What if the best of CUSA and the Sun Belt joined up form their own conference and left the rest behind. Based on basketball, attendance, and football.
NEW CONFERENCE
WEST
UTSA
Rice
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana
Arkansas State
Southern Miss
UAB
EAST
Marshall
Western Kentucky
Old Dominion
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Georgia Southern
Florida Atlantic
I wanted to include MT in but needed a Florida school and MT football attendance and stadium are not up to par. Coastal basketball and football and a new state would be a good add as well if not for small football program. If you were to go to 16 MT and Coastal would be the adds.
This conference could probably get around $500,000 a year and be competitive in football, basketball, and baseball.
(06-18-2016 12:34 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote: [ -> ]What if the best of CUSA and the Sun Belt joined up form their own conference and left the rest behind. Based on basketball, attendance, and football.
NEW CONFERENCE
WEST
UTSA
Rice
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana
Arkansas State
Southern Miss
UAB
EAST
Marshall
Western Kentucky
Old Dominion
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Georgia Southern
Florida Atlantic
I wanted to include MT in but needed a Florida school and MT football attendance and stadium are not up to par. Coastal basketball and football and a new state would be a good add as well if not for small football program. If you were to go to 16 MT and Coastal would be the adds.
This conference could probably get around $500,000 a year and be competitive in football, basketball, and baseball.
That'd be agreeable, except as with any best-of CUSA/Sun Belt conference, the leftover schools would either be in a far-flung, awful conference, or they'd be forced to independence/FCS.
Now if you did a best-of that incorporated the MAC, you might have a better chance of dividing up the remains into two feasible, albeit low-tier, conferences.
I think the ceiling for a new G5 conference made out of CUSA/SBC members is going to be MAC money (800,000)
For scheduling purposes 10 schools, two divisions of 5 is probably the best format. To make MAC money on a TV deal, a conference only needs to make 8 million per year with 10 schools. Move to 12 or 14 and this is harder to do.
West: UTSA, UNT, AState, LaTech, ULL
East: Marshall, WKU, MTSU, USM, UAB
Design Principals:
-The schools I picked general have the biggest football stadiums. Stadiums that are more on par with the MWC or AAC than FCS conferences. I'll go with UAB here because they have a new OCS in the works. WKU is smaller but they fit in so well with the other schools.
-FAU, FIU, UTEP are all too far for a value conference to be interested. Still I think East/West divisions are probably better for recruiting, it just depends who is in that division.
-Really good rivalries are important. That is the problem with the current CUSA configuration where some of the rivalries are split up.
Remaining CUSA/SBC schools.
-The realignment would leave 8 SBC & 6 CUSA schools behind. With CUSA exit fees low and SBC exit fees high it would make more sense for the SBC to do the expanding.
-The SBC in this case could add ODU, Charlotte, FAU, FIU
I: ODU, Charlotte, App State, Coastal, FAU, FIU
II: GaState, GaSouthern, USA, Troy, ULM, Texas State
UTEP and Rice become independents where they can schedule NMSU, Army, UMass and BYU.
(06-18-2016 01:13 PM)Cyniclone Wrote: [ -> ] (06-18-2016 12:34 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote: [ -> ]What if the best of CUSA and the Sun Belt joined up form their own conference and left the rest behind. Based on basketball, attendance, and football.
NEW CONFERENCE
WEST
UTSA
Rice
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana
Arkansas State
Southern Miss
UAB
EAST
Marshall
Western Kentucky
Old Dominion
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Georgia Southern
Florida Atlantic
I wanted to include MT in but needed a Florida school and MT football attendance and stadium are not up to par. Coastal basketball and football and a new state would be a good add as well if not for small football program. If you were to go to 16 MT and Coastal would be the adds.
This conference could probably get around $500,000 a year and be competitive in football, basketball, and baseball.
That'd be agreeable, except as with any best-of CUSA/Sun Belt conference, the leftover schools would either be in a far-flung, awful conference, or they'd be forced to independence/FCS.
Now if you did a best-of that incorporated the MAC, you might have a better chance of dividing up the remains into two feasible, albeit low-tier, conferences.
The far flung schools like UTEP, FAU, FIU should be ditched as they are too far and uncompetitive. Maybe these schools end up independent.
I can't see the MAC wanting to mix in with CUSA or SBC schools. TV money will not be anymore and the travel costs will be higher than they have now.
The SBC isn't really the problem as they only have 10 in football and don't have the far flung schools. Its CUSA that is the problem. You need a group of CUSA schools with bigger football profiles to break out and start a new conference, taking a few of the bigger SBC football schools with them which forces the SBC to reload with existing CUSA schools to effectively kill of the conference.
