Charlotte
ODU
FAU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU


UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

(03-07-2013 12:55 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  Charlotte
ODU
FIU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU

UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

To the Sun Belt joiners of C-USA. Would you say this is an upgraded conference to what we've known for the better part of the last decade? I think the legacy C-USA members are going to be surprised at how strong some of our programs have become.

(03-07-2013 01:00 PM)FIUFan Wrote:  To the Sun Belt joiners of C-USA. Would you say this is an upgraded conference to what we've known for the better part of the last decade? I think the legacy C-USA members are going to be surprised at how strong some of our programs have become.

My only concern is ODU and Charlotte because I know from experience how hard the transition is from FCS to FBS. Charlotte espeically will have a baptisim by fire because they are going straight from nothing to FBS. The rest of us at least got to cut our teeth at FCS for a short time. I think they will be ok, but its going to be a rough few years.

Other than that I think whats left of CUSA 2.0 here are good programs and am happy to be among them.

Assuming this is correct and Tulsa leaves, WKU comes in, I wonder who the Sun Belt will invite to get back to 8 FBS schools. My money is on NMSU.

If this is true then welcome WKU and congrats to NMSU!

(03-07-2013 01:00 PM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 12:55 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  Charlotte
ODU
FIU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU

UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

To the Sun Belt joiners of C-USA. Would you say this is an upgraded conference to what we've known for the better part of the last decade? I think the legacy C-USA members are going to be surprised at how strong some of our programs have become.

From a current, soon to be prior member, i'd say it is a definite step up in competition in the New C-USA from the sunbelt. I'm not sure it will be as strong as it was with Houston/UCF/ECU (USM can make a come back), in football, but its a step up over playing in the currernt sunbelt without a doubt. I don't know much about the florida teams, but it seems like MTSU and LaTech are programs who are on the rise.

(03-07-2013 12:55 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  Charlotte
ODU
FAU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU

UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

What's interesting is that 9 of the 14 schools were former Sun Belt Members at some point.

(03-07-2013 01:07 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 12:55 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  Charlotte
ODU
FAU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU

UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

What's interesting is that 9 of the 14 schools were former Sun Belt Members at some point.

No different than nearly all of the Old(BE)/A-12 being part of C-USA, or alot of ACC teams being part of the prior BE.

(03-07-2013 01:06 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  Assuming this is correct and Tulsa leaves, WKU comes in, I wonder who the Sun Belt will invite to get back to 8 FBS schools. My money is on NMSU.
If this is true then welcome WKU and congrats to NMSU!

Most Sun Belt members at the time appreciated NMSU and its fans. Their football, however, has really been down the last 4 or 5 years though. All in all, they should be the first Sun Belt add imo, after all they are current FBS members and the Belt is going to short on those for a while.

The Sun Belt is a great conference for schools who are getting their start in the FBS, no matter if they are a start-up program or one that's making the transition into FBS competition. It's a good place to get established and get on your feet. There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone starts from somewhere. The programs that CUSA pulled from the Sun Belt are the one's who have shown that they can compete and be successful in the FBS. They are programs that have made significant financial investments into their athletic programs, especially facilities. They deserve to be promoted and will continue to grow with the added exposure they'll gain from being members of CUSA. CUSA will be fine. I hope the America 12 makes it as well. The instability brought by conference realignment is bad for everyone and I hope it stops soon.

(03-07-2013 01:19 PM)Afflicted Wrote:  The Sun Belt is a great conference for schools who are getting their start in the FBS, no matter if they are a start-up program or one that's making the transition into FBS competition. It's a good place to get established and get on your feet. There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone starts from somewhere. The programs that CUSA pulled from the Sun Belt are the one's who have shown that they can compete and be successful in the FBS. They are programs that have made significant financial investments into their athletic programs, especially facilities. They deserve to be promoted and will continue to grow with the added exposure they'll gain from being members of CUSA. CUSA will be fine. I hope the America 12 makes it as well. The instability brought by conference realignment is bad for everyone and I hope it stops soon.

