(07-08-2012 11:25 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  http://www.tennessean.com/article/D4/201...t|Sports|p

The Sun Belt proposed a massive four-conference merger, tried to persuade four current Conference USA members to switch leagues, put a 48-hour deadline on two other prospective schools to join the Sun Belt and even listed 21 schools (including Belmont University) as potential targets in Sun Belt expansion.

All these plans unfolded before Benson eventually added Georgia State, Texas State and Texas-Arlington to the Sun Belt membership for 2013.

I never wanted Benson in the Belt. This crazy plan of his is exactly why. Between the bowl agreements, media money, and other factors, Benson's scheme never had a chance, and now it isn't reflecting well on the conference. I know... UNT will be gone in a year, but I still want the conference to be successful, both on and off the field.

I wish Sparks would not have written this story.

(07-08-2012 12:40 PM)Atlanta Trojan Wrote:  We will surpass C-DOA lwithin the next 10 years.

The advantage the SBC has is that the footprint is tighter and in the long run it will benefit the league. USA, GStU and TXSt will definitely strengthen in the next 3 years and should fit in nicely. Attendances should increase and the competition will eventually even out.

Flagship Conference USA football programs:

East Carolina
Southern Miss
Marshall
Tulsa

When North Texas joins, they will be competing for top dog.

(07-08-2012 06:31 PM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 12:40 PM)Atlanta Trojan Wrote:  We will surpass C-DOA lwithin the next 10 years.

The advantage the SBC has is that the footprint is tighter and in the long run it will benefit the league. USA, GStU and TXSt will definitely strengthen in the next 3 years and should fit in nicely. Attendances should increase and the competition will eventually even out.

I agree. To be rather frank, I'm pretty sure more people would be interested in going to an MT-Texas State game than an MT-FIU game... name recognition is a big part and any time you have a "Texas" school coming in it's going to be a good game.

Attendance will rise, undoubtedly, and the SBC will be stronger as a result.

(07-08-2012 07:21 PM)mtsufan561 Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 06:31 PM)JoeJag Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 12:40 PM)Atlanta Trojan Wrote:  We will surpass C-DOA lwithin the next 10 years.

The advantage the SBC has is that the footprint is tighter and in the long run it will benefit the league. USA, GStU and TXSt will definitely strengthen in the next 3 years and should fit in nicely. Attendances should increase and the competition will eventually even out.

I agree. To be rather frank, I'm pretty sure more people would be interested in going to an MT-Texas State game than an MT-FIU game... name recognition is a big part and any time you have a "Texas" school coming in it's going to be a good game.

Attendance will rise, undoubtedly, and the SBC will be stronger as a result.

Based on your theory, UNT @ MTSU were top attendance games?

(07-08-2012 07:15 PM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Flagship Conference USA football programs:

East Carolina
Southern Miss
Marshall
Tulsa

When North Texas joins, they will be competing for top dog.

Really? Where do u get that from? They have not even been near top dog in the SBC the last 8 years

(07-08-2012 07:44 PM)Atlanta Trojan Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 07:15 PM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Flagship Conference USA football programs:

East Carolina
Southern Miss
Marshall
Tulsa

When North Texas joins, they will be competing for top dog.

Really? Where do u get that from? They have not even been near top dog in the SBC the last 8 years

Recruiting is up. By the time North Texas is in CUSA, I believe those nice recruits they picked up this past offseason will be competing for All-CUSA honors and showing up big-time for the cross-division games against ECU and USM.

I think this was shrewd by Benson. ECU wasnt going to bolt, but there was no harm in asking. What I'm curious about is if App State was given a similar ultimatum by the Belt and went "all-in" on CUSA and paid the price for it. I feel bad for their fans if that happened but changing the impression the Belt is an option for anyone who can't get what they wants had to be changed.

(07-08-2012 07:15 PM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Flagship Conference USA football programs:

East Carolina
Southern Miss
Marshall
Tulsa

Marshall is included in the top programs? They have done 'zero' since being in CUSA.

(07-08-2012 10:18 PM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 07:15 PM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Flagship Conference USA football programs:

East Carolina
Southern Miss
Marshall
Tulsa

Marshall is included in the top programs? They have done 'zero' since being in CUSA.

I thought the same thing. Throwing them in was a stretch unless McConaghey is coaching this year.

