He understands the situation better than anyone. There is no desire to make that move. It's not a viable option.
NHR: UCF High School Stadium Rusting
- Thread starter wvkeeper(HN)
- Start date
Too bad, I cant say the same for most of the AAC who tried to leave for the Big XII.
The worst rated AAC team is East Carolina at #154. C-USA has teams ranked 152, 155, 168, 175, 191, and 217.
In other words, the bottom half of the C-USA is far, far worse than the bottom half of the AAC. It's not even close.
The Coaches Poll has three AAC teams ranked ahead of Marshall and a fourth (Navy) tied with them. To summarize, Sagarin has half of the AAC better than the best team in C-USA (Marshall) and your own resource (Coaches Poll) has a third of the AAC better or equal to Marshall.
Doh!
Rival conference? Stop. AAC is superior in all ways to C-USA. Their rival conference (in terms of most similar on and off the field) is the MWC. They are 7-7 against the MWC and hold a two point advantage in the scoring differential. Against C-USA, they have a winning record and nearly a 10 point average scoring advantage.
Money. Where do you come up with the money to make that move and sustain yourself once in the conference? A huge investment for the two major sports.....but a even larger gap in the minor sports. As conferences increase in stature, so does the commitment to women's and minor sports. That translates into $$$. Plus no NQ's for football. BB....UCONN spends a fortune on basketball. Houston's football budget is strong. UCONN's overall budget is around 80 mil. ECU is 44 mil. and everyone else in between. You put your coaches at a competitive disadvantage in all sports without spending close to other conference memebers. CUSA membership fills two important needs.....an avenue to the access bowl, and a NCCA tournment bid. The budget fits with the conference membership in CUSA....why would you want to be at bottom of the AAC? MH is a smart AD....he has worked at other schools and understands college sports. No need to go after the AAC....a waste of time. The departments resources can be wisely used on other projects.
I don't think they care much about football. Men and women's BB that's a different story.
$44 mil. Isn't much of a war chest in today's standards. Could be why they have hit a dry spell.
Sooo...wait a sec.
You mean to tell me that Marshall could end up with essentially the exact same thing the AAC is getting but we are in a more winnable conference and needing less of a budget to spend because of economic problems that are out of our hands?
Funny how so many schools are spending insane amounts of money and are winning 5 games per season...but then again, that's about how 95% of all college football feels I'm sure.
You mean to tell me that Marshall could end up with essentially the exact same thing the AAC is getting but we are in a more winnable conference and needing less of a budget to spend because of economic problems that are out of our hands?
Funny how so many schools are spending insane amounts of money and are winning 5 games per season...but then again, that's about how 95% of all college football feels I'm sure.
CUSA failed when Dumbass Bankowsky didnt take the ESPN deal in 2009. We can all agree to that.
Me personally as long as Doc is here at Marshall, we can compete in football. As far as Olympic teams, outside of no baseball stadium, our facilities are pretty much on the same level as the AAC. Those teams will be able to compete. Also how long do you think UCONN is going to stay in the AAC. If it wasnt for the basketball issues, they would already be in the ACC.
Solid assessment of reality!!! Want proof: Just look at the total number of Conference Championships MU has won in MAC and CUSA (frankly go back and look at the SoCon), sadly we are for the most part a "2 trick pony", so ask yourself, why not take those tricks to the biggest circus possible? Pardon me for asking (used to love that column)
Sam,
Is this the best you've got? Never go into a battle of wits half-armed!!!!!
No the AAC isn't a Power 5 nor do they say they are, they have cleverly branded themselves as the 6th best conference in College football, few (you may be the only one, actually) disagree! They are trying to separate themselves from the G5 and have embarked on a marketing program to do that. No more, no less.
the rest of your post is beyond comical since your are both in denial and bitter. Your logic on truth, lies and hype is silly at best, and since I was an A student in English from elementary through College, not too worried about getting an F in any subject area.
