...about Banowsky?

Coming from the Sun Belt where most of the fans hated Wright Waters and most thus far are not too fond of Karl Benson...what do we have to look forward to in a commish?

Anyone is better than Benson - the Sunbelt will really fall under his watch

(12-01-2012 08:51 PM)winston70 Wrote:  Anyone is better than Benson - the Sunbelt will really fall under his watch

The defense I gave Benson when he was hired was that when he was with the WAC he saw something like seventeen schools leave the conference, all for an upgrade(some bigger than others) and the WAC survived for a long time while that was going on. So as a Sun Belt fan, especially one hoping to get out, Benson could be a good thing...

(12-01-2012 08:51 PM)winston70 Wrote:  Anyone is better than Benson - the Sunbelt will really fall under his watch

Best thing I could say is that CUSA is what it is because of BBanowsky. He has been too passive during conference realignment. Sure, we have to take a wait and see type of approach in relation to conference realignment being in CUSA, but he hasn't responded with aggressive counter-type moves that we've needed. Just wait, he'll let UTEP and Tulsa go to the MWC and won't even lose 1 second of sleep. Craig Thompson is light yrs ahead of BBanowsky when it comes to bold, agressive counter punches. BB will then replace them with Hill Valley St and Blue Bonnett Hill College. (sigh)

(12-01-2012 09:00 PM)eagle215 Wrote:  

(12-01-2012 08:51 PM)winston70 Wrote:  Anyone is better than Benson - the Sunbelt will really fall under his watch

Best thing I could say is that CUSA is what it is because of BBanowsky. He has been too passive during conference realignment. Sure, we have to take a wait and see type of approach in relation to conference realignment being in CUSA, but he hasn't responded with aggressive counter-type moves that we've needed. Just wait, he'll let UTEP and Tulsa go to the MWC and won't even lose 1 second of sleep. Craig Thompson is light yrs ahead of BBanowsky when it comes to bold, agressive counter punches. BB will then replace them with Hill Valley St and Blue Bonnett Hill College. (sigh)

Serious question, if you're in his shoes right now, what is your bold aggressive move?

Some people think he was too passive but in reality, when don't have that AQ bargaining chip some of the defections couldn't be stopped. The last round of adds worked out well for CUSA as far as TV and Bowls go compared to all the other non-AQ conferences went.

At the point of the recent adds though, CUSA had to pick from the best of what was left. I'm not a fan of 1aa call ups considering CUSA's own image issues but I do think some of them, in time, might be worth a flip.

He's making a long term bet on some questionable teams because of markets and/or potential. We'll see if it pays off.

Well he was dumb enough to invite five sun belt teams and one team that has never played a down of football.

So there you go....

He's a moron and he's about to lose two more teams.

If he had a brain he would've left some room at the inn for some teams to come back of things blow up. He could've added niu, Ohio, utsa and la tech instead of blowing his wad early on anyone in the sun belt that's close to a tv market.

In short he's an idiot.

"I'm not a fan of 1aa call ups considering CUSA's own image issues but I do think some of them, in time, might be worth a flip."

^^^THIS^^^
I was ok with LaTech and North Texas being added after last yrs defections. I thought Middle TN, Arkansas St, and a good MAC school (N Illinois/Ohio/Toledo) should have also recieved invites. Come on, Old Dominion, UNC Charlotte, UTSA??? I am happy that Middle TN recieved the invite this time. I know that we needed to get back into the state of Florida, but FAU/FIU don't do anything for the vast majority of the college football world. We could have held off until more of this realignment madness shakes out and maybe, just maybe a former CUSA school located in that state would fall back into our lap. But instead, we have now offered BOTH, I repeat BOTH, F?U schools. Brilliant!!! That good enough for you?

(12-01-2012 09:20 PM)panicstricken Wrote:  Well he was dumb enough to invite five sun belt teams and one team that has never played a down of football.

So there you go....

He's a moron and he's about to lose two more teams.

If he had a brain he would've left some room at the inn for some teams to come back of things blow up. He could've added niu, Ohio, utsa and la tech instead of blowing his wad early on anyone in the sun belt that's close to a tv market.

In short he's an idiot.

5-1 in our last six games versus CUSA.

That's neat.

I'm glad you guys are better than Memphis and Uab.

(12-01-2012 09:20 PM)panicstricken Wrote:  Well he was dumb enough to invite five sun belt teams and one team that has never played a down of football.

So there you go....

He's a moron and he's about to lose two more teams.

If he had a brain he would've left some room at the inn for some teams to come back of things blow up. He could've added niu, Ohio, utsa and la tech instead of blowing his wad early on anyone in the sun belt that's close to a tv market.

In short he's an idiot.

Doubt any MAC teams leave for CUSA. That is a stable league with a nice tight knit group.

I do swear that some of you just follow a few seasons and base all of your thoughts on that small window.

Ohio U has been playing football since 1894. In that time they have been in 6 bowl games with a record of 1-5.

FAU has played football since 2001. They are 2-0 in bowl games already.

I live in Ohio. The MAC is what it is. Those schools have been around 80-100 years in football. Don't you think it makes more sense to take the schools in big media markets with potential?

