So I had this idea a while ago...

I would like to create a comprehensive list of what fans from each FBS school need and want in a conference with relation to football, basketball, and baseball. This both includes general wants (like a more regional conference or more national exposure, more destination games, etc.) and specific schools. A "need" is classified as something that takes absolute top priority (such as playing a major rival) while a "want" is something that the fanbase would prefer but isn't critical.

I think this could be a handy resource for anyone when analyzing realignment possibilities, but personally I want to use the results to try and design the ideal conference realignment with smaller conferences of 9-10 teams each.

Please only comment on schools that you consider yourself to be a fan of. For example, I have an idea of what Duke and Miami fans want because I have family members that are fans of those schools, but I'm not going to personally comment on them because I'm not an invested fan of those schools and have other biases which would skew things. If you consider yourself to be a close fan of multiple schools, you can comment on more than one team however.

Last note, since there are a few FCS programs which could be considered for the FBS at some point, I am going to include a couple of the top-level FCS teams in the list (in case I need to include any of them in my own realignment).

Here is the list, I'll update it as people comment:

Air Force Falcons
Akron Zips
Alabama Crimson Tide
Appalachian State Mountaineers
Arizona Wildcats
Arizona State Sun Devils
Arkansas Razorbacks
Arkansas State Red Wolves
Army Black Knights
Auburn Tigers
Ball State Cardinals
Baylor Bears
Boise State Broncos
Boston College Eagles
Bowling Green Falcons
Buffalo Bulls
BYU Cougars
California Golden Bears
Central Michigan Chippewas
Charlotte 49ers
Cincinnati Bearcats
Clemson Tigers
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado State Rams
Duke Blue Devils
East Carolina Pirates
Eastern Michigan Eagles
FIU Panthers
Florida Gators
Florida Atlantic Owls

Florida State Seminoles
NEEDS: football focused, passionate fanbases, strong baseball
- Florida (all), Miami (all)
WANTS: Southern, strong basketball
- Clemson (football, baseball), Georgia Tech (all), Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), North Carolina (baseball, basketball), Virginia (all), Auburn (all)

Fresno State Bulldogs
Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia Southern Eagles
Georgia State Panthers
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
Houston Cougars
Illinois Fighting Illini
Indiana Hoosiers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa State Cyclones
Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas State Wildcats
Kent State Golden Flashes
Kentucky Wildcats
Liberty Flames
Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Louisville Cardinals
LSU Tigers
Marshall Thundering Herd
Maryland Terrapins
Memphis Tigers
Miami (FL) Hurricanes
Miami (OH) RedHawks
Michigan Wolverines
Michigan State Spartans
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Missouri Tigers
Navy Midshipmen
NC State Wolfpack
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Nevada Wolf Pack
New Mexico Lobos
New Mexico State Aggies
North Carolina Tar Heels
North Texas Mean Green
Northern Illinois Huskies
Northwestern Wildcats
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Ohio Bobcats
Ohio State Buckeyes
Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Old Dominion Monarchs
Ole Miss Rebels
Oregon Ducks
Oregon State Beavers
Penn State Nittany Lions
Pittsburgh Panthers
Purdue Boilermakers
Rice Owls
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
San Diego State Aztecs
San Jose State Spartans
SMU Mustangs
South Alabama Jaguars
South Carolina Gamecocks
South Florida Bulls
Southern Miss Golden Eagles
Stanford Cardinal
Syracuse Orange
TCU Horned Frogs
Temple Owls
Tennessee Volunteers
Texas Longhorns
Texas A&M Aggies
Texas State Bobcats
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Toledo Rockets
Troy Trojans
Tulane Green Wave
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
UAB Blazers
UCF Knights
UCLA Bruins
UConn Huskies
UMass Minutemen
UNLV Rebels
USC Trojans
UTEP Miners
UTSA Roadrunners
Utah Utes
Utah State Aggies
Vanderbilt Commodores
Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia Tech Hokies
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Washington Huskies
Washington State Cougars
West Virginia Mountaineers
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
Western Michigan Broncos
Wisconsin Badgers
Wyoming Cowboys

Delaware Blue Hens
Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Jacksonville State Gamecocks
James Madison Dukes
Montana Grizzlies
Montana State Bobcats
North Dakota State Bison
South Dakota State Jackrabbits

Florida State:

NEEDS:
- like-minded institutions that are investing in football and have good football support amongst their fanbase
- programs that energize the FSU fanbase either because of rivalry, history, or potential for either
- an annually nationally top 2-3 baseball conference
- Florida (all sports), Miami (all sports)

WANTS:
- a more regional, "Southern" conference with easier travel for fans
- historically strong basketball programs and a conference annually in the top 4/5 nationally
- Clemson (football, baseball), Georgia Tech (all), Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), North Carolina (baseball, basketball), Virginia (all), Auburn (all)

ECU needs to win big!