UTEP could go to the MWC.
Isn't the lack of auto bids and no part of the CFP contract reason why something like this won't happen?
Why not just build the best western or eastern conference you can and limit it to 8-10 teams. Cut out a little fat and still leave a tight low travel cost conference. For instance, in the west, you could do
Ark St
ULL
LaTech
S Miss
Rice
Texas St
UTSA
N Texas
UAB
That's a tight drivable conference with pretty good football, some decent basketball, some big markets, with a footprint that might appeal to a regional network like Fox Sports SW. You could play around with the membership to get a better program here or there. But--as someone just said, creating a new conference with no auto-bids and no access to CFP money isn't going to appeal to any school right now. Thus, the only real option as far as realigning the schools of CUSA and Sunbelt is a cooperative effort where entry/exit fees are waived and the schools willingly agree to be swapped back and forth to create two very tight low travel cost conferences (one in the east and one in the west).
(06-18-2016 05:11 PM)rokamortis Wrote: [ -> ]Isn't the lack of auto bids and no part of the CFP contract reason why something like this won't happen?
That and exit fees.
At the moment exit fees from the SBC are about 2.5 million per school. CUSA has low exit fees at the moment because the TV contract isn't worth anything.
They may be stuck with the lineups until the next CFP contract or some serious realignment takes place.
(06-18-2016 05:11 PM)Attackcoog Wrote: [ -> ]Why not just build the best western or eastern conference you can and limit it to 8-10 teams. Cut out a little fat and still leave a tight low travel cost conference. For instance, in the west, you could do
Ark St
ULL
LaTech
S Miss
Rice
Texas St
UTSA
N Texas
UAB
That's a tight drivable conference with pretty good football, some decent basketball, some big markets, with a footprint that might appeal to a regional network like Fox Sports SW. You could play around with the membership to get a better program here or there. But--as someone just said, creating a new conference with no auto-bids and no access to CFP money isn't going to appeal to any school right now. Thus, the only real option as far as realigning the schools of CUSA and Sunbelt is a cooperative effort where entry/exit fees are waived and the schools willingly agree to be swapped back and forth to create two very tight low travel cost conferences (one in the east and one in the west).
I think UAB and USM would want to be in a division with Marshall, WKU and MTSU from a regional rivalry perspective not with the western schools.
Western schools should be limited to Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
Another Idea a Conference with teams that sound like a P5 school.
Texas State
Rice
Louisiana
Louisiana Tech
Arkansas State
Southern Miss
Birmingham
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Charlotte
Appalachian
Old Dominion
Marshall
(06-18-2016 05:24 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote: [ -> ]Another Idea a Conference with teams that sound like a P5 school.
Texas State
Rice
Louisiana
Louisiana Tech
Arkansas State
Southern Miss
Birmingham
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Charlotte
Appalachian
Old Dominion
Marshall
How about...
Conference I
East
Arkansas State
Louisiana Lafayette
LTU
Southern Miss
South Alabama
Troy
West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Rice
Texas State
UTSA
North Texas
Conference II
South
UAB
Coastal Carolina
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
North
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Old Dominion
Western Kentucky
(06-18-2016 10:51 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-18-2016 05:24 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote: [ -> ]Another Idea a Conference with teams that sound like a P5 school.
Texas State
Rice
Louisiana
Louisiana Tech
Arkansas State
Southern Miss
Birmingham
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Charlotte
Appalachian
Old Dominion
Marshall
How about...
Conference I
East
Arkansas State
Louisiana Lafayette
LTU
Southern Miss
South Alabama
Troy
West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Rice
Texas State
UTSA
North Texas
Conference II
South
UAB
Coastal Carolina
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
North
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Old Dominion
Western Kentucky
I like conference 1. But it needs UTSA instead of New Mex. state. nothing can save NMSU.
(06-19-2016 08:10 PM)hawghiggs Wrote: [ -> ] (06-18-2016 10:51 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-18-2016 05:24 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote: [ -> ]Another Idea a Conference with teams that sound like a P5 school.
Texas State
Rice
Louisiana
Louisiana Tech
Arkansas State
Southern Miss
Birmingham
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Charlotte
Appalachian
Old Dominion
Marshall
How about...
Conference I
East
Arkansas State
Louisiana Lafayette
LTU
Southern Miss
South Alabama
Troy
West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Rice
Texas State
UTSA
North Texas
Conference II
South
UAB
Coastal Carolina
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
North
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Old Dominion
Western Kentucky
I like conference 1. But it needs UTSA instead of New Mex. state. nothing can save NMSU.
