(01-04-2021 07:01 AM)UAB Schnauzer Wrote:  the ideal size is 9 with home and home in basketball and play every team in football

Until ODU cancels their season on you.

(01-05-2021 05:15 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 04:01 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(01-04-2021 07:01 AM)UAB Schnauzer Wrote:  the ideal size is 9 with home and home in basketball and play every team in football

It just sucks you need 10 for the conference championship game.

But I don't believe you do. I believe if you have a 9 team conference you simply have to play a full round Robin schedule and the cc game has to be between the two top teams. The Big 12 does that now with 10 teams. No divisions.

I just looked it up and you’re right I thought they just changed it from 12 to 10. So yeah 9 or 10 are a good number.

9 is NOT ideal. You have to play those same 8 teams every year. Unless they are all old rivalry games, which are few and far between in the G5.

6-team divisions ARE ideal, and maybe 5 wouldn't be bad. You need the variety of those cross-division games.

3 and 4 divisions, with a 4-team playoff, would add a bunch of excitement. 2 extra games to find the champion from the larger conference. That big of a conference, should have enough talent at the top to get at-large bids in non-football sports tourneys.

If you don't fully merge with the Sunbelt and grab everyone, thus killing it, it will simply add any new members that it can, AND PULL UP FROM FCS WHICH WE DO NOT WANT. If you can't understand why we don't want the FBS to expand, then please leave this discussion. FBS needs to remain at 130 teams so we can improve the brand names at the bottom before adding more. Get it?

You expand and perfect the divisions, so later on, you can break-off that division into its own new conference.

I think each team has to take care of their own business first. The conference is what it is and I don't see any immediate changes. The virus really hurt the conference and Charlotte was no exception. Regardless of the games Charlotte missed, they were in the middle of a rebrand campaign and were very close to releasing a new athletics master facilities plan with quite probably football stadium expansion plans. Until we get back to semi-normal the facilities plan is on hold. To make things more interesting a new chancellor was hired (4th in school history I think).

Even with all of that the plan for Charlotte is to grow and become a conference leader year in and year out. The new AD has had some solid hires in football, basketball, baseball, and other sports. Charlotte also has a large budget, and even though they have had to make some cutbacks it hasn't been too terrible all things considered. The next 2 years will be make or break for many conference mates including Charlotte. Whoever ends up managing their AD through the virus the best will be in a good spot.

$34MM is not a huge budget. And now down to $30MM.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...vRk7fymsjz

Even with Marshall who is in the lower third of the conference.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...C0iro_EhGq

When change happens, and it will, it’ll be about consolidation to save money. Don’t be shocked if some ADs get together and don’t do what’s best for everyone, just for themselves.

With that said, this is what I’d imagine happening:

MTSU
Arkansas State
La Tech
ULL
UAV
So Miss
UNT
Rice
Marshall (for history) or WKU

Some may switch out here or there. Before anyone complains that this is stupid, remember what this would do in the minds involved. Not only would it shrink the footprint so they could save on travel expenses for non revenue, but it helps their recruiting as well. How so? Well, think of all the teams left out to dry that will now need to find a new home. If costs are already bad, getting involved in the Sun Belt or creating another far flung league isn’t going to help. Some may end up dropping back to 1-AA, which helps recruiting for others.

You may think “Oh, but what would happen to my school? They wouldn’t leave us out.” Why not? Again, I don’t believe ADs are going to try and do what’s best for every school possible. They’re going to do what’s best for them and them alone. So those left out, they’ll basically tell good luck to and move on.

(01-06-2021 09:02 AM)EagNBran Wrote:  When change happens, and it will, it’ll be about consolidation to save money. Don’t be shocked if some ADs get together and don’t do what’s best for everyone, just for themselves.

