Originally Posted by
The Historian
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.