It does incorporate UTSA. And NMSU is actually investing in itself. Our Olympic programs would help a lot as well.
(06-19-2016 08:48 PM)NMSTFan Wrote: [ -> ] (06-19-2016 08:10 PM)hawghiggs Wrote: [ -> ] (06-18-2016 10:51 PM)ARSTATEFAN1986 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-18-2016 05:24 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote: [ -> ]Another Idea a Conference with teams that sound like a P5 school.
Texas State
Rice
Louisiana
Louisiana Tech
Arkansas State
Southern Miss
Birmingham
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Charlotte
Appalachian
Old Dominion
Marshall
How about...
Conference I
East
Arkansas State
Louisiana Lafayette
LTU
Southern Miss
South Alabama
Troy
West
New Mexico State
UTEP
Rice
Texas State
UTSA
North Texas
Conference II
South
UAB
Coastal Carolina
Georgia State
Georgia Southern
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
North
Appalachian State
Charlotte
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
Old Dominion
Western Kentucky
I like conference 1. But it needs UTSA instead of New Mex. state. nothing can save NMSU.
It does incorporate UTSA. And NMSU is actually investing in itself. Our Olympic programs would help a lot as well.
Your right it does.
East: App, Marshall, WKU, UAB, Georgia Southern, MTSU
West: USA, USM, ULL, LT, Rice, Ark State
(06-20-2016 05:25 PM)Beagleagle23 Wrote: [ -> ]East: App, Marshall, WKU, UAB, Georgia Southern, MTSU
West: USA, USM, ULL, LT, Rice, Ark State
Not bad.
You are taking 5 SBC schools and 7 CUSA to form the new conference.
Remaining CUSA could add Georgia State, Texas State and Troy to put the SBC out of business.
(06-20-2016 06:18 PM)Kittonhead Wrote: [ -> ] (06-20-2016 05:25 PM)Beagleagle23 Wrote: [ -> ]East: App, Marshall, WKU, UAB, Georgia Southern, MTSU
West: USA, USM, ULL, LT, Rice, Ark State
Not bad.
You are taking 5 SBC schools and 7 CUSA to form the new conference.
Remaining CUSA could add Georgia State, Texas State and Troy to put the SBC out of business.
That might drive ODU to put out feelers to the MAC if that came to fruition, because while I'm sure they're happy in CUSA, they'd be considerably less so if they lost most of the good basketball schools and one of the relatively close schools.
(06-20-2016 06:55 PM)Cyniclone Wrote: [ -> ] (06-20-2016 06:18 PM)Kittonhead Wrote: [ -> ] (06-20-2016 05:25 PM)Beagleagle23 Wrote: [ -> ]East: App, Marshall, WKU, UAB, Georgia Southern, MTSU
West: USA, USM, ULL, LT, Rice, Ark State
Not bad.
You are taking 5 SBC schools and 7 CUSA to form the new conference.
Remaining CUSA could add Georgia State, Texas State and Troy to put the SBC out of business.
That might drive ODU to put out feelers to the MAC if that came to fruition, because while I'm sure they're happy in CUSA, they'd be considerably less so if they lost most of the good basketball schools and one of the relatively close schools.
ODU should have feelers out to the MAC right now, IMO.
Marshall
Old Dominion
Appalachian State
Georgia Southern
Southern Miss
Louisiana Tech
Louisiana
Arkansas State
Texas State
Can't think of 3 more G5 programs to make a South 12 Conference. Would be nice to have the above and pull Ohio from the MAC. Would look into calling up a large state school with an established FCS program like Delaware, Missouri State, ect..
(06-20-2016 06:55 PM)Cyniclone Wrote: [ -> ]That might drive ODU to put out feelers to the MAC if that came to fruition, because while I'm sure they're happy in CUSA, they'd be considerably less so if they lost most of the good basketball schools and one of the relatively close schools.
Not sure the MAC would be interested in expansion, but ODU and JMU would work as travel partners.
(06-20-2016 05:25 PM)Beagleagle23 Wrote: [ -> ]East: App, Marshall, WKU, UAB, Georgia Southern, MTSU
West: USA, USM, ULL, LT, Rice, Ark State
From the new Big East precedent, it seems like with 7 members from the CUSA, it should be able to get an auto-bid if the NCAA agrees to add it to the list of FBS conferences.
Before the continuity rule was amended, it would have been clear how long those 7 would have to play together before it was an option, but it seems like the amendment played some lawyer game with grammar when they were looking at how to avoid the old continuity rule being a death sentence for the new WAC.