Realignment Rumblings re: UH

[One Trick Pony]

Money can't buy everything. I never believed that for a second until my 7 year journey in 104.

SMU SMU SMU

[WordUpBU]

BYU- Tv rebroadcast issues, wanting to be fair to WCC, and Sunday issues they wanted written assurances on. Fox had issues w/ some of that leading B12 to move on instead of bog down.

The BYU Athletic Director should be drawn and quartered for this epic fail. BYU over-estimated the strength of the cards they were holding and made 3rd tier broadcast demands for their precious LDS-TV channel as if they were the Longhorns. They started to believe there own propaganda that BYU was the next Notre Dame as an independent so they were inflexible in the negotiations. IMO the Sunday play thing wasn't that big of a deal. So BYU sat on these laurels and the Big 12 gave the finger to Provo and invited TCU instead - LoL.

And after TCU took A&M's spot the networks and interim commish Neinas said go East, doubling the blunder out West.

[East Coast Mustang]

Still a better chance to go P5 than SMU.

UH and their 500 fans huh

Still more fans than SMU. Remind me again how many games SMU has that drew over 30k. Even win SMU was winning and going to bowls, nobody came.

I can't imagine someone as unintelligent as Cougar King trying to make sense of cable TV packages, grant of rights agreements, etc.

[JasonB]

SMU has shown that the city of Dallas will adopt the program when it is good, as shown by the basketball success.

Houston has shown that the city of Houston will adopt the program when it is good, as shown by the football success.

Both programs have shown a commitment to compete at a higher level through investment in facilities and other aspects of their programs.

Academics comes into play, but it comes in well after everything else.

Both programs now have to show sustained success and commitment before they will get a sniff of an invite. That is what Louisville did, and that is what TCU did Rutgers is the exception to that rule, but they are also a very large state school.

Other expansion candidates:
- ND - obviously the big prize if they can be forced out of independence.
- Cincy - sustained investment, sustained success. Good metro area. Would have to think they are high on the list.
- BYU - sustained investment, okay success, not a good metro but a huge fanbase. Negative impact on TV contract because can't play on Sundays. It may not be worth it to them to be non-independent. Limited ability to attract high-tier non-mormon athletes will limit success in a P5 conference.
- UCF - huge school, investment is there. They want to see the investment and success be sustained over time. Awful school with a smaller alumni base due to the age of the school, which means they are going to have to sustain success and investment longer than others.

IMHO, I think SMU and Houston would both have to have a 5 year run of sustained success in their conferences in both Basketball and Football in order to jump up in that last of expansion candidates. And by success, I mean competing for conference championships in both sports and winning a couple of them.

SMU is going to have to win under Morris and then show that they will pull in a big name when he leaves. And the same thing after Brown leaves. Otherwise we won't stay in the conversation.

[blackoutpony]

^ great post. Totally agree.

[East Coast Mustang]

- BYU - sustained investment, okay success, not a good metro but a huge fanbase. Negative impact on TV contract because can't play on Sundays. It may not be worth it to them to be non-independent. Limited ability to attract high-tier non-mormon athletes will limit success in a P5 conference.

The Sunday thing has always been weird to me -- it obviously doesn't affect football; is it that hard to schedule their bball games and other events on a Saturday or Monday instead? The only big issue I could see is a conference bball tournament if the champ game is on Selection Sunday

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

- BYU - sustained investment, okay success, not a good metro but a huge fanbase. Negative impact on TV contract because can't play on Sundays. It may not be worth it to them to be non-independent. Limited ability to attract high-tier non-mormon athletes will limit success in a P5 conference.

The Sunday thing has always been weird to me -- it obviously doesn't affect football; is it that hard to schedule their bball games and other events on a Saturday or Monday instead? The only big issue I could see is a conference bball tournament if the champ game is on Selection Sunday

It really adds up when you look at all of the sports. Think of all of the events and all of the tournaments.

Plus, it affects midweek events since they typically have to be pushed up a day (a standard Thursday/Sunday week becomes a Wednesday/Saturday week) - which isn't a big deal for athletics but it is another day of school missed (which is supposed to be important, right?)

Also, you have to consider the scheduling aspect and how one sport can affect another. Just this past fall, we had BYU scheduled in women's soccer but couldn't set the time until the TCU football game time was set - and the options were very limited since the game could not be moved to Sunday.

