When the dust settles

[dawg80]

The ACC takes Miami and Va Tech. The BE takes Louisville and ECU. The MWC takes Fresno and Hawaii, and maybe Boise and/or Nevada.

What does CUSA do now?

More importantly, what do TCU and Houston do?

What does the WAC do? What can it do?

San Jose is dead meat. Given the above scenario there is no more WWAC.

What does the EWAC do?

If the chips start to fall, the EWAC must be proactive.

1. The five EWACsters must immediately invite TCU and Houston, and maybe Tulane and/or Memphis and Southern Miss. It is doubtful that Tu, Memp, and USM will accept, and TCU and UH might not either.

2. The EWAC must then invite UNT and ULL, making a 7-school conference, that will have to be renamed, i.e. a new conference, which means no-auto bids for hoops for awhile, BUT! the NCAA has to sanction a bowl game to accommodate the champion, and that will likely be in Texas somewhere. It might even get a slot in the New Orleans bowl, since UNT and ULL are the two most attractive current Belt members anyway.

One thing is certain, Tech needs to be proactive too. If we're talking a possible EWAC/CUSA merger, than we are nicely situated geographically. But Tech's chances are damaged by being the eastern-most school in a western league, or the western most school in an eastern league. Finding ourselves in the middle, will be helpful.

Let's face it, Tech doesn't have a lot to offer...really, if the criteria to join a higher-up midmajor league is established. Meaning, if the cream of the current non-BCS schools start talking about a new conference: Southern Miss, TCU, Tulane, Rice, etc.. then Tech will have to lobby hard to get in. But, again, such a league would place us smack in the middle geographically, and that will help our cause.

Our small budget, low season tix sales, being in backwards Ruston, will all be negatives that will have to be overcome.

[EJ]

...Our small budget, low season tix sales, being in backwards Ruston, will all be negatives that will have to be overcome.

The first two I agree with. If you said Ruston was a small market and that hurt us, I would agree with that. If you said backwards Louisiana, I would agree with that more than just "backwards Ruston".

I lived in Louisiana the majority of my life and Ruston is one the better places in the state (considering how messed up Louisiana can be). Ruston has its shortcomings, but it at least Ruston has mayor now that is pro-active concerning Tech and the development of the city.

When it comes to conference affiliation, I think facilities, winning on the field, and reputation are much more important.

[dawg80]

Hmmm, you need to get out more.

[Dwayne From Minden]

D80 -

I agree with almost all you say -

I just don't see the WAC staying as it is today - and by the slight chance that it does, I really don't think TECH can have competitive teams and survive financially with the present set-up and our present way of doing business -

Our best chance is to ride the coat-tails of Rice, Smu and Tulsa and try to go where they go -

June 30th is the magic day - I really think things will START to shake out then and all conferences will be reshaped in a 60 to 90 day period...

Even if the BE doesn't raid CUSA for anyone - I still expect the MWC to be PRO-ACTIVE and pluck several WAC teams...

[JAY]

we should add two cusa teams now, hopefully tcu and usm. then i would hope the mwc takes 4 teams from us, because then we can add tulane, houston, and maybe even memphis and uab.

we need to make cusa be the conference that falls apart, not the wac.

[Thor44]

Even more to think about is several of the above mentioned teams currently do not have all the pieces in place when the new NCAA rules goes into effect. The last number I heard was close to 30 schools would be dropped if the rules went into effect now.

[EJ]

Hmmm, you need to get out more.

I'm not the one that lives in Natchitoches

[dawg80]

[quote:7b05c84f34="Dawg80"]Hmmm, you need to get out more.

I'm not the one that lives in Natchitoches[/quote:7b05c84f34]

I'm not the one saying Ruston is okay.

BTW, when it comes to entertainment, night life, etc..while Natch leaves a lot to be desired, it is still light years ahead of Ruston.

[Dwayne From Minden]

Both of ya'll need to live in a place like Minden for a while -

While it is a great place to live -

Entertainment and dining options can't even be classified as "limited" - non-existent would be the more appropriate word -

Last time I looked - most major universities are supported by the numerous small towns that are within 30 - 45 miles of the campus, not just the town it is located in -

This is one area TECH has to improve in if it ever wants to consistenly put 22,000 to 25,000 in Aillet everytime the Dawgs play -

You have to have a STRONG presence in Minden, Farmerville, Homer, Arcadia, etc etc etc to pick up those numbers and tickets - and we do a poor job of emphasizing this - not only in athletics, but also in academics...

[dawg80]

But Ruston needs to grow and offer more options to visitors. That is where people will spend the most time when visiting the area, as it relates to being in for some Tech-related event, like a game.

Heck, Natchitoches gets tens of thousands of visitors every year, and 99% of them don't know there is a college here. They come for the town itself, its history, charm and cultural tourism options.

Now, there is a brand new Red River visitor center, the fort is getting a new visitor center/museum, the old Nakatosh Hotel is finally being renovated to include shops, etc..

Ruston is not 300 years old and does not have the heritage that Natchitoches has, so it can't hope to duplicate anything like that. But, it does have Tech and big time Division I athletics. That is the angle Ruston needs to take: promoting Tech.

An area of resturaunts, hotels, shops, entertainment clubs (i.e. sports bars, etc) grouped together and called "Dawg Town" or something would help. It would be the pregame and especially post game gathering place for fans. But to survive, it would need 12-month support from the locals. Those businesses can not stay in business if they only get decent crowds during football season. There in lies the problem for Ruston.

[Dwayne From Minden]

An area of resturaunts, hotels, shops, entertainment clubs (i.e. sports bars, etc) grouped together and called "Dawg Town" or something would help. It would be the pregame and especially post game gathering place for fans. But to survive, it would need 12-month support from the locals. Those businesses can not stay in business if they only get decent crowds during football season. There in lies the problem for Ruston.

For that to happen the restaurants have got to decide to stay open past 9:00pm -

It is hard enough to find a place to eat after a football game, it is almost impossible after a basketball game -

It is either Monjuni's, Cactus Jack's or Waffle House - that's about it...

[faninmonroe]

I like to sum it up like this:

"Welcome to Louisiana Tech, Home of Ruston, LA"

[Bigdog13]

:P little late but that was a good post FIM...LOL!