Alrighty...

here my take:

posted here because WHY NOT


Tell the SEC that we will pay for FSUs exit fee.
Bring us both in.

At this point the SEC has to make a move for an ACC team IMO.
FSU needs regional opponents not New England opponents. [TV contact] < [TV contract + sellouts and local economy impact]
Our presence in the SEC would directly hurt 6 ACC teams.


I feel that Mizzu want the Bi6 Ten over the SEC and WVU wants the SEC... that pick should be an easy pick IMO of the Mountaineers
The only reason to pass on us is if VaTech could be pried away but I just dont see it.

Va Tech can't leave the ACC if they wanted to..political deals (with Commonwealth of VA officials) were made to get them in stemming from the founder UVahhhhhhhhhhhh...so they could mount a "showing" against the NC prissy teams, yet act like they belong...I think VA Tech really wants out to the SEC, but they were and "allowed" themselves to be bought...their pimp is the ACC..they will keep bringing them money as told.

I don't like the ECU potential move to BE...death knell....I'd rather keep knocking on SEC's dam door til they can't stand ECU than go there in hopes of being stolen by the ACC at some future point...they won't raid anymore..they got what they wanted...greedy SOB's and prissy too!

LOL - I tell you one thing...
The Football Only Application needs not be sent!

If the Big Easts solution is going to be adding the service academies...
Rutgers/UConn/WVU
Louisville/Cincy/USF
TCU/Navy/Army

I personally want to say NO thanks
They've proven themselves idiots time and time again.

Were the few good basketball years worth it?

I think one of the biggest shames in recent memory has been Louisville and Cincy's abandonment of Memphis.
Followed closely behind by USFs denial of UCF.

Football Wise... the above conference is a joke.
Basketball wise it is still a mess.

USFs on an island, TCUs on an island and your entire conference is on an island compared to the quality of other conferences.

I hope they offer us a spot just so we can finally turn it down.



I want the SEC.
If this cannot happen:

I want The Super Metro Conference
The SMC

Tampa (USF)
Louisville
Cincy
* West Virginia
East Carolina
Memphis
TCU

Orlando (UCF)
Houston
Southern Belle
*BYU
Tulsa
Birmingham (UAB)
Southern Methodist


And Yes: NAME CHANGES WILL BE REQUIRED
East Carolina is a State Flagship so no edit needed.

Its a 14 team league 6 division games with 2 Permanent cross-division Rival games.
Cross Division games must happen in the first half of the season.
Cross Division Game Results only act as a tie breaker.

ECU/Southern Belle
Southern Belle/Memphis
Memphis/Birmingham
Birmingham/ECU

SMU/TCU
TCU/BYU
BYU/West Virginia
West Virginia/SMU

Orlando/Tampa
Tampa/Houston
Houston/Cincinnati
Cincinnati/Tulsa
Tulsa/Louisville
Louisville/Orlando

All other games will be OOC Matchups

You have Mormons, Christians, Methodists, Pirates, and Appalachian Mountaineers.
Two Cougars a Tiger and a Bearcat
BYU gets trips to Alabama, Florida, Texas (every year guaranteed), Oklahoma, Mississippi, and to the state that needs religion more than any other.

Rutgers and UCONN go somewhere
Temple and Marshall create a new MAC
UTEP to the MWC
FIU FAU and Tulane create a new Sun Belt
Rice puts their geeks and algorithms to work and become a successful independent scheduler...

Of course: you could just invite us to the SEC and then the SMC doesnt need to happen

Oh and you're welcome UAB... eh hemm... Birmingham!

I have been inactive with NCAAbbs but with ECU sending application I could resist not to post on here. I would rather be in SEC then in ACC, Big East. I do agree with PiK

I just don't trust the BE to make the best decisions and I am not even talking as me wanting ECU into their BCS conference. Their own internal struggles to keep teams and to find a cohesive agenda scares me into thinking if we get their it will not be a BCS conference.

I fear a dirty trick in the offing. ECU may get a BEast bid, then everyone but South Florida and Cincinnati leaves, leaving ECU and probably UCF along with Cinci and USF to foot the bill for the non revenue sports of the 7 basketball only schools plus Notre Dame, and No AQ bid.

