The AAC will need a 12th school in football to maintain its division structure. Who does the AAC invite to replace UConn?

UAB

It’ll come down to a neck-and-neck race between ODU and UAB with Alabama-Birmingham winning out due to an edge in shared history with current members.

I'm betting no one unless one of BYU, Army, or Air Force is finally interested (and my guess is all still say no).

(06-24-2019 07:48 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  It’ll come down to a neck-and-neck race between ODU and UAB with Alabama-Birmingham winning out due to an edge in shared history with current members.

I think NIU is a better program than those two.
1) proven winner
2) has kept it going through multiple coaches
3) has shown that they have a small but loyal fan base that'll grow in the AAC
4) has accomplished this with no advantages or having nothing handed to them..
I'm totally serious, unfortunately if the AAC ever expands I think only the academies or the best of the mwc is a real possibility.

Who they invite and who actually would join are two totally different things.

Not enough choices in this poll.

(06-24-2019 07:19 AM)orangefan Wrote:  The AAC will need a 12th school in football to maintain its division structure. Who does the AAC invite to replace UConn?

Keep UConn. The usual suspects BYU, Army, Boise, and Air Force have all said no on numerous occasions. They will say no again. That leaves CUSA, the Sun Belt, the MAC, other independents like Liberty, UMASS, and NM St., or finally bringing an FCS school like say James Madison. There really aren't any outstanding great prospects in that group to move on too at this time. Keep UConn for FB only with a Navy like contract plus 4 Men's and 4 Women's BB games a year until the next realignment period shakes out in 2025. More AAC members may be leaving then anyway. With only 11 BB members the conference could play a 20 game H&H schedule for BB for that time period. The other AAC members will have to get over being jilted by UConn for the BE as half of them have applications in with P5 conferences with one foot out the door anyway.

(06-24-2019 08:55 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I'm betting no one unless one of BYU, Army, or Air Force is finally interested (and my guess is all still say no).

If I were putting money down that's where my money would be.

If they're smart, it'll be UAB.

Market.
Football.
Geography.
Recruiting for other schools.
Superstar coach.
New facilities.
New commitment from school for programs.

Rivalry with Memphis, and history with other schools in the AAC.

And most importantly, it's realistic.

BYU, Boise, Army, Air Force, Colorado State ... they ain't answering Aresco's phone call.


We shall see if they are smart.

(06-24-2019 07:19 AM)orangefan Wrote:  The AAC will need a 12th school in football to maintain its division structure. Who does the AAC invite to replace UConn?

Don't need a 12th school. NCAA rules allow unbalanced divisions now and still have a CCG, as long as you play round robins in each division.

But it would be a holy mess to schedule, and would require some OOC games to count as conference games.

I don't think there is a good all sports candidate that would accept an invite, so we either compromise with a lesser choice, or do the unbalanced division thing, or just drop the CCG, which I think is the third of the options.

The only viable options, IMO, are Army, Air Force, Boise or BYU as football only, plus VCU.

But I don't think any of those 4 will accept. They all have said no before.

My compromise would be CSU all sports, or SDSU football only with VCU, but I'm not sure either of those would do it, either.

Poll is too Eastern heavy

Navy will get moved to the East so they need someone in the West that can add some sizzle and bring a new market

they’ll go after whoever says yes first in this order:

BYU
Boise
Colorado State
Air Force
UNLV

Georgia State

(06-24-2019 10:23 AM)panite Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 07:19 AM)orangefan Wrote:  The AAC will need a 12th school in football to maintain its division structure. Who does the AAC invite to replace UConn?

Keep UConn. The usual suspects BYU, Army, Boise, and Air Force have all said no on numerous occasions. They will say no again. That leaves CUSA, the Sun Belt, the MAC, other independents like Liberty, UMASS, and NM St., or finally bringing an FCS school like say James Madison. There really aren't any outstanding great prospects in that group to move on too at this time. Keep UConn for FB only with a Navy like contract plus 4 Men's and 4 Women's BB games a year until the next realignment period shakes out in 2025. More AAC members may be leaving then anyway. With only 11 BB members the conference could play a 20 game H&H schedule for BB for that time period. The other AAC members will have to get over being jilted by UConn for the BE as half of them have applications in with P5 conferences with one foot out the door anyway.

