The Knight Time Wrote:CUSA goofed big time by not adding IUPUI and Illinois Tech.

LOL, why the hell do you want more MAC schools in here?

johnnylightnin Wrote:

eager eagle Wrote:It is obvious that you know very little, if anything, about La Tech or you would have never posed the question.  Leave it to people better informed than you, sit back and enjoy the ride.

And the unwarranted Tech hatred from USM continues. It's quite obvious that they are more concerned about how Tech in CUSA would effect their school than how it would effect the conference. I understand why UTEP was chosen. However, you must also understand that entrance to CUSA would free a lot of money up for us to make the facility improvements that we need...not to mention inspiring a fan base who can't feasibly see any away games in the WAC.

But again, the USM poster mearly acts as if his feces don't stink...typical.

Hold on a minute. This eager eagle was proven to be not a USM fan, but some guy that LaTech posters knew as a long time anti-LaTech troll. I don't remember what he was called, but he has a HUGE personal problem with LaTech that he trashed this board with back when expansion was going on. So don't count his thoughts as those of other USM fans.

The Dark Knight Wrote:UTEP and Memphis obviously get more butts in the seats than the rest of us even in lean years but I wonder how high their attendance would be if they could get on a long extended run..say like 10 straight winning seasons. Could they start drawing in the 60-70K range?

I believe Memphis would.

Tony The Tiger Wrote:

The Dark Knight Wrote:UTEP and Memphis obviously get more butts in the seats than the rest of us even in lean years but I wonder how high their attendance would be if they could get on a long extended run..say like 10 straight winning seasons.  Could they start drawing in the 60-70K range?

I believe Memphis would.

So would UTEP. It would require stadium expansion but the Sun Bowl is expandable up to 70K. If and when the need arises we can easily add more seats.

3601 Wrote:I still can't figure out Rice and SMU.  I always assumed they were added to appease TCU.  However, TCU jumped ship right after they were added.  What was the hurry?

The hurry may have been:

(1) The perceived need to raid the WAC before they raided us - their commissioner was rather open about wooing several C-USA schools and knowledgeable sources gave credence to the possibilty.

(2) The desire to build a geographically sensible, 12-school all-sports conference comprised of a blend of institutions having class, tradition, academic excellence, large markets and championship potential in many sports. Rice and SMU are valuable additions in the eyes of us who agree with that goal. I like the fact that our Southern conference has 4 academically-prestigious members.

(3) To reach the magic number of 12 which is evidently favored by the BCS and which allows a conference championship game.

Personally I would have liked to only have added two teams, Marshall, and UCF. That way we would have been able to have an extra OOC game in football and a round robin in basketball with more flexiblity in the OOC there as well too
.
I always thought less would have been more.

My CUSA would have been:

ECU
Houston
Tulane
UAB
USM
Memphis
Marshall
UCF

StillJonesing Wrote:Personally I would have liked to only have added two teams, Marshall, and UCF. That way we would have been able to have an extra OOC game in football and a round robin in basketball with more flexiblity in the OOC there as well too
.
I always thought less would have been more.

My CUSA would have been:

ECU
Houston
Tulane
UAB
USM
Memphis
Marshall
UCF

That conference would be inferior to every 1-A league except the Sun Belt.

Sophandros Wrote:

MichealBond Wrote:Wow...totally uncalled for...I ask a simple question that I had hadn't seen answered in posts...and i get that kind of reply...


I already stated my previous feelings about the whole LA Tech/UTEP situation...I looked at it from a location standpoint...I never said anything about UTEP not being worthy...I never said anything about LA Tech not committing to sports...once i found out more information about the 2 schools, i can clearly see why UTEP was picked over LA Tech...


I was giving my initial reaction from a year and 1/2 ago...and since i had seen posts saying that the commish didn't do the best job in picking schools...i was simply asking people who they thought should have been in CUSA...

Please take the stick out of your a$$!!!

Dude, chill. Obviously, you didn't get the humor in some of our posts, but hey, maybe people got tired of expansion talk when it happened.

I'm sorry Soph, I wasn't referring to your comments, but the one directed towards me by a certain poster...