ECU wants power.

(09-19-2021 01:29 PM)3BNole Wrote:  Florida State:

NEEDS:
- like-minded institutions that are investing in football and have good football support amongst their fanbase
- programs that energize the FSU fanbase either because of rivalry, history, or potential for either
- an annually nationally top 2-3 baseball conference
- Florida (all sports), Miami (all sports)

WANTS:
- a more regional, "Southern" conference with easier travel for fans
- historically strong basketball programs and a conference annually in the top 4/5 nationally
- Clemson (football, baseball), Georgia Tech (all), Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), North Carolina (baseball, basketball), Virginia (all), Auburn (all)

Sounds like you want to join the SEC, and play a couple ACC teams OOC each year.

(09-19-2021 01:49 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:29 PM)3BNole Wrote:  Florida State:

NEEDS:
- like-minded institutions that are investing in football and have good football support amongst their fanbase
- programs that energize the FSU fanbase either because of rivalry, history, or potential for either
- an annually nationally top 2-3 baseball conference
- Florida (all sports), Miami (all sports)

WANTS:
- a more regional, "Southern" conference with easier travel for fans
- historically strong basketball programs and a conference annually in the top 4/5 nationally
- Clemson (football, baseball), Georgia Tech (all), Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), North Carolina (baseball, basketball), Virginia (all), Auburn (all)

Sounds like you want to join the SEC, and play a couple ACC teams OOC each year.

The regional Southern conference request sounds more like a fan-based wish as opposed to an institutional want. FSU has been rapidly increasing its out-of-state students from the North (particularly from the NYC, DC and Chicago areas), especially as they have been rising up the US News rankings. The SEC might be preferable for FSU for other reasons, but I think the geography of the ACC is actually one of the most desirable aspects of that league at the university president level.

Boise St

NEEDS
Football-focus, geography irrelevant, other Western school(s), bigger name brand opponents

WANTS
PAC membership

(09-19-2021 02:52 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  geography irrelevant, other Western school(s)

needs a contradiction?

(09-19-2021 02:05 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:49 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:29 PM)3BNole Wrote:  Florida State:

NEEDS:
- like-minded institutions that are investing in football and have good football support amongst their fanbase
- programs that energize the FSU fanbase either because of rivalry, history, or potential for either
- an annually nationally top 2-3 baseball conference
- Florida (all sports), Miami (all sports)

WANTS:
- a more regional, "Southern" conference with easier travel for fans
- historically strong basketball programs and a conference annually in the top 4/5 nationally
- Clemson (football, baseball), Georgia Tech (all), Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), North Carolina (baseball, basketball), Virginia (all), Auburn (all)

Sounds like you want to join the SEC, and play a couple ACC teams OOC each year.

The regional Southern conference request sounds more like a fan-based wish as opposed to an institutional want. FSU has been rapidly increasing its out-of-state students from the North (particularly from the NYC, DC and Chicago areas), especially as they have been rising up the US News rankings. The SEC might be preferable for FSU for other reasons, but I think the geography of the ACC is actually one of the most desirable aspects of that league at the university president level.

But FSU should be playing Georgia, Auburn, and Alabama on a regular basis and UCF on a semi regular basis.

(09-19-2021 02:05 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:49 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:29 PM)3BNole Wrote:  Florida State:

NEEDS:
- like-minded institutions that are investing in football and have good football support amongst their fanbase
- programs that energize the FSU fanbase either because of rivalry, history, or potential for either
- an annually nationally top 2-3 baseball conference
- Florida (all sports), Miami (all sports)

WANTS:
- a more regional, "Southern" conference with easier travel for fans
- historically strong basketball programs and a conference annually in the top 4/5 nationally
- Clemson (football, baseball), Georgia Tech (all), Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), North Carolina (baseball, basketball), Virginia (all), Auburn (all)

Sounds like you want to join the SEC, and play a couple ACC teams OOC each year.