The Bowl System in general is so awful in almost every imaginable way that...

read the rest after a couple drinks:

perhaps our best bet is to get the MWC... the MAC... the Sunbelt... the WAC if that still exists... the academies...
and not collectively beg for a seat at their table...
NO thank you

the thought we must banish from our minds is that we're lessening our brand by saying to hell with the bowl system
we have to rise above the bowl system!

here's a couple questions
WHAT DO WE GET OUT OF CONFERENCE AFFILIATION?
The predominant answers I'm aware of are Scheduling ease, Bowl invitations ($) and TV contracts ($$).
Because altering two of these involves our income... it is a very precarious thing.
So let me first address the one dollar sign we associate with Bowl Games.

Most every bowl we are realistically in play for means we lose money after all is said and done. If its in a good location, we will travel. Our fans will buy tickets, transportation, and hotel rooms as we have time and time again and that money is lost to our local economy. Our best chance is the Liberty Bowl. To get there we have to win our division, win our conference championship game, and our prize is the 8th best SEC team decent exposure and a break-even financial scenario.

Hosting the conference championship game does provide the opportunity for a financial gain and exposure but as we well know its a economical wash because of the time frame and inability to prepare for/predict it.
For all purposes we must realize that a football season is 12 games with a clause for a potential 13th game if we can win just half of the time.
With CUSA - 8 games are accounted for (even if its reduced to 10 teams)

Terry Holland has come to terms with this and I've been surprised the BCS /ESPN Bowl System brainwashing has been harder for others to shake.

We can schedule games that are closer, in big market cities, provide an atmosphere and gain us exposure in larger markets. The recent Charlotte Games are fantastic and anyone who isn't embracing these is inept. (sacrificing a home game does indeed suck and that is why we need a 6 home games also -always). In my perfect world we always have one regular season bowl-game. We just need to do a little more with it.

Consider this:
When a band goes on tour... do they arrive into the large venue and bring the crowd with them? They don't fill the arena with all groupies. Phish and the Grateful Dead aside. No - yet they play, and get PAID. The Sports Authorities in these cities are being lazy because the bowl game system has created a faulty working partnership.

Bowl Games don't have to do shyt. It isn't even an obligation for them. The "events" are pathetic, the venues are mostly inferior and dilapidated, and they don't market/sell tickets to them. Its a serious WTF moment if there ever was one. Noone from Birmingham was at that Bowl Game, Noone from Memphis is at the Liberty Bowl, Noone from DC was at the Military Bowl. Does a band go on tour and play in an empty stadium? NO - you market the dang thing and price tickets appropriately. To best be in a position to market an event to a large metropolis is to plan it in advance and book it NOT during Christmas/New Years.

The Charlotte games are still lacking the local draw they should be pulling in because there is little risk being undertaken by the stadium folks. They know x amount of tickets will be purchased. They still act like a bowl game does - spoiled rotten.

Charlotte Needs to Happen every - year. Not every couple of years. We have to build it up. We could potentially build up a bowl-esque game elsewhere like Virginia Beach but no stadium could support it to my knowledge.

We need more ownership of it... it needs to be a home game. We need to be in charge of tickets (ALL of them) and Marketing them. Give it name... and a trophy. Blackbeard's Challenge. Queen City/Queen Anne... Appalachian and UNCCharlotte be damned! this is our State! Our town!, we're pirating it all.

I still haven't addressed the Post Season...
Or shall we call it the tournament. Give me a tournament!

Scratch the CUSA championship game. Have division champs and be done with it. Then have the NCAA tournament of Non-AQs First Round hosted on better seeds field.

All of us need to realize that fighting over a BCS bid is not in the best interest of the collective whole. The final games of the tournament could be hosted in Vegas or Dallas or LA, Kansas City or wherever.

For the 7-5 teams etc... the ones who don't make the tourny? They can still play a post-season game. But you guessed it... they should be in college towns: even if, yes I'll say it... those towns are the stadiums of Wisconsin, Alabama, Notre Dame, LSU, Texas, USC etc. (I would find it hard to imagine that some of those stadiums (economies) wouldn't enjoy hosting a friendly... (repainting their field only).