I understand this is late...but like i said, i haven't seen this question answered before...I think BB did a fine job in picking the best schools...but i've seen many posts of people that didn't feel the same way...I was just wondering who they would have picked if it were up to them...I wasn't trying to start any war here...I just wanted to pick a topic we could all discuss on a kinda slow wednesday...

Sophandros Wrote:That said, I wanted Oxford and Cambridge to boost our rugby RPI.

Hey, and chess would be harder to bring home the championship in!

Gray Avenger Wrote:(3) To reach the magic number of 12 which is evidently favored by the BCS and which allows a conference championship game.

Only three of the six BCS leagues have 12 teams. It doesn't look like the other three will expand to 12 anytime soon. 12 is not a magic number. We'd be better off with 9 or 10.

Tony The Tiger Wrote:

Freddy The Freshman Wrote:

Clarence Iba Wrote:UTEP draws well if UTEP is winning.   Gary Nord's last season at the helm was god-awful, and there were maybe 5,000 people at the Tulsa game I went to.  I understand that Tulsa should be the last school to talk attendance smack, but El Paso is a front-runner town.

Here is UTEP's attendance averages and yearly records since the Sun Bowl was built in 1963.

Source: <a href='http://www.utepathletics.com/pdf7/18325.pdf?ATCLID=179039&SPSID=10318&SPID=635&DB_OEM_ID=2100' target='_blank'>UTEP media guide</a> Scroll to page 25.

Year Average W-L-T Record
1963 15,336 3-7
1964 10,066 0-8-2
1965 22,683 8-3
1966 26,594 6-4
1967 25,122 7-2-1
1968 22,374 4-5-1
1969 19,082 4-6
1970 16,483 6-4
1971 13,393 5-6
1972 8,896 2-8
1973 8,672 0-11
1974 19,373 4-7
1975 12,850 1-10
1976 12,920 1-11
1977 14,595 1-10
1978 17,430 1-11
1979 26,866 2-9
1980 12,558 1-11
1981 13,622 1-10
1982 22,768 2-10
1983 20,526 2-10
1984 19,433 2-9
1985 20,614 1-10
1986 27,208 4-8
1987 42,086 7-4
1988 35,975 10-3
1989 27,190 2-10
1990 23,809 3-8
1991 29,359 4-7-1
1992 30,131 1-10
1993 26,777 1-11
1994 28,642 3-7-1
1995 21,144 2-10
1996 21,629 2-9
1997 20,484 4-7
1998 20,145 3-8
1999 36,455 5-7
2000 44,715 8-4
2001 28,360 2-9
2002 28,310 2-10
2003 20,009 2-11
2004 41,209 8-4
2005 47,992 4-1(The average and record is through the first 5 games)

The Sun Bowl's seating capacity was expanded from 30K to 52K in 1982.

If anything UTEP's fan support is incredible. Any other non-bcs school would not even have a football program anymore let alone that kind of attendance with the won-lost records UTEP has had.

I believe that Memphis had a very similar record and even better attendance over the same period.

well, it all worked out fine, we have the top football league in America, can't beat that.

MichealBond Wrote:

Sophandros Wrote:

MichealBond Wrote:Wow...totally uncalled for...I ask a simple question that I had hadn't seen answered in posts...and i get that kind of reply...


I already stated my previous feelings about the whole LA Tech/UTEP situation...I looked at it from a location standpoint...I never said anything about UTEP not being worthy...I never said anything about LA Tech not committing to sports...once i found out more information about the 2 schools, i can clearly see why UTEP was picked over LA Tech...


I was giving my initial reaction from a year and 1/2 ago...and since i had seen posts saying that the commish didn't do the best job in picking schools...i was simply asking people who they thought should have been in CUSA...

Please take the stick out of your a$$!!!

Dude, chill. Obviously, you didn't get the humor in some of our posts, but hey, maybe people got tired of expansion talk when it happened.

I'm sorry Soph, I wasn't referring to your comments, but the one directed towards me by a certain poster...

I understand this is late...but like i said, i haven't seen this question answered before...I think BB did a fine job in picking the best schools...but i've seen many posts of people that didn't feel the same way...I was just wondering who they would have picked if it were up to them...I wasn't trying to start any war here...I just wanted to pick a topic we could all discuss on a kinda slow wednesday...

