A great read for all of you who, like me, are still in a daze. This came from WKU, but you could insert "TECH" into most of the references to themselves.
https://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/wku/c...9d68e.html
A great read for all of you who, like me, are still in a daze. This came from WKU, but you could insert "TECH" into most of the references to themselves.
https://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/wku/c...9d68e.html
Thanks for sharing. To me, the two most surprising events were USM going to the Belt and then Liberty still deciding to join CUSA. If the new CUSA structures travel to its advantage, we'll be in decent shape all things considered - at least better than anyone would have imagined a week or so ago. I sure hope Amazon decides to break into college football via CUSA.
Considering where we were...teetering on the brink with news WKU and MTSU were heading to The MAC and we would be stranded with just UTEP and FIU in a collapsed conference, to where we are right now, a league of 9 schools set to go, exit fees (or forfeited revenue...whatever!) coming our way, I'd say that like a cat we were pushed off a cliff and landed on our feet.
Thanksgiving is coming up...be thankful.
I thought it seemed like an episode of Survivor where they are at the elimination ceremony, trying to figure out who could be trusted...and all the whispering and last second changing goes down, and every bit the "dramatic blindside" as it felt to many of us fans.
Quick Edit: Was reading on the CUSA board that UNT President Smatresk (and Chair of the C-USA Board of Directors) knew on FRIDAY NIGHT BEFORE the Sunday/Monday meetings that his school was being invited, as the SMU President had already called and told him. I'm sure the Presidents of FAU, UTSA, UAB, Charlotte and Rice were aware they were leaving also. Did Guice NOT notice the weird glances they were giving each other during the meeting?
Last edited by ChuckK3; 11-13-2021 at 11:19 AM.
Knowing that the AAC-6 all knew they were gone, I wonder if he feels a little like he was stabbed in the back? Sitting in a 2-day meeting where it was being presided over by a President of a school who knew his (and 5 other schools represented in the room too!) was on the way out. I guess that's the way this realignment stuff goes, though.
I cannot believe that Middle Tennessee was ever considering a move to the MAC. The population of Murfreesboro is 150,000+ and, it can be argued, an outlying suburb of Nashville. The MAC would be a "stable" death sentence for that program.
Bowling Green, though larger than Ruston, is pretty isolated. Yes they have a population of about 75,000, but they are isolated with that population in a state that bleeds Kentucky blue. As the article stated, the stability of the MAC might have been a good thing for them. I am glad they stayed in CUSA.
Tech's biggest positive is that it exists in North Louisiana, close to Shreveport with some Shreveport ties. The negative there is the long shadow cast from Baton Rouge and the apathy of the fan base there (Shreveport). It's up to us to market there if we expect to grow, and having a bigger footprint there wouldn't hurt at all.
It's up to us to make things better, and this new CUSA looks pretty good given our footprint. Heck, Las Cruces has a population 10x that of Ruston; El Paso's is 3x more than that!
1. The C-USA was too big and had way too many mouths to feed (ironically most of those bottom feeders are now in the AAC). Rice, Charlotte, no baseball UNT.
2. The Subbelt will find themselves overwhelmed with bottom feeders now. Huge conference means you will have some struggling at the bottom. As the former C-USA proved more schools do not equal better TV contracts which means that pie is split more ways.
3. IF (and this is a BIG IF), you have commitment and BUY IN from those left in the C-USA you could actually make it into something like the Mountain West. Probably the most stable and most vital G5 conference. But this requires every single president to commit to GROWING their school’s athletic programs through investment and scheduling.
I'm very surprised at how candid WKU Athletic Director Todd Stewart was during this interview. Not only did he admit that WKU would have accepted an invitation to join the MAC if WKU had been offered an invite, but he exacerbates this issue --and runs the risk of alienating future CUSA partners-- by openly admitting he will readily have WKU join the MAC in the future if asked.The MAC’s decision meant WKU would be staying in a new-look C-USA.
“If we had been invited to join the MAC, we would have said yes. If we’re invited to join the MAC down the line, then I think the answer to that would probably be yes, because if it makes sense today, then I think it’s safe to assume it would make sense down the line,” Stewart said. “But all that being said, we’re in Conference USA right now, Conference USA’s been good to us for the seven-plus years we’ve been in it and that’s what we have to focus on.”
Who wants to marry someone that tells you up front, "Hey, if that girl asks me to marry her, YOU'RE HISTORY!" I know this guy Stewart is just trying to cover his ass with angry WKU fans, but at some point you have to shut your mouth and move on. IMO, admitting that you were never asked to join the MAC is fine. But STOP. That's as far as you need to go. Telling the world --including future CUSA partners-- you will be gone as soon as you're offered "down the line" is just stupid, and smacks of desperation.
All the more reason why Guice needs to stand up and speak up... loudly and sternly that the schools leaving CUSA pay their exit fees and absolutely positively do not host any conference tournaments. To name names, SMU better not be hosting the baseball championship tournament this season. Tech has to be the leading contender for who is left in CUSA, so it should be ours.