With that said, this is what I’d imagine happening:

MTSU
Arkansas State
La Tech
ULL
UAV
So Miss
UNT
Rice
Marshall (for history) or WKU

Some may switch out here or there. Before anyone complains that this is stupid, remember what this would do in the minds involved. Not only would it shrink the footprint so they could save on travel expenses for non revenue, but it helps their recruiting as well. How so? Well, think of all the teams left out to dry that will now need to find a new home. If costs are already bad, getting involved in the Sun Belt or creating another far flung league isn’t going to help. Some may end up dropping back to 1-AA, which helps recruiting for others.

You may think “Oh, but what would happen to my school? They wouldn’t leave us out.” Why not? Again, I don’t believe ADs are going to try and do what’s best for every school possible. They’re going to do what’s best for them and them alone. So those left out, they’ll basically tell good luck to and move on.

Did you mean UAB or University of Arkansas Varsity?

(01-05-2021 09:30 PM)Dowless Wrote:  To make things more interesting a new chancellor was hired (4th in school history I think).

She's 5th, not including Ms. Bonnie:

0) Cone (President-Interim Chancellor)
1) Colvard
2) Fretwell
3) Woodward
4) Dubois
5) Gaber

(01-04-2021 05:47 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  We have not had a commissioner with vision since Mike Slive went to the SEC. That's another big issue.

This is the article that should have been written. All of the problems boil down to a lack of vision and leadership. There is no plan and there hasn't been one for the past 10-15 years. Fans on this board have placed far more thought into the future of this conference than Britton or Judy.

(01-05-2021 06:43 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 05:15 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 04:01 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(01-04-2021 07:01 AM)UAB Schnauzer Wrote:  the ideal size is 9 with home and home in basketball and play every team in football

It just sucks you need 10 for the conference championship game.

But I don't believe you do. I believe if you have a 9 team conference you simply have to play a full round Robin schedule and the cc game has to be between the two top teams. The Big 12 does that now with 10 teams. No divisions.

I just looked it up and you’re right I thought they just changed it from 12 to 10. So yeah 9 or 10 are a good number.

If you have a nine team conference you don’t have to play a championship game.

(01-06-2021 11:45 AM)UAB Schnauzer Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 06:43 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 05:15 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 04:01 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(01-04-2021 07:01 AM)UAB Schnauzer Wrote:  the ideal size is 9 with home and home in basketball and play every team in football

It just sucks you need 10 for the conference championship game.

But I don't believe you do. I believe if you have a 9 team conference you simply have to play a full round Robin schedule and the cc game has to be between the two top teams. The Big 12 does that now with 10 teams. No divisions.

I just looked it up and you’re right I thought they just changed it from 12 to 10. So yeah 9 or 10 are a good number.

If you have a nine team conference you don’t have to play a championship game.

You don’t have to with 10 either but it’s still fun. Plus it helps not having co-champions which the Sun Belt did this year. Not that it bothers me all too much but to some it really does.

(01-06-2021 12:07 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(01-06-2021 11:45 AM)UAB Schnauzer Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 06:43 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 05:15 PM)MinerInWisconsin Wrote:  

(01-05-2021 04:01 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  It just sucks you need 10 for the conference championship game.

But I don't believe you do. I believe if you have a 9 team conference you simply have to play a full round Robin schedule and the cc game has to be between the two top teams. The Big 12 does that now with 10 teams. No divisions.

I just looked it up and you’re right I thought they just changed it from 12 to 10. So yeah 9 or 10 are a good number.

If you have a nine team conference you don’t have to play a championship game.

You don’t have to with 10 either but it’s still fun. Plus it helps not having co-champions which the Sun Belt did this year. Not that it bothers me all too much but to some it really does.

I think that the CCG has value. I throughly enjoyed two of the last three.

(01-05-2021 09:03 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  9 is NOT ideal. You have to play those same 8 teams every year. Unless they are all old rivalry games, which are few and far between in the G5.

6-team divisions ARE ideal, and maybe 5 wouldn't be bad. You need the variety of those cross-division games.

3 and 4 divisions, with a 4-team playoff, would add a bunch of excitement. 2 extra games to find the champion from the larger conference. That big of a conference, should have enough talent at the top to get at-large bids in non-football sports tourneys.

