(11-03-2023 10:17 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 07:48 PM)tf8693 Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 03:59 PM)army56mike Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 11:24 AM)inutech Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 09:53 AM)Sitting bull Wrote:  What did CUSA look like in 1995? Have they been stable?

Some of us are out here advocating for stability in CUSA.

C-USA 1995
Tulane
Marquette
DePaul
Charlotte
Saint Louis
S. Miss
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati
UAB
South Florida
C-USA 2000
TCU
Houston
ECU

Man! Those were the good ole’ days! I loved that conference!

Houston was actually a charter member of CUSA. CUSA didn't start playing football until 1996. 1995 was final year of the SWC, so Houston wasn't available. They weren't available for basketball, either, for the same reason. If memory serves, Houston became the sixth football member of CUSA (along with Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Southern Miss. and Tulane). Six was the minimum number of members for an FBS conference at the time, so CUSA didn't sponsor football until Houston came aboard. I believe it started sponsoring basketball a year earlier because it had more than enough basketball programs to do so. But for all intents and purposes other than the exact timing of its joining, Houston was a charter member of CUSA.

Correct, and IIRC ECU was a football-only member for a few seasons before getting in as a full member.

Basketball and football were more even back then when it came to conference decision making. CUSA had DePaul (which fell a little short of a Big East invite), Marquette, St. Louis, and UNCC. I believe South Florida was invited before they made football plans as well. The conference also passed only Virginia Tech because they weren’t willing to bring football. I think UNCC and USF were strategically invited from the Metro to avoid paying exit fees and tourney credits or something. I’m not really sure why Dayton of the Great Midwest was blackballed.

Dayton was historically bad in the years immediately before CUSA was established. They won 11 games total in the last three years of the Great Midwest conference. That’s why they got left behind.

(11-04-2023 09:54 AM)LostInSpace Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 10:17 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 07:48 PM)tf8693 Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 03:59 PM)army56mike Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 11:24 AM)inutech Wrote:  Some of us are out here advocating for stability in CUSA.

C-USA 1995
Tulane
Marquette
DePaul
Charlotte
Saint Louis
S. Miss
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati
UAB
South Florida
C-USA 2000
TCU
Houston
ECU

Man! Those were the good ole’ days! I loved that conference!

Houston was actually a charter member of CUSA. CUSA didn't start playing football until 1996. 1995 was final year of the SWC, so Houston wasn't available. They weren't available for basketball, either, for the same reason. If memory serves, Houston became the sixth football member of CUSA (along with Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Southern Miss. and Tulane). Six was the minimum number of members for an FBS conference at the time, so CUSA didn't sponsor football until Houston came aboard. I believe it started sponsoring basketball a year earlier because it had more than enough basketball programs to do so. But for all intents and purposes other than the exact timing of its joining, Houston was a charter member of CUSA.

Correct, and IIRC ECU was a football-only member for a few seasons before getting in as a full member.

Basketball and football were more even back then when it came to conference decision making. CUSA had DePaul (which fell a little short of a Big East invite), Marquette, St. Louis, and UNCC. I believe South Florida was invited before they made football plans as well. The conference also passed only Virginia Tech because they weren’t willing to bring football. I think UNCC and USF were strategically invited from the Metro to avoid paying exit fees and tourney credits or something. I’m not really sure why Dayton of the Great Midwest was blackballed.

Dayton was historically bad in the years immediately before CUSA was established. They won 11 games total in the last three years of the Great Midwest conference. That’s why they got left behind.

Dayton wasn’t initially invited into the Great Midwest, they arrived later I believe.

What’s interesting is Dayton, ND, DePaul, and Marquette had a home-and-home scheduling arrangement in the 80’s. Xavier ended up surpassing UD.

(11-03-2023 10:17 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 07:48 PM)tf8693 Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 03:59 PM)army56mike Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 11:24 AM)inutech Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 09:53 AM)Sitting bull Wrote:  What did CUSA look like in 1995? Have they been stable?

Some of us are out here advocating for stability in CUSA.

