(12-29-2012 09:07 AM)VA49er Wrote:  So, at first leaving was all about the $$$$. Now, since the $ is not what folks thought it was going to be it is all about playing familiar foes. Of course, these are the same familiar foes folks were so jumping at the bit to get away from for the $$$ in the first place. Funny how things work out.

You hit the nail on the hammer this ain't your grandpas big east

(12-29-2012 10:34 AM)ninernation1989 Wrote:  

(12-29-2012 09:07 AM)VA49er Wrote:  So, at first leaving was all about the $$$$. Now, since the $ is not what folks thought it was going to be it is all about playing familiar foes. Of course, these are the same familiar foes folks were so jumping at the bit to get away from for the $$$ in the first place. Funny how things work out.

You hit the nail on the hammer this ain't your grandpas big east

You guys can't really speak on this point until your school is actually playing football in CUSA. I am just a casual fan of college football and even I noticed that football is the largest revenue maker and largest expense that FBS schools have. Those schools have large facilities to maintain; scholarships to give out and employees to pay. We as fans may see it as a game, but the schools that left CUSA know that it is a business; and like any business you have to continue to seek greener pastures and to associate with groups that help you increase your revenue stream. The only programs that can do that are the ones that have made the investment to get better; whether it be from coaching, facilities and other infrastructure standpoint.

IMO, when Charlotte is up and running in a couple of years you are going to understand why those schools had to leave; and why schools like Tulsa and Southern Miss want to leave, because then your school will see why being in a league and playing against certain other schools is for whatever reason; an undersirable business arrangement. This is not an indictment about the other schools worth, because there are some very fine academic institutions in CUSA, especially Rice; however that has nothing to do with the business decision of who you want to partner with if you are just coldly looking at the business of college football. Just ignoring stuff like markets; if you look at something as simple as Tulane building a new football stadium; that may have made them more desirable to the new league, than say Rice. Mind you now Rice is the better school academicly and athletically, but Tulane's willingness to spend money on stuff like facilites probably made them a more attractive partner for a new league.

Finally, Charlotte is building a new stadium, which probably made you attractive for CUSA. Who knows if CUSA would have passed on Charlotte and taken a Western Kentucky; because from an athletic standpoint Western Kentucky would have probably been the better addition; but Charlotte's building of a shiny new stadium probably didn't hurt. From Charlotte's standpoint they could have probably stayed in the A10 for basketball and then made a play for the MAC in football just like UMass and Temple; however the Charlotte administration obviously thought that it was more attractive and desirable to try partner in CUSA with ECU and Marshall. That is a business decision that the Charlotte administration made and they are obviously hopeful that it will pay off; so it is kind of disingenuous for Charlotte fans to see ECU's move as folly but Charlotte's move as solid.

Finally, now let's take some shots at schools in CUSA that have been left behind: UAB fans can be as pissed as they want, but they have had a 22 year head start on Charlotte's football program and a 5 year head start on UCF in CUSA; but UAB still has not built a new football stadium. UAB was even in CUSA for football when CUSA was actually really good and had programs like TCU, Louisville, etc., but UAB still hasn't built an on campus football stadium. Marshall was a recent addition to CUSA and they have been a good foe, but they haven't done much in CUSA since they arrived from the MAC; and right now Marshall is far, far to dependent on non-qualifiers. It is debatable if Marshall could compete without taking those student-athletes; but the bigger question is whether that type of recruiting is sustainable over a long period of time and if it is not; then what does that mean for their ability to compete going forward? UTEP was just always too far away geographically to really develop any kind real rivalry against. Otherwise UTEP has great fans and that school has shown that it can be competitive; and in all honesty they are just one good football hire away from being the elite school in the conference, because they already have great facilities, a great fan base and a great basketball program and tradition. I feel pretty bad for UTEP, Rice, Tulsa and Southern Miss; because they have all been very good in various sports, but they are just in a tough spot right now.

(12-26-2012 09:07 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(12-26-2012 08:25 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(12-26-2012 05:29 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  I doubt if you have to worry about any of the departed CUSA schools ever returning. Those schools knew what they were doing when they left.

ECU and Tulane knew what was coming down. Stupid decision to leave if you ask me. Houston, SMU, UCF and Memphis probably knew but was hoping for the best. It didn't happen.

Some of you guys are really being delusional about this. There is a reason that ECU and Tulane left; and it is the same reason that USM and Tulsa would leave tonight if they are asked. It boils down to this: being in a league and playing with the old CUSA members (Houston, Cincinatti, Memphis) + newer CUSA members (UCF, USF, SMU); and old BE members (Temple and UConn). Or play against a new startup; a FCS callup (ODU); a bunch of SunBelt schools that are basically new startups and FCS callups and then sprinkle in UAB and Marshall.

