Realignment part of main course at Marshall Rally

[Harry]

PARKERSBURG - The dizzying pace of conference realignment has subsided and for Marshall University, that means regional ties with members of Conference USA.

Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick, football coach Doc Holliday and men's basketball coach Tom Herrion were among the representatives from the Marshall athletic department who were on hand for the meet-and-greet with Thundering Herd fans at Wednesday's Rally in the Alley conducted in the lot behind North End Tavern.

"With conference realignment, Conference USA becomes more of a regional conference," Hamrick said. "With schools such as Charlotte, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky and Old Dominion, we now have schools that our fans can drive to. In old Conference USA, you had to get on a plane and go."

Exiting what used to be a 12-team C-USA are Central Florida, Southern Methodist, Memphis and Houston. For the 2013-2014 academic year, the league will consist of 16 schools. Newcomers include Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Old Dominion, Texas-San Antonio and UNC-Charlotte.

One year from now, the conference will experience a slight shift as Tulane, East Carolina and Tulsa depart. Western Kentucky's arrival will bring the total number of members to 14 schools.

"Western Kentucky is right down the road; Middle Tennessee is close and Charlotte is an easy drive -plus we still have two games in Florida with two south Florida teams which is a big part of our recruiting base," Holliday said. "If you draw a circle around a six-hour radius around the campuses, there are a lot of good football players.

Read more: http://newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/574575/Realignment-part-of-main-course-at-Rally.html?nav=5063

[VideoEagle]

And games to which fans to travel makes for stronger rivalries. Stronger rivalries builds more fan support in both time and money. An excited fan base can generate more money than the kind of TV contracts that will exist outside of the G5 conferences which will build and improve programs.

[PlummMeanGreen]

And games to which fans to travel makes for stronger rivalries. Stronger rivalries builds more fan support in both time and money. An excited fan base can generate more money than the kind of TV contracts that will exist outside of the G5 conferences which will build and improve programs.

And C-USA Commish' Britt Banowsky would probably also remind all that the new Conference-USA has 5 million more citizens or population in its footprint, too.

GMG!