(04-20-2021 08:13 AM)SMUstang Wrote:  

(04-19-2021 11:20 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(04-19-2021 10:20 PM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  

(04-19-2021 01:46 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  No offense to the eggheads on the board, but for the AAC they need quality on the field and in brand strength over academic rankings. Its all about ratings and revenue my friend-- and unless Rice is sharing research dollars with AAC members schools, they aren't going to be added.

Exactly what I was thinking. No one scrolls through the channels and chooses which game to watch based on the level of a schools academics.

On the field football performance and BRAND---if good enough---can certainly bring enough value to a conference that university presidents are willing to overlook perceived academic shortcomings (to a degree). Ideally, every conference wants any candidate to have the academics of Rice and the football brand/performance of Ohio St.

Such candidates are in short supply.

Realistically, you'll take a Boise---but you rather have BYU---or Army (thats a national brand transcends performance--though they are doing quite well now). So--if none of those are coming to the AAC---then all the AAC is looking for is a list of eastern G5 schools with higher end academics (not looking for Harvard---but just a solid top 200 USNWR ranked school) that has both a football brand that is near the top of the AAC in quality and a basketball program thats near the top of the AAC in quality.....sadly---the list candidates matching that description remains completely empty....which is why the AAC continues to be an 11 team conference for football and basketball.

Just thinking about your requirements, perhaps VCU for basketball and Liberty for football would fill the bill. Or Liberty for full membership.

Zero chance for Liberty. I do believe that a hybrid choice is the only option if the AAC has to pick a school now. VCU is an obvious value adding option and a school that’s a institutional fit. I’d extend a non-football invitation to VCU today. On the football side, there is no institutional match that also has the brand/performance heft in football to be an obvious value adding option at this time (at least not one that adds value and would also say “yes” to an invite).

So—fix what you can. Add VCU as they replace a good chunk of the basketball heft lost when UConn left. VCU makes sense right now. On the football side, there is no similar obvious choice—so do nothing. Keep in mind, losing the worst program in league is like dropping the worst test grade from your average. The overall average quality of the league improves even if you do nothing to replace it—-so no need to rush the replacement process by settling for a replacement that doesn’t check enough boxes.

Just be patient and eventually a school that currently makes sense as a value adding option (BYU, Army, Boise) will decide to join or a obvious alternative choice will eventually separate itself from the G5 scrum. The point is, there is no reason to gamble on adding a football program that MIGHT develop into a value adding option when being patient will allow you to add the program that DID develop into a value adding option.