(09-24-2013 11:53 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  Yeah but that wasn't because you joined a conference that was too good for your program. It was because the program fell apart right as the competition got better.

Totally agree.

(09-24-2013 12:14 PM)kardphan Wrote:  

(09-24-2013 11:53 AM)adcorbett Wrote:  Yeah but that wasn't because you joined a conference that was too good for your program. It was because the program fell apart right as the competition got better.

Totally agree.

+2. The handling of the Huggins/Andy Kennedy terminations cost UC a lot of support, both in terms of season ticket holders and $$$. To this date there are still people in Greater Cincinanti who hold a grudge against Cincinnati because of it. It is pretty sad considering the president, AD and most of the member of the BOT's who were involved in the deal are no longer here.

(09-23-2013 03:07 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(09-23-2013 11:35 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-23-2013 11:31 AM)SMUfrat Wrote:  To the Big East holdovers: Nothing has changed in a way... You are still in the 6th best conference football wise.

True, except that had we remained in a Power conference we'd stand to be getting about $30 million a year in media and playoff money rather than $5 million a year. And we'd still have the intangible prestige of being regarded as in the "big time" of college football. Minor details, i know, but still ...

Fact is the Big East was getting paid 3 million a year while the rest of the AQ conferences were getting 14-20 million. The Big East has never been paid a whole lot better than it is now. It did have the potential to close that gap some, but it couldn't hold together long enough to get paid. So media wise, the AAC is roughly where it has always been, closer to the G-5 in pay than the big boys. Where the AAC got hurt was the BCS money has dropped dramatically relative to the other the AQ conferences. It now makes about as much as all the other non-AQ conferences---that hurts.

Yes, the Big East was making peanuts media money but for much of the BCS era so was everyone else. E.g., as recently as 2007, the SEC was making just $5.8 million per school per year for its media rights with ESPN and CBS. And, had we stayed together our pay would have been boosted into that same upper range, as we had a 2011 offer from ESPN of $13.5 million per year. And had we remained AQ under the playoffs, that's another $10 million to $15 million per school for playoffs and bowl money.

IOW's, the left-behinds, USF, Cincy and UConn, will lose AQ status just as really big money would have started rolling in. Schools like Rutgers and Pitt earned that piddling $3 million per year in media money as AQ in the Big East, but now will be cashing massive $20 million media checks and those huge playoff checks, while USF/Cincy/UConn will still be making peanuts as part of the "6th best conference".

It's a world of difference.

(09-24-2013 03:29 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-23-2013 03:07 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(09-23-2013 11:35 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-23-2013 11:31 AM)SMUfrat Wrote:  To the Big East holdovers: Nothing has changed in a way... You are still in the 6th best conference football wise.

True, except that had we remained in a Power conference we'd stand to be getting about $30 million a year in media and playoff money rather than $5 million a year. And we'd still have the intangible prestige of being regarded as in the "big time" of college football. Minor details, i know, but still ...

Fact is the Big East was getting paid 3 million a year while the rest of the AQ conferences were getting 14-20 million. The Big East has never been paid a whole lot better than it is now. It did have the potential to close that gap some, but it couldn't hold together long enough to get paid. So media wise, the AAC is roughly where it has always been, closer to the G-5 in pay than the big boys. Where the AAC got hurt was the BCS money has dropped dramatically relative to the other the AQ conferences. It now makes about as much as all the other non-AQ conferences---that hurts.

Yes, the Big East was making peanuts media money but for much of the BCS era so was everyone else. E.g., as recently as 2007, the SEC was making just $5.8 million per school per year for its media rights with ESPN and CBS. And, had we stayed together our pay would have been boosted into that same upper range, as we had a 2011 offer from ESPN of $13.5 million per year. And had we remained AQ under the playoffs, that's another $10 million to $15 million per school for playoffs and bowl money.

IOW's, the left-behinds, USF, Cincy and UConn, will lose AQ status just as really big money would have started rolling in. Schools like Rutgers and Pitt earned that piddling $3 million per year in media money as AQ in the Big East, but now will be cashing massive $20 million media checks and those huge playoff checks, while USF/Cincy/UConn will still be making peanuts as part of the "6th best conference".