FAU has been bad the last 2-3 years. But if you look back, OU, Kent, Akron etc have had bad years recently too. Heck Kent and Akron have been joke programs most of my life. Even Toledo has a lot of bad seasons. So does BG. All these mid majors do. Even Southern Miss went 0-12 last season.

PS: Seen a lot of people ripping us for bad attendance and rightfully so. S. Florida fans are terrible across all sports. But that CUSA title game in Tulsa's home stadium was pathetic. Empty seats everywhere in a pretty small stadium. Don't think you guys can play the fan card. At least our team is horrible and hey there is a ton of stuff to do in S Florida.

(12-01-2012 09:31 PM)panicstricken Wrote:  That's neat.

I'm glad you guys are better than Memphis and Uab.

Haven't played UAB in over a decade...nice try though.

5-1 in our last six games versus CUSA.
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I wish schools in CUSA could take pride in chanting "scoreboard". But hell, we don't even know what schools to pull for in our conference as a school may be in CUSA today, but tommorrow may not be. In short, there is not much conference pride being in CUSA because everyone is looking over their shoulder to see who might leave next. There is little camaraderie here. For the last 2 yrs those of us still left in the "dumster fire" known as CUSA have had to cheer for CUSA leftover vs Big East defector. That is never fun....ever. If the leftover lost (they didn't, thankfully), it would suck even more. Not trying to kill your "buzz", but I'm being honest. Welcome to CUSA.

I can understand everyone's frustration, well not panicstriken's over the top crying, but when you look objectively things couldn't have gone much differently.

I thought we did a pretty good job early putting together the alliance idea. That was probably the best bet to keep things together. Couldn't help that certain issues precluded that from happening.

As far as the choice of teams, please quit talking about the MAC. There are two MAC teams that would consider leaving the conference - NIU and Buffalo. Both of them would have been about a 10 hour drive from the closest current CUSA team and would have been beyond completely on an island.

You knock bringing up FCS teams. Well, in reality ODU probably has a better chance than anyone of emerging as the dominant force in the conference 5 years from now. They will average more fans in the stands then any other CUSA team, they are located in a very good TV market that is flush with football talent. UNC-C is puzzling on the surface. I don't know that they will be able to build a following or not, but if you are going to take a chance you might as well take one ona team that, next to Atlanta, is the premiere city between Washington DC and Cuba.

The two Florida teams? While they both certainly have issues, I like being able to tell recruits that when they come to Marshall they will be able to play at least one game a year in their home state. It also gives Marshall good exposure in south Florida, where we get a big chunk of our players. I can understand why this wouldn't matter to a Tulsa fan, but it's a lot better for recuiting than talking about playing in Texas or Louisianna an extra time every year.

I see this as the real issue. Our east teams really have nothing in common with our west teams. As commisioner there is really no way to make both groups happy. That's why you will someday see the nBE, CUSA, Sunbelt, and the MWC be two conferences, one east based and one west based. I see the east league being:

Marshall
ODU
UNC-C
ECU
MTSU
WKU
Memphis
UAB
La Tech
ULM
USM
UCF
USF
FIU
FAU
Troy

When that finally comes to pass you will have a properly aligned conference with a north and south division.

(12-01-2012 09:36 PM)eagle215 Wrote:  5-1 in our last six games versus CUSA.

I wish schools in CUSA could take pride in chanting "scoreboard". But hell, we don't even know what schools to pull for in our conference as a school may be in CUSA today, but tommorrow may not be. In short, there is not much conference pride being in CUSA because everyone is looking over their shoulder to see who might leave next. There is little camaraderie here. For the last 2 yrs those of us still left in the "dumster fire" known as CUSA have had to cheer for CUSA leftover vs Big East defector. That is never fun....ever. If the leftover lost (they didn't, thankfully), it would suck even more. Not trying to kill your "buzz", but I'm being honest. Welcome to CUSA.
[/quote]

I'm excited about building new rivalries and hopefully seeing our program continue to make strides forward and I can understand the dynamic you're describing as it went on this year on the Sun Belt board with FIU and UNT and has already begun for us and FAU, most obnoxiously by some FCS hangers on who have rarely had a kind word about the Sun Belt and were pretty obnoxious when they were left out last time and now that they believe they're the next group in they're all rah rah Sun Belt and talking smack to outgoing members before they've even received the invitation.

Anyway, my original point is I feel we have the chops to come in and compete in most sports right away(we haven't dominated the SBC all sports trophy by accident). I have reservations about men's bb but we're playing as well in that sport as we have in decades, if it keeps up and hopefully improves with the step up in conference, maybe we'll be alright there as well.

I'm happy with MTSU being allowed to join CUSA. It should have happened last yr though. I agree, CUSA will be happy to have you....and so will the Big East once you've cut your teeth in CUSA for awhile. See what I did there (Murpheesboro>tv market than Hattiesburg/Laurel). I'm already looking over my shoulder.

Banowsky has been pretty good. What could he have done? CUSA was strong enough to pull from other conferences when we needed to. In my mind the only expansion gamble last year was Charlotte (football). ODU and UTSA had each displayed significant potential. Their attendance has been awesome. In the last round it was obvious the league had been ready to react. MTSU and FAU happened fast. Contrary to some fans beliefs no defector school will return. The Big East will survive in some form, if they lose schools they will add from CUSA & the MW. That is life.