<a href='http://www.ysupenguins.net/facilities/icecastle.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.ysupenguins.net/facilities/icecastle.htm</a>
They seem to all ready have very good attendance and top notch facilities for a 1-aa school. Also adding them could generate more interest for the MAC in Northeast Ohio and help out Akron and Kent St. as well.
Nothing against YSU, but if they join the MAC we can rename the conference Mid-Ohio Conference.
There are already too many D-IA schools in Ohio. Attendance is hurt in some areas because the market is split between 2 schools.
As for the stadium.......why did they design it with one very high side of seats and one very low side of seats? That looks really funny.
Youngstown is not nearly as close to Akron as Kent is or as close as BG is to Toledo. Besides they all ready have better attendance as a 1-aa school then Akron and Kent get at 1-a. Kent's best home crowd this year was then they played YSU. As for the stadium, i thought it kind of resembles Yager down in Oxford.
BuckeyeStu Wrote:Youngstown is not nearly as close to Akron as Kent is or as close as BG is to Toledo. Besides they all ready have better attendance as a 1-aa school then Akron and Kent get at 1-a. Kent's best home crowd this year was then they played YSU. As for the stadium, i thought it kind of resembles Yager down in Oxford.
It's more than just football though. Akron and Kent State bring a lot in basketball. Kent State bring a lot in baseball and golf too.
What can YSU bring?
Like I said though, there are already too many DI schools in Ohio. Toledo and BG do share a market, you are right there.
I think YSU would be very competitive in the MAC. But rocketfootball is right. YSU will come into the MAC only if one of the existing Ohio schools departs.
They could add YSU to replace Buffalo. Buffalo is pretty worthless after all and should have never been added to the conference to start with.
BuckeyeStu Wrote:They could add YSU to replace Buffalo. Buffalo is pretty worthless after all and should have never been added to the conference to start with.
The Buffal /NY market is better than the Youngstown market. And Buffalo isn't known for having the mob. Buffalo also brings better academics YSU. If UT or Miami leave it might be an option.
HAHAHA :rofl:
What a crappy lookin' stadium! I wonder what the purpose of that design was. Its good for a laugh anyway...
:rolleyes: Sure, why not. Let's add our 8th Ohio school. Then we can rename the conference Mid-Ohio Conference like I said.
Sorry if I sound too harsh on Youngstown State, but I just don't want to be only playing Ohio schools all the time. Sure the travel costs are minimal, but there are just too many schools in Ohio already that compete at the D-IA level. There is not a lot of fan support partly because of this. I want to get some national recognition too, not just Ohio recognition.
When Gary Pinkel came to Toledo as the Head Coach in 1991, he told the UT Administration that his goal was to build the Rocket's football program into the premiere program in the MAC and into a Top 25 program year in and year out. The administration laughed at him.
He is the All-Time winningest coach in Toledo football history with a 73-37-3 record. He was 53-25-3 against MAC schools. Toledo was ranked (at different times in the season) in 4 of his 10 seasons with Toledo.
Tom Amstutz has replaced him and he has the same beliefs and goals. Amstutz is 27-11 overall and 21-5 against MAC opponents. Toledo has won 1 MACC and 2 West Division titles with him as the head coach in his 3 seasons. The one year we didn't win the West with Amstutz, we still went 6-2 and finished in a 2nd place tie with NIU.
Toledo has had 10 straight winning seasons with the belief that they can be a nationally recognized program.
It is possible for other MAC schools to do this too. Miami has always been one of the winningest programs in the nation. BG and NIU are building their football programs and gaining national respect. The rest of the MAC needs to follow the road that Toledo, Miami, BG, and NIU are taking and set these same goals.
It's time to stop being content with what we are and strive to be the best we can be. The MAC has made some huge strides in recent years, but everyone needs to step up if the MAC is going to take it to the next level.
We can add Youngstown as soon as Kent and Akron accept their invitations to ConferenceUSA.
Okie Chippewa Wrote:We can add Youngstown as soon as Kent and Akron accept their invitations to ConferenceUSA.
I'll take Toledo for 200 Alex
MaumeeRocket Wrote:If UT or Miami leave it might be an option.
Why, you
HATE the MAC
I'd prefer to bring Youngstown in only if Akron or Kent leave.
YSU will not and should not be added to the MAC unless another either Kent or Akron leaves. As stated by others, it would make the MAC too "Ohio heavy."
East Carolina has wanted into the ACC for decades, but there were already 4 North Carolina teams in the league. At one time (my undergrad days), there were the 4 North Carolina schools in a 7 team ACC. It was joked that if they added ECU, they might well rename the league the NCC (North Carolina Conference). In the days before ESPN and cable, both the North Carolina football and basketball teams would not play non-ACC North Carolina teams. The explanation was that you cannot build a national program by playing the local teams even if they were better than out-of-state teams. To paraphrase Dick Crum (when he was at UNC, not Miami), he would rather play Oregon than ECU in a football game. ECU was better than Oregon, but the writers who vote for the national rankings (especially on the west coast) didn't know that. You were almost better off losing to Oregon than beating ECU.
The old Southwestern Conference may have broken up for several reasons, but a big contributer was that it was too concentrated in Texas, which made it hard to get national interest (and a lucrative TV contract). Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, Baylor. Great for generating local interest, but not national interest.
klingon288 Wrote:The old Southwestern Conference may have broken up for several reasons, but a big contributer was that it was too concentrated in Texas, which made it hard to get national interest (and a lucrative TV contract). Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, Baylor. Great for generating local interest, but not national interest.
You forgot to mention they were cheating like crazy too thats the reason the SWC broke up. The only one to get the so called DEATH PEANLTY out of all the cheating going on was SMU. But the whole conf was involved not just the Ponies
HerdZoned Wrote:You forgot to mention they were cheating like crazy too thats the reason the SWC broke up. The only one to get the so called DEATH PEANLTY out of all the cheating going on was SMU. But the whole conf was involved not just the Ponies
How could I forget SMU and the cheating scandal??????? Especially with Craig James' mug on the air every week??? :chair:
Boy, selective memory for dementia setting in. :(
[quote="HerdZoned"] [quote="klingon288"] The old Southwestern Conference may have broken up for several reasons, but a big contributer was that it was too concentrated in Texas, which made it hard to get national interest (and a lucrative TV contract).
[quote="Rocky"] [quote="HerdZoned"] [quote="klingon288"] The old Southwestern Conference may have broken up for several reasons, but a big contributer was that it was too concentrated in Texas, which made it hard to get national interest (and a lucrative TV contract).
klingon288 Wrote:The old Southwestern Conference may have broken up for several reasons, but a big contributer was that it was too concentrated in Texas, which made it hard to get national interest (and a lucrative TV contract). Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, Baylor. Great for generating local interest, but not national interest.
Yeah, but the old Southwest Conference was awesome.
What these attendance regulations may force the MAC to do is shift its focus from the old SWC model (essentially a one-state conference) to more of the old ACC model (in which North Carolina is merely a nucleus around which to build a league).
Regarding the Southwest Conference...
I believe Arkansas bolting for the SEC was for prelude to its breakup.
Then the highest profile schools found a home in the Big Eight (now Big XII). The others were relegated to far-flung leagues.
Sure, I see a parallel between the MAC/Ohio core vs. the SWC/Texas core, but the differences are wider than the Gulf of Mexico, as succinctly implied by Schadenfreude:
Quote:The MAC is more like the old ACC model (in which North Carolina is merely a nucleus around which to build a league) than theold SWC model (essentially a one-state conference).