(06-10-2021 02:09 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(06-10-2021 08:27 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  Navy and Wichita are very valuable brands to the American. They will not be "dumped" so that the AAC can have balanced divisions in football or so as to nix the hybrid model. That would be absurd.

The American is in very fine shape (not "great," admittedly, but very fine). It is an all-sports league with a quality mix of academics (including six medical schools), athletics and universities with strong histories and city locations. It is joined by the Big East and the Mountain West as the three best NCAA D-I conferences (though some would add the Ivy League to that group) that are not part of the Power Five.

Did somebody suggest dumping Wichita? I think the opposite, encourage them to restart football. They’re already in the conference and the footprint. They could immediately compete to be the best football program in the state. Not many other eastern/Midwestern candidates can say that, except, ahem, Liberty!

That brings me to a thought which I’ve often had: you want a program that will pour money into it until they are upper tier? Then you look at Liberty. The presidents won’t allow it, but it’s true.