in a radio interview yesterday afternoon Terry Holland, ECU AD proposed a c-usa expansion to 16 with conf. play within division only (with MT & wku in an eastern div.) according to some ecu fans. Some excerpted comments from fans who heard it...


...Asked about conference affiliation etc. Said he would like to see C-USA go to 16 teams with an East/West Division. Teams would only play teams within their respective division during the regular season. He also said in the current C-USA makeup he would like to see us drop back to 5 conference games with 7 OOC. Hard sell.

No mention of BE membership.

He spent a good 10 minutes addressing this issue...


...As I listen to more of this interview, it is clear that Terry Holland is not satisfied with our current conference situation...and he makes very valid points. No, he didn't mention the Big East, but he also said that it is 'easily possible' that there will be a day when we are not part of CUSA...


...A very informative interview. TH said he would like to see Middle Tenn. and Western Kentucky added to the East division of CUSA. Said Pirate fans could visit Nashville every year for a game with these two. This would mean we wouldn't have to make the trips to Texas as we do now....


... Can you imagine the board meltdown if Stockstill beat us as a head coach?....

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Radio Interview archived and linked - see link below. AD Holland not on until 3:50 mark, at 12:50 mark starts comments on future of c-usa, mention of adding MT and wku at 18:50 mark...

summary - Holland wants to schedule more games of regional interest, would like really a five conf./seven out-of-confernce schedule where he could play more NC ACC teams and va tech. Says people complain about media coverage in Charlotte - well ecu has to play games that are of interest to Charlotte media first.

ECU fans are never going to relate to c-usa west division schools that rotate on and off schedule. There's no ability to create rivalries with west div. teams. He wants focus to be on divisional play. He would have c-usa to go to 16 teams with 8 team divisons playing more like two separate conferences. He proposes MT and wku as teams that could be added as east dvision teams in an expansion to 16 teams. Said yearly trips to NAshville with MT one year, wku the next would be great for fans. Holland says that would be more valuable to ECU than playing Rice or Houston.


radio interview link below.....

radio interview with ECU AD Terry Holland

Only way CUSA expansion makes sense is if they secure an auto-bid to a BCS bowl. That's not happening unless one of the teams they add is Notre Dame (never in a million years). Holland thinks outside the box, but his "proposal" makes no sense.

Holland is back on the c-usa expansion issue, so I decided to add this article to this year old thread:

Quote:Holland ready for C-USA changes

By Nathan Summers
The Daily Reflector

Saturday, July 26, 2008

When it comes to Terry Holland's thoughts about the future of Conference USA, pretty good just isn't good enough.

East Carolina's director of athletics has never feared ruffling a few feathers for the greater good, and his ideas about the future of ECU's conference reflect a steadfast desire for improvement now instead of later.

Holland, now in his fourth year in Greenville, has had plenty of time to mull over his concerns about the need to better geographically align the nationwide league and then try to develop legitimate, lasting rivalries within. But the same basic problems Holland sees in C-USA keep bringing him back to the same solutions.

In Holland's eyes, less is simply not more when it comes to C-USA. The conference needs to either grow large enough to have two more regional, more concentrated divisions, or it needs to pursue some other plan to make the travel less painful and the rivalries less diluted.

"We're doing pretty good, but I've always felt like pretty good will eventually get your butt beat," Holland said of the progress C-USA has made since taking on five new members in 2005. "If there is something better you can do, you'd better do it now, as soon as you can, instead of coasting. That's why I keep pushing on that (expansion) issue."

Holland has been saying for some time that a further expansion of the league — to at least 16 teams — would erase some of the conference's current flaws and allow the two-division system to eliminate many of the cross-country journeys to play league games.

Holland feels the league's rivalries, long a subject of concern given the C-USA's expanse from North Carolina to west Texas, would develop more rapidly with a primary concentration on teams playing within their own divisions.

Even when great games have been staged in football between cross-division rivals, Holland said there is an immediate disconnect.

"We had a great game with UTEP (a 45-42 overtime win for ECU in El Paso last season), and they're going to come here this year and there will be a reaction to that," Holland said. "But then we won't see them again for two years. That is going make it very difficult to build a long term rivalry. Since we don't play them in all the sports every year, it just gets harder and harder to build that rivalry."

The other primary concern with C-USA's status quo, according to Holland, is that it potentially creates unfair advantages for certain teams in terms of the divisional championship.

