Ok say in all this crazy realignment stuff troy or south alabama are added. What are yoir thoughts?

Personally,

Don't mind one, but don't think that we need both. I personally wouldn't mind Troy.

I know that mobile is a "market" city and has the coast to offer as a visitation incentive. I think USA would cut into USM's recruiting territory. They have a history with UAB in basketball and many in Alabma are trying to make us rivals (which I don't see, but I'm sure some USM fans don't see UAB as a rival unitil we won 4 straight).

Troy is doing great in football and trying to come up in basketball. Not in a "market" city, but neither was Auburn. Personally I like the Troy and UAB rivalry. Troy's fans tend to travel well and I have started to see more of thier Alumni in Birmingham.

Oh Hell No



USA, I'm actually okay with... Kind of... they'd be a middle of the pack CUSA 2.0 or 3.0 team They're an improvement in basketball tradition over Tulane, SMU, ECU, FIU etc.They are of course a startup in football. I think WKU gets the nod first though

Troy, as the story goes; In 2005 when we were going through round 1 of realignment CUSA officials visited Troy, Alabama and looked around their campus. From that day forward the words "why don't we add Troy" will never be spoken in CUSA offices ever again. Their academics are horrendous. They have less students than RICE. They are like 1.5 hours away from civilization/ an airport. They only play football and have nothing else in their athletic department. Totally not worth it. They have no upside whatsoever. They don't fit in the with "metro" aspect of our conference. (I know La tech doesn't either)

The other issue is how close both schools are to USM and UAB ~2 & ~4 hours for each... (2 for TROY to UAB 4 for USA to UAB) and the inverse to hattiesberg

There is a silo in downtown Troy, such as it is.

On the road into Troy, you pass a barbecue joint with a lighted sign (a major attraction in Troy) showing a pig wearing lingerie and making a come-hither gesture with its trotter. I **** you not.

I have been to Troy. I have had Trojan women. I do not care to repeat either.

(12-07-2012 12:49 PM)mbelcher987 Wrote:  ...They have less students than RICE. ...

Rice has about 3,500 undergrads
Troy has about 23,000.

(12-07-2012 12:59 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:49 PM)mbelcher987 Wrote:  ...They have less students than RICE. ...

Rice has about 3,500 undergrads
Troy has about 23,000.

Interesting. Wiki lists 23k on the sidebar and only 9k in the main article.

Programs that are ambitious don't want their markets infringed upon. The exception would be a place like the MAC, where they are all fairly well established, have similar funding levels and are happy in the MAC with fellow MACs.
But without such a situation, having conference mates vote for market infringement onto your school, usually creates hard feelings.

I think they would both be great additions... after we get an invite to the Big East. Until then, no thank you.

(12-07-2012 01:11 PM)ICB Wrote:  I think they would both be great additions... after we get an invite to the Big East. Until then, no thank you.

I think you mis-spelled "Big 12."

(12-07-2012 01:04 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:59 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:49 PM)mbelcher987 Wrote:  ...They have less students than RICE. ...

Rice has about 3,500 undergrads
Troy has about 23,000.

Interesting. Wiki lists 23k on the sidebar and only 9k in the main article.

I think they are counting Troy University eClasses. You can get a degree without stepping into class ALA University of Phoenix.

(12-07-2012 12:59 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(12-07-2012 12:49 PM)mbelcher987 Wrote:  ...They have less students than RICE. ...

Rice has about 3,500 undergrads
Troy has about 23,000.

Troy has less than 10K students on campus. They have several international branches and on line students.

Troy brings NOTHING other than past football success (2+ years ago). USA is a sleeping giant in my opinion. They have always had a quality basketball program with great support, and that support will transition over to great football attendance numbers going forward. Plus, if you bring USA, I would imagine that CUSA would have a better shot at stealing the GoDaddy bid back from the Sun Belt in the next round of bowl negotiations.

If CUSA had to add two more now and it was up to me, I'd add Texas State and South Alabama and be done.

Hope ya'll don't mind a WKU fan posting here. Serious question.....sort of....If USA were brought into CUSA, how cool would that be for a USA fan....."Hey look, we own CUSA...even the conference is named after us."

BTW, I concur with my MT friend. USA is a sleeping giant.

My personal and completely biased opinion on future expansion possibilities.

WKU
Arkansas State
Texas State
NMSU
USA
ULALA
Georgia State
About 25 other FCS teams
ULM
Troy

WKU first, USA would be not too far behind, Troy would be after USA.

I agree--WKU and Arkansas State/Texas State are my first two choices.

I am not a fan of adding NMSU, particularly if UTEP goes west.

(12-07-2012 02:14 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  My personal and completely biased opinion on future expansion possibilities.

WKU
Arkansas State
Texas State
NMSU
USA
ULALA
Georgia State
About 25 other FCS teams
ULM
Troy

There is no doubt in my mind that Troy and ULM are at the back of the line.

(12-07-2012 02:14 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  My personal and completely biased opinion on future expansion possibilities.

WKU
Arkansas State
Texas State
NMSU
USA
ULALA
Georgia State
About 25 other FCS teams
ULM
Troy

My Guess...No particular order:


Arkansas State
Texas State
Delaware
James Madison
Western Kentucky
Georgia State
Missouri State

no to USa
HELL NO TO TROY ST

(12-07-2012 02:10 PM)WKUApollo Wrote:  Hope ya'll don't mind a WKU fan posting here. Serious question.....sort of....If USA were brought into CUSA, how cool would that be for a USA fan....."Hey look, we own CUSA...even the conference is named after us."

BTW, I concur with my MT friend. USA is a sleeping giant.

Forget USA...

I want you guys.