted too late. By we, I mean everyone - presidents, administrators, athletic directors, fund raisers, alumni.

So, forget the past and move forward. Get together with those fellow schools that have been left behind and build a conference or two that makes sense.

The commissioners need to be working on keeping bowl ties in place. School presidents and athletic directors need to be working on what makes sense geographically as well as commercially.

You aren't just magically viable. Someone has to be out there selling it. We all lament the marketers and sales people of the world. But, how the hell else do you get your product sold? By sitting around and bitching and complaining about the competition?

Hell no. As the fella said in O, Brother, Where Art Thou, "We've just got to beat that competition!"

It's high time Britton, Rick, and the rest found a Soggy Bottom Boys to pitch their wares.

[untjim1995]

Banowsky is an idiot.

It is apparent that C-USA is going to be a greatly watered down proposition.

Look, the war is over. The BCS automatic qualifiers have won it and are now taking the last shreds of what they consider to be "good land" away from those who lost. In other words, the victors are going after the spoils.

What Banowksy and the other idiots who were too slow to react need to do is admit defeat and come up with a conference or two for those schools and conferences whose administrators and commissioners were too slow or dumb to act.

(There is a reason Bubba Cunningham left the Ball States and Tulsas of the world to go to North Carolina. Those on the inside, if their eyes have been open, have seen the writing on the wall and positioned themselves accordingly.)

TFLF--you are dead-on here. Its over for those not named in the Big 5 and I bet its just a matter of time to see this go to the Big 4 within two years. Yes, it sucks for us, but their is a part of me that is going to laugh at the folks who are going to be just as much on the outside as we are when this all gets done. It actually wouldn't surprise me to see the MWC have more longevity than the Big XII. I figure that the there are now ten spots available in the big boys club (4 out west, 2 in the B1G, 2 in the ACC, and 2 in the SEC) . That leaves the 10 teams in the Big XII and UConn, Cincy, and South Florida as options for these conferences to pick apart. I see Texas, Tech, OU, and OSU heading west. I see KU and K-State going B1G. I still think UConn and Cincy will end up in the ACC. I see the SEC poaching two ACC schools, so the ACC probably would add WVU and USF, eventually. That leaves Baylor, TCU, and Iowa State left out. The MWC would love to get Baylor and TCU, especially if they get UH, too. Big East will probably have ECU, UCF, Tulane, SMU, Rice, Tulsa, UTEP, USM, Navy, Marshall, Memphis, and Temple. That would make up 92 teams, 65 in the AQs with ND, plus 28 in non-AQs that are in two leagues that the FBS can still throw carrots to without getting sued by those with some power.

The rest, CUSA, MAC, and SBC, plus the two WAC leftovers and some of the better FCS schools will create a new division of 60+ schools that will probably compete against themsleves in a playoff setup like the current FCS system. I really felt like CUSA was our lifeline for staying at the major level of football, but I didn't realize just how badly the other CUSA teams wanted to be associated together still. Who knew that ECU would value playing SMU in football only more than it would value playing North Texas in everything. I figured that Tulane would value playing a team in the MEtroplex for travel reasons, not to stay assocaited with their old CUSA buddies in the Big East.

[CurveItAround]

Banowsky is an idiot.

It is apparent that C-USA is going to be a greatly watered down proposition.

Look, the war is over. The BCS automatic qualifiers have won it and are now taking the last shreds of what they consider to be "good land" away from those who lost. In other words, the victors are going after the spoils.

What Banowksy and the other idiots who were too slow to react need to do is admit defeat and come up with a conference or two for those schools and conferences whose administrators and commissioners were too slow or dumb to act.

(There is a reason Bubba Cunningham left the Ball States and Tulsas of the world to go to North Carolina. Those on the inside, if their eyes have been open, have seen the writing on the wall and positioned themselves accordingly.)

So you are suggesting if we are smart, we should leave UNT while we can and buy an orange/crimson/maroon tshirt to position ourselves accordingly?

[RETSO]

The rest, CUSA, MAC, and SBC, plus the two WAC leftovers and some of the better FCS schools will create a new division of 60+ schools that will probably compete against themsleves in a playoff setup like the current FCS system.

IMO that would be the best thing that could happen after the whole Mega-Conference alignment is over. We are not invited and we will never be. So screw them and lets create a system that works for mid majors.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

So you are suggesting if we are smart, we should leave UNT while we can and buy an orange/crimson/maroon tshirt to position ourselves accordingly?

Who said anything about we? It's about the presidents and athletic directors that were asleep at the wheel. All of this rearranging now among three poor conferences is stupid. It's just a result of years of lack of planning.

When you look at it now, do you really think C-USA is anymore competitive than Sun Belt? C-USA "powers" - with the exception of Tulsa (whose AD will be hated if they don't get an invite into MWC) - are now gone, and the reloads are new programs (Old Dominion/UTSA) or Sun Belt defections.

So, what has really been done except bigger conferences catching Banowsky sleeping at the wheel? You can't get me to believe that 48 hours ago C-USA presidents were pushing Banowsky behind the scenes to get FAU on board.

The guy is a step behind every time.

[TheColonyEagle]

The rest, CUSA, MAC, and SBC, plus the two WAC leftovers and some of the better FCS schools will create a new division of 60+ schools that will probably compete against themsleves in a playoff setup like the current FCS system.

If UNT had known 5 years ago that this would be happening, would we have built the stadium? and the athletic center? and the MG village?

If so, why? What for?

[Side Show Joe]

If UNT had known 5 years ago that this would be happening, would we have built the stadium? and the athletic center? and the MG village?

If so, why? What for?

Of course... Yes, things are changing again, but it could be worse. We could still be in the Belt. Teams like Troy, Arkansas State, WKU, and ULL all wish they were in our situation right now. At this point the Sun Belt could go the way of the WAC.

If there is movement to the MWC, I see most of the Western programs from C-USA going. I can't believe Tulsa wants to be that far out on an island without a travel partner, or UTEP wants to play in a conference with no other Texas teams. If the MWC raids C-USA, TULSA, UTEP, UNT, Rice, and UTSA will probably all get in. Southern Miss and LA Tech might go too. The MWC with these additions would give the new Big East a run for their money.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Side Show Joe