Conference Makeovers: College football edition
July 1, 2005
By Dennis Dodd
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
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One of the few similarities between the Conference USA of 2004 and the C-USA of 2005 is the logo. Look close. At least the trademark remains the same, we swear.
Everything else about this 10-year-old model got the Extreme League Makeover. Pimp My Conference, if you will. Five of 11 teams left for greener (as in the color of money) pastures. Six others were invited in. That's just in football.
When the moving vans cleared, only four of the original football members remained in what is now a 12-team league (Houston, Memphis, Southern Miss and Tulane). There is only one program remaining that won the league since 1999 (Southern Miss).
In the process, the conference office moved from Chicago to Dallas. If it wasn't for commissioner Britton Banowsky holding the whole thing together, the league MVP would have been the office supply person.
New teams, new year, even new letterhead. This wasn't a transition, it was a transfusion.
"All things considered, we're in great shape," Banowsky said.
Anything to keep playing football as one, big, sometimes unfamiliar family. Don't blame C-USA so much as the Big Bang caused by conference realignment. The ACC started the latest tremors two years ago when the 53-year-old league had a midlife crisis. Commissioner John Swofford and some impatient ADs had the novel idea that the only way to stay competitive in football (financial and otherwise) was to conduct the biggest raid since Black Beard.
So in dressing up his conference, Swofford caused seismic shifts in several others. The new look of Division I-A becomes official Friday. It seemed appropriate that conference shifts started by the lust for more money take effect July 1 -- the start of a new fiscal year. Eighteen football programs are finding new homes.
You can't tell the villains from the victims at times, but at least things are stable -- for a while.
"It depends on what you mean by 'a while,'" Banowsky said. "It can be naive to suggest there won't be any change in conference membership in Division I over the next decade or more. But I do think we're in a period where we're fairly stable."
The ACC's move started a ripple affect that this year alone will affect seven of the 11 Division I-A conferences. Those 18 teams represent 15 percent of I-A. Two of them (I-AA dwellers Florida International and Florida Atlantic in the Sun Belt), never had homes. Army and Temple are leaving their previous conference homes for independent life.
Banowsky is not the only one wondering how long the current configuration can last. The operative time frame seems to be five years. In 2010, Notre Dame's contract with NBC will expire, perhaps prompting the Irish to look for conference affiliation. The Big East members have promised to stay together until at least 2010. The league has different alignments in basketball and football, leading to speculation that football might break off to form its own league at some point.
While the political boundaries have been drawn it remains to be seen how actual football will be affected. Certainly the ACC is the big winner with Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech. It will stage its first championship game Dec. 3 in Jacksonville, Fla., and begin to reap the additional postseason bounty that the Big 12 and SEC have enjoyed for years.
Another winner: The injured Big East got a reprieve when BCS commissioners decided it will retain its automatic berth for at least three years (and probably longer based on new qualification standards).
"When we first lost people everybody was doom and gloom," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. "What we've done is caught our breath and gone about our business. On the football side we have enormous potential."
When the ACC raided the Big East for the three schools, the Big East acted quickly in luring South Florida, Cincinnati and Louisville from Conference USA.
"When we look back on this 20 years from now this will be a landmark move," said Louisville AD Tom Jurich. "The Big East is an icon."
Sometimes image is everything. BC threw an ACC party at Fenway Park on Thursday. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese is throwing out the first pitch Friday night at a Reds game while in town to welcome Cincinnati.
For those scoring at home, those celebrations were in the houses of defending world champions (ACC) and the last place team in the NL Central (Big East).
The burden trickled down onto Banowsky, who had perhaps the hardest rebuilding job. Social climber TCU departed for its fourth conference in the past decade (Mountain West). Army became single again. Banowsky had to find six new schools to create an even 12-team league. Hello, Central Florida and Marshall from the MAC and Rice, SMU, Texas-El Paso and Tulsa from the WAC.
What C-USA lost in quality it gained in survival. Louisville, an annual BCS contender, now can chase an automatic berth in the higher profile Big East. South Florida reopens the state's recruiting grounds for Big East schools. Cincinnati helps in basketball.
