doss2
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RE: The AAC Post UConn: What Is Your Preference?
(06-24-2019 11:29 AM)bearcatseminole Wrote: (06-24-2019 11:24 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote: (06-24-2019 10:26 AM)colohank Wrote: (06-24-2019 09:59 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote: I said this over on the "Main" conference board.
My "preference" (and that's all that it is) is that the AAC sever ties with Tulsa, go back down to 10 teams...play a full round-robin in football (that's the main issue here) and maybe even the "double round-robin" in basketball. That would allow true rivalries to develop and grow.
IMO, Tulsa doesn't "fit." They were added at a time when we thought (as a conference) we needed "Football Success" to bolster the new conference's image...Tulsa never lived up to that and we have "Football Success" with Houston, UCF, and UC. We also added Tulsa when we thought we needed 12 teams to get to a CCG...you can do that now with 10 and the round-robin in football. Tulsa has the smallest enrollment in the Conference, they have piss-poor attendance, and they are not "elite" in anything.
And, for the record, this is "how" you do this...you broker a contract with Tulsa to "go away." Yes, in the short-term it costs $$$, but in the long-term you recoup it. I don't know how much it would cost to make Tulsa go away; I'd start with the $10 Million UConn is going to pay in "exit fees" and start there. The Max would be whatever media money Tulsa has coming to them for the remainder of the Media deal...but even that would be an acceptable price for me because it would allow the Conference to GROW by having rivalries develop because we would now be playing each other home-and-away every year.
Just my opinion...but that's what I'd like to see happen.
Going to ten makes perfect sense from a scheduling standpoint until a really compelling candidate (like BYU, for example) signals that they'd like to join the AAC. Then we're back to eleven members anyway, might feel it's important to go to twelve again, and we're out whatever we paid Tulsa (or any other program that's currently looked down upon) to part company. Tulsa is a fine school academically. If they don't measure up athletically, then it might make more sense for the other conference members to give them a set number of years to improve and some kind of hand-up to help them achieve that goal. If they can't or won't improve, then at least they've been given a fair chance.
I don't like the idea of making any member school feel like an outcast. We've all been there at one time or another. I sure know what it felt like when UC was left behind in the last round of conference realignment.
Has BYU given any indication that they want to join the AAC?
Most of what I hear is fantasy talk... Colorado State has said at least on two occasions that they will not join the AAC under any circumstances, yet their name constantly pops up. Likewise with Army and Air Force. What gives people any realistic idea that "a compelling candidate" actually is out there?
Until and unless BYU publicly says they're "interested," I am assuming that they are NOT. So, ten (in football) is the sweet spot for this group. (In basketball and 'Olympic sports' 11 is fine, so I am totally good with Wichita State being on board.) As for being made to "feel an outcast..." Sorry, but I really don't think Tulsa is a good fit for this conference. I'm not being vindictive or nasty, I think the facts support me on this. I think schools like Tulane and ECU at least bring something to the table, even while they're not ideal "fits." Tulsa doesn't. (And UConn and Pitt fans didn't hesitate to point that out to UC "back in the day"...and right now if you read the UConn forums.) At least in my case, it's not "personal."
But like the UAB fan in the other thread, I get that any Tulsa fans reading this are going to...disagree...with my take. Which is fine; this is a "message board" in any case. You know what they say about the similarities between an opinion and a a**hole...
Meanwhile, UMASS is wet-dream'n themselves with excitement over the past couple days about the AAC
UMass is worse FB than UConn and BB has not been good since Crooked Cal
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06-24-2019 02:18 PM |
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