Our (the Southern Miss) AD was on a local radio show this evening via a pre-taped interview from the weekend. It was basically a re-hash of his quotes from the paper, but the leanings were pretty apparent as he talked.

He started out saying it was "premature" to deem UTEP the expansion invitee, and that every school had its pluses and minuses, and wasn't about just one thing. It was a matter of the whole picture, as in geography, overall strength of the program, market size, the ability to raise funds, and recent attendance numbers among other things.

It was at that point he began preaching the gospel of UTEP (Unless I specify, I'm either paraphrasing or quoting only as best I can remember.)

"Like when you look at UTEP. They have a large market there. They've got 800,000-2 million people there, and as you know [direct quote] TV markets are very important. When you look at their attendance, they averaged almost 30,000 for football last year [WHICH AGAIN I WILL POINT OUT IS A LIE UNLESS "ALMOST" MEANS "WITHIN 10,000!"]. So in their case, I'd say the negative is geography and the positive is their market."

In addition to one's ability to turn this interview into a drinking game--take a shot every time the AD says "market"--he didn't say a single, solitary word about Tech.

I have no idea why, but it appears our AD has sided with the Miners. My only guess is that in the wake of our hiring of Eustachy, he thinks we can be a power basketball conference if the stars align correctly.

Speaking of power conferences, something occurred to me earlier today. How is it all the old CUSA fans who whined, b!tched, and moaned about our football being shot to absolute hell with the addition of Tulsa, Rice and SMU are now suddenly in love with a school that sucks in the sport just as badly if not worse?