If you don't fully merge with the Sunbelt and grab everyone, thus killing it, it will simply add any new members that it can, AND PULL UP FROM FCS WHICH WE DO NOT WANT. If you can't understand why we don't want the FBS to expand, then please leave this discussion. FBS needs to remain at 130 teams so we can improve the brand names at the bottom before adding more. Get it?

You expand and perfect the divisions, so later on, you can break-off that division into its own new conference.

I'm definitely no expert on this stuff, but I would tend to disagree with you. We may notice when we look at the sizes of the G5 conferences (in terms of football) that C-USA is the largest. How's that working out for us so far?

Sun Belt - 10
AAC - 11
MAC - 12
MWC - 12
C-USA - 14

1) What little we get from television contracts, bowls, NCAA basketball tournaments and such has to split up 14 ways.

2) Few care about so-called excitement from cross-division games as much as they do about rivalries and just winning. Rivalries are difficult to create in large conferences. If you want variety in scheduling, that's what OOC is for.

3) I don't think that many G5 conferences have expansion in mind as an actual goal, so I doubt they would pull from FCS to accomplish that end unless they feel they'll stand to see a direct benefit from the school they're bringing in. The AAC may be the only exception because I do think they're looking to expand, as they have 11 football programs currently and could use one more to even it out at 12. They wouldn't have their eyes set upon an FCS though; that much is sure.

Here are the P5 conference sizes...

Big 12 - 10
PAC 12 - 12
Big 10 - 14
SEC - 14
ACC - 15

They can afford to have more members because of the lucrative television contracts that didn't come into play in a previous, different era of football. And trust me when I say they won't be losing any of that market to G5's in the coming years, so our share won't go up.

One thing I'm definitely on board with you on is that we need to improve the brand names we have before we expand and add more. You said that with regard to your argument against adding FCS programs, but I feel we should also improve the programs in our own conferences before we go around trying to merge with other G5 conferences. A reshuffling might do well, though I'm absolutely sick of the endless stream of realignment threads, but not necessarily an expansion into more teams as you seem to be advocating, likely meaning fewer G5 conferences.

Conference size is not the issue, underperformance of the members is the problem. Do we play like crap cause we have 14 teams, no we play like crap cause our flagships let us down and we play down to our competition. If you take the best 10 of 14, is the conference better from talent perspective?

(01-01-2021 02:10 PM)baruna falls Wrote:  I used to read this guys blog. I beleive he was the first writer to write about G5 schools. This was an article he wrote a few years ago when Cusa was looking for a new tvcontract. He was largely right:
http://g5conferencenews.blogspot.com/201...t.html?m=0

So based on this article, what will happen to the MWC now that they are over with Fox? Where does that leave the Sun Belt and MAC? I have to assume this actually means MACtion will be back to some Saturday games and the Sun Belt will continue to play Saturday linear network games as we saw in 2020. Many assumed it was pandemic related that so many Sun Belt games were on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU on Saturday's but with the MWC's departure, it essentially leaves only the AAC, Sun Belt, and MAC. If MACtion Weeknight's continue, the Sun Belt will have the second most visibility in the G5 which is not a positive for the C-USA programs, at all.

(01-06-2021 12:07 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  You don’t have to with 10 either but it’s still fun. Plus it helps not having co-champions which the Sun Belt did this year. Not that it bothers me all too much but to some it really does.

ULL and CCU played the same number of Sunbelt games, CCU had a better record and beat ULL head-to-head. Co-Champs? That's C-USA level BS.

(01-06-2021 09:45 PM)Luckyshot Wrote:  

(01-06-2021 12:07 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  You don’t have to with 10 either but it’s still fun. Plus it helps not having co-champions which the Sun Belt did this year. Not that it bothers me all too much but to some it really does.

ULL and CCU played the same number of Sunbelt games, CCU had a better record and beat ULL head-to-head. Co-Champs? That's C-USA level BS.

