(05-03-2016 10:46 PM)Kittonhead Wrote: I've said it a million time that CUSA should be considering Wichita State as a way to jump start its basketball success.
Minimal FBS program in CUSA...no problem look at Charlotte.
AAC is and should expect more in FB.
The thing is that Wichita State is not going to start football in order to join C-USA. That's simply not a step up in basketball compared to MVC (and is an overall step down). It would be one thing if I really thought Wichita State wanted to start football because it really wants to play football, but I don't get that feeling. Instead, they seem to have come to the sober conclusion that there is absolutely no chance for them to get into a better basketball league as-is, which means that their only shot at a better league is to have FBS football. A better basketball league is the end goal for Wichita State, NOT adding football in and of itself.
As I've stated before, Wichita State is in a complete box and a classic "Think like a university president and not like a fan" case regarding conference realignment. Fans generally just see Wichita State's performance on-the-court and think that they're going to be attractive to a lot of conferences. The reality, though, is that they don't have any of the off-the-field attributes that any of the conferences that are a clear step up from the MVC (the P5 leagues, Big East, AAC, A-10, MWC and WCC) want from a school, whether it's institutional and academic profile for the Big East and WCC, geography and markets for the A-10, and many of the above plus the lack of a football program for the AAC and MWC.
As we see now with UMass, even a school that has a lot of the attributes that university presidents actually LOVE in conference realignment (e.g. flagship university with solid academics in a large population state with strong ties to large markets), the willingness to take a start-up FBS program is actually very low even for the Sun Belt, much less the MWC and AAC, no matter how good the basketball program might be. Wichita State is actually in a significantly worse position than UMass when it comes to the factors that have actually ended up mattering in conference realignment... and look at how UMass football is homeless right now.
On the flip side, note that UMass refused to join the MAC as an all-sports member because they couldn't stomach a basketball downgrade from the A-10. Much like Wichita State now, the UMass end game was really to add FBS football for the purpose of getting into then-Big East/now-AAC because it would be a boon for basketball, so when that didn't come to fruition, we now see UMass saddled with a nomad football program. Wichita State is looking pretty much the exact same way with respect to their desire to join the MWC, only that Wichita State offers a much worse market and doesn't carry the same academic reputation.
Once again, think like a university president and not like a fan. Always remember this rule as opposed to what might have happened in the NCAA Tournament or a bowl game last year. Why would Wichita State end up with better options than a large market flagship school like UMass by starting up FBS football?