The Sun Belt had to add New Mexico State and Idaho for football just to get to 11 teams and still can't have a conference title game.

That is all that has to be said....

I would tend to say that the media market plays a huge role in how attractive a school is to a conference. The AAC certainly didn't take SMU, Tulsa, and Tulane for football...or even basketball...

Middle Tennessee hits the Nashville market, Charlotte (obvious), ODU hits the coastal VA market, FIU/FAU the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale market...WKU is in a much smaller area, but serves as a travel partner for MTSU...UTSA (obvious), and UNT has a pretty strong following in Northern TX.

The defections from CUSA are done for the forseeable future, and the only reason I could think of adding any more would be to execute pod scheduling for basketball. Chuck Landon thought ASU and The Rajun Cajuns would be good additions.

But after the ASU AD(umbass) shot his mouth off...he also might have shot them in the foot (assuming there ever will be discussion on the matter)

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  So a school with an athletic budget around $17M is looking at schools with budgets in the $45M range as peers? Cool story, bro.

Here are a couple of painful facts for ASU and UL fans.

1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

2. If C-USA ever expands again with Sun Belt schools, it won't be with UL or ASU.

Was the SBC better than CUSA last year? To me the top of CUSA was better and the bottom of the SBC was better. The SBC was just average across the board and had a bunch of 6-6 teams.

However, going forward, $ and facilities win out and those are superior in CUSA.

The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

Did you listen to the audio/interview? And you still believe that?

(06-24-2014 12:37 PM)Ragu Wrote:  The Sun Belt had to add New Mexico State and Idaho for football just to get to 11 teams and still can't have a conference title game.

That is all that has to be said....

You can thank WKU's Administration for that. They were the big push to get to 12.

My understanding is that he would go to 14 if the right teams were involved. But there wont be any reaches to get that 12th team. And I still think Idaho is headed out the door in a few years.

[quote='Ragu' pid='10857178' dateline='1403631441']
The Sun Belt had to add New Mexico State and Idaho for football just to get to 11 teams and still can't have a conference title game.

That is all that has to be said....

(/quote]
If the SBC wanted a 12th team for football UMass was available. The SBC is going a different direction concerning the conference title game.

(06-24-2014 12:26 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 10:50 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 09:21 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Happy to get away from Ark. St. fans, most of them sound just as delusional as their AD does....Surprised he didn't say what the other Ark. St. fans said last season that we did not really win the game last year on the football field and they will always have a extra win since they were robbed at WKU, haha....Conveient they did not get an invite and now when its not coming they turn into this....They would have been in CUSA in a second if they were invited when WKU was...And because of his comments I hope they are happy in the Sun Belt because they will be in the SB for a long time after his comments...

Yea Georgia Southern is equal to WKU!!! LMAO....These statements is what is wrong with the Sun Belt and glad we got out.....FOOTBALL is not they only sport, BASKETBALL is a sport you can do very well in and represent and make money for your conf...If he is this mad in June a year after it happened, wonder what he really thought when all this went down a few years ago...

Everything I have heard from talking to people within our Athletic Department is that there was never mutual interest between the two parties. Our primary interest in the league was at a time when Memphis was still a member. Once they left, my understanding is that we began to focus on growing our own budget and program.

This is not the first time he has taken pot shots at CUSA. If anyone listened to the actual interview, he spent a good half of that hour long segment constantly listing Houston, UCF, SMU, and Memphis as comparisons of where he plans for our program to be.

Nice and all, but Jonesboro Arkansas is at a disadvantage when compared to Houston, Orlando, Dallas and Memphis? Doubt Ark st. will ever grow a budget like those schools especially in a Sun Belt conf. that is looking for a 12th member and references of EKU thrown in....I guess your AD is waiting for Big 12 membership...If you read the Sun Belt board we do all know that Ark. St. is the voice of the conf. since they have had 3 great seasons in football for the first time in their schools history...

