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(03-17-2018 10:12 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  Nobody is going to make that move without the basketball credits, the bowl tie ins, and having to pay to leave the conference. It makes no sense.

The last round of realignment I really wish we would have tried to tighten the conference up, but that ship has sailed now. We have to do the best we can, and hole during the next round of realignment we are in a good place.

This CUSA isn't the best we can do. We're losing much more $ by becoming a regular one bid league in basketball than losing some credits by reorganizing. A lot of CUSA's bowl bids are already going to the group I listed. Our football champion outside that group just got the post-season reward of facing Akron in a home game. How does that help UAB? There would be plenty of spots in crappy bowl games available for a new league and maybe competent leadership could get some better match ups.

We have to get out of this status quo thinking. Keep on keeping on and hoping for the best is what we were doing before the football shutdown. Sitting still is falling behind and we've been in that mode far too long.

(03-17-2018 05:00 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  The new CUSA video package got me thinking about the overall league and what was best for UAB. Of course I would prefer to move to the AAC but that doesn't look near term for us. So that means trying to improve our current situation. I believe C-USA has run its course. The media $ and access don't justify the travel costs and fragmented identity as a league anymore. The Frisco tournament should be the final straw. I propose an "Airport Meeting" with the following schools:

UAB
MTSU
WKU
USM
LT
Charlotte
ODU
Marshall

Form a new league with new leadership. Invite other schools that might be a good fit. Competitive football and basketball preferred. Georgia State would be first on my list. Be selective from there, possibly looking to the AAC model with some non-football playing additions. College of Charleston?

CUSA has been a good league for us for a long time but it's outlived its utility for UAB and the core of eastern schools. Time to be sharks and not the guppies for a change.

IMO Add

USA

Ga. St.

James Madison

& Ark. St.

And there's your 12.

Like the idea I just don't see it happening for all of the above reasons. Striving to get in the AAC remains the best option. If CUSA wasn't already so bloated id like to see us add some basketball only schools.

(03-17-2018 11:27 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(03-17-2018 10:12 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  Nobody is going to make that move without the basketball credits, the bowl tie ins, and having to pay to leave the conference. It makes no sense.

The last round of realignment I really wish we would have tried to tighten the conference up, but that ship has sailed now. We have to do the best we can, and hole during the next round of realignment we are in a good place.

This CUSA isn't the best we can do. We're losing much more $ by becoming a regular one bid league in basketball than losing some credits by reorganizing. A lot of CUSA's bowl bids are already going to the group I listed. Our football champion outside that group just got the post-season reward of facing Akron in a home game. How does that help UAB? There would be plenty of spots in crappy bowl games available for a new league and maybe competent leadership could get some better match ups.

We have to get out of this status quo thinking. Keep on keeping on and hoping for the best is what we were doing before the football shutdown. Sitting still is falling behind and we've been in that mode far too long.

We lose money by having no credits and no automatic bid. The bowl tie ins are to conferences, not teams.

I completely agree with everything you are saying, I’d much prefer our conference setup with those schools. The logistics of just making it happen aren’t nearly as simple as you are trying to make it out to be.

As long as 50% + 1 of CUSA comes with us, we would get to take CUSA's bid with us... not sure on the bowl contracts.

It wouldn't be simple or easy, more like a huge pain in the ass for all involved. But that shouldn't be a reason not to act. The opportunity cost for not acting continues to grow every year we stand pat.

The basketball tradition of the eastern core is pretty darn good. Over the years we've been very comparable to most of the A10 but this frankenstein of a conference doesn't allow us to build on those traditions and rivalries. We've let ourselves be devalued for what? A chance to play Akron if we win the conference in football? The embarrassment that was Frisco, TX?

CUSA is an idea whose time has come and gone. The heart of the league needs to refocus and build on our strengths.

(03-18-2018 06:39 AM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  As long as 50% + 1 of CUSA comes with us, we would get to take CUSA's bid with us... not sure on the bowl contracts.

I don’t imagine we could just kick schools out without any legal ramifications.

I fail to understand why James Madison keeps popping up as a positive in these discussions.

Harrisonburg is in the middle of nowhere and just a hotel stop on I-81. Their closest (but not close) major markets are DC and Richmond and they get no coverage in either place.

(03-18-2018 09:11 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(03-18-2018 06:39 AM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  As long as 50% + 1 of CUSA comes with us, we would get to take CUSA's bid with us... not sure on the bowl contracts.

I don’t imagine we could just kick schools out without any legal ramifications.

Charlotte and VCU were kicked out when The Metro and Great Midwest merged to form CUSA.

(03-18-2018 09:23 AM)BlazerFromMD Wrote:  I fail to understand why James Madison keeps popping up as a positive in these discussions.

