(04-30-2021 07:08 PM)thrill_house Wrote:  The best bets at becoming bellwethers UCF or Houston. They both have sizable local alumni bases and have shown the ability to attract power 5 coaches to their programs.

Oh, is that all it takes? So USF, which has half a million alumni, more than half of whom live in the Tampa Bay area, and hired Charlie Strong, a Power 5 head coach, should be on that list, right?

Except despite more than 250,000 USF alumni who live within a 90 minute drive of the stadium, we rarely sell out our games. And Charlie Strong, despite being hired away from a Power 5 school and having won an Orange Bowl as a head coach, was an unmitigated disaster as a head coach. And despite both of your criteria, USF has never played in a conference championship game or won a conference football championship. So maybe, Mr. 2 posts, you'll forgive us if we doubt your bona fides as an astute college football pontificator.

Oh, and at the risk of pointing out the obvious - maybe we should see how Gus Malzahn actually does as a UCF coach before we anoint him as the next great savior of UCF? Lord knows most of the P5 retreads who have been hired into the AAC (looking at you too, Senator Tuberville) haven't lived up to the hype, and let's not kid ourselves into thinking that Dana has been a home run so far, either...

USFFan