(01-28-2013 12:17 PM)Ragu Wrote:  

(01-28-2013 11:14 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 10:55 PM)Ragu Wrote:  FAU has a lot of improvements on the way if you have been paying attention. The Innovation Village project is a very interesting read. Part of that is renovating the convocation center and weight rooms and such plus athletic offices. This all happened before leaving the Sun Belt came about.

Can any of you guys answer me on the NCAA tourney bids in baseball? I can't find records of any. If you guys keep ignoring it, I gotta assume that this is right. But with small teams like ours, it is hard to find good records on a lot of sports.

Look I am not going to be mad if Ark St is added. I see them as a good program and on par with us. That is key phrase "on par" in many sports. Not in baseball yet but in most others they are the same. But your only advantage besides the very even overall field performance is in fanbase (in which you had a lot more time to build).

I am mostly perplexed at those acting like you guys are way above FAU/FIU and that we only got invited for market purposes. That is a load of crap. And I wouldn't put your overall athletic program on par with WKU and ULL. That is my reason for wanting them more than ASU.

Arkansas State finished a half game back of FAU last year in baseball. Obviously we are far behind FAU in baseball, of course if you had played your final game vs. FIU, we might have ended tied.

As far as overall programs go, last year ASU finished 24 points ahead of FAU in the all-sports competition despite sponsoring one fewer Sun Belt sport. FAU finished last or tied for last 5 of 16 Sun Belt sports, and next to last in another. ASU finished last in one sport, next to last in one. The year before FAU finished 26.5 points back finished last in one sport, next to last in two, ASU with no last or next to last finishes.

Like I have said a ton on here, your fanbase likes to pretend like college sports started 2-3 years ago and nothing else matters. That isn't how it works.

I will take our all time series vs Ark St in the 3 major sports over a arbitrary measurement for one given year. Most don't give a crap about other sports. Those "rankings" can be inflated by sports like swimming, lacrosse and soccer. Who really cares about them? I mean there are schools like Cal State Fullerton who finish top 10 in that thing.

The bottom line is some of your fanbase and some fellow SBC fans overrate your program. You guys aren't any better than a FAU or FIU since we came up. You have us on attendance (with 90 more years to build a fanbase), but that is about it. The on field performances are about equal ( you are behind in baseball). The off field stuff, you guys lose in most of it.

EDIT: And before people try to spin my words, let me say this clear. I am not saying FAU/FIU are way better or even better than Ark St. I am saying that ASU fans and other SBC people have no basis for acting like Ark St is so far above FAU/FIU as programs. They are pretty equal overall and I would argue that FAU/FIU have far more advantages overall.

Ragu, let's be clear. Your opening gambit, was to trash Arkansas State's facilities.

You've got a new stadium. Congratulations and if you have any sort of memory, you recall I was very critical of the state board for jacking FAU around on the stadium issue. I don't begrudge it and thought it was dang sorry politics how FAU was treated.

But come on now Mr. ASU's Facilities Are Terrible, your track complex is slightly newer but no better.

Unless I've missed the announcement, you lack the capacity to host an indoor track meet which we have.

As I noted before, I hope you aren't comparing the Burrow where a new roof was a major upgrade to the 10,000 seat Convocation Center where the racket from the students led the league to ask us to flip the home and visitor benches and for two decades our crowds were among the top third of the nation (thanks once again Dr. Wyatt for that Nutt extension).

Our soccer complex is nothing special, the best thing I can say for it is that the 10 year old field is about to be replaced because its in the way of the new indoor practice facility but it's not like FAU's was drawing raves when women's pro soccer was there.

Golf is so shabby its hosted multiple league tournaments.

You have two football practice fields. OK, we've got that in addition to using the stadium, and the facility upgrades will convert on field from grass to artificial turf to allow changing surfaces based on opponent.

You pretend Arkansas State was a nothing in the league until the last two years. No football isn't just a 2 year thing.

Since 2005 when FAU joined
ASU 51-47
FAU 35-62
FIU 32-65
ULL 48-49
ULM 42-54
MTSU 47-51
UNT 22-73
Troy 53-46

You say if this had all happened a few years ago, FAU would have been up top. Well since 2005 FAU has posted two seasons of .500 or better in football compared to 5 for ASU but hey we've sucked all but two years. Yeah FAU had two good years but won 15 games those two years vs. 11 ASU won those same years and FAU's two good years, you split with Arkansas State, with Owls dropping a two TD decision in Jonesboro and the Owls winning by 3 at FAU.

