SBC solidarity vs. Louisiana Tech's big donors

[weunice]

... keeping us afloat in the WAC. I guess this may be what it comes to ...

UNT has a decision to make ...

1. Stay in the SBC and try to get FIU, FAMU and whoever else to move up and also hope WKU and/or MTSU doesn't make a move to the MAC which is a small snowball rumor running about right now. This choice by UNT may force our hand, but if our big donors really come through and keep us in the WAC, then UNT is in a less favorable situation with the uncertainty that the SBC will be solvent in a few years.

2. Break the solidarity agreement and join the evil Dawgs in the WAC ...

BWUHAHAHAHAHAHA ... I figured I would act the part since we seem to be thought so highly of these days ...

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Politics at the highest level. I am sure there is more to this than we can see ....

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../sp/sp18a.html

Keep this in mind. Next time CUSA comes calling, we won't have anything on UNT. I have a feeling we will be in a conference with them either way. I really am starting to think that the aversion to Idaho in the WAC is that strong.

[TXDAWG81]

From the linked article above........



In anticipation, Sun Belt members have issued a so-called "solidarity" statement pledging to stay together, a move that is interpreted as attempting to push Louisiana Tech into its camp. But the solidarity may last only until the WAC makes an offer. Rick Villareal, North Texas athletic director, said yesterday that "no official offer" has been made to the school.

His words sound almost identical to Stull's just prior to UTEP accepting the CUSA offer. Focus on: "official"

[TYLERTECHSAS]

... keeping us afloat in the WAC. I guess this may be what it comes to ...

UNT has a decision to make ...

1. Stay in the SBC and try to get FIU, FAMU and whoever else to move up and also hope WKU and/or MTSU doesn't make a move to the MAC which is a small snowball rumor running about right now. This choice by UNT may force our hand, but if our big donors really come through and keep us in the WAC, then UNT is in a less favorable situation with the uncertainty that the SBC will be solvent in a few years.

2. Break the solidarity agreement and join the evil Dawgs in the WAC ...

BWUHAHAHAHAHAHA ... I figured I would act the part since we seem to be thought so highly of these days ...

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Politics at the highest level. I am sure there is more to this than we can see ....

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../sp/sp18a.html

Keep this in mind. Next time CUSA comes calling, we won't have anything on UNT. I have a feeling we will be in a conference with them either way. I really am starting to think that the aversion to Idaho in the WAC is that strong.

Good post! I agree that all eyes probably should be or are on UNT. How USL fits in will also be interesting but I would think that the WAC would want the DFW market first.

[BlueMountain]

UNT is not an option for the WAC. They will either select Idaho or stand pat at 8 giving Idaho some provisions they must meet before they will become a member. Nearly every WAC member is on record as favoring Idaho over UNT. This "aversion" is minimal and even many Boise State fans would like to see Idaho in the WAC.

[aubunique]

These aversions are sort of strange. I have an aversion to mustard, pickles and onions on my burger. However, when I am hungry I won't stop to remove them!

[KungPaoCajun]

1. Stay in the SBC and try to get FIU, FAMU and whoever else to move up and also hope WKU and/or MTSU doesn't make a move to the MAC which is a small snowball rumor running about right now.

Dude,

The snowball has melted. WKU's AD put out a statement denying it. The MAC has no reason to go back to 14.

A lot of your fellow Tech fans seem to not understand that there is no "hope" involved in the SBC's football plans. Here's the timeline for the SBC Football schools entering the conference:

2004 Football Season
- Troy enters for Football only
- Florida International & Florida Atlantic enter a scheduling agreement with the Sun Belt to get some 1-A home & away games. They are not playing for a bowl game or even showing up in conference standings.

2005 Football Season
- Troy enters for All-Sports
- Florida International enters for All-Sports
- Florida Atlantic enters for Football only
- ULM/LA Tech enters for All Sports (an either/or situation)

2006 Sun Belt Football Playing Institutions
UNT
ULa
ASU
MTSU
FIU
FAU (joins for all-sports in 2006)
Troy
*ULM/LA Tech

*LA Tech is a possibility for all-sports. If LA Tech does not join, ULM will get the all-sports invite. If LA Tech joins, ULM will be football-only and bring the number of teams to nine.


Eight teams. The only way there is hoping is if the attendance requirements are not repealed. ArkStFan has already laid out the case on this board, and others, for how this rule is ripe for a lawsuit unless it is repealed.

[HogDawg]

Dude,

The snowball has melted. WKU's AD put out a statement denying it. The MAC has no reason to go back to 14.

A lot of your fellow Tech fans seem to not understand that there is no "hope" involved in the SBC's football plans. Here's the timeline for the SBC Football schools entering the conference:

2004 Football Season
- Troy enters for Football only
- Florida International & Florida Atlantic enter a scheduling agreement with the Sun Belt to get some 1-A home & away games. They are not playing for a bowl game or even showing up in conference standings.

