Wonder if this is an interim step to make MacLeod the commish?
Will give her credit for responding to the email I sent in about the 2016 basketball tourney going back to UAB. But know nothing about her or her capabilities.
I don't think it's proper to post her exact reply but essentially she said the conference members have been working on finding some neutral site opportunities And they recognize UAB is not a neutral site. She reviewed that currently interested members submit proposals to host with the AD's voting and making a recommendation to the Board of Director. They make the final decision. She went on to say my points were all understandable and will continue to be discussed in the future. "Thanks again for expressing your views in a thoughtful way."
My email:
Perhaps the reason is economics, convenience or some other factors but I do not like the decision to return to Birmingham for the 2016 basketball tournament.
I don’t think the tournament in 2015 was run well. Several friends who went to El Paso in 2014 and Birmingham in 2015 say El Paso was a much better run affair and infinitely friendlier to the fans from out of town. And it smacked of politics when the attendance rules changed DURING the 2015 tournament which obviously favored UAB and gave them a distinct advantage over every other conference member.
And then there is the situation with seeding teams, specifically the regular season champion versus the host team. Are we playing basketball to win a championship or host a tournament? If its championships then host team seeding should be addressed AFTER the regular season champion’s seeding has been settled. If UAB wins the conference regular season title, then they get the seeding they earned and deserve. If not, then they still get a significant accommodation in seeding.
But ultimately, CUSA should move the basketball tournament to a true neutral site for all future basketball tournaments. Why not move it to Dallas where the conference is headquartered? Then everyone has to travel and get hotel rooms of which DFW has an abundance as well as playing venues. And even from ODU it’s not a bad flight.
Please take steps to move the basketball tournament to a neutral site in 2017.
-----------
And, yes, I realized the proximity of North Texas. Imho, depending on where in DFW its held they are likely to get a hotel close to the venue(s) rather than risk traffic problems and to give their players as much down time as possible between games. Obviously I'm not talking about North Texas hosting if the tournament is in Dallas. If anyone disagrees with that....fine, that's your opinion, too.
When stuff like this happens, people need to express their opinions not only to Tech's admin but to CUSA too.
Interesting. I wouldn't expect a CUSA official (or for that matter most of the ADs or coaches or school representatives) to publicly disagree with the call (I love that the ODU? coach had a comment).
Your issues are legitimate, but my issue is that they shouldn't have been allowed to bid to begin with. But I'd expect the official response to be along the lines of our AD's. Something about "they did a great job last time, and the two issues aren't related, and it all worked out, and maybe someday it'll be neutral." Didn't seem worth bothering to do more than a few snide Twitter remarks and some CUSA message board "discussion."
I had a paragraph about UAB being allowed to bid, but removed it from the final draft as I felt it changed the character of the letter. But it was absolutely wrong to delay the decision on naming the 2016 tournament site. Period. If ODU or some other school had a better bid than Tech's, then it should have gone there. But this whole UAB thing has been an exercise in excess preferential treatment and I don't understand why.
Back on thread topic, HOPEFULLY whomever the new conference commissioner is, they'll be more "forward leaning" when it comes to even handedness among conference members.
As I stated early in this thread, once he stated he was leaving, they should have stated he needed to leave immediately. It never works out to keep someone on, when there mind is already out of the game. I think it is good to have an interim, if they don't have someone ready yet. Should have been done when he announced.
I've heard significant chatter that Fox will buy Tier 1 and ESPN will get everything else. FOX will choose first, ESPN will choose second, and then ESPN will sublicense games to ASN. I think this is best case scenario and would open the door for all non-televised games to be on WatchESPN.
CUSAbbs @CUSAbbs 7m7 minutes ago
C-USA to name Judy MacLeod as first female FBS commissioner http://mweb.cbssports.com/ncaaf/writer/dennis-dodd/25342331/conference-usa-to-name-judy-macleod-as-first-female-fbs-commissioner …