(07-08-2012 07:53 PM)TampaKnight Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 07:44 PM)Atlanta Trojan Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 07:15 PM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Flagship Conference USA football programs:

East Carolina
Southern Miss
Marshall
Tulsa

When North Texas joins, they will be competing for top dog.

Really? Where do u get that from? They have not even been near top dog in the SBC the last 8 years

Recruiting is up. By the time North Texas is in CUSA, I believe those nice recruits they picked up this past offseason will be competing for All-CUSA honors and showing up big-time for the cross-division games against ECU and USM.

Ratings aren't the end all but UNT had 5 3 star players according to Rivals, Texas St. had 11 and stAte had 17 in the last class. I've seen a lot of 2 star guys at stAte end up in the NFL but what are you basing your assessment of UNT's class on?

Benson Did his job Belt fans should be happy... he try everything...

(07-08-2012 10:26 PM)Crump1 Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 10:18 PM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 07:15 PM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Flagship Conference USA football programs:

East Carolina
Southern Miss
Marshall
Tulsa

Marshall is included in the top programs? They have done 'zero' since being in CUSA.

I thought the same thing. Throwing them in was a stretch unless McConaghey is coaching this year.

Marshall hasn't been good since joining cusa, but atleast we have won 2 more bowl games since then. What exactly has arkansas state done ever?

(07-08-2012 10:18 PM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  

(07-08-2012 07:15 PM)TampaKnight Wrote:  Flagship Conference USA football programs:

East Carolina
Southern Miss
Marshall
Tulsa

Marshall is included in the top programs? They have done 'zero' since being in CUSA.

Well I think Marshall is clearly number 4 of the remaining programs, and I believe have finally started righting the ship. They had a bad run of probation and a poor coaching hire, but that doesn't really change the fact that they have good history, good tradition, solid facilities, and one of the better fan bases in the league. I think people sometimes over rate current on the field performance with how strong a program is, especially at the non-AQ level. At our level if you hire a great coach who wins a lot he's 99% of the time going to leave in short order. You have to take a longer view of non-AQ programs. Some could be riding the hot streak of hiring the right coach while some could have lost a good coach or made a bad hire that will be corrected.

(07-08-2012 11:17 PM)Dorrej Wrote:  Marshall hasn't been good since joining cusa, but atleast we have won 2 more bowl games since then. What exactly has arkansas state done ever?

We've won 2 conference titles, and lost 2 bowls. We haven't accomplished much at all, but we're not listed as flagship teams either.

(07-09-2012 07:27 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  They had a bad run of probation and a poor coaching hire....

We had a run of 20 years of bad coaching hires. We're very familiar with that.

(07-09-2012 07:36 AM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  

(07-09-2012 07:27 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  They had a bad run of probation and a poor coaching hire....

We had a run of 20 years of bad coaching hires. We're very familiar with that.

The difference is they made 1 bad coaching hire, and because he was an alum kept him around longer than they should have (which is my fear if Ruffin doesn't get it turned around this year that we'll let him stay on too long because he's an alum). If you've hired 5 or 6 bad coaches in a row over a period of 15-20 years that's a bigger issue.

Quote:'Many options'
On April 1, Benson emailed a powerpoint presentation to Sun Belt presidents/chancellors and athletic directors, laying out the league’s various realignment options.

One slide listed 21 schools to be considered as “possible additions/replacements” – including Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Texas State, Utah State, UT-San Antonio, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Liberty, Charlotte, Old Dominion, Belmont, College of Charleston, Florida Gulf Coast, North Florida, St. Louis and Texas-Arlington.

Looks like most of the rumored schools were listed. So maybe it wasn't a whole bunch of smoke and mirrors like a lot of people thought.

CoC, Florida Gulf Coast and North Florida were shockers to me.

Possible replacements doesn't necessarily mean they are ready now. This could be 15 yrs down the road.

(07-09-2012 08:31 AM)Fanof49ASU Wrote:  Possible replacements doesn't necessarily mean they are ready now. This could be 15 yrs down the road.

Right. Some are obviously more ready than others (seeing how GaState, UT-A, ODU, UNCC are listed). But other schools like App, Southern, Liberty, JMU, gives proof that it wasn't just internet rumors going around, that the SBC had enough interest to include it in a presentation to the existing members.