Clemson and Oklahoma both won their conference championship after losing the head to head in the regular season. lets not act like rematches for championships are not common in sports. Louisiana being Co-Champs with Coastal was the best result of a sad situation.

(01-06-2021 10:27 PM)balanced_view Wrote:  

(01-06-2021 09:45 PM)Luckyshot Wrote:  

(01-06-2021 12:07 PM)Troy_Fan_15 Wrote:  You don’t have to with 10 either but it’s still fun. Plus it helps not having co-champions which the Sun Belt did this year. Not that it bothers me all too much but to some it really does.

ULL and CCU played the same number of Sunbelt games, CCU had a better record and beat ULL head-to-head. Co-Champs? That's C-USA level BS.

Clemson and Oklahoma both won their conference championship after losing the head to head in the regular season. lets not act like rematches for championships are not common in sports. Louisiana being Co-Champs with Coastal was the best result of a sad situation.

Not to mention that the CCU win was a FG in the final seconds of the game. Oh, and we were down ~8 players.
Had we played the CCG there is a very good chance it would’ve had a different outcome from the reg season game.
Ask Chad well. He knows.

(01-06-2021 09:02 AM)EagNBran Wrote:  When change happens, and it will, it’ll be about consolidation to save money. Don’t be shocked if some ADs get together and don’t do what’s best for everyone, just for themselves.

With that said, this is what I’d imagine happening:

MTSU
Arkansas State
La Tech
ULL
UAV
So Miss
UNT
Rice
Marshall (for history) or WKU

Some may switch out here or there. Before anyone complains that this is stupid, remember what this would do in the minds involved. Not only would it shrink the footprint so they could save on travel expenses for non revenue, but it helps their recruiting as well. How so? Well, think of all the teams left out to dry that will now need to find a new home. If costs are already bad, getting involved in the Sun Belt or creating another far flung league isn’t going to help. Some may end up dropping back to 1-AA, which helps recruiting for others.

You may think “Oh, but what would happen to my school? They wouldn’t leave us out.” Why not? Again, I don’t believe ADs are going to try and do what’s best for every school possible. They’re going to do what’s best for them and them alone. So those left out, they’ll basically tell good luck to and move on.

They could do something like that, but that conference would have no NCAA basketball auto-bid for something like 7 years. Thats why the CUSA/SBC "reshuffle" keeps getting floated because it allows for the shifting of members into more regional conferences while guaranteeing that the "new" membership combinations still have a guaranteed NCAA autobid.

(01-07-2021 02:22 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(01-06-2021 09:02 AM)EagNBran Wrote:  When change happens, and it will, it’ll be about consolidation to save money. Don’t be shocked if some ADs get together and don’t do what’s best for everyone, just for themselves.

With that said, this is what I’d imagine happening:

MTSU
Arkansas State
La Tech
ULL
UAV
So Miss
UNT
Rice
Marshall (for history) or WKU

Some may switch out here or there. Before anyone complains that this is stupid, remember what this would do in the minds involved. Not only would it shrink the footprint so they could save on travel expenses for non revenue, but it helps their recruiting as well. How so? Well, think of all the teams left out to dry that will now need to find a new home. If costs are already bad, getting involved in the Sun Belt or creating another far flung league isn’t going to help. Some may end up dropping back to 1-AA, which helps recruiting for others.

You may think “Oh, but what would happen to my school? They wouldn’t leave us out.” Why not? Again, I don’t believe ADs are going to try and do what’s best for every school possible. They’re going to do what’s best for them and them alone. So those left out, they’ll basically tell good luck to and move on.

They could do something like that, but that conference would have no NCAA basketball auto-bid for something like 7 years. Thats why the CUSA/SBC "reshuffle" keeps getting floated because it allows for the shifting of members into more regional conferences while guaranteeing that the "new" membership combinations still have a guaranteed NCAA autobid.

Exactly. None of the schools are risking bowl tie ins and tournament bids so the merge and switch would probably be the only logical scenario.