If UConn football had any pulse at all---they might consider keeping them. However, given that the AAC can blindly pull random G5 names out of a hat and have nearly a 100% chance of hitting on a better football program than UConn---there just isnt much reason to keep the Husky football program around. The difficulty right now is determining which football programs adds the MAXIMUM possible value to the AAC. Finding a football program that is better than UConn---thats easy.

(06-24-2019 11:26 AM)10thMountain Wrote:  Poll is too Eastern heavy

Navy will get moved to the East so they need someone in the West that can add some sizzle and bring a new market

they’ll go after whoever says yes first in this order:

BYU
Boise
Colorado State
Air Force
UNLV

This is more the way Im thinking. I also believe the AAC has to avoid the urge to reconstitute CUSA 2.0----I think the AAC has to be a relatively unique entity to succeed.

I also like the split membership concept as it allows the conference to field the best league possible. So, Air Force (football only) + VCU is a very attractive combination to me.

(06-24-2019 11:26 AM)10thMountain Wrote:  Poll is too Eastern heavy

Navy will get moved to the East so they need someone in the West that can add some sizzle and bring a new market

they’ll go after whoever says yes first in this order:

BYU
Boise
Colorado State
Air Force
UNLV

Navy says academically and recruit wise they match up with Tulane, SMU and Tulsa hence they are in the West

AAC will place courtesy calls to Boise and BYU. Those 2 are highly unlikely though. The next option is to add a football only like Army and VCU for basketball. This has a 50/50 chance of happening. After that, if none of the above work, the AAC will start to look at CUSA schools. Possibly an Old Dominion. They could go to a Southern Miss or UAB, but I think those are less likely options.

(06-24-2019 11:45 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 10:23 AM)panite Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 07:19 AM)orangefan Wrote:  The AAC will need a 12th school in football to maintain its division structure. Who does the AAC invite to replace UConn?

Keep UConn. The usual suspects BYU, Army, Boise, and Air Force have all said no on numerous occasions. They will say no again. That leaves CUSA, the Sun Belt, the MAC, other independents like Liberty, UMASS, and NM St., or finally bringing an FCS school like say James Madison. There really aren't any outstanding great prospects in that group to move on too at this time. Keep UConn for FB only with a Navy like contract plus 4 Men's and 4 Women's BB games a year until the next realignment period shakes out in 2025. More AAC members may be leaving then anyway. With only 11 BB members the conference could play a 20 game H&H schedule for BB for that time period. The other AAC members will have to get over being jilted by UConn for the BE as half of them have applications in with P5 conferences with one foot out the door anyway.

If UConn football had any pulse at all---they might consider keeping them. However, given that the AAC can blindly pull random G5 names out of a hat and have nearly a 100% chance of hitting on a better football program than UConn---there just isnt much reason to keep the Husky football program around. The difficulty right now is determining which football programs adds the MAXIMUM possible value to the AAC. Finding a football program that is better than UConn---thats easy.

Correct. Replacing UConn football won't be too difficult. I don't see the AAC keeping them around. Let's just be honest, they've been really bad. Any random CUSA team could do as well or better.

I wouldn't mind if AAC kept UConn in football, but it's apparent that they won't. The biggest piece is basketball. Who can they bring in that has some juice, or at least weigh conference down, like ECU and Tulane. To me, you look at a VCU or Old Dominion for that piece.

(06-24-2019 10:29 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 08:55 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I'm betting no one unless one of BYU, Army, or Air Force is finally interested (and my guess is all still say no).

If I were putting money down that's where my money would be.

Me too. They don't need to add anyone, and no schools who would add value would accept an invitation. It's more likely that Navy would also leave than that anyone would be added.