Yet Another Realignment Thread

[shaft]

So this is the newest realignment

Big East 11 football + 1 pending

(West)

Boise State, Air Force, SMU, Houston, Louisville, Cincy

(East)

Navy, UCF, USF, UConn, Rutgers, +1(Temple/Memphis/Army/ECU)

CUSA 9 with 1 possible departure

(West)

UTEP, Tulsa, Rice, Tulane

(East)

Marshall, (ECU), UAB, Southern Miss, (Memphis)

MWC 8

Wyoming, UNLV, SDSU, CSU, NM, HI, Fresno, Nev

Edited November 2, 2011 by shaft

[GrayEagle]

There also seems to be a real possibility that UAB gives up football. If that should occur would UAB play their other sports, except football, in CUSA as they once did?

Legion Field is becoming dilapidated and the Alabama board just turned down an on-campus stadium.

If UAB leaves does CUSA add one, three or five teams? My guess is likely three and there'll be another needed when West Virginia leaves. That could take a pretty big bite out of the Sun Belt.

[wardly]

There also seems to be a real possibility that UAB gives up football. If that should occur would UAB play their other sports, except football, in CUSA as they once did?

Legion Field is becoming dilapidated and the Alabama board just turned down an on-campus stadium.

If UAB leaves does CUSA add one, three or five teams? My guess is likely three and there'll be another needed when West Virginia leaves. That could take a pretty big bite out of the Sun Belt.

have not heard about UAB dropping football. can you provide more information?

[dentUNiTe]

have not heard about UAB dropping football. can you provide more information?

Thread on CUSA board.

http://www.ncaabbs.com/showthread.php?tid=526809

[buff64]

As I understand it the football merger between CUSA and the MWC is still a go. Point being CUSA may not need to add more football playing schools.

[kalebschumann]

As I understand it the football merger between CUSA and the MWC is still a go. Point being CUSA may not need to add more football playing schools.

This would be a worst case scenario for UNT.... I have nightmares about this.

[emmitt01]

As I understand it the football merger between CUSA and the MWC is still a go. Point being CUSA may not need to add more football playing schools.

When (if) this comes to pass I won't cry. I'll only be able to laugh...because it will hurt too much that we played cheerleader while both TCU and SMU went to AQ conferences and we assumed their leftovers would elevate us.

[PlummMeanGreen]

When (if) this comes to pass I won't cry. I'll only be able to laugh...because it will hurt too much that we played cheerleader while both TCU and SMU went to AQ conferences and we assumed their leftovers would elevate us.

And if the aforementioned were to happen; that is, UNT still being left out of CUSA consideration, the Apogee Wing Section will suddenly require the construction of a 10 foot high electrified fence at its top perimeter to keep many from jumping. Damage control from North Texas officials if such were to happen would be next to impossible, but at North Texas we know anything is possible. Would have been nice to have had more winning seasons the last generation than just the ones in the SBC's formative years, though.

Still defer to another post that said that an "un-named" school came into CUSA in the early 2000's with about 15 losing seasons in a row on the gridiron, so that should not even be a factor with our present 7 losing seasons in a row situation.

GMG!

Edited November 2, 2011 by PlummMeanGreen

[DJstars21]

When (if) this comes to pass I won't cry. I'll only be able to laugh...because it will hurt too much that we played cheerleader while both TCU and SMU went to AQ conferences and we assumed their leftovers would elevate us.

This. Even harder to deal with would be seeing other Sunbelt teams somehow moving up.

I'm curious, the purpose of the Con U/MWC merger would be an AQ bid right? If there was any chance of that being possible clearly all the teams that abandoned ship would have been made aware of it. If AQ was a legit possibility, what would be their motivation to head east? Considering they did bail, I don't see the merger receiving that AQ bid so why complicate things and merge anyway?

Do they plan on pooling their football revenue? T.V. rights?

