(07-07-2019 12:48 PM)The Grape King Wrote:  

(07-05-2019 01:27 PM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(07-03-2019 05:48 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(07-03-2019 04:41 PM)MWCRobert Wrote:  The 2 AAC schools that BYU fans are most excited about are SMU and Houston....mainly because a lot of BYU fans live in Texas. Great Texas competition!

After that, I agree. The geography is probably too far to share a conference, given the other considerations.

I don't know why the AAC Presidents hate Liberty so much. They could be a solid addition. But admittedly I don't know much about that school., other than they have money and are expanding.

Why do people think Liberty would be a "solid addition"? Sure, they are spending money and have pretty nice faciltiies---but they have no real fans. They are largely an internet based school with no significant sports fan base. Look at the football attendance at LU. They average a hair over 16K fans at home. Those are terrible UMass/MAC scraping the bottom of FBS attendance numbers. TV would have zero interest in that kind of content. Heck, FCS James Madison averages almost 21K. Im not suggesting JMU either---but as one of the attendance leaders at the FCS level, they make more sense if you are going to take a flyyer on someone based entirely on potential.

My feeling is, given the AAC contract is head and shoulders above the rest of the G5, then the conference should only be looking at proven winners, with the largest fan bases available, who add value, who have shown that that they are willing to fund their athletic programs in a way that will keep them competitive in the AAC. I dont think the AAC should have to gamble that a "project school" will payoff big and not be a bust.

I'm obviously biased here, but really don't understand not even wanting to look at JMU. For all sports our athletic program is stronger than every AAC team other than Houston and UCF. Yes, we are an FCS program, but in name only and would be able to compete immediately in the AAC once we joined. Basketball is the only real sore point, but we open a 100 million dollar arena next year which can do nothing but help our recruiting. We have the fan base and brought 15-20k people to College Gameday twice in the last 4 years so ESPN understands the value that we bring to the table. JMU's enrollment is on par with Clemson's and will easily surpass 25k in the next decade.

Obviously we can't compete with a BYU as a football program or Army for name recognition, but some of the schools being thrown out here can't hold a candle to JMU in regards to where we are and where we are going from a growth perspective as a school and athletic program.

The AAC would be wise to at least listen and take a visit so that they realize that we are not some small little school, but one with impressive facilities both athletically and academically.

I'd love JMU if they weren't a basketball black eye. We cant afford to float or gamble on your basketball.

Football only membership, though. No one's touched that idea yet.

Ive seen JMU football only, and VCU for the rest floated but I still think its pretty meh. I'd take Southern Miss over an FCS team any day of the week.

(07-07-2019 12:48 PM)The Grape King Wrote:  

(07-05-2019 01:27 PM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(07-03-2019 05:48 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(07-03-2019 04:41 PM)MWCRobert Wrote:  The 2 AAC schools that BYU fans are most excited about are SMU and Houston....mainly because a lot of BYU fans live in Texas. Great Texas competition!

After that, I agree. The geography is probably too far to share a conference, given the other considerations.

I don't know why the AAC Presidents hate Liberty so much. They could be a solid addition. But admittedly I don't know much about that school., other than they have money and are expanding.

Why do people think Liberty would be a "solid addition"? Sure, they are spending money and have pretty nice faciltiies---but they have no real fans. They are largely an internet based school with no significant sports fan base. Look at the football attendance at LU. They average a hair over 16K fans at home. Those are terrible UMass/MAC scraping the bottom of FBS attendance numbers. TV would have zero interest in that kind of content. Heck, FCS James Madison averages almost 21K. Im not suggesting JMU either---but as one of the attendance leaders at the FCS level, they make more sense if you are going to take a flyyer on someone based entirely on potential.

My feeling is, given the AAC contract is head and shoulders above the rest of the G5, then the conference should only be looking at proven winners, with the largest fan bases available, who add value, who have shown that that they are willing to fund their athletic programs in a way that will keep them competitive in the AAC. I dont think the AAC should have to gamble that a "project school" will payoff big and not be a bust.

I'm obviously biased here, but really don't understand not even wanting to look at JMU. For all sports our athletic program is stronger than every AAC team other than Houston and UCF. Yes, we are an FCS program, but in name only and would be able to compete immediately in the AAC once we joined. Basketball is the only real sore point, but we open a 100 million dollar arena next year which can do nothing but help our recruiting. We have the fan base and brought 15-20k people to College Gameday twice in the last 4 years so ESPN understands the value that we bring to the table. JMU's enrollment is on par with Clemson's and will easily surpass 25k in the next decade.

Obviously we can't compete with a BYU as a football program or Army for name recognition, but some of the schools being thrown out here can't hold a candle to JMU in regards to where we are and where we are going from a growth perspective as a school and athletic program.

The AAC would be wise to at least listen and take a visit so that they realize that we are not some small little school, but one with impressive facilities both athletically and academically.

I'd love JMU if they weren't a basketball black eye. We cant afford to float or gamble on your basketball.

Football only membership, though. No one's touched that idea yet.

You do realize that James Madison is in no way an institutional match. They arent even a nation university per USNWR. They are classified as a regional school. Thats far more like Marshall than UConn. Every single school in the AAC is classified as a "national university" by USNWR and all but one are ranked within the top 200 national schools. Id be very surprised if the presidents opted for JMU.