Harrisonburg is in the middle of nowhere and just a hotel stop on I-81. Their closest (but not close) major markets are DC and Richmond and they get no coverage in either place.

I threw it in there to have another Virginia school and I couldn't think of anything else.

Everyone already made mention of it being something people would have did before if it was feasible, but we got to be real, too.

More than hoping a better conference use us to backfill or dropping near half the conference, the key is making through the rings of fire that are on the horizon. Power conferences gradually getting bigger pieces of the pie, state funding gradually going down, players eventually getting paid, etc.

Also, UAB is a middling member of CUSA. We're in the upper half of the conference overall, but it's not like we're out here washing the rest of the conference. Anyone thinking we'd be in the Big East or the Big XII needs some help. More schools may opt to take a closer look at how they do athletics after some more of these non power conference contracts come through, and try to shift to a more regional footprint. I just don't think we're falling up into a better conference unless something drastic happens around the landscape.

It's all amount time, funding, recruiting, facilities, and quality.

Conference moves has never really been the name of game, but just an eventual outcome of persistence and the recognition that comes with success. Just win is an easy argument, though, even if it's true.

And dropping the Texas and Florida schools like that wouldn't be cool when we should probably be the last folks to talk about dropping members.

Went over to the CUSA board for the first time in a long while and I see the UTEP to the Mtn West rumors making their annual return. Browsed through the thread and it seems a lot of the fans of the eastern teams I listed are already thinking the same way.

I bet their administrations are way ahead of them. Could the 8 schools I originally listed vote to dissolve C-USA? Would UTEP vote with them to eliminate exit costs if a move to the Mtn West is possible?

Btw, I'm not suggesting that UAB give up on moving to the AAC. We should be trying to improve in every way possible no matter which conference we're in or want to go to. Looking to the future doesn't mean ignoring the present. We can remake this conference into something better while we continue to position for upward mobility.

If you want a better conference affiliation, I can tell you exactly how to get there. The problem is that it won't be easy to do.

It's all about money, guys. UAB's financial subsidy to the athletic department is hard capped at twenty million, at least for as long as Dr. Watts is here, and I doubt the board will allow more. The 2016-17 UAB Athletic budget was $31,800,000.

There are four schools in the AAC whose subsidy alone is larger than our entire budget. Looking at 2015-16 figures on AAC, the highest athletic budget is $79m, and the lowest $44m.

If we want any shot whatsoever at getting into the AAC, we have to generate more donations. We raised impressive money while fighting to bring back football, but most of it came from local business donors and a relatively small group of big money UAB donors. I've heard that the majority of the individual money came from a pool of twenty-five or thirty people. These same groups are also doing the heavy lifting of the non-governmental finance on the BJCC stadium. They cannot sustain that level of giving over the long term. It is not reasonable to expect them to.

We are not UA. We don't have thousands of deep pocketed fans and hundreds of truly big money guys. We have what we have, and we have to find a way to grow that. It will take a lot of work, of giving till it hurts and then some more. It will take imaginative new thought to find new revenue streams. Realistically, we need to raise our athletic budget by a third at a minimum, and as much more as we can come up with to get a long look from the AAC. The AAC conference revenue would be better, but will not come close to making up the difference.

Getting football back on solid ground and winning games consistently will be big. The new stadium will be a big help both financially and in terms of perception, as well as our other facility upgrades. In general we're in a pretty good place with regard to that once we're playing at the BJCC.

The thing is that when you want to join a country club, they want to know you have the money to sustain yourself, to fit in. You can't roll up in a twenty year old beater and expect to make a favorable impression.


As to the various conference realignment threads, it's just that time of year, particularly as teams bust out of the NCAA. We're hitting the dead period, the silly season. You'll find those all over message boards and Reddit this time of year, every year. It's fun to talk about, to juggle members and debate who to invite and who to kick... but realistically, not much comes of it, not often. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

The AAC will probably not add teams unless it must fill spots vacated when it is raided by the BIG 12, the only P5 conference with room to spare. That raid will most likely be to take teams from Florida and /or Texas. Those two states with GA & CA are the current "gold mine" states for recruiting impact quality high school players (ESPN Top 300 and such) so a presence there would be valuable to a conference.

As pointed out above (post #33), the money - FINANCIAL BACKING - that schools can show to a conference will be a major factor in making their shopping list. For us at UAB, $30 million is a huge number compared to what we grew used to for almost 3 decades, but there are more than a few midmajors who can double or triple that or more so UAB has to substantially grow its base if it wants to be considered seriously in that competition. Being an urban university in an era of growing urban schools is a positive start, but money is where it's at.