The regional Southern conference request sounds more like a fan-based wish as opposed to an institutional want. FSU has been rapidly increasing its out-of-state students from the North (particularly from the NYC, DC and Chicago areas), especially as they have been rising up the US News rankings. The SEC might be preferable for FSU for other reasons, but I think the geography of the ACC is actually one of the most desirable aspects of that league at the university president level.

This is where scheduling Big East and A10 schools in basketball comes in handy.

(09-19-2021 02:05 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:49 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:29 PM)3BNole Wrote:  Florida State:

NEEDS:
- like-minded institutions that are investing in football and have good football support amongst their fanbase
- programs that energize the FSU fanbase either because of rivalry, history, or potential for either
- an annually nationally top 2-3 baseball conference
- Florida (all sports), Miami (all sports)

WANTS:
- a more regional, "Southern" conference with easier travel for fans
- historically strong basketball programs and a conference annually in the top 4/5 nationally
- Clemson (football, baseball), Georgia Tech (all), Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), North Carolina (baseball, basketball), Virginia (all), Auburn (all)

Sounds like you want to join the SEC, and play a couple ACC teams OOC each year.

The regional Southern conference request sounds more like a fan-based wish as opposed to an institutional want. FSU has been rapidly increasing its out-of-state students from the North (particularly from the NYC, DC and Chicago areas), especially as they have been rising up the US News rankings. The SEC might be preferable for FSU for other reasons, but I think the geography of the ACC is actually one of the most desirable aspects of that league at the university president level.

You must have missed his premise in the OP where he plainly stated it was purely a fan based desire as opposed to an institutional one.

What's more is Tallahassee is much closer to Gainesville and maybe a skosh closer to Auburn than Atlanta which is close to the same distance to Athens. The Panhandle and North Florida has little in common with Boston, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh and would be culturally different from the Research Triangle and the Beltway.

My point being outside of Miami, Clemson, and Georgia Tech and oddly Virginia Tech they have much more in common with the SEC's fan bases. So from a fan interest standpoint he makes a solid argument. People don't really give a damn what some temporary imported academic wants or prefers. The school belongs to the state and the state to its people. And most people like associating with people who share their likes and passions. And in that regard FSU alums and fans are as far from Chapel Hill as they are from Syracuse or Los Angeles for that matter.

So what he is saying is his ideal conference might have a Florida, Miami, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Clemson, South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama. It's regional, dynamic, and extremely solid in baseball, football, and decent enough in hoops. Toss in L.S.U. and you have a helluva conference. And none of it has a thing to do with institutional fit.

Northeastern Guy Wants: A northeastern conference that collects all the scattered northeastern FB teams into one conference who would be top 4-6 conference in FB every year and about the same in basketball if not better.

BC, Cuse, Rutgers, UConn, UMass, Buffalo, PSU, Army (FB Only)

Temple, Maryland, Pitt, WVU, VT, UVA, Marshall, Navy (FB Only)

Needs: More OOC games between these 16 schools and regular series with rivalry trophies.
Continuation of trophy games like the Black Diamond Trophy, Backyard Brawl, Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy.
Create more trophy games amongst these teams.
Give names and trophies to long time series and new conference mates between teams like Pitt/Cuse, Cuse/BC, Maryland/Rutgers, PSU/Rutgers, Maryland/PSU, Louisville/Pitt

Great thread idea. This will go on for a while.

My school, Oklahoma, started the latest round of realignment, as was expected.

This list falls somewhere between institutional and fan needs.

Needs:
To generate the highest amount of revenue possible, especially in line with the blueblood status of the football program.
To play Texas, inside or outside of the conference, especially in football.
To compete for national championships in football.
To play interesting football games at home.
To increase the academic profile of the university. Most fans don't care about this. Administrators and alumni do care about this.

Wants:
To win a national championship in football. It's 21 years and counting.
To be nationally competitive in other sports.
To play Oklahoma State in all sports if possible. That's in jeopardy with the upcoming conference move.

Since FCS schools like Georgetown are not on the above list (and the Hoyas have a LOT of needs), I'll add some thoughts for a nearby school.

Texas Christian

NEEDS:
- Compete at a level that reflects being a top destination for recruits
- Continue to engage the Ft. Worth community to provide financial and fan support
- A successful coaching search whenever Gary Patterson retires. Were it not for Patterson, TCU would still be in C-USA right now playing in a 100 year old stadium.