Who will your fans pay to see?

Yeah, it's hard to understand why people can't (or refuse to) admit this. I really enjoyed the original CUSA lineup and a couple of rivalries in CUSA2.0 like UCF. It's a shame UL isn't still in the Big East but IMO they deserve it. Their fans have earned a promotion.

(12-29-2012 10:34 AM)ninernation1989 Wrote:  

(12-29-2012 09:07 AM)VA49er Wrote:  So, at first leaving was all about the $$$$. Now, since the $ is not what folks thought it was going to be it is all about playing familiar foes. Of course, these are the same familiar foes folks were so jumping at the bit to get away from for the $$$ in the first place. Funny how things work out.

You hit the nail on the hammer this ain't your grandpas big east

But I don't know of anyone who is seriously trying to say that it is.

The combination of a few outliers that waved the invitation to more perceived $ VS the "we got rid of dead weight" crowd has the whole discussion and the whole board out of whack.

The only thing I know for sure is that if all of us didn't have shortcomings and things that needed work on the field/court/ticket gate all 18+/- of us would be in true major conferences. But we do all have shortcomings and we're not in a major monied conference.

(12-27-2012 12:57 AM)JHG722 Wrote:  And where is MooU exactly? What's it like to never even sniff an invite?

Temple has sucked for years. They will continue to suck. The fans of Temple done nothing for years but complain they weren't in the BE. Well guess what, you are, but its not the BE you wanted in. So I guess you will still complain.

Temple will never be an ACC, B10, SEC, B12 school. They just never will. Temple will never sell out Lincoln Financial Field. And that will be part of your problem. The stadium you play in is just waaaaaaay to big.

As far as wanting an Invite, you have never seen me advocate for one. The only school I would even care about playing is ECU. The last time Marshall played Temple, Temple didn't cross the 50 yard line and lost 34-0.

The NBE and CUSA are not much different from a competitive standpoint (assuming Boise, Cincy and UConn leave) and neither conference makes any geographic sense. It would be in both leagues best interest to reshuffle membership according to geography and rivalries, drop entry/exit fees for one time and save a ton of money on travel to make both leagues more competitive. Let the NBE be the east coast league with teams from Florida to Philly (plus Marshall, Memphis & Umass) and let CUSA be the texas teams, La Tech, Tulane, So Miss, Tulsa, MTSU and UAB. It would make two much stronger leagues in the long run.

(12-29-2012 11:17 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(12-27-2012 12:57 AM)JHG722 Wrote:  And where is MooU exactly? What's it like to never even sniff an invite?

Temple has sucked for years. They will continue to suck. The fans of Temple done nothing for years but complain they weren't in the BE. Well guess what, you are, but its not the BE you wanted in. So I guess you will still complain.

Temple will never be an ACC, B10, SEC, B12 school. They just never will. Temple will never sell out Lincoln Financial Field. And that will be part of your problem. The stadium you play in is just waaaaaaay to big.

As far as wanting an Invite, you have never seen me advocate for one. The only school I would even care about playing is ECU. The last time Marshall played Temple, Temple didn't cross the 50 yard line and lost 34-0.

Marshall can't sell out the Joan which is half the size of Lincoln Field and you're a so called football school. At least Temple is known for something, MUCH better basketball and academics.

(12-30-2012 11:00 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(12-29-2012 11:17 PM)HerdZoned Wrote:  

(12-27-2012 12:57 AM)JHG722 Wrote:  And where is MooU exactly? What's it like to never even sniff an invite?

Temple has sucked for years. They will continue to suck. The fans of Temple done nothing for years but complain they weren't in the BE. Well guess what, you are, but its not the BE you wanted in. So I guess you will still complain.

Temple will never be an ACC, B10, SEC, B12 school. They just never will. Temple will never sell out Lincoln Financial Field. And that will be part of your problem. The stadium you play in is just waaaaaaay to big.

As far as wanting an Invite, you have never seen me advocate for one. The only school I would even care about playing is ECU. The last time Marshall played Temple, Temple didn't cross the 50 yard line and lost 34-0.

Marshall can't sell out the Joan which is half the size of Lincoln Field and you're a so called football school. At least Temple is known for something, MUCH better basketball and academics.

Welcome to one of the poorest states in the country. Would you care to take a few shots at us for that, too?

Guess what? It takes money to attend football games. You won't find many more green blooded Marshall fans than me...but I haven't been able to make it to a Marshall football game in over two seasons. I suppose I should take in a game in person instead of making my double mortgage payment that's helping me get my house out of foreclosure? ...or maybe I should have cut out about half of my kids' Christmas, since that's roughly about the cost of treating my family to a Marshall game. (Hey...I value shop...judge away!) Maybe I could have given up part of my car payment and hope that my car doesn't get repossessed, since my wife totalled our other (paid off) car and we can't afford to replace it. While clearly you are rolling in the money, you clearly lack the gift of perspective. Some of us have to struggle to get by. Some of us have to work our asses off just to make sure that our families are provided for. My apologies if I don't put a few hours of spectator entertainment at the top of the priority list.