2005 Football Season
- Troy enters for All-Sports
- Florida International enters for All-Sports
- Florida Atlantic enters for Football only
- ULM/LA Tech enters for All Sports (an either/or situation)

2006 Sun Belt Football Playing Institutions
UNT
ULa
ASU
MTSU
FIU
FAU (joins for all-sports in 2006)
Troy
*ULM/LA Tech

*LA Tech is a possibility for all-sports. If LA Tech does not join, ULM will get the all-sports invite. If LA Tech joins, ULM will be football-only and bring the number of teams to nine.


Eight teams. The only way there is hoping is if the attendance requirements are not repealed. ArkStFan has already laid out the case on this board, and others, for how this rule is ripe for a lawsuit unless it is repealed.

So what happens to the SBC when FIU and FAU don't join? Afterall, they are still in Div 1AA today. Their administrators may make the same decision to remain in Div 1AA that Florida A&M's administrators made a couple of months ago.

And what happens when LA Tech and UNT join CUSA in 2006 replacing Memphis and Marshall, who will be leaving for the Big East? Of course, Troy State will join CUSA after that to replace ECU.

And what happens if MTSU moves to the MAC to replace Buffalo and a couple of other MAC teams who are in jeporady of losing Div 1A status? IMO, MTSU is in a great location to join the MAC. The Blue Raiders would be foolish NOT to pursue membership in the MAC.

That leaves ULL, ULM and ASU stranded without a conference in 2007.

HD

[bustle]

HD, your kidding right?

UL will always have a home..........It is foolish to think you are a lock for CUSA.....FOOLISH, I say!

Once again, you guys need to upgrade facilities in the worst possible way if you intend to make any move in the next round......

[KungPaoCajun]

So what happens to the SBC when FIU and FAU don't join? Afterall, they are still in Div 1AA today. Their administrators may make the same decision to remain in Div 1AA that Florida A&M's administrators made a couple of months ago.

FAMU's attempts to join 1-A were, at best, arrogance mixed with impulsiveness. They had no long-term plan. They had assumed their TV contract would remain the same, if not increase. Most importantly, they had not received the backing of a conference.

FIU and FAU learned from those mistakes and won't make them again. Notice that FAU didn't make an announcement about moving up to 1-A before getting a Sun Belt invite. FIU already had long-term plans to move up but accelerated them by one year when NMSU and USU bolted.

And what happens when LA Tech and UNT join CUSA in 2006 replacing Memphis and Marshall, who will be leaving for the Big East? Of course, Troy State will join CUSA after that to replace ECU.

If you think 2006 is the year the BE expands, you are misinformed. As long as the Big East basketball and football schools remain together, expansion by anything other than football-only members is logistically impossible. 2010 will be the year the split occurs and the Big East Football half takes on teams (Five years together will create an auto-berth for this "new" conference in the NCAA tournament. Five years will also help them hold on to some of those NCAA points for revenue sharing).

Regarding C-USA expansion, no school is under any delusions. If you buy the notion that ULa is content in the Sun Belt, I would buy the argument that LA Tech is content in the WAC. We're all trying to get ready for that next round of realignment, whenever it comes.

Someone will be left out. ULa is doing what it can to make itself look attractive to C-USA: building facilites, hiring great coaches and expanding its marketing (as are UNT and MTSU). None of us can afford to do that in the WAC.

And what happens if MTSU moves to the MAC to replace Buffalo and a couple of other MAC teams who are in jeporady of losing Div 1A status? IMO, MTSU is in a great location to join the MAC. The Blue Raiders would be foolish NOT to pursue membership in the MAC.

No offense, but some Tech fans are as hard headed as Cajuns fans. If the requirements are repealed (see my previous post for more info on that) then no school in any conference will have to worry about attendace. The MAC has 12, the MAC doesn't need to expand.

----------------------------

On a separate, yet related note, if we cut through the crap, most Sun Belt fans are trying to sell LA Tech on the merits of the SBC. LA Tech is trying to sell ASU/UNT/ULa on the merits of the WAC. No one is budging.

The WAC is going to take Idaho. If you want to stay in the WAC, fine. If not, you're more than welcome in the Sun Belt. Either way, I look forward to ULa v LA Tech games.

[HarborPointe]

If you think 2006 is the year the BE expands, you are misinformed. As long as the Big East basketball and football schools remain together, expansion by anything other than football-only members is logistically impossible. 2010 will be the year the split occurs and the Big East Football half takes on teams (Five years together will create an auto-berth for this "new" conference in the NCAA tournament. Five years will also help them hold on to some of those NCAA points for revenue sharing).

Which brings up a question that I asked a while back: is there anything stopping the Big East from having it's cake and eating it too by just adding 4 schools to create the first true "mega-conference," with 20 teams total & 12 playing football?

Being that the conference stretches from Connecticut to Tampa to Milwaukee as it is, you can't say geography's an issue. With two 10-team divisions with 6 teams in each playing football, you could regionalize schedules to ease travel, not that money would be an issue anyway once you added a football championship game to what's already a rather large BCS & basketball tourney pot. If there's no rule against going to that many teams (and I don't know if there is or isn't), why would they have to split in order to expand football?

Having a 12-team BCS football league AND the Big East's basketball power under the same umbrella would be impossible for anybody to ignore and hard for anybody to match.