(07-13-2015 02:12 PM)pesik Wrote:  you guys are having an extremely long debate on something that will never happen...
i cant think of a single team in c-usa that would approve this

#itstheoffseason

(07-12-2015 03:04 PM)eager eagle Wrote:  

USM will jump ship immediately prior to any vote on that if there is any indication it might be approved.
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There are 4 schools of thought at play, that would dictate such a decision. Their probabilities should be weighed accordingly.

1.) The probability that a "P5" invite comes. In this instance a 10 million exit fee will not dissuade them and USM would be free to go.

2.) The probability that another "G5" invite comes to USM. If this happens, the exit fee may impede USM leaving. However, we can all agree that the ADVANTAGES of being in one of those other conferences has been extraordinarily MINIMIZED.

3.) The probability that CUSA loses a program, other than USM. If we have no exit fee, and a program like UTEP, Charlotte, or ODU is poached after CUSA invested years after moving them up from fbs (to perhaps see them turn into a UCF), the result would be that USM is left again in a conference without a strong team(s) that is/are bringing attention to CUSA.

4.) Everyone stays. Everyone builds. Seems sound to me. Unless you don't believe in the potential of the current CUSA programs to stabilize and start making strides, this sounds like the only scenario that our fate is in our own hands.

#1 is a no brainer. #2 is a minimal gain. #3 is disaster (the proverbial ant hill getting stepped on.... again)

You think things can't get any worse? #3 has the much higher likelihood. If you think otherwise, you're smoking some good stuff.

#4 puts the power in our own hands.
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There is only ONE school of thought at USM and that concerns moving back into a league with our peers which would never happen if we weld ourselves to a bunch of swelled heads. Cusa is now comprised of a pack of newbies who are only here because the original group is gone, not because of their history, respect, etc but simply due to the panic mode of our commissioner as he grabbed whoever was willing to move in at the time. All of the newbies left one league or another to get here and I venture to say that another could be formed or we could join one from schools such as ULL, Ark State, S Ala, etc that would easily rival this hodgepodge of cusa teams with considerably less travel. That could suit USM just fine until our ducks are in a row (basketball facility).
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You are in a league with your peers. If that wasn't the case you would be in the AAC or a P5 conference right now.

(07-13-2015 01:03 PM)monarchoptimist Wrote:  

(07-13-2015 12:39 PM)BoKnows Wrote:  

(07-13-2015 11:54 AM)Fatalisk Wrote:  

(07-12-2015 03:52 PM)BoKnows Wrote:  

(07-12-2015 03:15 PM)Fatalisk Wrote:  Terrible idea.

How is it a terrible idea? If it saves the CUSA from getting poached, thereby making the MWC or MAC more vulnerable, that can only be a good thing.

The point is: With CUSA handing out fbs golden tickets left and right, there very well should be a stopgap for any further damage incurred from poaching, after we've pooled our resources into a long-term plan for CUSA.

Otherwise, the great majority of our programs will be back at square 1 again in a few years.

It is immoral to prohibit conference members from leaving.

Nobody is prohibiting anything. Large exit fees and signing GORs has become the price or poker in college athletics. They're a lot more common than fbs golden tickets, I'll tell you that much. ODU's rise to fbs was unusually fast.
The schools who've been here deserve some kind of recompense in any event. It's "immoral" to argue different. For a school like ODU to step over USM's body to another G5 conference without there being a heavy toll is criminal.

I'm gonna jump in on this one: the bolded is total garbage.

Any school that leaves CUSA doesn't owe the remaining schools anything. Yes, a reasonable exit fee should be paid to help the conference find a replacement and pay for any costs associated. A school leaving the conference isn't stepping over anyone. This isn't a caste system. Schools are free to associate with whomever they like and if certain schools that you feel have been a part of the "club" are upset about "getting stepped over" they should look in the mirror.

You guys have a very good chance of stepping over the rest of CUSA if there is an AAC opening. You are in the right geographic area, have great attendance, solid success in the field, are in a good recruiting area and you have a fairly large market with no real competition. I could be wrong here but seems to me your in the same boat as Louisville. Your market is big enough to generate a lot of demand but not so big that it generates competition from big time pro sports (see the Charlotte market). Seems like in Norfolk and the tidewater you are the big ticket.