Don't let a few crackheads fool you. You're right, who else do you add that adds revenue and gets us a title game?

ULL? FAU?

Nugget's Ghost Wrote:Hold on a minute. This eager eagle was proven to be not a USM fan, but some guy that LaTech posters knew as a long time anti-LaTech troll. I don't remember what he was called, but he has a HUGE personal problem with LaTech that he trashed this board with back when expansion was going on. So don't count his thoughts as those of other USM fans.

Thanks for letting me know. Troll seems kind, but anyway...I don't know if Tech is in the cards for CUSA, but please believe me when I say that the fans and those loyal to the University are hell-bent on improving our status in DI. We know that our facilities are lacking and we know that our administration appears to lack a commitment to athletic excellence. I assure you, however, that the fans of Louisiana Tech are NOT satisfied with where we are and we plan on moving forward come hell or high water.

TopCoug Wrote:well, it all worked out fine, we have the top football league in America, can't beat that.

Compared to the Sunbelt, maybe.

Zorro Wrote:

StillJonesing Wrote:Personally I would have liked to only have added two teams, Marshall, and UCF. That way we would have been able to have an extra OOC game in football and a round robin in basketball with more flexiblity in the OOC there as well too
.
I always thought less would have been more.

My CUSA would have been:

ECU
Houston
Tulane
UAB
USM
Memphis
Marshall
UCF

That conference would be inferior to every 1-A league except the Sun Belt.

Possibly this year but look back the last 10 years, its no comparison.

Why are we still discussing this? It's been 18 months since UTEP was the last school to join this conference. Shoulda, coulda, woulda doesn't matter anymore. It's done.....get over it.

Or are you guys suggesting C-USA should kick schools out of the conference.....a la Temple? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I wanted to keep TCU around and add Marshall and UTEP. If we did that, we would have had 1 Top 25 team (TCU), 1 team on the cusp (UTEP), and a few others in close pursuit (USM, Houston, Memphis, UAB, Marshall). Let's not forget that this conference would have forged strong rivalries between ALL teams because everyone would play each other every year.

What CUSA should have been
East Carolina
Houston
Marshall
Memphis
Southern Miss
TCU
Tulane
UAB
UTEP

We would have gotten the same TV contract with these schools but shared among fewer schools. We also would have gotten the Liberty, GMAC, New Orleans, Fort Worth,and probably Houston bowls with this conference setup.

But, alas, it did not happen. I am pleasantly surprised with Tulsa & UCF and a little disappointed with Marshall (but understand the problems). As for SMU and Rice, you're not pulling your weight at all.

UTEPDallas Wrote:Why are we still discussing this? It's been 18 months since UTEP was the last school to join this conference. Shoulda, coulda, woulda doesn't matter anymore. It's done.....get over it.

Or are you guys suggesting C-USA should kick schools out of the conference.....a la Temple? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

We are discussing it because I brought the topic up...

I brought the topic up because I had not seen any answers to the topic...

It is something that i've been wondering, but had slipped my mind everytime i wanted to post...

I know it's late but it doesn't mean i can't ask the question...it's bad when you can't even ask a freakin question without all this crap...

I've already stated that I wasn't trying to disrespect any school...I respect all the schools...I just wanted a simple question answered...there were many people who wanted schools other than the ones BB picked...I just wanted to know who wanted something different...

I appreciate all those who actually discussed this topic...instead of telling me how wrong i am to have asked this question & how late i am to have asked this question, I don't mind the jokes about it...but jeez...just answer the question!! I know it's Late!!! I am fully aware that this topic is 18 months old...or however long it is...but that doesn't mean it's not relevent to the CUSA of today...

ECU
Houston
Tulane
UAB
USM
Memphis
Marshall
UCF

This conference of 8 teams would still have the Liberty, and probably 4 total bowls. It's not like UTEP, Tulsa, Rice and SMU are really setting the world on fire even this year. That extra OOC game in Football would have been huge for ECU, and a couple less conference hoop games would have helped with travel in all sports as they could play teams closer to home. If we were going to do 9 teams we were better off to have 12 and a title game, but I still think 8 was the way to go myself, we would have made more money IMO and not lost that much and been more flexible in the OOC.