El Paso TV station reports.........

[TXDAWG81]

LOCAL SPORTS
NEWSCHANNEL 9

http://www.ktsm.com/sports/story.ssd?c=a2c1e7f423aa4a5b

UTEP To Conference USA?
Miners Expected To Accept Invitation

Wednesday, April 28, 2004 -- Thirty-seven years of membership is about to end.

No more Hawaii. No more Fresno St.

Say hello to Houston and Memphis.

UTEP is expected to receive and accept an invitation to join Conference USA on Friday.

The USA Board of Directors will meet and first determine if the league should add a school to make an even dozen. If that vote is "yes" then the Board will vote on what school will be added. UTEP is expected to be that school.

"Unless you are telling me Britton Banowsky (Comissioner) has announced UTEP is joining the league then this is all speculation," said WAC Comissioner Karl Benson. "I can understand why they are interested in UTEP but right now everything is just speculation."

Banowsky toured the UTEP Campus on Thursday April 22 and met with University President Dr. Diana Natalicio.

UTEP would become the 12th league member creating the possibility of a League Championship Football Game following the regular season.

The Miners are expected to pay a two million dollar fee to join the league in time for the 2005 season.

Proposed Conference USA

East West

East Carolina Houston
Marshall SMU
Central Florida Rice
Alabama Birmingham Tulane
Memphis Tulsa
Southern Mississippi UTEP

[dawg80]

If it turns out that USM and Tulane are placed in different divisions, then that, at least, will be a small measure of solace. All those flaming anti-Tech USM and Tulane fans have been adamant about remaining in the same division. Of course, they might, but it'll be funny if they don't.

Hey, I know, why not place UTEP in the east!

[Tech77]

Story in today's El Paso Times:

http://www.borderlandnews.com/storie...9-111552.shtml

[RougeDawg]

LOCAL SPORTS
NEWSCHANNEL 9

http://www.ktsm.com/sports/story.ssd?c=a2c1e7f423aa4a5b

UTEP To Conference USA?
Miners Expected To Accept Invitation

[glow=red:e183d38b3f]. . . Banowsky toured the UTEP Campus on Thursday April 22 and met with University President Dr. Diana Natalicio. [/glow:e183d38b3f]

It's over guys. It's time to get our house in order in case we get another chance in the future.

[HogDawg]

Despite published reports, Stull and Conference USA athletic directors have denied that UTEP to Conference USA already is a done deal. Stull said late last week that UTEP had "not been officially informed of anything by Conference USA."

"I don't know what their process is exactly," he said. "But they aren't including us in it right now. They could recommend anything, but there's only one group that makes the final decision, and that's the (board of directors)." -- Quote from article.


The word "officially" bothers me. Almost as if they've been told they are in, but just not "officially" yet.

Bob Stull must be a great liar. The rest of his quote sounds like UTEP has hardly had any discussions with CUSA. Stull should run for Congress.

One HUGE mistake for Louisiana Tech: Not being the LAST school to host CUSA officials. Anyone in sales will tell you that it helps to go LAST!!! Apparently someone at UTEP was smart enough to know that.

HD

[OmahaDawg]

One HUGE mistake for Louisiana Tech: Not being the LAST school to host CUSA officials. Anyone in sales will tell you that it helps to go LAST!!! Apparently someone at UTEP was smart enough to know that.
HD

HogDawg...what a GREAT statement. Maybe one of the best statements ever posted on here.

Martie

[TECH88]

We've got people at Tech responsible for fund raising, PR, and marketing that have never sold a thing in their entire lives. Reneau and Oakes should know, you're only as good as the people that surround you. If you look at successful CEO's, Head Coach's, or President's they all have one thing in common....they are all great delegators.

[altadawg]

We've got people at Tech responsible for fund raising, PR, and marketing that have never sold a thing in their entire lives. Reneau and Oakes should know, you're only as good as the people that surround you. If you look at successful CEO's, Head Coach's, or President's they all have one thing in common....they are all great delegators.

I posted something about sales in the Recruiting forum bro......You are right on.

[killerdawg]

One HUGE mistake for Louisiana Tech: Not being the LAST school to host CUSA officials.

HD

Like that was something Tech controlled.

This is all about C-USA being anti-Tech - not about UTEP being the next Miami.

Hey, Killer. I got one for you:

Could Use Some Athletes

:wink:

[killerdawg]

Hey, Killer. I got one for you:

Could Use Some Athletes

:wink:

That's Great!

BTW, I don't think people on this board understand the level of frustration the USM faithful have and are enduring.

Your althletic programs have been of SEC quality for 30 years, and you are rewarded by being in a conference that invites schools to join before they even become 1-A.

Meanwhile, after becoming D-1A just over a decade ago, we are bitching and moaning about having to travel too far instead of being thankful that we are in a conference with as high or higher quality athletics as C-USA.

[quote:9d4c270995="HarborPointe"]Hey, Killer. I got one for you:

Could Use Some Athletes

:wink:

That's Great!

BTW, I don't think people on this board understand the level of frustration the USM faithful have and are enduring.

Your althletic programs have been of SEC quality for 30 years, and you are rewarded by being in a conference that invites schools to join before they even become 1-A.
[/quote:9d4c270995]

Yep, and then when they do, we make them wait at least a year before they can play "conference" football. You wouldn't believe the fight we had when UAB moved up. A bunch of coaches running around saying, "They're not good enough yet," and a bunch of fans parroting the opinion, neither grasping the obvious concepts that 1) UAB was in the conference, 2) they were playing football, so 3) they should be allowed to play conference football, and 4) the rest of us weren't exactly jockeying for the Orange Bowl, either.

I can assure you that I am VERY frustrated right now. 10 years ago, USM and 4 other Southern Independents decided to form a conference. That was a great move long overdue. Even before that happiness settled in, though, suddenly everybody was talking about a TV-friendly basketball league that made absolutely NO sense in regards to the original goal (which I will remind you was a southern football conference). So for 8 years, we deal with this 2-headed behemoth spread all over creation, trying to create conference rivalries among teams that had never before even played one another to fill in an open date. Then along comes the Big East. They gut our conference, but frankly, all that did was finally end a fragile, unhealthy relationship we all knew would end sooner rather than later anyway (well, unless you're one of the hyperemotional sheeple on a USM message board). On the bright side, the Big East raid gave us a chance to re-start as the regional football league we were intended to be, which ain't so bad.

Then we send an invitation to freakin' UTEP, once again stretching the conference all across creation and trying to force together schools that have not a darned thing in common. Why? Because they've got a big "market," as if that has a damned thing to do with college sports in the first place (funny how I never see Auburn and Ole Miss playing on Tuesday night despite both being in pissant towns).

Frustrating, I tell you.

Anyway, thanks for the compliment on our programs. One of the big reasons I like Tech so much is that y'all are us 10 years ago: posting the big upsets, sitting on a rabid core fan base that just needs more company, scratching your head about why home attendance isn't better, and trying to make ends meet. I honestly think y'all can be a lot more than you are if you'd just catch a break. As I've said before, we took more people to our first Liberty Bowl in '97 than we averaged at home when I was in school from '91-'94. People just need something to get excited about, adn I certainly think Marshall, Southern Miss, and Tulane in Ruston or Shreveport on a regular basis would qualify.