Thus why they need to invite App.State to the Sun Belt.

(03-07-2013 01:00 PM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 12:55 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  Charlotte
ODU
FIU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU

UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

To the Sun Belt joiners of C-USA. Would you say this is an upgraded conference to what we've known for the better part of the last decade? I think the legacy C-USA members are going to be surprised at how strong some of our programs have become.

I really don't mean to offend (afterall, my program has never even played a game), but are FAU, UNT, and FIU really "strong"? FIU and FAU both finished 3-9 last year. FIU fired their coach and replaced him with someone that has never really done much in his career. UNT finished 4-8 and has a pretty bad history.

The one thing that does give me hope though is that all three schools have upgraded their facilities with UNT and FAU having particularly nice stadiums.

I feel good about MTSU and fairly good about the La Tech additions, but I'm not sure any of the others will be challengers for football for a while. I personally wish CUSA would have taken ULL over FAU in the last round of additions. I'm just not big on South Florida schools because even Miami struggles with support unless they are ranked very high.

(03-07-2013 01:55 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 01:00 PM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 12:55 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  Charlotte
ODU
FIU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU

UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

To the Sun Belt joiners of C-USA. Would you say this is an upgraded conference to what we've known for the better part of the last decade? I think the legacy C-USA members are going to be surprised at how strong some of our programs have become.

I really don't mean to offend (afterall, my program has never even played a game), but are FAU, UNT, and FIU really "strong"? FIU and FAU both finished 3-9 last year. FIU fired their coach and replaced him with someone that has never really done much in his career. UNT finished 4-8 and has a pretty bad history.

The one thing that does give me hope though is that all three schools have upgraded their facilities with UNT and FAU having particularly nice stadiums.

I feel good about MTSU and fairly good about the La Tech additions, but I'm not sure any of the others will be challengers for football for a while. I personally wish CUSA would have taken ULL over FAU in the last round of additions. I'm just not big on South Florida schools because even Miami struggles with support unless they are ranked very high.

I can see your point, but I think if you're in the business of a having a presence in Florida you need to have at least two schools. I think that longterm either of FAU or FIU would struggle being on an island separated from the rest of the conference, I think the smart move was neither or both.

(03-07-2013 01:55 PM)Niner National Wrote:  I really don't mean to offend (afterall, my program has never even played a game), but are FAU, UNT, and FIU really "strong"? FIU and FAU both finished 3-9 last year. FIU fired their coach and replaced him with someone that has never really done much in his career. UNT finished 4-8 and has a pretty bad history.

The one thing that does give me hope though is that all three schools have upgraded their facilities with UNT and FAU having particularly nice stadiums.

I feel good about MTSU and fairly good about the La Tech additions, but I'm not sure any of the others will be challengers for football for a while. I personally wish CUSA would have taken ULL over FAU in the last round of additions. I'm just not big on South Florida schools because even Miami struggles with support unless they are ranked very high.

What you lose in "support" you gain in athletes, market and exposure. Many schools make their (football) living recruiting South Florida; schools that come to mind are Louisville, W. Virgina, Rutgers, W. KY lately, C. Michigan [forgot Marshall] and obviously all the state schools (UF, FSU, UM, FIU, UCF, USF, FAU).

I'm not really sure what Charlotte brings to the table though they appear to be having a fairly successful season in the A-16.

(03-07-2013 02:05 PM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 01:55 PM)Niner National Wrote:  I really don't mean to offend (afterall, my program has never even played a game), but are FAU, UNT, and FIU really "strong"? FIU and FAU both finished 3-9 last year. FIU fired their coach and replaced him with someone that has never really done much in his career. UNT finished 4-8 and has a pretty bad history.

The one thing that does give me hope though is that all three schools have upgraded their facilities with UNT and FAU having particularly nice stadiums.

I feel good about MTSU and fairly good about the La Tech additions, but I'm not sure any of the others will be challengers for football for a while. I personally wish CUSA would have taken ULL over FAU in the last round of additions. I'm just not big on South Florida schools because even Miami struggles with support unless they are ranked very high.