The top two teams in each division play in the C-USA football championship, but often that top team has played different cross-division opponents than its fellow division members. A larger league, according to Holland, would put greater emphasis on winning a division crown by beating intra-division opponents.

"Let's face it, your three non-divisional opponents could be Houston, Tulsa and UTEP," Holland said. "The team you're competing against for the divisional championship could be playing Rice, Tulane and SMU. Now, those teams could be good in a particular year, but by and large I'd say those other three are going to be better. You hate to see the divisional championship be decided by who you play in the other division, especially when the other team doesn't play the same schedule."

It's not that Holland thinks there hasn't been progress. He said ECU's own recent football surge — the Pirates have played in consecutive bowl games and also were in the hunt for the divisional title in C-USA during both of those campaigns — has naturally made some of those ho-hum league games much more entertaining.

But it might be those small successes by the league which keep C-USA from having big successes and big rivalries.

That stability is what keeps league officials from discussing expansion.

"We've made a lot of progress in terms of building rivalries, but I think we can do more," Holland said. "I think we can have a better long term plan, and I hate to see us get stuck in a short term mode. I think it will reach it's maximum very quickly. I understand it's tough to make those kinds of decisions when things are going pretty good."

This goes back the core problem I see with the Sun Belt in trying to build up its football conference.

The SBC is going to be a target of raids again. If there is a CUSA East/West split this conference could be finished.

The MAC by contrast is very stable. There aren't other non-BCS conferences to challenge it for membership within the midwest region. The MAC already has the tight mid major geography CUSA yearns to have.

The SBC may end up losing WKU to CUSA in a few years and picking up a Jacksonville State or a Texas State type program but the constant shuffling of membership is going to hurt efforts to really get things rolling for the Belt.

I think ECU and Marshall should move to the SBC. It would make sense they both would have WKU an MTS on their schedules making it easier for there fans to travel to games. Maybe Marshall could talk Ohio into joining also. People will blast this idea, but it would be more regional to those schools if they could do something like this. Then you would only need one more team to have a championship game

hawghiggs Wrote:Maybe Marshall could talk Ohio into joining also. People will blast this idea, but it would be more regional to those schools if they could do something like this. Then you would only need one more team to have a championship game

Ohio would spread the league from Miami to Ohio.

ECU and Marshall would spread it from Dallas to Greeneville NC.

I'd be fine with adding these 3 (I have no affinity for Ohio though), but I don't think that UNT, ULL, ULM, and maybe Ark. St. would.

And having a conference championship game doesn't seem like it would be profitable for the SBC.

It appears the ECU AD is the ONLY one talking of expanding to 16 teams. Word from the CUSA Media days that no one else is overly excited or barely open to the idea. Nor am I really. Heck, we aren't even in the SBC officially for football yet. I'd love to see what kind of noise we can make there before we even think about moving on.

hawghiggs Wrote:I think ECU and Marshall should move to the SBC. It would make sense they both would have WKU an MTS on their schedules making it easier for there fans to travel to games. Maybe Marshall could talk Ohio into joining also. People will blast this idea, but it would be more regional to those schools if they could do something like this. Then you would only need one more team to have a championship game

It would be hard to see Ohio's incentive to make an SBC move.

We are one of the largest BB schools in the MAC and the league has a lovely tourney in Cleveland that is fun and convenient for alumni.

We play 4 in-state schools in our division. That is a pretty lucky spot to be in for any school. We are within an 8 hour drive of any school in our conference.

Marshall is on our schedule every year anyway in football starting in 2010.

Frank Solich is now making 800,000. Our president wants to dominate MAC football like Boise State has done in the WAC.

I think it's getting close to the time that SBC try to expand. The SBC needs to try and add the likes of ECU,Latech,and maybe Marshall. I do think Marshall is happy with being in cusa but would listen if ECU left for different conference.I beleive Latech really wants to be in cusa. but that doesn't mean that the SBC need not try and expand. Teams like ECU and Marshall would do the SBC a lot of good and the SBC members in those regions would give the fans of ECU and Marshall regional rivalries. it's just a thought

SBC football is expanding. WKU will be a legit member next year, and South Alabama will be competing in 2013. That will be 10 football, 12 basketball.

If there is to be any realignment it won't be the capture of SBC schools. I believe by the time realignment happens again, the SBC will not be a place folks are looking to leave (unless a BCS comes calling). What I'm saying is that the SBC will be just as good or better than CUSA, MAC, WAC by the time it comes. If there is to be any shuffling of schools it will be just that, shuffling.