In my world, this eliminated the Bowl Game ($) part.
So ill move onto the next topic later... Scheduling... or perhaps ill hit on TV ($$)

Ok - here is my new rant and i'll stray from the current btching topic:

Can we buy Duke's Football Spot?

Formerly when we applied for Big East Membership as a football only member - wasn't a part of that proposal that we wouldn't even ask for an even slice of the money until a couple of years down the road: to prove our worth so to say.

Duke has no business playing ACC level football anymore.
Yes Wallace Wade, Steve Spurrier, the Iron Dukes; historically they have a lot to beat their chest about.

Since 1962, Duke has only appeared in the polls during 1971, 1989 and 1994.
There have been 253 straight AP Polls without Duke since 1994 (the 13th longest streak in the NCAA).
They've never had a winning season since 1994.

How much is their tuition? Those scholarships must be a monster to pay for.
I know their endowment is 5.7 BILLION but still.

How many times in the last 20 years have they sold out their stadium?
They almost sold out for Richmond...
and then followed it up by having under 25,000 the next weekend to play #6 Stanford.
(in other words i assume Richmond brought around 10,000~?)
*DUKE of all people has 7 home games people* - the rarely mentioned perk of AQ
(Capacity is 33,941)



I would like to work out the following deal: Duke move your football team to the IVY league!
We'll fill that spot and split the BCS money with you...
You could dominate the IVY league with the cash you get and the reduced scholarships etc.

You can still schedule Duke, NCState, Wake, and Maryland AND us!

Duke gets the best of everything - ACC basketball, an IVY league presence and some academic partnerships that would create, and you maintain your local economic (from football) impact, and a huge check you don't have to actually work for. Personally I think it helps actually distance themselves from Chapel Hill who many perceive to be almost equals academically (due to their basketball rivalry). Why go to Duke when Chapel Hill is far cheaper of a school and carries very similar national brand prestige?

Ok - let me call the IVY league and see if I can work this out.
The Ivy League is only 8 teams btw and wouldn't a ninth make life so much easier

After the news has broken about the football alliance: where we are now football members of this alliance: and members of CUSA in all of our other sports... is there reason to stay in CUSA?
perhaps i misunderstand how this alliance is forming so please do enlighten me if i am wrong

This is factor that hasn't come up to my knowledge. We are Now football only members of the "Alliance" as I understand it.
An alliance that is still seeking out other institutions to join as football only members.

Considering our willingness to go football only into a Big East...
is there still a reason to pull our other sports out and move them elsewhere?
I think the argument can be made: YES

Football is currently taken care of (yes i know there are still several scenarios but currently we have a football home with 'potential')
Why would we remain members of CUSA?

Track, XCountry, Swimming, Volleyball, Soccer, Golf and Tennis can continue their current levels of success in any conference and a more regional conference would drastically help our students with reduced travel.
Women's Basketball I would lump into this same category as CUSA doesn't have any prestige in this category either.

Winning on the road has always been difficult for us in CUSA in all sports. Its expensive and without football, is there really any income streams CUSA is going to be pulling in from non-football sports. We don't have enough basketball power in CUSA to warrant much of a media deal.

Softball: Our girls deserve a top-notch conference to compete against.
Men's Basketball: Memphis is the only real opponent to sell a recruit on playing against. UAB, UTEP, Tulsa... sorry, i don't think Lebo is winning over any recruits by talking these competitors up.
Baseball: Rice, USM, Tulane... this company will be dearly missed the most of all.

People are saying CUSA should start inviting other non-football playing schools in but really, for us, what purpose is there in staying in CUSA IF this football alliance is indeed a seperate intity.

(10-17-2011 11:23 AM)PiKappWags Wrote:  People are saying CUSA should start inviting other non-football playing schools in but really, for us, what purpose is there in staying in CUSA IF this football alliance is indeed a seperate intity.

I hadn't even considered this as a possibility, but dang...that's not a half bad idea. Our travel issue isn't with football, it's with the non-revenue sports. If we could keep football in the Alliance and move everything else to a more regional conference, we might come out with a win-win.