Biggest difference Sam between my positions and logic on this is that my information and positions are all built on firsthand knowledge and almost 40 years experience in the business of college sports. Discussions and interactions with Coaches, administrators, television professionals, bowl executive directors, newspaper reporters, former players and in some cases real discussions and conversations with the people who run the leagues, both P5 and G5 and even some people who sit or have sat on the committees that actually deliver the rankings and championship selections............You, on the other hand offer the completely unhinged opinions of a guy with an agenda, an agenda that no one on this board or apparently anywhere else seem to agree with. You have almost universally lost the respect of others who read and post here. Shame to, because I always used to enjoy "bantering" with you and until your rants became so outrageously silly on this subject, and I really respected your other posts back in the day. Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you have any objectivity left in your assessment of these issues. You have become pitiful in your defense of your position.
Take and honest look and what your write!
Actually she is a very nice and competent lady!! She did a terrific job at Tulsa and must work within the parameters of CUSA President's and AD's. Calling someone garbage is why so many people are so rightly critical of social media!!! One thing to think she isn't doing her job (not sure you or anyone on this board, myself included are close enough to the situation to make that evaluation), but she isn't garbage and there are much better choices of terms to express displeasure.
Conference leadership is broad based and ultimately falls to the people in charge, Presidents and ADs......
True, as soon as the deal was turned down, ESPN started working behind the scenes with the Big East to take CUSA down. The same thing occurred with the MWC as well. When the AQ-6 became the P-5, CUSA and MWC could have been in a better bargaining position to dismantle the Big East as a football conference and reconfigure the two conferences into strong conferences where we didn't have to take any Sun Belt or new FBS schools. Oh well, shit happens and sometimes your the one getting shit on.
Tulsa isn't in Conference USA...
She's nice I am sure and knows her stuff, but doesn't appear to know how to manage a conference. Lets face it, running Tulsa's athletics dept is not the same as running a conference.
I say this because why in the hell are we still arguing over it?
Fans don't seem to think CUSA is appealing.
Maybe because the majority of CUSA teams fans don't care, and only MU ones do...which could be the case. I dunno.
What I do know is the products given have not been able to sustain themselves for long...with media markets proving the idea that nobody watches a team just because they are in a big market, is becoming evident.
The conference sellected teams who claimed to want to improve themselves...so far we have had none of that with the one full of the most potential winning their first game Saturday.
Woo-hoo-catchoo...
It really makes me wonder what her plan is...does she have a plan? Does C-USA have a plan?
In 2 years I have seen nor heard anything from her.
I even tried to look up anything about what she plans to do...and I am bombarded with the fact she's the 1st female commish.
Seriously, thats it!
Wow...color me impressed...and this year's media days, despite the stupidity of the Sun Belt and AAC with their farcical beliefs of their greatness and importance...not one word outta her.
I don't get this approach, when your conference is getting poached left and right and TV contracts are awful, you should probably open your mouth and spit out a plan.
Maybe she has no plan, maybe she is satisfied with the status quo.
Thats one thing I will credit the AAC with, they do have the forward thinking mentality, they just are going about it the wrong way completely IMO.
...and of course, she is not doing anything and she should act on something. Its a joke.
And if it is on the AD's, she should say it and hold them accountable...because as far as I know, the reason for the conference being what it is, comes directly from the top.
I am sorry I called her garbage, forgot its rated PG nowadays even for a guy who works in a profession laced with more profanity than we know.
She is refuse of the greatest degree...may she find a more suitable occupation at this juncture? Pretty please, with sugar on top?
Shoe, we all know you rode the wave at ESPN. Fine. If everything you say is true because of that, without analysis then fine. It is like going on a car website where people are discussing various features and aspects of cars, and saying "well I worked at GM and this is what I think and therefore it is right and nothing you have to say about liking turbos or disliking cloth seats is vaild." Why are you bothering to post here, or anywhere, among us mere mortals. Just live in the certitude that whatever you think is correct because you worked for Disney before everything there went to crap and sit around admiring own greatness.
Fact is, yes, you know how the cable TV business used to work 8 or 10 years ago. Great. Enjoy. That really does not translate to a reason why your opinon on which conference MU should be in is automatically correct, especially when you back it up not with facts or logic, but just recite your resume. I, and I think most fans, understand that we are right where we need to be. You, and I think a minority of fans, want to pine for a move to another conference, and seem, IMHO, unable to enjoy MU athletics in any form. I, and again I think a majority of our fans, understand that this conference is a bad deal for several reasons, several of which I and others have articulated. You, with all due respect respond with a version of the "Colin Cowherd response" which is "well, I think X, and I am very successful and also work here and know everybody, if you were smart you would agree with me too". Which is no response (and why Cowherd's shows are failing). No facts, no logic, no arguments, no takes. Not even an opinion, just "well if you knew what I knew and had my background, you would agree with me". The correct response is not to cite your resume, it is to cite reasons. You do not have any.