We're not waiting for membership. We're beginning massive construction projects for new facilities, increasing our donor numbers, and working to bring Olympic Sports up to standard while continuing to make our football program even stronger.

The reality is, moving to CUSA or the MAC is not going to help us grow our athletic budget. It would probably cost us money in the long run given the lack of knowledge of most CUSA and MAC schools in Arkansas.

He was hired to increase our athletic budget to a point that its closer to what most G5 schools have. So far, he's doing his job in that department.

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  So a school with an athletic budget around $17M is looking at schools with budgets in the $45M range as peers? Cool story, bro.

Here are a couple of painful facts for ASU and UL fans.

1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

2. If C-USA ever expands again with Sun Belt schools, it won't be with UL or ASU.

Was the SBC better than CUSA last year? To me the top of CUSA was better and the bottom of the SBC was better. The SBC was just average across the board and had a bunch of 6-6 teams.

However, going forward, $ and facilities win out and those are superior in CUSA.

The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

ASU's AD has been talking out of both sides of his mouth for a while now hasn't he? Wasn't he recently (2 yrs) touting the Sun Belt as the savior of the G5 BECAUSE of schools like MTSU and WKU???? And now he's bashing them???

And hell yes, ASU would take a CUSA invite...I wouldn't trust a thing that guy says.

(06-24-2014 01:20 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:37 PM)Ragu Wrote:  The Sun Belt had to add New Mexico State and Idaho for football just to get to 11 teams and still can't have a conference title game.

That is all that has to be said....

You can thank WKU's Administration for that. They were the big push to get to 12.

My understanding is that he would go to 14 if the right teams were involved. But there wont be any reaches to get that 12th team. And I still think Idaho is headed out the door in a few years.

Right...everything is WKU's fault. Just like it was WKU that was keeping NMST out as a full member and we see that just wasn't the case.

So let me get this right according to ASU fans (I guess what Arkstfan told you) WKU would vote to have NMST in for football...pushed it. But then we turned around and blocked them as a basketball member.

Is that the way you were told? We are a basketball school with hopes of being both...football and basketball. So you see how that hogwash sounds?

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  So a school with an athletic budget around $17M is looking at schools with budgets in the $45M range as peers? Cool story, bro.

Here are a couple of painful facts for ASU and UL fans.

1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

2. If C-USA ever expands again with Sun Belt schools, it won't be with UL or ASU.

Was the SBC better than CUSA last year? To me the top of CUSA was better and the bottom of the SBC was better. The SBC was just average across the board and had a bunch of 6-6 teams.

However, going forward, $ and facilities win out and those are superior in CUSA.

The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

(06-24-2014 01:18 PM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

Did you listen to the audio/interview? And you still believe that?

I told my boss I was happy in my position once during a review. Two months later I was gone. People don't always speak truth.

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  So a school with an athletic budget around $17M is looking at schools with budgets in the $45M range as peers? Cool story, bro.

Here are a couple of painful facts for ASU and UL fans.

1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

2. If C-USA ever expands again with Sun Belt schools, it won't be with UL or ASU.

Was the SBC better than CUSA last year? To me the top of CUSA was better and the bottom of the SBC was better. The SBC was just average across the board and had a bunch of 6-6 teams.

However, going forward, $ and facilities win out and those are superior in CUSA.

The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Wow, NMSU is getting a horrible return on investment.

(06-24-2014 01:36 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:18 PM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

Did you listen to the audio/interview? And you still believe that?

I told my boss I was happy in my position once during a review. Two months later I was gone. People don't always speak truth.

Sounds like the review didn't go as well as you thought.

(06-24-2014 01:31 PM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  ASU's AD has been talking out of both sides of his mouth for a while now hasn't he? Wasn't he recently (2 yrs) touting the Sun Belt as the savior of the G5 BECAUSE of schools like MTSU and WKU???? And now he's bashing them???

And hell yes, ASU would take a CUSA invite...I wouldn't trust a thing that guy says.

