(03-28-2014 12:03 PM)stever20 Wrote: Just a thought but given the timing of this thread, I wonder if UMass had said yes to the MAC all sports if JMU would have been brought in as #14.
I expect so ... if UMass had exercised their option to join the MAC all-sports, the MAC would have wanted a 14th all-sports school to add to the Eastern division, since 8 conference games with two 7 school divisions does not fit well with locked cross-division games between Toledo and Bowling Green, and if the Eastern division schools got better Eastern exposure, the western schools would want their games played in Ohio to be maintained, which two Ohio schools in-division accomplishes.
And JMU would have been the best candidate for that 14th school added to the Eastern division ... not a bad location for OhioU, Kent and Akron, not great location for MiamiU or Buffalo but better than most alternatives for MiamiU, history with UMass in the old A10 FB conference and its successor CAA-FB, location in Virginia, a football recruiting ground in line with Ohio.
(03-28-2014 01:37 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote: No pressure on the MAC...and it looks like they play a good game of cards over there.
Yeah, we found out that the MAC had exercised their option about a month after they exercised it, at about the same time that UMass publicly released their response ... a substantial contrast to the old Big East, which leaked like a sieve.
The MAC is in a strong position to wait and see and move if an opportunity arises that ESPN says is worth some extra money. So with respect to the actual thread topic, since making sure that a contingency was in place in the event UMass exercised it option would explain the rumblings from Harrisonburg (and why they were rumblings rather than actual announcements), I expect a move by JMU to the MAC is less likely to be imminent.
Of course, if Army decides it wants to join a conference, but not Navy's conference, the whole eastern expansion strategy gets put right back on the table, but barring that, it could be back on the back burner.