TU watching closely as schools start transition from C-USA to AAC

[Harry]

TULSA FINDS ITSELF in an odd situation this fall as a member of Conference USA but with an eye on the American Athletic Conference.

The Golden Hurricane will be the favorite in C-USA football this fall and one of the favorites in C-USA men's basketball this winter.

However, what's happening in the American Athletic Conference will be important to Tulsa's long-term success.

TU will enter its final school year in C-USA as the king of the league. The Golden Hurricane has won 49 conference championships in C-USA, more than twice as many as the second-place school during the same period.

Tulsa will leave that all behind when it moves to the AAC next July.

How TU fits into the new league will be interesting. Actually, how that league fits together should be a study in modern college athletics.

The league will stretch from Connecticut to Houston.

The AAC, the old Big East Conference, is basically the old Conference USA.

If this all sounds confusing, it should.

The AAC was formed to save Connecticut and Cincinnati. To be honest, it would have been easier for Conference USA to add UConn, Cincinnati, South Florida and Temple.

Still, the reality is a handful of C-USA schools jumped early to the Big East before the Big East imploded. Thus, when it came time for C-USA teams to make the leap if possible, the natural home was the AAC.

"We think the landscape has stabilized and there's a pretty good chance things will stay stable for the foreseeable future," American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco said in a press briefing earlier this summer.

Tulsa got caught in the middle.

TU would be far more comfortable, and make far more sense, as a member of the Mountain West. Tulsa has geography in common with much of the Mountain West.

Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/TU_watching_closely_as_schools_start_transition_from/20130712_203_B1_TULSAF956545

[DallasGreen]

Like Houston and Tulane I feel Tulsa is making a bad move to the AAC. SMU is only avoiding being in a league with us by moving. East Carolina fits well but the others are really rolling the dice. I like C-USA West even w/o Tulsa, but it would have been much better with them.

[GL2Greatness]

Like Houston and Tulane I feel Tulsa is making a bad move to the AAC. SMU is only avoiding being in a league with us by moving. East Carolina fits well but the others are really rolling the dice. I like C-USA West even w/o Tulsa, but it would have been much better with them.

how is SMU avoiding north Texas when SMU announced they were going to the Big East December 7, 2011

http://www.smumustangs.com/genrel/120711aaa.html

and north Texas was not added to CUSA until May 4, 2012

http://www.conferenceusa.com/genrel/050412aab.html

that is basically 5 months apart with SMU moving first and there was no guarantee that north Texas was a lock for CUSA because the CUSA was looking at a number of teams as well as the merger with the MWC that might have meant that CUSA/MWC would add no one or maybe only one or two teams

SMU moved because the BE was a better choice and staying with UH was an option they liked and even after the BE was starting to have issues teams were leaving the CUSA left and right....and some of them probably to get away from north Texas and the move ups, but SMU was long gone by then....and even now USM and others would be gone in a heart beat if the AAC called

it is amazing the number of threads unrelated to SMU the inferior to SMU complex shows up in.....and why would a team that has won more bowl games in the last 4 years than north Texas has in the history of ever really concern themselves with north Texas every time they make a move.....and if they really wanted to avoid north Texas they would not have scheduled north Texas for so many upcoming games

Edited July 17, 2013 by GL2Greatness

[Harry]

how is SMU avoiding north Texas when SMU announced they were going to the Big East December 7, 2011

http://www.smumustangs.com/genrel/120711aaa.html

and north Texas was not added to CUSA until May 4, 2012

http://www.conferenceusa.com/genrel/050412aab.html

that is basically 5 months apart with SMU moving first and there was no guarantee that north Texas was a lock for CUSA because the CUSA was looking at a number of teams as well as the merger with the MWC that might have meant that CUSA/MWC would add no one or maybe only one or two teams

SMU moved because the BE was a better choice and staying with UH was an option they liked and even after the BE was starting to have issues teams were leaving the CUSA left and right....and some of them probably to get away from north Texas and the move ups, but SMU was long gone by then....and even now USM and others would be gone in a heart beat if the AAC called

it is amazing the number of threads unrelated to SMU the inferior to SMU complex shows up in.....and why would a team that has won more bowl games in the last 4 years than north Texas has in the history of ever really concern themselves with north Texas every time they make a move.....and if they really wanted to avoid north Texas they would not have scheduled north Texas for so many upcoming games

I see this differently. SMU announced joining the Big East when Louisville, Rutgers and all of the big east basketball schools were a part of it. So yes at that particular time the big east was a better option than what they had in C-USA. Fast forward and the conference they entered changed dramatically. Even though it made a LOT of sense for them to return to C-USA and build that conference, since they already had communicated the move they didn't want to tell their donors and fanbase that their move didn't work. So plan B was to start a new conference and try to keep a separation from C-USA. Time will tell if this strategy pays off. The one thing they did accomplish was they will have one year in which they compete for a guaranteed BCS spot although I would wager Louisville is the team to beat in that particular regard this season. SMU's schedule is daunting this year.

