RE: Strike NOW. American needs to get the best of what's left.
If Cincinnati gets a Big 12 invite, how important is a presence in Ohio for the AAC moving forward?
I'm guessing the league would like to have an Ohio school in the footprint considering it is a top 10 state in terms of both football and basketball recruiting, and even if Cincinnati goes P5, the state would still just have two schools above the MAC level ... something that, IMO, has helped (and will continue to help) Cincinnati build its football program to the point where it is at least on the cusp of the Big 12.
If having an Ohio footprint is important, why not add one of the Cleveland area MAC schools (Akron or Kent State)? Either would be longer-term projects, due to lack of football success/attendance, but both have their pros:
Market: You'd be trading the No. 36 market (Cincinnati) for the No. 18 market (Cleveland). And Akron-Kent is the only in-market competition between each other for football (Cleveland State is there in hoops). While neither are technically in the "Cleveland" portion of the market, the Cleveland market stretches more north-south from Cleveland to Canton ... and both Akron and Kent are right around the market's population epicenter.
Recruiting: Northeast Ohio (Cleveland) produces slightly more talent than Southwest Ohio (Cincinnati). For basketball, Northeast Ohio produces a lot more talent.
Basketball: Akron has easily been the top MAC program for the past decade (one of five schools in the nation to win at least 21 games the past 11 years); Kent has fallen off a bit when it was the top team in the league for the early to mid parts of the 2000s, but still probably No. 2 in the league (with only Ohio having an argument to fall in that spot).
Overall athletics: Akron and Kent are easily the top two performing athletic departments in the MAC. And taking out BYU and a couple of Mountain West schools, they are the only two non-P5 schools east of the Mississippi who can compete with the upper AAC teams in the Director's Cup standings. Over the last three years, Akron would have averaged as the No. 2 AAC team in Director's Cup standings (just behind UConn); Kent would average as No. 5.
Academics: While neither are elite like Rice, or as highly ranked as Miami, Buffalo or Massachusetts, they are both large national-level research universities on par with the majority of the AAC (or other schools in the discussion for the AAC). Both have about 25,000 on main campuses ... Kent has a system-wide enrollment of about 41,000 and Akron about 30,000. While Kent has the larger enrollment, Akron has a sizable $240 million endowment, compared to about $90 million for Kent. Both schools have about 125,000 living alums in the market.
Facilities: This is where Kent drops off, and myself as an Akron alum, believes why Akron has the better shot. Kent's football stadium would need a major renovation (or total rebuild) to be at AAC level. Akron, which granted, did rack up a ton of debt in the process, recently built an AAC-level stadium with a 30,000 capacity (with expansion capability to 45,000-plus if the need was ever there). Along with that, Akron's indoor field house is still the cream of the crop in the MAC. Neither have basketball facilities to write home about, though. Akron has a 5,500 capacity gym, while Kent has a 6,500 capacity gym. Akron, though, has been pushing for a new arena, and nearly got a university/county issue on the ballot to build a 10,000 seat arena in downtown (UA goes into downtown Akron) via a slight sales tax increase. If it ever gets to the ballot (and having AAC type payouts would help since UA would be able to kick in more of the cost), Summit County (where Akron is located) is heavily Democratic ... generally a group more willing to vote a tax increase (and the needed tax increase would put the county at the same rate as the other urban areas of Ohio, so not like it would be some monumental increase). Plus, Summit County is one of the largest in the country that does not have a large arena. So building one by partnering with UA would have benefits beyond just UA basketball.
If Cincinnati stays, there is no need to grab another Ohio school. But if it does get the B12 nod, I think either Akron or Kent State should be on the very short list for expansion, and atop the Ohio school list. The biggest problem the two currently have is they are in the same tier league (along with four other Ohio schools) who all have more football history. So not only does Akron-Kent go head-to-head for local recruits, they are competing against four other instate MAC schools (then Cincy and Ohio State). If one can get out of at least being in the shadow of the other MAC schools, who knows what the ceiling is.
(This post was last modified: 08-14-2016 05:58 PM by Wadszip.)
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Strike NOW. American needs to get the best of what's left.