ULL is located in a DMA that's about 2.9 times the size of the one WKU is in and Jonesboro is one slot higher on the DMA food chain than Bowling Green

(01-28-2013 05:23 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  ULL is located in a DMA that's about 2.9 times the size of the one WKU is in and Jonesboro is one slot higher on the DMA food chain than Bowling Green

Thus the reason WKU will not get an invite to CUSA.

(01-28-2013 05:23 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  ULL is located in a DMA that's about 2.9 times the size of the one WKU is in and Jonesboro is one slot higher on the DMA food chain than Bowling Green

We already have a school in Louisiana. The state population is not large enough to justify 2 teams in the CUSA

(01-28-2013 07:39 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(01-28-2013 05:23 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  ULL is located in a DMA that's about 2.9 times the size of the one WKU is in and Jonesboro is one slot higher on the DMA food chain than Bowling Green

We already have a school in Louisiana. The state population is not large enough to justify 2 teams in the CUSA

There are over 1.2 million people in the South Louisiana region called Acadiana(Cajuns), a region which has the City of Lafayette, Louisiana as the Hub....there may be 12 people in this region who give a damn about Louisiana Tech.....you figure it out

(01-28-2013 07:48 PM)swampbear Wrote:  

(01-28-2013 07:39 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(01-28-2013 05:23 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  ULL is located in a DMA that's about 2.9 times the size of the one WKU is in and Jonesboro is one slot higher on the DMA food chain than Bowling Green

We already have a school in Louisiana. The state population is not large enough to justify 2 teams in the CUSA

There are over 1.2 million people in the South Louisiana region called Acadiana(Cajuns), a region which has the City of Lafayette, Louisiana as the Hub....there may be 12 people in this region who give a damn about Louisiana Tech.....you figure it out

I was down in Louisiana for the Independence Bowl and swung by Laffayette and I can concur that ULL is at best located in a small city practically in the middle of nowhere (wilderness in most directions). Does all of Acadiana have 1.2 million? Yes but that is a bigger area that rural NW Ohio with the same population.

I'm not sure what kind of tactical value ULL adds to CUSA. I would not be surprised if CUSA after taking MTSU/FAU would look once again at more of an FCS upgrade school in Georgia State just for the media market and another school in the eastern timezone.

(01-28-2013 07:58 PM)Louis Kitton Wrote:  

(01-28-2013 07:48 PM)swampbear Wrote:  

(01-28-2013 07:39 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  

(01-28-2013 05:23 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  ULL is located in a DMA that's about 2.9 times the size of the one WKU is in and Jonesboro is one slot higher on the DMA food chain than Bowling Green

We already have a school in Louisiana. The state population is not large enough to justify 2 teams in the CUSA

There are over 1.2 million people in the South Louisiana region called Acadiana(Cajuns), a region which has the City of Lafayette, Louisiana as the Hub....there may be 12 people in this region who give a damn about Louisiana Tech.....you figure it out

I was down in Louisiana for the Independence Bowl and swung by Laffayette and I can concur that ULL is at best located in a small city practically in the middle of nowhere (wilderness in most directions). Does all of Acadiana have 1.2 million? Yes but that is a bigger area that rural NW Ohio with the same population.

I'm not sure what kind of tactical value ULL adds to CUSA. I would not be surprised if CUSA after taking MTSU/FAU would look once again at more of an FCS upgrade school in Georgia State just for the media market and another school in the eastern timezone.

City of Lafayette population: 122,130, Lafayette Parish(County): 224,390, Lafayette Combined Statistical Area(basically a 35 mile radius of the City): 554,417, 50 mile radius of Lafayette: 808,210, the 22 Parish Region known as Acadiana surrounding Lafayette: 1.2 million. That whole Region matters because our City and University are the cultural hub of the Region...hence the monniker "Ragin Cajuns". I do not know whether or not we will be invited to join CUSA...who does. But we are in the mix. I would invite everyone to visit the Universities athletics website; http://www.ragincajuns.com and click onto the facilities page. Even before our stadium expansion to 45,000 to occur later this year and upgrades to Baseball and other facilities, I believe that you will be impressed. Good luck to all this upcoming year.

