(06-29-2019 03:39 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(06-29-2019 08:22 AM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(06-29-2019 01:11 AM)esayem Wrote:  I think location matters quite a bit here. Yes, being on an island is not ideal (UConn just left and they were an island), but the candidate shouldn’t encroach on a member program and cause a bit too much competition. Unless, that team doesn’t recruit the same type of student athlete. For instance, having North Texas or UTSA would be more detrimental to Houston than Rice.

UAB, Southern Miss, and Rice stand out to me mainly due to their central location and history with current members. Rice has unlimited potential if they agree to spend a certain amount on their major sports. The football coach already makes a mil/year. They have three legit trophy games within the conference, plus Navy and Tulane would support them.

ODU and Marshall are interesting, but I wonder how ECU feels about ODU and Cincinnati about Marshall.

Although Marshall wins a lot it seems, small town small airport.
Virginia Beach, Newport, Hampton that is a metro area of 1.7 Million. And is a gold mine for football recruiting. Everyone around there has players from there on their team, UVA, UNC, ECU, NC State, VTech etc., everyone recruits there. ODU would have to get better, more consistent within the program. Lots of upside.

I think the AAC stays at 11, if they get the waiver or whatever is required to play a CCG.

Right. Cincinnati has never shared a conference with Marshall, as far as I know. I just don’t see that happening. I would place ODU over Marshall.

On another note, there is a giant naval base in Norfolk. I imagine Navy games would be standing room only.