If we could have added a little more mean to our green this season we would've been a lock.

[PlummMeanGreen]

This. Even harder to deal with would be seeing other Sunbelt teams somehow moving up.

I'm curious, the purpose of the Con U/MWC merger would be an AQ bid right? If there was any chance of that being possible clearly all the teams that abandoned ship would have been made aware of it. If AQ was a legit possibility, what would be their motivation to head east? Considering they did bail, I don't see the merger receiving that AQ bid so why complicate things and merge anyway?

Do they plan on pooling their football revenue? T.V. rights?

If we could have added a little more mean to our green this season we would've been a lock.

Having read the CUSA and MWC boards its really not a football merger but what they call an alliance. CUSA commish' Banowsky still talks about adding teams in light of an alliance. Not sure why they felt an alliance was even needed. CUSA and the MWC are supposed to invite the Big East to join this alliance but most think the B.E. would not benefit from such since they are already AQ

[Travis]

The Big East looks like a mess to me.

[kalebschumann]

When (if) this comes to pass I won't cry. I'll only be able to laugh...because it will hurt too much that we played cheerleader while both TCU and SMU went to AQ conferences and we assumed their leftovers would elevate us.

That's a good point- but what else could we have done in the past 6 months that would have had a direct affect on our conference placement?

[minerinwisconsin]

I don't have any inside sources concerning realignment but it really would make a lot of sense that Tulsa, Rice and UTEP would want to add UNT to CUSA. Losing SMU means we lose whatever foothold, in their case maybe it was a toehold, in the DFW area. UNT sits in perfect position to take advantage of that. The area is needed for market and recruiting. UNT is a large, public university with a good number of alumni where as SMU is a small, private univ with few alumni. Your FB stadium is brand new which really shows your school's committment to athletics. I'm hoping that UNT is invited but I do have a question for you folks. Since UNT has been in the Sun Belt for quite a while now, do you believe that moving to CUSA without the presence of SMU and Houston is still a positive move for UNT?

[Green Mean]

I don't have any inside sources concerning realignment but it really would make a lot of sense that Tulsa, Rice and UTEP would want to add UNT to CUSA. Losing SMU means we lose whatever foothold, in their case maybe it was a toehold, in the DFW area. UNT sits in perfect position to take advantage of that. The area is needed for market and recruiting. UNT is a large, public university with a good number of alumni where as SMU is a small, private univ with few alumni. Your FB stadium is brand new which really shows your school's committment to athletics. I'm hoping that UNT is invited but I do have a question for you folks. Since UNT has been in the Sun Belt for quite a while now, do you believe that moving to CUSA without the presence of SMU and Houston is still a positive move for UNT?

Without a doubt. The schools/teams in CUSA are far superior from top to bottom than what the belt offers and our attendence would greatly increase since the schools in CUSA are much more known to the average joe fan than our Sunbelt mates. We'd love to be in a conference with Houston and SMU no doubt but without them moving our chances of moving up would have been much more slim. And heck we still have games agains Tulsa, Rice, UTEP etc on a yearly basis. I think it would be a win win for not only UNT but for CUSA as well.

[untbowler]

All the while our Administration and BOR sits by quietly and lets everyone join the conversation. You noticed SMU, UCF, and other regents came out saying they were open to moving, why have our Administrators not come out yet in support of a potential move? Maybe we need to actually court the other conferences and not just sit by as if we are entitled to something, but then again we are UNT.

[foutsrouts]

I don't have any inside sources concerning realignment but it really would make a lot of sense that Tulsa, Rice and UTEP would want to add UNT to CUSA. Losing SMU means we lose whatever foothold, in their case maybe it was a toehold, in the DFW area. UNT sits in perfect position to take advantage of that. The area is needed for market and recruiting. UNT is a large, public university with a good number of alumni where as SMU is a small, private univ with few alumni. Your FB stadium is brand new which really shows your school's committment to athletics. I'm hoping that UNT is invited but I do have a question for you folks. Since UNT has been in the Sun Belt for quite a while now, do you believe that moving to CUSA without the presence of SMU and Houston is still a positive move for UNT?