WKU has been contacted by cusa to join the conference in 2014 when
Tulsa leaves for the Big East

(01-29-2013 01:29 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  WKU has been contacted by cusa to join the conference in 2014 when
Tulsa leaves for the Big East

Have not heard this anywhere else yet. I was told a few weeks back that they did expected WKU to announce spring 2013 though

FWIW, I like A-State. Always have and always will.
I'd be pumped if we get Ohio. Excited and a bit pissed if we don't get either WKU, A-State, or ULL. USA and GaSt will be solid programs in the near future, but let's have them get their growing pains in the SBC.
NMSU is a hell no unless the UTEP admin will leave CUSA if we DON'T add NMSU.

(01-29-2013 01:29 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  WKU has been contacted by cusa to join the conference in 2014 when
Tulsa leaves for the Big East

Source?

If its just the one team that leaves I really think it will be WKU that gets added.

I would bet that MTSU is acting on thier behalf to get them in as they realize, just like FIU's administration did, that having a rival for them is critical to the success of the program.

Bonus of getting a whole new stae's TV's, plus an excellent Basketball program is icing on the cake.

(01-29-2013 02:30 PM)OwlFamily Wrote:  If its just the one team that leaves I really think it will be WKU that gets added.

I would bet that MTSU is acting on thier behalf to get them in as they realize, just like FIU's administration did, that having a rival for them is critical to the success of the program.

Bonus of getting a whole new stae's TV's, plus an excellent Basketball program is icing on the cake.

And I've heard that the state of KY follows basketball. Lol. If we do get the invite I will embrace the move since WKU and MT do have a very strong love hate thing going on! And I think a change of scenery will help from a fans prospective on attendance numbers. I like the thought of playing some of WKU's old rivals which I think would bring excitement back to some of our older fans which could care less about the Sun Belt. Also while the CUSA was weak during regular season football they finished strong and did well in they're bowl games, this is a good sign for next season results.

(01-29-2013 02:30 PM)OwlFamily Wrote:  I would bet that MTSU is acting on thier behalf to get them in as they realize, just like FIU's administration did, that having a rival for them is critical to the success of the program.

I seriously doubt it. UAB, Marshall, USM, etc will all be great future rivals. I don't think our administration is pushing for WKU at all. The FIU situation is different because they were so far out on an island by themselves.

(01-29-2013 02:22 PM)Blue Raider Dave Wrote:  [quote='David Krumudgen' pid='8900495' dateline='1359484180']
WKU has been contacted by cusa to join the conference in 2014 when
Tulsa leaves for the Big East

Source?
The Memphis Athletic office where I work, We may be a lame duck
conference member but we are still in the loop.

ODU was a former rival with WKU, and our AD came over from WKU. So I have to believe we would be a strong proponent for the Hilltoppers.

ODU's AD (or was it Prez?) publicly said that WKU was low on his list because they offer no market. At this point though we should just be adding a good program regardless of market.

I'm not familiar with that quote. All I know is that if I had to choose between small market WKU and large market GSU...it wouldn't take long.

So the quotes aren't as negative as I remember. Maybe I'm getting old.

Quote:The additions that Conference USA has made have been very similar in that they’re large, metropolitan universities in large, metropolitan media markets. ... You’re talking about some of the top major media markets and upcoming metro universities with medical schools and dozens of doctoral programs. It’s universities and athletic programs on the rise.

They (WKU) do not fit the profile of what Conference USA has been going for recently. I really like the direction of Conference USA.

http://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/selig-...963f4.html

(01-29-2013 08:23 PM)BeliefBlazer Wrote:  So the quotes aren't as negative as I remember. Maybe I'm getting old.

Quote:The additions that Conference USA has made have been very similar in that they’re large, metropolitan universities in large, metropolitan media markets. ... You’re talking about some of the top major media markets and upcoming metro universities with medical schools and dozens of doctoral programs. It’s universities and athletic programs on the rise.

They (WKU) do not fit the profile of what Conference USA has been going for recently. I really like the direction of Conference USA.

http://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/selig-...963f4.html

I've had to correct numerous folks who misquoted him. Glad you found the quote. All he said was WKU didn't fit the profile CUSA has been going for lately. That's neither negative or positive, just the truth about CUSA's recent pattern of invites......notwithstanding LaTech.