I believe that Britton Banowsky had a clear blueprint for recovering the conference from the ravages of realignment. He began by selectively adding universities with at least one, and preferably both, of two specific characteristics: (1) an established history/attribute of pursuing athletic success, and (2) roots in an area with a sizeable television market. I think each of the “newbies” bring some mixture of those two key ingredients. Some may be stronger in one area while others are stronger in the other, but they all fit the basic mold.

That set the stage, but without step two, it would be for naught, and now Banowsky has delivered on step two. The conference now has as strong a television presence as I could imagine it was possible to obtain. The C-USA product will be out there for all to see on a regular and continuing basis, both in football and basketball.

The “old school” members all have a history of putting strong teams on the field in at least one of those two sports. But now is the time for both the “old school” teams and the “newbies” to step it up. All the exposure in the world is of no effect if the product on the field or court is found lacking, which brings me to the subject of this discourse.

It’s up to all of the C-USA coaches now, “old school” and “newbies” alike. Their challenge is to take the stage they have been given and put the best product possible on the field and on the court. They can recruit their butts off, but the reality is that G5 schools cannot and will not compete with P5 schools for the vast majority of the four-star and five-star recruits. Yes, there will be exceptions, but those will be few and far between. So what can they do?

Bum Phillips once said this about Bear Bryant: "He can take his'n and beat your'n and take your'n and beat his'n." That is what must be demanded of each and every head coach in the conference. They have to take the very good athletes and turn them into great athletes. They have to take their teams, and coach them up to be in the best possible positions to win games against teams they are not supposed to beat.

Banowsky has done his job. C-USA 3.0 is out there in front of sports fans across the nation. It’s up to the coaches now.

... and then good luck keeping them. (that's been our problem).

Congrats on one of the few well thought out posts. I'm the Southern Miss fans will hate it.

Great post, Aggie.

Well said, and spot on.

Our development as a conference is going to depend on our on-field/court success. Pure and simple. I'm a little less familiar with our basketball coaches, but in football, there are some very, very fine coaches at Marshall, UTSA, Rice, North Texas, and Middle Tennessee, and I like what I see -- in terms of coaching possibilities -- at USM, WKU, UTEP, ODU, UAB, FAU, and FIU. I have to be honest, I have reservations about Skip Holtz (mostly because I watched him for four years here in Tampa at USF and did not like what I saw) but I'd like nothing better than to be proved wrong about him.

The future is bright, indeed, if we can move the needle on on-field success.

You lost me when you mentioned Bahr Bryant....

(07-19-2014 07:10 PM)rook360 Wrote:  You lost me when you mentioned Bahr Bryant....

lol

You gotta remember, the Bear was at A&M long before he went to that other Alabama school, which just for you shall remain unnamed.

(07-19-2014 12:25 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote:  I believe that Britton Banowsky had a clear blueprint for recovering the conference from the ravages of realignment. He began by selectively adding universities with at least one, and preferably both, of two specific characteristics: (1) an established history/attribute of pursuing athletic success, and (2) roots in an area with a sizeable television market. I think each of the “newbies” bring some mixture of those two key ingredients. Some may be stronger in one area while others are stronger in the other, but they all fit the basic mold.

That set the stage, but without step two, it would be for naught, and now Banowsky has delivered on step two. The conference now has as strong a television presence as I could imagine it was possible to obtain. The C-USA product will be out there for all to see on a regular and continuing basis, both in football and basketball.

The “old school” members all have a history of putting strong teams on the field in at least one of those two sports. But now is the time for both the “old school” teams and the “newbies” to step it up. All the exposure in the world is of no effect if the product on the field or court is found lacking, which brings me to the subject of this discourse.

It’s up to all of the C-USA coaches now, “old school” and “newbies” alike. Their challenge is to take the stage they have been given and put the best product possible on the field and on the court. They can recruit their butts off, but the reality is that G5 schools cannot and will not compete with P5 schools for the vast majority of the four-star and five-star recruits. Yes, there will be exceptions, but those will be few and far between. So what can they do?

Bum Phillips once said this about Bear Bryant: "He can take his'n and beat your'n and take your'n and beat his'n." That is what must be demanded of each and every head coach in the conference. They have to take the very good athletes and turn them into great athletes. They have to take their teams, and coach them up to be in the best possible positions to win games against teams they are not supposed to beat.

Banowsky has done his job. C-USA 3.0 is out there in front of sports fans across the nation. It’s up to the coaches now.

Spot on Aggie, as always your post encourage and motivate us all to Aim High.