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Army
Air Force Academy
Boise State
UAB

Boise state
San Diego State or Colorado state
UTSA or rice
App state or Louisana

Boise State
San Diego State
Fresno State
Colorado State or Air Force

East: Temple, USF, ECU, Memphis, Tulane, Navy
West: SMU, Tulsa, Boise St, SDSU, FSU, CS/AF

or

Add UAB to the current 8 and wait to see which other eastern universities sustain excellence the next 3-5 seasons.

or

UAB
Marshall
Appalachian State
Coastal Carolina

East: Temple, USF, ECU, Marshall, App St, CC
Wet: SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, Memphis, Navy, UAB

American Athletic may want to go 16 Teams (plus Gonzaga for BB) .

Assuming the expanded Big12 remains at 12 (reports say they may add 2 or 4 at some point); then Boise State is currently best existing candidate which means making a case for going west to create the strongest post-departure outcome for AAC.

To make it work for BSU and the revised AAC, a Western Division (or 4 Pods) would be needed to be created, e.g.;

West:
Air Force (Good media with Navy and Army rivalry)
Boise State (Best Team available)
Colorado State (new stadium) or San Jose State (Bay Area)
Gonzaga (BB and Memphis and Wichita State would love it)
San Diego State (new stadium, big market)

SMU
Tulsa
UTSA (Big market)
Rice (Big Market) or Louisiana Tech
Wichita State (BB)

East:
Charlotte or Georgia State (Big Markets) or Army (Air Force and Navy rivalry)
East Carolina
Navy (FB only)
Temple
add a BB School?

Memphis
Tulane
UAB (Big Market)
USF
add a BB School, e.g. Butler type

Navy would want to be in the west with SMU and Sand Diego St. San Diego is a big Navy town.

I don't see a reason to go to 16 teams. The TV revenue per school would drop significantly since alot of the added schools wouldn't do anything. The main case would be travel costs. However if we and Memphis are hoping to jump then it makes sense for the AAC to do that to minimize impact.

Rice
LaTech
Louisiana
Colorado State

I'm afraid that AAC Power 6 campaign is toast. Other up and coming programs either ranked in the Top 25 or competing at that level include Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, Liberty & App State in the central/east and Boise, Nevada, Fresno & San Jose in the west.

I don't see the MWC falling apart as it is only facing having to replace Boise State if the Big XII comes calling. The AAC, assuming we eventually have to replace Memphis has to look at that 1st group AND find a replacement for Memphis. Given that successful coaches at our level tend to get poached by those with bigger wallets, it will be interesting to see if any of those schools can sustain their recent success.

It’s now a Power 4.

It's really a Power 2 with some power teams outside the BIG and SEC such as Clemson, Oregon, and USC.

My thoughts, remembering it’s primarily about the TV contract, secondarily about branding (not being seen as CUSA 2.0, which is why Rice and UNC Charlotte are the only schools from that conference we should consider):

Who We Want:

Rice – Academic gravitas, Houston TV Market, ex-SWC, easy travel

UNC Charlotte – 21st largest TV market in US (bigger than St. Louis Pittsburg, Indianapolis, and Baltimore) and growing rapidly, football and basketball programs making real strides

Give Serious Consideration:

Boise State – Best FB program available, travel problematic. Consider making them football only and pair with Wichita State to even scheduling for FB and other sports

Air Force – National profile, great academics, travel problematic

Army – same as Air Force, but travel less of an issue

Colorado State – Good program, big school, travel problematic

San Diego State – Big TV market, solid program, travel problematic

Who We Don’t Want:

App State – Sixth or seventh best option in NC (when you include the ACC schools), in no-mans land between three TV markets

Coastal Carolina – Ask someone who lives more than 20 miles from campus to point out the school on a map and they couldn’t if you held a gun to their head

Liberty – Roanoke-Lynchberg is the 69th largest TV market in U.S., they gave the world Jerry Falwell, Jr.

Louisiana – Lafayette in the 123rd largest TV market in US

LA Tech – Smaller TV market than Louisiana (Monroe-El Dorado is #140)

UAB – The Bama and Auburn alums who run the state will always keep them down (already put the football program out of business once), their OPF looks like the shed at a farmers market

Texas State, UTSA, UNT, UTEP – Don’t need to raise the profile of these in-state schools

I try to stay out of all this speculation since none of us really has the inside ear. But rumors are the Big 12 may take 4 more. The teams I have heard are Memphis, Boise, San Diego State, and Colorado State. So I would say the AAC should push hard to add SDSU,and Colo. St. Tack big exit fees and long terms on them. That would take them out of the Big 12 running plus give us a couple of good teams while bumping us up in the standing for picking.

Of course we need to do this all very covertly so others do not see our end game.


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If Mike Aresco pursues Boise State, then include Gonzaga and their BB team. Wichita State and Memphis would be thrilled. Memphis and SMU seems to be pared at the moment in terms of frustration with the current situation.

The AAC needs a plan either go coast-to-coast in big markets, e.g. San Diego State, San Jose St., plus two Mountain Time Zone teams, e.g. Colorado State and Air Force, or add Army FB (perhaps with Air Force) and other ET schools as mentioned.

max the wonder dog wrote:Give Serious Consideration:

Boise State – Best FB program available, travel problematic. Consider making them football only and pair with Wichita State to even scheduling for FB and other sports

Air Force – National profile, great academics, travel problematic

Army – same as Air Force, but travel less of an issue

Colorado State – Good program, big school, travel problematic

These are by far the best 4 options we have right now for the AAC.

If Army declines, then choose UAB or SDSU. Also consider shoring up basketball by adding someone like St. Louis or VCU for all sports except football.