I'd be hesistant to do so until we know the whole Alliance thing will work and be stable, but...yeah, that's a pretty sharp idea.

The problem with split affiliation membership is that the entity as a whole can't make good decisions.

Oh dear oh dear....

Missouri to the SEC doesn't win me over.
I realize they are the best market option for the SEC without raiding the ACC but...
it just doesn't make a splash in my opinion

I think the timing of all this has sucked for us but what more can we do in our situation to try to convince people how much freaking potential there was in us with the markets of this state. We were doing everything possible. Our olympic complex is top notch and our investments in basketball are there too.

I think we could still position ourselves for imaginary spot number 15 but its SO hard to do so without the conference affiliations to start with. This is why I think we have to go independent in football and work out our own bowl tie-ins and our own television market. Being isolated out here on the east coast will still hurt our ability to grow and market ourselves even if we land in a large all-state encompassing "Alliance"

For the midwest schools and the west schools, the alliance works. But for us it just doesn't. We're too isolated. We are like the Hawaii of the Atlantic Coast. We should almost approach the NCAA and ask for our own 13 game waiver.

The one thing I would look back on and say we should've done better is aligning ourselves through OOC matchups with the Big East or SEC over the last couple of years. We needed to be familiarizing either the big east schools or the SEC schools with East Carolina Baseball, Softball, Basketball and Football better.

If we can find a suitable home (and currently I don't see a great fit in any of the CAA/A10/BigSouth) for our other sports then we only really have the hellish task of scheduling for football. It is only 12 games people. Is it really that hard to do? Surely we could scrape together some form of television contract that would pay out close to what a wounded CUSA could deliver for us and our travel expenses would be reduced drastically to help offset any loss. A Bowl Game deal should be rather easy. We travel well people and why wouldn't the regional bowls be interested in us?

10 from Virginia Tech, NCState, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke, South Carolina, Navy, Virginia, West Virginia, Central Florida, South Florida, Memphis, UAB, Marshall, Southern Mississippi, Army....
2 from JMU, ODU, Appalachian, Richmond, William and Mary, Liberty, Furman, Georgia State, FIU, FAU, Troy...
(we wont pay cupcakes but we will sign 2and 1s and return visits)

I think we can do it people: We'll never have 7 home games but I think we can get 6 with an ANNUAL Charlotte Game (which I feel we should make it).

Use Charlotte for SEC teams only. Try to build a potential game in Washington DC against BigTen Opponents too! You can't tell me those schools wouldn't be slightly interested in a DC game? We just need to make sure Charlotte games are "Home" Games where we have more control like I stated in a rant above. Use DC as more of a neutral game like Charlotte has been.

We have to rise above this current BS with a new vigor and aggressiveness.

Have we applied to the Big XII yet?

Furthermore...

a new thought/question for the day:

The Big East Basketball Schools are against most all-sports additions. I'm not at all surprised by this. If it weren't for the AQ status: Do you think the current BigEast Football Members would be interested in Football-only membership elsewhere?

UCONN and Rutgers dont want to leave their basketball conference for CUSA and I don't blame them. But what if they could keep everything else in the Big East and just move their football teams out into a new home. I think a football only conference (or Alliance) is the best option for eveyone else left out of the "major conferences".

A seperate football alliance. Completely Seperate. The Big East Remains as it was (no 'watering down' of the basketball)... CUSA remains... MWC remains...
USF and UCF would still be in seperate conferences...
No drastic travel for olympic sports!
The only sport traveling is Football!

This Seperate Conference would have to be created from scratch to succeed!!
The contract would be for football only meaning conference USA and the Big East etc would be forced to hunt down contracts for their sports without football... which will be a tough sell

Memphis could become a Big East Member (if louisville and cincy remained there)
Marshall might be in a tough spot if WVU is helping found this new conference.
other schools like UAB, Tulane, Rice... would likely be left behind.

Would schools NOT do it because it might hurt their other sports? I doubt it because the money this football entity might be able to garner would still help fund their other sports and they'd be saving so much money by finding regional homes for other sports.

I like an 14 team alliance personally: 2 7 team divisions with maximum OOC scheduling allowed.