And So It Begins...Major changes coming to the Mid-American Conference.
- Thread starter BleedsGreen33
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And the answer is Alex - " Who is the incompetent commissioner of Conference USA?
So the MAC, as predicted, is cutting down on its championships, including its money losing men's basketball championship, and somehow this is a negative about CUSA.
Of course, replace CUSA with MAC in the article and the same people would criticize that too.
Of course, replace CUSA with MAC in the article and the same people would criticize that too.
I've come to terms with something: I hate C-USA. People don't like to hear that, but I just do. There's a few schools in the conference I enjoy watching Marshall play (Southern Miss, La Tech, I'm writing something here so there will be three items in the series), but mostly these were teams I used to think Marshall was better than.
Well, if we were, we're not now. It's sacrilege around here to pine for the MAC, but can we finally admit this I-AA conference we're playing in on Stadium's Facebook page in between CAA games has nothing in common with the one we joined in 2005? We moved up, and wound up behind where we were. We don't want to admit it, but it happened.
Is the MAC the best thing since sliced bread? No, but take a look what a group of member institutions who are geographically aligned, and have been playing in the same conference with each other for 100 years, can get done in a crisis. Then look at what C-USA is doing - farting in the bathtub and waiting for Judy MacCleod to train on the job. (So progressive!)
They tell us we might do more regionalized scheduling, like that really matters when your closest opponent is 330 miles away, and the other teams you play are 2-3 times that distance, and that's within your division. C-USA was built on an unsustainable model that only worked because the schools in it (UofL, Cincinnati, Tulsa, SMU, Rice, etc.) were schools with so much money they could afford to just set fire to it. Now its being maintained by a group of schools that can't really afford to keep it together, won't be able to going forward in this crisis, and if we're honest with ourselves, the future is much bleaker than the past.
So yeah, I'm all about going back to the MAC.
Well, if we were, we're not now. It's sacrilege around here to pine for the MAC, but can we finally admit this I-AA conference we're playing in on Stadium's Facebook page in between CAA games has nothing in common with the one we joined in 2005? We moved up, and wound up behind where we were. We don't want to admit it, but it happened.
Is the MAC the best thing since sliced bread? No, but take a look what a group of member institutions who are geographically aligned, and have been playing in the same conference with each other for 100 years, can get done in a crisis. Then look at what C-USA is doing - farting in the bathtub and waiting for Judy MacCleod to train on the job. (So progressive!)
They tell us we might do more regionalized scheduling, like that really matters when your closest opponent is 330 miles away, and the other teams you play are 2-3 times that distance, and that's within your division. C-USA was built on an unsustainable model that only worked because the schools in it (UofL, Cincinnati, Tulsa, SMU, Rice, etc.) were schools with so much money they could afford to just set fire to it. Now its being maintained by a group of schools that can't really afford to keep it together, won't be able to going forward in this crisis, and if we're honest with ourselves, the future is much bleaker than the past.
So yeah, I'm all about going back to the MAC.
C-USA only made sense when UC and Louisville were in the mix and it was clear they would jump in a heartbeat for the old Big East and it's automatic BCS bid. But that's water under the dam at this point...I agree, back to the MAC.
MAC is no solution. Discussion on Metro News Sportsline this evening about the MAC's moves and financial position of G5 schools in general. Tony Caridi noted a study showing that at many MAC schools, WMU, EMU, Buffalo, Ohio U., Miami, etc., schools themselves are SUBSIDIZING anywhere from 60 to 80 percent of their Athletic budgets.
With possibility of no on campus students this fall/winter at many of these schools along with possibility of significant enrollment declines also, how can, and how long can, these schools subsidize their ADs at such high levels monetarily??
With possibility of no on campus students this fall/winter at many of these schools along with possibility of significant enrollment declines also, how can, and how long can, these schools subsidize their ADs at such high levels monetarily??
What portion of state funds go into the MU AD budget and what percentage of our budget does that make up? 40%?
If the state cuts school funding overall by 20% how would that impact the AD and where would any cuts come from?
We have yet to hear about any salary cuts or position furloughs from our current situation - shortfall. Will be interesting to see how MH handles it all.
If the state cuts school funding overall by 20% how would that impact the AD and where would any cuts come from?
We have yet to hear about any salary cuts or position furloughs from our current situation - shortfall. Will be interesting to see how MH handles it all.
Conferences exist for making it easier to schedule. Especially for non-revenue sports and basketball. There are a few sports where you can facilitate scheduling by having more than two schools present (wrestling, swimming, track and field, golf, x-country). The few years Marshall was an independent, scheduling was helped because a lot of MAC schools still agreed to play, there were a few more independents like Xavier and Dayton.
Marshall and other CUSA schools need some sort of relief from the CUSA scheduling requirements beyond what they have agreed to so far. Could the Herd non-revenue sports survive if CUSA went to an optional plan for non-revenue participation? Maybe a plan where you take part in multiple team conference championships at single sites, play an OOC regional schedule for others like baseball, and/or be allowed to join a regional affiliation of schools for non-revenue sports.
