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Marshall University is the best choice if the AAC is unable to get BYU, Army, or any of the MWC teams.


Marshall has football history and brand recognition. Longest bowl winning streak in country and the overall best bowl winning percentage in the country. Only potential candidate who has finished ranked in the Top 25 over the last 6 years.

The best overall winning percentage since the last conference realignment at 67%.

Marshall has averaged 25k/game in football over the last 6 years (since realignment). By far the best of any potential candidate. That's with fan apathy sitting in from being left behind. No doubt Marshall could get back to averaging 28k+ per game if back in the AAC. That puts them right on par with majority of the conference.

Marshall basketball would have had the 4th highest average attendance in the conference with over 6k/game last season (not counting UCONN). No doubt the attendance would go up with being in the AAC.

Marshall makes an excellent travel partner for Cincinnati. At only 149 miles away, no other reasonable candidate is closer to a current AAC team.

Marshall has a decent TV market ranked #70 in the country. Marshall actually controls this market with being on the front page of news papers and the main focus of the local sports channels.

Marshall games are the first chosen under the CUSA media deal. This upcoming season 11/12 football games are on Tier 1/2. The next closest CUSA member only has 6 games on Tier 1/2. Proof the networks know which team brings the best ratings.

Average bowl ratings over the last 6 years for Marshall is 2.1 million.

Every member of the AAC is under 50% subsidized. Marshall is only 48% subsidized and is the ONLY potential candidate that is under 50% subsidized.

Marshall is located within the current footprint of the AAC but also brings a new state to the conference.

Can't scream P6 if you go out and add members with losing FBS records, average less than 20k/game and over 60% subsidized.

No other school from CUSA/MAC/Sun Belt average over 20k/game in football and over 5k/game in basketball. Let that sink in and by all means, carry on with the so called potential in other candidates.

I actually agree with this. I would add that, not only is Marshall a good travel partner for UC, it is not that far from Temple or East Carolina, creating a nice northeastern "pod" for the conference that would ease everybody's travel costs a bit. Also, Charleston, WV is the number 70 TV market in the US. Not huge, but similar to Tulsa (61) or Wichita (76), and folks in Charleston are probably actually interested in MU sports.

Marshall is a classic program. They ignited passion across the MAC and evoke nostalgic feelings in me. There’s just a mystique about Marshall that I can’t pinpoint what it is.

While I doubt it happens---Marshall as a "football only" and VCU for olympic sports addition, taken together, wouldn't be a bad replacement for UConn. The AAC would walk away with MUCH better football performance....and yes--its a step down in basketball---but VCU is still a very strong and appealing basketball addition. The league could do worse. The concerns about Marshall would be--are they an institutional fit int he eyes of AAC presidents? Does their budget fit? Can they maintain their performance without non-qualifiers which are not allowed in the AAC. Does adding another CUSA team increase the perception that the AAC is just CUSA 2.0?

If ESPN wants 12 no issue with Marshall.

(06-27-2019 12:54 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote: [ -> ]Marshall is a classic program. They ignited passion across the MAC and evoke nostalgic feelings in me. There’s just a mystique about Marshall that I can’t pinpoint what it is.

It's the banjos.

To me Marshall would be a great choice as well as Southern Miss. Both programs have history and great fan bases. The one thing I give Marshall over others is the fact people have heard of Marshall. if you asked ten people about Marshall about I bet eight would have heard of them or know there story. The one thing lacking for both Marshall and USM is resources, being a member of the AAC would change those programs overnight. Imagine what they can do with the exposure and money that the AAC can provide. If we could add both Marshall and USM and then either get BYU or Army football only with VCU or Dayton we would be all set.

(06-27-2019 12:42 PM)herdfan129 Wrote: [ -> ]Marshall University is the best choice if the AAC is unable to get BYU, Army, or any of the MWC teams.


Marshall has football history and brand recognition. Longest bowl winning streak in country and the overall best bowl winning percentage in the country. Only potential candidate who has finished ranked in the Top 25 over the last 6 years.

