Since most of the conference realignment proposals have no connection to reality, here's my suggestion for a new school in the MAC -

We should try and convince Wisconsin-Whitewater to start the conversion from Division III to Division I, and shepherd them through that process and into the MAC. Reasons:

1) This is a school with a history of success in Division III, with a broad range of sports, including recent Division III championships in Football, Baseball, and Basketball
2) At 12,000 students, it's close to the MAC school size
3) It's about the closest of the potential schools to the MAC footprint, just 80 miles from Northern Illinois University
4) It expands the MAC into another state where most people root for other larger state universities
5) If we can now say that NIU is in the Chicago metropolitan area, Wisconsin-Whitewater is just as close to Milwaukee, and we can say we have that metropolitan area covered too.

(07-12-2017 01:50 PM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote:  Since most of the conference realignment proposals have no connection to reality, here's my suggestion for a new school in the MAC -

We should try and convince Wisconsin-Whitewater to start the conversion from Division III to Division I, and shepherd them through that process and into the MAC. Reasons:

1) This is a school with a history of success in Division III, with a broad range of sports, including recent Division III championships in Football, Baseball, and Basketball
2) At 12,000 students, it's close to the MAC school size
3) It's about the closest of the potential schools to the MAC footprint, just 80 miles from Northern Illinois University
4) It expands the MAC into another state where most people root for other larger state universities
5) If we can now say that NIU is in the Chicago metropolitan area, Wisconsin-Whitewater is just as close to Milwaukee, and we can say we have that metropolitan area covered too.

The problem is the MAC is based too much in Ohio.

(07-12-2017 05:34 PM)Bronco14 Wrote:  The problem is the MAC is based too much in Ohio.

Thats why a nice expansion into new england and the great plains dilutes the ohio effect.

(07-12-2017 01:50 PM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote:  Here's my suggestion for a new school in the MAC - We should try and convince Wisconsin-Whitewater to start the conversion from Division III to Division I, and shepherd them through that process and into the MAC. Reasons:

1) This is a school with a history of success in Division III, with a broad range of sports, including recent Division III championships in Football

Nodding approvingly:

(07-11-2017 09:08 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  

(07-11-2017 07:55 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  

(07-11-2017 04:33 PM)RutgersGuy Wrote:  

(07-10-2017 08:15 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  I'll marry Kate Upton before Youngstown State, Maine, or New Hampshire join the MAC. There's really no reason for us to expand anyways, no one willing to join us would financiall justify adding another mouth to feed from our TV dollars.

So do you stay at 12 if the other conferences grow to 16+? The conference was okay going to 14 when it had the chance. It seems going east is what they have been trying to do.

The MAC was going east to try and land a bigger TV contract more in line with CUSA.

Now going bigger doesn't make sense.

I don't even think it's that. Temple opened up and we decided to take a chance on them for their potential (did we have a basketball agreement like we did with UMass?), which ended up pushing them out of here once they got good. UMass was only brought in to balance things and do the basketball thing as well, we only offered them full membership because we didn't want to be saddled with their football anymore and figured we might as well get all sports if they were willing to accept.

Temples's addition led into MACtion 2.0 with increased coverage windows.

The MAC going into negotiations for MACtion 3.0 brought in UMass with the idea both Temple and UMass could join the MAC eventually for an even larger contract.

At the end of the day the MAC ended up getting a larger contract without needing any schools beyond the 12 full members. Nobody could have predicted that 10 years ago. Part of it was timing and the MAC was the last conference to negotiate while the TV market was still hot.

(07-11-2017 09:08 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Temple opened up and we decided to take a chance on them for their potential (did we have a basketball agreement like we did with UMass?), ...

Yes, we did ... and it's really when there are two FB-only on that agreement that it starts to look a bit worthwhile. 8 games, 4 home, 4 away means one of the two coming to your home court every three years. Add in the Eastern Exposure that the Eastern Division schools fancy and getting Toledo and Ball State into the same division and eliminating locked cross-over games, and it would have been an OK set-up.

But Temple was the #1 FB-only in that deal, UMass was the #2 ... so trying to rebuild that deal would necessarily end up with a lower value version of a deal that wasn't a home run of a deal to begin with.

As far as what to do "once everyone else expands to 16" ... MWC is at 12, AAC is at 12, SBC is at 12/14, CUSA is at 14 ... seems like "everyone else going to 16" is not going to sneak up on anyone, given the number of different moves required. Time enough to cross the bridge after we find whether or not it is on our actual line of travel.

(07-13-2017 05:10 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  <snip>
As far as what to do "once everyone else expands to 16" ... MWC is at 12, AAC is at 12, SBC is at 12/14, CUSA is at 14 ... seems like "everyone else going to 16" is not going to sneak up on anyone, given the number of different moves required. Time enough to cross the bridge after we find whether or not it is on our actual line of travel.