I could see the CUSA and SBC turning into an eastern and western conferences. Bring the Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana etc schools together, and the Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky etc schools together. It would give everyone some natural rivalries, and wouldn't cut off any rivalries either.

hawghiggs Wrote:I think it's getting close to the time that SBC try to expand. The SBC needs to try and add the likes of ECU,Latech,and maybe Marshall. I do think Marshall is happy with being in cusa but would listen if ECU left for different conference.I beleive Latech really wants to be in cusa. but that doesn't mean that the SBC need not try and expand. Teams like ECU and Marshall would do the SBC a lot of good and the SBC members in those regions would give the fans of ECU and Marshall regional rivalries. it's just a thought

ECU isn't going anywhere.. they offered their soul to the BE and would take no $$$$ no bcs bowl and more and the BE still shows no interest. It may make sense for the sunbelt to expand.. but I wouldn't worry much about CUSA raids.. I think your best chance to expand will be with new teams moving up.. La tech isnt going to move away from the mac, and no one in CUSA will move to sunbelt... unless you get an ubelievable new tv deal.. cusa schools got around a 2 mil payout from cusa last year.

goodknightfl Wrote:

hawghiggs Wrote:I think it's getting close to the time that SBC try to expand. The SBC needs to try and add the likes of ECU,Latech,and maybe Marshall. I do think Marshall is happy with being in cusa but would listen if ECU left for different conference.I beleive Latech really wants to be in cusa. but that doesn't mean that the SBC need not try and expand. Teams like ECU and Marshall would do the SBC a lot of good and the SBC members in those regions would give the fans of ECU and Marshall regional rivalries. it's just a thought

ECU isn't going anywhere.. they offered their soul to the BE and would take no $$$$ no bcs bowl and more and the BE still shows no interest. It may make sense for the sunbelt to expand.. but I wouldn't worry much about CUSA raids.. I think your best chance to expand will be with new teams moving up.. La tech isnt going to move away from the mac, and no one in CUSA will move to sunbelt... unless you get an ubelievable new tv deal.. cusa schools got around a 2 mil payout from cusa last year.

LA Tech is in the WAC, and I hope they stay there.

BlueRaiderFan111 Wrote:

goodknightfl Wrote:

hawghiggs Wrote:I think it's getting close to the time that SBC try to expand. The SBC needs to try and add the likes of ECU,Latech,and maybe Marshall. I do think Marshall is happy with being in cusa but would listen if ECU left for different conference.I beleive Latech really wants to be in cusa. but that doesn't mean that the SBC need not try and expand. Teams like ECU and Marshall would do the SBC a lot of good and the SBC members in those regions would give the fans of ECU and Marshall regional rivalries. it's just a thought

ECU isn't going anywhere.. they offered their soul to the BE and would take no $$$$ no bcs bowl and more and the BE still shows no interest. It may make sense for the sunbelt to expand.. but I wouldn't worry much about CUSA raids.. I think your best chance to expand will be with new teams moving up.. La tech isnt going to move away from the mac, and no one in CUSA will move to sunbelt... unless you get an ubelievable new tv deal.. cusa schools got around a 2 mil payout from cusa last year.

LA Tech is in the WAC, and I hope they stay there.

Unless the MAC decides to go QUAD!

MAC South
Troy, La Tech, WKU, MTSU

MAC West
NIU, Ball St, CMU, WMU

MAC Central
EMU, Miami, BGSU, Toledo

MAC East
Ohio, Kent St, Akron, Buffalo

Waaaaaaaaaaaay too spread out. It will never happen. Southern teams don't want to play in the North in Winter.

hawghiggs Wrote:I think it's getting close to the time that SBC try to expand. The SBC needs to try and add the likes of ECU,Latech,and maybe Marshall. I do think Marshall is happy with being in cusa but would listen if ECU left for different conference.I beleive Latech really wants to be in cusa. but that doesn't mean that the SBC need not try and expand. Teams like ECU and Marshall would do the SBC a lot of good and the SBC members in those regions would give the fans of ECU and Marshall regional rivalries. it's just a thought

ECU would join your league if you would allow them to play 5 league games and still have access to your bowl games, thats what he wants. Otherwise he won't go and we cannot kick them out as much as some would like to.