UTEP Excited About Conference- USA

[50's PONY]

UTEP excited to join forces with C-USA

Darren Hunt
El Paso Times
The new 12-school Conference USA, which UTEP will become a member of next summer, might want to think about adopting the theme from "Cops" for its league.

"Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do ... "

With former bad boy coaches Mike Price (UTEP football), Larry Eustachy (Southern Mississippi basketball) and George O'Leary (Central Florida football) about to become a part of C-USA, the league is quickly developing the label nationally of Second Chance Conference.

"I don't want to touch that one," Conference USA Assistant Commissioner Russ Anderson said with a laugh this week when asked about the league's potential new identity. "But I will tell you this: I've been waiting for somebody to write that."

The presence in the league of Price, Eustachy and O'Leary, however, may lead to the No. 1 reason UTEP couldn't afford not to leave the Western Athletic Conference after nearly four decades -- the huge potential for television revenue and national exposure in Conference USA.

"One coach had the Notre Dame football job (O'Leary)," Anderson pointed out. "Another won the Pac-10 two years in a row and went to a pair of Rose Bowls (Price). And yet another had his basketball team in the Elite 8 a couple of years ago (Eustachy). I'd say there's some television appeal there, yeah."

C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky said he expects that coaching trio of former bad boys to be a good thing in the league's renegotiation of the second half of its estimated $80 million, eight-year deal with ESPN.

"Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, college coaches are viewed as big stars," Banowsky said. "There's a lot of identification out there with coaches. And these are all coaches with a lot of popularity in the past. I think that brings something to the table for us."

TV means money

Meanwhile, the WAC's new and much-smaller six-year, $6 million deal with ESPN reportedly is in jeopardy due to UTEP, and Price's, upcoming exit from the league.

"I know ESPN was excited about (Price) being our coach," said UTEP Athletic Director Bob Stull, who helped WAC Commissioner Karl Benson negotiate the league's new deal a week before accepting an invitation to C-USA. "I don't know how you equate (Price, Eustachy and O'Leary's value). But I know that TV contracts are enhanced when you have solid coaches with a chance to win."

Stull said there is "great potential for increased revenues" in C-USA for UTEP, although he expects the league's ESPN deal to take a hit due to the defection of nine schools, including some of its best basketball programs.

"How much (revenues will increase)," Stull said, "will depend on C-USA's new ESPN contract. And we believe, numbers-wise, it will be much better" than the WAC's new deal.

Banowsky, whose ace in the hole may be C-USA's ex-bad boys, isn't ready to give ESPN any money back just yet.

"We have a different inventory and different markets," Banowsky said. "But I'm not going to predict any loss of revenue at this point. We've added some great markets, like Orlando (with Central Florida). We'll talk to ESPN about that and value and distribution models. It all depends on how you structure these deals and who are your partners."

A football feel

The league is expected to have a football feel to it, unlike C-USA's basketball-heavy past.

"From a football perspective, I think we're going to be very, very good," Banowsky said. "Some of the additions to C-USA are exciting programs that are in great shape right now, or have great future potential."

Five of the remaining members of C-USA have been to a bowl game in the past three years, led by Southern Mississippi's six appearances in the past seven years. Banowsky pointed to Marshall, which has won six of the past seven Mid-American Conference titles and five bowl games in a row. Banowsky called Central Florida "a sleeping giant," because of the amount of prep football talent in Florida.

"I also think UTEP brings a lot in football ... some valuable assets," Banowsky said, "particularly, Mike Price."

Price said he likes the fact UTEP is the western-most school in C-USA.

"I think that will help us in recruiting," Price said. "I don't think we'll be recruiting against any Florida schools, or somebody like say Southern Miss, in California or Arizona. But I also think we need to look east, where our alumni and friends are, in a lot of things that we do. Competing against other Texas schools should help us do that."

Hoops healthy

Despite the departure of six of the top seven C-USA basketball schools in terms of attendance, the league appears to be well on its way to being hoops healthy again with the addition of two of the WAC's best basketball schools in UTEP and Tulsa.

"And everyone knows about the tradition Memphis has in basketball," Anderson said, pointing toward the Tigers' five NCAA tournament appearances since 1993. "UAB reached the Sweet 16 last year and was able to retain Mike Anderson as its coach. Central Florida made the NCAA last year. Then you look at Houston hiring (ex-Texas coach) Tom Penders and Eustachy at Southern Miss."

The WAC had one of its best years ever in terms of basketball last year, but still was only able to garner two NCAA berths. In C-USA, UTEP first-year head coach Doc Sadler sees a league capable of immediately getting four NCAA bids a year.

"With the success (C-USA) has had in basketball and the teams that are still in the league, in a good year you could get four and maybe even five in," Sadler said. "Over the past few years, Memphis, UTEP, UAB, Houston and Tulsa have had teams that could be considered top 30 teams in the country."

Eight of C-USA's new members have been invited to the NCAA during the past decade. UTEP junior forward Brent Murphy said the strength of the WAC has helped prepare the Miners for C-USA basketball.

"I think we were in a great league this year, and next year (in the WAC) is going to be tough," Murphy said. "So I'm sure when we get (to C-USA) we'll be able to compete."

Getting aligned

C-USA's new membership will get acquainted for the first time next week at the league's annual meetings in Destin, Fla.

Among the "pressing" issues on the agenda, according to Banowsky, are "aligning the divisions and revenue distribution." Others include discussion about a possible football championship game and scheduling setup.

"We need to lay a foundation," said Banowsky, who is moving the C-USA offices from Chicago to Dallas in July. "We'll probably be in position coming out of the AD meetings next week for definitive steps to be taken at the presidents meetings (June 15)."

UTEP is expected to be solidified into a Western Division along with Houston, SMU, Tulsa, Rice and Tulane. The Eastern Division is expected to be made up of Memphis, East Carolina, UCF, Southern Miss, Marshall and UAB.

Stull said the proposed annual scheduling format for football involves playing each member of your respective division once and three members of the other division. Teams would play the three teams in the opposite division during a two-year period, home and away, then do the same with the remaining three teams in similar fashion the next two years.

In basketball, Stull said two models are expected to be discussed, but the most likely one involves playing every member of your division twice and the other division once (16 games). An alternative is playing just four members of the other division (14 games) to limit travel.

"Most of our flights will be to Houston or Dallas or Tulsa," Stull pointed out, "and obviously there will be a savings there. We'll only be asked to go to the east on a part-time basis."

Banowsky said the next month should "stabilize us as a Division 1-A league that's focusing its attention in the Southeast and Southwest areas of the United States. I see us as a significant player in the big picture, but obviously not yet in the same realm of the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC at this point."

Banowsky said he hopes C-USA, which features only five of its original members since being formed in 1995, has seen its last membership change for a while.

"We're encouraged that we're in a stable environment for the short-term," he said. "And for the long-term, we hope we can create a situation that's stable for the next 20 years by continuing to manage any changes that occur the best way possible."

[Sam I Am]

The UTEP story has an intersting angle about the value of name recognition of some of the C-USA coaches. The story line to watch henceforth though is whether Rice stays in Div. I-A or the C-USA has to find another 12th team to replace them.