In the whole expansion game, one of the metrics that's been cited as not being in UC's favor is our overall sports portfolio. Varsity Village has been a huge step in correcting this, and the restoration of scholarships recently has been another. I take an occasional glance at the Directors' Cup standings, which essentially awards points based upon placement in NCAA tournament events. It isn't the perfect measure of a program, but does give some idea of success. Anyway, this has been the first time in a few years where UC has scored points in more than three sports in one academic year. To date, we've received points for football, men's basketball, women's swimming, and men's indoor track. We're currently 110th nationally (a considerable improvement over previous years) and 5th in the AAC.

For what it's worth, here's the link - http://www.nacda.com/directorscup/nacda-...oring.html

No question, this remains a weakness in UC's case for advancing to a P5 conference. It's largely a resource allocation issue; the Bearcats have had strong, competitive football and men's basketball programs for several years now; that tide hasn't lifted the other boats.

But glancing at two other schools mentioned prominently for expansion, BYU comes in @ 34; UCONN @ 57. I don't think it keeps UC out of the B12 if that moves forward, but a better profile could help if opportunities arise elsewhere.

P5 schools definitely have many "built-in" advantages for Olympic sports: long established rivalries, more money for scholarships, and often, campuses where students will attend these events because they don't have all the other entertainment opportunities that we're blessed with in the metro area.