AppManDG
Heisman
Posts: 6,134
Joined: Aug 2010
Reputation: 308
I Root For: App State
Location: Gastonia, NC |
RE: C-USA Split Rumor
(10-27-2020 09:55 AM)ah59396 Wrote: (10-27-2020 09:06 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote: (10-26-2020 11:12 AM)ah59396 Wrote: (10-25-2020 07:43 PM)AppManDG Wrote: Time to pull a page from the Mountain West playbook and form a completely new conference. With the exception of Liberty's massive online program, the schools are remarkably similar. Talk about a tight footprint. Hopefully people can get over their personal issues with Liberty and look at athletics.
School / Undergraduate Enrollment / Football "seating" capacity / Basketball arena
App - 20,000 / 23,500 (30K with the bank) / 8,300
Charlotte - 24,000 / 15,000 / 9,100
Coastal - 10,500 / 21,000 / 3,370
Ga So - 22,700 / 21,500 (25K with banks) / 4,300
GA St - 32,000 / 24,300 / 3,850
JMU - 21,200 / 24,900 / 8,500
Liberty - 15,000 (on campus) / 25,000 / 8,100
Marshall - 9,400 / 38,000 / 9,000
ODU - 19,200 / 22,000 / 8,600
UAB - 22,500 / 47,000 (new stadium) / 8,500
Travel partners work out extremely well. Marshall-JMU / Charlotte-App / Coastal-GA So / Liberty-ODU / GA State - UAB
This feels like a step backwards for App, UAB and Marshall.
That is a good point as many SBC/CUSA members might feel like their present conference alignments and brand overall are superior to a new more regional setup.
Also why I've said the answer for CUSA might be just to expand to 16 with something like Louisiana and App State to regain the FB edge and reduce cross divisional travel costs. Both may agree just to be in there with another in-state team.
Cutting the pie 14 ways is a lot, cutting it 16 is just a little more but might be worth it if the sum of the parts equals a greater whole.
Yes exactly. I’m not trying to be some entitled dbag about App State claiming we deserve better or something. I’m just saying - if App’s long term goal as an athletic department is to say, be P5 or be in the AAC - I’m not sure how joining a regional travel friendly conference filled largely with FCS call-ups (of which App is one) helps that cause. Also to be clear I’m not saying those are the goals nor am I saying they will happen.
If our goal and the point of moving to FBS was just to play against Georgia State, JMU, UNCC, Ga Southern, Coastal Carolina, Liberty, and ODU, then so be it. But that reminds me of the Southern Conference in 1995.
Frankly the other schools listed here^^^ should be saying the same thing I am. And probably why this conference won’t happen. And to avoid some bias here, exclude App and this is most definitely a step backwards for UAB and Marshall who used to share a conference with what are now ACC and BIG12 schools. UAB used to play against Louisville, TCU, Cincinnati, UCF etc. Now they are going to replace them with Liberty and ODU because it’s a shorter bus ride?
So I guess the larger question for all of these institutions listed was, did they move FBS to progress or move FBS to maintain status quo?
I think it’s yet to be determined what App’s long term goal is and quite frankly I’m not sure anyone outside the P5 has the slightest idea what 20 years down the road will look like. I also hardly think you can cal it status quo. I can’t begin to tell you how difficult the last 25 years have been in getting App to where we are today. It took a lot of hard work, convincing a lot of influential people App had outgrown the SoCon & FCS and moving to FBS was essential for our program to reach its full potential. Most importantly it took getting someone in the Chancellor’s chair who understood the financial and marketing benefits, for the entire university, of moving to FBS. We had to find a way to get into the FBS club and you can thank Ken Peacock for getting it done. So now that we’ve made it in, what’s next? We’re obviously seated in the back of the room and to get closer to the stage we have to make friends and impress some folks. We’ve turned quite a few heads with the most successful transition to FBS in history and if we continue on the same trajectory doors will open. However, we must be financially strong and facility ready to take advantage of that opportunity. We’re getting there facility wise, but this year has been devastating financially on all of us. It has been the eye opening event that showed everyone just how on the ragged edge we all have been living. The Sunbelt has given App a platform to grow and learn how to play in the FBS sandbox, but the model (as well as CUSA’s) is simply not sustainable. As has been pointed out by others, the schools in my grouping have and are making considerable strides. How many conferences could boast of a national champion in baseball? If Liberty continues on their path and gets ranked, that would be four of the ten teams in that group ranked in the same year. That’s pretty remarkable for a G5 league. Yes, there has been some extenuating circumstances, but the fact remains it’s a group that is on the rise. It’s also a grouping that relieves the financial stress of being in a league that stretches over 1200 miles. Those extreme distances will be highly scrutinized in what I believe is the next big thing coming down the pipe, athletes’ time away from class. I have to believe common sense will eventually win out over ego and regional conferences will be the norm again
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