And, sad to say when you try to argue that the AAC says it is a "power 6" conference, and ADMIT that that is false, but then try to argue that it is not built on a lie, a lie you ADMIT was and is told every day, you lack basic grade school level English skills. The AAC is built on a lie. Fact. Saying that is is not while admitting that what is says on every station break and every yard marker is a lie, is just, sad to say, dumb.
But the bigger issue is this. If you, or anyone else, cannot enjoy MU sports, as a member of CUSA, if you, or anyone else, does not derive joy from our GREAT football record and or promising basketball prospects. If it is just some sad thing to which you cannot reconcile your self to knowing that the allmighty AAC is out there with such super matchups as the "civial disagreement" and the "war on I-4" and with such mega powers as Tulane, Tulsa, and UConn, then you, or they need to move on to the next phase of your relationship with sports. As I stated early in this thread, Alabama fandom becons.
Fact is, yes, you know how the cable TV business used to work 8 or 10 years ago. Great. Enjoy. That really does not translate to a reason why your opinon on which conference MU should be in is automatically correct, especially when you back it up not with facts or logic, but just recite your resume. I, and I think most fans, understand that we are right where we need to be. You, and I think a minority of fans, want to pine for a move to another conference, and seem, IMHO, unable to enjoy MU athletics in any form. I, and again I think a majority of our fans, understand that this conference is a bad deal for several reasons, several of which I and others have articulated. You, with all due respect respond with a version of the "Colin Cowherd response" which is "well, I think X, and I am very successful and also work here and know everybody, if you were smart you would agree with me too". Which is no response (and why Cowherd's shows are failing). No facts, no logic, no arguments, no takes. Not even an opinion, just "well if you knew what I knew and had my background, you would agree with me". The correct response is not to cite your resume, it is to cite reasons. You do not have any.
And, sad to say when you try to argue that the AAC says it is a "power 6" conference, and ADMIT that that is false, but then try to argue that it is not built on a lie, a lie you ADMIT was and is told every day, you lack basic grade school level English skills. The AAC is built on a lie. Fact. Saying that is is not while admitting that what is says on every station break and every yard marker is a lie, is just, sad to say, dumb.
But the bigger issue is this. If you, or anyone else, cannot enjoy MU sports, as a member of CUSA, if you, or anyone else, does not derive joy from our GREAT football record and or promising basketball prospects. If it is just some sad thing to which you cannot reconcile your self to knowing that the allmighty AAC is out there with such super matchups as the "civial disagreement" and the "war on I-4" and with such mega powers as Tulane, Tulsa, and UConn, then you, or they need to move on to the next phase of your relationship with sports. As I stated early in this thread, Alabama fandom becons.
you are comical at best...... nothing "humble" about your opinion..... also nothing rational about your opinion...
I enjoy Marshall athletics, no matter what league they are in!
You have lost your mind, or at the very least your objectivity on this issue. No one takes you seriously
Job security.
No vision.
I don't see how MU football grows or frankly even maintains the level that it used to be at in CUSA. You can already see the excitement over the program falling over the last few years. If you are going to settle for a low end D1A conference and that is your vision, why not just go back to the MAC which is more regional based with some rivals and cut your cost down? At least we used to load up and play a big boy every year. I am talking some elite big boys. We don't even do that anymore.
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Very well said Dshoe. I always enjoy the ringing of hands about but our non revenue sports when it comes to changing conferences.
The only thing we should care about in conference affiliation is football first and basketball second.
Until soccer or swimming or volleyball or tennis or baseball etc draw more than a handful of fans then they will play in the conference that our football and basketball team wants to be in.
It still burns me up that we let our premier program, football, get screwed by not accepting a football only membership to CUSA at a time when it had Louisville, TCU, and the other CUSA schools that were there when we finally joined in 2005, because basketball and our other sports were going to have to be in a conference(I don’t remember the name) that was similar to the Southern Conference.
I can’t imagine what a different situation we would have been in had we accepted that invitation and won in that conference when the big realignment came about.
