Are there any FCS schools that are atually ready to move to FBS that aren't too far out of the MAC's footprint? It appears now that we would just need 1 school instead of 2.

(02-22-2012 04:28 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Give UMASS to CUSA/MWC as a play thing for ECU & Marshall

UMASS is one of us now and I like them!
Lay off!

(02-22-2012 05:26 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Are there any FCS schools that are atually ready to move to FBS that aren't too far out of the MAC's footprint? It appears now that we would just need 1 school instead of 2.

JMU is ready to go.

http://blogs.ajc.com/georgia-state-sport...-fbs/?cp=4

Georgia State preparing to make the jump as fast as possible, but "does not consider the WAC or MAC to “be viable membership options.”"

(02-22-2012 05:46 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 05:26 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Are there any FCS schools that are atually ready to move to FBS that aren't too far out of the MAC's footprint? It appears now that we would just need 1 school instead of 2.

JMU is ready to go.

Whomever it is, it should be for all sports. Any school that won't add all their sports is just going to add instability. Don't think we really need divisions in non-football sports, do we?

(02-22-2012 05:46 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 05:26 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Are there any FCS schools that are atually ready to move to FBS that aren't too far out of the MAC's footprint? It appears now that we would just need 1 school instead of 2.

JMU is ready to go.

Yep. They've got the stadium upgrade already in place to compete at the MAC level.

The JMU commissioner last fall thought an FBS opportunity would be out there within the next year to 18 months.

I don't know if 2012 is too short notice for JMU or if they are going to need to move all sports to the MAC but it will be interesting to see what happens.

(02-22-2012 06:10 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 05:46 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 05:26 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Are there any FCS schools that are atually ready to move to FBS that aren't too far out of the MAC's footprint? It appears now that we would just need 1 school instead of 2.

JMU is ready to go.

Whomever it is, it should be for all sports. Any school that won't add all their sports is just going to add instability. Don't think we really need divisions in non-football sports, do we?

I agree.

I am wondering now that Temple is gone from the A10 if UMass would consider going all sports as a package deal with 1-3 other universities?

Would the MAC want to sign Delaware, James Madison and Old Dominion all at once to go with UMass all-sports?

Or has UMass just become the new "Temple" for the alliance to pursue football only making their inclusion all but certain?

You have to admit, Temple to the BE is the biggest blow the MAC has had to its football conference in a long time....it may be enough to unglue the traditional MAC schools from their allegence since they won't have the perception of letting the MAC down.

(02-22-2012 06:37 PM)Louis Kitton Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 06:10 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 05:46 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 05:26 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Are there any FCS schools that are atually ready to move to FBS that aren't too far out of the MAC's footprint? It appears now that we would just need 1 school instead of 2.

JMU is ready to go.

Whomever it is, it should be for all sports. Any school that won't add all their sports is just going to add instability. Don't think we really need divisions in non-football sports, do we?

I agree.

I am wondering now that Temple is gone from the A10 if UMass would consider going all sports as a package deal with 1-3 other universities?

Would the MAC want to sign Delaware, James Madison and Old Dominion all at once to go with UMass all-sports?

Or has UMass just become the new "Temple" for the alliance to pursue football only making their inclusion all but certain?

You have to admit, Temple to the BE is the biggest blow the MAC has had to its football conference in a long time....it may be enough to unglue the traditional MAC schools from their allegence since they won't have the perception of letting the MAC down.

They were never a true MAC school, and this is not a big deal. Hold out your griddles AD's, here comes 2.5 Mil + damages...

If we expand, please no more directional schools (SIU), as it is I hope the Michigans and NIU drop their directional names...

The UMASS board describes us as having "all those directional Michigans"... these are good schools/programs suffering from crappy nomenclature, its a shame.

Temple leaving is not that important to the MAC at all except as it regards scheduling. It's a much bigger loss for the A-10.

(02-22-2012 08:35 PM)axeme Wrote:  Temple leaving is not that important to the MAC at all except as it regards scheduling. It's a much bigger loss for the A-10.

I agree that Temple leaving the A-10 is a HUGE loss.

That is like Kentucky leaving SEC basketball or Duke and Carolina leaving the ACC.