WANTS:
- A more visible and successful men's basketball program
- A Power 4/5 conference membership
- Regular Top 20 finishes, establishing TCU as the top school in Texas outside the SEC.

WKU

Needs:
Good basketball, FBS Football, programs that the fan base recognize (either big name or regional).

Wants:
Great basketball, good football, programs from college towns so we can quit playing nurse maid for market teams.

Big East Mike: other than wanting the academies in or out, I agree.

Not sure what counts as wants/needs so I'll just put them together.

Illinois:
Just win more.
Own the state and Chicago over Northwestern.
Become the destination for the top Chicago area men's basketball talent.
Win a national championship in men's basketball.
Be good enough in football to be taken seriously by Wisconsin to start a rivalry similar to Bears/Packers. They don't take us seriously in football and they shouldn't until we get better.
The Big 10 is fine, for Illinois's sake no additions or deletions are necessary. Goal is to stay financially competitive with the SEC.

Penn State:
Beat Ohio State in football more often.
Make the College Football Playoff/Win a National Championship.
Make an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. We literally have the longest drought in the conference and our conference has Northwestern, Rutgers, and Nebraska in it!!
Either get more Eastern teams in the Big Ten or play them more often, especially Pittsburgh. '
For Nebraska to leave the Big Ten (or at least the Big Ten to recognize the 1994 team as co national champions).
Just like Illinois, for the Big Ten to stay financially competitive with the SEC.

Temple:
Dream would be an ACC, Big Ten, or Big East invite. I know none are coming.
Just hoping for a conference with better travel (no or fewer trips west of the Mississippi).
To get back to John Chaney level in men's basketball.

Villanova:
I'd like for 'Nova to be in the ACC for all sports but football but that's unrealistic and Villanova's won two national championships in the Big East plus Connecticut's back.
For Creighton to leave the Big East.

(09-19-2021 02:05 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:49 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(09-19-2021 01:29 PM)3BNole Wrote:  Florida State:

NEEDS:
- like-minded institutions that are investing in football and have good football support amongst their fanbase
- programs that energize the FSU fanbase either because of rivalry, history, or potential for either
- an annually nationally top 2-3 baseball conference
- Florida (all sports), Miami (all sports)

WANTS:
- a more regional, "Southern" conference with easier travel for fans
- historically strong basketball programs and a conference annually in the top 4/5 nationally
- Clemson (football, baseball), Georgia Tech (all), Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), North Carolina (baseball, basketball), Virginia (all), Auburn (all)

Sounds like you want to join the SEC, and play a couple ACC teams OOC each year.

The regional Southern conference request sounds more like a fan-based wish as opposed to an institutional want. FSU has been rapidly increasing its out-of-state students from the North (particularly from the NYC, DC and Chicago areas), especially as they have been rising up the US News rankings. The SEC might be preferable for FSU for other reasons, but I think the geography of the ACC is actually one of the most desirable aspects of that league at the university president level.

The ACC/Big East “marriage” was brilliant. A group of southern schools leaning mostly toward hoops in a region that is football crazy, joined a group of NE schools that mostly emphasize football in a market that is crazy about college hoops. Helped both brands.

Plus the academic side in the south benefitted from exposure in a region that is a net exporter of high caliber students. Adding schools like UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, enhanced the academic brands of the Northeastern schools.

Win-win all the way round.

Arkansas State

Needs greater exposure in the Delta/Mid-south region. The Delta Regional Commission is one of the largest sources of grants for research and services. So improved exposure in Mississippi and continued exposure in Alabama, Eastern Tennessee and Louisiana are important. Improved exposure in eastern Missouri and southern Illinois are important.

Wants: A conference of similar smaller community football oriented schools in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

In short, the Sun Belt gives Arkansas State almost everything it wants and needs except a Mississippi based opponent because no viable eastern Missouri or southern Illinois school exists. Among all FBS, the two schools that would be on the wish list are Memphis and Tulane and neither is coming, the only other school fitting the bill would be Western Ky.

South Carolina

Needs: Play Clemson and UGA every year
Wants: Regional conference with other state flagships in the Southeast that emphasize football. Honestly wouldn't change anything from current setup.

ND
Needs- USC game yearly and opportunity to schedule nationwide.
Wants- Continued independence and for people to kindly get off our lawn.