C-USA 1995
Tulane
Marquette
DePaul
Charlotte
Saint Louis
S. Miss
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati
UAB
South Florida
C-USA 2000
TCU
Houston
ECU

Man! Those were the good ole’ days! I loved that conference!

Houston was actually a charter member of CUSA. CUSA didn't start playing football until 1996. 1995 was final year of the SWC, so Houston wasn't available. They weren't available for basketball, either, for the same reason. If memory serves, Houston became the sixth football member of CUSA (along with Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Southern Miss. and Tulane). Six was the minimum number of members for an FBS conference at the time, so CUSA didn't sponsor football until Houston came aboard. I believe it started sponsoring basketball a year earlier because it had more than enough basketball programs to do so. But for all intents and purposes other than the exact timing of its joining, Houston was a charter member of CUSA.

Correct, and IIRC ECU was a football-only member for a few seasons before getting in as a full member.

Basketball and football were more even back then when it came to conference decision making. CUSA had DePaul (which fell a little short of a Big East invite), Marquette, St. Louis, and UNCC. I believe South Florida was invited before they made football plans as well. The conference also passed on Virginia Tech because they weren’t willing to bring football. I think UNCC and USF were strategically invited from the Metro to avoid paying exit fees and tourney credits or something. I’m not really sure why Dayton of the Great Midwest was blackballed.

Correct, also, UAB and South Florida didn't add football until later. So originally, the conference began as 6 football/6 non-football. After that, it added East Carolina (football only, later all sports), TCU (all sports) and Army (football only), plus UAB and South Florida added football (I probably don't have exact order correct.) So by the mid-aughts realignment, CUSA had:

1 football only member (Army, who reverted to independent status right around the same time)
10 all sports members
4 non-football members

When DePaul and Marquette went to the Big East as part of that realignment, CUSA decided to drop its hybrid format. That was the impetus for Charlotte and Saint Louis to join the A10 (Charlotte later returned to CUSA and added football, of course, and now plays in the AAC.)

(11-04-2023 07:00 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-04-2023 09:54 AM)LostInSpace Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 10:17 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 07:48 PM)tf8693 Wrote:  

(11-03-2023 03:59 PM)army56mike Wrote:  C-USA 1995
Tulane
Marquette
DePaul
Charlotte
Saint Louis
S. Miss
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati
UAB
South Florida
C-USA 2000
TCU
Houston
ECU

Man! Those were the good ole’ days! I loved that conference!

Houston was actually a charter member of CUSA. CUSA didn't start playing football until 1996. 1995 was final year of the SWC, so Houston wasn't available. They weren't available for basketball, either, for the same reason. If memory serves, Houston became the sixth football member of CUSA (along with Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Southern Miss. and Tulane). Six was the minimum number of members for an FBS conference at the time, so CUSA didn't sponsor football until Houston came aboard. I believe it started sponsoring basketball a year earlier because it had more than enough basketball programs to do so. But for all intents and purposes other than the exact timing of its joining, Houston was a charter member of CUSA.

Correct, and IIRC ECU was a football-only member for a few seasons before getting in as a full member.

Basketball and football were more even back then when it came to conference decision making. CUSA had DePaul (which fell a little short of a Big East invite), Marquette, St. Louis, and UNCC. I believe South Florida was invited before they made football plans as well. The conference also passed only Virginia Tech because they weren’t willing to bring football. I think UNCC and USF were strategically invited from the Metro to avoid paying exit fees and tourney credits or something. I’m not really sure why Dayton of the Great Midwest was blackballed.

Dayton was historically bad in the years immediately before CUSA was established. They won 11 games total in the last three years of the Great Midwest conference. That’s why they got left behind.

Dayton wasn’t initially invited into the Great Midwest, they arrived later I believe.

What’s interesting is Dayton, ND, DePaul, and Marquette had a home-and-home scheduling arrangement in the 80’s.

I was a student at ND at the time. I remember that well.

UCLA also was a home-and-home for ND, although that ended and it became a once a year game while I was a student.

Quote:Xavier ended up surpassing UD.

You could make an argument that Xavier surpassed them all, with the possible exception of ND retaining a larger fan base.

It wasn't the MAC after all.

Did a random William and Mary message board dude break the news first?