The virus has accelerated the pace at which schools are facing the new revenue and expense realities, both for athletics and overall academia. No matter what our opinion is about CUSA, the MAC, or the NCAA, this is far from over, and that not talking about just the virus.
Marshall and other CUSA schools need some sort of relief from the CUSA scheduling requirements beyond what they have agreed to so far. Could the Herd non-revenue sports survive if CUSA went to an optional plan for non-revenue participation? Maybe a plan where you take part in multiple team conference championships at single sites, play an OOC regional schedule for others like baseball, and/or be allowed to join a regional affiliation of schools for non-revenue sports.
The virus has accelerated the pace at which schools are facing the new revenue and expense realities, both for athletics and overall academia. No matter what our opinion is about CUSA, the MAC, or the NCAA, this is far from over, and that not talking about just the virus.
Correct. Nothing to add, except to understand that the voodoo economics of MAC sports is WITH the Disney Dollars, which go away in 5 years.
The MAC model is simply unsustainable. It is based on an American that has long past. The industrial Midwest was profitable, high union wages and the GI Bill made college affordable for many people, not everyone could fit in the state's Big 10 namesakes, and the NCAA and the technology of the times allowed only a few games on TV per Saturday such that attending a game of the local MACer was a way to have sports. None of those things are true anymore. The Rust Belt is bleeding people, the states are broke and broken, and bluntly no one cares about the local MAC school anymore.
According to USA Today, 48% of MU athletic budget is "allocated", meaning taxpayer $$ and student fees. This puts MU tied for second best of CUSA public schools in these terms with LA Tech, behind Southern Miss at 41%. Worst is FIU at 73%.
Among MACers, best is NIU at "only" 60%, average is about 70%, CMU and SUNY Buffalo are worst at 75%.
(Of course all of these number a off, because most schools, including us, charge a lot of AD stuff off to building and grounds and such. Situation is actually a little worse.)
The NCAA did approve something like that a few weeks ago. The number of conference games per sport has been eliminated. So in, say soccer or baseball or such, MU (and everybody else) would just play local bus trip teams and CUSA would just be a tournament at the end of the season.
So you're blaming MU being in CUSA currently because of stuff well out of our control?
Also now wanting to go back to a conference that could very well fold in the next few months if nothing changes?
Am I saying CUSA is better? Hell no. Judy is a dumb bitch who needs to resign...but she's perfect for the old farts in Texas living in some dream world that being an FBS conference puts you at the same level as Texas and Texas AM, etc.
She won't object. She won't be forward thinking. She'll nod her head and say, "yes, sir!" and cater to those morons who believe Texas is the center of the universe.
I don't blame Hamrick for where we currently are in. MU had nothing to offer at the time CUSA broke up and frankly, MU would have struggled. Snyder was a complete disaster of a hire. Doc at least got things going in a decent direction. The Vision Campaign was successful. The groundbreaking for the baseball field has now taken place. The ACF lot is going to be turned into something useful. All these things are something MU could have used to leverage itself into better consideration for leaving but have happened a few years too late.
IF MU can continue to move dirt and build on what it says it will, it may be one of the only G5 schools in the country thats is actually building when everyone else isn't.
It'll show that it is at least fulfilling its promises to be competitive, unlike plenty in the G5 and even within CUSA.
But I guess we'll see...
Nah, just saying I hate C-USA and feel like it would be beneficial to Marshall both in terms of finances and context to play in a regional conference. I feel like C-USA is packed full of schools trying to pretend like we didn't lose the last round of Musical Chairs, living in denial that changes in circumstances have made our present course of action a needlessly inefficient one, in a world where every penny counts.
We've changed conferences twice in ten years (really, we did), and its left us without a rival. I guess WKU qualifies, and Charlotte (*throws up in mouth*) is trying to give us one, but I don't think anybody would have described either of those conditions as aspirational five years ago. We play in empty stadiums thousands of miles from Huntington, against teams with fan followings no better than your average low-end MAC school, and we tell ourselves we've moved up in the world. We sit there watching Colgate and Cornell playing on Stadium Facebook, waiting for the Marshall-Charlotte stream to start, and we say, "This is big time college football." Even when we look in the corner and see only 3,000 active live streams.
And then we knock the MAC for not having fans, or playing its games on mid-week evenings on ESPN2, like the situation we're in is any better, and its just because we are in deep, deep denial that our situation is actually worse.
People can disagree with that, its just an opinion, but I can't shake it. I promise you this though: if the MAC folds, C-USA will have folded the week before.
If anything, I would say CUSA is in a more precarious position than the MAC. As much as some make fun of the SB, they are on more solid footing it appears.
This is the manifesto of every single G5 school and a very large portion of P5 schools...not sure if this is a shocker for anyone.
The entire MAC, minus Ohio and really because of proximity, would have the exact same amount of fans. Give photos of said games from both conferences and ask an average joe sports fan to guess if its the MAC or CUSA. As this thread and others have shown, even with ESPN showing your games on live TV...hasn't done a damn thing. ESPN knows by simply having possession of a low level conference like the MAC, who will not speak unless spoken to, they can put them anywhere...and usually do, within reason, anywhere they want...and it is usually in time slots for mere filler.