Ummm...if "everyone else expands to 16", where do you think those teams would come from? I'd expect the MAC would lose a bunch of schools to other conferences. If the MAC wanted to get to 16 teams after all the other conferences were at 16 teams, they'd have to find 14 new schools to add.

(07-12-2017 07:08 PM)The Colonel Wrote:  

(07-12-2017 01:50 PM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote:  Here's my suggestion for a new school in the MAC - We should try and convince Wisconsin-Whitewater to start the conversion from Division III to Division I, and shepherd them through that process and into the MAC. Reasons:

1) This is a school with a history of success in Division III, with a broad range of sports, including recent Division III championships in Football

Nodding approvingly:

Thanks for pointing out that it was the Warhawks' system that caused the success, and not their football coach

(07-13-2017 06:56 AM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote:  

(07-13-2017 05:10 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  <snip>
As far as what to do "once everyone else expands to 16" ... MWC is at 12, AAC is at 12, SBC is at 12/14, CUSA is at 14 ... seems like "everyone else going to 16" is not going to sneak up on anyone, given the number of different moves required. Time enough to cross the bridge after we find whether or not it is on our actual line of travel.

Ummm...if "everyone else expands to 16", where do you think those teams would come from? I'd expect the MAC would lose a bunch of schools to other conferences. If the MAC wanted to get to 16 teams after all the other conferences were at 16 teams, they'd have to find 14 new schools to add.

The Big XII, the ACC and AAC.

If anything, I think the Group of 5 would realign themselves by kicking out the teams that don't perform as well and then uniting amongst themselves. A realigned MAC would include Cincinnati, Marshall, Temple, UConn, Toledo, Ohio, and a few other current-MAC schools. (I'll let you guys fight over who those teams that'd be demoted be)

(07-12-2017 06:23 PM)RutgersGuy Wrote:  

(07-12-2017 05:34 PM)Bronco14 Wrote:  The problem is the MAC is based too much in Ohio.

Thats why a nice expansion into new england and the great plains dilutes the ohio effect.

I agree. I don't think expansion would be right though, more like a realignment, kicking some teams out of the MAC and then raiding from the East.

Also, I was for kicking UMass out if they were just going to bring down the whole conference, but now that I think about it: That's life in the MAC. No one really wants to stay here forever if they have bigger dreams. A team or so in the Eastern market that would help grow the MAC's name wouldn't be all that bad.

(07-13-2017 04:59 PM)Bronco14 Wrote:  If anything, I think the Group of 5 would realign themselves by kicking out the teams that don't perform as well and then uniting amongst themselves. A realigned MAC would include Cincinnati, Marshall, Temple, UConn, Toledo, Ohio, and a few other current-MAC schools. (I'll let you guys fight over who those teams that'd be demoted be)
<snip>

Yeah, the MAC could be a great conference if it could replace all these MAC-type schools

Cincinnati and UCONN would rather disband athletics, tear down their athletic facilities, salt the earth upon which the athletic facilities stood, and erect giant warning signs than join the MAC.



And I'm not sure I'm really using hyperbole here.

MAC is afraid to add NDSU. Sorry. :(

(07-14-2017 09:55 AM)lakesbison Wrote:  MAC is afraid to add NDSU. Sorry. :(

Y'all are 600 miles from our nearest school.

Plus, we wouldn't be able to handle your accents, dontcha know?

(07-14-2017 06:06 AM)Slinkin Street Flash Wrote:  

(07-13-2017 04:59 PM)Bronco14 Wrote:  If anything, I think the Group of 5 would realign themselves by kicking out the teams that don't perform as well and then uniting amongst themselves. A realigned MAC would include Cincinnati, Marshall, Temple, UConn, Toledo, Ohio, and a few other current-MAC schools. (I'll let you guys fight over who those teams that'd be demoted be)
<snip>

Yeah, the MAC could be a great conference if it could replace all these MAC-type schools

Thing is, none of those schools are P5 as much as they like to think they are. It's common knowledge Cincinatti is Ohio St's *****.

They wouldn't be joining the MAC so much as creating a brand new conference.

Also I didn't say "replace all the MAC schools." Maybe half or so would be.

I'm not the only one proposing this. Itd be to counteract the P5 trying to break completely away

(07-14-2017 09:55 AM)lakesbison Wrote:  MAC is afraid to add NDSU. Sorry. :(

Gosh..... you're a pathetic troll.......

(07-14-2017 09:55 AM)lakesbison Wrote:  MAC is afraid to add NDSU. Sorry. :(

It's kind of like the talk where they'd like to improve the MAC by getting rid of all the MAC teams...we wouldn't mind adding NDSU if it weren't in North Dakota

(07-14-2017 09:55 AM)lakesbison Wrote:  MAC is afraid to add NDSU. Sorry. :(

Congrats, you landed a few nice ones this trip.

(07-14-2017 09:55 AM)lakesbison Wrote:  MAC is afraid to add NDSU. Sorry. :(

I'm not a MAC alum but i'd love you guys and the jack rabbits to join up and get in on the MACtion.