The best overall winning percentage since the last conference realignment at 67%.

Marshall has averaged 25k/game in football over the last 6 years (since realignment). By far the best of any potential candidate. That's with fan apathy sitting in from being left behind. No doubt Marshall could get back to averaging 28k+ per game if back in the AAC. That puts them right on par with majority of the conference.

Marshall basketball would have had the 4th highest average attendance in the conference with over 6k/game last season (not counting UCONN). No doubt the attendance would go up with being in the AAC.

Marshall makes an excellent travel partner for Cincinnati. At only 149 miles away, no other reasonable candidate is closer to a current AAC team.

Marshall has a decent TV market ranked #70 in the country. Marshall actually controls this market with being on the front page of news papers and the main focus of the local sports channels.

Marshall games are the first chosen under the CUSA media deal. This upcoming season 11/12 football games are on Tier 1/2. The next closest CUSA member only has 6 games on Tier 1/2. Proof the networks know which team brings the best ratings.

Average bowl ratings over the last 6 years for Marshall is 2.1 million.

Every member of the AAC is under 50% subsidized. Marshall is only 48% subsidized and is the ONLY potential candidate that is under 50% subsidized.

Marshall is located within the current footprint of the AAC but also brings a new state to the conference.

Can't scream P6 if you go out and add members with losing FBS records, average less than 20k/game and over 60% subsidized.

No other school from CUSA/MAC/Sun Belt average over 20k/game in football and over 5k/game in basketball. Let that sink in and by all means, carry on with the so called potential in other candidates.

Send that to Dr. Gilbert and Hamrick if they need bullet points to use.

Army finished in the top 25 as the last one outside of the AAC, MWC, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. Problem with Marshall is that their football have been a yo-yo from being above .500 to below .500 winning %.

No thanks

(06-27-2019 12:57 PM)Attackcoog Wrote: [ -> ]The concerns about Marshall would be--are they an institutional fit int he eyes of AAC presidents? Does their budget fit? Can they maintain their performance without non-qualifiers which are not allowed in the AAC.

We were just upgraded to an "R2: Doctoral University, High research activity". The same classification as Baylor, BYU, DePaul, Lehigh to name a few. And AAC universities ECU, SMU, Memphis, Tulsa, and Wichita State.

The budget is low right now. Around 30M. With the added money of being apart of the AAC I'd hope that would put us around ECU and Tulsa.

Maybe some other MU fans can answer the non-qualifier question but I'm not sure that a ton of our "stars" have been NQ's.

(06-27-2019 12:42 PM)herdfan129 Wrote: [ -> ]Marshall University is the best choice if the AAC is unable to get BYU, Army, or any of the MWC teams.


Marshall has football history and brand recognition. Longest bowl winning streak in country and the overall best bowl winning percentage in the country. Only potential candidate who has finished ranked in the Top 25 over the last 6 years.

The best overall winning percentage since the last conference realignment at 67%.

Marshall has averaged 25k/game in football over the last 6 years (since realignment). By far the best of any potential candidate. That's with fan apathy sitting in from being left behind. No doubt Marshall could get back to averaging 28k+ per game if back in the AAC. That puts them right on par with majority of the conference.

Marshall basketball would have had the 4th highest average attendance in the conference with over 6k/game last season (not counting UCONN). No doubt the attendance would go up with being in the AAC.

Marshall makes an excellent travel partner for Cincinnati. At only 149 miles away, no other reasonable candidate is closer to a current AAC team.

Marshall has a decent TV market ranked #70 in the country. Marshall actually controls this market with being on the front page of news papers and the main focus of the local sports channels.

Marshall games are the first chosen under the CUSA media deal. This upcoming season 11/12 football games are on Tier 1/2. The next closest CUSA member only has 6 games on Tier 1/2. Proof the networks know which team brings the best ratings.

Average bowl ratings over the last 6 years for Marshall is 2.1 million.

Every member of the AAC is under 50% subsidized. Marshall is only 48% subsidized and is the ONLY potential candidate that is under 50% subsidized.

