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Who is going to replace SMU, Houston and UCF?

Assume a FB alliance between CUSA and MWC, both of whom don't have great expansion or BCS aspirations at the moment. The following article about Tulsa outlines the various issues:

C-USA deserters bad news for Hurricane

JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist, Tulsa World (Oklahoma), December 9, 2011

Big East gets even bigger Tulsa's wildest conference dreams came true nearly 17 years ago when the Southwest Conference imploded and the Golden Hurricane landed in a league with natural rivals SMU and TCU. TU formed strong ties with a quadrant of Texas schools (SMU, TCU, Houston and Rice) over the last several decades. And, it was believed, that as long as those four schools stayed strong all would be good in the world of college athletics for Tulsa. TCU didn't last long.

The Horned Frogs started an odyssey that has taken them through a handful of leagues and ultimately a Rose Bowl that landed them in the Big 12 Conference this fall. Still, Tulsa felt pretty secure as long as it had a bond with the others. That ended this week. SMU and Houston are leaving Conference USA and Tulsa behind for the perceived greener pastures of the Big East. It is bad news for Tulsa, now without any kind of natural rival or geographic partner in Conference USA's future. It throws the future of C-USA up for debate as the league plans to continue with a football-only merger with the Mountain West, also devastated by the most recent Big East announcement. Conference USA is losing three of its 12 members - three of its strongest football members - in the Big East grab for teams. Houston and SMU will be joined by Central Florida in the move to the Big East. Boise State, the marquee football program in the Mountain West, will be joined by San Diego State in moving to the Big East. It leaves Tulsa and 16 other schools in a loose affiliation with few options and an uncertain future. Those schools stretch from the Carolinas to Hawaii. It makes the original 16-team WAC from 1995, which stretched from Tulsa to Honolulu, look like a tight-knit regional group. The new group of 17 schools are either too small or do not have the type of football programs to be attractive enough to be one of the so-called big six - the six college conferences with automatic bids to the BCS bowls. Tulsa has certainly been more than good enough in football in recent years to be attractive to some leagues, but the size of the school, the smallest in FBS and in a small television market, is a negative. So, Tulsa is left with a group of schools that will have to make the best of what will be a difficult situation. The good news for the Golden Hurricane is that it should be one of the dominant football powers in the new league. The bad news is that the Conference USA/Mountain West football league is likely to receive little or no attention on the national stage. In the past two years, the Mountain West has lost Utah (Pac-12), BYU (independent), TCU (Big 12) and Boise State (Big East). C-USA has lost Houston, SMU and UCF to the Big East. That's seven relatively successful, and in some cases very successful, football programs. The losses may be devastating but not fatal. The opportunity exists for schools such as Tulsa to grow their football programs just like TCU did after being left behind in the Southwest Conference breakup. That's the lesson all of the 17 schools left behind in these two leagues should remember. There is an opportunity to win games, build your brand and eventually become attractive enough in what is sure to be a continued shakeout at the top levels of college football. Conference USA officials are saying the league intends in the near future to stay at the current level, which will be nine teams, but is not ruling out any viable membership levels including going back to 12 or on up to 14 or 16 members. It wouldn't appear C-USA has a lot of attractive options when it comes to expansion. The same goes for the Mountain West. The MWC has already landed Hawaii, Fresno State and Nevada from the WAC to go with existing members UNLV, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado State and Air Force. If all of these moves are made by 2013, as anticipated by the Big East, then Tulsa will play football in some type of conference alliance with 17 teams. Tulsa has flourished in recent years in Conference USA. The Golden Hurricane should look at the new C-USA/MWC as an opportunity. This could be TU's first step toward bigger and better.

La Tech
UT-San Antonio
Florida International

Hopefully we can find a way to blackball UNT even as we're leaving the conference.

BigT3x wrote:Hopefully we can find a way to blackball UNT even as we're leaving the conference.

UNT is possibility. I'm just not sure how much value they bring other than they are somewhat close to a major market and have a brand new stadium. The football program is bad (maybe improving depending on what the old Iowa State guy can do there) and they have even worse attendance problems than we do. UNT is still, by and large, a commuter school for kids who didn't get into Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, etc. The kids that go there could care less about anything to do with that place.

StallionsModelT wrote:UNT is still, by and large, a commuter school for kids who didn't get into Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, etc.

Dear God.

Arkansas State
La Tech
UNT

I think FIU is a better value than UNT. Now I could see UNT being more attractive than Arkansas State but with Malzahn there they could be a pretty solid non BCS program soon.

And yes, UNT is a school for kids who couldn't get in somewhere else. No one runs back to the house in elation from the mailbox with the UNT acceptance letter in their hand.

StallionsModelT wrote:And yes, UNT is a school for kids who couldn't get in somewhere else. No one runs back to the house in elation from the mailbox with the UNT acceptance letter in their hand.

while I have no love at all for UNT, your statement is absolutely false. I am positive there are many kids who could get admitted to more prestigious state schools either in State or out and perhaps even SMU and other private schools who simply cannot afford the tuition and other expenses inherent in going to these schools.

I bet NTSU gets in

the question is "what will the new CUSA/MWC group ultimately look like?" and I suppose "what will it be called?

Realistically, the Big East and CUSA look to have the same geographic spread, so CUSA is a nice name to be holding the rights to

ECU, Marshall, UAB, USM, Tulsa, Rice & Tulane could add 2 schools from among UNT. La Tech, Ark State, MTSU or FIU to have a 9 member Eastern Division

UTEP could join UNM, AFA, CSU, UNLV, Nevada, Wyoming, Fresno & Hawaii to form the Mtn/West Division

They could become the largest "all sports" conference, play 8 conference football games which sets up the 4/4 home/away schedule and have Division champs play in title game. To promote the conference, they could encourage inter-divisional football scheduling to be played as "non-conference" games. Hoops scheduling gets a little tougher but could approach it the same way, i.e., home/home for 16 conference games and encourage non-conference games against the other Division.

I think they can make this work and it could be less "awkward" than what the Big East faces with potential animosities between the "all sports" vs bball schools

BigT3x wrote:Hopefully we can find a way to blackball UNT even as we're leaving the conference.

I almost wet myself when I read your post. Excellent job.

On a more serious note, NTSU is a good option for people who don't have anyone help them with tuition. One of my best friends in high school went there b/c his father refused to contribute anything towards his son's college bills. With his grades and test scores, he would have easily been admitted at A&M, UT, and SMU.

JohnMcK wrote:No [deleted] UT has more aid to give you [deleted] [deleted].

You seem like a pleasant addition to the board.