(07-05-2014 09:14 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 06:56 PM)pcm0103 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 04:40 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 04:11 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Winning games

If you are hoping on Banowski to do some branding for CUSA.... I hope you aren't holding your breath.... he really hasn't tried to advance the CUSA brand. He did get some good bowl for the conference and he did manage to keep the conference from totally deteriorating from reallignment losses but he has not advanced the brand.

And, I'd say, also getting your fans to the games that they play. TV coverage or not, having a good crowd at your games shows fans are buying into what you are selling and also it looks better for the PR of the conference to show full stadiums/arenas.

Why do ECU fans still post here when most of you couldn't wait for your program to get out of this suck azz conference y'all continually whined about?

Probably the same reason some of your fans are on the AAC board?

Still didn't answer the question.

How about this. You answer my question, I'll answer yours then we will compare answers.

Who cares who posts here as long as they're adding to the conversation.... it's a message board, not the boosters!

(07-05-2014 01:23 PM)NTXCoog Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 07:49 AM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  I rarely see any public discussion out of the Conference office on how to develop the brand, so I thought I'd start a discussion here on what it would take to improve the perceived reputation of C-USA. I think we all want our conference to improve and be recognized for being an important presence. But how do we do it?

BTW, I'm hoping this thread doesn't de-generate into a measuring "sticks" comparison with other conferences. Let's stick with a discussion on C-USA.

How do we develop our brand over the next 5 years and increase the public perception of our Conference?

As I see it, in no particular order:

1. Schedule and win OOC conference games in both football and basketball. Playing "paycheck" games that give us virtually no chance to win isn't going to help much.
2. Win other G5 games in all sports. Head to head comparisons will be important.
3. Winning bowl games in football
4. Multi-bids to NCAA tournaments in MBB, WBB and baseball.
5. Gaining ground in our television contract when next negotiated
6. Solid TV package for major sports
7. Maintaining a minimum of 5 bowl tie ins.
8. Being in the post-season discussion every year.
9. Improving the overall competition in all sports. All teams cycle through as winning teams with no long term bottom dwellers in any sport.
10. Building budgets for all sports and increasing attendance figures.

Thoughts on these, or add your own. What will it take?

I'm an AAC school fan, but this topic could apply to any G5 conference.

My biggest problem with this list is they are results oriented goals and not action goals. Everyone can say win all games and increase attendance and TV viewership is the goal results, but how do you do that?

Only #1 has an actionable goal: Schedule winnable OOC games especially against the P5 and don't schedule paycheck games.

So what are the actions that can be taken to increase wins?
Schedule weaker?
Higher better coaches?
Better training facilities?
Improve recruiting? (That may require more action plans)

And what actions can be taken to increase attendance/TV viewership?
Schedule big name opponents? (Might contradict weaker schedule above)
Schedule other local teams? (Might help attendance but might not improve TV viewership)
Marketing? (Attendance only)
Local business tie ins? (Attendance only)
Winning? (see above)

I'm not trying to denigrate your list because those are the end results you want to achieve, but I think you need something more practical to actually achieve those goals.

Very good list, but I would like to add a few.


Upgrade OOC basketball scheduling in order to increase RPI and hopefully get more NCAA bids.

Increase our social media presence.

Have a member school gain the access bowl early in this new process. We need to get the access bowl early and often. Then we need to win some of those games.

I've been bashed on this board in the past for arguing this very thing that this conference has no plans. No offense intended but winning is everybody's goal and sometimes that isn't enough (look at USM's past success). That is why I am not excited about CUSA but that is nothing new.

SMTTT

Besides the obvious (qualifying for and winning the Access Bowl, beating P5 schools, winning bowl games, making a Sweet 16 or better) . . .

CUSA and the American overlap teams in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee & North Carolina. And they compete in several bordering states.

For CUSA to get anywhere, the CUSA teams need to win the majority of their games against American teams. Perferably, the top American teams. And preferably in-state rivals or border-state rivals. Simple as that. Until then, they will be regarded as an inferior conference since the American is comprised of teams who left CUSA.

There are only four such games scheduled this year:

UTSA @ Houston
Middle Tenn @ Memphis
SMU @ North Texas
Tulsa @ Florida Atlantic

That's too small a sample size to make a dent. At least three of the games are in-state. But only one of those games (UTSA at Houston) is against a top American squad.

CUSA should be trying to schedule more American teams than that. And more top American teams.

Bottom line, the stigma of being a leftover conference needs to be erased on the playing field.

(07-06-2014 12:43 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  UTSA @ Houston
Middle Tenn @ Memphis
SMU @ North Texas
Tulsa @ Florida Atlantic

But only one of those games (UTSA at Houston) is against a top American squad.

Are you saying that 3 of the 4 - Memphis, SMU, and Tulsa - are not top AAC teams?

So we need to beat them because they left, but it doesn't matter if we beat them because they aren't very good?

