I hope that UAB football survives and they continue to be a football playing member of CUSA, but in the event that it does not, where's the best place for the rest of their athletic programs? I see a few possibilities: CUSA, Sun Belt, SoCon, Southland, Ohio Valley, Big South, Atlantic Sun. CUSA does not have any non-football members currently, and it's not clear if they would welcome one now. The Sun Belt, SoCon, Southland, Ohio Valley and Big South all sponsor football at some level but each have non-football members among their ranks while the Atlantic Sun is completely football free. I have no idea how actively any of these conferences are looking to expand or whether they would welcome UAB. All things being equal, if not CUSA, SoCon seems like the best fit.
Sunbelt. They have non-football schools and they are in the middle of the footprint.
I think A10 would be by far their best case scenario. If not them, it gets pretty ugly pretty quickly. OVC I suppose would be next but after that it's just putrid
Personally, I think UAB fans and supporters should have gotten behind their program long ago. That would have added to some clout not to shut it down, but I think the way this has come down via UAT greed and cronyizm is not the way I would have envisioned it to end.
You guys are all working under the uncertain assumption that there will be an athletics department moving forward.
(12-02-2014 12:28 PM)SlyFox Wrote: [ -> ]You guys are all working under the uncertain assumption that there will be an athletics department moving forward.
Valid point.
(12-02-2014 12:28 PM)SlyFox Wrote: [ -> ]You guys are all working under the uncertain assumption that there will be an athletics department moving forward.
Every JUCO and high school in the country has an athletics department. I'm sure an 18,000 person student body is going to have a basketball game to attend; besides the infrastruture is already in place.
(12-02-2014 12:23 PM)stever20 Wrote: [ -> ]I think A10 would be by far their best case scenario. If not them, it gets pretty ugly pretty quickly. OVC I suppose would be next but after that it's just putrid
I'm not sure the A-10 is interested in a school that has institutional support issues.
Atlantic Sun or Southern seem like the only realistic possibilities. So it would be hard to get basketball to thrive.
I think there is a small chance they might not even have a Athletic Department...going to be a interesting next couple of months.
Sun Belt - re-establish rivalry with USA, and Georgia State is literally just down I-20.
The next best option would be the Atlantic Sun as UAB would be in a nice geographic position there, and a 9-team conference would be fairly easy to dominate.
Sun Belt or an FCS or D-IAAA conference
I think FCS football conferences or non football conferences would quickly welcome the blazers.
If they can't stay in CUSA, than a 15 team A-10
Division A :VCU, George Mason, Richmond, Davidson, UAB
Division B :Umass, URI, Fordham, St. Bonaventure, GW
Division C : St Louis, Dayton, St joe, La Salle, Duquesne
play a 8-5-5 format
If Sun Belt is willing to add another non-football, they are the perfect fit. The current geographic center of the conference is in Alabama just a little west of Birmingham.
Blazers would have a leg up hoping to bid for most championship events.
Would the A-10 go to 16 with Belmont and UAB?
West - St. Louis, Belmont, UAB, Dayton
South - Davidson, George Mason, Richmond, VCU
East - GW, La Salle, St. Joseph, Duquesne
North - Fordham, URI, UMass, St. Bonaventure
(12-02-2014 12:39 PM)FIUFan Wrote: [ -> ] (12-02-2014 12:28 PM)SlyFox Wrote: [ -> ]You guys are all working under the uncertain assumption that there will be an athletics department moving forward.
Every JUCO and high school in the country has an athletics department. I'm sure an 18,000 person student body is going to have a basketball game to attend; besides the infrastruture is already in place.
Not quite true - there are some that don't (here is a
link of one small college that dropped all sports last year). But the point remains. Americans think that physical fitness is just as important as mental fitness, and that learning to compete is an essential life skill. Even if many of us are out of shape, and even if many of us think that athletic departments have too much influence in the educational process, we still believe that sports deserve a place in the educational curriculum, just like art, music, or history.
And the key part is that the infrastructure is already in place. It's not like they're in Manhattan where they could get a ridiculous sum of money for selling the land. It'd probably cost more than the land value to tear down the basketball arena anyways.
UAB's basketball program is pretty decent, and they averaged 4,300 fans a game last year in a mediocre season. I have a hard time believing they'd throw that away when each game on TV is a free 2-hour advertisement for the school.
(12-02-2014 01:41 PM)bluesox Wrote: [ -> ]If they can't stay in CUSA, than a 15 team A-10
Division A :VCU, George Mason, Richmond, Davidson, UAB
Division B :Umass, URI, Fordham, St. Bonaventure, GW
Division C : St Louis, Dayton, St joe, La Salle, Duquesne
play a 8-5-5 format
I didn't consider the A10 because I'm not certain that they're interested in expanding, and if they were, whether UAB would be at the top of their list. If the A10 really wanted to expand, they could have their pick of a number of programs from the CAA, Patriot League, Horizon League, MVC, America East, MAAC, or Northeast conferences, most of which would make far more geographic sense for the A10 and at least have the appearance of long-term stability.
(12-02-2014 02:00 PM)chargeradio Wrote: [ -> ]Would the A-10 go to 16 with Belmont and UAB?
West - St. Louis, Belmont, UAB, Dayton
South - Davidson, George Mason, Richmond, VCU
East - GW, La Salle, St. Joseph, Duquesne
North - Fordham, URI, UMass, St. Bonaventure
Doubtful.
(12-02-2014 02:07 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote: [ -> ](here is a link of one small college that dropped all sports last year).
This link deserves a reading, and maybe even a thread.
(12-02-2014 03:15 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote: [ -> ] (12-02-2014 02:07 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote: [ -> ](here is a url=http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/4/16/4226848/colleges-leaving-ncaa-dropping-athletics]link [/url]of one small college that dropped all sports last year).
This link deserves a reading, and maybe even a thread.
Why? That's just one writer jousting at windmills.