So, in an economically depressed time, in one of the most economically depressed areas of the country, what would you have us do to fill our stadium? Obviously, you have all the answers, so please share your infinite wisdom with the rest of us.

wow. I'm sorry you're dealing with that. A lot of people around the country are. I guess I just question the value of Marshall expanding to 38K if it's that tough to get folks to fill it.

(12-31-2012 12:18 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  wow. I'm sorry you're dealing with that. A lot of people around the country are. I guess I just question the value of Marshall expanding to 38K if it's that tough to get folks to fill it.

Yes, we're dealing with a fair bit right now, in addition to the loss of my wife's income after the new year, among other things (so it's not going to get any better). And you're right...many are going through it. West Virginia (Huntington's area is the example I'll use for now) has also been losing population for some time now, so that also contributes to the attendance as well. This area struggles as a whole. I really think people in many other areas of the country have little perspective. Everyone has their issues. To be honest...West Virginia simply has to deal with more of those financial issues than most.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. It just pisses me off when people bring up attendance issues on here. There isn't one person on this board that wouldn't wish their stadium to fill to 110% capacity consistently. The only reason to bring up attendance is to troll others. Schools have their own issues to overcome, and some of those issues aren't so easily resolved. It's always easy to judge everyone else when you're in a position of power.

Cool kids throw party. Party isn't as big as expected so cool kids invite some cool-ish outsiders to fill it up. Coolest kids get bored and join another party down street. Some stay behind because they have no cars and hang out with new cool-ish kids. An ugly duckling or two sneak in so some cool kids peace to go get drunk in parking lot. The rest decide to make the best of it and hope the party keeps fresh.

Meanwhile, uninvited ugly ducklings get pissy and rationalize that party is stupid anyway and decide to drink peppermint schnapps in mom's basement. They have fun because mom has a foosball table. Who hates foosball?

In the end though, everyone gets drunk, some on Dom, some on Cooks, some on schnapps.

End of thread.

















































Makes no sense? Of course it doesn't. Neither does this thread. So lets all just enjoy football's climax and then sleep off our weight gain. Cheers. .

(12-31-2012 12:43 AM)EdM Wrote:  Yes, we're dealing with a fair bit right now, in addition to the loss of my wife's income after the new year, among other things (so it's not going to get any better). And you're right...many are going through it. West Virginia (Huntington's area is the example I'll use for now) has also been losing population for some time now, so that also contributes to the attendance as well. This area struggles as a whole. I really think people in many other areas of the country have little perspective. Everyone has their issues. To be honest...West Virginia simply has to deal with more of those financial issues than most.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. It just pisses me off when people bring up attendance issues on here. There isn't one person on this board that wouldn't wish their stadium to fill to 110% capacity consistently. The only reason to bring up attendance is to troll others. Schools have their own issues to overcome, and some of those issues aren't so easily resolved. It's always easy to judge everyone else when you're in a position of power.

(12-31-2012 12:13 AM)EdM Wrote:  Welcome to one of the poorest states in the country. Would you care to take a few shots at us for that, too?

Guess what? It takes money to attend football games. You won't find many more green blooded Marshall fans than me...but I haven't been able to make it to a Marshall football game in over two seasons. I suppose I should take in a game in person instead of making my double mortgage payment that's helping me get my house out of foreclosure? ...or maybe I should have cut out about half of my kids' Christmas, since that's roughly about the cost of treating my family to a Marshall game. (Hey...I value shop...judge away!) Maybe I could have given up part of my car payment and hope that my car doesn't get repossessed, since my wife totalled our other (paid off) car and we can't afford to replace it. While clearly you are rolling in the money, you clearly lack the gift of perspective. Some of us have to struggle to get by. Some of us have to work our asses off just to make sure that our families are provided for. My apologies if I don't put a few hours of spectator entertainment at the top of the priority list.

So, in an economically depressed time, in one of the most economically depressed areas of the country, what would you have us do to fill our stadium? Obviously, you have all the answers, so please share your infinite wisdom with the rest of us.

Ed, you've always been a level-headed participant here. I've always taken your comments as fair and serious.

God bless you guys and keep plugging away. Even in tough times eventually good things happen to good people that are doing what they can to help themselves, although it's tough to see while you're fighting off financial demons.

Perspectives and priorities are always key in working though tough situations and you've obviously got those in order.

Good luck and good fortune to you guys as you work through everything.