What you lose in "support" you gain in athletes, market and exposure. Many schools make their (football) living recruiting South Florida; schools that come to mind are Louisville, W. Virgina, Rutgers, W. KY lately, C. Michigan [forgot Marshall] and obviously all the state schools (UF, FSU, UM, FIU, UCF, USF, FAU).

I'm not really sure what Charlotte brings to the table though they appear to be having a fairly successful season in the A-16.

For football, not much, which is why I made it clear that I was not shitting on the new schools, I just don't know that we can call those "strong" SBC schools. I admittedly don't follow SBC football very closely, but it doesn't seem like a conference that has a program that is consistently at or near the top. Teams all seem to have good and bad season. I don't really mind any of the new school that were added honestly, although I do wish we had grabbed at least 1 more school with a focus on basketball.

Outside of football, Charlotte brings success in most other sports. Basketball hasn't been great the last 7 years, but things seem to be getting a bit better, although I'm still not confident that Major is the guy to bring Charlotte basketball back to where it was.

We also bring a good host location for conference tournaments and potentially new corporate sponsorship opportunities for the conference with the 8 Fortune 500 companies that are headquartered in Charlotte as well as dozens of other large companies that are HQ'd here.

Charlotte was a gamble, so was ODU. I think both are fairly good gambles, but I'm obviously biased.

Did I miss something? Is Tulsa out and WKU in? I know that's been the speculation, but I haven't seen any announcements on the subject.

Lots of smoke on the Tulsa/WKU is about it. Nothign official yet but it seems to have some traction.

(03-07-2013 01:55 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 01:00 PM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 12:55 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  Charlotte
ODU
FIU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU

UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

To the Sun Belt joiners of C-USA. Would you say this is an upgraded conference to what we've known for the better part of the last decade? I think the legacy C-USA members are going to be surprised at how strong some of our programs have become.

I really don't mean to offend (afterall, my program has never even played a game), but are FAU, UNT, and FIU really "strong"? FIU and FAU both finished 3-9 last year. FIU fired their coach and replaced him with someone that has never really done much in his career. UNT finished 4-8 and has a pretty bad history.

The one thing that does give me hope though is that all three schools have upgraded their facilities with UNT and FAU having particularly nice stadiums.

I feel good about MTSU and fairly good about the La Tech additions, but I'm not sure any of the others will be challengers for football for a while. I personally wish CUSA would have taken ULL over FAU in the last round of additions. I'm just not big on South Florida schools because even Miami struggles with support unless they are ranked very high.

Unt and FAU have new stadiums.

(03-07-2013 02:46 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 01:55 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 01:00 PM)FIUFan Wrote:  

(03-07-2013 12:55 PM)David Krumudgen Wrote:  Charlotte
ODU
FIU
FAU
Marshall
Middle Tennessee
WKU

UAB
Southern Miss
North Texas
Louisiana Tech
Rice
UTEP
UTSA

To the Sun Belt joiners of C-USA. Would you say this is an upgraded conference to what we've known for the better part of the last decade? I think the legacy C-USA members are going to be surprised at how strong some of our programs have become.

I really don't mean to offend (afterall, my program has never even played a game), but are FAU, UNT, and FIU really "strong"? FIU and FAU both finished 3-9 last year. FIU fired their coach and replaced him with someone that has never really done much in his career. UNT finished 4-8 and has a pretty bad history.

The one thing that does give me hope though is that all three schools have upgraded their facilities with UNT and FAU having particularly nice stadiums.

I feel good about MTSU and fairly good about the La Tech additions, but I'm not sure any of the others will be challengers for football for a while. I personally wish CUSA would have taken ULL over FAU in the last round of additions. I'm just not big on South Florida schools because even Miami struggles with support unless they are ranked very high.

Unt and FAU have new stadiums.

I know. See bolded text above.

Everyone who is leaving can jump in a lake. I like who we have and will be happy to go to war with you guys.

Why is CUSA so adamant about having 14 schools?

Blah, travel, footprint, basketball...