CUSA DID have alternatives if they wanted during the realignment. The media deal was still in place then than gave 1.1 million. The sunbelt and MAC deals were crap during that time. CUSA decided to reinforce its metro presence with the media markets idea instead of going after the best attainable programs. Now that said, adding any school is a crap shoot. CUSA wanted Marshall's football program since 2000 and got it on board in 2005, by the time they did get it on board, the program was on the downswing.

I am not by any means saying CUSA made all the wrong decisions on who to add and who not to add, personally I was pulling for ODU when the rumors started about them. I was pulling for Charlotte as well (mainly because of basketball history and potential). IMHO we did not fall very far in the football aspect, yeah we had a down year or two. In reality, there are 3 programs, maybe, that we couldn't replace with equals, those were UCF, ECU, and maybe Houston. We couldn't replace Memphis in basketball. Our conference took the biggest hit in Basketball. If you analyze that aspect, we really shouldn't be a bad league in that sport, schools that had success in the past (UTEP, UAB, Charlotte, ODU) either fell off or didn't come in and provide immediate help to offset the loss of Memphis.

So where did the league take the hits:

1. Football programs, while competitive, took major attendance hits and dropped the conference average substantially, markets be damned.
2. Some additions in basketball don't have high mid major facilities vs. what was had in the conference prior.
3. Conference RPI took a major hit, no one can deny that. If all the schools with tradition pick up the pace, its back in the top 10 in basketball leagues.
4. We lost the liberty bowl, arguable whether it was due to Memphis leaving or not.
5. Adding FCS schools, while they are good additions, did hurt the conference reputation.


Back to the question of whether or not there were better alternatives vs. the media market idea? That's really debatable but arguments can be made one way or the other and no one really knows if any other schools were contacted and rejected CUSA.

(03-14-2018 04:05 PM)monarx Wrote:  How do we band together to get Judy fired? Should we flood our university Presidents with emails saying she needs to go? Do we start an online petition? Do we write physical letters and if so to whom? Do we contact our state legislators to demand our institutions not work with such incompetence? Do we wear Fire Judy shirts to all of our games? Surely something must be done. I don't think our schools can take much more.

Welcome to CUSA, Old Dominion!

(03-15-2018 12:37 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:34 PM)ODU2011 Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:28 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:18 PM)ODU2011 Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:04 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  Good win for you guys. Let me ask you where did your 25 win team end up? That’s right in the same place that our 10 win team did. But congratulations on the win. I’m glad you guys capitalized on that great win and turned into a deep post season run.

Just pointing out that you should think before you insult the teams that are holding this conference up, especially when you are at the bottom of the conference in both major sports almost every year. No post season run, but I can hang my hat on a good regular season. Something you all haven't been able to do in a long time. Also, we played some exhibition games against teams in the recent years with scores closer than that. Maybe UTEP should be relegated to DII.

Which fan base did I insult? Less than four years ago our 22 win team ended up in the NIT. Five years ago you guys endured a 5 win season. Like I said things go in cycles.

Once again congratulations on dismantling one of our worst teams in the history of UTEP basketball you should hang a banner in your arena.

Something about adding markets instead of good programs? Seems like you removed the quote from your response. At least stand by your smack talk. Sorry to call you out, but someone had to.

I haven’t changed anything. No need to edit comments. If I make a typo oh well I’m not perfect and I’m not trying to impress a bunch of strangers on the internet. Is it really wrong to have wanted my conference to add better teams? You guys spend all day fantasizing about some made up leagues that will never happen. What’s the difference?

But like you said, these things run in cycles. Adding better teams that might be bad one day soon? Seems very shortsighted. What if they are broke, are hard to get to, have a terrible AD, or a lack of fan support?

(03-15-2018 01:44 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 01:14 PM)odu09 Wrote:  Looks like the salt mine opened back up. Yikes. If you can't win on the court/field, you can always try to win on the internet. Good try, I guess.

I understand you guys have had a good run lately and now you’re ready to move on to bigger and better things. Sincerely I’m happy for your success. I’ve used you guys as an example over on our home board of how to quickly build strong programs. Sure we’ve had a bad run lately but overall things are still fairly even between us in the w/l department.

In the last 20 years you guys have won 399 basketball games. We won 372 in that same time period. You’ve only averaged 1.35 more wins per season than us. You have four NCAA appearances we have three. You have three NIT’s we have four.

Over in football obviously we can’t conpare the last 20 years of FBS football. But comparing your time in CUSA you do have an edge over us. You won 26 games in four years we won 16 games. You’re averaging 2.5 more wins per season. We practically handicapped you a free season by going 0-12 this last year.

Even though we have had an inept AD who was on cruise control for the better part of the last decade there really isn’t that much separation. Think about it you guys are 1.35 and 2.5 less wins per year from having identical records to the worst team in the conference.

Most of our fans are ready to fire Jeff Jones and shut down the FB program so I guess it's all perspective. I personally have nothing against UTEP as a conference member. Except maybe the 2,000 miles that separate us.

(03-21-2018 03:06 PM)Tintin Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:37 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:34 PM)ODU2011 Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:28 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:18 PM)ODU2011 Wrote:  Just pointing out that you should think before you insult the teams that are holding this conference up, especially when you are at the bottom of the conference in both major sports almost every year. No post season run, but I can hang my hat on a good regular season. Something you all haven't been able to do in a long time. Also, we played some exhibition games against teams in the recent years with scores closer than that. Maybe UTEP should be relegated to DII.

Which fan base did I insult? Less than four years ago our 22 win team ended up in the NIT. Five years ago you guys endured a 5 win season. Like I said things go in cycles.