I agree it is a manageable issue, and it is probably used as more of an excuse as it should be, but it definitely isn't trivial.

[RGV Pony]

As many things that byu /the lds overall had to turn away from youd think games on Sunday would be an easy compromise to move up

[Pony Boss]

As many things that byu /the lds overall had to turn away from youd think games on Sunday would be an easy compromise to move up

BYU has delusions of grandeur and think they are a Notre Dame type of institution/national brand that deserves to be paid top dollar and answers to no one. They are a proven conference killer like Texas-Austin and that will never change. Would be funny to have mormon and whorn in the same conference going at it in the big 12-4+2+BYU meetings and not being able to agree and satisfy their greed.

[HarvCrimYaleBlue]

I actually applaud BYU for not wavering on the Sunday issue. Their religion teaches the sabbath is holy and not to be compromised. Same with Chick-Fil-A. They miss out on tons of revenue being shut down for one day of seven but it is part of their belief that one should not work on the sabbath. Our world is partly messed up due to all of the compromise and moral erosion.

But back to Houston. They are in the same boat as us posturing just the same. When (if) the time comes they want to be ready. And since it is Easter it is like being ready for Jesus' return. Better have all your ducks in a row...or be stuck out in have-nots purgatory.

[Digetydog]

As many things that byu /the lds overall had to turn away from youd think games on Sunday would be an easy compromise to move up

BYU has delusions of grandeur and think they are a Notre Dame type of institution/national brand that deserves to be paid top dollar and answers to no one. They are a proven conference killer like Texas-Austin and that will never change. Would be funny to have mormon and whorn in the same conference going at it in the big 12-4+2+BYU meetings and not being able to agree and satisfy their greed.

If BYU played in the P12 (where they belong), they would be at Top 4-5 team in the conference virtually every year. They have good facilities, great fan support, and plenty of money to do what they need to do. Unfortunately, the anti-church bias of some of the big states schools means they will probably never get an invite without a court order.

[ojaipony]

I agree with JasonB. My immediate concern is with the sustained success of bball because I doubt LB has more than 1-2 years left in him. Again, that 2016 recruiting class will be very important. I'm less concerned about fball in the short term - HCCM and staff are obviously committed to at least 3-4 years and I expect a rise to national prominence within that time (top 25 and competing for AAC championships like bball). If LB can give us about 3 more years (I'm pessimistic about that), I think at that point both bball and fball will be humming nicely and we'll be poised by then to get a P5 invite and I'd be slightly less worried about not being able to replace LB and HCCM with quality coaches who can at least not completely destroy all the success they brought. Certainly, we are positioned nicely now and it's a matter of us sustaining success . . . doesn't seem as much of an uphill battle anymore in my eyes/experience . . . great time to be a pony - better than at any other time in my experience (about 30 years). Enjoy it! Support the programs.

[Grant Carter]

I agree with JasonB. My immediate concern is with the sustained success of bball because I doubt LB has more than 1-2 years left in him. Again, that 2016 recruiting class will be very important. I'm less concerned about fball in the short term - HCCM and staff are obviously committed to at least 3-4 years and I expect a rise to national prominence within that time (top 25 and competing for AAC championships like bball). If LB can give us about 3 more years (I'm pessimistic about that), I think at that point both bball and fball will be humming nicely and we'll be poised by then to get a P5 invite and I'd be slightly less worried about not being able to replace LB and HCCM with quality coaches who can at least not completely destroy all the success they brought. Certainly, we are positioned nicely now and it's a matter of us sustaining success . . . doesn't seem as much of an uphill battle anymore in my eyes/experience . . . great time to be a pony - better than at any other time in my experience (about 30 years). Enjoy it! Support the programs.

I agree. Hopefully everyone is doing their part and buying season tickets to both football and basketball.

[Pony Boss]

Just bought season tickets last week.

[sbsmith]

Got a call from a good friend of mine that is pretty tied into what goes on behind the scenes with UH. He's never given me any info that wasn't solid. Apparently Hermann has been telling boosters that UH will be in a P5 conference in the next two or three years. He was told that it will either be PAC 12 with UH/SMU or, more likely, Big 12 with either BYU or Cincinnati. I'm not claiming to know anything but thought I'd pass it along.

CCG deregulation is going to pass so the Big 12 part of this rumor just got blown to hell. Plus coaches have been lying about realignment for years.