mlb Wrote:

TopCoog Wrote:Thats an ignorant statement. You have no idea what is going to happen in the future. In fact, if a playoff evolves the BCS auto bids will be worthless. Fact is, a BCS auto bid is worth about 2 million dollars to your school, only a small fraction of the athletic budget of any of our schools.

That would still mean you never got into a BCS auto-bid conference, would it not? C-USA now makes a lot more sense for a school like Houston than a school like Memphis or ECU. It should be called C-Gulf Coast or something along those lines. Or you could call it C-Texas, as from my understanding the Texas block along with Tulane has all the power anyway...

As far as the $2M statement, yes, it is only worth $2M in terms of straight money from the BCS. But being a BCS auto-bid also gets you more money on your TV deal, which is worth another $2M or so. Then you add in better players because without the playoff the BCS auto-bid label is needed. Most players want a guaranteed way to get to the BCS, not a chance to play if you have a 12-0 season and finish 10th in the BCS points. As a matter of fact, most players want a real shot at winning the national championship, and without being in a BCS auto-bid conference then those chances are really not there.

I look forward to a playoff coming around, but either way I'm much happier where UC is now compared to where UC was 5 years ago. When your SOS drops because of conference play in basketball (which it did for UC) and your football teams conference games include teams that nobody cares about (which means a lot in Cincinnati due to the apathetic football fans) then the conference is not meant for you. The Big East is the best of both worlds, and is worth a lot more money.

this isnt snack, but rather an honest question. has your home attendence really upticked that much since leaving cusa? could it be that your program just has support issues rather than a problem with who you play? just asking.

aTxTIGER Wrote:this isnt snack, but rather an honest question. has your home attendence really upticked that much since leaving cusa? could it be that your program just has support issues rather than a problem with who you play? just asking.

I think that is a tough question to answer, but a good question to ask. With the Huggins fiasco a lot of people did not attend anything UC. Therefore I don't think I can give you a valid answer on that question as there were issues surrounding the program that hurt attendance.

I really expect UC football attendance to go up this year. People are more excited than ever, the Huggins fiasco is starting to subside, and UC has a football coach that is very good at creating excitement (the exact opposite of the last coach). Without the Big East UC never gets that coach, either.

mlb Wrote:I'll never agree that La Tech is a stronger football program long term that ECU. ECU has a MUCH better fan base, and a good history. They will be back, I'm not sure La Tech will ever be :).

Facts are facts, La tech has done a better job over the years including the last few years. they have been highly competitive with the upper level wac teams. They also have a MUCH higher name identification level within the CUSA footprint.

mlb Wrote:

aTxTIGER Wrote:this isnt snack, but rather an honest question. has your home attendence really upticked that much since leaving cusa? could it be that your program just has support issues rather than a problem with who you play? just asking.

I think that is a tough question to answer, but a good question to ask. With the Huggins fiasco a lot of people did not attend anything UC. Therefore I don't think I can give you a valid answer on that question as there were issues surrounding the program that hurt attendance.

I really expect UC football attendance to go up this year. People are more excited than ever, the Huggins fiasco is starting to subside, and UC has a football coach that is very good at creating excitement (the exact opposite of the last coach). Without the Big East UC never gets that coach, either.

you couldnt get CMU's coach without the big east? hmmm, thats interesting. one quick other question. is there any correlation between the bengals being good or bad and the bearcat attendence?

by the way, wingie dinige went crying back to the cusa board about me. appearantly, talking to you guys and sticking up for logic(and maize in the process) is the same as begging for a big east membership. ugh, hes an idiot. just thought yall might like to have a looksee

http://www.ncaabbs.com/forums/cusa/phpbb...hp?t=48949

No, and no.

I don't think UC gets Dantonio without the Big East either.

mlb Wrote:No, and no.

I don't think UC gets Dantonio without the Big East either.

i was never a big dantonio fan however, i guess yall were glad to get rid of minter.