It's a world of difference.

I still think its humorous that some people consider USF a "left-behind". Yes, technically they were in the Big East, a BCS Conference. But they barely arrive, and haven't been anywhere long enough to be considered "left-behind".

(09-24-2013 03:51 PM)PGPirate Wrote:  I still think its humorous that some people consider USF a "left-behind". Yes, technically they were in the Big East, a BCS Conference. But they barely arrive, and haven't been anywhere long enough to be considered "left-behind".

Well frankly, that's just an ignorant point of view. Our football became AQ at the same time Cincy did. Louisville too.

(09-24-2013 05:52 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-24-2013 03:51 PM)PGPirate Wrote:  I still think its humorous that some people consider USF a "left-behind". Yes, technically they were in the Big East, a BCS Conference. But they barely arrive, and haven't been anywhere long enough to be considered "left-behind".

Well frankly, that's just an ignorant point of view. Our football became AQ at the same time Cincy did. Louisville too.

If you use AQ as the only threshold. UL has been around 85 years longer than USF, 5 Top-25 final polls, seven bowl game streak and I am not even going to count the number of winning seasons, pre-BE.

Cincy had 112 years of history on you, including 8 bowl games pre-BE.

It is foolish to think USF is anywhere near those history wise.

USF lucked out being an up-and-coming FL team to replace Miami's southern presence. Nothing more, at that time.

(09-24-2013 06:22 PM)PGPirate Wrote:  

(09-24-2013 05:52 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-24-2013 03:51 PM)PGPirate Wrote:  I still think its humorous that some people consider USF a "left-behind". Yes, technically they were in the Big East, a BCS Conference. But they barely arrive, and haven't been anywhere long enough to be considered "left-behind".

Well frankly, that's just an ignorant point of view. Our football became AQ at the same time Cincy did. Louisville too.

If you use AQ as the only threshold.

Well yes, that was the threshold being discussed, not some others that allow you to take cheap potshots at USF.

(09-24-2013 05:52 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-24-2013 03:51 PM)PGPirate Wrote:  I still think its humorous that some people consider USF a "left-behind". Yes, technically they were in the Big East, a BCS Conference. But they barely arrive, and haven't been anywhere long enough to be considered "left-behind".

Well frankly, that's just an ignorant point of view. Our football became AQ at the same time Cincy did. Louisville too.

agree

(09-24-2013 09:58 AM)bearcatlawjd Wrote:  I would rather wins games more than anything else. I watched UC basketball die in the Big East when our president destroyed the program. Nobody in Cincinnati cared about playing Syracuse, Pitt, Notre Dame, and Georgetown when your team stinks. Give me NCAA tournament bids and 10 win football season in the American over what is happening to WVU in the Big XII.

dude...if Nancy Z hadn't fired Huggins and gutted the bball program (and yes, it probably needed to be done but I will never agree with HOW it was done) we would not have limped into the BE...we would have come in and competed right away. So your example is not a fair comparison.


Back to the football discussion...being king of the turds gets you nothing in football. People don't respect your 10 or 11 wins because 3/4 of them come against BS schools. The conference money sucks, the home opponents suck etc etc etc.

It's better for fans and the program to be a 7 or 8 win team in a P5 conference than a 10 win team in a POS G5 conference. And besides, because the long term money isn't there in a G5 conference, even if your team does win 10 games a year they won't for long because you will lose your coach to a P5 school.

I'd gladly be an Ole Miss or Kstate vs Boise.

The AAC will be the #6 conf, so for the new comers yes it helps. TV$ is way below what everyone was expecting before the B10 expansion, but the coverage will be very good. Right now this conf and the teams in it need the coverage. If things settle, and the BB remains as good as it looks as of today, and if the FB programs can to some degree separate from the rest of the Gang, Then TV $ should follow. Will it be P5 money?? no, not even close. But if we could become a solid tweener group, lets say 4.5 to 6 mil per school, it will be a very positive affiliation for those who are there, plus be the most likely jump up point for the P5 schools.