Absolutely. At the very least it would get us away from the perception of being entry level, and with success on the field, it could possibly set us up for membership in our dream conference sometime down the road when things shake up again. That dream conference for me, would be some kind of a mix of regional and current Big 12 teams members. Nice first post btw.

[Green Mean]

All the while our Administration and BOR sits by quietly and lets everyone join the conversation. You noticed SMU, UCF, and other regents came out saying they were open to moving, why have our Administrators not come out yet in support of a potential move? Maybe we need to actually court the other conferences and not just sit by as if we are entitled to something, but then again we are UNT.

I'm sure RV has and is behind the scenes in all this. Sure I would have liked it if we openly whored out our university in all this but I guess that is not the way RV likes to roll. That being said I am thinking if the state of our football team has been any influence on how RV is approaching realignment. I mean make no mistake we've been the worst football program in the nation for about 6 years now...I wonder if he's hesitated on being on the offensive and been more focused on trying to right the ship of the football team first to where they at least look respectable. I think we're getting on that path but make no mistake I think RV is completely aware of what is going on and I am sure he's making his calls.

[houstonmeangreen]

That's a good point- but what else could we have done in the past 6 months that would have had a direct affect on our conference placement?

the fact that SMU is getting play to go to the Big East vs UNT when we are much larger..new stadium and better attendance show you just how poorly the program has been managed at UNT and the lack of influence....this just has to be political. The TD experiment just killed us and SMU has spent the money to raise the quality of their team...and us?...too late to the party.

[ntmeangreen11]

Here's the awesome thing, we have Houston and SMU in OOC games, well only one more with Houston but 4? or 6? straight years with SMU starting in 2014. With the youth of this team, if such a move happens, 2012 will be rough again, but 2013 is shaping up to be one helluva year. We will have multiple 3 year starters on that team that are already decent players as FR/SO. So starting in 2014, we'd have games against SMU/UTEP/Rice/Tulsa/Tulane/USM. That's six schools people will have a lot more interest in than FIU/FAU/MT/Troy/USA(next year)

I have no doubt that 2013 may be the year we finally reach our potential, have a team that has the talent to make a bowl game, and have better home games, and hopefully average 25k+ maybe more. Too much kool aid this morning, I know.

[EdwardRRooney]

From what I can tell, a lot of the schools left behind talk about us as many of you talk about schools like UTSA. They won't be 100% on board with an invite but would realize its for the best.

[Green Mean]

Here's the awesome thing, we have Houston and SMU in OOC games, well only one more with Houston but 4? or 6? straight years with SMU starting in 2014. With the youth of this team, if such a move happens, 2012 will be rough again, but 2013 is shaping up to be one helluva year. We will have multiple 3 year starters on that team that are already decent players as FR/SO. So starting in 2014, we'd have games against SMU/UTEP/Rice/Tulsa/Tulane/USM. That's six schools people will have a lot more interest in than FIU/FAU/MT/Troy/USA(next year)

I have no doubt that 2013 may be the year we finally reach our potential, have a team that has the talent to make a bowl game, and have better home games, and hopefully average 25k+ maybe more. Too much kool aid this morning, I know.

I'll take 2013 if we're already in CUSA but if we're still in the Sunbelt then I just don't think we have that time for rebuilding. I think we have to win a minimum of 6 games next season and go bowling if we're still in the Sunbelt. I think that is doable since the SBC is a place you can have a faster turnaround and plus Mac will be in his 2nd year so the expectation will be to have better results.

[untjim1995]

When (if) this comes to pass I won't cry. I'll only be able to laugh...because it will hurt too much that we played cheerleader while both TCU and SMU went to AQ conferences and we assumed their leftovers would elevate us.