Its not only that the A-10 is losing a great team, the recruiting impact is tremendous because many schools especially the eastern A-10 schools recruit to the fact they play Temple in conference and that the A-10 is regularly 3 bids (largely due to Temple).

The A-10 is in trouble.

The A10 has always been able to reload with very good BB schools.
Lost teams as Penn State, Rutgers, West Virginia, Virginia Tech etc.

(02-22-2012 09:08 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  The A10 has always been able to reload with very good BB schools.
Lost teams as Penn State, Rutgers, West Virginia, Virginia Tech etc.

The league looks like its splintering in a lot of directions right now.

When it was Penn State, Rutgers, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Temple, UMass, Rhode Island, George Washington, St. Bonaventure, St. Joe's that was a pretty BCS level group.

Some of the more recent additions like St. Louis and Charlotte have done nothing for the conference.

I long thought the A-10 was a mess waiting to explode and now that time may finally come.

St Louis is a NCAA team and neck in neck with Temple, Xavier has 6 straight NCAA appearances. Dayton fans are very vocal will have watch on TV Saturday night. Hope we can win. Both Charlotte and St Louis have knocked us off the bubble in 2007, 2008.

(02-22-2012 09:57 PM)Steve1981 Wrote:  St Louis is a NCAA team and neck in neck with Temple, Xavier has 6 straight NCAA appearances. Dayton fans are very vocal will have watch on TV Saturday night. Hope we can win. Both Charlotte and St Louis have knocked us off the bubble in 2007, 2008.

Overall the league is losing ground to the CAA which has a pair of recent Final Four appearances.

The per school NCAA payout in the CAA is now equal to the A10 and they have a better TV deal with NBC.

So, does Southern Illinois just make too much sense for people to consider?

Why are we addicted to East Coast mercenaries?

SIU wouldn't help the MAC in any way.

(02-22-2012 10:13 PM)uakronkid Wrote:  SIU wouldn't help the MAC in any way.

I agree, SIU would do nothing for the MAC. Not a fan of Illinois State either. I understand NIU wants some more schools on their side of the conference, but SIU and Illinois bring nothing. There are not too many teams left that would add value to the MAC as a whole. We don't need to expand just for the sake of expanding. The MAC may be at its strongest back at 12 ALL-SPORTS teams. I think UMass adds value as all-sports, but they need to fully commit to the MAC. The "our sports are too good for the MAC except for letting us use the MAC as a stepping stone for football" attitude won't cut it. Central Florida and Temple have both done that and the MAC let it happen. I'm OK with adding one more good all-sports eastern team to help basketball and Buffalo and UMass, to get back at 14. Otherwise if UMass won't bring all-sports our contract allows us to cut-ties with them and we should do it now.

'Im also interested to see how the MAC handles the exit fee for Temple leaving early with 5 months to go until the season starts. This will cause lots of scheduling conflicts. I hope they don't let them off easy.

(02-22-2012 05:37 PM)westernwilly Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 04:28 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Give UMASS to CUSA/MWC as a play thing for ECU & Marshall

UMASS is one of us now and I like them!
Lay off!

I agree with the Bronco. It would be a crappy thing to give UMass the boot after expecting to move up to FBS.

(02-22-2012 10:08 PM)holybovine Wrote:  So, does Southern Illinois just make too much sense for people to consider?

Why are we addicted to East Coast mercenaries?

Only because there is a lot of geography between Buffalo and UMass and it's now empty..

(02-22-2012 11:02 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(02-22-2012 10:08 PM)holybovine Wrote:  So, does Southern Illinois just make too much sense for people to consider?

Why are we addicted to East Coast mercenaries?

Only because there is a lot of geography between Buffalo and UMass and it's now empty..

Don't forget that SIU is also crap. :-)

If NIU needs a rival, they'd be better off if the MAC added Northern Iowa. I think adding SIU would hurt NIU but UNI would probably help them out because they could build a rivalry and give people something to get excited about. Then again, it would be one more good basketball team to beat the crap out of NIU whereas SIU would not so much. SIU/NIU would cannibalize each other the way the Ohio MAC schools do.