If you think we would take a CUSA invite in a heart beat, you don't know Arkansas State very well. We don't do anything unless it is 100 percent proven that we will gain money and exposure for our brand.

And to be completely fair, in the entire hour long interview he took shots at Karl Benson, several SBC AD's, called a couple basketball coaches in the league out for wanting to take days off, mentioned how much the MAC Title game hurt Northern Illinois, then finished it off by taking shots at MTSU, WKU, Charlotte, ODU, and UTSA.

He says what he thinks. He went to Arkansas State, and is a huge fan. His weakness is that he sometimes goes off the reservation a bit, but his unconventional methods are widely believed to have saved us from an ugly football loss to Georgia State last season. No matter how much our idiot head coach tried to make it a loss.

(06-24-2014 01:35 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:26 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 01:14 PM)Cat79 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 12:33 PM)theboro Wrote:  So a school with an athletic budget around $17M is looking at schools with budgets in the $45M range as peers? Cool story, bro.

Here are a couple of painful facts for ASU and UL fans.

1. If C-USA ever offered membership, Banowsky wouldn't be able to finish the sentence before they accepted.

2. If C-USA ever expands again with Sun Belt schools, it won't be with UL or ASU.

Was the SBC better than CUSA last year? To me the top of CUSA was better and the bottom of the SBC was better. The SBC was just average across the board and had a bunch of 6-6 teams.

However, going forward, $ and facilities win out and those are superior in CUSA.

The SBC currently has teams with $30 million budgets and nice facilities. There are several other SBC teams increasing their future budgets and building improved facilities.

Name these "teams"? I agree with you there are a few SBC schools with nice football stadiums with TX St being the best and Troy coming in 2nd but other than those two (and I been to all of them that was in the conf last year ) not so nice. Basketball Texas Arlington has a really nice arena...super nice and again Troy has a really nice small arena but the others are dumps needing a ton of work

Texas State and New Mexico State both have over $30 million budgets and App St not far below that number.
UL and Ark State have upgrades to football facilities happening currently. Texas State has plans to renovate the basketball arena removing the wall and adding Suites and add locker rooms to both baseball and softball facilities. Georgia Southern has several projects underway.

Here's your problem...

NMST football only so you really count that? But that leads into the main problem with the SBC...

all they care about of should I say just about every school can't afford to play football and basketball fully supported. I understand the upgrades going on but still at ASU and UL-L you are walking down into a hole in the ground. C-USA may have a few of those...I hate it, it's not what I'm use to so that will always be a negative to me.

I won't bash the SBC, LOVED traveling to each school (other than Jonesboro...wasteland)because there are a number of larger cities to visit on the way..or beaches. But the huge difference is basketball. As for the "wall" please take it down. It totally jaded any opinion I could give of the TxSt basketball arena.

The only thing I have to say is...thank God this one is on the CUSA board. So knock yourselves out! Cheers.

The only thing I have to say is... thank God we aren't in the Sun Belt anymore!!

(06-24-2014 01:53 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  The only thing I have to say is... thank God we aren't in the Sun Belt anymore!!

Amen.

As long as the Sun Belt has half their league with budgets in the $12M-$20M range, no one is going to take them very seriously, I believe the only two CUSA programs with budgets of ~$20M are USM and La Tech.

I also do not believe any Sun Belt program would turn down a CUSA invite, Arkansas State would surprise me the least, but I cannot imagine that even the Mighty Red Wolves would be feeling too good about themselves and their conference if two other programs accepted.

Perhaps Arkansas State is really so committed to the Sun Belt that they'd turn CUSA down and take the risk that other schools accept, but I doubt it. How do you think they'd feel about the Sun Belt after Louisiana and South Alabama depart and they're looking at the likes of Lamar/SHSU/Liberty? Hell even if they just added Missouri State and sat at 10/12, I'm sure they'd regret turning down the invite.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, unless there are guarantees that they'll all decline, no one is declining.