If it is worse, its not worse by much. While nothing has been publicly said yet as far as CUSA has gone...the MAC has made it abundantly clear they really aren't benefitting from any of this...and are already taking increasing cuts to sports.
No, for the record I think CUSA not publicly announcing what they plan to do is stupid, however, everyone spoke about how amazing it is for the programs to be on ESPN and how teams on there get wins and winning leads to money and success...yeah, the MAC on Wednesdsy night has proven that to be false and this thread has solidified that.
Are you happy?
Why can't the fans stick with one mindset about the program?
Doc is destroying MU football and has made it into nothing but a pile of mediocrity...and then lose their minds when MU loses to, well, anyone.
Then, people act like MU is above everyone else and when someone like Alabama wins a NC they ask, "Well, why can't MU do that?! Maybe if we burn weed and make offerings to the spirit of Omar Little, Byron Leftwich can come back and lead MU to the promised land! I mean who wouldn't leave the NFL to coach here?!"
Why is it people groan and complain when MU actually does something right (breaking ground for a stadium, re-vitalizing the ACF property, etc...or NOT losing every single game a season like what a mediocre program is supposed to do)...and then complain about not doing anything...and then complain saying, "Told ya so" when anything bad happens to MU?
So which is it? MU is a potentially solid G5 program/school or its garbage?
This COVID-19 shit is pissing me off.
Yet more MAC cuts.
https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/...licy-shrink-travel-roster/stories/20200515055
https://triblive.com/sports/bowling-green-drops-baseball-to-save-money-amid-pandemic/
The MAC is preparing for the Disney Dollars to run out. The current model is clearly unsustainable for it. The only question remaining is, is any model that involves more than nominal I-A status (which is what the lowly MAC had before MU entered it) can be found. I don't see one. It is past time for much of the MAC to have a frank discussion among its stake holders about where, if anywhere, each school sees itself in athletics, if anywhere. For at least some, nowhere is the answer.
https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/...licy-shrink-travel-roster/stories/20200515055
https://triblive.com/sports/bowling-green-drops-baseball-to-save-money-amid-pandemic/
The MAC is preparing for the Disney Dollars to run out. The current model is clearly unsustainable for it. The only question remaining is, is any model that involves more than nominal I-A status (which is what the lowly MAC had before MU entered it) can be found. I don't see one. It is past time for much of the MAC to have a frank discussion among its stake holders about where, if anywhere, each school sees itself in athletics, if anywhere. For at least some, nowhere is the answer.
Middle of the road teams don't go to bowls 7 out of the last 10 years.
Questionable Basketball programs go to the NCAA once every 30 years.
Wrong. There’s 40 bowl games not including the cfb championship. 80 out of 130 teams go bowling. So yes middle of the road teams by necessity go bowling
Middle of the road teams do not go bowling, most; every year.
Ummm, let's see. Middle of the road football teams DO, however, manage to end up in a plethora of "bottom of the barrel" Bowl games year after year! And, as Gomer Pyle would loudly and often say, "Surprise! Surprise!": Many, if not most, of these teams come from the MAC, Sun Belt, CUSA, etc.
What's a "Bottom of the Barrel bowl game"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_bowl_games
https://fanbuzz.com/college-football/bowl-game-payouts/
Conference USA
Florida International Golden Panthers, Bahamas Bowl: $225,000
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Hawaii Bowl: $1.00 million
Marshall Thundering Herd, Gasparilla Bowl: $1.13 million
UAB Blazers, Boca Raton Bowl: $1.00 million
With 40 bowls, that means 80 teams go. There are around 132 D1 football playing schools at the FBS level. That pretty much signals middle of the road. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Moving forward we will learn to appreciate it more.
No one said we shouldn't move forward. Where do you say we move too?
Let me take a wild stab.... (Cause I know where this is going, and your motivation)
We need to drop to FCS and then join the A-10 where Danny can shine! He has proven with his .520 record to take us to the National Spotlight time and time again! Then after we win our 2 or 3rd Nat'l Championship under Danny's leadership then all message boards will come come to me and Meister for your basketball info. Thus, elevating our mundane status from local idiots to MU Basketball info legends!
Well, when every team that wins half their games is bowl eligible, yes, middle of the road football teams do go to bowls 7 out of the last 10 years.
My motivation is to tear down the football program? Wow, that’s a pretty stupid assumption. Nope! Sorry dear. We need a regional league that greatly reduces travel and provides the opportunity to form rivalries. You still think we can go to the AAC? Step up and donate.
Why do you bring basketball into this?
I am not small minded and try to play one against the other. Both need to get better and have more success on the league level.
So you feel Doc is doing a good job and Danny not? Interesting take.
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Didn't say that.
I don't have antlers.
Not until they decide they will take schools out of the Mass Media Markets.
I don't recall saying that either, maybe you should point me to the post.
Obviously you felt that I slammed the football program and favored b’ball for some reason. Which wasn’t even remotely close. If you can prove we are a top notch G5 program now, I would like to see it. Sadly, we haven’t been since 2014. Then the bottom dropped out.
We couldn’t compete with Cincy or UCF, and UCF had their best players not even participate.