If this happened, and if others in the SBC or WAC get invited over us, the howling over spending $78 million to build a stadium for the equivalent of a FCS league will get very intense. This has always been the conundrum for us: build a new stadium and facilities and hope to get into a better league and cement ourselves into FBS competition or don't build a new stadium and go back down to FCS competition. Only problem is that if we don't get into that better league and the shift occurs where we get pushed back down to FCS, especially while SMU and TCU are not only FBS, but non AQ, there will be much complaining in Denton about such an outlay of cash (during a difficult economic time). It goes back to this reality--we have no one to blame but ourselves. Our university just didn't care about athletics for so long that you can't expect there to be no negative ramifications from that kind of mindset that lasted for decades.

[Green Mean]

If this happened, and if others in the SBC or WAC get invited over us, the howling over spending $78 million to build a stadium for the equivalent of a FCS league will get very intense. This has always been the conundrum for us: build a new stadium and facilities and hope to get into a better league and cement ourselves into FBS competition or don't build a new stadium and go back down to FCS competition. Only problem is that if we don't get into that better league and the shift occurs where we get pushed back down to FCS, especially while SMU and TCU are not only FBS, but non AQ, there will be much complaining in Denton about such an outlay of cash (during a difficult economic time). It goes back to this reality--we have no one to blame but ourselves. Our university just didn't care about athletics for so long that you can't expect there to be no negative ramifications from that kind of mindset that lasted for decades.

I don't think all is lost if this happens. Our task at hand still doesn't change and that is winning, winning, and more winning. If we continue to improve and win then there's no reason attendence can't or won't improve. Top that with our basketball program still continuing on an upward trend I think it would be impossible for all the conferences not to at least look at us. Don't get me wrong it would be a big kick to the crotch if we're overlooked and remain in the Sunbelt but I don't think it will spell as the doom and catastrophic moment. We just have to keep on doing what we're doing.

[MeanGreenGlory]

This would be a worst case scenario for UNT.... I have nightmares about this.

Kaleb, please provide details of the scenes from your realignment nightmares. I'm curious what a realignment nightmare consists of.

Is the Big East chasing you and Scrappy down the halls of Sun Belt history? Does Conference USA wear a scary mask? Does the WAC hide in a closet waiting to eat you? Does ESPN threaten to steal your wallet if you don't do what they say?

So many possibilities!!!

[PlummMeanGreen]

I don't have any inside sources concerning realignment but it really would make a lot of sense that Tulsa, Rice and UTEP would want to add UNT to CUSA. Losing SMU means we lose whatever foothold, in their case maybe it was a toehold, in the DFW area. UNT sits in perfect position to take advantage of that. The area is needed for market and recruiting. UNT is a large, public university with a good number of alumni where as SMU is a small, private univ with few alumni. Your FB stadium is brand new which really shows your school's committment to athletics. I'm hoping that UNT is invited but I do have a question for you folks. Since UNT has been in the Sun Belt for quite a while now, do you believe that moving to CUSA without the presence of SMU and Houston is still a positive move for UNT?

Of course we're biased to our own school here, but someone with the CUSA powers that be would have had to go into a real bad case of brain freeze to not add the North Texas Metroplex to their league. In fact, if such were to happen (our being left out) I would then wonder if we'd need to be a member of a conference with such shallow mindedness and no vision for the future?

It was the DFW TV market and some ESPN politickin' that got SMU into the Big East, so what is good for the goose is for damn sure good for the gander if it is a Top 10 TV market that catapulted a school with known attendance problems into a high level of competition.

From Ripley's Believe It or Not but....... weeks ago, I (and many others) actually admired SMU for having the audacity and gonads to let the Big 12 know they were interested in taking TAMU's place. Folks, that is called being pro-active. SMU shot for the Big 12 moon and hit the Big East Conference barn instead. You have to admire them for that.

GMG!