(03-18-2018 08:35 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  If you want a better conference affiliation, I can tell you exactly how to get there. The problem is that it won't be easy to do.

It's all about money, guys. UAB's financial subsidy to the athletic department is hard capped at twenty million, at least for as long as Dr. Watts is here, and I doubt the board will allow more. The 2016-17 UAB Athletic budget was $31,800,00.

There are four schools in the AAC whose subsidy alone is larger than our entire budget. Looking at 2015-16 figures on AAC, the highest athletic budget is $79m, and the lowest $44m.

If we want any shot whatsoever at getting into the AAC, we have to generate more donations. We raised impressive money while fighting to bring back football, but most of it came from local business donors and a relatively small group of big money UAB donors. I've heard that the majority of the individual money came from a pool of twenty-five or thirty people. These same groups are also doing the heavy lifting of the non-governmental finance on the BJCC stadium. They cannot sustain that level of giving over the long term. It is not reasonable to expect them to.

We are not UA. We don't have thousands of deep pocketed fans and hundreds of truly big money guys. We have what we have, and we have to find a way to grow that. It will take a lot of work, of giving till it hurts and then some more. It will take imaginative new thought to find new revenue streams. Realistically, we need to raise our athletic budget by a third at a minimum, and as much more as we can come up with to get a long look from the AAC. The AAC conference revenue would be better, but will not come close to making up the difference.

Getting football back on solid ground and winning games consistently will be big. The new stadium will be a big help both financially and in terms of perception, as well as our other facility upgrades. In general we're in a pretty good place with regard to that once we're playing at the BJCC.

The thing is that when you want to join a country club, they want to know you have the money to sustain yourself, to fit in. You can't roll up in a twenty year old beater and expect to make a favorable impression.


As to the various conference realignment threads, it's just that time of year, particularly as teams bust out of the NCAA. We're hitting the dead period, the silly season. You'll find those all over message boards and Reddit this time of year, every year. It's fun to talk about, to juggle members and debate who to invite and who to kick... but realistically, not much comes of it, not often. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

+1 excellent post on our future challenges.
A few more thoughts unfortunately the SOM will insist that our subsidy remain capped at twenty million even when watts-his-name leaves and at least our next president will bound to that agreement. Our 17 million or so we raised to bring back football was great. But by your accurate math - we would need to raise almost that same amount to for just one year to have the lowest budget in the AAC(13 million more and any new league revenues typically do not apply for a few years plus the addition 3 to 4 million rent/donations diverted from our backers toward the BJCC stadium)

(03-17-2018 08:26 PM)biglizard Wrote:  

(03-17-2018 08:16 PM)Bham Blazer Wrote:  

(03-17-2018 08:09 PM)biglizard Wrote:  Mark is like anyone else in his business. The department's success is his success. He's still young and and has a long way to go until retirement. If he gets the right leadership he'll work to make everyone else under him successful. That's why the next president appointment will be the most critical since Hill.

How much longer can we reasonably expect Pumpkinhead to stay in charge?

Great question. I feel like once he's at retirement age and fully vested he'll have to give it serious thought. He's not stupid, he knows he's become a pariah at the university. Donors will need to expedite the process with the board. I think I know who is being groomed internally to take over but they may want to go outside the system.

I hope the internal candidate is Harold Jones.

Well said Band Dad. And yada yada yada bean.

(03-18-2018 10:54 PM)uabbean Wrote:  +1 excellent post on our future challenges.
A few more thoughts unfortunately the SOM will insist that our subsidy remain capped at twenty million even when watts-his-name leaves and at least our next president will bound to that agreement. Our 17 million or so we raised to bring back football was great. But by your accurate math - we would need to raise almost that same amount to for just one year to have the lowest budget in the AAC(13 million more and any new league revenues typically do not apply for a few years plus the addition 3 to 4 million rent/donations diverted from our backers toward the BJCC stadium)

We'd have to pay exit fees to leave C-USA and entrance fees which were larger to get into the AAC as well.

As I have often said, here and elsewhere, when the question begins with "Why do they..." or "Why don't they..." the answer is usually "Money".

Good post, BandDad. I don't think many would argue with how you lay out UAB's current situation including me.

That's why I don't expect anything like what I suggested to come from UAB right now. We're trying to get our own house in order and continue to be hamstrung by the lamest duck of a president. I just hope if the eastern schools do decide to reorganize that Watts wouldn't be so stupid as to stay with the the old league (if it still existed).

I just get sick of all the "We should just join the AAC, C-USA sucks" posts. I want to move up as bad or worse than any of y'all, but that's just crazy talk. If you really want to move up, join Blazer Boosters and start jacking up everyone you know to buy season tickets or donate to the Athletic Dept.