Once again congratulations on dismantling one of our worst teams in the history of UTEP basketball you should hang a banner in your arena.

Something about adding markets instead of good programs? Seems like you removed the quote from your response. At least stand by your smack talk. Sorry to call you out, but someone had to.

I haven’t changed anything. No need to edit comments. If I make a typo oh well I’m not perfect and I’m not trying to impress a bunch of strangers on the internet. Is it really wrong to have wanted my conference to add better teams? You guys spend all day fantasizing about some made up leagues that will never happen. What’s the difference?

But like you said, these things run in cycles. Adding better teams that might be bad one day soon? Seems very shortsighted. What if they are broke, are hard to get to, have a terrible AD, or a lack of fan support?

This entire thread and most of the threads created on here regularly are shortsighted.

Judy is given a 7-2 on the pre flop and everyone is pissed off she wasn’t holding a full house after the river. That was my point. Everyone wants to blame her for the mess Banoswky left behind. Since most posters complaining are advocating to form a new league with some members from the Sun Belt that didn’t get the call to CUSA that’s why I mentioned everyone would have been happier if CUSA had gone after good programs instead of markets.

For the record I’m cool with the current CUSA. If you don’t believe me go back to all those threads where the board wants to kick out the F-U’s and Charlotte and you’ll notice I’m one of the few posters saying we just need more time together.

(03-21-2018 03:42 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-21-2018 03:06 PM)Tintin Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:37 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:34 PM)ODU2011 Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:28 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  Which fan base did I insult? Less than four years ago our 22 win team ended up in the NIT. Five years ago you guys endured a 5 win season. Like I said things go in cycles.

Once again congratulations on dismantling one of our worst teams in the history of UTEP basketball you should hang a banner in your arena.

Something about adding markets instead of good programs? Seems like you removed the quote from your response. At least stand by your smack talk. Sorry to call you out, but someone had to.

I haven’t changed anything. No need to edit comments. If I make a typo oh well I’m not perfect and I’m not trying to impress a bunch of strangers on the internet. Is it really wrong to have wanted my conference to add better teams? You guys spend all day fantasizing about some made up leagues that will never happen. What’s the difference?

But like you said, these things run in cycles. Adding better teams that might be bad one day soon? Seems very shortsighted. What if they are broke, are hard to get to, have a terrible AD, or a lack of fan support?

This entire thread and most of the threads created on here regularly are shortsighted.

Judy is given a 7-2 on the pre flop and everyone is pissed off she wasn’t holding a full house after the river. That was my point. Everyone wants to blame her for the mess Banoswky left behind. Since most posters complaining are advocating to form a new league with some members from the Sun Belt that didn’t get the call to CUSA that’s why I mentioned everyone would have been happier if CUSA had gone after good programs instead of markets.

For the record I’m cool with the current CUSA. If you don’t believe me go back to all those threads where the board wants to kick out the F-U’s and Charlotte and you’ll notice I’m one of the few posters saying we just need more time together.

Yeah but mostly when people want to realign with the Sun Belt it's so it will make sense geographically at least. That was not an option for CUSA when adding. The league was going to stretch from El Paso to Huntington regardless. Whomever you filled it in with from the Sun Belt or FCS wasn't going to matter too much with the TV deal. Grass is always greener I guess.

(03-21-2018 04:10 PM)mturn017 Wrote:  

(03-21-2018 03:42 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-21-2018 03:06 PM)Tintin Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:37 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-15-2018 12:34 PM)ODU2011 Wrote:  Something about adding markets instead of good programs? Seems like you removed the quote from your response. At least stand by your smack talk. Sorry to call you out, but someone had to.

I haven’t changed anything. No need to edit comments. If I make a typo oh well I’m not perfect and I’m not trying to impress a bunch of strangers on the internet. Is it really wrong to have wanted my conference to add better teams? You guys spend all day fantasizing about some made up leagues that will never happen. What’s the difference?

But like you said, these things run in cycles. Adding better teams that might be bad one day soon? Seems very shortsighted. What if they are broke, are hard to get to, have a terrible AD, or a lack of fan support?

This entire thread and most of the threads created on here regularly are shortsighted.

Judy is given a 7-2 on the pre flop and everyone is pissed off she wasn’t holding a full house after the river. That was my point. Everyone wants to blame her for the mess Banoswky left behind. Since most posters complaining are advocating to form a new league with some members from the Sun Belt that didn’t get the call to CUSA that’s why I mentioned everyone would have been happier if CUSA had gone after good programs instead of markets.

For the record I’m cool with the current CUSA. If you don’t believe me go back to all those threads where the board wants to kick out the F-U’s and Charlotte and you’ll notice I’m one of the few posters saying we just need more time together.

Yeah but mostly when people want to realign with the Sun Belt it's so it will make sense geographically at least. That was not an option for CUSA when adding. The league was going to stretch from El Paso to Huntington regardless. Whomever you filled it in with from the Sun Belt or FCS wasn't going to matter too much with the TV deal. Grass is always greener I guess.

That’s exactly what is irritating as a Miner fan. All nine members that joined CUSA knew the league stretched out from Huntington to El Paso. So why moan and complain about the travel costs? If anyone has a right to complain it’s us. Since we are the ones that travel all around the country. And this wasn’t the league we signed up for. Rarely if ever will you hear the Miner fan base crying about those costs.

Let’s say the east CUSA break off and form a new league with any members from the Belt you can swindle into joining. Will saving a few dollars on travel cost offset the loss of the CFP playoff money? The belt members make 1 million per year we make around $740,000. Will it offset the loss of an auto bid and all the credits earned? Will it offset the loss of bowl line ups? Will it offset the loss of all tv revenue?