Why Memphis?

[davidpaul123]

Someone please help me out by explaining why Memphis is being mentioned as a possible school to head to a BCS conference?

Memphis has a good hoops team. Memphis is a hotbed for recruiting top basketball talent.

Their football team is lousy. The state of Tennessee produces very little if any division I talent in football.

If this expansion is about football, what gives? Is it strictly the market here?

[RGV Pony]

Fed Ex $$$

[West Coast Johnny]

Someone please help me out by explaining why Memphis is being mentioned as a possible school to head to a BCS conference?

Memphis has a good hoops team. Memphis is a hotbed for recruiting top basketball talent.

Their football team is lousy. The state of Tennessee produces very little if any division I talent in football.

If this expansion is about football, what gives? Is it strictly the market here?

Memphis is a good fit for the Big East because of Basketball (and because they have a football team (any football team will do)). Memphis is more likely than any other Texas School to get into the Big 12 because the Big 12 would rather add any school than have 5 Texas Schools. As long as the Big 12 South stays together, Memphis has a better shot at getting into the Big 12 than TCU, SMU, Houston, etal.

[davidpaul123]

Someone please help me out by explaining why Memphis is being mentioned as a possible school to head to a BCS conference?

Memphis has a good hoops team. Memphis is a hotbed for recruiting top basketball talent.

Their football team is lousy. The state of Tennessee produces very little if any division I talent in football.

If this expansion is about football, what gives? Is it strictly the market here?

Memphis is a good fit for the Big East because of Basketball (and because they have a football team (any football team will do)). Memphis is more likely than any other Texas School to get into the Big 12 because the Big 12 would rather add any school than have 5 Texas Schools. As long as the Big 12 South stays together, Memphis has a better shot at getting into the Big 12 than TCU, SMU, Houston, etal.

good point. I can see Memphis fitting into the big east nicely actually (assuming they don’t dissolve). I think Memphis in the Big-12 is a stretch but like you said, its not another Texas school (not to mention big-12 seems to have limited options for expansion)

[EastStang]

It obviously depends on who's raiding whom. If the B12 raids the BE for Louisville and Cincy, then the BE might raid CUSA for Memphis and another football school either ECU or UCF.

[CalallenStang]

Fed Ex $$$

That's reason #1

[lwjr]

Wouldn't the Big 12 have to lower its academic standards to allow a Louisville or Memphis?

[CalallenStang]

Wouldn't the Big 12 have to lower its academic standards to allow a Louisville or Memphis?

I don't know if the B12 has academic standards, given the fact that they already have 3 Tier 3 schools in their lineup (Tech, OSU, KSU)

[Stallion]

actually unless they changed them in last year or so-the Big 12 does have higher academic standards for athletes than the rest of the conferences severely limiting the number of non-qualifiers each year to something like 1-2 for the entire athletic program per year. Now I believe SEC dropped a similiar rule in the last year-not sure if Big 12 followed suit.

[lwjr]

actually unless they changed them in last year or so-the Big 12 does have higher academic standards for athletes than the rest of the conferences severely limiting the number of non-qualifiers each year to something like 1-2 for the entire athletic program per year. Now I believe SEC dropped a similiar rule in the last year-not sure if Big 12 followed suit.

Thanks Stallion,

I thought that was one of the requirments or request that UT wanted before they joined 15 years ago. Didn't Nebraska throw a big stink about it?

[max the wonder dog]

FedEx $ plus a basketball program that consistently is among the nation's top 10 in attendence (last season 16,000+ during an off year). And they play in the . . . FedEx Forum.

[leopold]

Memphis does bring a new TV market and a great basketball program. Problem is, the conference they have the best chance of getting into, the Big East, is loaded at both and doesn't need it. What they need desperatelty is a strong football program.
The argument Memphis makes in football is a very simple one: Just put us in a conference, any BCS conference. Look at Louisville, look at USF the past couple of years, look at Cincinnatti this year. Look at how Houston came into their own when they joined the SWC. We will pull it together just like they did. That, backed up by Fred Smith and FedEX's willingness to underwrite anything. To be totally honest, it's not a completely unconvincing argument.
Problem is, that's what everyone else is saying. ECU, who is right in the Big East's backyard, is no doubt saying the same thing, and they have been a perennial over-acheiver, winning C-USA multiple times, beating the Big East and the ACC champs in the past few years, and rennovating and expanding their own on-campus stadium to 50,000. UCF has a similiar argument, having won the conference recently and built their own on-campus stadium. Plus, they have a larger TV market and offer more of Florida's recuits. Shoot, even Temple has that claim now.
Memphis's best argument is simply the lack of stong programs out there. If the Big XII really isn't looking at Texas schools (and I wouldn't if I were them) then it's Utah, BYU, and that's about it. In the end, it may simply be about which conference has who leave and how many.

[Charleston Pony]

Memphis puts more butts in seats for their bball and football games than anyone else in CUSA which translates to more interest in their programs which translates to BCS consideration

Do we need to review why the privates and Houston were left behind when the SWC broke up?

[leopold]

Memphis puts more butts in seats for their bball and football games than anyone else in CUSA which translates to more interest in their programs which translates to BCS consideration

Do we need to review why the privates and Houston were left behind when the SWC broke up?

Didn't say they weren't being considered - said that they need to distinguish themselves if they want to be taken seriously by a major conference. Mike Tranghese said in a radio interview about 2-3 months ago that the Big East was only rarely talking expansion, and when they did Memphis was rarely brought up and that it was ECU and UCF mostly being talked about.

And no, I don't need a history lesson, but I will tell you this: The Big East is not only the weakest member of the BCS, it's also the smallest, and if they lose more than one team is seriously in danger of losing it's BCS status (again, Tranghese's words, not mine, in the same interview). I am more than willing to bet they would be happy to take a Cougar-type team that was nationally ranked with a legitimate Heisman candidate in exchange for an 18,000 seat average if it would legitimize them on the field and justify their inclusion.

[CalallenStang]

Memphis puts more butts in seats for their bball and football games than anyone else in CUSA which translates to more interest in their programs which translates to BCS consideration

Bball, yes - football, no. They had one football game on ESPN this year against ECU where they reported attendance as 4,117 and it probably wasn't that high. They went back the next day and changed it to something like 28,000, but you can still find the original 4,117 number on the internet if you look at AP stories, etc.