Dantonio is a good coach, just not a flashy guy. He really put UC on a stable foundation. I'm not sure he'll ever win big with his offense, but he sure can put together a defense.

Edit: I definitely was happy to see Minter move on.

aTxTIGER Wrote:

mlb Wrote:

aTxTIGER Wrote:this isnt snack, but rather an honest question. has your home attendence really upticked that much since leaving cusa? could it be that your program just has support issues rather than a problem with who you play? just asking.

I think that is a tough question to answer, but a good question to ask. With the Huggins fiasco a lot of people did not attend anything UC. Therefore I don't think I can give you a valid answer on that question as there were issues surrounding the program that hurt attendance.

I really expect UC football attendance to go up this year. People are more excited than ever, the Huggins fiasco is starting to subside, and UC has a football coach that is very good at creating excitement (the exact opposite of the last coach). Without the Big East UC never gets that coach, either.

you couldnt get CMU's coach without the big east? hmmm, thats interesting. one quick other question. is there any correlation between the bengals being good or bad and the bearcat attendence?

I don't think they could have gotten him. You might not know this but he was Michigan State first choice BUT they wanted him to take the job before he could coach CMU Bowl Game-(Ironic, they did the same with John L. Smith) and he said no.

Then they turned to Dantonio and Kelly ended up at UC. So in reality UC got the man MSU really wanted.

in all honesty, UC is probably a better place for him, in terms of producing a winning team. I've always seen MSU as the Arkansas of the Big 10. you can be a little over .500 but not really compete with the juggernauts of the league year in and year out. plus, their fans expect conference championships and national title contenders, year in and year out, with very little chance of that happening more than MAYBE once in a decade.

UC, on the other hand, doesn't have to compete with schools that have 100 million dollar athletic budgets and decades of winning tradition, sans WVU. UC can become a very, very good football program in the big east, and kelley can be the catalyst for that. now with all that said, he is probably making less money than MSU would give him, but in my mind it would be worth it sans the extra worry of unrealistic expectations.

Actually, I think his paycheck is VERY close to what MSU offered. Kelly didn't coach CMU during the bowl game anyway, but half of his assistants did. I heard something about Kelly feeling like he was slighted by the AD at MSU, but who knows. I'm glad to have him at UC, I know that much. I don't expect him to stay permanently, but I'll take him for as long as he'll stay (assuming he wins like he has everywhere else, of course).

aTxTIGER Wrote:

mlb Wrote:

aTxTIGER Wrote:this isnt snack, but rather an honest question. has your home attendence really upticked that much since leaving cusa? could it be that your program just has support issues rather than a problem with who you play? just asking.

I think that is a tough question to answer, but a good question to ask. With the Huggins fiasco a lot of people did not attend anything UC. Therefore I don't think I can give you a valid answer on that question as there were issues surrounding the program that hurt attendance.

I really expect UC football attendance to go up this year. People are more excited than ever, the Huggins fiasco is starting to subside, and UC has a football coach that is very good at creating excitement (the exact opposite of the last coach). Without the Big East UC never gets that coach, either.

you couldnt get CMU's coach without the big east? hmmm, thats interesting. one quick other question. is there any correlation between the bengals being good or bad and the bearcat attendence?

Kelly was being courted by Michigan State and Iowa State and a few other programs before settling on UC. If not for Big East affiliation he wouldn't have come. Also, being in the Big East allowed us to pay him a salary practically equal to what Michigan State and Oregon State and programs like that are paying their coaches. I think his pay is only something like $150,000 less then what MSU is paying Dantonio.

Update: Mark Dantonio is guaranteed 1.1 million dollars per year and Brian Kelly is guaranteed 850,000 per year. Kelly's bonuses could push his contract a little over 1 million dollars per year. Cincinnati originally matched MSU's offer of 1.1 million per year and bonuses to Dantonio so Cincinnati would have no problem upping Kelly's contract to 1.1 million per year.