Sounds like damned if you do, damned if you don't. Since it doesn't matter, might as well go 4/4.

We don't improve perception by beating AAC teams. We improve perception by beating P5 teams in football. That means scheduling mid to lower tier P5 teams. If a C-USA team gets a home game vs. a P5 team, we have to take advantage of it. A nice start would be Marshall running the table and winning a host bowl. It also means placing our top bowl teams to play P5 opponents. This year that means Dallas and Shreveport.

We need all of our schools to commit to building good basketball programs. With such a narrow margin for error on Selection Sunday, we can't afford to have any C-USA teams that are RPI killers. I think the commish should financially penalize schools who finish 200+ in the RPI. We've gotta find a way to become a multi-bid league again. I think we are close and will improve. And then we need some luck for a run in the Big Dance.

Outside of football results vs. P5 and the Big Dance in MBB, I don't think there's anything else that really matters perception-wise.

(07-05-2014 09:31 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 09:15 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 09:00 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 04:40 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 04:11 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Winning games

If you are hoping on Banowski to do some branding for CUSA.... I hope you aren't holding your breath.... he really hasn't tried to advance the CUSA brand. He did get some good bowl for the conference and he did manage to keep the conference from totally deteriorating from reallignment losses but he has not advanced the brand.

And, I'd say, also getting your fans to the games that they play. TV coverage or not, having a good crowd at your games shows fans are buying into what you are selling and also it looks better for the PR of the conference to show full stadiums/arenas.

Why do ECU fans still post here when most of you couldn't wait for your program to get out of this suck azz conference y'all continually whined about?

Why don't you answer the OP question like I did?

I did. 2nd response. Now how about answering my question.

Fun with Charlie Sheen pics? lol.

I can post in any forum I want to here. And I offered a opinion/answer to the OP question.

My Charlie Sheen pic said in one word what took you over 100 words to say. And no said you couldn't post here. I ask why do you continue to post here when you and others ECU posters wanted nothing to do with CUSA?

(07-05-2014 09:54 PM)pcm0103 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 09:14 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 06:56 PM)pcm0103 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 04:40 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 04:11 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Winning games

If you are hoping on Banowski to do some branding for CUSA.... I hope you aren't holding your breath.... he really hasn't tried to advance the CUSA brand. He did get some good bowl for the conference and he did manage to keep the conference from totally deteriorating from reallignment losses but he has not advanced the brand.

And, I'd say, also getting your fans to the games that they play. TV coverage or not, having a good crowd at your games shows fans are buying into what you are selling and also it looks better for the PR of the conference to show full stadiums/arenas.

Why do ECU fans still post here when most of you couldn't wait for your program to get out of this suck azz conference y'all continually whined about?

Probably the same reason some of your fans are on the AAC board?

Still didn't answer the question.

How about this. You answer my question, I'll answer yours then we will compare answers.

How about since I asked my question first you start off.

(07-06-2014 01:23 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 09:54 PM)pcm0103 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 09:14 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 06:56 PM)pcm0103 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 04:40 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  Why do ECU fans still post here when most of you couldn't wait for your program to get out of this suck azz conference y'all continually whined about?

Probably the same reason some of your fans are on the AAC board?

Still didn't answer the question.

How about this. You answer my question, I'll answer yours then we will compare answers.

How about since I asked my question first you start off.

There is actually some good discussion on this topic if you can mange to sort though all this sophmoric behavior.

I hate to say this for CUSA but I am not sure there is a way to change the leagues perception….Not enough college sports fans pay close enough attention for this to happen. Remember, perception is reality.

Over the years CUSA has already accomplished many of the items people have listed yet the league really never received the publicity and recognition that it deserved.

No one knows what would have happened if the core schools would have stuck around but it is very interesting to see how many "CUSA" schools were perceived once they left the conference. The AAC has one huge advantage over CUSA at this point, it is a new brand and to some degree we are actually in the process of building our brand and how we will be perceived….But honestly it makes no difference how we perform against the "Power 5" conferences we will still be perceived as inferior. Unfortunately there is not a lot you can do to change how others perceive you.

(07-05-2014 08:46 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Just win, baby.

If we win enough, all else will follow.

Owl, this is not directed at you or anyone else in particular so please don't take this the wrong way.

But I loathe that statement. You hear it on message boards all the time. What a cliche. What a pointless platitude.

Just win. It is as simple as that right? Why didn't we think of that before? None of us were trying to win!

It's like a metaphorical mouse asking how to be a lion and you tell him to 'just go be a lion baby!'

Of course we need to win more. But the original poster was asking is there anything we can do, is there any mechanism we can put in place or systematic change we can make that will create and promote a culture of winning? If so what is that?

I would also like to see the conference think outside of the box, be innovative. Be a trend setter.