[oldguystudent]

They really made the move to expand the reach of June Jones' ministry. Next, they'll look to form an alliance with the Pac-12 so he can minister to the poor youth of Tempe, AZ. So far, it's all going according to plan. There'll be kids getting lei'd by June from coast to coast!

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

All Tulsa, SMU, etc have done is reconstituted the C-USA into a new conference minus a couple of minor players.

All the C-USA is now is former Sun Belt schools, brand new football programs, and a couple of C-USA schools that the old C-USA schools didn't want to be in conference with anymore.

[UNT86]

I like C-USA with or without Tulsa. If they want to leave to get into a conference with other private schools, then I say watch the doorknob. I don't like the AAC and would not want to join if offered. In 10 years, C-USA will be a much better option than joining the AAC. We need to stay put, compete for championships, and not worry about Tulsa or anyone else that wants to go with them.

[GrayEagle]

Was the guy out of something to write about? Why watch closely when you've been playing most of these teams for a number of years now. Only two have not been in CUSA.

And yeah, Tulsa is right in the heart of the Mountain West. He mentions two of the three that are less than a thousand miles away while comparing them to the two farthest (almost) of the AAC. How about mentioning San Jose State and Hawaii? At least none would be in Tulsa's division.

It seemed like a pretty good deal basketball-wise before the Catholic 7 pulled out but now I think that most would have been better off staying where they were.

[bleedgreen4ever]

All Tulsa, SMU, etc have done is reconstituted the C-USA into a new conference minus a couple of minor players.

All the C-USA is now is former Sun Belt schools, brand new football programs, and a couple of C-USA schools that the old C-USA schools didn't want to be in conference with anymore.

All Tulsa, SMU, etc have done is reconstituted the C-USA into a new conference minus a couple of minor players.

All the C-USA is now is former Sun Belt schools, brand new football programs, and a couple of C-USA schools that the old C-USA schools didn't want to be in conference with anymore.

The new C-USA is still better than the old Sun Belt. The teams that made the transfer from the Sun Belt were some of the better schools with more promise in the conference and the new schools in the new C-USA show a lot more promise than some of the former Sun Belt mates. So, it's still a good move for UNT, regardless of how ideal it may not be.

[untjim1995]

I see this differently. SMU announced joining the Big East when Louisville, Rutgers and all of the big east basketball schools were a part of it. So yes at that particular time the big east was a better option than what they had in C-USA. Fast forward and the conference they entered changed dramatically. Even though it made a LOT of sense for them to return to C-USA and build that conference, since they already had communicated the move they didn't want to tell their donors and fanbase that their move didn't work. So plan B was to start a new conference and try to keep a separation from C-USA. Time will tell if this strategy pays off. The one thing they did accomplish was they will have one year in which they compete for a guaranteed BCS spot although I would wager Louisville is the team to beat in that particular regard this season. SMU's schedule is daunting this year.

I'm thrilled to death that SMU left CUSA for the Big East and that CUSA filled up their vacancy with us BEFORE the Big East blew up and the ACC and the Catholic 7 tore it apart. If not, SMU may have come back, since they would have had their private buddies still in CUSA and probably would have convinced Tulane and Tulsa to just stay put and keep their private voting block together with Rice. We would have stayed in the SBC, while we watched La Tech and UTSA join from the WAC and MUTS, FIU, and probably WKU leave the SBC. To be in the SBC still with Texas State, ULM, ULL, Arky State, Troy, New Mexico State, FAU, Idaho, and South Alabama would have been much worse than being in CUSA-West. Even with Texas State in the SBC, it still would be terrible. Plus, you'd have trips from the Northwest to the Southest in your conference. It would've been a killer for our budget. Texas State will see what its like to be the only Texas school in a low level, non-AQ league. It won't be pretty.