But Memphis could replace Louisville as the C-USA power. Marshall established itself as a best-of-the-rest program under the departed Bobby Pruett. Houston and Rice, old Southwest Conference foes, have been reunited. UTEP is on the upswing under Mike Price.
"We do feel we've got a foundation we can build a skyscraper on and not worry about it shifting too much," Banowksy said.
Bob Stull's UTEP athletic department celebrated this week with Conference USA-logoed T-shirts sent from the conference office. For the longtime WAC members, exposure is the biggest advantage of a new conference.
"If we win a game, people can actually read about us," said Stull, the Miners' AD, reflecting on the vagaries of playing in the Mountain, Pacific and Hawaiian time zones in the WAC. "The only time they even see your scores is Monday."
All this is a function of what makes the college athletics world go 'round -- money. No surprise, there. It was the latest reshuffle in a process that started in the early '90s when the SEC added South Carolina, the ACC added Florida State and the Big 12 formed.
Major conferences realized years ago they were nothing if they didn't exist as TV programming. Better programming, more viewers. More viewers, higher rights fees. Higher rights fees, more exposure. More exposure, more recruits watching the programming.
It's a vicious but necessary circle when revenue streams are drying up everywhere.
"This is Day One of our new partnership and people still want to talk about, 'Is there going to be more movement,'" Tranghese said. "I think everybody needs a little stability and down time."
When and if it happens, the whole idea is to come out of the ordeal smelling new-car fresh. The college football version of Pimp My Conference is playing near you.
Fallout from the Big Bang: The new I-A football lineup
Conference USA
In: Marshall, Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UCF, UTEP
Out: Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, TCU, Army
Staying put: Alabama-Birmingham, Memphis, Southern Miss, East Carolina, Houston, Tulane
Skinny: C-USA is the incubator for the nation's next BCS challenger. UAB, Memphis, Southern Miss, Central Florida and UTEP all have a chance to establish themselves as second-tier powers that could jump up and snag a BCS bowl in the future.
ACC
In: Boston College
Out: none
Staying put: Miami, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State, Florida State, Clemson, Maryland, Wake Forest, Miami, Georgia Tech, Virginia
Staying put: The nation's newest mega-conference takes shape with the addition of a championship game this year. We're still waiting on Florida State and/or Miami to dominate, though.
Big East
In: South Fla., Cincinnati, Louisville
Out: Boston College, Temple
Staying put: Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia, Rutgers, Connecticut
Skinny: Louisville is the new Miami in this league. Pittsburgh is coming off the Fiesta Bowl. UConn has gone from nothing to bowl team in a heartbeat. The ACC raid doesn't hurt as much as it did two years ago.
Mountain West
In: TCU
Out: none
Staying put: New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, BYU, San Diego State, Colorado State, Air Force, UNLV
Skinny: After what Utah did last year, the Mountain West is arguably the strongest league without an automatic BCS bid. Note to
TCU: Be careful what you wish for. You're not in C-USA anymore.
MAC
In: none
Out: Marshall, UCF
Staying put: Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio), Akron, Kent State, Ohio, Buffalo, Toledo, Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State
Skinny: Marshall and UCF did the MAC a favor. A 12-team league is much more manageable.
WAC
In: New Mexico State, Idaho, Utah State
Out: UTEP, SMU, Rice, Tulsa
Staying put: Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada, Louisiana Tech, Hawaii, San Jose State
Skinny: Fresno and/or Boise biding time until Mountain West comes calling.
Sun Belt
In: Florida Atlantic, Florida International
Out: New Mexico State, Idaho, Utah State
Staying put: North Texas, Middle Tennessee, Troy, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas State
Skinny: Watch out North Texas. New I-A members FAU and FIU should rise to the top quickly.
No changes
Big Ten: Back to prominence: Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State all should open in the preseason top 10.
Big 12: North Division has regressed. Texas will be favored to beat Oklahoma in the South and win the league.
Pac-10: Southern Cal attempting a three-peat. The question is, who will finish second in the Pac-10 and nationally?
SEC: SEC East is the toughest conference in the country.
Independents: Temple and Army join Notre Dame and Navy this year. Once again, Notre Dame will get the most attention with new coach Charlie Weis.
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