Marshall is located within the current footprint of the AAC but also brings a new state to the conference.

Can't scream P6 if you go out and add members with losing FBS records, average less than 20k/game and over 60% subsidized.

No other school from CUSA/MAC/Sun Belt average over 20k/game in football and over 5k/game in basketball. Let that sink in and by all means, carry on with the so called potential in other candidates.

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1) Can Marshall perform without non-qualifiers? The AAC doesn't allow them
2) Marshall is in a small, low-growth state in a small TV market; Growth is very limited

(06-27-2019 02:38 PM)NBPirate Wrote: [ -> ]1) Can Marshall perform without non-qualifiers? The AAC doesn't allow them
2) Marshall is in a small, low-growth state in a small TV market; Growth is very limited

I think we're one of those schools where our brand is bigger than our market. We had the 2nd most watched bowl game not involving a P5 on cable this season with 1.75 million viewers. And if the OP is correct our average bowl ratings over the last 6 years is 2.1 million viewers.

Charleston-Huntington is the 70th TV market out of 210. It's not THAT small. Plus WV is a unique state. We only have two FBS teams. And lots of people here have interest in anything WV. So even if people aren't a Marshall fan per say. They'll still have the game on. So other markets around the state watch as well.

Lots of misplaced West Virginians around the country who left for jobs are watching too.

(06-27-2019 02:38 PM)NBPirate Wrote: [ -> ]1) Can Marshall perform without non-qualifiers? The AAC doesn't allow them
2) Marshall is in a small, low-growth state in a small TV market; Growth is very limited

1. The only sport that utilizes NQs is football. Most never see the field. Non starter for me. I'm sure we would just recruit more JUCOs like everyone else to make up for it.

2. Our TV market is #70 which isn't huge but isn't small either. We also get a ton of coverage in our market. WV also just had the highest rate of personal income growth in the entire country for the first quarter of 2019.

(06-27-2019 01:56 PM)DavidSt Wrote: [ -> ]Army finished in the top 25 as the last one outside of the AAC, MWC, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. Problem with Marshall is that their football have been a yo-yo from being above .500 to below .500 winning %.

I mentioned at beginning that my info does not include Army. Obviously if the AAC can get BYU or Army then they will. My info was Marshall vs everyone else.

Our football team has only had one bad season over the last 6 years. We were crippled with injuries at key positions. Once again, we have a winning percentage of 67% over the last 6 years. We won 10+ games three times, 9 games once, and 8 games once. Winning seasons and bowl wins 5/6 years. Beat Maryland, NIU (MAC Champion), UCONN, Colorado St, and USF in bowl games.

For comparison, ODU only has 1 winning season since moving up to FBS.

As an App State fan/alum, I'd first prefer my school but would much rather see a Marshall or a Southern Miss get called up than one of these big market schools that can't get anyone to come to their games, and also stink at football more often than not

(06-27-2019 03:05 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote: [ -> ]As an App State fan/alum, I'd first prefer my school but would much rather see a Marshall or a Southern Miss get called up than one of these big market schools that can't get anyone to come to their games, and also stink at football more often than not

Yep. It's much better to have a large, engaged fan base in mid-size market than an empty stadium in a big market.

(06-27-2019 03:05 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote: [ -> ]As an App State fan/alum, I'd first prefer my school but would much rather see a Marshall or a Southern Miss get called up than one of these big market schools that can't get anyone to come to their games, and also stink at football more often than not

Thanks. I still think CUSA should have added App State. Solid football program.

(06-27-2019 03:05 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote: [ -> ]As an App State fan/alum, I'd first prefer my school but would much rather see a Marshall or a Southern Miss get called up than one of these big market schools that can't get anyone to come to their games, and also stink at football more often than not

ODU losing games still draw fans better than some large markets like Atlanta, Charlotte and Birmingham. That is more positive than Georgia State, UAB and Charlotte. Could be that the 3 I mentioned have close by P5, pro-teams or both.