It’s interesting to hear people on here saying the AAC is no better than CUSA so we shouldn’t try to get in it but then will turn around and say we wouldn’t be able to compete because of budgets.
Makes me laugh to. Good Lord, people. We saw the first CUSA we were in. The difference in football was evident.
People say it is the same but we can't compete. hahahaaa
Depressing, always seemed MU was wanting to move football forward and go as high as they could. No, settle for CUSA Version 3 Watered Down. And, not even demand championships at that. Oh well.
If you could come up with the money....then of course....try to move to the AAC. Could an additional 15 mil. come from student fees? Would you want to saddle students with that burden? Shoe you know more about these situation than I do.....some of the schools that have moved into new conferences...what about the commitment to minor sports. Just because there are a hand full of people in attendance doesn't give a school a pass on having facilities, and a budget to reach a conference minimum. The AAC appears to have quality women and minor sports. Your thoughts. It doesn't appear to come cheap.
Why not? How many of Marshall's students are on financial aide? A bet a large number Raise the tuition and bury an extra grand a year per student. What do you think other schools are doing? Marshall is dirt cheap for in state students and they(the students) are likely not pay for a lot of it anyway. Marshall is expensive for out of state. An extra grand isn't going to make a difference.
I just raised 12 million. How do you think D1 athletics are being paid for?
I personally wouldn't mind that at all. Excitement has decreased because the popularity contest in our conference has gone to the pits. We took "up and comers" and concentrated on Markets instead of good programs during expansion. Playing UNCC etc doesn't get the blood moving for fair weather fans. When we joined CUSA, we did so with the knowledge we would be at the bottom of the conference in terms of budget and it would have been even more pronounced has the first wave of plans not fell through when cincy, UL etc was still in CUSA. We now look more like the sunbelt, which excites no one. All this potential that was being promoted with adding UNCC, ODU, etc is never going to be realized. WKU, MT, USM, that's about the only programs that get some attention, and with WKU and MT its only because they are the only newbies to beat us since sharing a conference (last year don't count lol). Two deserving programs did not deserve to be knocked down a rung by being left behind, us and USM. When we rejoined the MAC, we started off at the bottom of the budget pile, gradually increasing the budget pretty much on our own. The same held true when joining CUSA, with a difference maker......we didn't have to increase the budget all by ourselves, being in CUSA helped to do that. I know its likely never going to happen, but what's to say we couldn't do the same thing moving on to the AAC? Would there not be extra resources after the move to increase the budget? at least bring it to the 30s mil mark? Even bigger question is how much does it need to be to compete? If we can not make that move, the MAC has been a more stable, and now more lucrative conference than CUSA 3.0. Their downfall though is they have a few more crappier bowls than we do but that can change as well. jmo.
As for the P6 the AAC keeps spouting, my understanding is its not a label to just separate themselves from the rest of the G5, they actually believe they can/will be the next power conference and should be included and that's what they are promoting. They have the looks of the best G5, but they are no where close to looking like a power conference..........which is why they are not a power conference and STILL G5 all the way, budgets be damned.
The AAC would love to have Army. The Army-Navy game is the most prestigious regular season game there is.
That is about the worst idea ever.
Marshall sports are great.
The main mission of MU, however, is not to field some sports team. It is the difficult but important job of educating the sons and daughters of a poor state with pitiful public schools (a job WVU turned its back on decades ago). It is why there is a Marshall. Not for sports.
What you are describing is, pretty much, the business plan of most of THE AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!! and some of CUSA, such as the Texas and Florida schools. Those schools are so big they can toss a significant athletic fee across a large number of kids and field sports teams, even though no body much cares about sports.
We are a much smaller school, and, one look at the student section tells you what most students already think about sports. We are a poor state, not Florida or Texas. And financial aid has to be paid back eventually. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
If MU can only maintain/grow sports by burdening our already over-burdened students with $4K more debt, count my vote for going Div III.
wvu educates more "sons and daughters" of the state than Marshall has in total enrollment. Doh!
What a fact filled take. Your detailed argument sure convinced me.
Wanting college kids to go into debt to fund your hobby is childish, petty, small, self-centered, and downright stupid.
Wanting college kids to go into debt to fund your hobby is childish, petty, small, self-centered, and downright stupid.