There is very little any G5 conf can do. There is a perceived pecking order, and it really almost never changes. You likely will improve Tv some, but not enough to matter. The AAC is in the exact same boat. We likely will do a look in on TV deal and even if nothing happens then we have a short TV deal by design. Even if we did and extension at look in we won't do more than a double of current deal. That would keep us at a solid #6, but not really do anything to gain on the P5.

Recruiting tends to follow the trickle down as well, a school may occasionally have a great year, but if you could # conf 1 to 9 you usually get a pretty good look at recruiting as well. Great coaching hires are a crap shoot that can help, but they usually will leave for bigger pastures.

(07-05-2014 12:30 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  Start with a Commissioner who isn't an empty suit.

Commish can't win games, though, and when it gets right down to nut cutting time that's what it will take to turn the tide.

Good, I won't be the only one to post this! Fire Brittney!

(07-05-2014 07:49 AM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  I rarely see any public discussion out of the Conference office on how to develop the brand, so I thought I'd start a discussion here on what it would take to improve the perceived reputation of C-USA. I think we all want our conference to improve and be recognized for being an important presence. But how do we do it?

We can make a leap forward in three easy steps:

1. Rice beats Notre Dame or Texas A&M and then runs the table heading into the Marshall game (can also be North Texas beating SMU and Indiana and running the table with 1 loss to Texas, or UTSA beating Houston, Arizona, and New Mexico and running the table with 1 loss to Oklahoma State).
2. Marshall has their undefeated season, so the Rice game and/or C-USA championship is between two ranked teams.
3. C-USA claims the first Access Bowl spot and wins the game.

I am a huge Marshall fan in 2014.

(07-06-2014 10:37 AM)ESE84 Wrote:  

(07-05-2014 07:49 AM)Cnelson203 Wrote:  I rarely see any public discussion out of the Conference office on how to develop the brand, so I thought I'd start a discussion here on what it would take to improve the perceived reputation of C-USA. I think we all want our conference to improve and be recognized for being an important presence. But how do we do it?

We can make a leap forward in three easy steps:

1. Rice beats Notre Dame or Texas A&M and then runs the table heading into the Marshall game (can also be North Texas beating SMU and Indiana and running the table with 1 loss to Texas, or UTSA beating Houston, Arizona, and New Mexico and running the table with 1 loss to Oklahoma State).
2. Marshall has their undefeated season, so the Rice game and/or C-USA championship is between two ranked teams.
3. C-USA claims the first Access Bowl spot and wins the game.

I am a huge Marshall fan in 2014.

If Rice goes into the regular season Marshall game with only one loss vs. an undefeated Marshall, I am more a Rice fan.

If it is Marshall v. anybody in the Conference championship game, I hope they only have one loss between them.

But to heck with hope - let's play the games. Good luck to everybody OOC.

There are only two sports that matter for perception and that is football and bball. This is not a complete list, but in no particular order CUSA needs to:
1- pimp the hell out of the bball history/tradition/stats of the member schools (both men and women)
2-Get EVERYBODY in the conference on the same page on how to play the RPI scheduling game to help with at-large bids and better seeding in March.
3- develop a smart social media strategy (this also ties into #1). Social media is just part of the world we live in today. #likeitornot
4 - EVERYBODY in the conference must adopt the "Wood Selig" clause in the contract of coaches and ADs. Wood Selig (current AD at ODU, former AD at WKU) put in our coaches contracts that if a school from a "power" conference hires one of our coaches or AD, they must have a home and home series between the new school and the one they were just hired from. That is how WKU was able to get GA, South Carolina and Ole Miss to play bball games in Bowling Green.

That is my $0.02 beyond the obvious answers of growing budgets, TV contract, maintaining/increasing bowl games, increasing attendance and just winning more.

(07-06-2014 06:27 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  But I loathe that statement. You hear it on message boards all the time. What a cliche. What a pointless platitude.

Just win. It is as simple as that right? Why didn't we think of that before? None of us were trying to win!

It's like a metaphorical mouse asking how to be a lion and you tell him to 'just go be a lion baby!'

Of course we need to win more. But the original poster was asking is there anything we can do, is there any mechanism we can put in place or systematic change we can make that will create and promote a culture of winning? If so what is that?

I would also like to see the conference think outside of the box, be innovative. Be a trend setter.

Interesting thought, but I would think that winning would equate to not wanting to but doing it... a lot of the teams in CUSA haven't had winning seasons in a long time. A lot of the "upstarts" are gearing up to D1 play. ODU has been a winner at 1AA so I think it will be more a adjusting to D1A play. UTSA's uptick has surprised me.

(07-06-2014 12:29 PM)PirateTreasureNC Wrote:  Interesting thought, but I would think that winning would equate to not wanting to but doing it... a lot of the teams in CUSA haven't had winning seasons in a long time. A lot of the "upstarts" are gearing up to D1 play. ODU has been a winner at 1AA so I think it will be more a adjusting to D1A play. UTSA's uptick has surprised me.

A lot? UAB and UTEP, yes. I think everyone else has been a winner at least as recently as 2011.