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If UTEP had stayed in the WAC, I wonder what teams would not have been acquired into the 12 team MWC conference. Idaho and New Mexico St. didn't make the cut in 2013. San Jose St. and Utah St. were the last teams in. Probably San Jose St? The would sting after they had finished the year before ranked in football.Originally Posted by qng001
They didn't want to be in a conference with New Mexico State. The El Paso Times had big stories about it at the time. UTEP told Benson it wasn't an issue, but it was a big issue. Karl didn't understand the political issue in El Paso for UTEP.
Memphis recruited them, they saw an opportunity to get away from NMSU, and they accepted CUSA's offer. The whole thing was led by USM's AD, who had been at ULM and had an ax to grind.
It was a mistake from the start, and CUSA's presidents knew it.
Last edited by The Historian; 08-02-2021 at 01:37 PM.
....and I would argue that UTEP has never recovered. Never.
I know NMSU has been really good in basketball. Could of had a packed house for both schools in bball. Stupid on UTEP part, short sighted thinkers.
The most disappointing addition to CUSA, even taking into account the newest additions. Their market, attendance and basketball was supposed to make up for their far distance from everyone. Since they joined, attendance has tanked to bottom of the conference as well as their basketball and now we're stuck with long distance for travel to play teams that hurt our schedule usually. I feel like UTEP and CUSA are an unhappy marriage stuck together because of the children.
They should have told Benson that inviting NMSU would be an issue.
Or...all Karl had to do was pick up the phone and have an off the record conversation with the long time beat writer at the El Paso Times. He would have told Benson that their alums would scream the high hell if NMSU was invited.
Heck, I could have told Benson that....it wasn't a big secret.
That's interesting. Seems like they play them a lot OOC anyway. But I realize that's not the same as being in the same conference (and we would know about not wanting to share a conference with a school 30 miles away).
But - what would have been the other option in this scenario? If Tech gets into CUSA instead of UTEP, they've still lost 4 schools (out of 10) and probably want to get back to at least 9. UTSA and TXST weren't ready yet. There isn't anybody else out west. Would UTEP have been interested in that version of the WAC + Idaho and Utah ST? For an 8 team conference? More than what they'd have ended up with in CUSA? Or maybe pushed the WAC to try to get UNT from the 'Belt instead of NMSU?
I can see where CUSA should have taken Tech over UTEP (I didn't need convincing on that). And I can see that UTEP might have been better off eventually if they'd have stayed in the WAC (with or without NMSU). But I don't see how their leaders would have got there at the time (again, with or without NMSU). Also, I don't know that it's a done deal that a UTEP in the WAC in 2005 is in the MWC in 2021. I mean, it didn't go that way for NMSU or Idaho. UTEP may have avoided the fates of those two schools by jumping to CUSA when they did.
If only there was a plan to rearrange the Big 12, I don't know....like if Texas and Oklahoma left to join the SEC in 2025?
https://www.espn.com/college-footbal...invitation-sec
Inevitably, the Big 12 will be forced to poach the AAC, prompting the AAC to fill those slots with high caliber teams from the other G5 conferences. Unfortunately, I've seen nothing under Holtz that would lead me to believe that Tech would be in the discussion. My heart says "it could happen" but my brain says "no freaken way in hell". There are too many other teams that are more worthy. Have we beaten one P5 in the regular season? Have we won a single conference title under Holtz? We literally have more FCS losses under Holtz than wins against P5 opponents in regular season. Wishful thinking... In truth, we are damn lucky to be where we are. Have we ever even beaten ODU?
Are you talking about the Big 12 or the AAC?
Neither… Tech isn’t going anywhere. I was specifically talking about the big12 poaching the current AAC, which would in turn force the AAC to replace those teams with other G5 teams.
I respect your opinion. I just think this is similar to 2012. I had people on this board telling me we had no shot at CUSA. I even had a Cajun fan send me a private message telling me we would never get into CUSA before them. Yet, when the dust settled we were CUSA's first choice. Had CUSA had one opening it would have gone to Tech. Two openings it would have been Tech and FIU.
I posted this in another thread, and I think it's worth posting again. We have our negatives, but....
- Before a crazy covid year we had won 6 consecutive bowl games, including 2 P5 bowl wins and consecutive bowl wins over Navy, SMU, and Hawaii.
- In the last 9 years we've averaged almost 24 wins a season in men's basketball.
- At the same time, we've spent $87 million on athletic facilities (not including improvements to the TAC) with almost no debt (a bigger deal than most realize)
- While we're not an AAU school we're a national research university with good academics.
- To top it off we have a national brand that few others in the G5 can match.
- We've also shared a conference in the past with some of the schools in the AAC who will be making these decisions.
Usually someone posts about the perfect regional conference for Tech, and maybe someone has and I have just missed it. But, here goes anyway....
Tech
USM
Tulane
Rice
SMU
Tulsa
and several more to fill it out. Of course right away you see one of the problems, all those private schools. Still, as an athletic conference it would work well.
I wish our conference was
Louisiana Tech
Fresno Sate
Utah State
Nevada
Houston
Boise State
TCU
SMU
Central Florida
Liberty
UAB
Memphis
Could be called SeeUSA Conference...as in, see the USA as you travel from end to end of it.
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